Bothan Shoes

= Bothan Shoes =

Outside of a few xenologists specializing in feline lifeforms, members of most species have no idea that Bothans have hooves, instead believing they have catlike paws. This is because nearly all Bothans outside of Bothawui wear special shoes to sustain this illusion. The history of this stretches back to early contact between humans and Bothans. As a species, humans are naturally inclined to a fondness for cats. Species memory associates them with small, domestic pets that have lived side-by-side with humans for eons. Despite cats’ many personality quirks (some of which are, let’s be fair, really annoying), humans naturally give the animals a space in their homes and cater to them in sometimes truly outrageous ways.

When humans first encountered Bothans, it was through viewscreens that only showed each of them from the waist- or shoulders-up. Bothan explorers quickly discovered that humans just naturally trusted everything they said, no matter how absurd. The Bothans took advantage of this very carefully, spinning outrageous lies meant to entertain – or at least ones that did no lasting harm – to further condition humanity to like and trust our species, so that even when a Bothan resorted to deception to advance their goals, humans would quickly forgive these because of the existing relationship. It was a very strange phenomenon that baffled our xenologists, but we Bothans are nothing if not socially adaptable.

The trouble came when Bothans and humans began meeting face-to-face. It was our hooves, you see. As it turns out, the human brain can’t easily reconcile hooves with their species memory of the cunning, purring companions of their ancestors. It was an example of what they call the uncanny valley, and it disrupted the effect Bothans had on humans in social situations. They wanted to trust and ignore the petty thefts of the adorable kitty, but the hooves kept attracting their eyes and spoiling the effect. To counteract this, Bothan scientists developed special socks that created the illusion of cat paws to go with the rest of our feline anatomy. It took a bit of tweaking and engineering, but the end result were Bothan shoes that eliminated the inconvenient distracting effect on the humans we interacted with. Of course, after centuries of manufacturing and engineering, Bothan shoes are far more advanced than those barely adequate hoof disguises of early diplomats. Even the basic models are indistinguishable from a cat’s back paws, as naturally fitting as our own skin, and yet rigged for quick shedding in an emergency such as the one back there with the E-Web. But Bothan manufacturers have invented all kinds of specialty shoes for Bothans with particular needs:

- Shoes rigged with longer, sharper claws for fighting or climbing. - Shoes with hidden compartments for couriers to hide analog messages or small data pads. - Shoes with enhanced stealth capabilities. - Particularly adorable shoes that humans find even more endearing. - Even shoes with hidden thermal detonators that can be rigged to explode on a timer after being kicked off.

My shoes were of a typical model – practical but with no particularly unusual qualities. And I can get along without them as Bothans did for eons before meeting humans. But if we spend a lot of time around humans, the fact that I’m missing my shoes is going to attract unwanted attention and make it harder to remain discreet in human-dominated areas.