Isamu pondered his conundrum in light of the siren’s metaphor. “To use those terms, you are essentially correct. I am not able to make calls. When they call, I do not hear it ring, and they are greeted with something more akin to white noise or monotonously relaxing hold music.”

That kind of worked, actually. Common ground!

“And it is not as though I cannot communicate in other ways. Verbal communication can and does happen. For those that are not half-human, empathy makes up for a lack of facial expressions, but not being able to pick up on that has not hindered communication.”

He shook his head, returning to the metaphor again. “My phone is busted. But now pretend that I am also tech support.”