Chapter Text
*Kri*
“Arrive,” I repeat in Universal once more, eyes trained on Cassie, who's watching me in turn.
Her brow furrows cutely. "Ar...rain...view?" she says back to me. Her tone is off, and she's forgetting to click her tongue. I say as much and she groans in frustration and tries again to no success. "This is impossible!"
She approached me with a book titled, "Universal and YOU! - English Edition" under one arm. She demanded that, because we are dating, it's her responsibility to learn my language, and my responsibility to teach her. No exceptions. Once I'd picked myself up off the floor, I'd happily accepted.
We spent the first few days going through the workbook step by step, practicing vowels and mouth shapes and tonal fluctuations. She's been spending the nights with me, wrapped in my arms, and we spend the mornings underlining passages and taking notes in the margins. I realized quickly what section she'll get tangled up in-- tonal markers. That makes sense, then, why she came to me instead of, say, visiting the Archive.
Cassie groans to the ceiling, and I feel sympathy for her. It's noon, close to meal-time for both us. That would explain our lack of enthusiasm and general snippiness, I can feel both of our patience wearing thin. But most problems-- if not all-- can be solved with a hot meal.
***
It's my turn to pick somewhere to eat, and I've never been more excited for a meal in my life. I know the exact place in mind. The humans who run the Outpost state that only a certain amount of "outside businesses" are permitted within the grounds. Their caution makes sense given their own planet is rife with corporate advertisement, but their influence of power stops at the gates, and if my fellow suma know anything, it's how to bend the rules to our advantage. At least a dozen stalls line the road leading north, all perfectly reputable vendors, but otherwise barred from entry and unregulated by the humans' NASA agency.
The food at the Outpost, even the non-human establishments, have begun to merge together into a single, mushy flavor for me, especially over the past week. Everything tastes the same, and I need variety. The walk is a bit of a journey, but Cassie has her walking sneakers on and has dressed for the hot weather. She even put on sunglasses that make her look like an insect.
When we exit my building, Cassie stretches her arms to the sky. "Phew! It's a scorcher today, huh? Why aren't we flying there?" She laughs, but it's not a bad idea.
"Would you like to?" I ask honestly. I'm more than happy to carry her, and it would mean less time in the sun.
"No, no, I was just joking. It's way too hot for that." She grabs my hand, swinging our arms back and forth. "Do I get any hints about this place?"
"I don't know much, only that the food is Tomsulese." At her curious glance, I continue. "It's comfort food, similar to the stall we visited in Igrien. You eat seafood, yes? It is similar to, uh, I believe sushi." It's a bit of a new experience for me, as well. I've had Tomsulese once in my life, as an adolescent, and I remember it being very good, but it's hard to get ahold of. Tomsul is a small volcanic island off the east coast of the continent, with friendly inhabitants and gorgeous beaches, and their food is some of the best on the planet. "It's mostly seafood, but there is a berry that only grows on their island, that only native residents are allowed to handle. The vendor I have in mind has that berry."
Her eyes go wide, and she doesn't lose her smile. "Sushi *and* and a mysterious berry? You spoil me, Kri."
I chuckle, and squeeze her hand gently. "I'm useful for some things, finding places to eat is one of them."
"Interesting perspective given you guys only eat once a day."
"We only *need* to eat once per day, but we also take pleasure in, what is the human word, *snacking*? Yes, that."
She hums, a short high note as if to say, *Huh, I didn't know that,* and continues on. Then, after a moment, she asks, "What do you think I'd be good at?"
I nearly pause my walking. "You're asking me?"
"Yeah," she says easily. "You're an outside perspective. Whaddya say?"
I look at her as I think. She's intelligent and clever to a fault, curious and stubborn. She enjoyed being in the greenhouse more than the lab, and she despises any kind of paperwork. "Have you considered field work?"
Her mouth falls open. "No way! That's what I was thinking too! It sounds like a great gig, right? I'd be outside with the plants, no lab or laptop, just me...and the open road." She spreads her hands wide as she says "open road," and I think it's another saying, a positive one. I clamp down on the urge to clarify, to understand, because she's got the happiest look on her face, and I don't want to take that away.
"I don't think Jillie would like being outside," she continues casually. "But I'd need a lackey to carry my stuff and do the reports."
I squeeze her gently, half-teasing. "What about me?"
A beat where she stares at me, then, "Maybe, maybe. That'll be the ultimate test of our relationship. Remember how we first started out? It's gonna be that times a thousand."
"I think we can work through it," I say. Another squeeze to her hand, "We can always just fuck it out. Not something you'd do with Jillian, I presume."
She scoffs and smacks my arm. "No, you pervert! We talk through our problems like adults. *Then* we have makeup sex." And she laughs, which makes me laugh.
Despite the heat, I'm enjoying this time with her. We stop at the small grocery store so I can get a drink, and she grabs a bag of roasted klen seeds that turns her tongue bright pink. She updates me about her parents, she's been talking to them more often now that she has the time. Her father is trying hydroponics, her mother got a puppy and she shows me a picture of the three of them in their covered back yard.
"How about your parents," she asks me, eyes glittering with curiosity. "Are they still...with us?"
I nod. "They live in northern Lethien, my homecity."
"That's by Number 7, right? What do they do there?"
I hum, recalling what I can. "M'artem and Glasio grow fuzzy fracka in the mountains, Genev travels while Hen'ike is still in Lethien, and-- what?"
"Are those other two your...in-laws?"
I blink, confused, then I remember that humans usually raise their young in pairs. "Ah, no. I had five parents, remember? I was raised communally."
She blinks, processing the information. "Right, you told me that. Five parents, huh?"
I pull out my mobile device and load up the pictures onto the projection device. The mobile flips over, and projects the images in three-dimensions. It shows all my parents standing at the front entrance to the barn, holding hands.
"Woah," Cassie moves forward, reaching out a hand and touching the holographic. It wavers but remains still. "It's all of them? I had problems with just two. How do you know which, uh, sibling is related to you then?"
"Pheromones, mostly. With technology as advanced as it is there's DNA and lineage tests too. We also have an instinct to flee the nest when we're of mating age, so it doesn't happen often." I hum, thoughtful. "It's winter there now, but visiting in the summer is much easier anyway."
She narrows her eyes at me, but she's not being scrutinizing, more like she's surprised I'd offer. "You want to travel with me?"
"Of course," I say, confused. "Why wouldn't I?"
"This talk comes further into the relationship, in my experience. The talk about meeting parents." Her voice is getting tight, I can already tell she's wrapping herself in worry again. Meeting a partner's parents must be a big thing on Earth.
I quickly correct myself. "I'm not exactly making arrangements this moment. I am, as you say, just talking." She relaxes a little at that, and I feel better.
The gates leading out of the Outpost are barely qualified as such. A series of spaced metal poles with twisted wire between creates a barrier for wildlife, but not much else. It barely comes up to my shoulder, and I wonder if it's actually meant to block anything, or just pretend to. There's a booth with a single human inside, looking like he'd rather be in the mines of Diamose than here. We show the small plastic cards with our face on them, the attendant scans them with a small handheld device, and then we're free.
I can already see the small sea of tents and booths around the corner, and I swear the faint smell of fried food drifts over as if to say, "Yes, come, we're over here."
It's a small walk along the service road and through a small line of trees until we reach the clearing, a large empty field used during construction of the Outpost that the vendors keep clear.
"Woah!" Cassie exclaims as we breach the clearing. "Holy shit, I never knew this was here!"
At least two dozen stalls around the perimeter of the ring with a few dotted inside, and lots of sitting space with tables and chairs. There's a few humans and suma playing games, music drifting through the air, and the smell is unshakable now-- spicy, sweet, then spicy again. Several new stalls have opened up selling handmade items as well.
"This is just like a farmer's market back home," Cassie says, excited. "Can we look around? I'll practice my vocab, please?"
I open my mouth to clarify that was the plan, but I hesitate. "Oh, I suppose," I say with false resignation, and she giggles. I think that's my favorite sound.
She leads me from stall to stall by the hand. To me, everything here is cheaply made, and not very well, but Cassie is excited for it, and I won't ruin her good mood. She picks up odds and ends at each stall, asking me for the word for each of them, and then repeats it back to me in that stilted, broken speech she's developing.
Even the vendors play along. We only covered the most basic of phrases, I don't even think she knows how to say goodbye yet, and their eyes glitter with amusement as she speaks to them, but I think it's my presence that keeps them from laughing. Not cruelly, but still. I make a running list of the words we're using so we can add them to her workbook later.
"Kri, look!" She runs to the next stall that's full of clothes and thrifted odds and ends. She pulls out a cloak from the rack, much too big for her, but it looks like my traveling cloak. Hasitly pulling it on, she smiles. "We can match!"
I resist the urge to hold a hand to my chest. She looks adorable; I may explode.
She pays for the cloak, but I'm the one carrying it as she flits from stall to stall, naming items and asking me to name them for her. We almost forget to eat.
Our original Tomul stall is busy, which is a good sign. I read the menu for her, and she hums through a few options before deciding to get what I get. It specializes in spicy food, something I remember Cassie enjoying. She orders a fried ball of steamed grain stuffed with a mash made of the berry and ground meat, and I order a spiced version of the same.
On that first bite, I quickly realize that I've made a mistake. I vastly underestimated the spice level of my order, thinking I could handle it, but I was wrong. So very wrong. Already my mouth burns, and I didn't get any water. Cassie doesn't seem to notice, happily munching away, so I try to cover my agony by taking another bite, trying to avoid the spicy sauce.
Mistake. I've made another mistake.
"Can't handle your spice, dear?" Cassie says on a laugh. I turn a glare on her, mouth too inflamed to respond, but she laughs it off and keeps walking.
I have to pull myself away to find some water, and the only stall offering it is halfway across the clearing. After waiting in the longest line, I walk back with two full cups, and search for Cassie, and find her speaking to another human. I'm not sure what they're talking about, but he's standing far too close to her for my comfort.
He, I'm assuming, looks the same age as Cassie, with dark brown skin and long pieces of rolled hair on his head that sway as he talks. "The property taxes are hell, but honestly? You make up for it in free groceries and better healthcare than Earth. I got a surgery done last year and it was like a spa retreat, they even gave me a stipend for missing work."
She smiles at him. "That's amazing, the USA could never."
"Hah! So true!" He bumps her shoulder with his hand, and I try not to glare. Don't touch my Cassie. "You thinking of shacking up?"
I don't know what the phrase, but Cassie's cheeks darken and she tucks a piece of hair behind her ear. "Maybe, maybe."
"Ooh, I see you, girl, I see you. It's a mountain of paperwork, but you only have to do it once! Plus, no borders, you can go anywhere on the planet."
"That's so cool," she says, genuinely impressed. "So you must really like it?"
He nods. "I was in The States for a while myself, and things are okay there, but compared to here? Unreal."
I stand off to the side as they finish their conversation, waiting for Cassie. I shouldn't interrupt, but I want to. This is meant to be our time together. I recognize the feeling as irrational, but that doesn't stop it from coming up. I've never been a possessive lover, at least, not practically. In the bedroom it came up occasionally with Vles, but there's something about Cassie that brings it out more. I know it's unhealthy, the way I stare at her, think about her all the time, plan my days around her, but I can't help it. I want to protect her, care for her, watch her flower and grow.
"Did you know him?" I try to ask casually, but apparently not casual enough because Cassie rounds on me with a frown on her face.
"Not all black--No, wait, you wouldn't do that." She blows a breath through her nose and smiles. "Nah, just some friendly conversation. Duwayne is actually from the UK, came here on a construction visa and then got married."
"Interesting," I say.
What does she mean by that? Is she planning to move away? That human, Duwayne, sparked her interest in living outside the base. It's been a struggle to remain calm with Cassie actively looking up listings using my mobile. I admit it hadn't crossed my mind, mainly because it didn't seem possible. She was tethered to the laboratory, could only be away from the greenhouse for so long. But now, nothing is barring her from leaving.
*And she'll go where, to you? Hardly.*
I pause as if struck. Where did that come from? I don't give credit to self-conscious thoughts, it's better for my health, but this hit hard. There must be some truth to it.
We find a place to sit, and then she watches as a group of school-age ento, no older than 7 or 8 years, walk into the clearing. Their embroidered bags indicate they're from a private institution, on a language learning trip.
"What're the kids doing here?" Cassie asks.
I turn back to her, and wonder if Earth has any traditions like this. "Students will take trips to get the children more familiar with the area, so they don't get lost. They're also probably studying Universal, and practicing their social skills by interviewing strangers."
Her face turns concerned, and she twists to look at the group of kids again. "Isn't that dangerous? Someone could walk off with one of them."
I look at her, confused. "They stay within the teacher's sight, and they're only to talk to adults. It's sort of a rite of passage for children, help them become part of the community."
She hums, skeptical. "Seems like it's really easy for these kids to just wander off."
A good-natured debate seems in order, and but when I open my mouth to say something that'll make her roll her eyes, we're approached by two students. The taller one has marbled coloring in gold and brown, the other striped in a deep green and bright white. "Excuse me," the tall one says in Universal, looking at me. "Are you speaking Earth English?"
When I nod, they both share a look of excitement, and Cassie looks at me curiously.
"We are learning as well," one says, switching back to English. "Can we...interview you?"
Cassie gasps, and even in the corner of my vision I can still see her radiant smile. "Yes, of course!"
They shift their bags to the front and produce a notebook half the size of their small torsos. They flip past several pages of workbook exercises I recognize from my camp on learning English, and they open to a new page.
They shift their focus to Cassie, their tone adorably serious. "What is your name?"
"Cassandra Rowland, Cassie for short."
They frown as they try to translate her name first in their local language, then in Universal. Cassie's name doesn't translate well in either, I had to ask Ari how to pronounce 'Cassandra' and they had to coach me on it for an hour. I was lucky that using her last name-- much easier to wrap my mind around at the time-- was how I addressed her formally. Now it's automatic, easy as breathing.
The smaller one speaks up. "What is your occupation?"
"I'm, uh," she pauses, eyes panicked for a brief moment before she covers it with another smile. "I'm a botanist. I'm a scientist for plants."
They nod in sync and then bend down to write at the same time, and I have to push down a smile. I did the same exercises in school at their age with Vles. Except, at that point in our lives, we hated each other. A rivalry born of growing up in a small, rural community where every move is pitted against one's peer group. I still hear a mother's voice asking why I didn't spread the sod like Vles, or why they couldn't fly as high as I could. By the time we got over ourselves and became friendly, we'd out-competed each other to the top of class.
Strangely, the memory doesn't make me sad like they so often do. It's still there, if I think about things too long, but it's manageable, I can withstand the pain if it means getting more moments like this. Watching Cassie answer their questions and nod as the kids stumble through the interview, I feel...fond. Caring. I'm certainly not naming this emotion so early, but I can relax within it. Let the warmth of it curl in my chest and expand through my lungs as I breathe.
The students ask a few more questions-- her favorite color, where she lived on Earth, her favorite food here. They actually get into a short conversation about the Moon before the teacher calls them back. They take a quick photo with her, she signs the papers in their notebooks, and they're off.
She watches them as they go, a small smile playing at her lips. She looks so relaxed, happy to be part of the community, and seems hungry to be more social. Alongside that warmth in my chest, I feel an idea forming. I can do that, I can integrate her into my world if she wants.
"I performed these as well," I tell her, and casually launch into my school days, including my rivalry with Vles. Aside from the rivalry, my days were very routine, full of lessons on sciences and the arts with other students as we prepared to become part of the community.
"Speaking of lessons," she asks, whirling on me with bright eyes.
"My lips are still regaining feeling," I say, a little sunken. I'm still replaying Cassie speaking with that other human like my life depends on analyzing their interactions to the smallest detail.
Cassie pauses to look at me, considering. There's a small quirk to her lips. "Oh yeah? Wanna work on that?" I don't know what she's implying, but I don't think it's more vocabulary lessons.
"Come over here," she says, patting the space next to her on the bench. "Come sit, teach me how to pronounce things."
Her eyes are hooded, and I feel vaguely like I'm walking into a trap. A sexual trap. I lean forward.
Cassie bats her eyelashes at me. "How did you pronounce 'Arrive,' again?"
I lean into her space, maintaining eye contact. "Arrive," I say slowly in Universal, accenting the click of my tongue because Cassie has a heat to her gaze that I can't ignore.
She purses her lips, leaning forward ever so slightly. "Ar-rive."
I grasp her by the jaw, gently squishing her round cheeks with my fingers. "Again."
"Ar-rive."
"Very good," I say in Universal, and her eyes light up.
"Did you tell me good job? Because I crushed that word."
I nod. "You did. You...crushed it."
She smiles wide at me, and says it again, "Arrive."
"Crushed it again."
She pulls out a small notebook I hadn't seen her store from her back pocket, and a pen appears from her hair like magic. Her tongue sticks out as she writes something, something I'm sure she'll show me later, so I look around the clearing.
My curiosity gets the better of me. "Do you want kids?"
Immediately, she blows a raspberry and waves me off. "I like kids, but I like being able to give them back, too. If you want kids, we're adopting. No way in hell am I going through a pregnancy."
It's best for my mental health that I ignore her statement in the middle and move forward. "I hear those are...difficult, compared to ours."
Typically, eggs are laid while soft and gelatinous, so they can be laid a clutch at a time and then set in the water where they gestate for ten months. The only precarious part of the process is the several weeks it takes the outer shell to harden, that's when they're vulnerable to predators, or translated in today's world, bad water conditions.
Cassie pulls me from my thoughts. "They're bloody, and loud, and it's some of the worst pain imaginable. Plus, there's so much shit that can go wrong at any moment, to you or the baby. No way."
"I've heard that egg laying can feel downright euphoric, it seems we've gotten off easy." I've been "male-presenting" since adolescence, as the human saying goes. I never felt the need to change back and forth, like Ari does. It's not painful like a molt, simply a movement of fluid within the differing sex organs, but Vles was always happy with me as I was so the need was never there. Cassie has mentioned dating other women in the past, so is she craving something different? I wouldn't mind switching over if she'd like.
We've never had the cultural division of genders that Earth can't seem to completely shake off, and it's been a difficult concept for us to wrap our heads around, but we're understanding it little by little, and secretly try to dismantle it alongside earthlings who want the same. We've learned to simply shrug the issue off when it arises, but I can imagine why Cassie was so upset with my intervention early in the project. I was a "man" coming in and telling her what to do, when she already had so much to worry about. I shudder to think of the pressure she must've felt to perform well, and I certainly didn't help matters.
"Remind me to find a video for you, later," she says, breaking me out of my thoughts.
I shudder. "I've never felt the need for children. Like you, I am happy to return them."
She makes a noise of relief. Then, "Usually that specific question comes much later," she says with a teasing smile. "Thinking about the future?"
*I certainly am now.* "It just seemed relevant." I gesture to the group of school children, now making their way across the far side of the field. "You were very good with them."
She barks a laugh, "Hah! Thanks. Older kids are easy, it's the little ones I'm clueless about. Is that, like, a private school thing? Going around in public?"
"It's very common, actually. That particular school is private though."
She hums, nodding to tell me she understood, and we watch the clearing as it fills with people and suma.
***
After a while, I ask, "Are you ready to go back?"
She nods, her blink is heavy and content. "Yeah, my buns are gettin' toasty."
We scan our identification cards to return to the Outpost, and begin the trek back to her apartment. It's not as hot as before, but summer is beginning to take over from spring. I notice that she starts lagging behind, sweaty, and a bit out of breath.
"Would you like to fly over, instead?"
She winces, and rubs her arm with her hand. Her face darkens in a flush. "I feel bad."
I can't stop the roll of my eyes. I picked her up once, perhaps we need to do that again. "You weigh a fraction of what I am able to lift."
Her eyes widen. "Holy shit, really?"
I nod, a little pride swelling in my chest as I bring her closer. I'm certainly no champion lifter, but I can confidently say I am stronger than the average male-presenting ento. The exercise facilities brought in from Earth are exquisite for strength training.
"Wait...What fraction?" She eyes me warily.
"Less than half."
"I don't believe you."
I transfer her whole body to my two right arms without breaking eye contact. She holds for one...two...three seconds, then folds again. She tucks her head into my shoulder. "Fine. Liftoff, I guess."
I snort, and shift her to all of my arms for an easier launch. It's an impressive feat holding her with only two, but I'd be off-balance and my left-side wings would tire quickly. I could do it, but it would sap my energy for my plans to pick her up later.
It's a beautiful day despite the heat, but even that doesn't stick as we fly into the wind. Cassie lets out a sigh of relief, and I do the same once the cool air hits the spaces between my plating. "Are you afraid of heights?"
She looks at me strangely, "No?" She looks down, at the ground, then back to me in realization. She presses her lips together, unsure, and I almost rescind my offer until she turns back to me. "You've got me, right?"
"I've got you, Cassie."
I haven't climbed like this in a while. I believe the last time was after my most recent molt, half a year ago. I'm not going too high, just above the tallest buildings of the Outpost, but Cassie holds me tight around the neck like I'm going to drop her, fingers digging into the flesh of my shoulder. I won't drop her, with all four arms supporting her she's perfectly stable, but I like that she's holding me like this, so I don't point it out.
I know the connotations for flight don't apply to humans, but I'm glad we're in the air because I feel the shudder of my wings the whole trip up. Humiliating. She once asked if we could have sex Traditionally, in the air, and it's a thought that resurfaces at the worst times. Now, for instance. Given how tightly she's holding me, I don't think now is the right time to bring it up, but I store it in my head for a later date.
We climb and climb, her face tucked in, until I find a stopping point and switch my wing angle to hover in the air. The wind is more abrasive up here, but it's nothing I can't handle, it's actually several degrees cooler up here because of it. Cassie's poofy hair whips around her head, and I lament the loss of her hair design, the little star poofs on either side matched her personality.
"Look," I say, encouraging her to raise her head. The view is magnificent from above, collections of colored buildings reflecting the disciplines within, split by dark roadways that branch into narrow sidewalks and alleyways. It's balanced and almost symmetrical in a way I've only seen from Earthlings, it almost looks artistic, very pleasing to look at.
Slowly, she turns from me and looks out, her mouth open. "It's so pretty. Oh! I can see the greenhouses from here!" She points northeast, and there, between the solid metal cubes that make up the receptacle facilities are the crystaline roofs of the greenhouses. "And there's my building, and the Archive, and I bet the expansion project is behind or beneath us."
She looks down and starts so hard she nearly jolts out of my hands. "Bad idea, bad idea."
I chuckle and crane my neck to look down for her. "Beneath us is the archive expansion project, and the biology buildings." I readjust my wings again so we turn in the air and face the other direction. I spot my building not a stone's throw away, and begin to move in that direction as Cassie continues to name the building we pass.
"There's the chem labs-- wow, they really need to clean that roof, and we just passed the Civil Engineering building. Oh! There's the gym, avoid that, ha ha."
It reminds me of the aquarium, when she pointed out the animals and we made a game of finding the names. I credit my victory to Ari, who pulls me into their aquatic profession as often as they can. Again I'm hit with that fond feeling from earlier as we touch down onto the roof of my apartment building. The need to leave this place tugs at me, I crave the mountains of Lethien, the open fields of Karad, anything but these sterile metal walls that keep me on the ground.
As gently as I can, I touch down and set Cassie on the roof. She stumbles on her feet and I steady her, keeping my hand on her lower back even when she rights herself.
"Whoo!" She exclaims, stretching her arms high above her head. The motion exposes her soft belly and I have to restrain myself from touching it. "That was a trip! We gotta do that again, and give me a parachute. What's the highest you've gone?"
We walk to the access door and I open it for her, and we begin to descend the stairs. "When I was around twenty and very physically active, I flew as high as I could. I reached a point where it got hard to maintain altitude, and I couldn't breathe very well. I haven't tried to go that far since." It's a fond memory, one that filled me with a sense of accomplishment that I carried into my professional career.
"Did you set, like, a record?"
"Doubtful. The highest flight nearly entered the...oh, what's the word, the stratosphere? The next level of atmosphere. Enim'alo, a very well-known athlete."
We land and reach my floor, continue down the hall, and I open the door to my apartment so we can step inside. Again, I know the connotations don't apply, but that doesn't stop my mind from racing, which I feel is unnecessary. She's been in my home before, many times in fact, but it doesn't stop my stomach from turning over as she falls back into my basket and kicks her shoes off. She told me it's what humans do when they're comfortable with the other, and yet another overwhelming wave of fondness comes over me.
She raises and looks to me, eyes alight. "Wanna practice more?" I'm slowly learning her mannerisms, and she doesn't wish to practice vocab. She wants something else.
I give her a sideways glance, my lips quirked up. "Perhaps my lips are still numb."
Her responding smile is sharp. "Oh? Want me to kiss it better?" She starts to get out of the basket, but even for us it can be challenging. I watch as she thrashes for a moment, making various grunts of efforts before I step over and steady it for her. She finally stands, then walks over to me, presses up onto her toes, and plants a kiss on my mouth.
"I'll try anything once," I say. "And if I have an injury...somewhere else?"
"I'll kiss wherever you want," she says, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and leaning in to kiss me. Her mouth is so soft against mine, warm and pliant as it moves against me, I can't help but deepen it. She makes a soft noise when my tongue slips past her lips, and I swallow it whole. Her lips are warm, and my antennae pick up the scent of the Tomsulese, and the smell of her shampoo.
She parts to look at me, her gaze warm and inviting. "Wanna play a game?"
I'm not sure where she's going with this, but she's looking at me like she wants to eat me. I am not opposed to this. "Of course."
We only play the game for a few minutes, as Cassie gets closer and closer to me with each hand, to the point that I forget the rules and wind up carrying her to bed. She's warm and pliable as I climb in behind her, all soft sighs and half-lidded looks as I press kiss after kiss to her skin.
She rolls us over so she is on top, and when I allow my groin plates to open, my half-hard cock falls out. Her eyes go wide for a moment. "I didn't even think about it being blue."
I shiver at the air against my shaft, the lubrication turning it cold. Without preamble, she wraps her fingers around the base and lays the other atop my hips. It only takes a few strokes to get me fully hard, and normally I'd be embarrassed, but I just want her to keep touching me.
"Woah," she says, and I silently preen. "Mind if I just take a look first?"
"I am yours to examine, doctor," I reply, shifting my wings slightly to either side so I can lay flat on my back.
On the inside of my thigh, she traces a bio-channel with a finger, the inside of my knee to my hip. Lips are next to press there, gentle, reverent kisses against my plating that slowly make their way upwards and drawing my attention till she's all I'm thinking about. She repeats for the other side, just as slow, each touch mere inches from where I actually want her. She rubs soothing lines up and down my side, like she's trying to calm me, and I want to touch her, reach out and warm her skin with my own; but doing so would pull her away from whatever investigation she's performing between my legs, so I won't stop her.
Grasping me again at the base again, she feels the top ridges, swollen with fluid but still soft, and then the smaller ones on the bottom. She tests the weight of it, feeling with gentle fingers the flared head, pushing into the flesh underneath and making my hips buck up. I'm not particularly sensitive, but she manages to find every weak spot in a manner of minutes, pulling an embarrassing amount of sounds from me in the process. My cock leaks generously onto her hands, both pre and lubricant making her fingers glide like water and working to untether my mind.
"Are you considered big?" she asks, tilting it to run a finger up one side, over the head, and down the other side.
When I can't form a reply, she begins to lazily stroke me again and all I manage to say is, "N-not really."
She hums in disbelief, and then curls her index finger, and places it at the base. She stacks her other finger on top of it, and I realize she's measuring me. "Hmm, you're about eight inches, which is way above average on Earth."
Satisfied with her data, she grabs my cock by the base again and then envelops the head in the warmth of her mouth without any warning. Any smart retort I had is lost as my back arches off the basket and I muffle a cry with my hands. I wasn't expecting it, but gods does it feel good. Her tongue presses flatly against the bottom, wet and sloppy and perfect as she moves. I keep my hands pressed to my mouth, because otherwise they're going to push her down.
She smiles at me, her lips shiny from the lubricant, and a muscle in my jaw jumps. There's a flush high on her cheekbones, and her eyes sparkle like a tidepool in the sun. Then she tilts her head, pushing it into my hand. "You can use both...or all of them, if you want. I, uh, like the...direction." The flush darkens, and I groan aloud as I thread fingers through her hair.
I guide her through the rest, tilting her head, listening to the obscene noises filling my apartment and trying not to come too fast. She takes me deep, something I didn't know she could do, but it stretches fingers of pleasure up my spine, and makes it that much harder to stay still. She moves fluidly, steadying me with her hands as I maneuver her head. On the heels of sensation I feel emotion welling up alongside it, that sticky, sweet feeling that's been plaguing me all day. I don't want her to go. Or if she does, I want to go with her, anywhere.
When I come, I come hard, and she takes every drop like an absolute angel. I pull her up using all four arms, kiss her, and I can taste my seed on her lips. It keeps me from saying the things I want to say, because she's already worried about moving fast. So I keep my thoughts to myself, only repeating them in my head: I love you, I love you, I love you.