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The Doctor walked quietly down the halls of Rhodes Island, heading to his destination with quite a bit more nervousness than he was used to. Normally he had no reason to feel any trepidation within the landship unless Kal’tsit was nearby, but this time the source of nervousness was someone he normally felt quite comfortable around, and he wasn’t sure how to handle it.
That person was Asbestos.
To be honest, the Doctor wasn’t entirely sure what’d happened. A few months prior, after the two of them had made a very stupid bet, they embarked on an expedition together to Bolivar. It had been the Doctor’s first expedition and Asbestos very clearly doubted he could handle it, but despite the difficulties of being out in the wilderness (especially with someone as ornery as Asbestos), they’d spent what he thought was an enjoyable time out on the Black Flow. Asbestos adjusted her pace and habits to accommodate him, and the two of them got along well.
So what happened?
For the entire week the two of them spent returning to Rhodes Island, Asbestos gradually became quieter and more distant. And in the two weeks since they returned, she hadn’t made any contact with the Doctor at all. No visits to his office, no invitations to go drinking, nothing. And every time he tried to talk to her, she always avoided him pretty easily. He began to wonder if he’d managed to offend her in some way and wasn’t entirely sure how to approach her about it. Before he could think of the best way to talk to her, though, she’d sent him a text message.
“come here”
Thus he found himself standing in front of her door, both relieved to be seeing her again and nervous as to why she kept away from him in the first place. Hoping his emotions wouldn’t be too obvious, he knocked on the door. “Asbestos? It’s me.”
All was silent for a bit before he heard her low response. “Door’s open.”
And now the moment of truth. Bracing himself, he opened the door and peeked inside.
Asbestos’s room was rather dark, as the only real source of light was from the sunbeams that shone through the window blinds. The place was a mess as always, with clothes strewn all over the floor, boxes stacked in the corner, and expedition equipment everywhere. There was a faint, yet distinct smell in the air too. None of this came as a surprise to the Doctor; he’d escorted Asbestos to her room after a night of drinks on more than one occasion. Still, he wasn’t a fan of having to trudge through so much junk to enter the place.
Asbestos herself was sitting on the bed, back turned to the door. Dressed only in a loose tank-top and some blue panties, her knees were pulled up to her chest. The Doctor couldn’t see her expression from where he was standing, but it didn’t look like she was wearing her eyepatch. Her tail lay across a large portion of the bed, as lovely as ever. Something seemed a bit different about it, though.
Watching his step, the Doctor entered the room. “Hey. What’s up?”
Asbestos’s tail slowly glided along the bed, almost as if it was wagging, but she didn’t turn to him. “Yeah, I uh...I need your help.”
Feeling a bit of concern, the Doctor moved toward the sitting Savra. “Is something wrong? You need anything?”
“Nah, no,” Asbestos replied. “I’m just, uh...I’m molting.”
“Whatever that is, you’re going to have to say it differently because that sounds gross.”
“I’m shedding my skin, asshole!” Asbestos snapped, finally turning to look at him. Her infected eye almost glowed in the near-darkness.
“Oh,” the Doctor replied. He’d never heard about any operator having to do this, but guessed it was probably a racial characteristic. Still, that wouldn’t stop him from giving his friend a bit of a hard time. “I was wondering where that spandex suit of yours went.”
Asbestos rolled her eyes but couldn’t resist cracking a small smile. “It’s a Savra thing, idiot. It happens once a year or so, real pain in the ass.” Her tail lifted up from the bed, swishing lazily around in the air.
The Doctor’s eyes followed the moving appendage as he spoke. “Does this shedding have anything to do with you calling me here?”
“...Yeah.” Asbestos turned face-forward again, leaving the Doctor unable to see her expression. “I uh...need some help. With my tail.”
As he continued to watch the tail’s movements, the Doctor finally realized why it looked a bit off. It had an odd sheen to it, like something almost transparent was covering it. It wasn’t easy to notice in the dimness of the room, but he was sure of it now. “You want me to pull the skin off your tail.”
Asbestos nodded.
“You can’t do it yourself?”
She shrugged. “It’s uh...complicated. I can’t get the base by myself.” She turned to face him. “You gonna do it or not?”
Rather than press against that rather lackluster reasoning, the Doctor nodded and moved carefully to the bed, stepping over the many obstacles in his path. Asbestos crossed her legs and sat up a bit straighter, tail wiggling a bit in anticipation.
Sitting down right behind her, the Doctor adopted the same cross-legged position as his impromptu patient and removed his gloves. Reaching toward Asbestos’s lower back, he firmly grasped the very base of her tail. A quiet intake of breath drew his attention. “You alright?”
“Y-Yeah.” Asbestos muttered. “All good here, just get started.”
“Fine, fine.” The Doctor rubbed gently along the circumference of the slick tail, appreciating its texture. He always loved her tail, even going so far as to consider it a charm point of hers. It’d been some months since he last had the privilege of touching it freely, so he planned to enjoy this as much as he could. The loose outer layer of skin was apparent through the thin coating of slime, and he pinched a bit of it, pulling experimentally. The dead skin stretched, peeling away from the tail for a bit before tearing off. The surface where the skin had been was now a reflective black. It looked pretty nice.
The Doctor looked up. “Did that hurt?”
Asbestos shook her head. “Nah, it’s fine. Keep going.”
With a nod, the Doctor continued. The skin was easy to pull away, but it was slightly brittle and came apart rather easily. Peeling all of it off would take some time. Although he certainly didn’t mind the process, his hands were quickly becoming coated with the slime Asbestos constantly secreted. Having experienced it firsthand in the past, he was a bit concerned about its effects.
It didn’t help that the two of them were sitting in silence, with the only distraction being Asbestos’s quiet, hitched breaths as her tail was constantly fondled.
In an attempt to change the atmosphere, the Doctor cleared his throat. “So...why me?”
“Huh?”
“Why did you ask me to help?” The Doctor clarified, finishing with the base of the tail and moving upwards. “If this is a medical thing, there are definitely others way more qualified on this landship than me. If this is about familiarity, wouldn’t Magallan be better?”
Asbestos snorted. “Yeah, no. This isn’t something I can ask Mags for.”
“How come?”
“Besides,” Asbestos said, pointedly ignoring the question, “you’ve proven time and again you’ve got a real thing for tails. It’s embarrassing the amount of times I’ve caught you staring at some of the girls.”
“Oh really?” The Doctor said as he squeezed the tail in his hands, eliciting a gasp from its owner. “So this is really a favor for me, is that what you’re saying?”
“Jerk.” Asbestos muttered, recovering from the sensory shock. “And yeah, maybe it is.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “So...who’s got your favorite?”
“My favorite tail? That’s a tough one.” It’s not actually a tough one at all, the Doctor thought as he continued peeling away at Asbestos’s shedding skin, nearing the halfway point of her tail. “Do you really wanna know?”
“Yeah,” Asbestos answered playfully. “Be honest, I wanna hear what tail really gets ya goin’.”
“...Yours.”
Asbestos’s tail went rigid for just a moment in the Doctor’s hands. She was silent, leaving the Doctor more than a little nervous. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she gave an odd, stilted laugh. “Heh, come on. I said be honest.”
“I am.” The Doctor gave Asbestos’s tail a firm squeeze, eliciting the first actual moan she’s let slip. “I think you’ve got the best tail I’ve ever seen, Asbestos.”
Asbestos shivered a bit at his words before turning to look over her shoulder. Her eyes were half-lidded and it was hard to tell in the low light, but she definitely seemed to be blushing. “If you’re really serious...tell me what you like about it.”
The Doctor gulped. The atmosphere was getting heavier. The tail ministrations were clearly getting to Asbestos by now, and if the tingling in his palms and the heat he was feeling was any indication, Asbestos’s secretions were getting to him. That being said, she had clearly issued a challenge to him, and he intended to step up to it.
“Well,” he began, taking a break from peeling to lightly stroke the upper part of Asbestos’s tail, causing an uncharacteristic whimper. “I love its beautiful black color and shine, its length, its shape. The way it moves behind you as a perfect compliment to the rest of your body. The amazing orange color it gets when you use your Arts, the flame that shows up on the tip when you get really fired up. Aesthetically speaking, it’s amazing.” He punctuated his sentence with a squeeze.
“Fuck,” Asbestos muttered, her breathing growing heavier.
The Doctor continued, not stopping his massage. “It feels perfect, too. Sleek and slick, nice and smooth, and so flexible. Wide at the base but it tapers off so wonderfully. Always lubed and ready for anything you might have in mind.” He leaned forward until his lips were right next to her ear. “No tail on Terra gets me going like yours does, Asbestos.”
“F-Fine, I get it!” Asbestos said, face clearly red to the tips of her ears as she put her hands up in surrender. “I believe you, I believe you. You can stop now...” Her breathing was still heavy, her shoulders moving up and down as she tried to calm herself.
The Doctor inwardly gave a sigh of relief, then went back to his previous peeling job, a bit of a triumphant look on his face. Maybe it wasn’t a competition, but he definitely felt like he came out on top there. It came at a price though; he found himself significantly more worked up himself, and he still had a little less than half of her tail to go. The atmosphere in the room was still highly charged as well.
There was one way to change the mood, though.
Before he could think twice, the Doctor spoke up. “Now that I’ve been honest with you, I want you to be honest with me.”
Asbestos didn’t say anything, but she gave a slight nod in agreement.
“Where have you been these past couple weeks? What happened on the trip?”
“...Oh.” Asbestos said. “I...I’ve been around.”
“Not around me,” the Doctor replied, letting go of Asbestos’s tail altogether. “Did I do something to make you angry?”
“...Nah, you didn’t.”
“Was I a bad expedition partner?”
Asbestos snorted. “You were awful. But no, that’s not why.”
“Then tell me,” the Doctor urged. “I’ve been wondering all this time what happened.”
Sighing, Asbestos ran a hand through her dark hair. “It’s just...I dunno. I had a real good time with you, and it kinda...put me on edge a bit.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “I’m not used to it. I’ve spent a lot of time alone, and after I got infected I was ready to stay that way. I didn’t even want to stay here at first.”
The Doctor smiled. “Yeah I remember, you kicked up a big fuss about it.”
“Yeah.” Asbestos continued. “Even with Mags, I respect her and like her a lot, but we’re always on different expeditions so we aren’t real close all the time. Not like you and I were.”
“Is that...a problem?”
Asbestos looked over her shoulder. “I dunno.” Her eyes stared straight into his. “You know Doc, I’m a pretty mean person.”
“Yeah.”
“And I really don’t wanna change. I like being mean. But you, you don’t just take shit from me. Sometimes you’re mean right back, and it’s fun. I like it. You’re good for jokes and a nice drinking buddy, too. Spending time with you is...it’s nice.”
The Doctor swallowed. The atmosphere in the room had shifted a bit, but now it felt like completely unknown territory, especially with Asbestos’s heartfelt honesty. He wondered if she could hear his heart pounding.
“The trip to Bolivar was what sealed it for me.” Asbestos turned away from him again. “It was one hell of a trip, one of the best I’ve had. Made me realize how much I enjoyed being around someone else. It was...weird.”
“So you needed some space.”
“Yeah. I figured it out eventually, but I’m still kinda...adjusting to it. Guess I should’ve said something, though. My bad.”
The Doctor knew that was Asbestos’s version of an apology and was rather relieved that her distance wasn’t his fault at all. “It’s kind of funny, you know?” He asked. “That you got cold feet after the trip instead of after we...after that bet.”
“Heh, I guess.” Asbestos agreed. “That felt different though, we were kinda drunk and really fuckin’ horny. Everything after that...I didn’t have any excuses for what I was feelin’. It was all real.”
“...Turn around, Asbestos.”
“Huh?” Asbestos looked back in confusion before shifting her whole body until she was facing him. “What for?”
“This.” The Doctor reached behind Asbestos, grabbing her butt with both hands. Asbestos gave a yelp of surprise before she was pulled into his lap, face-to-face.
“H-Hey, give me some warning next time!” Asbestos exclaimed. “The hell are you thinkin’?”
“Just thought maybe we should help you get used to this closeness.” The Doctor wrapped his arms around her, as if in a hug. “Swing your tail this way, I’m almost done.”
“...This is so stupid,” Asbestos muttered, scooting up flush against the Doctor’s body, wrapping her arms and legs around his torso. “Fine, just be careful. You—”
“I know, I know, the tip is the most sensitive part. Trust me, I’ll be gentle.”
Asbestos grunted. Her tail moved, the tip hovering just beyond her right shoulder, and with gentle hands, the Doctor took hold of the appendage and began his work again.
“Mm.” Asbestos vocalized her pleasure as her face slowly nuzzled into her lover’s neck. “Nice and slow,” she whispered.
The Doctor swallowed, having felt the movement of her lips against his neck. Between her face, her chest pressed firmly against his own, and her body heat and weight on his lap, the atmosphere had taken another distinctly sensual turn. The tingling in his hands and the heat he was feeling didn’t help matters. It wasn’t uncomfortable, though. It felt nice. Intimate. His fingers deftly took care of the remaining skin on her tail while she issued quiet moans into his neck. He could feel her heartbeat, and he was certain she could feel his.
Eventually, the last bit of skin peeled away with a shudder from Asbestos. “Alright,” the Doctor whispered. “It’s done.”
He expected her to say something snarky. He expected her to get up.
He didn’t expect her to slowly wrap her tail around them both, bringing them just a little closer.
“Thanks,” she murmured, lips still pressed against his flesh. “Now stay here with me for a bit.”
The Doctor couldn’t help but smile. “Okay.”
They sat there in the dimly-lit room, enjoying each other’s comfortable warmth. Asbestos didn’t bother telling the Doctor that she was more than capable of taking care of her tail on her own. Asbestos didn’t bother telling the Doctor that helping with a Savra’s tail shedding is considered an intimate act between lovers. And as the two eventually fell asleep together, she didn’t bother telling him that wrapping her tail around them both was as close as she could ever come to a confession.
He’d figure it out himself. Eventually.