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———
Dek wrenches a stubborn piece of metal out of the wall of the scarred ship, tossing onto the ground where Thia sits. She’s simply taking a rest. She will resume helping presently. Maybe check to see where Bud has frolicked off to. But after. After she’s finished thinking.
These past months on Genna have proved fruitful in terms of Dek’s training regime and the assembling of a new ship for their little ‘clan’. She is not lacking in tasks. And Dek and Bud are such wonderful companions. She’s not bored or dissatisfied. Just curious.
Thia straightens, feeling cheerful. She has decided to emerge from her deep contemplation. There seems no harm in the inquiry she wants to make.
“Dek,” Thia starts, clapping her hands together.
Another piece of metal thuds onto the ship floor, accompanied by a grunt.
“I was wondering if you would be interested in sexual contact between the two of us.”
All movement abruptly stops. Thia stares at Dek’s stiff back. Waits.
“Hello! Anyone there?” She asks with a waning smile, discomforted by this lack of response, but determined to charge ahead.
“Mating is for creating offspring,” he grunts, moving on to the next shard of metal, yanking it harshly from the ship wall.
“Of course,” Thia responds. “Well! I have my answer.”
She springs lightly to her feet, exiting the ship to search for Bud.
———
“Why,” Dek says, hand outstretched as they wade through the stream.
One of the creatures darts from the canyon wall, little jaws snapping as it yanks the food from Dek’s palm.
“Well, obviously nature has evolved on this planet—”
“No. Not that,” Dek hastens to say.
Thia had been in the middle of an explanation on a piece of the surrounding flora.
“Pardon?” She asks.
“Why did you ask about— about mating?”
“Oh.”
Their limbs make muted splashing sounds as they continue through the stream. She supposes this is a reasonable question.
“I thought it might be pleasurable for both of us.”
She would categorize the silence this time as mortifying. Thia finds her mouth opening once again.
“The ports in my ears are quite sensitive. And stimulating them can be remarkably… stimulating,” Thia cannot bring herself to look over at him for some reason.
“Your ears,” he says.
“Yes,” she says quickly. “The human ah, pornagraphic material I’ve watched, while enlightening, doesn’t seem entirely practical for my… model.”
He grunts.
It seems the conversation is over.
———
Thia hears him come into the room, of course. But he doesn’t speak. She taps on the pad in her hands for a few more moments before breaking the silence.
“Lurking in a corner isn’t going to help get your thoughts across!” She tells him.
He’s been acting differently the last few days. Awkward. Less sure of himself. It is almost certainly as a result of her query. She had hoped things would return to normal after they cleared the air a little, so to speak. Human phrases! So delightful. And so plentiful. Perhaps he wishes for her to apologize? Maybe it was a more egregious faux pas than she had—
“You give up too easily.”
“Pardon?” Thia asks, turning to face him.
Dek is glowering at her. Not a promising sign.
“You give up too easily,” he repeats.
“I don’t recall having given up—”
“I would like to touch your ears,” Dek says quickly.
Thia stares at him. The silence in the room feels extremely loud.
“You would?” She asks, feeling something like mortification at the tone in her voice.
“Yes.”
She clutches tighter at her pad.
“And I would like to touch your reproductive organ.”
Dek grunts, hands curling into large fists at his side. Thia swallows despite not needing to.
She doesn’t know who moves first, but they meet in the middle.
———