Case Study: Interspecies Mating, page 21
“Ink doesn’t really stay under scales the same way it does for you fleshies,” he said, flexing the arm that had his clavas scar. “Not that my people haven’t tried, but any design either ends up just turning into a dark blob or doesn’t take at all and fades as we shed.”
“Fleshies?” She laughed. “Is that what we’re calling it?”
“That’s what you are,” he chuckled. “I’m scaley. You’re fleshy.”
“Are Kwee and Fway feathery?”
“Feathered, but yes, that’s how the classification works.”
She cocked her head curiously, not even really paying attention to the beef tips she had picked for dinner since she knew he liked them. “Wait, like it’s a real thing?”
“Yes, it’s a real thing.”
“Tell me.”
“You just enjoy asking me questions better reserved for those two overly saccharine scientists, don’t you?”
She threw back her head, laughing. “Oh, my god, they are disgusting. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sweeter couple. It gives me cavities.”
“I don’t know, my sweet little water droplet. You don’t think it’s cute?”
“Don’t you dare start!” She lowered her fork at him, snorting as he gave her what was probably supposed to be an adorable look. His reptilian face couldn’t quite pull it off – thank absolutely everything.
“How about my endless flight?”
“You can’t fly!”
“My endless swim, then.”
“That’s called drowning!” She folded over, nearly dying of laughter. Those ridiculous endearments in his deep, hissing voice just made the already silly nicknames sound even worse.
Rizor let out a long, sad, exaggerated sigh. “My own mate would deny me the right to call her my precious swamp gas. I’m truly an unlucky male.”
Shoshana couldn’t stop laughing. It was too much. “Swamp gas?! Really?!”
“Like you could come up with something better.”
“Are you kidding?” She sat up straight, tossing back her braids with a sassy flick of her hand. “How about – my sweet schnookie-scales?”
He made a face. “Ugh. That’s terrible! It doesn’t at all compare to – my pretty little muck bug.”
“Oh, well, I cannot deny, I’ve always wanted to be called a muck bug,” she nodded sagely. “But you can’t beat – my big, strong heckin’ chomper.”
“My teeth are indeed impressive.” He snapped them twice for effect. “But that is nothing like the romance of – my tender flesh mate.”
She nearly fell out of her chair. He had his nose in the air, preening under the force of her laughter.
“That has got to be the worst pet name I’ve ever heard,” she gasped.
“I thought I was being romantic and loving,” he countered smugly before breaking down into his own laughter.
“It sounds like a cheap, knock off sex toy,” she snorted, struggling to catch a breath.
“Oh! That’s a perfect one.” He leaned in, being all cute and gross. “You’re my adorable, knock off sex toy.”
“No!” She moaned, falling over him, laughing so hard tears pooled in her eyes.
“You’re right. Tender flesh mate sounds better.”
“I swear, if you call me tender flesh mate in any context, you’re going to need an adorable, knock off sex toy because I will be done.”
Chapter 19
Rizor
His mate’s laughter was sweet and infectious. It lifted his spirits as he watched her struggle to gain back control over herself. Adorable nicknames might not be how he could show her affection like Fway and Kwee did, but anything that made her laugh like that as she fell against his side, unable to keep herself up, was fine with him.
“So, tell me about the classification thing,” she said after they calmed down.
“Well, I’m no expert, but it’s the five basic types of sapients.”
“Explain it to me like I’m a child,” she corrected, snickering.
“Right. Er, so, the universe is full of life. And a lot of it can be strange and different. But sapient creatures are all rather similar.”
“I have noticed that, yes,” she said, looking between their bodies.
“Well, there’s this theory that sapient life has to follow certain parameters. Not just in the shape we evolve into, but also in the general range of acceptable environments to thrive. Like, air quality and water quality, gravity limits. Things like that.”
“Okay, yeah. I get that. Narrow range of life.”
“Exactly. But you’ll notice that we’re all still really different. Sapient creatures can be classified into one of five categories. Fleshy, scaley, feathered, chitinous, and furred.”
“I thought you were going to say furry.”
“Hm?”
“Never mind. Keep going,” she snickered.
He smiled back at her. “So, every sapient will fall into one of those five categories. You, therefore, are fleshy. I’m scaley.”
“I’m covered in hair though.” She lifted her arm, showing him the delicate hairs that grew there. The sight made him snort.
“That is not fur. Fur is defined as hair that serves a functional purpose. What purpose does that serve? Keeping you warm? Making you bigger to scare predators? No. You are fleshy.”
“What about the hair on my head? That’s enough to keep me warm.”
“And serves as a nice handle,” he agreed, running his claws through the thin braids with an approving grin. “But that’s not enough hair.”
“What is enough hair then?”
“It’s Standardized. Everything is Standardized. Your classification as a species is whatever dermal type that females have covering most of their bodies, most of the time during their adulthood. Human males might be able to be classified as furred. I’ve seen some of them. They can get very furry. But the definition is based on females.”
“Really?” She looked surprised. “Why?”
“Because females are the most important when it comes to genetic delivery. It can lead to some confusion sometimes. There’s a species where the females are fully fleshy, but the males are fully scaled. But the females are rarely seen outside of their burrows because their skin is as delicate as, well, yours.”
“Hey.”
“So, the males are really the only ones that are seen. Knowing that they’re classified as fleshy is kind of strange when you see them. But that’s how it works sometimes. There are species that have more than one dermal type, so it’s whichever one is predominant. And it has to be as an adult, since some creatures have different types when they’re younglings.”
“It really is Standardized,” she chuckled, leaning back from her tray, pushing it towards him. Saying without a word that he could have the rest.
“Everything is,” he chuckled. “My tender little flesh mate.”
“I’m leaving.”
She stood, breaking into laughter when he grabbed her by the waist, yanking her onto his lap. He clutched her close, keeping her from running away as he nuzzled the side of her head. Her cute little human laugh rolled through him as she reached back to run her fingers through his quills.
“Huh,” she said softly. “I thought they’d be sharp.”
“The tips can be. Not very comfortable if something were to try to take a bite,” he snapped his jaws playfully by her ear as she giggled.
He couldn’t remember the last time he laughed this much. Had been playful. It was such a light and airy feeling in his chest, he wondered if he could fly after all.
“Tell me about your home planet,” she said, relaxing back into his embrace.
“Hr’ssri? What do you want to know?”
“What would life be like there? I mean, if I came with you.”
The very idea made his cocks hard and she chuckled, wiggling her butt over his slit.
“Tease,” he hissed as she snickered wickedly.
“Tell me about Hr’ssri.”
“You’d like my clavas lands. My clavas home is large. It was built when my clavas was equally big.”
“Oh, so the clavas all live together?”
“Is that a problem? Humans seem to prefer their solitude.”
“I don’t have to sleep in the same bed as your mother, right?”
He chuckled. “She’d love it if you slept with her sometimes. But no. The only nest I want you sleeping in is mine. We have private rooms, but generally a clavas will all share the same space. If we have hatchlings, with luck, the majority will want to stay with us even after they mate.”
“Might take some getting used to.”
“You’re too accustomed to being on your own.” He rubbed his hand along her belly. “But that’s fine. You’ll get accustomed to being surrounded by loved ones soon enough. And you can have your own private human room if you need it.”
“I might take you up on that.” She covered his hand with both of hers, keeping it still. “What about a job though? Would I be able to work? What about you? Would you stay off the planet for years at a time doing security gigs?”
She tried to keep her voice lighthearted, but he could hear the tension in it.
“No,” he assured her. “I am a mated male. Mated males don’t leave the clavas. I would get a job, but it would be one nearby. Or one I could do from home. As for you? You can do whatever do you want, tsaria. You don’t have to work if you don’t desire to.”
“No way. I’m not a kept woman. I want to work. But…” The power faded from her voice. “What role could a human social worker have on Hr’ssri?”
He didn’t have an answer for her, because the truth was that he didn’t know. He wanted Shoshana in his home, more than anything. He wanted her carrying his eggs, sleeping in his nest, swimming in the waters surrounding his house. But he didn’t want it at the expense of her own happiness, and there was no doubt in his mind that such a simple life wouldn’t appeal to her ambition or work ethic. His Shoshana needed more.
And he didn’t know how to give it to her.
Chapter 20
Shoshana
After sending Fway and Kwee a message requesting more information, Shoshana now had a handy little Welcome to the Coalition manual. It came with a note that they’d love her insight into it since it was still in progress, and they were hoping to have a copy to give to any humans who left Earth. Having a human social worker put their eyes on it for any potential mistakes or additions was ideal.
The first part was pretty basic. It was a little blurb welcoming her into the wider universe and promising that it was a safe, amazing place. This one specifically told her that humans were not considered Coalition citizens, but instead citizens of the protectorate Earth. They were still bound by Coalition laws, but kidnapping or assaulting a human without cause was a high crime.
After that, it went into some basic history of the Coalition. All of it was new to Shoshana, so she read it eagerly.
The Coalition was a group of over two hundred species that joined together for the sake of protection, trade, and strength. It started with six species that, eons ago, knew each other only through distant communication who decided to help each other explore the universe. From those friendships, the Coalition was born.
There was a note in the document telling Shoshana that this was where individual species could add specific information for their planet. This manual she was looking at would be the Standard, but any planet could change and adapt it for themselves as necessary.
There was also information about the five species classifications – which was what she had asked about in the first place. There was another note telling Shoshana that this was where an individual species could add information about themselves.
The five classifications were purely physical in nature. It was just an easy way to organize people based on what type of outer layer they had. Chitinous species were the rarest type. Shoshana didn’t think she’d even seen someone on the lunar base with chitinous skin. That only made her more curious about what they looked like.
But what she was really interested in were the scaley types. And it just so happened that this copy she had been sent also included a blurb about the ratchi in particular.
She bit her lip when she saw that included in the information before quickly looking across the hall to the open door of the security room. Rizor was there, of course, but he seemed to be focused on his computer. She didn’t know what he was doing, but he seemed completely absorbed in the task.
Which meant she could stalk his species a bit without worrying he’d see her. It was getting late; they’d both be off soon. They were going to her room tonight, so she could show him what a hockey game was. They didn’t have any recordings from real games, but they had a whole library of movies to choose from, and that was going to be close enough.
For now, she read up on the ratchi.
They were a primarily carnivorous species, but they weren’t obligate carnivores. They could eat almost anything, they just preferred meat since it was what was healthiest for them. They had great senses of smell, which came in handy as, though they were civilized, their people still hunted for most of their food. They were famous for being a very difficult species to keep contained. Their joints could dislocate at will, and they could fit through anything bigger than their head – like a cat. Anything they couldn’t slip through, they could usually break using brute force.
The ratchi were an unusual species, as far as the Coalition was concerned. Their planet had been discovered from afar, and though the ratchi had been noted, they had been mistakenly believed to be animalistic, not sapient. Their world was therefore marked as one to be colonized and used for resources for the Coalition.
The ratchi, instead of immediately reacting with violence, had watched their otherworldly visitors and learned from them. And then reacted with violence.
The ratchi hadn’t developed a space program and left the planet on their own. They fought back against those coming to colonize their planet, stole all their stuff, then used it to launch themselves out of their atmosphere, out of their solar system, and basically shoved themselves under the nose of the Coalition.
Reading about how they basically stole membership into a huge conglomeration of advanced aliens made Shoshana laugh. And filled her with a strange hope.
If this was the kind of people Rizor was descended from, then maybe he would understand why she was being asked to steal something. True, the Coalition weren’t colonizing Earth, and the humans weren’t taking back land that was stolen from them, but it was kind of the same thing.
Right?
“Hey.”
She jumped, trying and failing twice before closing out the window and turning to face Rizor who was standing in her doorway. Giving her a smirk over his muzzle.
“That wasn’t suspicious at all,” he said.
“Thanks, I was going for nonchalant.”
“You did great, tsaria.” He gestured over his shoulder. “I’m finished. Are you ready to go?”
The fact that he didn’t even ask what she had so obviously tried to hide from him made a lance of guilt strike right through her belly.
“Er, yeah. I just got to close out of… everything.” She had been so absorbed in reading, she hadn’t done anything for the last hour.
“I’m in no rush,” he chuckled, coming in to lean against her wall. “Anything interesting happen with your day?”
She debated her answer for just a second before replying, “Yeah, actually. I got a little info packet from Fway and Kwee about the ratchi. Is it true your people stole membership into the Coalition?”
He laughed. “No. We recovered what the Coalition stole from us, then demanded they give us restitution. They offered membership for our skill and bravery and intelligence. We didn’t invent any of their technology, but we learned how to operate it on our own.”
Just like that, the hope died again. Of course, he wouldn’t see it as stealing. Not when it had been theirs to begin with.
She had just finished closing everything out when loud stomping down the hall heralded the arrival of Sareeq – one of the men from the experiment.
“Shoshana! I can’t do it anymore!” He yelled by way of greeting, not even noticing Rizor as he came inside, slamming his hands down on her desk. “She’s at it again, and I can’t take it!”
“Who’s at what again?” Shoshana asked, trying to switch gears back into professional mode with no warning.
“My damn neighbor! She’s being loud again. You said you talked to her!”
“I did.”
“Well, she’s still doing it! I can hear her through the walls. The walls are metal. Metal, Shoshana! You have to do something!”
A low hiss cut off Sareeq’s tirade. He whipped around, paling when he saw Rizor glaring at him – clearly displeased by him raising his voice at her.
“It’s okay, Rizor,” Shoshana smiled at him. “Do you want to help me with this? Eloisa is next door to Sareeq and she’s being loud. Maybe if you ask her to keep it down, she’ll listen a little better this time.”
He grunted in affirmation, standing straight. “We’ll take care of it, male. But next time you wish for something, don’t come roaring at Shoshana that way. It’s rude.”
Sareeq cleared his throat, stepping back. “Of course. Sorry, Shoshana. I didn’t mean… I just haven’t been sleeping well because of her. She’s up all hours of the night.”
“Well, you know, she’s older. She doesn’t require as much sleep.” Shoshana came around her desk, smiling at him to show there were no hard feelings. “We’ll talk to her.”
Leading the way out, Shoshana asked where Sareeq’s room was – second to last at the far end of the hall. Eloisa’s was last.
There were a bunch of people that had put paper signs on their doors. Most of them had done it just because they wanted an easier way to identify their doorway besides basic numbers. Others just wanted a chance to add their own flare to the otherwise bland hall.
Eloisa had a nice big sign with welcome written on it in cute, flowery letters. And beneath that, another piece of paper depicted an upside down pineapple. It seemed so random. It was just a very basic picture of a pineapple too, not as well designed as the welcome sign. Its randomness and low quality were really the only reasons Shoshana noted it.
