Earth.
No matter how many times I gaze upon the blue world, the sight never fails to steal my breath - a jewel of ethereal blue illuminating the dark void. Once, it rekindled only cruel memories of Tendricide, my home world. Now, every glimpse warms my chest with anticipation.
The anticipation of returning home.
My fingers dance across the control consoles in well-rehearsed motions - powering up the visual refraction system, initiating thermal dampeners and entering coordinates for orbital descent. I surge deeper into the atmosphere until the clouds part into a vista of lush, green continents dotted with gleaming cityscapes.
The vegetation is deceptive – Earth is a desert world of inhospitable heat. Yet despite its dangers, this planet does host an unimaginable paradise: oceans. My heartbeat hammers expectantly as The Wraith's Wings holds position over an endless expanse of sparkling, blue water. The entry ramp barely opens halfway when my endurance breaks and I charge, plunging headfirst into the refreshing coolness.
Such bliss! As a youngling on Tendricide, the largest body of water I had known was a steel tub filled for bathing during the summer thaw. To be embraced by water in such abundance... Pa na isho, this is paradise! Yet a far greater ecstasy awaits me beyond the ocean. Ensuring that my supply bag remains tethered to my body, I begin my swim to shore. As per routine, Cogni pilots the ship underwater to await further instructions.
I choose a rocky shoreline away from habitation as my point of entry. Wading ashore, I hold my palm towards the Earth's star and follow the beads of water run down my forearm. Deca-revolutions ago, my tribe-mates and I would make a game of dipping our fingers into melted ice and seeing whose droplets would run the farthest down bare skin before freezing into white beads. Here on Earth, it is a game of evaporation and the so-called 'Sun' claims every round.
Under such heat, I would be wise not to linger.
Once dry, I don my camouflage. First, a series of metal bands over my limbs and body – holo plates that will project a skin-tight visual matrix to render me indistinguishable from the local species. Over my newly creamy-pink flesh, I don native clothing to protect my skin from the tropical heat - a wide-brimmed 'sun hat', a black eye visor and a 'pon-cho' to shield my arms and chest.
Her sent still lingers over these clothes. I inhale deeply and the musk spurs me to complete my journey.
I chart my path into a residential zone of high-rise communal towers. At the ground-level front doors, security is disabled via a meticulously-crafted shard of metal I hang around my neck like a pendant. A twist of this 'key' into a gear-based locking mechanism grants me entry.
My hooves gallop up the stairs.
At the appropriate hallway, I barrel towards a memorized door, hands trembling as I disengage the security bolt. I must be inside! Fighting the restless tap of my hooves, I pause and initiate the human ritual of "naw-king" to announce my presence.
"Kos-kan! I have returned!"
The apartment is a welcoming darkness. Under the purple, ultraviolet lighting panels, I may finally shed my cumbersome human clothing and black visor. My eyes may finally relax.
And there I see her, pale skin illuminating the darkness like the purest moonlight – a small and delicate human female with shocking, ocean-blue hair. The sight of her strikes my heart like a bolt of plasma.
"Nicole!"
"Celeste? Celeste!" With a smile that sparkles like the ice fields of Tendricide, my chiletto tackles me in a hug. I'm quick enough to pivot and absorb her affection on my undamaged flank.
"Oh god, I missed you!"
"It has been too long," I agree.
I cup her chin and press our lips together in a show of human affection. Her mouth opens and I take her tongue with my own, rolling our wet muscles together like excited younglings. My tongue trails aside, lapping at her cheeks and neck to taste the salt of her skin. What relief! When last I departed, the onset of a sudden illness had left her skin bitter and dry. I'm relieved to find her taste not only newly healthy but spiked with arousal.
"I missed you," she whispers. "You said this would be a quick job."
"Skulkz proved a persistent target but I claimed my bounty."
"You didn't get hurt?"
"Hardly," I lie, puffing up a warrior's bravado. "Your Valkyrie is not so easily bested. Have you longed for me, chiletto?"
"Um, is Mario an Italian plumber?"
Another non-literal expression, impenetrable as chiss-nak armor. Yet her meaning becomes all too clear once she embraces me. Under the moist Earth air, I feel the medical glue sealing my abdomen stretch and strain. Kaba. I pray to the seven stars that I can contain my chiletto's wandering hands…
Nicole Ann-Marie. A human "wage slave" from the continent of Northern Ahmurica. She is a historian among her people, collecting and preserving long-forgotten or "retro" works of electronic art. An artist herself, she is known among select circles as the Lady Sapphire, master of the visual genre known as "foo-ree porn". Like myself, she is an outsider within her culture, forever questioning long-accepted truths and exposing conspiracies laid down by those in power. Her gaze is ever to the stars, towards truths beyond her people's primitive understandings.
When I first arrived on this world, tracking a rogue bounty, Nicole served as my guide to the Earth's alien landscapes. As we explored her human settlement together, our fascination with one another grew until I came to treasure and trust her as one of my few confidantes. A friend. Now, she is my chiletto - my songbird. My irreplaceable mate.
Nicole seats me on her couch while she prepares beverages: ice water, the glasses frosted and perspiring at my touch. "It is cool in here," I note, observing the blocky row of air-cooling fans thrumming against the far wall. "Have you maintained this lowered temperature during my entire absence?"
Nicole flushes slightly. "Cogni texted me when you hit the atmo. I kinda cranked the AC."
A surprise spoiled. I'll have words with my cognition when I return to my ship. Yet, my chiletto's provocative dress may very well spare Cogni.
"Did you select those garments for me?" I inquire. My chiletto prefers loose fabrics and 'sweh-ters' large enough to fall off her shoulders. Now, however, she adorns herself in uncharacteristically form-fitting garments: white shorts that cling to buttocks and a skin-tight 'tanked top' that scoops up her breasts and tantalizes with flashes of her stomach. My throat purrs as I drink in her thighs, squeezed by the hem of her shorts.
"Umm, maybe?" Between her dodging eyes and sheepish grin, her words hold no iota of 'maybe'. "Um, I like your armor."
"Thank you." In truth, my gi-tak bodysuit with its plate metal coverings is somewhat uncomfortable for lounging but I know how madly my chiletto adores me as a warrior. The fact that I have peeled open the front zipper, baring my blue skin from my breasts down past my navel undoubtedly contributes to the compliment.
"Hey, go easy on Cogni, okay? I kinda gave her the idea to call ahead. I just … wanna make sure you're comfortable when you arrive. Sometimes, well, when you leave on these hunting trips, sometimes I worry that you won't come back. That you'll find someone worth staying for out there."
The steady thrum of the air cooling units fills the room. We sip our drinks in silence.
"I did encounter an old acquaintance on this mission." I spare her the details of how Xerbo pointed a laser pistol at my skull. "We parted on poor terms. I may have caused some irreparable property damage."
Nicole levels a familiar shake of the head. "Another system off the nav-comm?"
"Merely an outer territory mining colony. Nothing worth returning to." My thoughts flit to the dancer. "Though I did meet other Norai there..."
"Y-you did?"
"Slaves. Clones," I explain. "All of them so weak, so thoughtless and prejudiced."
"Mmh. I kinda had a crappy time too. I mean, it's not like you where it's life or death but …"
She drifts off, mumbling in her doubting, self-conscious manner. I prod her onward.
"Well I was fighting this raid boss and my guild had to team up with a couple other parties for extra aggro. Not gonna lie, we got our asses handed to us. But these other guys? They got so tilted, telling me it was my guild's fault - that I should 'git gud or eff off', like I'm not pulling three hours every day min-maxing this character!
"I dunno, I guess one of them saw the pride flag on my profile and he started griefing hard, saying it was all my fault, that I should go burn in hell, that I was a … a damn, dirty les-"
I thread my arm around my chiletto, pulling her into an embrace. Grateful, she nestles close.
"People really suck, y'know?"
"Mugunash dan na tsuroi t'choso," I quote in Galactic standard. "Despair is the company of others."
I nuzzle her forehead. "That is why I feel so blessed to have you, chiletto."
Nicole whines theatrically under the cloying affection. "Staahp…"
"If I may return to you, comfort you … I am relieved."
"Thanks…"
"I brought you a gift," I add. Her eyes sparkle. "During my walk, I diverted to one of your open-air produce markets and made a purchase with the currency you'd provided. I found the favored fruit you've long since mentioned."
"Grapes?" Her eyes sparkle. "No way, you bought me -?"
From my satchel, I reveal the firm, orange melons. My chiletto is speechless.
"Um… grapefruit?"
"Affirmative! I was unsure at first but the vendor assured me that these were the 'grape-of-fruits' you so delight in." Such a marvelous planet – capable of bearing edible seeds in such a multitude of sub-species colours, sizes and structures! Nicole continues her stunned appraisal of my gift. "Grape … fruit…"
Then she beams like a newborn star.
"You are awesome! Thank you, Celeste."
"There is more." I reach further into my satchel, revealing several silver-foiled ration packets. "Will you accompany me for a 'camp out'?"
We position Nicole's chairs in an arch and drape a white bedsheet overtop to serve as our tent. Nicole supplies the cooking pot and water while I pour in the dried rations and apply heat with a laser torch. My chiletto watches the bubbling concoction with glee.
"So awesome – I still can't believe I'm eating actual space food! From another planet!"
I chuckle at our method of meal preparation. No civilized space-farer bothers to liquidate or heat carbo-sachets as instructed, preferring the quick and easy method of eating them solid – straight from the packet. "They are staple rations," I explain. "The default meal of any datari-conscious interplanetary merchant or transporter."
And yet … seeing Nicole's delight, I cannot help but recall my youth on Tendricide, how Celara and I would scavenge the ruined cities for days, prying scrap metal and ancient electronics to trade with the off-world soldiers for these exact same meal packets. How we would gleefully rush under a snowbank to ignite a fire and prepare our hard-earned 'alien' cuisine.
I've subsided on these joyless 'nutrients' for revolutions without complaint – a dull and perfunctory sustenance. And yet... eating the pasty stew with my Nicole floods my taste buds with long-forgotten flavors and joys. I can appreciate its taste once more.
Naturally, a generous dollop of her human sauces does wonders.
"Geez, you're like a little kid, squeezing all that ketchup in your bowl. You know it's just tomatoes, sugar and red-54 dye." She chews thoughtfully and I catch her eyes retreating in memory. "Y'know... I used to pour ketchup over my food when I was a little kid. My mom would get so upset – Nicole Ann-Marie, you're rotting your teeth – but that was how they got me to eat all my veggies…"
Smiling fondly, Nicole in turn douses her stew bowl with red sauce. Her next spoonful is devoured with a gleeful squeal.
"Mmhh! Ith's shoo ghood!"
For dessert, I unsheathe my combat knife and select the largest of the grapes. Nicole interjects.
"We can save those…"
"Nonsense. I desire to enjoy these fruits with you." I slice through the outer husk, letting the juices dribble over my palm. I bring my fingers to my mouth and –
Nicole winces alongside me. Acrid! Bitter!
"Nicole … these are not grapes."
"Um, kinda, yeah... I mean … No. They're not."
"But the merchant, he assured me –"
"Grapefruit, Celeste. It's totally different."
"But the nomenclature!"
"Yeah, it's... kinda weird, I know."
I give a defeated sigh. "Chiletto, you must inform me of these errors."
"I know, I know. I just … you came so far and I didn't want to disappoint you."
I deflate. "I had so longed to feed you grapes."
Nicole chews her lip in thought. "Um, maybe you still could. Hang on a sec."
She retreats to her kitchen, returning with a glass container filled with purple gelatin. The human labeling is indecipherable to me. "It's grape jelly," Nicole explains.
She opens the jar and a sweetly-sticky scent tickles my olfactory senses. Grapes! Compressed into a preservative paste, of course! But rather than retrieve a serving utensil, my Nicole dips her fingers into the gelatin. Blushing madly, she holds up her smeared digits in offering.
"If you want … we could … y'know…"
Her intent is all too clear. Drawing my bangs aside, I cup her hand and take her fingers inside my mouth, lapping my tongue at the gelatin-slathered warmth. Nicole giggles and squeals. I am transfixed. The sweetness of the jelly ... the salt of my beloved's skin underneath…. Pa na isho, the flavor! I swallow her down to her knuckles and set my tongue to clean every nook and cranny of my Nicole's digits, spurred on by her every delighted gasp. When her freshly-cleaned fingers slide out with a wet 'pop', it is my Nicole who's left breathless.
"Oh wow..."
While she recovers from the sensual rush, I take the jar and plunge my own fingers into the jelly, offering them in return. Nicole holds my massive palm in her slender fingers, looking up at me like an uneasy youngling offered an entire kloi tree trunk. Her lips, teeth and tongue hover over my first knuckle. I purr as the warm, rhythmic breath shudders over my nails.
When Nicole snaps down on me, I flinch. Teeth! Her teeth, clamping into my skin! S-so hard, s-so … good!
"S'hokay?" my chiletto asks with her mouth full, looking up at me with an adorable nervousness: Is this acceptable? Am I pleasing to you?
My hoof raps impatiently against the floor. Yes! Yes, more!
Little yips of pleasure sputter from my throat as Nicole's bite holds my fingers in place, sucking and slurping hungrily until my tips are bare. She takes me up to my second knuckle, then the third, scraping her top teeth across my skin while her tongue, soft and wet, massages the undersides of my digits. Her head bobs up and down my fingers, searching for remnants of jam to lick up; deeper every time until her lips are at the joint of my palm and she gags slightly, forced to disengage.
"Um ... so yeah..." She coughs, sheepish once more. Her tongue licks up the leftover jam encircling her lips. My throat growls like an overcharged hyperdrive.
"Chiletto… I never realized you could be so erotic." My praise and adoration only send her retreating further.
"Well, I um … kinda, while you were away, went browsing on some dating websites. Y'know, getting ideas and tips for … foreplay."
"Forrr-play?" I tilt my head in theatrical obliviousness. "I am unfamiliar with this human term."
"Celeste! I've explained it before..." She whines self-consciously but I insist.
"Again. Describe it to me, this 'forrr-play'."
"Um, well… Foreplay is when you do stuff with your … partner – y'know, dirty talk, touching – to get them in the mood for - um -"
"Sex?" I draw out the syllable as I draw my lips across my chiletto's earlobe. "Do you desire to mate with me, chiletto? To be pleasured by me? To have sex with me?"
Nicole closes her eyes and shudders. "Ohh yeah."
I lick my lips and enjoy her heavy breathing, following the rise and fall of her breasts as my fingertips trace the contours of her neck, her collarbone, her chest. My fingers hook into the hemline of her top, easing the fabric downward to admire the lovely depths of her cleavage. "Mmh, my beautiful Nicole..."
"Celeste…" With needy panting, Nicole fumbles the thin shirt straps from her shoulders, urging me to explore.
Untethered from her shoulders, the white garment slips easily with every downward pluck of my fingers. Loosened from their casings, her breasts drop downward and apart until I can just glimpse the rosy blush of her areoles.
Nicole's hands scrape at my thighs, goading me onward.
I lean forward -
A wet pain rips through my side. S'kaba, not now! The surgical gel!
"Celeste? Omigod, Celeste, you're bleeding!"
There is no sexual inhibitor quite as fast-acting as the sight of blood-oozing knife wounds. Restored to reason, Nicole pulls me into her kitchen and begins emergency triage. Seated on a kitchen stool, I bite down on my hand, fighting back every wince as Nicole sutures my wound with a metal needle and thin string. Taking metal sheers and cutting off the excess twine, she declares her work finished.
"There, that aughta do it. If my mom ever knew why I asked to join her sewing group…"
"It feels solid," I remark, stretching my arm to test. Not simply solid but elegant as well. I admire the crisscrossing X's lining my side, as though a fine ribbon has been stenciled into my skin.
"Celeste, you need to tell me when you've been hurt on the job."
"Forgive me, I did not wish to worry you unnecessarily."
"Were you just planning to keep your top on all night? I'm not dumb, I'd figure it out."
"Hmm, perhaps I intended to bind your wandering hands?"
The sternness of my chiletto's sigh kills all flirtation. "Tell me, okay?"
"I understand. Prip-pri, chiletto. Please forgive me."
She presses her lips to my cheek and all is mended. "I think you need to clean up." Nicole points out the dried blood and stained armor. "Probably get some rest too."
My traitorous body agrees and so I'm lead to the wash receptacle where I relish a long, icy shower, drying and combing my hair at leisure.
Leisure. Anywhere else in the galaxy, my personal care would be quick and hurried, a blaster on the counter next to my combs. As a mercenary, to relax my guard is to invite attack, to entice one of the countless criminal syndicates I've disturbed to take their vengeance.
On this world, time flows as abundantly as ocean water. Time to lower my guard and rest. Time to share a meal with my beloved – to make love, to cherish others, to live.
What a wondrous paradise, my chiletto's Earth.
For bedding garments, Nicole has purchased me human sleepwear – a lace-adorned 't-ong' that clasps my buttocks and a form-filling 'cami-sole' that hides my chest scars while emphasizing my breasts. Ostensibly for my comfort but thinking of the alternative reasons my lover purchased these garments thrills me to no end.
"Sweet dreams," Nicole whispers as I settle into her bed.
"They shall be of you," I whisper back, wishing so desperately that she might join me. Alas, her species is diurnal and she is due at her place of work.
"I've got my cell, okay? Text me if you need anything."
I need you, I whisper in secret. To hold me, to treasure me. Out there, I am feared, I am loathed, I am dismissible and dispensable. Here with you, I am neither hunter, nor slave, nor outcast. I am simply Celeste.
Weighed down with these heavy thoughts, my eyes drift immediately to sleep.
Ahh…