And to all my readers and reviewers a very big thank you to all of you crazy, awesome people. You stick by me even when it takes way too long to update.

Chapter Warning/Tags/Kinks – Adult Themes

Chapter 3 – Performance

Six days and four trysts later, the female was feeling… disappointed. Oh, she was thrilled with the arrangement they had made with the vandal. In exchange for information she was more than willing to divulge, she got the one thing she insisted was the key to solving her problem. Already, she told it the pain had receded significantly, a testament to the darkness within being held at bay. It was skeptical, but didn't say anything and just continued to monitor her with daily scans.

Regardless if it was true improvement or not, the ghost liked seeing her happy and the vandal was undoubtedly the cause. She generally just liked interacting with him. Whenever they were together, it could feel the contentedness emanating from her, a light chord of curiosity and amusement edging all of it as she scrutinized every action he took.

No, as far as she was concerned, her situation had never been better; the only problem, the sex wasn't awesome.

As inexperienced as he was, she didn't really have high expectations, but other than lasting a bit longer than the first two times, he wasn't improving. He was focused only on himself and completely inattentive to her needs almost as though she wasn't even there, not to mention how quickly it was over. Consequently, she was left wanting after each encounter, which was not exactly what she was expecting from the male she was so certain was 'The One'.

So, she had sat on her thinking perch—or the sofa as it was more commonly referred—and tried to devise a solution to her little problem. Silence and stillness had ensued.

The ghost had excused itself from this situation entirely as it wasn't exactly qualified to help with sexual matters and really didn't want to anyways. Besides, it was fairly certain the issue was once again because the fallen were more intelligent than the other species she had been with. Conversation was usually the last thing on any of the males' minds, but each time the vandal came to the hollow, it got the feeling he cared more about the information than the sex.

The conversation itself was relatively mundane by the ghost's standards, but that was purposeful; it was trying to give out as little information as possible concerning the Last City and the guardians. Instead it mostly spoke of the humans and their customs, and it taught the vandal various Earth concepts, particularly the passage of time and how they measured it. He asked questions, mostly for clarification, but the vandal remained reserved and never volunteered any information about the fallen, not that it expected otherwise.

One improvement that the ghost had noticed was that the vandal seemed to have calmed down a bit. His movements had grown easier and less defensive like he no longer expected to be attacked at any moment. He had also stopped issuing warning growls at every action the female took. He still maintained a certain distance from them until he was ready to mate and his shock blades were never out of reach, but it was progress nonetheless.

Sudden movement on the periphery of its vision caught its attention. The female was back in the present it seemed, and judging by the resolute feeling coming across, she had decided on a course of action. That was followed immediately by the desire to return to the planet's surface.

Down.

"Yes, I've gathered that. First," it said as it left the console and floated to her, "why don't you tell me this plan you've just concocted so I can determine how likely it is to cause trouble?" To that it received an amused smile and a reminder that it didn't want to know anything about her sex life. "You're right, I don't… but you better tell me anyways."

And she proceeded to do just that.

…

By the time she finished explaining the plan, which somehow the ghost was featured in quite prominently, she was literally grinning from ear to ear.

The ghost was quiet for a few moments and then it just sighed; today was going to be a long day.

The pair were already waiting in the hollow when Lykrosis arrived, the nuur'az hovering in the far corner while the female lounged atop one of the many boulders. Upon noticing his arrival, the creature dismounted the rock and was directly in front of him in one quick movement.

It was so abrupt, his instinctual response was to back track and raise his blades with a warning growl.

Its only reaction to his warning was a broad smile. Backing up a step, it knelt on the ground seemingly content to begin their usual conversation.

"You will have to excuse her," said the nuur'az floating forward to a respectable distance, "She is in a particularly good mood today. Anyways, I have additional details on Pre-Golden Age architecture if you would like to start where we left off last time."

Lykrosis did not know what 'excuse her' meant nor why the female was in a good mood, but he ignored it and clicked his mandibles together in denial at the latter half of the nuur'az statement, "I wish to discuss mating."

"Really? Okay," and he did not miss the way the pair glanced quickly at each other. The movement almost seemed as though they were surprised by his choice of topics.

Lykrosis wasn't sure if he was interpreting that incorrectly or if he was correct, why they would be surprised, but having mated the female multiple times now, there were details about the act he wanted to understand. Specifically, he had noticed distinct differences between their mating and that of the female and the sdee'al. "What purpose serves the liquid?"

"I think I'm going to regret asking this, but… which liquid are you referring to?

"Female mates sdee'al, liquid appears on flesh."

"Hm, certainly not where I thought we were headed," it said at a barely audible level.

The words didn't seem to be directed at him, or at the creature for that matter, more so just spoken to the air. Lykrosis had witnessed it do this frequently and was now almost certain that the nuur'az was speaking aloud… to itself, which was beyond strange. Why would it bother to relay internal thoughts if it did not expect a reply?

"That liquid is called 'perspiration'. I don't know if you are familiar with the term, but it's part of her body's homeostatic mechanisms."

"Unfamiliar, 'ho'eosstatic'."

"Homeostasis means that a creature's body has to maintain certain internal conditions to keep itself alive. In this case, the body uses perspiration to maintain a constant internal temperature. When the female's body gets warmer than normal for a certain amount of time, it cools itself down by secreting the liquid, which moves from her skin to the air and takes excess heat with it."

This concept was… fascinating, if it was truth. Fallen did not have such a process. Their bodies could function within a large internal temperature range and it was affected by external factors only. Perhaps, this explained why the creature's flesh was always so warm to the touch. That thought prompted another question from him, "The female controls this process?"

"No, it happens automatically."

"This has no logic," he admonished. "This 'rs'sration' does not occur, I mate the female."

"Uh, well her body does heat some just from the act of mating, but it heats much more when it is… working harder."

Working harder? The nuur'az implied the female performed more work and consequently became warmer while mating the sdee'al than him. Perhaps the chosen position, he wondered. The creature had been more active when the sdee'al knelt behind it than it was when it lie in front of him, but this did not explain their first mating when it moved exclusively. Perhaps then the fact that the sdee'al mated the female for many more moments than he did. This seemed more likely. "Answer is acceptable. What causes the female to vocalize?" He liked the creature's moans and screams. They were prey sounds and elicited much desire within him when he watched the display previously, but it had not made such vocalizations while mating him.

"Vocalize? Oh, you mean like—right. She vocalizes when mating feels really good. It's a sign the male is performing well because the sounds are mostly incoherent and unbidden; like the female is so overwhelmed she's forced to express it aloud."

Lykrosis grew still and did not reply. He understood the implication of the nuur'az words. "Why the female does not finish?"

The nuur'az turned toward the creature and said quietly in their own language, "Wow, he is really trying to kill me with these questions."

The statement caused the creature to smile and Lykrosis, who was learning to better read these 'facial expressions', was almost certain it was amused. He did not like that. Combined with the earlier implications, he concluded the pair were amused by him and his attempts at mating, which were apparently deficient. He let out an involuntary growl with his growing anger.

The pair faced him again, the creature's smile fading probably with the understanding of his change in demeanor.

He rumbled out, "Your amusement, unappreciated."

The nuur'az dropped lower to the ground and nearer its partner as it said, "We apologize," in its own language before switching back to E'lik, "I talk too much and probably make too many sarcastic comments for my own good, but the mirth was not directed at you."

"What means this, 'a'ologize'?", he growled out again, further angered by the nuur'az use of words he did not understand.

"To apologize… It's like—hmm, how to explain this? It's acknowledging that you said or did something wrong to another and you are regretful that you did it. I can't find a direct translation for this to E'lik. How do you say this in your language?"

Lykrosis anger stalled, at least momentarily, as he considered this new concept, which sounded completely foolish to him. He had never heard of admitting being offensive out loud especially not to another, much less expressing regret. If one was offended, they would challenge the other for the offense and it mattered only who won. Hu'ins survive expressing such weakness, he thought with disdain. "Fallen do not a'ologize," he said and released a hiss of ether by-product to show his distaste for the idea.

"That's not actually surprising. Nonetheless, we do and it's a human thing as well. Anyways, as for your original question, females generally find it harder to finish and require more time to do so than males. They ne—"

"You imply deficiencies, I mate the female," he stated, anger still present and apparent in the words.

"What? I never said that!"

"Imply," he repeated as he knew the nuur'az had not stated this explicitly. "The female does not vocalize, she does not feel good. The female does not work hard, does not finish, the mating does not last enough moments. The sdee'al pleases the female. I mate the female, not pleasing."

"No. Well… yes and no. It does feel good for her when you mate, she just needs more. Look, I have no idea how mating really works since I don't exactly have the parts to do so, but I am told it is more difficult than it appears to be. There is skill involved or something. The sdee'al has mated many more times than you, so it is logical that he would be better at mating than you right now. However, the female does want to continue mating with you and would like to show you how to mate… more proficiently if you will allow it?"

Lykrosis considered this. If mating was a skill, then it could be perfected through practice and repetition. He cared not that the female was not pleased as he only agreed to the mating because the sensations were pleasant for him. However, in not being pleased, it followed that the cause was his performance and that was unacceptable. Fallen lower ranks had to prove their worth in all things, which meant showing competency in all skills they acquired and this was no different. His pride and instinct would not allow him to knowingly be inadequate and he would especially not allow himself to be bested by one of the Zkr K' Rav.

No, he would agree to this and learn to please the female.

I will make her scream.

OMG! The next chapter is going to be so good. I know, the anticipation is killing me as well. Gah! Alas, it will be a little while longer, but what did you guys think of this chapter? Anybody think they know what our femme's plan is and why Ghost would be involved in it?

Btw, I think I stated this some time or another, but I've taken the nickname 'Spider Pirates' and what we canonically know of the Fallen to infer that they are insect/arachnid-like. The temperature regulation reference in there is the nonexplicit way of saying they are poikilotherms.

Fallen Language. Listed in order of appearance:

Nuur'az – tool of light

Sdee'al – Hive Knight

Zkr K' Rav - Hive