Date Point 15y5m AV
Folctha, Cimbrean, The Far Reaches
Allison Buehler
All in all it had been a pleasant afternoon, as much as riding along in the weirdly high-stakes social life that Xiù seemed to glide through could be, anyway. The food was awesome. And Yulna made enough to feed their men, too; it was rather a lot of stuff and they both had their arms completely full carrying it from the taxi.
All four of them were gross boys stuck in some kind of permanent competition to see who had the biggest stomach, so Allison had no hopes of any leftovers…But that was okay! When they got back the living room was empty, so they took a peek in the guest bedroom and found the four of them tangled up in a hopeless amount of comforters and blankets. Julian had dragged one of the as-yet unused mattresses downstairs from the garage and thrown it across the floor, pulled a sheet across, and promptly passed out on it like he’d fallen over dead.
It made for good viewing, that was for sure.
She summoned Xiù with a delighted grin and her beckoning finger. “Hey babe?”
Xiù peeked round the door and suppressed a laugh, only succeeding in keeping it down to whisper volume behind her hand. “Ooh!”
“You ever think you’d come home to this much grade-A boy candy strewn about all half-naked and stuff?”
“…Two of them aren’t even human!” Xiù chided her.
“So? Vemik’s got ten-pack abs, girl! And Yan–!”
“—Smells like the sweatiest old gym socks.”
“Nah, he’s just super musky. Maybe…I kinda like it.”
“Allison!” Xiù was plainly scandalized, while Yan opened an eye and grunted in amusement.
“C’mon, with muscles like his? You can’t tell me you aren’t impressed.”
“He’s got inch long fangs Allison! How could you—”
“Oh relax, he’s not my type. Hoeff is cute, though…”
“You are such a troll.”
Julian cracked a weary smile and groaned a half-awake joke. “Hoeff is pretty…”
Xiù considered the smallest of the quartet. “He’s too hairy.”
“Hey!” Julian laughed now, “I’m hairy too!”
“A little, yeah. You’re not blonde caveman hairy, though.”
Hoeff groaned and turned on his side. “Yeah, yeah. I’m pretty,” he grumbled. “I’m also tired as fuck so…”
“Hungry? We brought tacos.”
“…I’m awake.” Hoeff was up in an instant and made a beeline for the stairs. As was Vemik who immediately rolled upright, then Yan when he detected the possibility of eating something. He flipped himself to his feet with a kick through his legs and a muscular heave of his tail, which sent a heavy thud rattling through the basement’s concrete floor.
“Food?”
“The best kind!” Xiù promised as she climbed the stairs. “Come and see.”
“Where’d you get tacos?” Julian asked, stretching aesthetically and scratching at the hair on his chest.
“Yulna made them! Naxas carnitas with a Talamay marinade.”
He glanced at the two Ten’Gewek, then thumped sleepily up the stairs. They all remembered the night of the beer experiment. “…I assume all the alcohol was cooked off?”
“Yes, yes…” Xiù waved him towards the table. “Honestly, some day I need to teach you about cooking that uses more than just the grill.”
Hoeff had already unboxed the first container and fetched plates. “Fire is man’s sacred cooking form. Playboy here’ll lose man-points if he gives it up.”
Allison snorted and threw herself onto the couch. “I think he can spare a few. Jesus, the whole crew we hang out with has terminal testosterone poisoning.”
Vemik had just ambled up the stairs on all fours. “Testosterone means—?” he began. He was brought up short the second his tongue finished registering the taste on the air. “…Nevermind.” He galloped over to the table. “Tacos means what?”
The basement stairs creaked loudly and announced Yan’s arrival. He too hurried over once his tongue caught the flavor of food on the air.
“Means delicious, buddy. Here, you take one of these shells…” Julian picked one up, “…and you just layer in whatever you like from what’s on the table. …Hold up, this isn’t refried beans.”
“No, it’s seasoned Nava. Try it, it’s good!”
“Oh, okay.” Julian spooned some into his taco. “No guac?”
“Sorry. We made this in a Gaoian kitchen.”
“Oh well…”
Food disappeared quickly into their four black holes. They spared some time to get sleeping arrangements a little better sorted out but honestly, everyone was so happy and now sedated with a heavy meal, it didn’t take long before it was time to go back to sleep.
Fortunately, Julian didn’t need any persuading to eschew the man-pile in the basement.
“C’mon, I haven’t slept on the new bed yet…”
“Sleep?” Allison asked him.
He groaned. “Have mercy, I spent the whole day escorting Vemik—”
“Exactly. We’re owed some boyfriend time, right babe?”
“Right!” Xiù agreed. “But, um, there’s a condition…”
Julian turned at the top of the stairs. “Wh—?”
He went quiet and gave the object Xiù was holding a dubious stare. “I—”
“Miāo!”
“…Okay? …Kinky, I guess?”
She handed them to him. “Shut up and put them on, Bǎobèi.”
Julian blinked at her, then at the ears, then finally gave up and shrugged. “…Yes ma’am,” he muttered, and seated them in his hair.
“Hmm… they’ll never stay on,” Allison pointed out. His hair was too thick and wild for anything to sit properly. That didn’t seem to matter to Xiù, whose face was a picture of grinning delight.
“That’s okay…” Xiù brushed past her, took Julian’s hand and directed him through the door. “He’s been a good boy.”
As it turned out, he did have some energy in him after all.
Date Point: 15y5m1d AV
Folctha, Cimbrean, The Far Reaches
Jack Tisdale
Rooney’s was fun, like always. Loud, friendly, raucous and full of energy. Moho and Miller kept plying him with drinks, and at first Jack tried to pace himself but…
Well, it was Friday… And he hadn’t really ever gone out before…
And beer was delicious…
And, hell, shots were fun too…
…Was the world always so unsteady? Didn’t matter. There was a girl. She was…pretty cute. How did they meet? Miller, he thought. Yeah. They had met on the cricket pitch a while ago.
She kissed him.
He wasn’t expecting that. He wasn’t expecting a lot of what happened afterwards, either.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t remember much of it when he woke up in a mobile alcohol recovery center at five in the morning with no girl, an aching head, an IV drip in his hand, a nasty stain down the front of his shirt and Miller affectionately telling him off.
But he remembered the kiss.
He didn’t need much persuading to agree to try again.