“What isthatbeing?” She asked, looking over his arm as he passed it to the male behind the counter – someone who had looked bored a moment ago but now seemedveryinterested. She might not recognize whatever furry species he came from, but that gleam of greed in his eye transcended such things as species.
“Payment for a job,” Vytln said, like it was nothing, as he dropped it into the other male’s greedy paws – quite literally paws. “I just never traded it in before.”
“Who was being so rich they paid in gemstones?”
“Just some tool,” he grunted as the buyer eagerly began looking the gem over with what looked like a fancy monocle, practically drooling.
The two of them debated prices for a bit before settling on a figure that seemed like a lot – though, admittedly, she had no frame of reference for such things having not a single cred to her name. But it was still a big number.
“Did Tanin not giving you enough money?” She asked when they left the shop, his new credz loaded into his account.
“He gave me money for the ship supplies. This is personal. Now,” he turned and looked at her. Literally scanning her up and down, head to toe and back again, like he was examining something. “What do you need?”
“Huh?” She cocked her head, confused.
“I got your bag out of the wall when I fixed that pipe, and you don’t have nearly enough in there. Not compared to Garnet and the others. I know human females need more than that. So, what do you need? We’ll try to find it here.”
“Oh, I’m being fine. Promising.”
“I’m not wasting time arguing with you. Tell me what you need, female.”
“I’m really fine!” She laughed.
His eyes narrowed before he grabbed her hand and began tugging her down the street, grumbling the whole way. “Females and their tests. I swear…”
“Is not being a test! I’m fine,” she tried to insist. Maybe it was because she was still laughing, amused by his aggravation, but he clearly didn’t believe her.
“This is why I don’t want a mate. I have no patience for these foolish games. Here. This looks like a good spot. I don’t know how to take care of the hair things on your head or skin as thin as yours. So, find whatever you need in here.”
He brought her to a beauty shop. Well, that was probably a bit too generous for the store. It was more like a toiletry shop. It had everything from beard care to scale polish to fur grooming kits to claw files and even more besides. It was all neatly lined up on shelves, stacked and ordered by no sort of filing system she could immediately discern. Vytln took her past what appeared to be horn care, past feather cleaners, to an aisle that seemed to be dedicated to hair and fur.
And she really tried to insist that she didn’t need anything. She made do with the stuff she’d gathered and collected through the years. But then a jar of detangling cream caught her eye. She couldn’t read the label, but the little picture of a person with long hair smoothing the cream through told her what it must be, and she hesitated. Maybe there was a moisturizer? Or some kind of leave-in conditioner? Or maybe even something better and alien to care for her locs.
Her interest did not go unnoticed and Vytln grabbed the jar off the shelf before she could do more than make a sound of protest as he held it up out of her reach.
“This?” He asked, frowning at it. “Fine. What else?”
“No, I don’t…” She hesitated. She really could use some kind of moisturizer or oil or something. She hated to ask, but maybe justonething wouldn’t hurt. And she really did want to know whatwas in that jar. And in that bottle. Oh, and why that brush was shaped like that?!
Chapter 13
Vytln
Females were such needy creatures. They always required some kind of lotion or cream or polish orsomethingfor their skin or horns or, in this case, their hair. He wasn’t sure if it was politeness or independence that made Haven refuse him initially, but it only took one jar of smoothing cream for her curiosity over what was on the shelves to take over and he quickly found himself holding a lot of things for her.
Granted, she never asked him for anything directly, but it was easy to tell what she wanted. She had a very open face.
It was impossible for him not to compare her to Yl’ln. The two females he caught in his traps were so vastly different though, it was almost laughable to even try. Yl’ln would never have feigned politeness to avoid receiving a gift. He wouldn’t have even had to offer. She would have started picking things up without asking and expected him to pay. And if he didn’t, she wouldn’t throw a fit, but she would get her revenge in subtle, painful ways later.
Every time Vytln added something to his arms that Haven clearly wanted, she looked so distressed. And it only got worsethe higher the pile became. But it was also easy to distract her by pointing out something else interesting on the shelves.
Yl’ln would also never let her emotions show so blatantly. It was a game to constantly guess what was on her mind, and the price for losing that guess was high.
Haven, however, had such a bright, open face. Her eyes shined with curiosity and admiration in equal measure. He could easily tell when that light of curiosity sparkled with interest. It was the difference between the skin cream that would make her glow in the dark for a short while and the one that would simply moisturize and leave her smelling like a sweet treat. The former made her look at the jar and solution like it was a problem to be solved. The latter made her bite her lower lip as she held it just a bit tighter and seemed to fight with herself about putting it back.
It was always those that he would pick up and add to his arms. As they continued through the store and he got used to her expressions, he wouldn’t even need to wait for her to put it back, he started picking them out of her hands before she even finished the internal fight.
“I’m really not needing all that!” She tried to protest even as he was paying for it. “Vytln, I’m fine without it,” she continued as he added the objects to his hover.
