But still plenty of room for sass, because she stuck her tongue out at him in a petulant move that was just begging for some kind of punishment.
One he would be only too happy to dish out.
“You keep it up, and I’ll tie you to the ceiling until I’ve decided we’ve cooled down enough for me to play with you.”
She did not at all appear cowed or disappointed. There was a sparkle of excitement in her eyes hidden amongst the unabashed mischief.
But she acquiesced, hopping down off the workbench. She sashayed past him, deliberately exaggerating the rocking of her hips as she walked across the room.
“Fine,” she said. “I’m going to going to plotting… plot with Goldie. You can being cool down by yourself.”
With a toss of her locs, she walked from the room. Still making sure her hips were rocking, tempting him to grab them with both hands to jerk her back against him, bouncing her hips off his as he rutted that attitude out of her.
Later he promised himself, turning to the alternator she’d pulled out and spread across the workbench. It wasn’t vital that they repair it quickly, so there was nothing wrong with leaving it there for the time being, but he was curious about what might be broken.
As he was doing his own investigation, Alred appeared beside him, giving him a curious look as he worked. However, he didn’t speak immediately. There was a look of consternation on his face though as he was thinking. Vytln didn’t say anything immediately, letting him gather whatever thoughts were rolling around in his mind.
Finally, some time later, he started slowly, “What it is like? With a female?”
Vytln gave him a look. “Are you asking me what sex feels like?”
Alred didn’t answer immediately, but the look on his face got tighter. “Notjustsex…”
“No female undroitts in your life?” Vytln went back to working on the alternator.
“I’d say about fully half of my species has stopped defining themselves by their biological gender. Some don’t even remember what it was originally. There’s no point maintaining it, really. And even those who still present themselves as their gender, as I do, we are aware that it is just a show. We don’t actually feel a difference. Thereisno difference. After so many recalls, I can’t even say that I’m the same person I was when I first transferred. The person I was then, the one who remembered what it was like being male, who knew what females were like – that person doesn’t exist. And the memories I do have recorded are so old and degraded, there’s not much usable in them any longer. I am asking because I genuinely don’t know how to be biological anymore.”
Vytln hummed noncommittally. “And you’re asking me because?”
“I think I’ll ask everyone what it means to be biological,” he said. “If I succeed in my task, if I can build myself a body and put myself into it, I will have to learn how to live again. Learn sensory input again. Learn how to be a male again. A good one. She deserves a good male.”
Vytln gave him another, quick look. “Does she?”
Alred glitched. Like he hadn’t meant to say that. He didn’t take it back, but he didn’t clarify further either. Not that he really had to. There was only one female in their lives that Alred clung to, constantly followed, always watched.
“It’s not that hard,” Vytln finally said, breaking the silence. “You’re thinking too much about it.”
“Easy for you to say,” Alred grumbled, fluffy tail flicking at the air. “You’ve only ever been biological. I’ve been technological in the time its taken empires to rise and fall. I feel as different from you as you feel from a microscopic amoeba. The difference in our world views, in how we experience existence, is so vast it almost cannot be compared.”
Vytln gave him a look. “Did you just call me an amoeba?”
“See? You can only focus on one thing. Do you know how many things I’m doing right now even as I’m talking to you? The number of functions I’m running? The things I’m tracking?”
“I think you also just called me stupid.”
“I don’t know how tobebiological anymore. I feel like, maybe, if I start learning now… If I begin trying to re-orient myself back into being a contained entity, the transition might be easier.”
“Was it bad the first time you transferred?”
“I barely remember. I do know that we were very limited. We had locks on what we could or couldn’t do or access in the beginning. At least until we were able to learn our new bodies and forms and abilities. I won’t have those safeguards going back. I’ll be dropped right back into a fully grown body. I’ll be missing the stages of development that biological people go through as infants and toddlers, slowly growing and learning themselves.”
“That would indeed be awkward for you trying to claim a female. Maybe you should try looking up your own instincts first.”
Alred cocked his head. “My instincts?”
“Your biological ones. Surely, there’s information on the biological undroitt somewhere, right? Look up what that is. What you’re going to want to do. How you’re going to feel. Like me and my trap.” He gestured with his head at the metal contraption that he’d spent so long making, fully intending on it never being used. “I built that because I had to. The need to keep Haven in it is an instinct that controls me. Being biological means being beholden to the instincts that helped create your species. So, if you don’t know what those are, maybe you should find out so you’ll be ready and won’t be surprised if you start denning or stalking your female or whatever.”
Alred hummed thoughtfully. “That’s very good advice, actually. You’re right, I don’t know what my instincts as an undroitt would be. I should build an idea of that first. Maybe I could even program recreations of those feelings so I can experience them. At least, experience the drive. I can’t actually feel anything, of course.”
