Kira
It's quite dark in here. The moonlight barely breaks through the thick wall of water, but I can still make out Drasuk's large form a few feet in front of me. I watch as he steps up onto the rocky, solid ground.
The water is calmer than outside as I tread over to him. Once my feet can touch the bottom, I wade through it the rest of the way and step onto the cave floor. I'm shivering as I trudge over to a large dry mossy patch and sit down.
Today felt like a year.
I've rarely felt this wrung out.
I flop down, my head spinning, then take in a long breath. Even soldiering in ass-backwards regions came with more comforts than this.
I miss my apartment, as stark and impersonal as it was. At least there was a bed.
"Will I ever get back home?" I hear myself ask, then wince that I let it escape my mouth so it can lay heavy in the air between us.
Drasuk ceases looking around the small cave and comes closer.
"I won't lie to you, Kira. I doubt you'll find someone with the means who is willing to take you."
A pent-up breath bursts out of my lungs. "I didn't exactly envision myself ending up kidnapped by the universe's biggest galactic holes in the rear."
I really wish that would translate better.
I also didn't expect some sort of lust modification that made anything sapient I look at cause undesired lust, but I don't mention that one. Even though it's somehow worse than the original kidnapping.
He lets out a dark, rumbling chuckle. "Yet here we are."
I snort. "Here we are."
"That's an understatement for them," he says. "And in some ways, giving them too much credit."
My jaw drops open. Did he just join me in my endless cursing? If even by extension?
"Drasuk, my man, I might be rubbing off on you. How about we make it this, then? Genali are insecure little excrements with inferiority complex issues and overcompensate for their small packages. Is that better?"
"Definepackagein this context."
"You can't guess?"
"Should I be able to guess?"
"Reproductive organs, Drasuk."
He lets out a long-suffering groan. "How many different words also mean reproductive organs in your language, human?"
I start to do a quick count, but abandon it right away. I'd be tallying all night.
"A lot, especially names for food."
"That's disgusting."
I let out a braying laugh, my mind latching on to the humor at his appalled tone like I'm a starving woman, and his words are ambrosia.
Where are you when I need you, doves of Olympus? I could totally crush an ambrosia delivery right now.
I reply to him with a smile on my lips. "It is disgusting. It really is."
He lets out his own chuckle, probably more at my species' expense than I would like, but it still feels good.
