Page 4 of There’s an Alien Down My Chimney

Contemplating those thoughts, I wandered into what had to be the kitchen area of the small cabin. On a guess, I opened the little cupboard doors beneath the sink and found a bucket and some rags. When my pretty human friend came back, her arms piled with clothing and sadly dressed, I was on my knees, cleaning up the mess I’d made just inside her front door.

“Oh, thank you. You didn’t need to do that,” she said, her higher-pitched voice was melodic and pleasing to my ears. I twitched into an upright position, then tried to hide a wince as my busted ribs and shoulder protested the sudden movement. At least my thick skin was healthy and strong, I hadn’t gotten more than a few small abrasions from that badly executed emergency landing.

“No worries,” I said, “I made that mess, it’s the least I can do. I’m sorry about your chimney too.” The Trader’s Common wasn’t registering for her either, I could tell from the confused look in her pretty soft gray eyes. So, she didn’t speak it, didn’t have it in her translator, or didn’t even have a translator. If I had my emergency kit with me right now, I could hook her up with an external, older set and we could actually talk. I feared the bag was lost somewhere in the trees though, I’d have to go look for it in the morning.

Sticking out the pile of clothes she was holding, we swapped, she got the bucket, and I got the clothes. She left for the kitchen, making noises as she put on a kettle of water, and started heating something fragrant and meaty in a pan on her stove. While her back was turned to me, I placed the clothes on her couch, moving my body through a quick set of stretches to determine how injured I was.

The worst of my dizziness had faded and now I just had another bruise on the top of my skull. I hadn’t blacked out during my undignified landing, headfirst, in her chimney, so I could rule out a concussion. Just bruises and some busted ribs, I’d be fine by morning, and then I’d go out and locate my ship.

The clothing included a pile of soft fluffy things, at first I was unsure if it wasn’t some kind of blanket. Then one thing resolved itself into a sweater of some kind, the fabric a knitted weave in a bright red color. There was some kind of application on the front of the thing of a four-legged animal with big brown eyes, a red nose, and a set of antlers on its head. My belly flushed with heat, was this a jab at the misshapen appearance of my horns?

I was already spinning around to the woman who’d handed me the thing, shocked that after so kindly freeing me from her chimney, she’d do something like that. Then my eyes fell on the statue of the fat man in the red clothing on his sleigh. His vehicle was being pulled by eight such animals, although only one had a red nose like the one on the sweater.

I was such a sensitive hothead. I should have known better than to just assume she was teasing me about my horns. Old habits died hard, I guess. At least this was just a sweater that depicted one of the animals important to this shrine. Were these priestly vestments or something? I hoped not because I was having decidedly unpriestly thoughts about my host.

The sweater tangled a little around my horns, but it got it on with only a few painful twinges in my ribs and shoulders. The pants were of a soft material, and it was stretchy with a string around the waist. They were a little too short, but they did fit somewhat okay and it was nice to be dressed because this place was really getting cold. Through the windows, I could see that snow was falling from the sky, thick, fluffy fat flakes that would soon erase all the tracks we’d made.

“Yeah, I’m unsure if the chimney is cracked or not, I don’t want to risk lighting a fire until I’ve inspected it,” the woman said from behind my shoulder. She had pulled on a thick sweater of her own, hers a dark green with white patterns of snowflakes. There was a scarf around her neck too, and thick fluffy socks on her feet. Her cheeks were a soft red, her pink lips had turned a darker shade and if I wasn’t mistaken, her skin had pebbled from cold.

That was right, humans really didn’t like the cold. I didn’t like the cold either, but right now the temperatures were alright for me, I ran hot anyway. This lady didn’t look like she was enjoying the lack of fire all that much. She was holding out a mug of something that steamed, the scent of it sweet and rich. “It’s hot cocoa, I hope you like it.”

Holding her own mug in her hands certainly already seemed to please her, she was holding onto that thing as if it was the only thing keeping her warm. I hated that I couldn’t make myself heard, she couldn’t understand me when I spoke, but at least she understood when I used a hand to gently nudge her to her couch. When she sat down, I swiped the blanket from the back of the couch with my tail and pushed it into her lap.

Her laugh filled the air but she obeyed and tucked herself beneath the thick warm fabric, even pulling her feet up onto the couch and tucking them in. I had several options to sit down, but I chose to sit down right next to her, offering my warm thigh to heat her hip and toes. She didn’t protest my nearness, just made a blissful face as she sipped the warm, dark drink from her cup.

Following her example, I did the same, surprised by the decadent, rich flavors. This was amazing, and with wide eyes, I gulped down the entire thing in eager mouthfuls. Was this a product specific to this planet? I really needed to find out where I was, but clouds had rolled in so I couldn’t appraise the starry sky. I needed the instruments I had in my emergency kit anyway, so tomorrow, they’d be fine for a night in the rapidly plummeting temperatures.

“Stella,” my host said, and I swung my head around to see that she was tapping her chest. That had to be her name, it was very pretty and it was easy to repeat. When I did, I saw her shiver and I smirked, so she liked it when I did that huh?

Tapping my sternum, I offered her my own name, “Ru’ol.” She was smiling as she tried to say my name, the R sound at the beginning rolling from her tongue. She couldn’t quite do the deeper throat sound but came close enough anyway.

“That sounds a little like Rudolf,” she said pointing with a finger at my chest and then at the figure of a four-legged, antler-carrying animal. I wasn’t sure if I should be amused or offended to share a similar name with this strange red-nosed creature. I already felt self-conscious enough about how I looked, no matter how hard I tried to leave that behind me.

“Is it okay if I just call you Ru? That second sound was a bit hard to make…” she asked next, and my thoughts on the past and any bullying I’d experienced were immediately forgotten. Her smile was just so radiant, I could only helplessly smile back at her and nod my head. She could ask me for the stars and I’d be willing to go get them for me if she smiled like that.

“Okay Ru, we need to figure some things out,” she said, putting on a serious face while she tapped her lip with a finger. “I’ll try to ask yes or no questions so you can answer them okay?” I nodded with a grin, but then held out my now empty mug of delicious dark drink and attempted a sad face.

She laughed again, desire heating my blood at that look, “Oh, you want more cocoa first do you?” Unfurling her lithe body from the couch, she was trotting into the kitchen before I could nod again, but this time I followed. Watching every step of the way as she prepared the drink, I needed to make sure I remembered so I could make more of it.

Once installed on the couch again, I made sure to tuck her cold feet beneath my leg so they could warm up. Then I sipped carefully on the drink, wanting to savor it this time. She was quieter now, a little lost in thought, contemplating what she wanted to ask me. If she could understand what I said, I’d happily tell her everything she wanted to know, she was my best bet at getting out of here until I knew more about where I was.

“So, are you really an alien?” she asked, and a little baffled that she’d ask me that I nodded. Humans were space-faring, they weren’t from the Zeta Quadrant but they occasionally visited, and there were many who’d ended up in my neck of the woods via the despicable slave trade. Not to mention the huge amount of stasis pods that were still floating around with humans from an older time frozen in place.

Was she so secluded that she didn’t know any of that? Earth had half a dozen different species they were trading with, and they formed an alliance with two others even that they called the UAR. It was weird that Stella seemed shocked to meet an alien, even if I was likely a race she’d never seen before.

“Did you crash here with your ship?” she asked, her eyes wide as she looked at me. She was taking in my differences, the texture of my skin with the bright red lines and the black base color. Looking at my horns like they were something completely foreign to her, at least it was clear that she liked what she was looking at. Admiration showed in her eyes, her cheeks flushed, and that pink little tongue darted out to lick at her lips. I felt my cock twitch in response. Damn, she was sexy, but we really should be able to understand each other before I tried to seduce her.

I nodded again, shifting to create more space in these tight pants for my erection. “Yes, space, I crashed.” I nodded at the fireplace where ashes still dusted the floor around it. I’d have to clean that up for her, I didn’t like that she was now cold because of my crash landing. Before I headed out to locate my bag and my ship I’d have to make sure that fireplace was safe to use again.

Stella followed her initial questions with more about where I’d come from, but with the language barrier, that was much harder to explain. I also didn’t know where I was, so it was even harder to talk about it with just yes or no answers. Soon, we were both sitting quietly, lost in thought. My mind wandered to what I needed to do to get out of here, it all hinged on how badly damaged the Scintilla was.

When she started to shiver a little, our breaths misting in front of our faces, I had enough of it. I knew enough of humans to know they weren’t averse to touch, so I reached out, picked her up, and plunked her in my lap. She made a sound of protest at first, but as I tucked in the blanket around us both she subsided. “Oh, you’re toasty warm… Thank you.”

I laughed at the wide-eyed look on her face, it was adorable, especially with those wild wispy strands of her soft hair haloing around her head. The tip of her nose had turned red, and so had the tips of her ears. With my arms wrapped around her, I could feel how much her core temperature had dropped. She’d felt much warmer when I’d touched her before, even through her coat, outside in the snow.

She kept looking at me, her face close to mine, and I decided that the temptation was too great to resist. I could understand her, I’d find other ways to make her understand what I wanted. Hooking a finger beneath her daintily pointed chin, I lifted her mouth to mine. Our breaths mingled first, and I made sure to move slowly so she had time to tell me no. Then our mouths touched, her lips cold against my warm ones; they didn’t stay cold for long.

In moments she was soft and pliant in my arms, opening her mouth for me so I could slick my tongue inside. She tasted like the hot drink we’d been drinking, tasted of something uniquely her, something that drew me even closer. Turning a little, her soft behind ground against my erection, a soft, breathy little moan escaped her.