Slake or Douse?

Posted on Thu 27th Jun, 2019 @ 1:14pm by Anne da Silva

951 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: A Diplomatic Affair
Location: Shake'n'Slake Diner, Tivoli Gardens
Timeline: MD4, 17:15

Previously, on Starbase 109:

Aiko took a sip of her water, cleared her throat, and said, "Yucholl, listen..." before trailing off, stymied by the enormity of the things she had to say.

"You keep saying that," Yucholl observed dryly. "But Aiko, I am always listening to you."

And now, the continuation:

"I know you are," Aiko acknowledged. "It's part of what makes you such a good friend. But the other day, you saved my life, and I realized that me? I am not a good friend. I'm a lousy friend; a terrible friend."

"That's not in any way true, Aiko," Yucholl rebutted.

Aiko shook her head. "It really is. I keep harping on you not to rely on the translator when you talk, but I haven't learned a single word of your language. I don't even know what your language is. I don't even know what your species is! I mean, I know you're Lamian, obviously, but...."

"I'm Med'u Sa'id," Yucholl said. She smiled, and the green dreadlocks on her head stirred, their tips coming up and pointing toward Aiko.

"I didn't even know those weren't hair," Aiko admitted, shame-faced.

"What are they?" Anne asked, fascinated, as she set their beverages before them. She blushed. "I am so sorry for interrupting your conversation, girls, but I'm dreadfully curious, as I've never met a Lamian before."

"Oh, they're hair," Yucholl answered. "Sometimes I think I should put googly eyes on them, because people expect them to be snakes. My people have a useless super-power. A very weak telekinetic field which can manipulate objects which are actually touching us." Her hair dropped, and she picked up a fork. Setting the tip of an edge tine on her finger, she held it apparently balanced there, upright. "I have to be able to touch it, and the maximum mass I can manipulate is only a couple of kilograms."

"Do you feel particularly tired after doing it?" Anne asked.

"No more than if I were doing it manually," Yucholl answered, letting the fork drop into the palm of her hand.

"I am such a trash friend," Aiko moaned. "How did I not know you could do that? You don't hide it, do you?"

Yucholl tilted her head. "No, but I don't use it very often, either. It's a bit rubbish." She pondered for a moment, then brightened. "Oh! I sometimes use it to turn pages in large books while holding them by the spine."

Aiko's head hit the countertop with a dull thud.

"Her family owns the bookstore in the American Village," Yucholl explained to Anne, and reached out to stop Aiko's motion to thump her head against the counter again. "It's the only place I come into contact with actual printed books."

"Oh, Pale Moon Books?" Anne said. "I go over there sometimes. They have actual, printed copies of Jedediah Tully and the Spacefleet Marines. There are over 200 books in the series, written by various authors. I buy them for my nephew--and send them to him after I read them, first."

Yucholl smiled, her hand still resting on the back of Aiko's head as the rhythmic thumping went on, quietly. "Four years ago, my mother and I moved to this station. At first, I attended the public school. I didn't make any friends. Wherever I went, you could hear people making hissing noises, and 'slithery, slimy snake!' got whispered behind my back. At home... I would have had mothers and grannies and sisters and cousins and who knows what-all, living within tail's flick. But here? Nothing.

"Then my mother transferred me to Saint Joan's School for Girls, and the very first day, at the end of literature class, as everyone was getting up, this one girl looked at me and said, 'Mr. Medina talks pretty fast, and you missed the first few chapters. Would you like a copy of my notes?'" The thumping sound had stopped, and Yucholl scritched Aiko's scalp gently. "I'd never even heard of Flowers of Luna before, and here was this girl offering me help understanding the sociopolitical context? Oh my tail and scales, yes, please!"

Anne flicked a swift glance at Aiko and smiled. "That's a good friend, indeed. I'm sorry the kids at your public school treated you so badly. There's no excuse for that."

Yucholl shrugged. "Monkeys and snakes," she joked. Then she went on, seriously, "Aiko, I asked you to help me fit in. I asked you to help me learn Terranglo. You have never been anything but a good friend. My best friend."

Aiko turned her head on the counter. "But... what if I want more? What if I want...." she trailed off, her eyes searching Yucholl's face.

Yucholl was very still. "If you want...?"

"What if I want you to kiss me?" Aiko said, very, very quietly.

"Then you'd get all my kisses," Yucholl said.

That is the sweetest thing! Anne thought, utterly charmed. She glanced about her restaurant and spotted a waitress cleaning the table of a four-person booth whose guests had left. To Anne's satisfaction, no one else had come in to claim it yet. She tapped her PADD to warn the person who'd taken over the hostess stand not to seat anyone there.

"Girls, I have a booth that's just opened up. Would you like to take it?" she asked them, smiling.

Aiko raised her head from the counter and glanced along it. The other customers seated there were making an obvious effort not to look her way, but they'd clearly heard every word. "That's probably a good idea."

 

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