Mendez couldn't help it, he gasped as clawed fingers grabbed hold of his hair and his legs stumbled with to make the hair-pulling all the less painful—it didn't work. He was grimacing as he forced is eyes on his beloved and immediately he was brought back to when he was first kidnapped and she'd given him the chance to punch her or not. He chose to—and he was alive for it now, so the initial fear dissipated and he grinned, “I don't already taste sweet enough for you, Atrix?” He laughed and looked over to where Nokra was standing just in time to see him turn tail and hide.
Then came the magic words, “I have no intention of eating you. You're for giving me a brood.” When the clawed hands released his hair he was all smiles, even his eyes were shining.
“You mean it, Atrix? We're starting a brood together? Is it something we're trying for or...or...or..is it,” here his eyes drifted down to her abdomen and back up to her eyes, “or is it already in the works?”
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Fikri laughed, “I said the same. I saw her doing it once, just so she could show me. She explained it like...hm... Well, she's not so much the battery as the charger for the battery. The energy from the flames gets stored in this uh...thing. And from there it's just ready for use.” He pat the spot on the bed beside him to invite the female felis to sit which she gladly did curious as to how it worked. To her, it might as well have been magic and wizardry with how little she knew about it. It was amazing to talk to people who actually knew a bit about how it worked. She'd have to remember to go talk to Rosalind if she could catch her not busy.
“That's why I think we should have a good relationship with Ashi. Like her or not, the princess has a strong set of morals,” Fikri said with a shrug. She certainly had more morals than his pilot did. So long as she wasn't affected negatively by something, she couldn't be bothered to care. It was a fact that Fikri had often tried to get her to see, but seeing no benefit for her own immediately cut out most acts of kindness the pyra would perform. There would be no altruism with her, but with Ashi...there was a shot. They were just lucky that Rosalind saw herself as involved now. Otherwise, the male Edensian struggle wouldn't even be thought of by her—or even known to Fikri.
“Would she really do that?” Magali whispered. She'd never heard of humanoids eating their mates, but after seeing the body bag and hearing that it was meant to be consumed by her was enough for her to put nothing past the woman. She shivered wrapping her arms about herself despite the comfortable temperature of the room.
“Heh. Once you know her for about ten minutes, you'd see that the answer is yes. But again, Mendez has last this long,” Fikri said grinning with a shrug, “And by now we're all attached to him so we pretty much have to make sure that she doesn't actually try anything unless it uh happens during...you know? Let's change the subject. You said she's back on board?”
Magali nodded dumbly, “And I think...she's going to be fed enough to not be eaten by her...”
“Well, that's a good thing,” Fikri said, actually showing signs of relief, but also dread knowing that he was probably going to be helping Mendez clean up a bloody mess later if that bag was already torn into. “You have to look just a bit pissier if you're trying to be my other felis muse,” Fikri said snorting. Magali fidgeted uncomfortable.
“Does he know you want to paint him?” she asked, innocent enough.
“Not yet. But he will, it will be great. You'll see,” Fikri said thrusting his hips forward once, “So I'm honorary Edensian now, eh?” Poking fun at Nokra was the most joy he'd felt since Vail died. Not that he usually made it a point to make fun of people, but given how rude Nokra was to them he saw no problem with it. “Eh. I'll ask. I mean, he's a prick, but you guys just got freed from slavery. You've got to start somewhere and I was given a hand up. Might as well extend my own to you guys, right?”
Magali breathed with relief.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ashi shivered at the thought of that, fulfilling Hyun's goal of seeming like she had some sort of moral code. She did. It was just a lower standard that most others that she'd come across. “Then I suppose I'll go through my life as a gangmember that everyone thinks wants something out of them,” Ashi said shrugging. Throughout her career as princess of Daowei, she'd become a sort of celebrity, and even people on the other side of the galaxy knew who she was, and of all of the celebrities, Ashi was generally heralded as one of the kindest taking the time to sign autographs and even snap a quick holo-vid or holo-snap with any of her fans. She truly was Daowei's darling. When they found out she was alive? Well, the consequences even she couldn't see. “No, no!” Ashi said quickly, her eyes with a mind of their own drifting momentarily on the bits that Hyun referred to, “Well, that's one alluring aspect of you, but...but...there's more to it than that.” She said this hoping Hyun wouldn't ask her to explain because she wasn't sure she could if she tried. There was just something about her.
“I'm a warm blooded creature, guilty as charged,” Ashi grinned, “That won't bother you will it?” She chuckled, “Well, then I guess Shaldag will be there too. This is exciting. Either way, I appreciate it...and I'm quite eager to get somewhat clean and stop smelling so much like blood.”