[sylvanSpider]

In an ideal world, Mendez would be feeding his beloved something much better than a steak. He envisioned his dragging back of some Edensian corpse, mostly in one piece so Atrix could pick and choose the parts she wanted for herself. After all, what were they to do with a corpse anyway? Bury it? Let it waste away in the ground? It was much better to not let anything go to waste. At least, that's what Mendez told himself. He'd only killed once or twice before, and one of those occasions was little more than a happy accident. But if this shitty trend that they were on kept up Atrix would have her fill of humanoid cheeks all she wanted. How the hell am I supposed to cook a humanoid? I saw her eat them cooked before, but it's not like I have a Terxixian cook book... The thoughts didn't even begin to cover his anxieties, knowing full well that even the thought of carving into a corpse – to say nothing of cooking it – was going to be the hardest mental block to surpass.

The possessive look Atrix exuded was comforting amidst the disapproving looks of the hospital staff. Yes, he was hers, and he had no qualms of showing it. As the pair approached the counter, his hand found one of hers and he could feel his tense shoulders start to droop, relaxed.

Atrix's drawn out sigh was hardly necessary as the robotic's head was already up and focused on them. “We can do that, yes, absolutely,” the robot said, nodding its metallic head and clicking away at some keys, “You are with The Odyssey crew, yes? So you have the funds to cover it?”

> > > > >

Magali was anything but blind to Nokra's reaction to her touch. She'd felt it many times with various customers, their current troubles melting with the purchase of an hour or two alone with her. But it was different with Nokra. He was the first and only person she'd felt her own anxieties dissipating like fog in the exposure of the morning's first rays of sun. She tightened her grip around him, burying her face in his neck and breathing in deep. An unconscious smile played on her lips and in this moment of freedom and bliss, Magali felt truly happy. A gleeful giggle echoed her feelings, “I still can't picture it, really. If I had a qanta for every customer I've wanted to backhand, you and I would be billionaires. To think that now I may actually have the chance!”

The freed felis shifted her weight accordingly, and that stupid smile stayed glued to her lips like a kitten at a birthday party. Magali bit back a fit of laughter at his comment about Atrix and she shook her head, “You could probably ask Mendez. You could definitely take him in a fight if he gets angry. But if she's like the Terskix and I had to take care of, she'd be just like everyone else, but with more arms...and fangs...and likes to lick cheeks saying 'just a taste...' I wonder if she licks him...” Magali peered past Nokra's head to see the stretcher flying past them, choosing not to comment on it. “Well, Fikri is a felis that isn't viewed as a pricy object? The pilot treats him as an employee and friend. I bet it's nice.”

After too short of a time, her feet were back on the ground and the pair of felis were standing before the gender divided cleaning facilities. Magali's ears went back and she looked to Nokra, nervous about this particular aspect of freedom. “Well, I don't know about you, but I don't know what these symbols mean. I can't read and was only ever cleaned by my owners. So...I won't say anything,” Magali said, her tail twitching as she reached for Nokra's hand and lead him into the room that obviously marked for males. [[screen fades to black, heh heh]]

> > > >

“Not a bad boy?” Rosalind asked, laughing, “No, ye ain't a bad guy but ye break the rules when et's right. So, si, you can keep wooin' me.” The pyra was wearing a look of seduction, eager to fully capitalize on their momentary chance alone. “Ye dun 'ave t'worry, love, I know ye ain't a bad person. An' I'll give the boys their books an' they can learn. Ah've high hopes for the new one. Seems quick as a whip, provided they choose ta stick around.”

Rosalind raised her eyebrows, biting her lip, “Oh, yer a temptin' one aren't ye? Well, pilot's on break now, but ah reckon' she's more than willin' t'get 'er hands dirty with a certain Edensian terrorist...” [[and again. Man, things not trying to kill them sure does light a fire doesn't it?]]

> > >

Ashi winced, once again shifting to try to get comfortable and once again regretting her decision. Sucking in a gasp, she laid back down in the original position, biting her lip to keep herself quiet. “I wonder what kind of name I should pick up? Obviously not something Daoweian...And now that I don't have...any...clothes to my name, looking less like a princess should be relatively simple. Just have to dress for comfort rather than beauty. I have to say, it's something I'm actually fairly excited for.” She mustered a smile, hoping to change the subject from Shaldag who both women were undoubtedly worried about. “Chastity is more simple than you'd think. All you have to do is have the media and paparazzi at your back every second aware of every single person you're talking to. That said, I can't imagine you as a nun in the slightest, though I'm guessing you'd pull off their little outfits quite well.” The subject got brought back to the Ogrunu however, and she breathed in deep through her nose, knowing that that possibility was all too likely. “I...I hope he wants to stay with us. I really like Shaldag...”

Involuntarily, her mind went back to when she was first picked up by the pair. She was so much more naive then, thinking that she would last even a moment on a planet that Terskix were native to. She'd been picked up, threatened, and borderline tortured by the man and her now present girlfriend. Was she a classic case of Stockholm Syndrome? Then, she remembered those tender moments when Shaldag had come to comfort her and gave her advice. In those moments, she realized she never had someone like that in her life, no one close enough to have anything close to that in the palace. All of those years in luxury, the softest blankets, the most comfortable pillows could never give her the warmth that they'd shown her since she was picked up. She'd seen so much, experienced so much in the short time she'd been with them. Even in her current situation, she wouldn't take it back.

The faint traces of a smile returned through a grimace, “Joke's on you; I'm not wearing panties.” It was a lame joke, Ashi knew, but she was glad that she still possessed some form of a sense of humor. “But, I think you're right. If I do use it, I need to plan and try to cause as few casualties as possible. There's a chance that exposing that I'm still alive would cause trading ties with neighboring planets would be called off. Possible alliances between Edensia and Daowei is another possible side effect, and that's only if they haven't already sided together.” Ashi wanted so bad to wrap her arms around herself, to curl up and feel some kind of warmth. She felt like a corpse laid out on a slab but stuck enduring the pain of life. Goosebumps speckled bare skin uncovered by dried blood, every hair standing on end from the cold by itself. She was told that it would be cold, but her nakedness only cemented that fact. She looked up at Hyun with the beginning of the compliment, her face paling toward the end, “I'll just be...ehm...thankful that you didn't do that...”

She'd been so enraptured in their conversation that when the door opened to reveal Dr. Analoka, Ashi jumped, immediately leaning her head back to fight off yet another pained expression. She watched as the doctor approach Hyun with a dataslate and wanted to lean over her shoulder to see what it was about, to see if there was news of their friend. She was never given the chance to even try before she was snatched up, the princess gasping audibly this time. “I...I-I understand,” she said through the gasps. She had to calm herself so she could hear what the doctor was saying. She gulped, listening. Even if he made it, those tender moments might have come to an end.

Tears formed in Ashi's eyes, and it wasn't from the pain, “What...what are you going to do?”