A Cousin and a Confession

Stepping from the shuttle, Dustin found the air to be temperate with that clear sweet taste that you only really get in the depths of nature. The scent of gently braising vegetables came from the cook pots that half-ringed the landing site, and the sound of people working further back in the trees filled his ears. As he looked around, three Rabyth loped across the clearing towards the shuttle before coming to a rough attention in front of him. “Ambassador Dustin? I’m site manager Leaze - thanks for dropping by.” The male and Dustin guessed eldest of the three said, offering a hand. Dustin shook it and introduced Emely, at which point Leaze managed to introduce his partner (Lavendi) and was just about to introduce the third Rabyth when they were knocked from their feet by a golden bunny-eared missile. “Jammie you dirt-headed idiot, I told you I was going to be flying solo, why didn’t you come say hi to me first?” Rye’s voice emerged from the tangle of Rabyth limbs.

After the two had extracted themselves from the heap on the floor into which Rye had propelled them, Dustin’s engineer turned to him. “Sorry, Dusty. You’ve met my aunt and uncle? Good. This is Jammieth, my cousin. She’s the one that asked if we were in the neighbourhood.” Dustin nodded, then shook yet another offered hand. “You didn’t mention humans were quite so striking in your communications Rye.” The Rabyth said, giving Dustin a decidedly intrigued look. Rye’s eyes opened wide for a moment, then she shook her head at her cousin and spoke very quickly and in for her a very stressed tone. She also spoke in Rabyth, and while Dustin had been learning he could barely get one word in ten. At the end of it, she switched back into English. “So we’re just here to help out the colony, ok?”

At that point, Emely stepped forward - and Dustin was slightly shocked to see a frosty look on the normally bubbly face of his comms officer. “Just to reiterate what my pride’s second said” and as she said it he could hear the stress on the title and was surprised to see Rye nod instead of complain about it’s usage. “Hands. Off.” Then she beamed, and offered the stunned looking Rabyth her hand. “With that out of the way, it’s so nice to meet you, Rye’s told me so much about you which is more than normal for the rest of your family.” Jammieth blinked in shock for a moment before taking the offered hand. “Thanks… I think?” Then her eyes flickered from Rye to Dustin and she recovered herself. “Apologies, Dustin. I’m a gardener by training and trade, and I don’t have much experience of meeting aliens. No offense meant.”

The three women turned and walked off at that point, Rye loudly insisting her cousin show them around the colony and leaving Dustin if anything even more confused. A soft voice drew his attention back from the departing trio however. Lavendi’s smile was broad as she watched the trio depart. “Ambassador, if you would allow me I’ll show you around. Leaze needs to get back to managing work, and it’s probably best we don’t leave you with any unpaired Rabyth for the sake of Rye not demanding a duel at dawn.” He blinked at that, before the woman took his arm. “Rye said that you’ve been learning, but you don’t speak our language that well yet, do you? Well, I won’t spoil my niece’s secrets for her, but what I will say is that she had a lot of positives to say about you both as a person and as a partner. Which, I might add is going to make my sister burst with delight when I tell her. I’d advise not visiting our home system for a few months though unless you want to risk having a public parade in honour of you getting Rye to find something hard besides engineering puzzles to be interested in.”

Dustin blushed at that, but nodded. “She’s a very special woman.” He said, which seemed to be the right response. Lavendi pointed out various things as they walked, and Dustin was surprised to find just how much the early stages of a Rabyth colony put him in mind of old history lessons about Earth forest living - up to and including log cabins. “We’ve only got four complete at present - we had hoped to get two more done either way before the winter, but we need at least twelve to not have to double up” his guide explained, just in time for the others to return. “And that’s where Rye and her… captain come in” Jammieth said, the slight pause before she said captain very telling to Dustin’s ears. Marking that one as something to discuss later, he switched from ambassador to leader mode and turned to the others. “Rye, Emely, let’s get the shuttles unloaded so construction can get started and we can begin ferrying goods. Are we the only ones that can fly here?”

His bunny girl shook her head. “Nope, Jammie and my uncle both can. What’s the rota?” Dustin mused for a moment then nodded to himself. “Emely, Jammieth - once we’ve unloaded the shuttles, can you take the first trips? I’m guessing Leaze will be too busy, and Rye and I are best qualified to help get everyone set up using the tools we’ve brought along.” The pair nodded, although Dustin noted Rye shooting Emely a worried look; the Feliax woman answered with a reassuring hand gesture that would have been unnoticeable had Dustin not specifically been looking for it.

As the shuttles left a short time later, Dustin turned to Rye. “Right, chief engineer. We’re going to get these tools distributed, and then you and I are going to take a little walk and have a talk.” Rye jumped as if she’d been stung, but nodded somewhat nervously and set to work. Handing out of the tools and showing the assembled bunny folk - most of whom were farmers and as such less tech minded than usual - how to work them calmed her down somewhat, but she was still looking worried some time later as Dustin led her away from the colony and down towards a small stream they’d flown over on their way in. Seating himself on a warm rock not too far from the babbling water, he looked at the golden-furred Rabyth woman and sighed. “Alright, Rye. What was that business with your cousin all about?”

As soon as he voiced the question Rye sagged, flopping down onto the rock next to him. “It’s stupid, Dusty. She didn’t even know, and I didn’t realize I’d react like that or I’d have spoken to her in advance. Sorry.” Dustin pinched the bridge of his nose. “Enough with the cryptic comments, please?” he said, before taking a chance and pulling her into a hug. Rye hesitated before sighing and snuggling into him. “As I said, it’s stupid. Jammie is my favourite cousin, practically the only one who ever made time for me despite my whole not-caring-about-sex thing.” She began, waving a hand in the air as she did so. “And then she saw you and I could see her practically drooling - oh, I know you didn’t spot it as such, but trust me, if Jammie says someone is striking what she means is she wants them striking her cervix in the next hour or so. We were always oddballs to like each other’s company as much as we do - she’s probably the most hyper-sexed out of my entire family.”

Dustin squeezed his lover before replying “so you were worried she’d pounce me? Rye, I know we’re in a poly relationship, but you should know me better than to think that I…” the Rabyth woman interrupted him, speaking very quickly and with her voice rising to a squeak. “That’s not it, I know you struggled with the idea of having a bunch of us and I trust you - hell, I trust her now I’ve spoken to her, but you don’t get it - I was angry, really angry that another Rabyth would even think about jumping you casually.” Dustin shrugged at that “and? I’d probably get pretty mad if I thought one of the others here stood a chance of getting in your or Emely’s pants.” Rye ran a hand down her face. “You’re gonna make me actually say it, aren’t you captain? Fucks sake, I hate it when the nerd is right about something, and she’s been nagging me since Emely joined about the signs of this happening. Getting angry about another Rabyth being with your partner isn’t natural for us. You know what my people are like about sex; if anything, it should be a compliment that I’ve bagged someone hot enough that my friends and family want to sleep with you.”

She turned her head up to him then, and he could see the concerned look in her eyes. “The issue is, we only get angry for two reasons. One of those reasons I currently have a med spray blocking - and believe me, after Meli’s little discussion about human reproduction, I double checked it’s still functional very regularly. The other…” Here she bit her nail nervously before concluding “is because we are getting close to pairing up. I really need to talk this over with Meli and Emely too, it’s…” Dustin silenced and shocked her with a kiss. “Talk to them all you want, love.” He said, smiling down at her before adding “Meli might actually try and kill you though if she’s the last one to formally link our families.” Rye nodded, growing wide eyed and then beginning to babble in a socially awkward way she hadn’t done in ages. “I mean, it’s a long process ok and just because I’m biologically or mentally moving in that direction doesn’t mean it’s an overnight thing, and besides you’ve got a date with Emely this trip and it’s not something to rush into and then I had a plan of some of what I wanted if we were going to do that which you don’t have to I completely understand if you don’t want to and then don’t worry about the others because pairing only causes issues with multiple Rabyth, Meli and I double checked other species would be fine and even if not Meli thinks we can figure out something and…”

Dustin sighed and let her ramble on for a bit more before flicking the bunny lightly on the forehead. “As far as I’m concerned we may as well already be paired. Figure out the hows and the whats and the whens to make it perfect for you, and then we’ll go with that.” Rye paused, swallowed hard and nodded. “Yes, Dustin. Umm… you’ll be okay to still have your date with Emely despite this, right? I’m going to need some time to think and I’d like to talk to my aunt a bit too; her and Leaze have been partnered for longer than anyone I know, so I’d like to still spend time with my family like we planned. And Emely’s been looking forward to this for days now.” With a nod, Dustin stood up and offered her a hand. “Of course. I’m sure Emely would have understood if you wanted us to spend time together, but if you’d rather she and I have our date then that’s what we’ll do.” Rye took the offered hand and grinned at him as she scrambled up, her composure starting to return now they were speaking about someone else. “Of course captain. Besides, I want to be able to watch the look on Jammie’s face when she hears how you make our little fox scream, and I can’t do that if the two of you don’t get some alone time.”