Atmosphere

The nebula in which the Moa’thif homeworld was located would be two weeks flight from the Hoxx border planet where they’d met Yaerwen. Two weeks travel that Dustin was both looking forward to and terrified by. Meli had planned out a schedule that covered almost every one of those fourteen days, pairing each of the women that Dustin was trying hard not to think of as try-outs with existing members of the harem for large blocks of time.

He too had been assigned time with each of the three - specifically, he’d been assigned time that his wife had rather pointedly told him he was to use to help him decide if the personalities and physicality of Defia, Yaerwen and Aricia were ones he would like to spend rather more time around. Not to mention getting to know intimately.

It was to that end that he was currently walking in the direction of the observation deck. Aricia had asked him to meet her there, having apparently planned out a whole itinerary for the pair of them to show off all the reasons why she deserved his vote to join the harem.

The butterfly woman was watching the large screens showing their onward flight path when he arrived. As they were mid weave-jump, the shutters were down over the massive viewing windows - but that didn’t seem to matter for whatever Aricia had planned. As he reached her, she held out a tablet to him. “We’re going to take photos!” She announced excitedly, then gestured to the heavy shutters. “We’ll start here, go all over the ship, and then by the time we get back we should be out of the weave so we can finish up with a few pictures of the stars while we’re crossing to our onward jump point.”

Dustin nodded, taking the tablet before grinning as Aricia lifted her own and snapped a picture of his expression. “There we go, that’s photo number one,” she said, smiling. Dustin raised his own tablet up and mirrored her action, the butterfly girl spreading her wings behind her when she realized his intent.

From there, she led the way to the gardens. Dustin had expected her to want to take a load of pictures of people when they’d left the observation deck, but instead the pair walked around snapping pictures of the greenery and flowers that the crew had worked so hard to plant. As they went, Aricia spoke softly, telling him stories about roaming around her village when she was young.

“…And of course, mother wasn’t happy when I came back with my dress all torn up from the thorn-grass. But when I showed her the shiny rocks I’d found she just sighed and said I took after my father...” Aricia grinned, then paused and frowned. “I’m sorry… you lost your parents too, didn’t you? I shouldn’t talk so much about mine.”

Dustin stopped as well, reaching out to take her hand. “It’s not an ideal topic for discussion on what I suppose is a date, no, but honestly - this time is supposed to be us getting to know each other better, right? And really, who else can you talk to who’d understand something of what you’re going through?”

Staring up at the branches of the tree they had paused under for a moment, Dustin glanced down into the butterfly girl’s eyes. “I don’t remember much from when my folks were alive - I was really young when they died. I do remember them taking me to see the contact site though - that was back before the modern monument was built, when it was more like an exhibition of art from those people who’d been there at the time. I ran off, as toddlers do, and apparently they found me in the back of a hippie bus that had been half-sunk into the ground when the engine failed. The thing was hand-painted by one of the best artists in the first wave of settlers to Contact city, and was technically already a national treasure by that point. And there I was, curled up and fast asleep in the driver’s seat.”

He chuckled, wiping his sleeve against a suddenly damp eye. “I guess we were both chaos gremlins for our parents, huh?”

Aricia hesitated, then leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “I think I’m allowed to do that…” she said as she pulled back. “The others gave us a long list of things we could and couldn’t do while we’re ‘getting to know you’, although Emely was either giggling or pouting the entire time Meli read it out.” She pressed her shoulder against his arm, her wings fluttering lightly behind them as she continued “well, we’ve taken lots of pictures of green spaces - how about we take a trip somewhere else? I did ask Naera if she minded making us some food for a snack stop-off, so that should be waiting for us?”

The stop-off wasn’t in the galley as Dustin had expected. Instead, Aricia lead them down towards the docking bays and into one of the shuttles. There, she unearthed a cold-storage box and retrieved a range of small dishes, setting them down carefully before sinking cross-legged onto the metal floor of the shuttle. Gesturing for Dustin to join her, she proceeded to explain each of the dishes that Naera had prepared for them - the entire meal was Lieviran cuisine, a real taste of the butterfly girl’s homeworld.

“And that one is technically supposed to be made with different ingredients, but Naera’s been making it with… I think they’re called onions? They’re from your world, and they give it slightly more crunch than normal. I like it that way, so I hope you don’t mind that I asked her to take a few liberties with the authenticity of our meal.” Aricia’s rambling made Dustin smile as she flitted from topic to topic as they ate. Finishing, she gave a contented sigh and gestured to the door to the shuttle. “We can take some more pictures in the docking bay if you’d like? I usually try and take a few when you leave or come back. Then we can head on to the final spot I want to show you.”

Dustin paused a few minutes later, looking at the door Aricia had led him to after their photo session in the shuttle bay. They were deep in the ship now, in a place near engineering that he didn’t usually have a reason to go to. The location was close to the reactors and the big gun, and as a result the grav-plates were dialled right down to avoid causing disruption to the delicate balance of those machines. The ship’s designers had lined the chamber with padding, and it was officially intended for use as an athletic area for low-gravity crew; given Yaerwen was the first member of a species that would really gain any benefit from it, it was deserted as Aricia tugged him inside.

The instant he stepped past the door, he could feel the lower gravity in his steps. There was a bounciness to it, as if he would lose his footing and stumble, or float if he wasn’t careful; Dustin found it actually quite hard to keep his balance - but Aricia seemed unconcerned, her wings flapping gently as she led them gracefully around the chamber.

“I was trying to think of something we could do besides photography and food,” Aricia began, taking out her tablet once more and setting it up against a wall. “Rye kindly showed me how to take pictures with my voice,” she murmured as she gestured for Dustin to set his up as well. He wasn’t exactly sure what she was planning - the flighty Lieviran seemed to be angling both tablets so that they would be taking pictures of a spot roughly halfway towards the ceiling of the tall chamber.

After a moment’s fussing, Aricia stepped back, nodding to herself. “That should be alright. Ok, we need to stand over… here,” she said, leading Dustin back to the middle of the room.

“What are we…” Dustin began, but the butterfly woman shook her head and interrupted him. “It’s easier for the tablets to pick up the whistles if we’re not talking - and I need my breath for this. Even here it’s a bit of a struggle to carry two.” Aricia’s words didn’t make much sense - but her next actions were even wilder.

“I asked permission for this specifically in advance,” she said, suddenly wrapping him in her arms and spreading her wings. “Hold on…”

Dustin had just enough time to grab hold of the woman in front of him before her wings started to beat rapidly, the lower gravity being just sufficient to lift them both into the air. Rising slowly, her face a frown of concentration and effort, Aricia reached some point she’d previously decided and gave a series of trilling whistles. Dustin glanced down, marvelling at the feeling of free flight before looking up into Aricia’s eyes right as the cameras clicked below them.