Friends and Family

The inside of the pub was dimly lit, but Dustin lead the small group rapidly through and out into the beer garden at the rear. The presence of Trea’k caused some confused looks from the other patrons - while aliens weren’t entirely unknown in the city, insectoid ones weren’t a common sight at all. As they entered the garden however, a series of horn toots and party poppers went off. “Welcome back, Dustin!” voices called in the disjointed manner that people usually manage for things like “happy birthday” or “congratulations”.

Blinking slightly at the change from the dark interior to the bright remnants of the afternoon sun, Dustin waved somewhat sheepishly towards the gathered throng who had greeted him. “Sorry we’re late - decided to drop in on the old education block on the way past and lost track of time.” He said, earning a snort from one of the men gathered around a gently glowing barbecue. “Only Dustin would manage to drop in rather than drop out of education. Say, Reggie, do you think this thing’s ready to cook on yet?”

Dustin put a restraining hand on Naera’s shoulder as she started forward at the mention of the word ‘cook’. “Not tonight. This is about meeting people that are important to me, not about you hiding behind a stove for the next few hours.” The Caenii winced at his words but nodded. Besides him, Dustin felt a nostalgically familiar presence, and without looking around spoke to the woman that had met them at the door. “Yes, Izzy, I am dating everyone here. No, I will not introduce you to their sisters, aunts or other female family members. You want an alien girlfriend, get off your ass and go into space to find one - we’ve a whole fleet being built now, I’m sure they can fit one disaster of a lesbian in there somewhere.”

His words were playful in tone, and earned him the expected punch on the arm and fierce hug. “Sure, sure, Dustin. You’re just scared I’ll steal your girl like I did when we were twelve.” Dustin shook his head and sighed. “That was Suze’s brother’s girlfriend, and the pair of you lasted precisely one movie trip and a night stargazing before she moved to Scotland and dumped you for that fish-farmer’s son, Izzy. I was the one that stayed up all night with you cos you were crying so hard you puked.” Isabella waved his comments away before dragging him over to a table. “Never mind that, we’ve got catching up to do.”

The garden had a party atmosphere; when he’d asked Axworth to organize the get together, Dustin hadn’t expected so many people he knew to turn up - not just his friends, but friends of his family and their kids. The assembled group took it upon themselves to welcome the aliens in their midst; although he did have to intervene once or twice. Jack and Bleu talking for more than a few minutes for instance - the last thing he needed was the conspiracy-nut and the anarchist medic deciding the galaxy was secretly run by giant void-chickens or whatever. Another intervention was needed when the sun began to dim and the electric lights were turned on to help retrieve several of the younger children from where they were clinging to Trea’k’s legs - the Vex’ess having been telling them stories - so that their parents could take them home.

With the departure of the youngsters and the last dregs of the barbecue doused, conversation gradually turned to more serious matters. Dustin did his best to steer clear of anything too dramatic regarding his exploits - although he did go into marginally more detail on some of the encounters, like the one where they’d hunted the giant bird. That lead to a round of drinks cheering for Yril’k’s martial prowess, and Izzy giddily commenting that she’d like to meet the strong bug lady. Which in turn had lead to Trea’k politely explaining the asexual nature of most Vex’ess castes, causing the human woman to sigh melancholically and order herself another beer.

There had been a little trouble at the bar at the start of the night with Rye; it’d required Sammie and Dustin both to explain to the bemused bar staff that yes, the woman with the rabbit ears was actually fine to order neat spirits by the pint, and no she wouldn’t require medical attention if they mixed up a pitcher of vodka and orange with the quantities of each liquid reversed. Bleu meanwhile had taken one look at what was on offer, sighed, and ordered herself a couple of bags of crisps and a water. When Marty - one of Dustin’s friends - asked if it was a cultural or religious thing that she wasn’t drinking, the doctor had shrugged and replied that it was physical. “For me to get drunk enough for it to have any effect, I’d need to get a majority of my cells drunk - compound intelligence disadvantage, I’m afraid. Unless you want to order me a small bathtub full of the stuff, I’ll stick to water - getting partially **** doesn’t give me any of the positives and leaves me with a whole lot of negatives.” The doctor had then grinned, and added “having reviewed human culture, if you do want to get me a bathtub full, I’ll take around thirty, maybe forty litres of Irish coffee please.”

Dustin had intended that first night on Earth to just be a chance for his childhood friends to meet his lovers and vice versa, and to that end it was a success. Meli seemed to be everywhere, talking to everyone, and even Naera and Rye came out of their shells as the night carried on. Things started to go off the rails a little once the more distant acquaintances left, leaving just his closest circle of old friends, his lovers, and Sammie. At that point, someone - Reggie, he was pretty sure - had suggested they toast to the success of Dustin’s mission, as they’d not been able before he’d left. Then Izzy insisted on toasting to Dustin’s dating luck, much to Emely’s delight and Naera’s embarrassment. Then another toast, and another, and someone suggested they start on shots - and things started to get a little fuzzy for Dustin.

He vaguely remembered snatches after that - Emely dragging Sammie into a Feliax drinking game, Bleu turning into a perfect clone of Meli when someone asked if she could mimic other people before blushing furiously at a wolf whistle from Rye and shifting back so fast she ended up falling over as her legs lost consistency, and staggering back through the corridors of his ship singing a song about goblins with Naera riding on his back and squeaking vaguely obscene words in the chorus. He was dimly aware of mashing the controls to let them into the ambassadorial quarters, before collapsing under the Caenii’s weight. Then there was kissing, he was pretty sure of that, and hands tugging at his clothing, but the walls decided to spin around a bit too fast so he shut his eyes…

With a groan, Dustin woke up in a tangle of limbs. Not unusual, although the mild hangover was. Rubbing sleep from his eyes he shifted, vaguely trying to recognise who was where, sat up further and then froze. Emely and Naera lay sprawled across his lap, hands tangled over his crotch. Across from him he could see Meli and Trea’k cuddled up together fast asleep - but what had shocked him was the other body that lay on her front a short distance away. Dark brown shoulder-blades were only partially obscured by her braids, while there was little save for a pair of briefs covering the rest of Sammie’s form.

Dustin’s intake of breath at the sight caused the women around him to stir, and the pilot to prop herself up on her arms, blinking. Dustin frantically tore his eyes away, just in time to hear her say “where the fuck am I? What the fuck did I drink last night.” Intently staring at the wall, he bit his lip. He hadn’t, had he? Behind him, he could hear Sammie sitting up, followed by a sharp intake of breath. “Oh. Oh shit. Fuckfuckfuck” there was a sudden scrabble for clothing, before another voice made the tension in his body suddenly drop. “Neither of you did anything, don’t ya worry. Wouldn’t have let Dusty or you do anything stupid when you were that blitzed.” Rye’s voice was normally one he loved, but at that moment the content of her words was amazing.

A second voice joined in as the rustling sound of Sammie dressing finished. “Indeed; I also remained sober, and can confirm that nothing occurred - between anyone, asides from a small kissing session between Dustin, Emely and Naera I might add. Even Meli’a and Trea’k just curled up together, while you, miss Coastwood staggered over there, kicked off your jeans while saying something about leg prisons. Then you pulled off your top to use as a pillow and passed out shortly after the captain did; I believe you were muttering about not trusting whiskey after vodka at the time.” Bleu’s explanation had Dustin turn around to see the pilot’s mortified expression.

“Thank fuck for that. I mean, I was planning on propositioning the ambassador eventually, but once we’d got to know each other a bit better and I’d made sure you were all cool with me giving it a go - not like this.” She said, staring over to Rye and seemingly not realising that he’d was awake. Something in the Rabyth’s expression must have given the game away however, because she turned her head slowly before wincing as she saw his stunned expression. “Uhh… fuck, good morning ambassador? How did you sleep?” Behind her, the bunny girl started to giggle before tipping her head back and laughing hard enough to wake the only people still asleep. “What’s so funny, li’oha’a?” Meli said, yawning and pulling Trea’k’s head down for a quick kiss before rising. Rye just pointed at the frantically blushing pilot and, between wheezes managed to say “Dustin’s got another one”