Homework

Dustin groaned as he scanned the files Meli had sent him for the third time. Their conversation had taken hardly any of the day - aside from the fact that he’d have to negotiate to effectively buy a betrothal as he understood it, there wasn’t actually that much in the way of complexity to get. Meli had very pointedly told him that he needed to remember to order their new crew member to take a contraceptive spray as soon as they departed the Feliax home world unless he wanted a lot of small Dustins running around the ship within a year. Apparently as the only Feliax in their “pride” she’d not go through the loss of fertility they naturally exhibited to ensure they didn’t overpopulate - in those cases, it was apparently the pridemaster’s job (one of the few they actually had in Feliax society) to ensure that reproduction happened on a schedule that didn’t imbalance or impede the group’s function. Or in other words, she’d listen if Dustin said no, which as he was one hundred percent not ready for kids having only gotten his own shit together to some extent over the last four months or so - suffice to say, he wasn’t likely to forget that “advice” from his fiancé.

The more complicated matter was working out what he could possibly trade that’d be considered worthy by his counterpart in their new crew member’s current pride. The ship had a vast array of Earth items - but they were all not exactly rare, even if a lot of them were high quality. He sincerely doubted just handing over a crate of booze would do the job to sweeten a deal like it had with the Rabyth when he’d been negotiating trade. The discussions he needed to have with the Empress weighed on his mind - they too were rather convoluted but fortunately Meli and Rye would be handling most of the talking regarding securing a new crew member. He’d still have to do the ambassadorial things and that was a lot of pomp and ceremony however. Pushing those files to one side for now - he was pretty sure he had them memorized, and would review them during the final flight in - he returned to the ones Meli had given him with examples of past trade negotiations for Feliax crew.

As he went back over them for the fourth time, he tried not to think too hard about the other matter - their next destination after Feliax. They’d formed a short-term plan, and Meli had indicated that there were a few options after that, but he was keenly aware of the lack of both a security officer after the pirate episode and a cook. As Meli had said weeks prior, the automat was tolerable, but he was starting to crave home cooking. Dustin paused at that thought, blinking for a moment before flicking back through the files quickly. Yea, this could work. He’d want to practice, and he’d need to know numbers before hand - but he could give them something unique as well as currently rare in Feliax space. Authentic Earth food, hand cooked. Add to that the original holo recording he’d made of one of his and Rye’s first experimental musical jam sessions playing together (he’d sent copies back to Earth for distribution after checking it was okay with Rye, but had kept the originals in a box) and he could probably scrape together enough value - with perhaps a few supplemental negotiations if needed.

With that business attended to, he pulled up a handful of recipes for inspiration, flicked through them until he’d decided on one, made a couple of adjustments and then pinged it over to Meli with a query as to whether anything on the updated ingredients list was contraindicated for Feliax physiology. When the reply came through that it was safe, he stood, stretched and then headed down to the galley. While he’d found after poking around after their first intimate session in there that the ambassador’s room had a full kitchen in one of it’s side chambers, the one in the main galley was larger which would first of all let him experiment with a few different options at once and secondly give him more room to mess up in. On reaching the massive room he paused before pinging a quick message to the other two to meet him there for dinner, before settling in to work.

Dinner time came around surprisingly quickly - he’d been so focused on his cooking and experimenting that he didn’t notice the two women arriving until Rye leaned over the serving counter. “Do you deliver to the table or do we have to come into the kitchen to get our meal Dusty?” she said, her voice making him snap out of his reverie. “Oh. Sorry Rye, lost track of things there. I’ll bring it out - I think this is probably the version I’ll be making for the Feliax; I’d like second opinions on taste.” As the bunny girl turned back to where Meli was sitting at one of the tables, Dustin hastily retrieved bowls and filled them with what he’d been working hard on for the past half a day. Making a final check that everything was safe and his notes on the best quantities for the recipe were saved, he carried the food out on the tray, setting portions in front of each of his ladies.

Rye wrinkled her nose at the bowl and raised an eyebrow. “What is this, Dusty? Smells good, but looks like the educational holos of survival meals from the last great starvation on Rabyth.” Meli on the other hand clapped her hands excitedly. “This is a stew, isn’t it? Slow cooked meat and vegetables, a human cultural dish” Dustin nodded, putting his own portion down and sitting in the gap the two had left for him between them on the bench seating. “Yup. Stew, dumplings and fresh bread. Home-cooked food based on a recipe from when I was a kid - I remembered basically all the tweaks my family made back when I was young and only needed the recipe to get a rough quantity guide. And then a little fine tuning and experimentation to get the final mix right.”

By the time he’d finished explaining, Meli was already eating - the Velca woman muttering “’s good” with a mouthful of food; that wasn’t surprising, she’d mentioned before that she wanted to try classic Earth dishes. Rye took an experimental mouthful before nodding to herself “it’s really tasty - even if it does look weird to Rabyth eyes. But that’s a me thing not a you thing, captain!” she added hastily, her weird social anxiety kicking in at the end. Dustin sighed internally at that - he’d hoped that after a week or two of them coaxing her that she’d be doing a little better with her fears of rejection, but it seemed like Rye still had a long way to go.

Putting that problem to the side for now, Dustin tucked into his own meal - and smiled to himself. “It tastes of home” he mused softly, before glancing up at the other two when he realised the sound of eating had stopped. “What’s the matter?” He asked, glancing between the concerned faces on either side of him. “Dustin… why are you crying?” Meli said softly, putting one hand on his shoulder. Dustin paused, reached up and blinked - he’d not noticed the tears. “Oh. It really tastes of home” he said, then set his spoon down carefully. “I guess I’d better explain - it’s not that I’m homesick, don’t worry. I love being in space, Earth’s not home for me as such.” The two women waited patiently as he paused, trying to find his words. “Meli, your uncle’s the Velca ambassador to Earth, so I know you’ve got family. Rye, what about you?” The Rabyth woman’s eyes were wide as she replied “a lot of cousins and siblings; probably a few hundred if you include the ones in the colonies. My family’s always been more willing to move about than most. Don’t really talk to many of them that regularly though.”

Dustin gave her a wan smile before continuing “Well, I don’t have any close family left. Not any more. Parents were both in the peacekeeping core after first contact; died when I was pretty young in the terror attacks on the first orbital when it was under construction. Was raised by my grandparents up until my final year of student life - did them proud with my results. Kind of glad they didn’t see the mess I made of things after that before I became ambassador though. But this stew - it’s one of the memories I have of both my grandparents and parents. Dad learned to cook it from his mom, and I can remember eating it with all of them before the attack happened. Still, didn’t think I’d get this weepy over it.” With that, he sighed and wiped his eyes on his sleeve before taking another bite. “Let’s eat up, before it gets cold, yea?”