Look at this photograph

Three more days. Emely paced around the small room - the others were busy at the latest event, a endurance run around the city that she was pretty sure sir would win without any real challenge. Humans were after all pursuit predators, and none of the other species were. The only real questions would be how much work Bleu would have helping out with people that collapsed trying to keep up, and whether or not Rye would meet her stated aim of coming in second to the captain. It’d been several days since they’d landed here - a mixed bag of successes or strong showings.

The first day’s back to back wins had bumped Dustin and Rye up the brackets, and they had found real challenges in lifting and wrestling contests on the following days. The human and Rabyth duo were still holding their own and making it to the quarter finals at least in most of their competitions, but it was far from the clean sweep that the first rounds had suggested. At that thought, the Feliax shook her head. She had no time for this - she’d promised Naera that she’d find the perfect opportunity to use their latest weapon in the campaign to get the adorable short-stack into Dustin’s life.

Not for the first time she glanced over at the pile of belongings in the corner of her borrowed quarters, and the neat stack of photos that lay half-covered by her tablet. The green-skinned woman really didn’t realize how photogenic she was; the first night Emely had been here she’d just spread all the photos out on the desk to remind herself what she was working with and… Emely froze in her pacing, not wanting to let the thought slip away. What she was working with… With a start, she darted over to the desk and began to clear it. Glancing at a clock, she nodded. This would work.

Dustin winced as Bleu squeezed his shoulder, working the cream she had applied into his skin. “Are you sure a medspray wouldn’t be quicker?” He asked, which got him a huff of irritation. “It would. And it’d mean you’d over do it and probably pop the joint in your next bout tomorrow. If you object to me rubbing it in, I’m sure I could ask one of your lovers to do it. Just say the word if my touch irks you that much.” Dustin shook his head quickly. “I didn’t mean it like that, doctor. Your touch is perfectly fine, sorry.” A faint ripple of green flickered over the surface of the slime girl’s skin - he’d noticed she showed strong emotions through colour changes like that, but before he could discern if there was anything wrong with what he’d said she patted him on the shoulder and stepped back.

“All done. Rest that for the remainder of the day and you should be fine tomorrow. I’ll go and check on the engineer, and then we’ll see you at dinner.” As ever, the doctor was professional and brisk, already heading in the direction of the door before Dustin could process what she’d said. “See you later!” he called after her retreating form and sighed. “Way to go Dustin. Make the doc think you’re uncomfortable around her, bravo. Now she no doubt thinks you’re a perv that can’t be comfortable around attractive women he’s not sleeping with.” He grimaced and slapped his cheeks. “Enough of that” he decided, standing. “No negative thoughts about myself, my loves wouldn’t like it. Speaking of loves, I should probably go make sure Emely is ready for dinner.”

Emely heard the footsteps down the corridor long before Dustin reached her. Nobody here moved quite like her sir, and it was all she could do to keep her tails from wagging as he came closer. Scrunching her face to calm herself, she picked up the photo she’d chosen for this precise purpose and tried to look nonchalantly at it as the door opened. “Hey kitten, just came to see if you were ready for tea.” His voice made her smile to herself inside, but she kept the intent gaze locked. This was important! Dustin stepped closer, asking as he did so “is that an actual printed photo? There’s something about being able to put a bunch of those out on a table that’s so much more impressive than having them all on a tablet. What did you get photos of…”

She heard the intake of breath as he realised what he was looking at, counted internally to three and set the picture she was holding down in amongst the others before turning and giving him what she hoped was her most innocent smile. “These? Oh, it’s a project Naera asked me for help with. She never trained to be any kind of official unlike the rest of us, and doesn’t have any fancy outfits for important events so asked if I’d help her with additions to her wardrobe. She gave me these pictures to help me remember what clothes she already has while I’m down here with you.”

Dustin’s brain was short circuiting, a recurring loop of green-skinned attractiveness blanking his ability to talk. Blinking rapidly to try and get his thoughts in order, he coughed and glanced away, blushing furiously. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pried - we don’t have to tell Naera I saw those, do we?” The pictures of his chef in full outfits were fine enough, it was the fact that she’d also apparently decided to share pictures of herself in her underwear - his brain treacherously brought up one image of the woman in a spotted brown and white bra and undies that barely seemed to be containing her curves before he **** himself to think about something, anything else.

Behind him, he could hear Emely stacking the photos. “I don’t think she’d mind captain. In fact, I think she’d probably appreciate your input - as the ambassador, I mean.” As she said that, the fox girl stood and ran a hand down his back. “What do you think of this for example?” He glanced down, he couldn’t help it. Naera smiled back up from a photo in which she was wearing a dress that was sliced to the hip in a similar fashion to one of Meli’s. He gulped at the thought - given the high cut, it looked likely that the Caenii had probably joined the Velca in opting out of underwear when wearing that outfit… The fox girl spoke softly right next to him “I think it’d probably look better on someone taller; Meli’s probably as short as you could get and pull something like that off.” Emely’s hot breath on his ear was not helping the situation.

“You’re right” he managed after a moment’s effort, before another picture was thrust under his gaze, Emely seemingly unaware of how she was tormenting him. “This one on the other hand… oops, no, sorry captain.” His cheeks flushed - it was that same picture of the silver-haired woman in spotted underwear, held there for a moment before Emely noticed and swapped it for one of the chef in jeans and a t-shirt. “This is the one. It looks good on her, but it’s not really suitable for official occasions, right?” He swallowed nervously and nodded. “That’s right, kitten” he managed, gesturing to the door. “I should probably go and tell the others you’ll be a little late for tea?” He needed to escape - there was no way he could see many more pictures of the attractive short-stack in her undergarments without risking a very physical reaction that his foxy submissive would most definitely notice.

“Oh, okay. I’ll just tidy these up and be down in a minute.” As quick as she’d started tormenting him, Emely returned to her desk and began to sort the photos into neat piles. She waited until Dustin had left the room and her sharp hearing placed his retreating footsteps as halfway down the corridor before sagging back into her seat with a sigh. “You owe me big time for this Naera. It is not fun teasing sir like that, although I think it worked.” Then she picked up her tablet and shot a quick message via the intergalactic net. “He really seemed to like the brown and white spots. Got very flustered. Will update more but have to dash now so it doesn’t look suspicious.” Glancing down at the photos, she grinned and rested one hand on her own chest, causing something tucked into her bra to rustle. “Very flustered” she half-whispered to herself. “Good job I didn’t over do it by showing him this one; I don’t think he’d have handled seeing you in just boxers and nothing else at this point.” Then she grinned a very Feliax grin. “Hope you don’t mind if I enjoy it myself though. Sir and Rye are so very tired so I’m basically all on my own here every night after all.”