Meli's request

Meli waited until Yril’k had left before she said anything else, Dustin’s chief scientist slowly running her hands over one another nervously. Once the warrior woman had closed the door behind her, she took a deep breath. “Li’ah’a. I know that when you first accepted my request to become partners, it was under some trickery on my part. I also know that during our time together you have been nothing but loving to both me and our mutual lovers. I… I do not wish…” Dustin paused, the breath catching in his throat as she struggled to find her words.

“…I do not wish to have this fear that it is just trickery that binds us together. Nor do I want us to be apart now or ever. Dustin, I…” again her voice faltered, her ears vibrating with emotion. As Dustin began to worry, Rye and Emely stepped up to flank Meli, the other two women resting their hands on her shoulders. “You can do this, nerd.” Rye murmured; the engineer’s words seemed to provide some comfort because the Velca straightened up and took another deep breath. “Dustin Smith of Earth; I know in your culture it was traditional for the man to do this - but we are hardly a traditional pairing. Will you… umm… This was so much easier when I practiced in a mirror, there is no logical reason for it to be so hard. Okay. Deep breaths Meli’a, deep breaths. Dustin Smith, will you marry me?”

For a heartbeat, nobody moved - and then Dustin suddenly found seven pairs of eyes focusing intently on him. Leaning forward, he reached out gently and took Meli’s hands, her eyes seeking an answer in his face even as he did so. “Meli’a Venn… Mae’li’ah’a ah’ahx’anede. We are already engaged, love. Of course I will marry you - I presume by your asking you want to formally set a date? Although, given your worries perhaps you’ll allow me to first ask a question you once asked of me - Mae’li’ah’a de’ane’ahx?” He’d wanted to ask Meli to be his formally ever since she’d let on that they were engaged rather than just dating - not least because he wanted to see how she would reply.

The Velca’s delighted smile was like a sunrise after a cold night - and she looked to be on the verge of tears as she breathed in relief before replying to his question. “An’nae mae’li’orpha’la de’anea, Dustin.” He stared into her eyes, even as their lovers moved around them to hug the pair. “You’re not looking at my ears to see how many I want.” She murmured, cheeks tinting as she said it. Dustin tried to put all the love he felt for her into his reply, saying “Why? Because you added mae’li’orpha’la? You know, I thought about that too love. Ve’orpha’da mae’li’Meli anede’ahx.” Meli pulled her fingers free from his and covered her mouth, tears actually forming now as she gave a little gasp of “oh!”

From somewhere down and to his right, Dustin heard Naera hiss “what did he say, my Velca’s not that good - and why’s Meli crying? Do I need to hit him with a ladle?” and Emely’s soft reply of “Meli’s ears indicated how many children she wanted, he said he wanted as many as would make her happy - it’s a total surrender in what for a Velca is usually a long and drawn out negotiation.” The Feliax sniffed, seemingly holding back her own tears as she continued hugging Meli, adding “it’s possibly the most romantic gesture you can make.”

Dustin sat in his chair with Meli perched on his lap a short while later. Since their mutual declarations, she’d only broken their touch for that brief moment when she was overwhelmed by his reply - his fiancé seemingly not wanting to let him go after that. The others had showered the pair with love; Rye in particular had hugged them both and commented that it was about damn time. Now, with the excitement of the moment fading, Dustin scratched his head. “What do we even do about this from a ceremony perspective? Are we doing a Velca ritual or a human one or…?” Meli snuggled into him before sighing. “A human one would be problematic, given most of your cultures have baked in monogamy - you can hardly promise to only be with me when you’re already going through Rabyth pairing and are patriarch to Emely, to say nothing of the others.”

Bleu snorted at that point. “If you two screw up what I worked so hard to get the courage to ask for a few days after I got it just because of some human cultural thing, I will not be happy.” Meli smiled placatingly at the slime woman before continuing. “I’d be mad too Bleu; if I wanted Dustin all to myself I would never have encouraged him to bring a certain cute bunny into our bed. But a pure Velca ritual is far too dry and boring - and besides, I don’t want to have a wedding that involves mutually presenting a paper to the local representative of the research council.” Then she frowned, her nose wrinkling in the most adorable way Dustin thought. “Technically, that’d be my uncle, and much as I am grateful to him I do not want him presiding over my wedding.”

Dustin nodded thoughtfully at that. “So, neither human nor Velca ceremonies work - we’ll make our own then? It only really matters to those of us in this room, right? The exact specifics of how we’re married, I mean? As long as we all know that Meli and I are married - li’orpha’a - then that’s all that really matters. Any thoughts on that, love?” Meli gave a gentle nod of her head. “You’re right. I… may have already done a little planning in that regard in the hope that you’d agree to moving things forward for us both.” Dustin hugged her, then without meaning to he yawned. Meli followed suit before sighing contentedly into his shoulder. “We’re both pretty tired. Much as I want to go over everything I’ve thought of, I want you wide awake for it. Carry me to bed, li’ah’a?”

As Dustin stood and approached the door to the ambassadorial bedroom with Meli in his arms, he realized Trea’k was blocking the way. “Trea’k?” he said hesitantly, before the insect woman pointed in the direction of his bunk. “You two deserve alone time, my mate. Use your smaller bedroom. We’ll all be waiting for you in the morning.” A chorus of agreement from the other women sealed the deal, and so he found himself moments later curling up with his first lover in the place their relationship had begun. “Do you remember when I first saw you here?” Meli mused, running one finger down his chest as they lay curled up together - both too tired to be intimate but too full of endorphins to sleep. “Yea. If I recall, I was falling over and in my underwear.” Dustin grinned, pulling her in tighter to him. “No idea why you decided that I was the one for you, but really glad you did.” The pair talked a little longer, before the pauses grew - and eventually all that could be heard in the room was the sound of gentle breathing.

Morning came, and Dustin rose to find Meli curled tight into him, his door open - and Rye grinning at them from the doorway. “Rise and shine, Dusty. You and the nerd can be all cute and domestic on your… whats the human word again, honey-star? Sticky-asteroid?” Dustin groaned and lobbed a pillow at the Rabyth. “It’s honeymoon - and why are you our alarm clock, chief engineer?” Rye caught the pillow in one hand and shrugged before tossing it back, missing Dustin and waking Meli. “Three reasons, Dusty. One, I called dibs cos I’ve been with the two of you the longest. Two, because Nae-nae was getting that look she gets when she’s worried people will miss a meal and having been on the receiving end I thought I’d spare the two of you that pain, and three - because if I have to listen to Emmz speculate on what you and the nerd want to do about your wedding for another minute I’m going to go crazy. I swear, she barely stopped talking about it last night even when I pushed her face into my…” Rye stopped, blushed for a moment and then shrugged. “So yea, I’m your alarm clock. So are you gonna get up, or do I need to fetch the angry little chef?”