Questions and Queues

Aricia frowned. Dustin had arrived back from the planet in something of a fluster; he’d brought a new friend with him who seemed… boisterous. At least, that was the best she’d been able to make out; the butterfly woman had been drifting around the docking bay to take pictures of the shuttle when it landed, and the new woman had seen the camera lens on Aricia’s tablet and insisted in posing for a photo, all muscles and cheeky grin. She vaguely reminded the Lieviran of Rye in some ways…

Shaking her head, Aricia continued her drift towards the gardens. Dustin was showing the new arrival around, and he’d asked most of the senior staff to meet him there for a casual chat; the absence of Yril’k in the list of people he’d invited made Aricia highly suspicious. It wasn’t as if she was part of their relationship, but even so… Frowning again, she patted her tablet to check it was still secured to her hip and continued her half-walk, half-glide towards the ship’s green spaces.

Defia really shouldn’t have scanned Emely’s tablet. It was extremely rude to snoop on other people’s calls, but the fox girl had left it right there when she’d darted from the room where they’d been discussing Defia painting some pictures for the Feliax woman’s birthing den, and Defia had just intended to tidy up. That, at least, was what she was telling herself as she stalked down the hallway towards the gardens, trying to keep her internal voltages under control. Her emotional synthesis was spiking wildly - it was bad enough she might lose her chance at affection from the prime unit and Rye if the pair began unit construction, it was entirely a different matter if new units attempted integration into her cluster.

Dustin sat nervously on the grass as his lovers arrived, Yaerwen leaning against a tree nearby. The Hoxx woman had explained further while they’d been returning from the planet; he was an ambassador, she was a representative of her species. Of course that’d mean she’d be joining his harem. When she was done, he’d rather carefully explained that while he was happy for her to be part of his crew, joining his bed was another matter entirely and would require her to be approved by those currently sharing it with him.

Yaerwen’s answering grin and request for an immediate meeting had been all too predictable. Thus, as soon as they’d gotten back to the ship Dustin had sent a message to the others; he was pretty sure he could guess how Emely at least would answer, and as such had left the request to gather deliberately vague. He’d also asked them to meet in the garden; even if the others instantly approved of Yaerwen joining them, Dustin himself wanted time to get to know the newcomer before any intimacy - and he didn’t trust certain members of his love-life to not just drag them both into an orgy right away.

One downside to holding the discussion in a nominally public place was that he couldn’t prevent any outsiders from joining them. The sight of Defia and Aricia drifting closer as he helped Meli and Trea’k to join him on the soft ground while his other lovers sprawled about made him wince. He was about to try and shoo the two of them away, when Meli glanced up at Yaerwen and spoke. “Shall we begin our discussion, husband? It seems unfair to our new arrival to stand on ceremony.”

Dustin gave up on privacy and nodded, coughing gently to get the attention of the assembled ladies. “So… everyone, this is Yaerwen. She’s joining the crew, and well…” he began, then paused, trying to figure out how best to explain the request the newcomer had made.

Yaerwen opted to explain for him. “On the shuttle ride up here, I asked the ambassador when we were going to be fucking. It’s traditional, right? And he clearly has plenty of stamina - I saw that much when he bested me on the arena floor. It’s… quite exciting to finally meet a man that’s not only stronger than me but can also outlast me. Anyway, when I asked him he spluttered something about wanting your approval, so that’s why we’re all here. What do you need me to do to join you?”

Emely looked about to open her mouth, but to everyone’s surprise Sammie got there first. “You need to prove yourself worthy of our Dustin.” The dark-skinned woman glanced around and shrugged. “I had to wait before I joined, to make sure we were compatible. And look how well that went! Not gonna lie, muscles over here is cute, but we look for more than just looks before we let people join us in bed, right ladies?”

Rye glanced up from the circuit board she’d been tinkering with. “Ya got it right there, Sammie. So, new girl. It’s Yaerwen, right? Ya don’t just get to start demanding a spot in the ambassadorial bed just cos ya worked ya way on board. Spend some time with all of us - not like that Emmz, I’m trying to be serious here - and with Dusty, and see if we click as more than just bang-buddies. If not, don’t worry about not getting any, there’s plenty of crew here as strong as Dusty over there that’ll be happy to pin you down if ya need.”

Yaerwen frowned at that. “I don’t want a random crewmember. To be honest, I don’t care about rank either. I want him…” she pointed one hand at Dustin “…because he’s the first to beat me. That matters more than the fact that his species is strong. Even if the idea of being pinned is rather…” she blushed and trailed off.

Naera and Trea’k exchanged a glance, before the plant woman spoke. “That reasoning is actually pretty good grounds for us to give you a chance as far as I’m concerned. But, it’s like Rye says. You need to earn a spot in the bedroom by being someone we’d also like to spend time with outside it.”

Dustin was surprised to hear affirmations of this basic point be echoed by all his lovers - even Emely. Yaerwen shrugged and replied to the united front with an offhanded remark that she didn’t mind taking the time to get to know people if that was what it took, and he had just started to relax when two more voices piped up.

“Statement. I…” Defia’s voice was overlaid by Aricia, the butterfly woman saying “Excuse me, but…” The pair looked at each other, before Aricia gestured for the rogue Fractal to go first.

Defia’s red eyes turned to Dustin. “Statement. I am aware I am not part of the inner circle of this cluster, however I wish to be. Currently, my intimate capabilities are being fine tuned to avoid injury to partners…” she paused as Rye chuckled and muttered “unless they enjoy being tazed” before continuing “…but I believe this will be concluded within the next few rest cycles. To that end, I formally request authorization to also attempt the process outlined to unit designate Yaerwen for integration with you all.”

Seeing slightly confused eyes on the part of both the Hoxx and Naera, Defia tilted her head to one side. “Adjusting. Statement. I also wish to fuck you all, may I please try to also be someone you wish to be intimate with?”

Dustin was rather worried about his lover’s reactions. Emely’s tails twitched and he was half-concerned she’d injure herself from how fast she was nodding, but it was the plant girl who’s thoughts mattered most in this situation. Naera pursed her lips, looking Defia up and down, and then gave a curt nod. “Alright. But you and I spend some time together first, okay? I know you’ve been working hard on the whole emotional thing - show me the results of that if you think you’re ready to start jumping into bed.”

If Naera was okay with it, that was the main thing - out of all of them, she was the one with the most reason to hate the very idea of intimacy with a Fractal. Well, her and… Aricia interrupted his train of thought by speaking. “I also wish to get closer. I have attempted to explain this via hints, Dustin, but you did not seem to recognize them; probably cultural differences between our species meant you did not notice when I was flirting, even when I showed you a photo of me in a courtship pose.” The butterfly woman’s gaze was firm for once as she stared at him, then flickered her eyes across the other women present. “Do any of you have any objections?”

This had gotten way out of hand, far too quickly. Just as Dustin was about to comment, however, Bleu stretched and got her thoughts in first. “So, we have three potential new playmates who want to get to know us better. That’s wonderful, I needed a reason to get Meli to start taking some time off from bridge duties to just do paperwork, given her condition. Would you draw up some date plans for us all my dear? You are the leader of our little group of lovers after all.” That, it appeared was that - Meli pulled out a tablet and began work, leaving Dustin with nothing to do but sigh and nod when she asked if he was happy for her to schedule his time with each of the trio on her own.