Erinyes

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

A woman's visage appeared in the air. Cizerack, and with a reasonably strong resemblance to T'yeellaa. She beamed a smile.

"Ja irra, rrou'ehi. jI hope jit'ss not too late to talk."

[Q. Samus Dage]

He paused at the sound of the voice, giving T'yeellaa a curious look before letting his eyes pass to the image of the other Cizerack woman.

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

T'yeellaa gave a quick glance in Samus' direction, as if to take stock of where the night was going. Even odds between a marathon fuck session or going straight to sleep with a detour at light petting. She smiled as if to say all's well, and turned back to her sister.

"jI haven't gone to bed jyet, Rai'fa. What'ss up?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

She'd definitely seen that side glance off screen correctly, and Rai'faani's smile turned smaller and somewhat lecherous.

"Brrought ssomeone home? Ssomethjing prrettjy orr exotjic?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

There was something to be said for not being seen, yet still being privy to a conversation, and Dage raised a single eyebrow at the last word spoken. Like some some glossy plumed Corellian peacock, he hitched his shoulder back while running a hand down the length of his uniform tunic and making a show of puffing out his chest. A supremely self-satisfied smirk met T'yeella as he mouthed two words, feigned pride and smugness written comically on his features.

I'm exotic.

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

The elder Meorrrei flicked her tail at her preening human partner and his buoying ego as she rolled her eyes with a smile.

"On the frrontjierr, ssjissterr? jI wass luckjy to fjind one wjith all hjiss ljimbss and a face that doessn't look ljike a potato."

T''yeellaa waggled her eyebrows to her left slightly. That'll take a few tail feathers out.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Well assk hjim jif he'ss got a prrettjy brrotherr becausse jI'll harrdljy have tjime to jinsspect everrjy sswjingjing cock when jI arrrjive but jI'd sstjill ljike to fjind ssome decent ssporrt fuck."

It was a half-joking request. But only half.

"Wjill jyou be able to get awajy frrom thjingss forr half a dajy? jI'd ljike to go sshoppjing wjith jyou, even jif the sstorress arre horrrjid."

[Q. Samus Dage]

A funny look was sent to T'yeellaa at the rather honest request from... her sister? Whether she called the other woman 'sister' in the literal sense or something else he couldn't quite suss out at the moment, so Dage settled for raised eyebrows, a sip of wine, and a useless swat at her tail.

"I'm more of a yam-faced guy, myself," he rumbled quietly, offering his official opinion with a sly wink.

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

A subtle change in the skewing of T'yeellaa's ears might have gone unnoticed by the human, but it signaled unguarded surprise in his partner.

"When jyou arrrjive, Rai'faani? jYou'rre comjing herre?"

This was the second time today that T'yeellaa had felt out of the loop and left to look like an ass.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai'faani's left ear flicked in exasperation as she rolled her eyes.

"Do jyou even open mjy commss to jyou, rrou'ehi? jI told jyou jI wass comjing to Jovan thrree dajyss ago. jI could have flown non-sstop to Ssullusst but jI padded mjy sschedule sso we could have fun. And rrealljy...jyou could usse fun."

The younger Meorrrei multi-tasked as she fussed, pulling out a nail file as she fined down her claw tips.

"Sso jI'll be sseejing jyou and jyourr prrovjincjial bed-warrmerr jin the morrnjing. And jyou'rre offjicjialljy on notjice now, sso clearr jyourr sshedule. Love jyou lotss."

With a wink and a kiss, Rai'faani terminated the comm.

[Q. Samus Dage]

For a moment after the holo blinked out of existence he said nothing. At least it didn't seem like there was anything to say in the wake of T'yeellaa's sister, Rai'faani, and the unexpected news of a visit. His smile did at least remain though, and with a sip from his glass, Dage let himself lean against the counter.

"So. How often do you check your messages?"

At least his wasn't the only message not received.

Another thought occurred to him, and his features fell into a somewhat stern expression.

"Also, this provincial bed-warmer wants to know if he should be concerned about this visit."

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

Cracks were beginning to form in the firmament, and T'yeellaa crossed her arms as she frowned. Samus' ribbing didn't help, and the K'ohta'rrou wasn't taking the matter jokingly anymore.

"jI sshould be gettjing a prrompt forr anjy jincomjing messsage, and even jif jI don't, jI sstjill check at the top of the hourr."

Signal latency on Jovan had been touchy in the opening few weeks, but surely they were past that now? The HoloNet relay was fully vectored on the network. It was deeply vexing, and T'yeellaa tugged at an ear tuft absent-mindedly, until Samus cracked wise to make light of things again.

"What? Oh, herr?" She gave a slight eye roll. "jI thjink jyou'll be fjine. Sshe ussualljy huntss djifferrent prrejy."

[Q. Samus Dage]

Prey. Cute. But still, he could sense the simmering frustration peak through a few forming cracks in her exterior, and the blonde reached out to pull her close in an embrace.

"If you say not to worry, then I'll not think twice about it."

Of course there was now the matter of her having to free herself from her duties for the next day. He himself had a few tasks to make sure were seen to, but it wasn't nearly the workload as the station staff. Nevertheless, Dage planted a kiss to the top of her head, the scent of her shampoo filling his nostrils. In a further act of attentiveness, he held his glass to her so that if she wished, she could partake.

"Just let me know if there's anything you'd like me to do."

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

"jYou'rre on leave." she replied firmly, taking the glass from his hands with a sudden renewed thirst at the added ridiculousness of her younger sister's unanticipated arrival.

"Enjojy jyourrsself. Losse the unjiforrm forr a dajy."

To emphasize the point, T'yeellaa deftly hooked a claw at the fabric over one of Samus' buttons, unbuttoning a section of his uniform top with a charmed smile.

"jI'll ssquassh thjiss audjitorr prroblem and get tech to look jinto mjy comm trrouble fjirrsst thjing jin the morrnjing. jYou ssleep jin, and jI'll brrjing brreakfasst."

She took another drink, then passed the cup back to Dage and gave him an authoritative, punctuated kiss.

"Good njight, gai'tou. jIt'ss sstrrajight to bed forr me."

T'yeellaa passed by the human as she began to unbutton her shirt. Her tail slinked up knowingly, hugging the countours of his leg and running up slowly as she turned with a sly expression.

"Perrhapss tomorrrow njight jyou can keep me up laterr?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

He hesitated, but seconds later he was trailing after, still holding his wine. Upending the glass, the blonde deftly set it on a small wallshelf as his off hand took gentle hold of the tuft at the end of her tail before giving it a playful tug.

"Oh no, Kitten, you'll not pass me off quite that easily... "

Unencumbered by the glass, his now-free hand came out to grab hers as he slipped ahead of her into the bedroom, and with a forceful pull, sent her on a trajectory toward the bed.

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

Oh this is a mistake came an insistent-yet-distant thought in T'yeellaa's mind as she went along for the ride, splashing on the bed. By the time she hit the mattress, she'd committed to stupidity.

And honestly, stupidity wasn't all that bad.

* * *

04:30


BEEP
BEEP
BEEP
BEEP

...this was the STUPIDEST idea!

T'yeellaa's eyelids rolled up like curtains, revealing bleary angry blue eyes tinged with bloodshot accent. Her head hurt. Her back hurt. Her arms and legs hurt. Not from anything she'd done the night before, but rather what she hadn't done, which was sleep very much. She'd slept so little that she actually hurt from being tired. She existed in exquisite ambivalence between anger and something pathetic and sad. She couldn't even properly curse or grump or whimper, lest she wake him up and it was all his fault anyway and...

T'yeellaa's face moved from scowl to grimace to blank resignation. She yawned a few times, blinked the irritation out of her eyes, and gracelessly frankensteined out of bed onto solid deck where she went to work on a full-body stretch to put back some of what ailed her. It felt good/horrible. With that done, she gingerly padded into the living area, put on the kettle for her morning kri'achee tea, and made sure her hair wasn't a rat's nest. All the vinegar she'd built up inside to broadside into that nosy Cizerack auditor had mostly petered out into procedural doldrums, and instead of a face-to-face berating, she was going to compromise with her sad state of morning person-ness and settle for an angry letter.

A few minutes later she had her tea which didn't exactly settle her mood or feelings but did make her a little more awake, and she set to work on a sufficiently scathing communique. Respect the chain of command. If you've got anything to say to my men you say it to me. The most damning part was the end, in which she simply added her signature stamp of T'yeellaa Meorrrei. Her inescapable family name was now useful as a cudgel.

Drowsy-eyed, T'yeellaa spent a few minutes proof-reading her rant, then realized she'd added profanity. Deleted. Some things weren't as satisfying in text, and the whole need to be professional meant you put catharsis up on a shelf for later. Iron inside lace and all that.

[Q. Samus Dage]

In a groggy show of solidarity, Dage gave a light groan before himself rolling cautiously from the protective layers of covers that he and T'yeellaa had burrowing into with wild abandon. Perhaps it'd not been the best of ideas to carry on the night previous, but he had no regrets. Bare feet hitting the floor, he pushed himself up to his feet. He could hear her in the other room, and sauntering from the bedroom without a care in the world (other than perhaps it was awful early), Samus Dage gave a yawn.

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

"Not ssleepjing jin?"

T'yeellaa glanced from behind the glow of her monitor at the much less worse for wear form of Samus stretching and strutting. Her ears cocked at the absurdity. How in Sanjaarra's name did humans operate on so little sleep? No wonder they lived fewer years than Cizerack when they could get almost twice as much done in a day.

Still rubbing sleep from her eyes, T'yeellaa sipped at her mug with a grimace.

"jI made kri'achee."

Pausing, she corrected with a shrug.

"jI thjink therre'ss caf jin the cupboarrd ssomewherre."

She had a plan about treating him when he woke...at a respectable hour. He'd foiled that, naturally.

[Q. Samus Dage]

A hand came up to try and further wipe the sleep from his eyes. It was only a partially successful endeavor, and only gave him cause to yawn once more.

"I'm fine," he half-rasped, "Could use some antibiotic cream though... "

He moved slowly, head going down to inspect a few of the crisscrossed red lines across his chest. A finger ran over one of them, and he hurfed out an unintelligible grumble.

Finally a sigh as he look back to her.

"Ever thought about using nail clippers?"

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

Well at least he could commiserate in some grief. T'yeellaa's ears raised in time with a glib grin.

"Love hurrtss, gai'tou."

Extending the sharp claw tip from her right index finger, she pointed casually towards the refresher.

"Kolto ojintment jiss jin the medjicjine cabjinet. Don't be long, jI need to get jin the ssonjicss and get drresssed."

T'yeellaa paused just shy of gulping down the last of her tea, mindful to leave the dredgy sediment in the cup. She then tried for another round of stretching, bracing extended claw tips at the edge of her desk as her shoulders rolled slowly.

"Rai'fa'ss fljight getss jin at 0700, and jI need to let Commanderr Akjiena know jI'm...jindjisspossed."