* * *
Kilniara watched the door to the room close softly before she fell back on the bed and squealed, her whole body quivering in joy even as her arms and legs kicked in the air.
“He likes me! He… he likes,” here, she blushed deeply before pulling up into a fetal position and dropping into a whisper, “my body!”
Acokzau were not known for their beauty. They were not ugly, by any stretch of the imagination, but when one thought of beauty, Acokzau where not the first to mind as there were plenty others that had incredible beauty as natural as their existence. Anything from the sleek beauty of an elf to the massive curves some of the beastkin were known for. Acokzau, on the whole, were closer to elf in sleekness but lacked their allure. Finding that Joe was attracted to her relieved her of a fear she did not know she’d had.
She released herself from her fetal embarrassment and flopped back on the bed, glorying in being here on his bed and basking in the memory of his waking. She smiled brightly and shivered once more before giggling and once again kicking the bed and punching the air.
When she heard a thump coming from her room, she froze in surprise before turning red in embarrassment when she realized the boys had come home last night and she was laying almost naked on her boyfriend’s bed. Her hands scrabbled uselessly across the bed for the covers before she realized doing so was ultimately meaningless as what she really needed to do was get her clothing on. With her clothes, she could at least maintain a modicum of dignity hoping that they would think that she’d been clothed. Her blush deepened at the memory of his body, the remembered touch of her hand on his chest flooding her mind once again before she quickly leaped up, diving for her clothing as quietly as she could.
Her chest wrap could wait, although she would have to cover her breasts as her nipples were still diamond hard and would easily show through the fabric of her top. Her small clothes were still on since she could not bring herself to be completely naked, the memory of dropping her clothes next to his bed the night before heightening her blush even more which caused her to zoilsha as her scales fluttered across her whole body, the memory of his skin on hers sending shivers down her whole torso.
Her top went on first as it was long and offered covering from her neck all the way to her knees. The thump from next door turned to grumbling as she heard her brother mumble as he awoke and she felt herself calm, knowing she would have another few moments before he was aware enough to rise and clothe himself. She didn’t take this as an excuse to slow and pulled her pants up quickly, tucking her top into the pants carefully before looking in the bronze plate to make sure she had clothed herself decently.
Once she was done, she found herself at a loss and began fidgeting before suddenly thinking that rising from the bed clothed might help sell the idea that she’d always been clothed. Pulling the blanket from the floor quickly, she threw it down the bed before she shuffled under it and curled up on her side to rest, nervous excitement and relief coursing through her. Once more in the bed, the memories of the night before and the morning flooded her just as his scent drowned her from the pillow and blanket and her fear fled under the remembered joy of being in his arms.
Her eyes lost focus as her thoughts retreated to the memory and she soon was hugging the blankets in remembrance instead of clinging to them in nervousness. A few moments later, the door to her room opened cautiously, just enough for a head to peak out around the corner before opening fully, if quietly, to let her brother in. He looked around the room before closing the door quietly behind him and excitedly coming around to sit on his bed, looking to his sister.
“So?”
Kilniara smiled, sighing happily before she sat up, dropping the blanket from her. As she did so, her brother quickly looked away and put his hand up in front of his face.
“Whoa whoa! You may be pretty, but I’m stil…,” Zilnek paused half way in covering his eyesight when he realized she was clothed and disappointment engulfed his face.
“He rejected you,” Zilnek finished flatly.
“No. No… well, yes… but not… He wants to wait.”
Zilnek cocked his head in confusion at that before shaking his head in frustration, “You can’t keep letting him put you off. If another claims him, then…”
“I know. I know. But… he is truly serious about…”
“He’s a man, and a clanner. You must claim him before his parents find a wife for him. If he…”
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“He’s not… like that,” Kilniara started fiercely before trailing off under her brother’s disbelieving mockery.
“He’s a clanner!”
Kilniara thought for a moment, at a loss in how to respond before an epiphany hit her, “If he is as you say, then he would simply claim me and abandon me after he had what he wants! If he’s a man,” Kilniara emphasized the last word with mockery before continuing, “and a clanner, then why is he waiting to take what I have offered freely!”
Zilnek’s eyes narrowed before he took a deep breath and sat back in thought, now himself uncertain how to respond Kilniara’s defense. He thought for a few moments before shaking his head and continued, “It doesn’t matter. The end is the same. Make him yours. Tell me what happened. Everything!”
Kilniara began blushing at that, her face turning brilliantly red but instead of anger, Zilnek’s eyes rose before a smile beamed out, “Tell me! Tell me!”
Kilniara revealed the evening and morning with halting words, stopping and adding detail, much to her embarrassment, when Zilnek asked for more before the two began discussing the meaning behind their master’s actions and Zilnek excitedly offered advice on how she should continue. That morning, Kilniara learned more about men and her brother than she’d ever wanted to know.
* * *
Joe left the room, completely flustered and walking quite a bit funnier than he generally enjoyed walking. Luckily, the common room was empty as he’d woken quite a bit earlier than most people seemed to wake here. When he arrived there, he found himself a bit paralyzed on what to do next. He’d originally planned to head to the temple square and swap out to his new job for the day, but with his pants uncomfortably tight and embarrassingly visible, Joe escaped to the back court and chose to throw himself into his forms.
Once he made the backyard, he deliberately made sure to face the back wall of the courtyard, his back to the door, before beginning his forms. He took some time to carefully evaluate the last few moments and his own response and quickly came to the conclusion that he was an idiot and he should have trusted… Dad was right… that’s… He breathed deeply again and fled the memories before firmly making a decision to stay far away from similar situations. With this decision, he shivered and for the first time doubted his ability to be able to maintain such a choice. He pondered it for a time then let it slip away, his thoughts now spiraling into something that was quite far from useful. He turned his thoughts to his forms and as always, the forms calmed him and gave him an avenue of escape from the business of life, and his thoughts calmed and retreated, giving him a moment of zen peace without imagination or the incessant yammering of ideas pounding in his mind.
After he’d completed all his forms normally the half dozen times, he ended his session with a deep breath and release, only then allowing his mind to return and actually start thinking again. Hey, thanks for letting me back! Joe smirked at that, chuckling before shaking his head and returning to the common room, now more than ready and able to head to the temple district.
He walked down the empty morning streets, the sun warming the air and turning the gloomy atmosphere to a cheerful brightness. His eyes glanced up to the side of the sun as it was still too bright to look at directly despite the distance, and was once again a bit confused by how the tiny sun seemed to be overly bright and warm. It was barely larger than a pin head, his pinky more than enough to cover it. As the thought came to him, he lifted his hand up and covered the sun easily with even the tiniest parts of his fingers. How is it so warm and bright here? Shouldn’t it be freezing and… dark?
A grumbled harrumph brought Joe back to the planet and quickly offered apologies as he stepped to the side around an oncoming pedestrian before continuing on, now being more careful to watch where he was going, although his mind still wrestled with the idea of being so far from the sun yet still being warmed so completely by it. He’d discarded the idea that maybe this solar system had a gas giant that was much closer to the sun simply because of how small the sun was. Even if it was much closer, then the sun here was much smaller, which brought about the same problem. It didn’t matter if the sun was smaller or further, both situations would decrease the energy, light, and heat it could offer the planets. The sun would need to be pretty big in the sky to offer enough light and heat to warm the planet to where there was liquid water. It really doesn’t make any sense that…
Joe’s thoughts cut off when he came into the temple square, surprise at the arrival bringing him to the task of the moment and he quickly pulled out the next cloak he’d need to wear. Do I need to buy more? Hmm… Joe thought on it a bit but discarded it. He’d still not gone through one cycle of the all the cloaks he had and by the time he’d gone through them, his swapping out to another would likely be more than enough to maintain his anonymity. He glanced around the square until he remembered where his next job change would be and headed towards it. He flipped up his status to look at the next job he’d need before nodding and heading in, swapping out his Theologian job for the Believer job. Sounds about right!
After getting the new job, he found nothing new, everything still the same and the background color still the same, so he was a bit worried about what he would find. This supposed to lead to the priest line of jobs? Then… isn’t the color different? Ooh... did I swap to the wrong job? I should... why did it go back to the scholar believer instead of faith line believer. Should I change it specif... no... it's levels are the same even as I leveled up the scholar line... so... that should be fine. No need to swap it again. Right? Joe's thoughts considered this, frowning, then even almost turning around to head into another temple when he paused. Good to know... I'm fairly certain it will raise the levels... got two previous examples, cook and waiter. They went up simultaneously between commoner and metropolitan lines... so it should do the same here... Probably is good to test this. Nail it down permanently. And even if it doesn't, it's only one day lost... could even head back here in the afternoon and make a late day... evening back in the dungeon ... double shift? I wouldn't loose anything that way. So... yeah... leave it as scholar believer and see what happens to faith believer and the faith line... should all open up regardless.... but it will be good to know.