Shepard takes a deep breath, trying to calm down. He sits down next to Kylara again, wringing his hands nervously. He turns back to her, hushing: “Okay, I'm... I'm honored you think so highly of me. I guess I should feel flattered. Still, this... it seems like a big step.” “You seem intrigued!”, she notes, a smile forming on her lips. He runs a hand through his hair embarrassed, replying: “Well, you're right about me being a curious person. All that talk of wanting to satisfy me does sound promising. And it's not like I've never done some crazy inter-species stuff before...” Then he looks at her again, getting shy: “But the prospect of hosting some parasite fungus in my brain to take over my body does sound a little unsettling, I have to be honest! Even if it wasn't that unnerving, I mean, basically you're asking me to spend the night with you, and want me to carry your baby, that's a bit much.”
Her hopes drop, and he gives her an apologetic shrug. She droops her antennas a bit, then asks: “So it's a no?” He hesitates. She pries: “I don't want to burden you. But it sounds like you believe this to be worse than I mean it. My seed would never interact with you. As I said, you would not have to birth it, and it will only take over once you have died.” He runs his hand through his hair again, playing for time, when she takes it to entwine her fingers with his. Which still feels weird to him, although she isn't the first three-fingered alien he's holding hands with. He looks at her with dread, pressing her hand halfheartedly. Feeling his touch she asks: “Would you rather I had five fingers?”
He raises his brows surprised, and then marvels at her hand, as she sprouts two thick bumps on both sides of it, growing into finger-like appendixes, that wrap themselves around his hand like the rest. They are slightly off color, and the shape looks more like his own human digits, but they are warm and soft. And they tickle his skin. “What part of your body is actually solid?”, he asks, more intrigued than shaken this time. Kylara smiles at him with an open mouth: “None really. I can rebuilt all parts as I see fit. It's just much more strain than keeping a familiar shape.” He repeats: “None? All of you is this... tentacle-like fungal mass? Even your bones?”
“Bones are a bit harder, but yes, them too!”, she states, and to prove it, opens her mouth a bit more, so he has a clear look at her jaws. That also crumble down into hundreds of little roots, gently swaying to and fro like spongy anemones in a coral reef. And Shepard catches himself thinking what an interesting tickle it would be, if she gave him head with that mouth. Blushing, he shakes his head a bit, trying to disperse of the image. Then he asks concerned: “So, your seed... is that really like a seed, or like a worm, or what would that be like? And how would you get it into my brain?” Her teeth reform, so she can say: “Oh, I would probably go past your eyeballs. That's the easiest way. Or up the nose maybe.” He gets scared again, demanding: “Won't that hurt?” Yet she just smiles at him, and then asks innocently: “Does this hurt?”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
🪐
Still just feeling the warmth from her hand and the light tickle, he's confused, looking at her thighs first, thinking she might sprout some tentacles from there. But then he does look back at his hand and has to keep himself from screaming, as he suddenly sees it covered in little swaying hairs, ranging through all the colors of the rainbow. He tries to calm down, although his first instinct would be to pull back his hand. But then the parasite might be stuck to it forever. “Shshsh! Oh Shepard, I'm sorry, I'll take it back!”, Kylara assures him then, giving him an apologetic look, and he gulps: “Are you putting your seed inside me right now?”
He can see the tentacles retract, which just feels warm and ticklish, rather pleasant actually, but it still scares him. “No, no. I wouldn't do it without your consent! And it's too risky to move it through your whole arm into your head. As I said, I'd use a more direct route.” But then she pulls back her hand, also retracting the extra fingers, and closes with a sad voice: “I'm sorry I scared you so much. Please forgive me. I shall leave you alone.”, and she moves to get up again. “Wait.”, he holds her back, regaining his composure. She eyes him attentive, and he takes his hand into his other, rubbing over it confused, but finding nothing to be out of order. “What was that? Did you phase through me, or something?”, he wants to know.
She confesses: “Almost. My being can produce very thin hairs, that can find tiny openings to pass through. I did not injure you to reach the other side of your hand.” He nods his head a bit: “Okay. That explains how you're able to sprout through the nanosuit you're wearing.” He ponders over how this might be a safety hazard in the future, wondering how large of an object could actually make it through their suits during a fight. And wonders if he'll be able to convince her to let the armory in on her secret, to close that literal loop hole.
But for now Shepard turns to her again seriously: “So, okay. You want to plant this seed into me, and I wont feel it, and I wont even know it's there, and it's only gonna use my body once I've passed away for good. Is that right?” “Yes.”, she confirms hopeful. “And in return, you're gonna show me the night of my life?”, he adds a bit humiliated. She weighs her head: “Yes. You could say that.” “And then you're gonna leave?”, he closes. She cockles her antennas: “You sound sad.”, then beams at him, “You wish to form a closer bond with me?” He's a bit startled, admitting: “Well, yeah. I was hoping, we'd become closer, after tonight, I mean... I really like you. That's why I asked you on this date. And now it sounds like you're just looking for the next vessel for your offspring.”
🪐