Portrait of the Artist as a Young Alien (Semi-Closed)

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Alien (Closed)

OOC: This is a story about a young woman named LuCinda (Luci to friends and family) and an alien with the improbable name of Steve.

Steve is considered one of the greatest artists of his generation and, considering he belongs to a Confederation of more than a hundred sentient species, that is saying something. Steve belongs to a race called Phelops. The Phelops are a human sized creature that would make one think Cousin It from the Addams family, if Cousin It were covered with pinkish fur and had two large completely blue eyes visible at the top of his torso. In addition, the Phelops have several tentacles, also covered with light purplish fur. The tentacles are semi-malleable, and the Phelops use their tentacles for all their sensory inputs except sight (this includes things like detecting magnetic fields, etc). Phelopian artists also have limited empathy, being able to pick up on the emotions of a single individual if they are focused on them.

The Phelops are an asexual, environmentally conscious species, only breeding when there is space available, and always breeding for a specific occupation. However, once in a great while, an artist is accidentally born. When such individuals are discovered, they are separated from the rest of the population and given training to bring out all their abilities.

Steve is a 'landscape' artist, and his creations are legendary. The observer is able to all their senses to experience Steve's creations.

One of Steve's admirers wants Steve to move away from landscapes, and do a portrait. Specifically, the admirer wants Steve to paint a newly discovered species that calls itself 'human.

There have been limited contacts with the humans, but the species as a whole does not know that there is a huge multi-species civilization right on their doorstep. Humans are still considered wild by civilized standards, although the human ability to enjoy live amazes all who have been observed them.

Steve's admirer has abducted LuCinda Gonzales, an eighteen year old Mexican-American girl. She is petite, athletic, curvaceous and very innocent. Steve is bold as an artist, but as an individual, he has been kept pretty isolated, so he will be timid around anyone, but especially this human creature. Steve has seen data, videos and other media forms on humans, and is intrigued by them. However, it is one thing to see humans on a screen; it is quite another to have one dropped in front of you and expected to 'paint' her, especially when you're not what sure to do, and you need her cooperation!

This is a slow, gentle process by all parties, with no grabbing, forcing, ripping, etc. No anal or bukkake. Steve's empathy will let him feel Luci's pleasure, fear, etc. So if Luci cums, Steve cums.

Name: LuCinda 'Luci' Gonzales
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 115 lbs
Measurements: 34DD-24-34
Age: 18

Lucii is an athletic, curvaceous young woman with light olive skin and long, dark straight hair that reaches to the small of her back. She is something of an innocent, being twelve years younger than her nearest sibling. She has four older brothers, all of whom feel very protective about her. At the time of the abduction, she was driving to the family cabin, and was wearing an over sized plaid shirt, comfortable jeans, sneakers, socks and plain underwear.

Darkness.

Luci had been heading up to the mountains to meet her family for their annual summer vacation. It was the highlight of her summer, even though she sometimes wished that her brothers and parents would stop treating her like a twelve year old girl who constantly needed protecting. She was quite certain that the boys at her high school knew she was eighteen old year old woman, though none of them ever acted on that knowledge. Her father had not let her go out on anything but chaperoned group dates, and her four very large, very muscular brothers made sure any potential suitors knew they thought the world of their sister.

Not that Luci wanted to give up her virtue. But maybe it would be nice to have the option. Not to go all the way, but maybe a little of the way.

As it was, Luci had barely had a peck on the lips from a boy.

Not that she really wanted more.

Well, maybe a little bit more.

Some of these thoughts were going through Luci's head as she made her way across an empty highway to her family's cabin up in Northeast New Mexico.

And then her car had died.

One minute, she was going the speed limit, the next, she was coasting to a stop.

She only had a couple of minutes to try to figure out what had happened before the night sky filled up with a very, very bright light.

Then her world went dark.

When she came to, Luci found herself standing out on a balcony. But the balcony and its setting were like nothing she had ever scene, outside of a CGI heavy sci-fi movie. The building the balcony was attached to, the surroundings, the sky...NOTHING was like she knew.

This, this can''t be real, Luci thought to herself, her brain freezing up as she felt herself starting to panic. That light I saw in the sky, she reasoned, I bet it was another vehicle I hit. I must be in the hospital right now, hallucinating.

Luci looked around at her surroundings again, convincing herself she must be having some kind of pain medicine induced dream.

Steve had a very cosy existence. He had been discovered as an artist at a very early age and had been given every advantage to bring out his talent. He had flourished and now his paintings were sought after throughout the universe. He was one of the top if not the top landscape artist in the Confederation.

He really wanted for nothing, except maybe freedom. He was considered a national treasure like the few other artists from his world and so was kept under guard constantly with his every move monitored and his every commission approved. Oh he did have the choice of what he painted, after all if he did not have a connection to the piece he would not be able to paint it, but he knew before the contracts were presented to him they were all carefully screened.

He did not have any companions or friends as they were deemed to be too distracting for his work. In effect he lived all alone in a glorious mansion filled with all the latest and greatest toys a being could want but the one thing he longed for he was denied except on the rare occasions he was trotted out to make public appearances, and those he hated.

Now though he had been given a very strange commission and whoever had requested it must have been very rich indeed. He was a landscape artist but he was being asked to paint a portrait, and not just any portrait but one of a new species. A so called 'Human'. A newly discovered species that was still only just struggling into space but had something unique about it that several scientific races had already been studying. Now his talents were being put to the test.

His paintings were so good because they were able to be almost experienced. All of a beings senses were engaged when observing one of his paintings, not just sight. He could convey smell, taste, sound, feel and even others like mental impressions and psychic resonance for those that could sense those. Now his benefactor on this commission wanted those talents used on a portrait of an alien Human. Steve had informed his handlers that it could take him a long time to do this, but was told he was to take all the time he needed. Accuracy was important, time was not.

Now Steve stood silently and watched as the Human awoke and looked around his balcony. He compared her clothed, mostly hairless body to his own. He was slightly larger than her and while she had only skin with a small patch of hair on her head he was covered with a nice layer of pink fur. She had four appendages, however two seemed primarily for walking and two for grabbing and holding things. He knew this because of the research he had done on her species just as he knew she was a female through that same research. The large bumps on her chest proved that.

His tentacles by comparison could change shape, length and density and seemed a lot better. Besides he preferred their light purple fur covering. It was much better to his artistic senses. And the way her eyes and other sense organs were concentrated on one spot on their ummm 'head'. It was ridiculous. He could use his tentacles to taste, smell and hear anything and his blue eyes on top of his body could rotate both forward and backwards allowing him to see all around himself. What a primitive design these humans were. Still he had been commissioned so he had to do this. There was just one problem. He was both a little afraid and very shy. What was he going to do?

Luci took a deep breath, tasting the something exotic in the air. Everything was too real to be a dream. But it had to be a dream, didn't it?

Because if it wasn't a dream, then that meant that the bright light that appearred over her car that had just dies was a...

Luci didn't let her thoughts go there. Not yet anyway. Maybe she was going to wake up at any moment for this incredibly vivid dream.

As she looked around, she saw something or someone move inside the 'house' the balcony was attached.

Maybe this is some elaborate gag, like one of those TV shows where someone pretends to be an alien or a monster, Luci thought. She hoped, anyway.

"Hello? Is someone there?" she timidly asked the figure in the shadows.

Steve watched as the female turned, examining her surroundings, then she must have spotted him.

"Hello? Is someone there?" she called out timidly.

He shrank in to himself in fear then sighed knowing he would have to face her sometime. The good thing was he now knew that the universal implant was working. Every member of the Confederate who ever traveled off world was fitted with the small device that automatically translated whatever language was spoken into the users own language. He only hoped it worked on her end.

He moved out into the light slowly and bowed. "Hello earthling. My name is Steve. I am a Phelops artist and I have been commissioned to paint your likeness. Welcome to my home, while you are here feel free to treat it as your own."

Steve was rather pleased with his greeting. He had been practicing it for hours.

Something moved out of the shadows. An amorphous blob with tentacles waving. Luci felt the fight or flight instinct rising, with a heavy emphasis on flight.

And then it moved fully into the light.

It was...it was...

It was adorable!

Whatever it was, it stood taller than her, maybe by a foot it seemed like. It reminded her of one of those goofy looking troll dolls, with the color of its hair, except its hair covered its entire body. Pink hair all over. Or maybe it was fur. It looked thick. What was the difference between thick hair and fur anyway.

Well, not all of it was pink. It has tentacles that seemed to be moving and changing shapes slightly, and these were covered with purple fur.

And then there were two big blue eyes. Just solid blue. For some reason, it made her think of that artist who painted all the classical paintings, but gave them big soulful eyes.

And then it spoke, and its voice was a relaxing melody.

"Hello earthling. My name is Steve. I am a Phelops artist and I have been commissioned to paint your likeness. Welcome to my home, while you are here feel free to treat it as your own."

She almost giggled. It called her EARTHLING. Oh, this had to be some kind of trick. She must be on a new show on MTV or something. She quickly looked around, convinced that the landscape and sky were some kind of scenery. She then looked at 'Steve' with a big smile.

"Are you some kind of robot, or is that a costume you're wearing?" she asked.

"Are you some kind of robot, or is that a costume you're wearing?" she asked.

Steve wondered if this was some form of strange greeting he did not know about or if maybe the translator was having troubles adapting to her speech. He tried to puzzle it out and finally came to the realization that she did not believe that this situation was real.

How was this possible? Did she not agree to having this done to her? He knew that humans were from a restricted planet, but surely if one was brought to him some form of contact had been made and a deal struck. Yet it was obvious that this female had no clue as to where she was or what was truly happening to her. Just what sort of situation had he been put in?

He advanced towards her a little more and looked her over. She was not unlike some other members of the Confederacy although her pinkish skin tone would set her apart, as would her fur. It was nice and luxurious though Steve had to admit that, in fact he would like to know how she got it so. His own fur was sometimes so unruly and tangled that it took him forever in the shower getting it clean.

He snapped out of his daze. He had to convince the female of her predicament.

"I am sorry Human but this is not a joke. You are indeed on another world and I am definitely what you would term an alien, although to me you would be. If you doubt this please step back outside and look up. I have studied your world so know you have one moon. Here on Gaston where my home is, we have 4 and right now 3 should be visible. Also our stars are different. Please follow me. Do not worry you can breathe well here."

Steve glided back out onto the balcony and then activated the field which turned the roof invisible, allowing him to see the night sky.

This had to be some kind of elaborate prank, Luci tried to convinced herself. It had to be.

I mean, look at the alien who was talking to her. It looked like something designed to be cute and marketable. And it's name was Steve! Steve! That had to be part of the joke they were playing on her.

"I am sorry Human but this is not a joke. You are indeed on another world and I am definitely what you would term an alien, although to me you would be. If you doubt this please step back outside and look up. I have studied your world so know you have one moon. Here on Gaston where my home is, we have 4 and right now 3 should be visible. Also our stars are different. Please follow me. Do not worry you can breathe well here."

Of course she could breathe well, Luci thought to herself, even though there was something...cinnamony? spice?...there was a taste to the air she couldn't place. Somebody had went to a lot of trouble to make this prank work. And Steve had to be some kind of remote control device, and not an actor. He sort of shambled along, with some of his tentacles helping him move. An actor in a costume couldn't pull that off. Steve was some type of robot, a very high tech prop in this prank. Yeah, this was a big joke on MTV, Luci told herself, and whoever played it, was already lined up to have 'Steve' dolls on the toy store shelves next holiday season.

She went outside, and there were three moons, just like Steve said. Again, though, they had to be fake. Drones or remote control moons or something.

It was the night sky that finally convinced Luci. She had spent plenty of nights in the clear skies of the high desert with her family. She knew the constellations by heart. She had also studied enough astronomy to know what the skies would look like from the southern hemisphere. She hoped someday to travel south, maybe even study astronomy. She was still undecided.

But one thing she had decided. The night sky she was looking at wasn't anywhere she knew existed. Which meant...

Luci slid to the balcony floor, her beck pressed against the outside of the wall of the 'house.'

"This isn't Earth, is it?" she quietly asked, but she already knew the answer.

Steve felt the waves of anxiety and fear radiating off the human. Sometimes being an empath was not easy. Normally he could keep other beings feelings out, but when they were as strong as this and the being was as close, it was hard to keep them out. He knew now that she had indeed not been consulted about this portrait and it was entirely possible that she had been kidnapped from her planet before being brought here.

He wondered what he should do about the situation. He should by rights report this to the high council of the confederacy, but at the same time he had been commissioned and the money had been deposited in his bank account already. This might mean that he was already an accomplice to the kidnapping.

His best bet was to just do his job and treat the human as best he could.

"Do not worry Human. No harm will come to you I assure you. As I told you, you are only here so I can paint your picture. After that you will be dropped back home again probably none the wiser. While you are here though you are my honored guest and may avail yourself of all my house has to offer. If you would like to follow me I can show you around."

As he had talked he had felt her anxiety drop but her fear still remained high. He did not know how to alleviate that. He had no experience with her species whatsoever.

"Do not worry Human. No harm will come to you I assure you. As I told you, you are only here so I can paint your picture. After that you will be dropped back home again probably none the wiser. While you are here though you are my honored guest and may avail yourself of all my house has to offer. If you would like to follow me I can show you around."

Luci stood up and nodded, as she used the back of her hand to wipe the tears forming in her eyes. She had no reason to trust this alien...Steve, she had no reason to trust Steve...but she instinctively felt that she could. trust him.

Following Steve into the house, she added tentatively, "I'm Luci." She kept quiet for a moment, before asking, "Is it just going to be you and me and you painting a picture?"

If she had been abducted by aliens, the last thing she could imagine was someone wanting to do something as mundane as paint her picture! A dozen nightmare scenarios came to mind, and almost threaten to send her back into a panic But she could calm herself down when she focused on the fact that her captor was a fuzzy...artist! She just hope that Steve wasn't leading her into some alien laboratory with a team of scary alien scientists waiting.

Steve decided to lead her towards the kitchen first. She was probably both hungry and thirsty after her trip. He glided over the cool slick floors that made it easier for him to move. He hoped Luci was not having any problems with it, but he was keeping one eye on her and she seemed to be doing okay.

He glided up the slight incline past the living area and the amorphous blob chairs. They would adapt to any species that sat in them, forming around them into the perfect seat for them. Leading her in he began pointing out the features of the kitchen.

"I have a state of the art kitchen Luci. The cooler keeps food at the optimum temperature and is voice activated. You just need to open the doors and request the ingredient you need and it will be provided. The cooking surface activates instantly when a pot is put on it but will not effect anything else. Of course if you do not wish to cook there is a food synthesizer but I find it never tastes as good." He indicated the many cabinets and drawers. There are exotic spices and herbs from all over the Confederacy as well as dried goods and other foods."

He turned to her and projected contentment and happiness at her. "Please eat and refresh yourself."

"As for your other question, yes it will be just the two of us, but I must warn you I will not be painting just one picture. I will be doing several basic drawings first and then some preliminary paintings before I attempt the final picture. Also", and here his pink fur started to turn a deep shade of blue, " I have to tell you some of my methods may be different from your earth artists. I have studied up on them and I need to do a few things they did not. However we can discuss this later after you have eaten and rested."

Luci nodded as Steve described his kitchen, including a food synthesizer that sounded like something out of Star Trek. She was only paying partial attention to Steve describing his 'creation process' when she noticed the pink furry part of his body turn blue. She almost asked him why his fur or hair or whatever was changing color when she bit her tongue. Maybe it was a taboo question. Maybe it was a change of lighting she couldn't detect. She had a friend who dyed her hair a very dark blue, and depending on the light, her friend's hair would appear either ink black or midnight blue. Maybe Steve's fur changing color was the beginning of the equivalent of alien acne, and mentioning the color change would just embarrass Steve. Luci had a feeling that Steve was not one of the aliens who had abducted her and brought her here. He was just trying to be as nice as possible.

She wasn't too worried about Steve using techniques that other artists on Earth didn't use. Luci didn't know all that much about painting, but she had a semester of art history and appreciation, and knew that really famous artists brought unique perspectives to their paintings. Maybe Steve was a really famous artist among aliens!

Luci had a thousand questions she wanted to ask, but one especially rose above all the rest.

"Steve," she began slowly, "Why would you or anyone else want to paint me? I mean, even on Earth, I'm just the most ordinary person in the world, and you have all of space to choose from! Why paint me?"

Steve had felt her fear lessening and it was almost gone now. In fact he was able to shut it out completely unless they were very close. He was lad that she was calming down and starting to accept the situation and perhaps him. It had been a long while since he had had an actual guest in his house for any length of time.

He had just pulled two Alturian Dragon juices from the cooler when he heard Luci's question. "Why would you or anyone else want to paint me? I mean, even on Earth, I'm just the most ordinary person in the world, and you have all of space to choose from! Why paint me?" Steve placed the two drinks on the counter by extending his tentacles and then oriented his eyes on her.

This was a very fair question. From the holo vids he had watched of her planets culture he knew that she was considered good looking by earth standards, and he had to admit she did have a quality about her that appealed to his artistic nature. However he could see nothing remarkable about her that would set her apart from any other of her race. He was beginning to think that it was pure chance that she was here.

"I don't know Luci. I am just know seeing that we are both pawns in someone else game. It may be that there is nothing special about you and that any young female of your species would have done. Or maybe my client had certain qualities he wanted or indeed he did want you. Unfortunately I do not know, I have never met them. All of my work is handled by my government agent and normally I get to choose what I do, however this job was one I was told was of great significance even though I do not normally paint portraits."

Steve suddenly had a great idea and his fur blushed a deep red. "Would you like to see some of my works? Maybe then you will understand how I paint and maybe you will not mind so much. Please follow me and bring your drink. It is a pleasant fruit drink that I think will suit an Earthlings tastes."

He began to lead her out of the kitchen and down a hall. At the end was another large room overlooking the valley, but every wall was covered with large pictures of his landscapes. "Please feel free to look for as long as you want."

Pawns, Steve had called the both of them. Being moved for reasons unknown to either of them. Maybe that should have frightened Luci even more, except that whoever had put them together had done so for reasons that, at least so far, didn't appear sinister.

Or maybe it was because Steve didn't seem sinister. There was part of her brain that was still trying to convince Luci that Steve wasn't a real alien, but was like an Ewok. Something created to seem warm and harmless and eventually marketed to make someone millions of dollars.

"Would you like to see some of my works? Maybe then you will understand how I paint and maybe you will not mind so much. Please follow me and bring your drink. It is a pleasant fruit drink that I think will suit an Earthlings tastes."

Luci nodded silently, observing Steve's fur change again. Maybe it's some type of nonverbal communication, like a hand gesture or something. Or is he embarrassed, because he thinks he should have invited me to look at his paintings before? Excited, because I'm the first human to see them? Or maybe the color changes have nothing to do with what he's saying or thinking. I wonder if maybe Steve will let me tap into the alien internet to learn stuff. And are they, whoever who abducted me, going to let me go home with my memories? Do I get to go home?

Luci sipped her drink, which was a pleasant combination of pineapple, orange juice, and something faintly minty, when she walked into Steve's gallery, and was immediately overwhelmed.

There were dozens of alien landscapes in the gallery, each more beautiful and exotic than the next. They were the most realistic paintings Luci had ever seen, though there was a quality about them that one instinctively knew that the landscapes weren't photos, or whatever the alien equivalent of photos were.

But it wasn't just the realistic quality of the paintings. If Luci focused on a painting, instead of giving it more than just a cursory glance, it was almost as if she stepped into the painting. She could feel the wind of an approaching storm, taste a strange spiciness of a strange forest world, hear the cry of a distant flock of flying creatures. She even thought she could feel a hint of emotions, changing from one picture to the next.

And Luci knew the qualities in these paintings weren't just the product of a superior technology. They were the product of an artist --- a great artist --- who used whatever he had at hand...or tentacle...to create these masterpieces.

Luci knew she couldn't be the subject of one of Steve's paintings. Someone like Steve deserved a Mona Lisa, a Venus de Milo, a...well, not her.

Luci just stared at the paintings for what seemed forever, before she turned to Steve. "I think---" Luci paused, still overwhelmed with awe and a thousand other emotions invoked by Steve's paintings. "I think you should contact whoever is your agent. Because someone made a mistake in sending me to you."

Steve had been watching her looking at his paintings and had felt her emotions hit him in waves. It was hard to describe them. There was happiness yes and a certain sense of awe and maybe longing but then he felt sadness and he could not understand this emotion. As far as he knew no one had ever felt this level of sadness when viewing one of his paintings before. As he absently sipped his juice with one of his tentacles he tried to puzzle out what was causing her so much sadness.

"I think you should contact whoever is your agent. Because someone made a mistake in sending me to you." Luci told him.

Ahh now Steve understood her sadness. She thought she was not good enough to be the subject of one of his paintings. He waved his tentacles at her and took a step towards her wanting to offer her a cuddle to comfort her as he would a fellow Phelopian, but he stopped himself not knowing how this would be perceived by her. He turned a light green in frustration but he knew he must offer some comfort.

"Luci, anyone is worthy of being an artists subject. Look closely at my paintings. In them you are only seeing the beauty, but there is ugliness too, though please understand that I am not calling you ugly in any way," he blushed blue again. "What I am saying is that you feel unworthy yet I paint dead bushes, skeletons, rotting vegetation and other things of a similar nature and yet look at the beauty you see before you. What makes you think you are unworthy?"

The changing colors, Luci mused. I really wished I knew what they meant. Or even if it's polite to notice them. But it's hard enough to know what a fellow human who grew up on the other side of the globe is thinking...

Luci almost snorted in laughter at how blase her thoughts sounded. She had woken up on an alien world...what, an hour ago? And now she was almost being philosophical about it.

"I'm sorry, Steve," Luci began, taking another sip from her juice. "I guess this is a whole lot to try to accept. I mean, a couple of hours ago..." which is what if felt like to her, though she wondered how long she had truly been unconscious..."I didn't believe that other beings like you even existed. And not only did I find out I was wrong, I'm getting to see what anybody on my world would consider one of the greatest art collections that ever existed. And you want to paint me! It's like DaVinci saying he wants to paint me instead of Mona Lisa." Luci blushed and laughed nervously. "I'm sorry, you probably don't know any of our human artists, do you?"

Steve smiled although Luci could probably not tell. After all his pink fur only got a shade more darker. She thought his artwork was good. For some reason that pleased him greatly. For a new species to appreciate his artwork was astounding and for her to filled him with joy.

"Actually Luci in preparation for this commission I studied your race extensively. I have studied your history, your language and especially your art. Your people have some amazing artists, and such a wide variety. I am very familiar with DaVinci's works and the painting you speak of and I agree it is very good. However I want you to think on something. Just who was this Mona Lisa before DaVinci painted her? Was she famous before or after? Was she famous in her lifetime or afterwards?"

He looked at her and then continued," I say this because you are no different from her. You are but two women who posed for an artist to have your portrait painted. One has become famous on your home world. How yours will be received I do not know, but I will do my best to make it as good as I possibly can."

Again, Luci had to suppress a giggle at the surrealness of it all. Here she was, having just woken up on an alien world less than two hours ago, getting a talk on self-confidence from a real live E.T. Maybe she really was in a hospital somewhere, and this was all a morphine induced dream.

"This would be one of those moments when my father would tell me to sleep on it and I'd have a brighter perspective on things in the morning," Luci told Steve with a laugh. Looking at the paintings again, Luci asked Steve, "How long does it take to create these? I only had a couple of weeks worth of clothes packed before...well, before whatever happened that brought me here, happened. But I guess you probably have something that can synthesize clothing too," she concluded. Luci wondered what had happened to her car, and what people were thinking. Or would whoever abducted her be able to put her back almost immediately from the moment she disappeared?

Steve nodded his head at her question. It was a rather good one actually and the true answer was that he did not know. He had never done a portrait before and his client had a very specific set of instructions he wanted followed. Steve thought he may have to paint a few preliminary ones to see how they turned out before he attempted the final piece.

"I am sorry Luci I can not give you a time frame. I have never done this sort of thing before so I will actually be making a lot of techniques up as I go along. What I can tell you is that one of my landscapes normally takes me about 1 to 2 of your earth months to create if I paint every day. I do not think your picture will take as long but as I have to discover how to paint you I may need to do several paintings so it may take longer."

He looked down and his fur turned blue again. " I am embarrassed to say that some of my methods will seem very strange to you and maybe a little, what is the word you use, ah yes invasive or personal I think. for this I must apologize in advance, but I assure you no harm will come to you, nor will you be subjected to anything you have no wish to be. I will explain everything as we go along. This is an area that I must learn in as well."

His fur was now a very dark hue of blue, all most navy with embarrasment. He decided to change the subject. "All of your clothes have been put in your room and others of similar make have been added. You are right about the synthesizer of course. If you would like any item of clothing just call up a picture of it on a monitor and input your size in your race and it will create it for you. You can even program in the colors. Would you like me to show you to your room or are you hungry? I can whip us up any sort of meal you desire. Numerous earth delights have been added to the synthesizer and food products to the cooler."

Luci pondered the situation for a moment, then a bright smile appeared on her face.

"This...is an adventure," she said decisively. "An adventure. I mean, I'm on a different planet, staying in an a house that is light years...literally!...ahead of anything anybody on Earth has. Anybody! And centuries from now, maybe people on Earth will be talking about me the way they talk about Mona Lisa now." Luci found herself adapting to her situation now that she thought of it as something millions would pay a big price to be able to do.

When Steve talked about his unusual painting methods, Luci had a look of concern on her face. "I have to admit, I've been curious about some things too, but have been afraid to ask. So I guess both of us have to agree that we will try to be sensitive toward the other, and not to be embarrassed about a question asked. Because I bet there are some things I do that you might consider taboo, and visa versa. Maybe something totally innocent. Like eating and drinking. For example, you drink through your tentacles?" Luci asked tentatively. "Is it okay to talk about that?"

Steve had not even considered things like that. His studies had prepared him for some of her ways, and living in the confederacy had made him extremely adaptable to the changing conditions of different races and cultures. After all, although he was kept safe and away from the general population of most planets, he was trotted out to meet the high society and he had to know how to deal with them.

However for Luci, this was her first encounter with something that was truly alien. He realized that on earth there were different cultures and races, but they were still essentially the one species.

"I am sorry Luci I have not been a very good host," he said continuing to remain blue. "I should have anticipated this. Of course you can ask me anything and I will answer it as best I am able. My species is a very open one anyway, and we are happy to discuss our culture and bodies. I can even tell you about some of the other species in the Confederacy if you like, however I take it from your attitude you are more interested in knowing about the alien you are going to be spending time with," he chuckled. The sound came out as musical chimes and his fur turned from blue to red again.

Luci decided that Steve was laughing, and laughing in a good-natured way, so she joined him.

"Well, you are the one I need to know about, so we don't go stepping on each other's toes." Luci blushed, and quickly added, "That's a saying we have from my part of Earth. It means not being rude, either on purpose or accidentally. It comes from having a poor dance partner," Luci said, pretending to waltz momentarily with an invisible dance partner, "who steps on your toes because they're not good at dancing, or are just clumsy. You do know what toes are on a human, right? I mean, I guess I'm assuming that you know something about us, since you'll be painting one?"

Steve chuckled again. He was beginning to like Luci and become comfortable around her. It seemed as if she was just as nervous as he was. At least she was no longer afraid of him. In fact he couldn't really tell what emotion she was experiencing now. He was able to shut them out now which was a good thing as he hated to pry into peoples lives like that. He felt like he was invading their personal space or privacy.

"I know all about your anatomy and how it functions Luci. In fact part of my home has been set up especially for your needs. You have your own bed, shower and bathroom facilities. I am afraid I may not know some of your more colorful sayings but I have learned a few. Maybe you could teach me some more while you are here and some more about your culture. I have to say I am fascinated by it."

Luci bit back a laugh as she was glad she didn't have to discuss "number one" and "number two" with Steve.

"I'd be happy to answer any of your questions about my own little corner...I mean my own region of Earth," Luci answered. She paused a moment before continuing. "Steve, can I ask you about...well, about your....um hair? Fur? Anyway, I notice it changes color. Don't get me wrong, your fur is beautiful! And is it polite to compliment you on that? I get a lot of compliments on my hair, especially from my aunts," Luci laughed, running her hand through her own hair. "I think it's something older women...older human women...feel compelled to do. Comment on the hair of their younger female relatives."

Steve laughed with her. "Indeed your hair is very nice although it is only on your head. I have gotten used to seeing such beings and I am no longer shocked by it." He walked over to one of the couches and leaned back into the blob. It molded around his body and then solidified a little leaving the top half of his body free while supporting his lower half.

"As for my fur, well it changes with my moods. Normally my race learns how to control it by adolescence, but I have been alone so long that I have grown out of the habit I am afraid. If it bothers you I can try to control it," he told her his fur turning orange with worry.