Ithaca

[Pywakit]

Kendra

For some time, Kendra lay there against him. She was sure he was asleep now, judging by the sound of his deep, regular breathing, but she kept thinking back to that moment she'd finally felt his hand sliding up and over her sex. She'd panicked a little there, but by the time she'd decided to accept his touch, he'd hastily moved on. The moment... her chance... had passed.

She slipped in and out of sleep for the next few hours, and as dawn threatened to grow, she slipped quietly out of the bed and into the shower. She forced her memories of the night down into her subconscious as best she could; memories of the dream and of his touch alike. She exited the shower, dried, and then dressed in the white and red jumpsuit that was her work uniform.

By the time she heard movement from the bedroom, she'd finished fixing a breakfast of syntheggs, some strips of real bacon, toast, and large glasses of mango juice.

"Breakfast is ready," she called out, doing her best to sound like nothing had happened the night before. "Hurry up and shower and get dressed or we'll be late for the orientation!"

 

[Pathalimoss]

Finn was both relieved and disappointed when he woke. As he saw her he knew immediately that it had happened, and that she remembered. He donned a robe that she had thoughtfully provided for him and came out to the kitchen. Uncertain of his next move, he gently placed his hand on her hip while she was facing the counter, and felt her flinch minutely. Was it out of distaste at his touch, or just surprise?

"Thankyou for breakfast, and the warm bed." He bit his tongue, and hoped it didn't sound like he meant more than he had. "I'll be out in a moment to eat."

The shower was every bit as good as he remembered, and he felt he could have spent an hour in there, cleansing away the muck of years of hard living. He also found himself suffering from a common morning condition, fuelled by memories of the night before, barely dulled by the guilt he felt. He considered taking care of it but immediately rejected the idea. Not because he didn't think he could get away with it, but because it seemed insufficient. The prospect of a warm, feminine body welcoming his touch left his own hand a sorry substitute.

He finished quickly as she was waiting for him and dressed to take the breakfast she had prepared. "You should have woken me earlier so we could have eaten together," he said cheerfully as he sat down at her small table. Her expression was not unkind but gave nothing away, and Finn could not stand it. Time to put the matter to rest.

"Kendra. I'm very sorry about what happened last night. I was dozing and not fully conscious of what I was doing. That's not a good excuse I know, but it's the truth. I just haven't... I haven't had a woman in my bed for so long, and you are so very alluring... Well anyway, I just want to say I'm sorry and I hope we can move past it."

 

[Pywakit]

Kendra

Kendra froze. She hadn't expected him to be so blunt about what had almost happened last night. It was one thing for her kin on Midgard to talk so freely and openly about sex, but it felt a bit surprising to hear Finn speak in that way. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment.

When she opened them, her heart was pounding.

"We have to get going, Finn," she said. "We don't really have time to talk about what happened right now. But you don't have to be sorry, Finn." She smiled in what she hoped with a flirtatious manner. "Unless you're sorry you didn't try to take things further?"

 

[Pathalimoss]

He smiled with relief. For just a moment it had seemed she was really upset, and he didn't know what he would have done if she could not accept his apology. The sudden switch when she revealed she might have in fact been quite receptive after all - may still be - caught him off guard and caused him to merely grin like an idiot in reply.

Kendra seemed pleased enough with that and moved to the door, leaving Finn little choice but to follow. There'll be time enough, he told himself.

He was impressed that Midgard had established protocols for integrating new inhabitants. It seemed a reassuringly banal instance of normality on a world that was anything but. He kept thinking he had work to do, that he must check up on the others, but had to remind himself that for the moment he was not needed to solve crises or shepherd the flock. He checked the network to be sure, finding signs that the population of Kethas was all ready linked and active. If anyone needed to find him, he would know about it.

He followed Kendra along the attractively-organic walkways, admiring her bottom above all else. He let her catch him at least once, and saw she was not displeased.

"So where exactly are we going?" he asked. "You know my area of expertise, what further tests will be required?" He had no particular problem with enduring some boredom if it were necessary, but would rather avoid excessive bureaucracy if possible. Though time was no great constraint, there were things he'd rather be doing; work and play.

 

[Pywakit]

Kendra

"It's just up ahead," Kendra said, indicating a large domed building near the station hub. "It'll probably be pretty dull, in fact. I'll be needing to go take care of some of my own duties while you're in there; it's mostly just answering questions and getting the 'official' tour of Midgard. Probably not much new after the fast tour I gave you yesterday... but it should let us both get some time to sort things out. Good luck, and I'll see you back at my place this evening!"

Kendra waved as she headed off toward the research labs. She had a relatively full day ahead of her, especially after she'd spent all of yesterday showing Finn around, and was eager to try to get things all caught up.