Chapter Text
Laila shifted. She was sore. Incredibly sore, she amended as she sat up, and her swollen labia protested the sudden addition of weight. She contemplated her surroundings, she really, desperately needed the loo, on the other hand she had no idea where it would be located, or even if it would be similar in appearance to what she was used to, so that ruled out simply wandering and looking for it. Men, she thought irritably, always running off when you need to ask them questions. Grumbling, she stood, she felt groggy, too much sleep in too short a time, she supposed.
“Fuck.” she mumbled, looking around, “where are my clothes?” It was very difficult to see in this lighting. Had they been brought in? She didn't recall seeing them strewn around the clearing. She snorted.
“That certainly would have given them pause.” The room completely confounded her, what was that big ovoid in the corner of the room, and for that matter, it wasn't really a corner was it, it was rather curved, and didn't make her think of the corners she usually saw. Sighing, she called out;
“A'apep?” The ovoid opened, and A'apep stepped out.
“Laila?” he stood in what now appeared to be a doorway of sorts.
“I need the loo.” His head tilted to the side, she certainly liked her soft consonant slang.
“Loo?” he repeated, confused. Wasn't that a name of some sort?
“Yes, the restroom, bathroom, toilet, bog, W.C, loo, john, I need to urinate. Now.”
Understanding having been achieved, he stood aside and motioned her into the ovular door, which opened into an entire smooth looking bathing chamber. It reminded her of 60's mod decor, everything was rounded, silvery and slightly brushed to reduce reflectivity.
“Loo?” She questioned again, she was relatively sure she had the bathtub figured it, as it was hard not to. The thing was sunken in the floor, and looked like a small lap pool. The sink was also relatively easy to understand, as it was a long counter, with a deep depression in its centre, she wasn't sure where the water came from in either fixture, but that was currently irrelevant. There were a few other objects protruding from the wall, or erupting from the floor that she was still puzzling over, and she was losing patience. Laila looked at A'apep expectantly, and he graciously indicated an apse that receded part way into the wall, about four feet from the floor. Sighing she wandered over to it, it seemed... normal... enough, she supposed, though a bit tall. She glared at it, but her bladder was quickly winning the war with her stubbornness and she set about making it work. It functioned normally, she assumed, though she saw no paper hanging around, and a minor wave of panic set in when the machine dried her, itself. Huffing irritably, she hastened off.
“I need a bath... and my clothes.” A'apep had been fiddling with something by the giant bathtub.
“I had assumed as much, I was just adjusting the settings for you.” he picked her up and walked to the tub which was rapidly filling with water that seemed to be seeping out of the sides. Quickly descending a set of stairs Laila had not noticed earlier, he kept a delicately firm hold on her. Feeling slightly unbalanced by his caring nature, she pushed herself into a semi-sitting position in his grasp.
“I can swim, you know.” he growled softly, and she quirked a brow, cocking the left side of her jaw out, pursing her lips.
“It is considered polite for the male to assist the female in bathing, after mating.” She was so strange, didn't males of her species pay the same tribute?
“Ah... fine.” Laila relaxed in his grip, and he slowly lowered her into the water, running his palms over her body, lightly massaging her sore hips and back. He carded his fingers through her long, curly hair, which had become tangled through the evening.
“How are we going to wash my hair?” she mused aloud, now that her attention had been drawn to it.
“What do you mean?” was he not washing her as they spoke?
“You know lather, rinse, repeat? Need to get the excess oil off of my scalp and hair, or it will begin to smell unpleasant and become sticky.”
A'apep considered this for a moment, certainly her anatomy was alien, but he doubted that the cleaning microbes in the water would be unable to deal with her unique situation. He voiced his thoughts, informing her that Yautja, too produced oils for their skin and hair, and while mostly likely not as much as her species did, even after particularly harrowing and dirty missions, the cleansing was always sufficient. She regarded him momentarily and then shrugged, it would definitely be convenient if she didn't have to bring shampoo with her, she wasn't sure it would work out the way it was intended.
Laila became very, very still. Bring... with... her? She shifted her gaze back to A'apep, who was regarding her sudden change in demeanor with some trepidation. Narrowing her eyes viciously and pursing her lips again, she considered her options. She was completing her doctorate on a military base, full of people that thought she had committed a gruesome murder, in a country she couldn't decide if she liked or not. She also appeared to be having a rather enthusiastic... relationship... with an alien.
That killed humans.
And ripped their spines out of their still warm corpses.
She lifted her chin defiantly. Didn't seem to be much difference, when she considered the possibility of imminent demise.
“So,” she began, trying to word her thoughts as delicately as she could, “what are you planning on doing with me?” she winced slightly. Relationship talks had never been her forte, which generally wasn't a problem as there was very little “relationship” involved in her liaisons. That and they didn't usually involve lovers with very wide, very evident murdering streaks. A'apep stiffened slightly, confused and vaguely offended by the question. Didn't she know that it was usually considered bad form to hunt females?
“In what sense?” He hoped that was neutral. He couldn't really figure out the subtle nuances of her language. His was so much easier.
“Well, I can't really go back to base and continue my research. They'd stick me up on murder charges, no fucking doubt. And forgive my apprehensiveness concerning my status in this... affair.” she pulled back further in order to see him more clearly. He looked nervous, almost.
“I was hoping,” He paused, looking her fully in the eye “I was hoping you would accompany me back to my homeworld, where we might gain the blessings of the Matriarch.”
Laila blinked several times, looked toward the door, blinked again, rolled her eyes and returned her gaze to A'apep, her mouth slightly open in shock.
“Would I even be able to survive the gravitational pull of your planet? Aside from the atmosphere? And what about food? I'm flattered, most guys don't even want to take me to dinner after a lay, so this is big news. But the number of just plain logical and practical issues with this plan is... is astronomical! Would I even live long enough to make it back to your planet? Is it even in this galaxy?”
He slumped slightly, he wasn't sure exactly what he had been expecting, but instantaneous rebuttal was unpleasant, nonetheless. Noticing the effect her concerns had she hastened to reassure him, she was indeed very fond of him, despite their short acquaintance.
“I didn't say ‘no’, I just said that it is terribly illogical, I mean what's your atmosphere even composed of?”
“Two percent more oxygen and one percent more nitrogen, than your Earth.”
“Well that would explain your massive body... but that also generally indicates greater gravitational force, if human theories are anything to go by.” she paused, looked him directly in the eye “If I am to die of this liaison, I would prefer it to be of something more glamourous than being crushed to death.”
“There have been instances in the past, where other Humans have been brought back to our planet, they have faired well.” He vaguely recalled a – Japanese, was it?- woman, if he was not mistaken. At the time he had not considered it important information; now he made a note to check. Laila wrinkled her nose slightly and sighed.
“All right, so no being crushed to death or dying of oxygen deprivation. What about food? My biology is terribly underdeveloped for eating exotic foods. If I don't have the emzymes to process something it's simply passed through my digestive tract... I could die of malnutrition... I know you said there were others, but was Earth native food provided?”
“I...” A'apep paused, thinking momentarily, “am unsure, though I believe they received adequate nutrition from our food.” Laila seemed to be relaxing, finding fewer and fewer reasons to be concerned. She exhaled heavily and sank lower into the hot bath water.
“Right well, that fixes a few things. What about other members of your species? Last I looked there were a number of dead humans hung on your trophy wall.” A'apep seemed mildly offended at her rather frank question, though he supposed he should have expected it.
“It is considered dishonourable to attack an untrained female.” Laila's head jerked up, her eyes narrowing dangerously “Untrained?” Confused but unconcerned A'apep continued; “Males generally only hunt females that have shown a strong ability to fight. Some females are less scrupulous.”
Laila snorted derisively “So... shanking Allen wasn't a demonstration of skill?” she leaned back in A'apep's embrace and wet her hair, scrubbing her fingertips over her scalp vigorously. The pause in conversation allowed him to puzzle over what she had just said. Certainly she had stabbed him, so perhaps “shank” was another word for “stab”? But that had been self defence, and to be honest there was always a chance the creature being attacked could defend itself with fatal consequence. Laila surfaced, running her hands from her cheeks along her forehead and over the crown of her head. She fixed A'apep with a hard stare. A'apep felt almost nervous under her unrelenting gaze.
“Fine. I need some things before we leave.” She sounded resigned.
“I will accompany you from a distance. I do not wish for you to be harmed.”
Laila narrowed her eyes and made to get out of the bath tub, A'apep's voice followed her closely behind;
“I will research the food situation, I plan to take care of you.”
“I have no desire to be a “kept” woman. I would like to think I have at least some ability to take care of myself.” she looked around “Though I will need to get used to the layout of your ship. I need to dry off.”
A'apep led her to a rectangular depression in the wall by the head of the tub and motioned her in, pressing a button as she stepped through, Laila cursed in surprise as a hot gust of air whipped across her skin, pulling away excess moisture “I would have appreciated warning...” she received only a chittering of amusement in response.
A'apep handed her, her clothes, and clicked his mandibles thoughtfully. Turning, he motioned her to follow him, leading the way from the ship. Stepping off, he shifted out of visible spectrum, intentionally rustling leaves now and again to keep Laila on the right track. They would collect her belongings, and then they would set off to his homeworld. He purred thoughtfully - it would be an adventure.