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As Bison and Angelina creaked the door open, before them were Ceobe and Vulan cuddling in the same sleeping bag. Ceobe nestled deeper into Vulcan’s chest, still dreaming whatever it is Ceobe dreams of, but Vulcan began to glare at the two onlookers.
“EEP!” Bison yelped, “W-We’ll just leave your package down h-here!” as he crouched and slid a weighty package into the room before closing the door shut. Vulcan sighed, scooted the thick matt the two layed on further beneath her and laid there, unable to go back to sleep. Caressing Kay’s ears, her mind began to wander. what needed restocking for the forge, how much cast iron needed for her next work, what treats to surprise Ceobe with, which operators need their equipment maintained, when to visit Ceobe at Beanstalk’s shop-
Vulcan let out a sigh, moving her hand away from Kay’s head and looking out into the dark. It has been almost 3 years since Ceobe boarded Rhodes Island’s landship and found her name. Their relationship had been Vulcan assuming the role of Ceobe’s caretaker and mentor, though reluctantly at first. Vulcan’s dorm was initially just a 2nd storage room for her forge with a lone sleeping bag, but now it had become Ceobe’s 2nd room doubling as a storage room for her “babies” and random decor. When Vulcan isn’t in the forge, she’s drawing up schematics for future projects, baking treats for Ceobe, or swapping knowledge with fellow smithees like Zumama and Maria Nearl. The last bit is still relatively new for Vulcan, though she occasionally converse with others, it’s only recently that she’d gone out of her way to have a genuine exchange with fellow operators, sometimes extending outside of work. It’s probably thanks to Ceobe’s random tangents on whatever managed to hold her interest, anyone’s easier to deal with by comparison…
Sure enough, Ceobe had crept into her life and forced a spot in her list of priorities. Despite the many problems she brought in the early stages of adapting to Rhodes Island life, Ceobe had grown towards independence little by little, just as Vulcan’s pride in her.
As Vulcan brought her hand forward to give Ceobe one last quick ruffle and try to return to her disturbed sleep, Ceobe’s wide eyes stared into Vulcan’s.
“Big-Sis Vulcan?”
“Mmm, what is it, Ceobe?”
Kay moved her face towards her, eyes enveloping Vulcan’s entire vision. Confused, Vulcan began to open her mouth. Reaching for Ceobe’s ears, she asked, “Kay? Something keeping you u-mmmm!?”
A warm, slippery texture wrapped around her lips, moving between both upper and bottom. Just as when something began to push at her tongue, she recoiled not only it, but her own body as well.
“Ceobe!?”
“B-big-Sis Vulcan, d-did you like it?”
“WHA-” Vulcan was looking everywhere but Ceobe, “WHY DID YOU…! Why did you do that?”
“You didn’t l-like it?”
By this point, Vulcan had already distanced herself from the sleeping bag, leaving Ceobe alone in it in the dark room. Vulcan reached for her lips, but remembering the exchange reddened her and she began to wipe thoroughly.
Sniff
Just as suddenly as Ceobe had done what she did to Vulcan, she began to cry. Vulcan knew herself was somewhat to blame, but it happened so fast that she was still taking in the first thing.
With a deep and stable breath, Vulcan started, “Kay, before I answer that, can I ask what happened to make you decide… think to do that?”
Sniff
Vulcan remained patient, knowing she had hurt Ceobe, but wanted to use the girl’s naivety to get a straight answer; Her stomach churned upon the thought.
“I-I saw two pretty ladies in a hospital room doing that and they looked happy after being sad. You got mad at mail boy and Angie so I wanted to make you happy too…”
The logic of this left Vulcan in a slight disarray. Her brewing feelings, her old ones, a lot of thoughts that tailed off into random threads with no real resolution to them plagued her mind.
What did she really mean by that ki-kiss? Vulcan thought, not entirely wanting to think of the word before feeling her ears heat up. The brewing feelings arose, enough to form a thought around them.
How… How do I feel about it?
The years they had known each other, and the increasing time they spent them together, surely Vulcan would have felt something. But as she continued to ponder how she felt about it, her previous thoughts that night surfaced in her mind. Many things that Vulcan does in life have been influenced thanks to Ceobe’s arrival. The act of putting a name to the feelings, if they even exist, that were either dormant, or perhaps had only just formed, would take an unknown amount of time. It was a new schematic Vulcan had to work on, but this time in a realm she had only joked about with The Doctor once before.
Vulcan scooted her body towards Ceobe, cheeks streaming tears only barely illuminated by the distant light of a mechanically handcrafted clock. She brought up her right arm, wiped Coebe’s left check, then her right, then clasped it lightly against the still wet skin. Caressing her, Vulcan then brought her thumb down and turned Ceobe’s head slightly, giving a light peck on the open cheek.
“Did they also do that?” Vulcan asked, pursing her lips a bit.
The girl before her raised her cheeks, nearly shutting her eyes. “Yes!”
Vulcan scooted closer, reached forward, and wrapped her arms around Ceobe. Arms slid under Vulcan’s shoulders gently, a slight tug on her sleepwear were warm hands grasped. They remained that way for an eternity, one that neither were unhappy about.
—
Vulcan had woken up early, her internal clock adjusting to no longer needing an alarm so as to not wake up Ceobe. Unhooking the arms that latched around her waist, she got up and hopped to her small station where her prosthetics were and equipment to monitor them. Attaching the foot and checking that it and the other prosthetics were stable, Vulcan stood and walked over to the parcel that had been left the previous night.
She smirked, They were surprised when this was addressed to Ceobe? Leaving it at the door, she walked off to the kitchen to make Ceobe some honey biscuits.