by Darcy Town
Katarina eyed her. “Underdeveloped sixteen-year-old.”
Tasanee smirked. “Hey, some of us are short and A cups for life you buxom skank.”
Katarina pinched Tasanee’s boob. “I like ‘em small.”
Ravil gazed at Tasanee. She was same height and size as the dark-skinned female, and no one here seemed to think she was a child. Ravil glanced back at Katarina; the curvy blonde dwarfed them both. She didn’t understand how both women could be of the same subspecies, yet so different in appearance. She frowned. “You’re both full grown then? Even you?”
Tasanee stood next to her and compared their heights. “Yeah, kid.” She looked to Katarina. “She’s my size. I have clothes, bras, things that will fit her. Be right back, kiddo.” She left them alone.
Katarina gave Ravil a once over. “You do seem like you grew a few inches.” She scratched her head. “Keto is going to have to explain how that is possible. So have you started your period?”
“My what?” Ravil frowned. “Punctuation?”
“You know, you bleed once a month so that you can get pregnant.”
“Uh…” Ravil looked at her blankly. “What? I want to talk to Rake now.”
“Rake’s still out.”
“I know, but uhm is Keto here?”
Katarina frowned. “Yeah. I think you—”
“I got them!” Tasanee burst through the door with arms full of clothing. “I have clothes that are perfect! Bunch of that crazy club shit Oro brought over!”
Ravil focused on the clothes, ignoring Katarina’s questioning looks. She forced a smile. “Pretty!”
Katarina dropped her questions, sensing Ravil’s discomfort. She eyed the rainbow colored garments and looked back at Ravil’s white hair. “You know, I bet her hair takes color well.”
Tasanee pushed up her glasses. “Makeover?”
Katarina shrugged. “Why not?”
Ravil eyed them. “What?”
Keto thrust open the door all the way. He grabbed both women. “Out. Out!”
Tasanee made a face at him. “Fine!” She grabbed her clothing. “Later, Ravil.”
Ravil watched them go. “Right…”
Keto waited until they left Danny’s bedroom before shutting the bathroom door. He carried a few books and set them on the counter. “Something is up, kid. What is it?”
Ravil feigned innocence. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Rake told us the Empire is after you. Why is that? Does it have to do with your biology?”
Ravil swallowed. “He said that?”
Keto nodded. A knock on the door followed. He sighed. “Yes?”
Danny pushed his way in. “Are you interrogating someone in my bathroom without my permission? I am still everyone’s commanding officer.”
“We’re not in space, Danny.”
Danny pointed at the floor. “My fucking bathroom.” He folded his arms and looked at Ravil. “You don’t have to say anything to him, Ravil.”
Keto glared. “Danny.”
Danny smirked at Keto. “My bathroom.”
Ravil scratched her itching scalp. Her hair grew another quarter inch as they stood there. The men eyed her. Keto pointed. “You don’t want to know?”
“I already said I don’t care what her deal is.” Danny looked at Ravil. “You are wanted by the Empire, so is Rake, so are Katarina and Evgeniy and Tasanee and all the others. I’m probably wanted for harboring them. So I don’t care what you’ve done, or what you stole or any of it.”
Ravil stood up straight. “You don’t? Why not?”
“Because.” Danny smiled. “Rake’s back and he’s getting healthy and for some reason he’s doing both for you.”
“He is?”
“Yes.”
Ravil blushed. “That’s good right? The getting healthy part I mean.”
“Girl, that is the best damn news I’ve had in a long time.”
Keto sighed, long and annoyed. “If you don’t want to say what your condition is, then I won’t push, but I am a doctor and if you are ill you need to tell me, got it? I can’t guess, so don’t keep something from me just because you’re scared I might find out something else. Your health is more important okay?” He looked at her for a response.
Ravil nodded. “Okay.”
“Are you feeling healthy then?”
“I still have the spots, but besides that, I feel okay.” Besides that and the rapid aging, she was doing great. Ravil looked between the men. “Why does Katarina think I should be bleeding? I am not injured.”
Danny grabbed the doorknob. “Right. I’m going to leave.”
Keto put his weight on the door. “Oh no, this is partially your doing. You get to stay.” He looked at Ravil. “Normal girls your age do that before they get pregnant. It means they are women, no longer kids.” He opened one of his books and handed it to Ravil. “Can you read?”
Ravil nodded. “Russian best, English some.” She gaped at the pictures and blushed. “Oh.”
Danny shoved Keto. “I am not staying here for sex-ed class.”
Keto laughed at him. “Oh yes you are.”
Ravil frowned. “But my kind can’t get pregnant from sex unless they are with their chosen mate. And Sirana never mentioned bleeding as part of my lessons. That would seem important for my subspecies I would think.” She looked at their expressions and swallowed. Obviously, that wasn’t the case for Wasters.
Both men stared at her. Keto prompted, “Your subspecies?”
Ravil remembered something Rake had said. “Yes, the Swedish, that’s what I am, Swedish. I guess we’re just different than what you are. I am fine, time for me to go.” She turned and faced the door. Danny let her out. Ravil made a face and ran. She held the book to her chest. She had to learn their Waster biology fast, not having bothered to learn before was a mistake.
Danny shook his head. “Yeah…”
Keto smiled. “The Swedish? You’re still not curious?”
“Oh I’m curious, no doubt, but I don’t know if I want to know.” Danny stretched. “I’m going to make dinner and not think about it anymore.”
Keto grimaced and followed him out. “I will be interrogating Rake when he gets back.”
Danny grinned. “That makes two of us.”
***
Ravil raced down the stairs and was nabbed by Tasanee between the second and first floor. Tasanee grinned. “Come on.” She pulled Ravil into Rake’s room and put her in front of the bed. Clothes covered the blankets; they were bright neon solids with a few black and white pieces. Tasanee pointed. “Mix and match pale face, your kind of white will go with anything.”
Ravil looked at all the pieces, some of it small and odd shaped. She frowned and set her book on the bed. “What do I do with those?”
Tasanee held up a black bra and underwear set. “These go on first, normal people wear them.”
Ravil eyed the underwear suspiciously. “Do they?”
Tasanee closed the door. “Yeah girls wear it to attract the person they want.” She waggled her eyebrows. She pulled some lace out and spun it around on her finger. “See?”
Ravil stared at the clothes. “Ah. Men like it?”
“Everyone likes it.” Tasanee grinned. “Tits are universally loved by all.” She thought of Katarina’s. “How you could not like them is beyond me.”
Ravil shrugged and stripped naked. She grabbed the non-lacy stuff. The underwear she got on okay, the bra was beyond her. Ravil stared; it dangled from her finger. “How does this device work?”
Tasanee laughed and helped Ravil into it. She turned her around and pointed. “See, you don’t have much, but now it looks like you have more.”
Ravil looked at her chest. “Oh!” She pulled on a neon blue tank top over the bra and looked at her figure in the mirror Tasanee had hung from the door. “I’m not a pancake!”
Tasanee laughed. “Pancake? No, not unless your pancakes come in B cups. You have more than I do.”
r /> Ravil touched the bra appreciatively. “Interesting mechanism.”
“Makes the things you got pop, and you’re a skinny ass toothpick, so they’re popping in comparison.” Tasanee threw red hot pants at her. “You do have to wear shorts. People get the wrong idea if you run around in underwear.”
Ravil picked up her book. “What kind of idea?”
“The, I want to fuck you so get in my bed girlie, kind.”
Ravil stepped into the pants quickly and pulled them up. “Better?”
“Totally.” Tasanee squinted at Ravil’s thighs. “Weird.” She touched Ravil’s leg, she lifted her arm up to stare at her armpit. She threw open the door and yelled across the hall, “Katarina, she doesn’t have any leg hair or the other kind, so no need to have shave lessons. She’s got baby smooth skin!”
Ravil blushed and hissed. “Others can hear!”
“She’s bashful!” Tasanee pulled her across the hall into Katarina’s room. She eyed Ravil. “Oh you even blush pink like bubblegum! Kat, she looks like a gumdrop!”
Katarina looked up from her bed. “No, she looks like a snowflake on acid.” She pulled out a tube of mascara and eyeliner and dumped out bottles of nail polish on her bed.
Ravil eyed the colors and picked up a black bottle. She sniffed it. “What is this?”
Katarina flashed her red nails. “Girl stuff.”
“Oh.” Ravil pawed through it. “It’s pretty.”
Katarina grabbed Ravil’s leg and touched her from ankle to thigh. “You are completely hairless, is that an albino thing?”
Ravil nodded and played along. “Yes, everything weird about me is an albino thing.” She memorized that word. She’d have to look that one up too.
Katarina snorted. “Are you being sarcastic?”
“No.” Ravil found a bright orange condom in the pile of stuff. “What’s this for?”
“Sex.”
Ravil frowned at the plastic wrapper. “I don’t understand.”
“Then prepare to have your mind blown.” Tasanee grabbed the biology book from Ravil. “Take a seat. I’m going to read this since you can’t and Katarina is going to doll you up. Fair deal?”
Ravil nodded slowly. “Okay.”
“Lots of pictures, this is man, that is woman.” Tasanee grinned and pointed to a picture. “That’s a penis and it goes there, or there, or there.”
“Why?” Ravil’s face was a mixture of horror and curiosity.
Tasanee turned the page. “I dunno. I don’t like dicks.”
Katarina grabbed Ravil’s foot and painted her toes. “It feels good.”
“What feels good?”
“Sex.” The two looked at her.
Ravil blushed pinker. “That’s what a man and woman do?”
“Or a woman and a woman.” Tasanee grinned. “Or a man and a man, or two girls and a guy, or two guys and a girl, or multiples, or with objects.”
Ravil held her hand up. “I think I get it.”
Katarina blew on her toes. “You’ll never get it, until you do it. Still a virgin?”
Ravil nodded. “Is that a bad thing?”
Tasanee hooted. “No, but it makes you a UFO in Bangkok!”
Ravil blinked. “What is that?”
“An alien!” Tasanee ran to the door. “Ravil’s an alien! A UFO!” She dashed out and jumped down the stairs. “Guess what Ravil is everybody! She’s an alien!”
Ravil covered her face. “Why is she doing that? Tell her to stop!”
Katarina smiled. “She’s kidding around, no one will believe her.”
“But why is she doing it?”
“She’s breaking you in.” Katarina switched to Ravil’s other foot. “You’re getting off light for hazing.” She smiled as Ravil flipped through the charts and diagrams of the human body. “You’re not completely new, so that’s why.”
“I’m not?”
“Rake brought you in.” Katarina reached for her hand. “You need these trimmed.” She took out a nail file and got to work. “We don’t open our doors to many, so consider yourself lucky.” Ravil frowned and Katarina noticed. “What’s up?”
“Just worried about Rake.”
Katarina looked back at her nails. “We all are.”
They fell into silence as Ravil examined the book and Katarina painted. Ravil stared at the letters, pretending to read. She let her senses extend outward. She felt for Rake’s location, still in the same spot he had been earlier. Her heartbeat was slow, she wondered if he were asleep or medicated, maybe both. She did not feel any signs of distress, a good sign she thought. “I hope he’s okay.”
Katarina patted her hand and got to her feet. “You’re a good kid, Ravil.” She blew on her nails. “I can smell dinner. Danny can be a pretty good cook. Come on.”
Ravil followed Katarina downstairs. They got to the landing as Evgeniy headed out. He nodded. “Be back later.”
Katarina eyed him. “But you have the night off.”
He grinned and saluted. “Exactly.”
Katarina brought Ravil into the dining room; it was more of a nook adjacent to the kitchen. Tasanee, Danny, and Keto sat at a round wooden table eating soup. A striking warm-skinned woman leaned against the wall off to the side. She wore tight pants, black sneakers, and a baggy shirt over her slender figure. Her long shiny black hair was pulled into a braid. Ravil froze at the sight of the braid but calmed. This woman was not a Hunter. She possessed the body language and coloring of one sure, but she was too petite by far. Dark brown eyes flicked up to take her in. Ravil fidgeted under her gaze.
“Well…” Oro pushed off the wall in one smooth motion. He grinned, flashing even, white teeth. “The rumored Jail Bait has arrived.”
Katrina smirked. “She has boobs, so you can put your Mexi-dick away. She can’t pass for a boy anymore.”
Oro glared at Katarina. “Cuban.”
Katarina leaned towards him. “What’s the difference?”
Danny threw a wadded up napkin at Katarina. “Kat, shut it. Oro, don’t escalate.”
“Fine…” Oro grumbled under his breath.
Ravil blinked at Oro. He was…is…male? He was really…pretty. She blushed under his scrutiny and her inept judgment. “Hi…”
Katarina gave Ravil a light push in his direction. “Ravil, this is our communications officer. Don’t be afraid, he only bites men.”
“Fuck you, goldilocks.” Oro held his hand out to Ravil. “Nice to meet you. I am Oro, call-sign Vader.”
Ravil shook his hand and smiled. “Vader!” She made the breathing sounds from the movie.
Oro nodded. “One in the same.”
“But he’s bad?”
“He’s badass, like me.” That got a round of snickers. Oro rounded on the others. “What? Who was I supposed to take? Fucking Rake got Solo, Danny got Wedge, Blondie got Chewie, and doc over here got Yoda.”
Ravil looked between them. “There’s Luke.”
Oro made a face. “Mica’s Luke and Luke is fucking gay anyways.”
Danny leaned back in his chair. “Perfect for you then, Oro.”
Oro threw back his braid. “Excuse me? I prefer a man and that means I should get the farm boy?” They laughed at him. “Just because I like it, doesn’t mean I want to be typecast.”
Keto wiped his lips with a napkin. “That’s what happens to the young ones.”
Danny grinned. “Do you want to switch signs? Maybe arm wrestle Mica for his or something?”
Katarina scooped noodles into a bowl for Ravil. “He can’t be Luke. Mica is our only blonde boy.”
Ravil looked at her. “So why are you the Wookiee?”
Katarina grabbed her crotch. “I’m hairy, what can I say.”
Tasanee grinned from her seat next to Danny. “My hairy love, come to me!”
Ravil gawked. Keto pushed out the chair next to him. “Sit UFO. Eat.”
Oro smiled. “Is that what we call this one?”
The rest looked at her. Danny lean
ed forward. “What do we call you?”
“Ravil. That is my name.” Ravil sat down in the offered chair and started in on her soup. “This suffices for me.”
Danny smiled. “Your name is fine Ravil, that’s not what we’re talking about. Call-signs, we all have them.”
Oro sat down next to Ravil. “She came with Rake.”
Katarina took the seat between Oro and Tasanee. “No, no way.”
Ravil looked between them. “What?”
Oro opened a second beer. “Nothing princess.” The others laughed.
Ravil blushed and ate her noodles in silence.
Katarina threw her arm around Oro and gave him a one-armed hug. “Not the same with you gone.”
He smiled. “Unlike you, I like privacy and a place to myself.”
“You should come over more.”
Oro took a pull from his beer. “Three times a week isn’t enough for you?”
Katarina gave him a squeeze. “Danny misses you. He’s a grump when you’re out and he only cooks when you’re coming over.”
Oro snorted. “He’s grumpy all the time.”
Danny rolled his eyes and got up to stir the soup pot. He punched the fridge making Ravil jump in her seat. He caught her reaction and opened the freezer door. Taped to it was a picture of an older man. The image was damaged, cheap printer ink smeared by previous rounds of abuse. Danny tapped it. “President Arvrington, Commander in Chief.”
“Giant Douche!” Katarina added.
“Cocksucker!” Tasanee took a swig of her drink.
Oro glared at Tasanee. “Colossal Twat!”
Danny closed the door. “We don’t like him much around here.”
Ravil had heard the name before. “Wh—why?”
Katarina leaned towards her. “Not only did the fuck cause the Space Silence with his message of global goddamn peace. He also hunted our asses down to the borders of his territory for national security concerns.”
Keto frowned. “Not me.”
Oro threw a bottle cap at him. “What the hell do you know about space tech?”
Danny shrugged. “He would have eventually, Keto. Just like the Chinese executed their pilots, they came for those like Rat after.”