FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

PART ONE

The planet Nosk is an inhospitable wasteland.

Located outside of the ‘sweet spot’ for life, Nosk orbits a single star, which cooks the planet during the day, but lets it freeze at night. The planet is also seismically dead with its inner core having gone cold eons prior. This solid ball of rock not only has intolerable temperature extremes, but also little to no atmosphere. What little atmosphere does blanket the planet is mostly a helium and argon mixture.

Completely and totally unsuitable for life, be it sentient or otherwise.

It has a population of 15,345,102.

Fifty years is what it took to grow a small mining colony of 100 humans to what is now the single largest colony project since the settling of Mars. It is also more lucrative with a GDP of more than 300 trillion. Nock, for all its flaws, is a treasure trove of valuable metals. Buried in the cold rock is everything you’d ever need to build the frame and hull of a modern starship, and the Noskian drydocks were always busy erecting new skeletons of what would one day be vessels for the stars.

Its population lived beneath the surface of the planet, in retrofitted mining tunnels long since abandoned. As the miners dug ever outward, and ever deeper, construction crews would come in behind them and clean the tunnels and caverns up and furnish them with the necessities of life. Residential districts, markets, hospitals, tramways. Beneath the hard and ugly surface of the planet was a world teeming with life.

It was also the only place in the known galaxy where all three of the great races lived in the same place. Both humans, sevrans, and eldorans lived together in an integrated society, and all equally thrived off the production of the most valuable substance in the galaxy. Raw metals.

“I’m home.” The tall alien called out as she stepped through the open doorway. Clad only in her jumpsuit and boots she was only just returning from her shift. Her name was Caela and she was an eldoran.

Eldorans had been the third species to join the SHA, the Sevran and Human Alliance, which in turn led to a name change. It would actually be the second time the Alliance changed its name. The first was when SHAFT (The Sevran and Human Alliance for Friendship and Trade) was renamed to SHA, and now it was the SHEA. The Sevran, Human, and Eldoran Alliance.

Eldorans were tall with slender and hairless bodies resembling that of a bipedal reptile, their skin a smooth and glossy black with long snouts, hands, and digitigrade feet. Though slender they were, their muscles were strong. They were even stronger than the sevrans in a fight, though Eldorans had no fangs or claws with which to fight with. Eldorans were the most humanoid of the new races, and despite looking like reptiles were actually mammals. They didn’t even have tails, which left them more like smooth primates.

Caela had to duck her impressive height beneath the metal doorframe to spare her head from a bruising. The living room was empty, and the rest of the apartment sounded much the same. The decor in their apartment was austere, but every surface was covered in some kind of clutter that had accumulated through their shared laziness. It was messy, but it was proof that people lived here and had done so comfortably for quite a while. Empty cups sat on the counter in the kitchenette and there was trash in every receptacle. There was work to be done if the apartment was to be made fit to greet visitors, which was semi-seldom, since they preferred to be invited rather than to do the inviting.

She checked the small marker board they had pinned to the wall between the hallway and kitchen. It was in plain view from the couch and large enough to be read from anywhere in the room if you wrote in a big enough font. They used it for reminders and notes for day-to-day things and it was currently populated with the words “Both bathrooms!” with a bright and bold exclamation mark trailing it. It also had a line drawn sharply through it.

Dropping her duffel bag by the front door she then peeked into the bathroom attached to the hallway, seeing that it was clean. The bathroom attached to their bedroom was also clean. So, he had cleaned both bathrooms, then. She returned to the marker board, erased the words off it, and replaced them with “trash” and “dishes”. She did not cross them out.

With a thought, she sent her husband a message asking where he was. When she first activated her messenger there hadn’t been any messages, so she had no idea what he was doing. She went about the process of gathering the trash and dumping it into the chute by the front door for recycling collection. She then moved on to the kitchen and put away the cups and a few other items in the sink into the washer and turned it on. She returned to the marker board and crossed out the items she had written earlier. It let each other see what had been done last. They would leave it up on the board until it was replaced by something else.

Her messenger pinged, the gentle sensation of electricity dancing across the skin of her wrist where she had her messenger strapped like an antique timepiece. With her species’ biology she didn’t need to read the message to understand it. She simply ‘heard’ it in her head like the hum of an electrical current given voice.

“I’m almost home. I went to pick up food from the caf.” He’d told her.

She replied that she was waiting for him. Since he had gone to the cafeteria, she didn’t bother asking what it was that he got, since cafeteria food was too bland for it to matter what it was. She cleared the coffee table off and moved aside their one potted plant, which was the only pet they could afford, and fetched trays from the kitchen. They would eat on the couch tonight.

“Ok, here.” He said as he stepped through the door. He was carrying a caf tote bag in one hand and a parcel wrapped in brown paper in the other. She approached him and stole the bag from his hand while she knelt down to put a kiss on him. As an eldoran she was much too tall for him. Even if he went on the tips of his toes, it would only reward him with looking foolish. She was nine foot eight inches to his five foot seven. At least she wasn’t fully twice his height as she knew some eldoran women were with their males.

“Work ok, today?” he asked her. He tucked the parcel away on the small end table they kept next to the doorway.

“It was work. There isn’t much to say.” She replied.

Caela was working construction at the southernmost rim of the city where the Mining division had recently finished extracting everything of value. Whenever the miners finished pulling every bit of ore they could they cleaned out their tunnels and then Construction would come in behind them to turn the mines into new developments.

Her job went about the same each day five days out of the week. It was a steady routine of managing the men and women of her work group. She was now responsible for thirty-seven people under her with a goal of finishing what would be a new residential wing with a series of single-family dwellings and a handful of Sevran dens.

“My day was the same.” He worked services, but not as high a position as he would have liked, since all he did was package ration orders for citizen pickup.

They shared the couch and ate their dinner. He had ordered them both sandwiches. The meat tasted like ham, but anything protein that came from the cafeteria was questionable. Its bland taste was poorly hidden by the taste of salt.

The sandwich was just two slices of white bread, a thick slice of maybe-it's-ham, and processed imitation cheese and mayonnaise. Since she was an eldoran her order had two sandwiches with a double order of baby carrots and I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Not-Ranch dressing for a dip. His meal was the same but with only a single sandwich and normal helping of carrots. As an eldoran her ration was understandably larger due to their higher caloric needs.

“No drink?” She asked him, noting that he hadn’t brought anything to drink with him.

“They said their machine was out of Fess. I’ll grab us something.” She stopped him before he could stand so she could do it herself.

“I can get it.” She told him and went to the kitchen and returned with two sodas, which were both Fess. It was their favorite soda, a lightly carbonated beverage with artificial grape flavoring. When she sat herself back down next to him, he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a half size bar of chocolate and put it on the coffee table next to her second sandwich.

“The demand this month for chocolate was down, so we had a surplus at the station.” He said. She loved chocolate! She swallowed a bite of her sandwich before leaning down to him to kiss him on the forehead.

“You are a wonderful husband.” She told him. Caela emptied the remainder of her carrots into her mouth with a tip of the container.

“I try to be, wife permitting.”

She swallowed and finished her first sandwich just as he was getting halfway through his one. Cafeteria portions were too small, but they were free, and it left them to binge on the weekends if they treated themselves to credit meals.

“Always permitting.” She told him. “I spoke with Dr Marshall this morning. He says he can write me a prescription for Lactris tomorrow if I stop by his office.”

“You want to do it?” He asked her.

The prescription would trick her body into thinking it was pregnant, which would make her begin to lactate. They had been discussing her doing it for the benefit of getting free milk, and maybe even selling it if she was producing enough of it. She’d never lactated before and so she wasn’t certain what her production would be like, but they both thought that having real milk for a change would be an improvement on their cooking situation. The stuff at the store was often too expensive to get regularly. Real milk at least. Soy Milk was still expensive since most of it was imported and then the milk substitute wasn’t good for cooking the same way natural milk was. It was really only flavored water.

“I think so. Is it ok?” She asked him. She folded her second sandwich in half and bit into it. It was so easy to clean a plate as an eldoran when the portions were so small.

“They’re your tits, Caela. If you don’t mind me groping them more than I already do, then go ahead.” He grabbed her by one of her toned thighs and squeezed.

“We could make our own cheese. Or butter. Real cheese and butter, Marcus!” She felt excited now. Neither of them knew how to cook very well and they lived mostly off the cafeteria and credit meals. They both had expressed an interest in cooking for themselves, and it was a pretty common way to get free food that was better than the stuff they packaged and gave out at the cafs.

“We don’t know how to do either of those things.” He reminded her while she finished what was left of her meal by engulfing the last of her sandwich before moving on to the chocolate he’d given her.

“We will learn!” She said, after finishing her swallow.

“You’ll learn. I’ll just make mistakes and let you correct them.” He said, and she scoffed at him.

“Will you be able to take more work starting next month?” she asked him.

He shrugged.

“I don’t know yet. They canceled the meeting this morning and postponed it until next week.”

Founding Anniversary was next month along with Christmas, which always led to an uptick in shopping for everyone. He worked at a RPS (Ration Pickup Station) and was trying to get more hours for the next month to earn them some extra money.

Her own work was going to remain steady with no increase in her hours, but then she’d get paid time off for the day of Founding and then the whole week of Christmas.

“You would think they would know enough to tell you privately if they could give you the hours.” She told him, and he only shrugged again without comment. “They should know.”

When he didn’t respond she leaned over him and bumped her snout onto the top of his head. He looked up at her and she kissed his forehead, then they kissed for real. “If we learned how to cook real food, we could do something for your parents for Christmas. It would save us money on gifts.”

“What a very feminine suggestion my wife makes.”

She bumped him with her elbow.

“Your mother still thinks you married a man.” She reminded him and he couldn’t help but laugh.

“She’ll like you eventually. If they invent a way for me to knock you up.” He told her. His mother was not fond of her son marrying outside his species. Her complaints ranged from a lack of natural offspring to the myriad of difficulties interspecies relationships tended to face.

Admittedly though, the success rate for relationships between eldoran females and human males was higher than it was for heterosexual human couples. Divorce was statistically lower and overall happiness was generally higher. At least, that was the word from the Department of Health and Safety and the Department of Immigration where both did have some skin in the game and was always hungry for interspecies success stories. Grains of salt.

He felt his mother’s biggest, if not always voiced, complaint was that she wasn’t getting a “daughter” out of the deal. His parents had only the one child, so his mother missed out on raising a daughter. Eldoran women aren’t exactly feminine by human standards.

“If we cook for them, I don’t think we should tell them we’re using your milk.” He told her.

“I did not expect to tell them! I want them to warm up to me!” She expressed.

Eldoran milk was sold in every market but was only consumed by thirty or forty percent of the population. It entered the market a decade earlier and was climbing in popularity year over year, but his parents were from an older demographic that was proving more resistant to the idea of drinking milk from what was basically your neighbor’s tit.

They had entire buildings dedicated to housing lactating eldorans during their “work time”. As she had heard it described it was just a bunch of simple cubicles with milking equipment. While an eldoran put in her “time” she could do crossword puzzles, homework for higher education, or anything else she could do right from a chair and a desk. Caela denied having any interest in going that far with her lactation. She was comfortable with just letting her own produce fill their fridge, and if they found neighbors that wanted to spend credit to buy off their excess, then that would just be a bonus for their monthly budget.

“What do you want for Christmas, by the way?” He asked her.

“I don’t need anything.” She told him, then began gathering up the trash from their meal.

“I asked what you wanted. Not what you needed.” He corrected her.

“Chocolate.” She told him and deposited their trash into the trash chute by the door.

“I always buy you chocolate stuff. Isn’t there anything else you want? Maybe a cute blouse? Some nice red lipstick.” He wasn’t looking at her to see her expression.

“No.” She told him flatly.

“Well try to think of something that isn’t chocolate and let me know.” He told her.

“We can try to make a chocolate cake. Real cake! With my milk. A gift for both of us.” She suggested, and he told her that he thought that was a good idea.

“That still isn’t a gift idea though. That’s more of a mutually beneficial activity.” He told her afterwards.

“Sex is also a mutually beneficial activity.” She replied.

“This is true, but I hope sex isn’t what you ask for a Christmas gift.” He told her.

She returned to the couch and sat.

“Buy me that novelty dildo. It’ll be humorous.”

He laughed at her. While window shopping in Central, pretending like they were tourists from Earth, they had found a novelty dildo in a local gift shop that sold various souvenirs and novelties. The shop contained many questionable gift items that to Noskian natives made little to no sense, but these were gifts for tourists that wouldn’t know any better. Everyone that visited Nosk seldom left Central to explore what Nosk was really like beneath the ivory surface that was the heart of their homeland.

The dildo in question was a bright crimson red dildo that was made popular by the revelation that one of Nosk’s senators used a similar dildo in her own private time with there even being a video of it online that became easily searchable to anyone that was curious. The senator admitted to having created and shared the video, but that it was old and had been made several years before she decided to enter public service as a politician.

“You want the Ashla Ramma?” He asked.

The dildo had been named so as to be a play on the senator’s name, Ashla Rella, who was still a sitting senator, and a popular one at that. It was also twenty inches of flesh-like silicone whose size would drain the color from a human’s face, but for an eldoran it was just generously above average.

“I don’t need it, but it would be funny to have. Might even be fun.” She nudged him. He felt himself blush a little.

“Your wish is my command.” He replied.

“And your command is my desire.” She told him. “What do YOU want for Christmas?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think I could think of anything.” She frowned as best she could.

“What?”

“It’s not fair to let me be the only one to get off this holiday.” She bumped herself into him before wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

“I’ll think of something.” He told her.

“Please do.” She said.

“I aim to please.” He replied. She hugged him close, and he let himself fall into her grasp.

“What is that box you brought home?” She asked him.

“Hmm?”

“That. Box.” She poked his nose with a finger before trailing it through the air to point at the box he had left on the table by the door.

“Oh, that box.” He said with a flat expression on his face expressing ‘dawning realization’.

“Yes! Thaaat box.” She said. “What is it?”

“It’s a thing.” He replied. She blinked at him.

“What kind of thing?”

“Just a thing.” He was purposely being a butt.

“I will open it.” She told him while she stood. She was even stepping around the couch towards the door.

“You could. I was planning on gift wrapping it for you though. Be the first gift under our Charlie Brown tree.” He told her from the couch but gave her no indication on if he approved or disapproved of her opening it.

Their “Charlie Brown” tree was a small faux Christmas tree that was about two feet tall, and she had no understanding of why it was called that, she just knew that it was. They admittedly could have gotten a larger tree but given the size of their home that would have meant moving furniture, which they were too lazy to do. A tiny plastic tree in the corner was sufficient for their needs.

“Is it for me?” She asked him. Caela picked up the box and rotated it in her hands. It was a rectangular box close to a foot square.

“Mhmm.” He hummed at her. He picked up the remote and thumbed their tv on and paid her no close attention.

“Am I supposed to feel guilty now?” She accused him playfully. “I haven’t gotten you anything!”

“Not my fault.” He laughed. “You knew the season was a comin’.”

“I swear I will open it.” She threatened him.

“Do it.” He told her while looking at her over his shoulder. “But if you do, you are required by marital law to try it on.”

“Try it on? Now I just have to open it. You can’t even buy a shirt for yourself without your mother pressuring you to do it.” She fingered at the paper until it tore and found that the box lying beneath was branded with the logo from a clothing outlet in Central. It was a nice store that catered predominantly to women’s fashion, as well as offworld tourists. “Uh huh.”

“Uh huh.” He agreed.

She opened the box and had to toss a wad of frilly white and red packing paper into the chute before she got to the actual contents of the box. It was a collection of fabric items, and each was a shade of bright crimson red. Red!

“You didn’t.” She said flatly. She felt herself get hot across the face as she eyed the contents of the box. Each piece was folded tightly and neatly to conserve space in the packaging.

“I didn’t do what?” He asked. He was watching her from the couch.

“In a bright red?!” She exclaimed. She couldn’t blush visibly the way humans did, but the feeling of heat flushing her face was no different from what a human would feel. The sensation was comparable.

“You know I like you in red, wifey.” He told her, and she rocked on the balls of her feet in response.

“They are all folded, Marcus. What is it?” She asked him, feeling very shy all of a sudden. Red was the color eldoran males acquired on their skin when they hit puberty. It was a very attractive color to eldoran women, but not a color traditionally ever worn by those same women. It would be like a human male wearing pink, or maybe a dress.

In this case, however, the color red was strictly a sexual color. A sign of male virility, mostly. A come-hither color much like a male peacock’s bright rainbow tail feathers, which it used to dazzle the female. Caela and her husband had never seen a peacock in real life, but their favorite television channel played many documentaries from Earth and Sevra. They learned a lot of useless trivia this way.

“A bra, a pair of panties, stockings, and some gloves. Oh, and one those cute little choker things for your neck.” He told her. The mental image of she’d built of herself as he rattled off the items left her feeling butterflies and a sense of bewilderment. He did not seriously buy this ridiculous ensemble!

“I think this is a gift for you.” She accused him bashfully. The idea of her actually wearing something like this wasn’t much of a big deal, but the fact it was in that color made it comparable to asking a very masculine human male to wear a corset and stockings. It was ridiculously kinky, and she wasn’t sure where she stood on it.

“I think you’ll like it when you see it in the mirror.” He told her. She looked at him incredulously.

“I think you’ll like it when you see me in it.” She accused him. He tried to hide his grin while he shrugged his shoulders. “And I have to try this on now? Husband’s orders?”

“Well, you don’t have to, but it would leave me a little hurt if you didn’t at least give it a try after having opened your gift early.” He told her.

She looked down at the folded ensemble and felt a twinge of guilt. She had opened it early, and she had not responded with as much gratitude as she should have. It was an… embarrassing outfit, but had he picked it out for her. As she thought on it, she realized that such an array of items would have cost money. Her guilt deepened.

“Ok. I’ll wear it.” She finally relented.

“I love you.” He told her from the couch. She walked over to him and sat the box down on the back of the couch.

“I love you, too. You spoil me, husband.” She said as she leaned over to kiss him. They kissed.

“Some might call it manipulative.” He replied after they broke their kiss. She smiled at him.

“I always have the power to say no. It is my choice that I always tell you yes.” She replied. “I’m going to go… try this on.”

He reached his hand up and she caught it in hers. The difference in size was great, and his hand was nestled into her palm neatly. She dipped her head low and bumped her snout into his palm and kissed him there. She was going to turn red like a male when she finally got this outfit on, but he’d be happy to see her in it, and she felt happy seeing him happy. It would be perfectly fine, and embarrassing, but fine.

“Don’t peek.” She told him and walked off to their bedroom.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” He called after her.

She could tell from his tone that he was very happy. She sat the box on their bed and pulled out the items. There was no way for her to know how he managed to get something like this in her size. It would have been expensive, but he could have secretly hidden money aside for it. Examining them more… How did he get this in her size?! That was a mystery she would have to solve later.

Disrobing was the easy part. Her work outfit was just a durable fabric jumpsuit that featured a belt around the middle for tools. She left all her work gear at the job site, and therefore only had to remove the jumpsuit to be free of her outerwear. It was comfortable to wear, but her husband always complained that it wasn’t ‘good looking’ enough for her to wear. She’d always remind him that it's not to look good in, just to be functional.

Her tank top was a chore to remove, but only because it was reinforced like a sports bra. It helped bind her tits and hold them in place while she went about her day. It had occurred to her before that she might not be able to wear them anymore if she started lactating. She’d have to think of some other solution for her chest if her tits swelled up larger and she was leaking all the time.

Once she was finished tossing her garments aside, she thought twice. She was dirty from work. Her jumpsuit was fine at keeping most of the dirt and debris from getting to the body but it did not stop her from sweating. The job site was often cool due to the subterranean nature of Nosk, but hard work still forced her and her coworkers to perspire. She should shower first so as to not ruin the items.

“Husband of mine. I’m going to shower. I don’t want them to get dirty.” She told him from the doorway.

“Okie dokie, just don’t use up all the water!” He called back. He was obediently staying in the living room. The bathroom attached to their bedroom was small and featured only a single stall for bathing purposes. It was a narrow glass box.

She wanted to take a longer shower than the one she did, but that would have been a waste of water. Water was a regulated resource on Nosk and therefore was something given out in rationed doses. Each household was given an allowance of water. Things like the dishwasher, toilets, and washing machines weren't counted into the allowance, as they were all designed to use a very set amount of water and most residents didn’t overuse them. Showers and faucets however were open for abuse. If she took a long shower to delay her from putting on the outfit, she’d be wasting water that they were given for that day. If she hit their limit, then the water would turn off and Marcus wouldn’t be able to shower until the next day when the water reset.

She finished her shower and dried herself patiently. Once she was certain she was no longer the least bit damp, and she was being very purposeful with her delay, she finally stood naked in front of the bed at the array of garments that seemed to glare at her with their bright crimson red hue.

She put on the panties and choker first, as they seemed the easiest. The panties were what they were and just slid on. The choker had a strong adhesive that allowed her to wrap it around her neck and tape it tight. She had to check herself in the mirror and she felt so goofy wearing the two bright red articles of clothing, especially when they were undergarments.

The bra was the next piece to be worn, which was then followed by the most distressfully difficult items she’d ever been forced to wear. The stockings were a chore to shimmy up her lengthy legs. She almost gave up after getting the first stocking on, but she knew she couldn’t let one leg be bare and the other not. She suffered through the other stocking. The gloves weren't as bad, but they were long in length and stopped above her elbow. They were frustrating to put on as well.

In the mirror she looked awful. Had she seen another female eldoran dressed like this she’d have found it hilarious, but it wasn’t another female eldoran she was looking at. It was her! She was wearing this bright red lingerie for her husband, and she almost wanted to take it all off and ask him to return it, but if she did that it’d offend him. He’d be upset that she hated his gift. She couldn’t do that.

It was all private anyway. They didn’t share their intimate moments with others. No one would know she wore this for him, would they? Some clerk in a store knows he bought it, but they wouldn't know her or him for that matter. She’d never hear anything about it from anyone. She could wear it for him on special occasions and make him happy. That’d be nice of her to do, and she honestly believed she’d like it, too. She liked seeing him happy about as much as he loved seeing her smile. He did a lot of things for her to make her happy, and that was the reason she worked so hard for him in return.

She’d crack open someone's skull to make him happy. The idea of doing that reminded her that if she could get away with it, she’d commit a violence on his supervisors and make them give her husband extra hours at work like he’d asked. But she couldn’t do any of that and get away with it…

So here she was, standing tall in all her ebon glory. She always thought she was attractive for a female. She had good complexion, her black skin healthy and glossy with youth. She was athletic and as fit as a female like her should be. Her breasts were medium sized for an eldoran, and she was ok with that, as well as with their shape. Her husband adored how her breasts “hung” naturally, as he would say. They had good weight and would sag only just a little. He told her it looked very motherly, and he loved it. If he loved the way, despite her not being a mother, then she could be happy with them, too.

Nestled within the red bra she touched her breasts and lifted them and let them settle back down. The strap pulled taut from the weight of her breasts, and she knew this bra was not intended for use during work hours. It was just an ornament to look pretty on her while around the house or maybe outside if they went to a restaurant. There was no way those straps wouldn't snap if she were to go sprinting. Her breasts would rip the threads right out of the fabric.

She noticed that none of the items were fit for daily use. Just pure ornamentation. She sighed. She looked so masculine… Just like a young male eldoran fresh out of his puberty and flushed bright red. She was wearing such a sexy color, but why couldn’t he have bought himself something this color to wear? She loved it when he wore red!

Maybe she could buy something attractive for him to wear for Christmas. Humans always used red in their decorations for the holiday. It would be seasonal! She was only stalling for time. Standing in the doorway of their bedroom she called out to her husband who answered her back.

“Close your eyes and come here, Marcus. Do not open them!” She told him, and he complied. It took him longer with his eyes shut, but he eventually arrived at the doorway in which she stood. “Keep them shut!”

She took him by the shoulders, feeling more nervous and self-conscious than she should be in the presence of her husband, and led him into the bedroom until she could push and seat him at the edge of their bed.

“Can I look?” He asked, smiling so broadly that she wanted to… not hit him. She wanted to kiss him. She let go of his shoulders and stepped back closer to the wall behind her. She tried to pose for him, but couldn’t see herself, but in the end she committed to her posture and looked away sheepishly.

“You can look.” She told him, and she didn’t see his eyes open. Caela was too busy looking everywhere else.

He startled her when he touched her around her waist. She looked down at him just in time to watch him embrace her. His shorter frame left his cheek to rest against her thigh. He was so close to her crotch she felt tingles of what would come. She touched his shoulders and his arms wrapped around her to hug her tight.

“My wife is the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen.” He told her while rubbing his face into her thigh. She didn’t squirm. Caela could only squeeze his shoulders affectionately and see their reflection in the mirror. She had two vantage points of her husband clutching at her tightly. The view from above as she looked down at him, and the view ahead in the mirror. There she was, in the mirror, clad in the obscene red hue of a male ripe for breeding, and her husband clinging to her like he always did.

“You always tell me that, husband.” She admitted to him.

“How about… ‘My wife is the most alluring and arousing goddess to have ever walked among mortals.” He whispered into her thigh. She felt his hand explore her posterior and the backs of her thighs.

“That’s awful Marcus!” She scolded him. He was being so purposely silly and provocative.

“I’m married to the most wonderful and elegant maiden. I don’t deserve her love.” He whispered again and caught her butt cheeks in his hands, and he cupped them as best he could despite his palms not being large enough to fit her glutes within them.

“Marcus…” She replied but couldn’t continue. Caela wasn’t sure what to say. It was something she felt was a given, that she would work and earn her husband’s love and affection. He so seldom had to express his own love for her, as she didn’t need the reminder. She was happy having him and providing for him, and yet he goes on to say such things like he doesn’t deserve her! As if he had to earn her love so fiercely when she was freely offering it to him!

“A heavenly body cloaked in red, just for me.” He said and kissed her skin just above the hem of her stocking.

“I don’t like red, Marcus…” She told him weakly. Caela hated the red, but he was clutching at her and kissing at her thigh tenderly.

“I love red.” He told her and touched his forehead against her crotch. She could feel his nose brush against her vagina. His breath exhaled across her nethers and right through the thin fabric of her underwear.

“I love you, Marcus.” She told him sincerely. Caela didn’t let herself gasp or react with a start when she felt her husband’s hand slip between the fabric and her buttocks. Nor did she react with surprise as she felt his fingertips trace around the edges of her pucker.

“I’ll…”

She didn’t finish. She held her tongue as she felt the narrow fingers of her husband press inside her to tease. Caela shut her eyes as he wandered around her interior with a finger, and then two, before it became three. He was kissing at her lips through the crimson fabric.

“You’ll?” He asked her right before dragging his tongue over her pussy. His spit soaked the fabric and left it clinging to her lips.

“I’ll wear red for you, if that’s what you want.” She told him. She felt herself flush so hot she could have looked the same shade as her outfit if it were possible. Caela would do whatever was needed to make him happy, and that even meant she’d wear his awful red outfits.

It made him happy and horny, didn’t it? It worked on him the same as it did for her. It drew him to her, and it drew his fingers deeper into her backside until he had four fingers stretching her open so much that she was clenching her teeth to keep from gasping.

“I want to make my wife cum.” He told her and she felt his teeth nibble through the fabric at one side of her lips. She bit her lip in return.

She slid her hands from her husband’s shoulders to his neck. Caela rubbed and cradled his neck in her hands gently, but she was trembling from the hips down. Being lusted for by him left her nervous. They’d been married for several months and yet it never changed. Her instinct to be filled with pride and excitement at having a male’s exclusive attention never subsided or gave way. It was an omnipresent force that never let go of her senses. Every time Marcus eyed her up, every time he touched her, every time he brought her to orgasm, she was becoming more and more his.

Her education taught her enough to know it was normal. Her husband was feeding her deepest needs with his love and affection. She was addicted to him in ways humans were seldom accustomed. She loved her husband, and he had the power to shatter her heart, and yet he never did. Caela wanted him!

“Don’t hold back.” She told him. She heard her own panting in her voice.

“Don’t hold back?” He asked her. Caela felt his other hand slip between her thighs to rub at her slit through her underwear.

“Yes…” She whispered and ran her fingers over and through his hair. She felt it as Marcus slipped his fingers underneath the hem of her panties and touched at her entrance. Caela was getting wet from the anticipation of what he’d do to her in the coming minutes. Females were supposed to be dominant and aggressive, but human men were so adamant and needy! Her husband loved to do terrible things to her she only ever saw in porn and had introduced her to so many things she’d never thought she’d do!

“Sit back, Caela.” He told her while pulling and extracting himself from her body. She sat back on the edge of the bed and went through a routine well practiced. Caela was wearing more than she normally would for moments like these, but she was well versed in what her husband wanted from her.

With herself perched at the edge of their bed she leaned herself back and spread her knees as far as they would go. She thought ahead and hooked her hands in the crook behind her knees and clung to herself. Marcus was already kneeling between her legs and kissing her pussy through the soaked fabric. He inserted himself inside her backside again and tickled the sides of her vagina with his fingertips as his tongue explored the trench of her sodden cameltoe.

The outer regions of her vagina weren't very sensitive, but she was still reveling in the attention she was getting. Caela especially loved the naughtiness of her husband playing with her asshole. Marcus wasn’t going to stop at her outside though. He never did, and she was starting to shiver as she waited for the moment when he would…

She clamped her eyes shut and her whole body flexed without her command. Her toes curled and teeth clenched beneath a hasty snort of her nose. Her husband had pushed aside her panties and was slipping his hand inside her to the last knuckles. Then there was the sensation of her stretching around the entirety of his hand as he balled it into a fist.

Deeper he sank and she arched her back and finally broke the grip her teeth had and exhaled. Caela panted with excitement. The pleasure was at its lowest peak, but the anticipation was making her heart race. She could feel his fist rock back and forth as he pushed his arm deeper inside her. He didn’t stop, but instead slowly sank deeper and deeper until the bend of his elbow pressed against the lips of her pussy.

Caela let free a ragged breath and let her legs drop to the floor to his either side. She resisted the urge to grope her tits, since she was still wearing the bright red bra she wore for her husband. He was so deep inside her! She found the bedspread and balled it in her hands.

She felt Marcus open his fist and explore her insides with his fingers. She flinched as he tickled and teased the sensitive flesh nearing the bottom of her canal. He shoved his arm into her, and a gasp broke from her mouth. A fingertip touched the flesh next to her cervix and she felt a shiver run down her spine.

“I love you, Marcus.” She told him. He didn’t reply with words, but rather spoke with his fingers and knuckles and he stroked and rubbed her. He’d found the spot that worked the best, and Caela was left shivering up and down from her toes to her nose. The only time she ever felt this way was when her husband explored her body like this.

Her mouth was talking more than her mind wanted it to. She wasn’t even speaking anymore. Pants and gasps that grew in their tenor and pitch. Caela clapped a hand over her snout and felt the drool immediately. She’d been drooling without realizing it, but that, too, was normal. Marcus was driving her crazy and the further he went the further she fell. Already her legs felt limp despite the trembling spasms skipping across her muscles. Pleasure was a drug that deadened her body but heightened her pleasure in a corrupt companionship that sought to stifle her ability to resist her husband’s advances while also making her go mad from his attentions.

She was going to orgasm! Marcus knew it when she did, but to an observer it would have looked like her body was struggling between phases of convulsions and deathly limpness. Her spine was exploding sensations up into her senses while her arms and legs lost their ability to grip and flex. Each individual muscle in her body was responding on its own to the orgasm ripping across her nervous system. Caela was limp, and yet she twitched involuntarily.

And Marcus didn’t stop. Caela couldn’t even speak, and her breathing was thin and haggard as her lungs struggled to take in air between the convulsions that took over her normal functions. His fingers dug and dove into the tender and delicate flesh around her cervix to prod at what Marcus called her g-spot. He attacked it mercilessly and she couldn’t stop herself from climaxing yet again.

She tried to speak but failed. Her mouth hung upon in a pant that left drool to pool upon the bedspread. She couldn’t even move her limbs. Caela was at his mercy until he felt it right to stop. A squeaky gasp broke from her throat as a final climax slammed into her gut and ripped its way out through her body. Her left leg was shuddering hard and twitching, and she finally felt Marcus slid his arm back slowly. Her cunt was clenching down on his limb so tightly that he had to struggle to pull himself free. As soon as his hand cleared the entrance of her lips her pussy twitched and winked desperately as Caela continued to reel from the orgasms he’d abused her with.

Caela felt her husband readjust her panties so they covered her again. She surely continued to drool juice from behind the saturated cloth as her lips continued to twitch from pleasure.

“You are beautiful.” He told her. Caela couldn’t respond yet, but she could smile with the corners of her mouth. She was still dead weight crumpling the edge of the mattress and would continue to be for several more minutes.

He crawled over her and she heard him undo his pants. Her husband was going to take his turn. Caela could feel every time her vagina twitched and flexed as her body still recovered from its climax. She felt him pierce her lips and she continued to smile. Whenever she was like this Caela could feel anything that tried to slip its way inside her. Her body was involuntarily trying to clench and squeeze at anything resting within the walls of her pussy, and her husband was presently enjoying her all the more for it.

Her holes were all too large for a human. Marcus had told her that humans had long ago started calling such things “hotdogs down hallways”, but she’d never eaten a hotdog before and didn’t understand the reference very well. He reassured her that her mouth satisfied him well and that her body felt amazing after she’d had an orgasm. She couldn’t help that her body would clamp down like a vice grip if she’d orgasmed hard enough. Marcus discovered that about her as he was very quick to educate himself about his wife’s body.

Several minutes went by, and Caela could again move, even if it was weakly. She caressed him again and tightened her pussy around her invading husband as best as she could. His face was buried into her stomach below her breasts. He was thrusting rapidly and she knew he was to finish soon. No, Caela felt it, he was finishing. He was quiet when he reached his climax.

Caela let her husband rest as she ran her hand underneath the back of his shirt to caress his back. He was panting against her bare skin. She couldn’t feel anything from her pussy except the softening of the member inside her. It didn’t matter as she was still reeling internally from the climax he’d driven her to earlier.

“I-I can go to the doctor.” She swallowed and panted while speaking. “I can take the medicine.”

“You don’t have to.” He told her and rubbed his face into her body. Caela felt his arms wrap around her so his hands could trace her spine like hers did to him. “I’ll be happy either way.”

“I will!” She told him. Of course, she would go back to the doctor and have him write the prescription. Why wouldn’t she? Her husband wanted to milk her, she knew he did. Caela wanted to learn how to make him cake, and butter, and cheese. He’d like that.

“I love you.” He whispered.

“I want you happy, Marcus…” she whispered back, and she felt him shift against her for comfort. “I want us to have milk.”

“My wife is so kinky.” He chuckled up at her. She couldn’t find the strength to look down at him, but she knew that he was true. She was this kinky female that pandered to her husband, wasn’t she? She was dressed in bright red and let her husband drag her to orgasm as if she were a male herself. She was completely filthy.

“I love you…” She told him, she burned red from how weak her voice sounded. It wasn’t normally like that, but she was always weak willed when she’d been brought to such an orgasm. It was almost every time they mated. Human men had such delicate and determined hands. Though, maybe she was just lucky that she had found this particular male to win for herself.

PART TWO

It was a strange feeling for Caela. She’d never done this before and was unsure of how to proceed. This hesitation was unbecoming of her, and she couldn’t hide the frown she was making. Marcus had made sure to buy her everything she needed beforehand, and so on the kitchen counter now sat the many items she’d soon find herself using.

The basic mechanical process was simple enough to understand, and she’d saved to her PDA a book for first time parents to help her. It was mostly targeted at humans, but the procedure she was going to do was identical to the one human mothers did and so it didn’t matter if it was for the wrong species. Mammals all expressed milk via the same fundamental method.

The bottle was made out of real glass and was clearly marked as a 2-liter container. She was warned that she may need more than one container, and possibly containers of varying sizes, depending on her production and their milk consumption. The one container alone was big enough as it was. She worried that any more of these containers and they wouldn’t have any remaining room in their fridge for anything else. They generally didn’t keep much in the fridge since they used the cafeteria so much for meals, but that was starting to look like it would change.

This container was special. It had a metal spout sticking out at the bottom to make pouring its contents easier. It was just a simple valve with a lever that opened it to let the liquid flow, but filling the container was going to be harder than emptying it.

She had a mechanical breast pump to use. The one they were given by the clinic was free, but if they needed a second one, they would have to pay credit for it. Marcus was told that they may want to get a second one since “it’ll take her forever if she only uses one.”

Marcus called her a cow after giving her all the items, then he kissed her. A cow! Caela knew perfectly well what a dairy cow was, and she didn’t feel flattered. His humor was embarrassing.

The pump fit over her nipple, which had been swollen and puffy for days now. Her entire bust had increased in size to a point where she had to adjust the straps on her bras to give herself some slack. And everything was tender. Normally, Marcus could squeeze or spank her breasts and she’d love it, but now they were so sore that she had to ask him not to do either of those things.

He was disappointed until he got a chance to nurse from her like a child. He was happy after that and told her she tasted delicious. Being so bluntly complimented for her maternal skills was something that made her feel uncharistically bashful. She wished she could blush like humans did. Whenever she saw Marcus turn red it turned her on, because she loved seeing the subtle hue flush his cheeks and nose.

It felt strange when she turned on the pump. It was also quietly obnoxious in its suction and noise. There was a parenting magazine she had started downloading from the net that gave occasional advertisements for luxury items for parents. She’d seen an ad for a breast pump that was guaranteed to be silent, and she’d thought it was silly to spend your money on something like that. She now understood why people might want to buy a silent breast pump.

She continued to stand at the counter with the pump latched onto one breast as it drained her slowly of her contents and dripped it into the glass container via the tube and cap she’d fastened over the opening. It was taking forever, but she could tell there was a steady stream being pulled from her.

Caela knew not to get her hopes up. She’d been told enough times that no eldoran starts off producing her maximum output. If she kept pumping milk daily, and letting her husband nurse from her, then she’d be making a lot more than what she was now. Give it another week or two and she might regret having ever wanted to start.

She shouldn’t have chosen to stand, but she’d have to create an arrangement in the kitchen where she could sit and do something else while she was being milked. She frowned at the thought of ‘being milked’, like she really was a cow. She’d never seen a cow except in pictures, but she knew she could take a tour of the Farming District and see one. Caela did not want to see dozens of cows hooked up to milkers. She’d never be rid of the mental image of herself being a dairy cow if she did.

The glass had little markers on the corners to let her know how much was in the container. Where the spout was located read ‘0.1L’. She had now filled maybe half that. A grope to her breast taught her she was still going to need more time to let the pump do its job. Caela just wished she already knew how long this would all take so she could work it into her schedule.

Her husband messaged her, and she felt the pulse of her messenger on her wrist. He was asking her if she wanted him to pick anything up for her on his way home. Marcus had finally gotten word if he could get in extra hours for the holidays, and they’d be gracious enough to give him a small shift on the weekends. He could work an additional 4 hours on both Saturday and Sunday. He was now returning home.

She asked him how his day had gone while she was thinking if she needed anything. A second breast pump would be nice, but she wanted to wait until she had used only one for a couple days before she decided if they should spend the money. If she complained to Marcus about it now, he would just buy one for her without asking. Her husband was that sort of male.

Most human males were, she thought. At least when it came to catering to the needs of females. For an eldoran it was unnecessary, and it also made the relationship competitive at times where she felt like she needed to stay on top of things to be the one working and providing for her husband. That wasn’t the norm or traditional for human couples. There was stress in their relationship around it at first until Caela had learned to let her husband do as he would, gifts and all. It was instinctive to not want him to work or struggle for her, but for humans that was often the males’ role.

Caela sent him a message asking him to pick her up some chocolate, and that her tits were sore. Marcus told her he’d bring her some chocolate and a breast massage. She wasn’t sure if she’d be up for the massage. The pump she was using wouldn’t tell her how much she was expressing. It was just a simple suction pump device and a tube. It was only as high tech as it needed to be to do the job, typical of anything free that came from Nosk.

That’s why everyone worked. If you didn’t work, then the welfare you’d be living on would… not be satisfactory to one’s happiness. You only got exactly and precisely what you needed and not ever what you wanted. It was how they incentivized everyone into wanting to join the workforce. Your pay was never taxed and everyone often referred to it as ‘luxury credit’. Every dollar you earned could be spent however you pleased, often on luxury items.

She would enjoy some chocolate. On Earth humans would put liquid chocolate in milk and mix it, and they just called it chocolate milk. It didn’t have a fancy name, but it was supposed to be sort of a common beverage. She saw liquid chocolate being sold as a luxury food, but she and Marcus never bought any. It was expensive. Maybe she could learn how to make her own with her own breast milk? She and her husband could have a toast over a glass of chocolate milk. Maybe add alcohol. She could search online for drink mixes. There was a mixed drink for everything so Caela was sure that there was something they could make with milk and chocolate.

By the time Marcus messaged her that he would be home in a few minutes, she felt red hot in the face with embarrassment. The pump had finally tapped into her wellspring of maternal produce and Calea started pumping out a larger amount than when she first got started. It had been more like a steady trickle at first, but now it had evolved into a steady stream like a damn had broken. The container was now reading that she had filled it up to ‘0.4L’. It had been maybe thirty minutes. She was still filling the container and she hadn’t even touched her other breast. When her husband stepped through the front door the milk level had just reached ‘0.5L’.

If each breast was going to do this in half an hour, then they were going to need a second container. The breast being pumped now felt less tight, and feeling worried about the lack of attention her other breast was getting she stopped the pump and switched it to the other breast. Her husband joined her in the kitchen and tilted the container and watched the white liquid slosh inside the glass.

“Been doing this all day?” He asked her after giving her a hug. Their height difference meant he was hugging her leg more than her torso. She reached down and tugged him into her.

“Half hour. Right breast.” Caela told him. She was looking down at him and saw his eyebrows lift in that way humans did when they were feeling something like disbelief or doubt.

“Still on the same tit?” Marcus asked her. His hand was rubbing her along her leg, which was a common thing for him to enjoy doing. He loved her legs.

“No. I just switched to this one. I didn’t want to have them uneven. I don’t think the other one is empty since it still feels tight.” She explained. The pump was only pulling a trickle from the new breast, which wasn’t any different from how the other breast had started. “We’ll need two pumps.”

“Maybe we can find one that works faster, too. I don’t want you in the kitchen for 2 hours just to get milked like a cow.” He told her. Caela didn’t immediately reply. She wasn’t looking forward to it either. She wondered how much a difference a different pump could make. The free appliances weren’t known for being the best after all. They were just built to work and be easy to replace or repair.

Marcus left her side and pulled up a bar stool for her. He told her to sit, and she did. It felt good to be off her feet, and then her husband pulled the lever under the seat which made the stool drop to the lowest setting like a stone. Caela did not yelp in surprise, but her eyes were certainly wide when she looked at her husband with a questioning look.

“You were too high up.” He told her. The breast pump hadn’t left her nipple thanks to the power of the suction, but she had to grab the cup and hold it to her breast as her husband swung his over her thighs so he could sit in her lap and straddle her.

“Marcus.” She said his name.

With one hand guarding the pump and the other now reaching out to grab the kitchen counter her husband was burying his head between her breasts. He hugged her, and she decided she was ok with that. Was it convenient that he was anchoring her in the kitchen with a slow pump latched onto one tit? No. It didn’t change her decision about letting her husband sit in her lap and hug her.

“You know, if we weren’t in the kitchen this would be a lot easier.” Caela told her husband. She pulled her hand from the counter and ran her fingers down from the back of Marcus’ head and down his back. He chuckled from between her breasts while his hands ran slowly up and down her back.

“No.” He said after pulling himself back. “Finish getting your tits equal, then we can put the milk away and do something else.”

Caela told him ‘ok’ and leaned down to kiss him. Their lips met and she carefully plunged her tongue into his mouth. He sucked on her digit and slowly pulled free. Her husband slid off her lap and asked her what they should get for dinner.

“We can order delivery caf. I don’t want to go anywhere.” She suggested. He left the kitchen and entered the living area.

“I agree! I don’t want to be anywhere either since my wife is topless in my kitchen.” He said while picking up his messenger. “What do you want?”

“I said ‘caf’, Marcus. We’ll have whatever they are making tonight.” She said. He should know that you only get whatever you get when you get food from the caf. It’s not like they had a flexible menu. They only changed the daily menu once a month, and they stuck to that menu like two pieces of iron welded together.

“We can order something else. Pizza?” He asked. She rocked back on her stool. Delivery pizza was a luxury they seldom went for. The only places that delivered pizza were gourmet vendors and they used real milk, grain, and other ingredients. A pizza was expensive from those places.

“You really want to order pizza, Marcus?” She asked him. Caela watched him shrug.

“This is the first day you’re getting milked like a cow so why not? We can celebrate!” He replied to her cheerfully, his messenger in hand and ready to dial whatever number he needed to dial. Caela fidgeted. Pizza was expensive, and now her husband was making it about her? The glass container was only reading ‘0.6L’. Was that enough for her and her husband to drink or cook with? It’d be gone in a day if they tried. She didn’t feel like she was contributing enough to warrant an expensive meal.

“Marcus, I don’t think we should.” She told him. “It’s expensive, and we’re a month away from Christmas.”

She watched him shrug again but only this time he seemed defeated. Caela felt guilt welling up in her, and she thought to say something more, but he was already dialing. She didn’t say anything more. After an exhale she adjusted the pump on her breast, but she was just awkwardly fidgeting. Now she felt bad. Marcus was in the living room placing their order with the caf. Caf food was free, could be acquired thrice daily, but to get it delivered they would charge you a small fee unless you were designated as elderly or infirm by the Department of Health.

Marcus finished their order and ended the call. Afterwards he joined her again in the kitchen and retook his seat in her lap. She didn’t refuse him and instead of paying attention to the pump she wrapped her arms gently around him and he did the same.

“We can get pizza when I fill the whole container, ok?” She told him. He quietly chuckled. She could feel the vibration of his laughter rumbling against her, him squeezing her tighter and she did the same, albeit gently. They sat together until the container was reading ‘0.8L’.

“I should probably put on a shirt.” She said out loud, and Marcus shifted and leaned back from her.

“I don’t care.” He replied.

She wasn’t surprised that he didn’t mind. The person delivering their dinner might mind though, she thought. Anyone standing at their front door had a clear view across the living room and into their kitchen. They’d see a topless eldoran with a breast pump humming away at her nipple as soon as the door slid open.

“Well, I’m going to take my bust, and my container, into the bedroom to find a shirt.” Caela told her husband, and he reluctantly left her lap again. He took a seat on the couch while she escorted herself and her glass container into the bedroom. She was going to let the pump fill the container as much as possible before she put it all away.

Considering she was at home there was no need to look presentable, a plain white ‘muscle’ shirt was selected and thrown onto the bed. Caela had a closet full of practical items for most occasions, and the shirt in question wasn’t for anything special. This item was the perfect thing for wearing at home where she didn’t need to impress anyone except her husband, since it did nothing to hide the ample size of her bust.

She took herself into the bathroom with the container in toe and cleaned up her free breast with a cloth before checking that the container was now reading ‘0.9L’. She was feeling eager to see it hit one full liter, but there were only so many ways to procrastinate in the bedroom and bathroom, and she was now hearing the doorbell chime. Marcus will have gotten their food ready to eat by the time she tugged her shirt on.

Caela freed her nipple from the pump and turned it off. She had been unable to fill the container to its first liter. Maybe after dinner she could continue. She cleaned her remaining breast with the cloth and put her shirt on. The tight fabric was reluctant to fit over her bust. She’d owned the shirt for over a year now, and it was of course a spousal favorite, as was explained before. With her now lactating her bust had started to outgrow the shirt, stretching the fabric tight across her large bust.

As she’d suspected, the food was now out on the coffee table and Marcus was fetching glasses for them both. They were out of sodas, so he was filling each glass with tap water. Caela joined him and sat the container on the counter to remove the special lid and replace it with a proper lid that would keep it airtight.

“It’s a good start!” Marcus told her as she put the container in the fridge. She shrugged and told him she had been led to believe there would be more. “But you said you didn’t think you were empty?”

“I could go for longer, but I’ve been letting the pump work for so long, and now it is time for me to have dinner with my husband.” She caressed him and took a full glass of water from him. Together they ate a bland meal of some mystery casserole, a white roll, and a cup of steamed vegetables. Caela’s servings were extra sized, of course, but both of them were eating the same meal.

“Can you tell what’s in the casserole?” She asked her husband. He took another bite from his serving.

“Not really.” He replied.

She picked at her mound of casserole and was perplexed. She didn’t think she’d ever had this meal from the caf before. It must have been a new recipe. Every now and then the public cafeterias would roll out new recipes, but they were also in the habit of retiring old ones if no one enjoyed them. Caela could remember eating something called ‘meatloaf’ when she was still a child under her mother’s care. Marcus would have still been in his mother’s womb at the time. They quit serving meatloaf because everyone hated it. The cafeteria chefs had never been able to make it taste the way meatloaf was supposed to. Caela actually remembered it tasting like salty bread. It wasn’t anything like meat, but it sure was a loaf of something.

Now she was thinking of her mother. They hadn’t spoken in several weeks, but she knew Marcus kept in regular contact with her. It was very ‘eldoran’ of her mother to keep better contact with her son-in-law than her own daughter.

“We can have my mother visit, and we can order pizza.” She then suggested. Marcus looked over at her. “And alcohol.”

Judging from the expression he gave, Caela figured he did not see this coming. Caela and her mother had a good relationship, but eldorans weren’t very social with each other, or at least not as much as they could be. For the eldoran female, independence and stoicism were defining traits. Let the males of the species fraternize and socialize. It was their calling, and they were as good at it as the humans and sevrans. Eldoran women were different.

“That would be fun!” He told her. She felt her husband lean in her direction until his shoulder bumped into her. She scooted closer to him until they were touching.

“She hasn’t seen you in a while. I’m certain she will be overjoyed to flirt with my husband in person.” She told him.

Her mother was a flirt. Having Marcus as a son-in-law, a male in her family, left her both proud and very emboldened. Proud that her daughter had brought in a ‘handsome’ male. He was handsome! And emboldened in that she had a male in her family that she could dote and be sweet with. Eldoran women were known for their cold shoulders and deadpan social skills, but that was with people they didn’t know or had no interest in.

Close male relatives were different, especially if they were not blood relatives like Marcus. Eldoran females could be protective, even possessive, of their males. A wife would obviously have it in her best interest to guard over her mate, but even a female not married to him, such as in her mother’s case, would have reason to be protective, too. Eldorans always treated the males of their in-group well.

“I saw her a couple of days ago, Caela. We had lunch at the tram station cafe.” He told her, much to her surprise. She hadn’t been told!

“You never told me.”

“She said she was going to invite you but decided not to since you wouldn't have been able to take that much time away from work. I just didn’t think to tell you. She was doing good, by the way. Her usual self.” He explained. Caela felt like pouting, but that wouldn't have been very becoming of her.

“I could have made time.” She said. She felt Marcus grab her by the thigh and stroke her. “But we can still have her over for pizza. She’d like that.”

“I also embarrassed you. Sort of.” Marcus confessed with an awkward laugh.

“You did?” She asked, feeling curious. She heard him exhale and he leaned into her. Caela was feeling a strange tickle within her that made her gut twist with worry. She was probably not going to like this news.

“The topic of gifts came up, and Mikkei was wanting me to help her with gift ideas for you. I let it slip that I ended up buying you a lot of red.” He said, and Caela was feeling herself blush with many shades of dread.

“So, my mother knows.” She exhaled.

“Oh, she knows. I don’t think anyone in the cafe had seen an eldoran woman laugh that hard before.” He told her. The heavy burden of dread grew until she lost her appetite. The last spoonful of mixed vegetables no longer seemed within reach.

“Marcus…” She leaned back into the couch feeling defeated. Her mother was going to rib and prod her now the next time they saw each other.

Mikkei Ren was of the first generation of eldorans to be born on Nosk, a daughter to one of the original immigrants from E’orra. She never got to meet her grandmother, as she’d died in the same war with Mars that her mother had fought in. Many eldoran immigrants fought in war, and many of them died. The ones that survived were given special treatment by the SHEA officials, and given many awards for their service. It was all commonly understood to be pure propaganda since the trigger that had sent Mars to declare war was their opposition to including the Eldorans into the Alliance.

When the war ended her mother stayed in the service for a few more years, leaving only after she’d sunk ten years of her life to the cause, then after that she spent a couple of years working construction just like Caela did before entertaining the notion of erotic performances, since eldoran erotica was becoming a sought-after commodity amongst the human male population.

After doing that for three years she finally went into traditional entertainment, working as an intern for the NBS (Noskian Broadcast Service). She never quit and kept rising through the ranks until she reached her current position as a Producer. She now made more money than her daughter by virtue of her higher-ranking position, from her military pension, and the royalties she was still collecting from her days of adult entertainment.

Caela’s life was boring by comparison, having only gone through basic education then starting as a laborer for the Department of Expansion. Her mother’s life was littered with stories to tell, and she was only middle aged. They’d celebrated her 96th birthday this year.

“Don’t act like that, she’s your mother! She is not anywhere near as bad as you make her out to be.” Marcus said, and that didn’t help her to feel any better at all.

“I will be the one to have to endure her.” She replied.

“Your, our, mother is a lovely person. Text her and tell her to come over this weekend.” He said, putting his proverbial foot down. Caela sighed and gave in. She did love her mother, but, well, she could be intensely embarrassing. Marcus always enjoyed her company, but that was because he was a male. Having her mother around left her feeling a little jealous.

[Mother?] She sent her mother a simple message to prod her. Caela had her messenger strapped to her ankle today since she’d been working mostly with her hands earlier at work and didn’t want to risk her messenger being damaged.

The small square that was her communicator was nestled neatly against her bare skin and held in place by an elastic band. So long as she had it touching her skin she could read and compose messages in real time with any eldoran connected to Nosk’s network. It was something only eldorans could do since only they could manipulate the abnormally high level of electricity their bodies produced throughout the day.

Even humans had a small measure of electricity in their bodies, but it was so small that it wasn’t noticeable without instruments to measure it. Furthermore, it was also not possible for humans, and sevrans for that matter, to manipulate that electrical charge for any purpose. Once upon a time ancient and primitive eldorans likely used their electrical stores as a defensive or offensive tool, but now it was mostly just a form of speech. By manipulating their electrical charge, they could create a signal, and that signal, over thousands of years, became a complex and elegant language that could never be translated into verbal speech. It was purely a written language.

[Yes, Caela? Have you summoned me for something selfish?] Her mother responded a few seconds later. Their correspondence was always quickly exchanged. Mikkei was of course prodding her about how she usually avoided messaging her unless it was something important, like if she or Marcus needed something.

[No. We are inviting you over to eat pizza with us this weekend.] She replied.

[Are you pregnant?] She asked. This both confused and flustered her.

[I cannot be pregnant, mother. What day will you be available if you come?] Caela pressed her mother. She was already feeling flustered. Marcus was oblivious to the discourse occurring over the net being his wife and mother-in-law and therefore was merely browsing the tv to see what was on.

“I’m trying to get an answer from her.” She told her husband. Caela watched him nod and smile. Yes, he had won his argument and was getting his way. He seldom gloated, but there was the occasional instance where he had the air about him. Usually when her mother was involved. Humans were sticklers for family gatherings.

[You could be a surrogate! It would be nice to see you give him a child, Caela Childs.] Her mother replied. Caela could hear it in her spoken voice, too. Mikkei had quickly adapted to using her daughter’s new surname, Childs, after her marriage to Marcus. It was tradition in most human cultures for the female to assume the male’s surname. On all her ID information she was Caela Ren-Childs, but everyone just called her Caela Childs. Her mother did not seem to mind that her surname had been abandoned in common parlance.

[When he wishes it, he will have it, mother. You are avoiding my question.] Caela said.

Marcus found a documentary about Earth wildlife and let the tv sit on the channel. It was about aquatic life, a kind of predator species with a long body and pointed fins. Caela didn’t like the animal. It had the strangest teeth, rows upon rows, and eyes that were like glass. Empty. Marcus seemed fascinated, however.

“You can go on tours in the ocean to swim with sharks, did you know that? That’d be fun to do.” Marcus commented. The narrator was describing the hunting habits of some aggressive breed of shark while footage of several sharks dismembering a carcass of another animal was playing. Yes, it sure would be fun to swim with such monsters.

[I am free both Saturday and Sunday. I’ll be working until late on Friday so if you wish to be kind to me then plan for Saturday evening at the earliest so I can recover.] Came her mother’s reply.

“She’s working late on Friday. The earliest she can come is Saturday evening or anytime Sunday.” Caela told her husband.

“We really should do it as a dinnertime thing. And Saturday would be good? So, we can do something for ourselves on Sunday.” He told her, and she decided she would agree. When it came to time and schedule, she usually did whatever her husband wanted, as it didn’t ever matter enough to her to plan anything precisely.

[Saturday evening, mother.] She told her.

[I’ll be there. Let me know a time or I’ll arrive when I feel like, which will probably be sooner than my daughter would prefer!] Her mother replied.

“When should I tell her to arrive?” She asked.

“Whenever. It doesn’t matter to me.” Her husband replied. This was good.

[7:00pm.] Caela told her mother. At least this way she would be early enough for the restaurant to still deliver, and late enough that Mikkei wouldn’t be bothering them for longer than she needed.

[Oh good! That gives you plenty of time to put on that little outfit your husband bought you. I can’t wait to see how my daughter looks in red.] Came the rapid reply. Caela in turn blocked her mother’s address with a thought. Of course, that wouldn’t stop her mother from knowing she’d been blocked, and Caela would have to unblock her eventually, but it at least gave her some space. Caela hesitated before she wrapped an arm around her husband. He leaned into her and she into him.

“She wants me to wear the outfit you got me.” She said out loud.

“Does she now?” Her dear husband replied. There was no way he could not have heard her sigh. It was one of restrained frustration.

“Why does she know I have a red outfit?” She asked him. Caela would never threaten her husband, but when it came to matters involving her mother, she had a tendency to be very firm. He seemed to notice, and her noticing that he noticed suddenly made her feel guilty and she was certain to make sure her grip on him felt affectionate.

“Well, Caela,” He began. “She kinda helped me pick it out.”

Caela said nothing but unblocked her mother’s address.

[You can go and shove your ideas for outfits right up your own ass, mother.] She sent her message quickly before blocking her mother’s address again. Several moments later the two of them heard Marcus’ messenger buzzing over on the kitchen counter. Being human his messenger was a typical model.

“Don’t.” She told him and held him to the couch when he made to stand.

“Caela, I still have work tomorrow. I need to check it.” He told her, but she held firm to him.

“It’s my mother. You can ignore it.” She insisted.

“Caela.” He told her louder, firmly “Let me check my messages.”

She didn’t want to fight with her husband. Caela didn’t have the stamina to win that fight anyway, and so she let him up off the couch. She didn’t even let herself watch him as he took up his messenger, which had by then stopped buzzing. Her husband was of course going to check his messages.

“Caela.” She heard him from the kitchen. She did not reply. “Caela, my dear wife.”

“Yes, Marcus?” She finally answered him. Already she felt the guilt in her welling up. No, not guilt. Maybe regret that she was given the mother she’d been given.

“Why do you talk to your mother that way? She’s a wonderful person.” He said it, and she sagged into the couch defeated. Caela unblocked her mother’s number before her husband could even tell her to.