Page 12 of All or Nothing
“Okay,” I squeaked, backing away from him and sliding into my seat. I crossed my arms again, my whole face on fire. This was goinggreat.
Uraka was smirking, shooting me a saucy look, but Djelani looked more sympathetic. I saw her hand slide up Uraka’s arm until she was grabbing her elbow, tugging the much larger woman to her feet and dragging her out of the mess hall.
“We’ll just go check in on Wren and Ghena,” she trilled, smiling at us. “We’ll be in the rec room if you need anything!” Uraka looked like she was ready to protest, but Djelani smoothed her palm over Uraka’s bulging bicep and the grumpy she-orc melted like butter.
Then it was just me, Xollen, and tension thick enough to cut left in the room.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Teaming Up
XOLLEN
I COULDN’Tdecide if my hearts or my cock were throbbing harder.
First Joss had declared that she wished to stay with me, and that had been wonderful enough. But then she had done that human gesture, thathug, as she had called it, and after that I thought I might faint from just how much blood had rushed to my groin. I could feel her softness pressing into me, the globes of her breasts perilously close to my chest and her delicious sweet scent wrapped all around me. It had taken every drop of my willpower to avoid moaning out loud.
But as pleased as I was with the way things were working out with Joss, I was equally afraid of what Uraka would do to me. I had no doubt that if it wasn’t for the felican female, Djelani, I’d already be a faint smear on my cargo hold floor. I just couldn’t understand it—yvrenii were a very battle-lusty race, but I offered her no challenge, no glory, so why had she decided I was such an attractive target? It felt very personal and to be honest, it really hurt my feelings.
Joss was flushed and avoiding my eyes across the table, picking nervously at her food. I felt heat creep up my own neck as I realized I’d said something to make her uncomfortable. Why did the Goddess refuse to show me mercy and make even justonesocial interaction go smoothly? I cleared my throat, attempting to drink from my now-empty water glass.
“Um, so Joss,” I rasped, “what sorts of things do you think you can help me with?”
Her eyes crept up until they met mine hesitantly. “I guess I don’t know. What sorts of things do you think you’ll need help with?”
I felt my blush deepen. “Will you think less of me if I say everything?”
She smiled at me, her soft brown eyes calming me a little. “Well it’s pretty broad so it’s not all that helpful,” she said, crossing her arms over her ample chest. “I guess just tell me about yourself then.Maybe we’ll both figure some stuff out that way.”
I nodded, thinking. “Well…I’m an only child. My parents own and run Se’Tirraan Entertainment. It’s a media company that manages talent for holo-programming in Billieu’s capital city of Escheva. We’re a wealthy family, but I’ve recently had a falling out with them.” I paused, trying to read her strange face. No—it wasn’t strange, it was just so different from the billieuan faces I was used to. It looked a lot more like mine, now that I thought about it, with my facial deformity that had prevented the graceful facial cleft from properly forming in the womb. As soon as I realized this though, it confused me; how could I find her lovely if I thought myself hideous? What about Joss made this feature that I had loathed my whole life suddenly…good? I couldn’t dwell on that, though; it very much felt like a train of thought that would send me spiraling.
I cleared my throat and continued. “I was supposed to follow in their footsteps, take over the business, but I…well, I had a difficult time with my business classes and got kicked out of the program. And I didn’t want to try another one.” Joss’s eyebrows drew together, and she placed one dainty hand on my forearm.
“I’m so sorry, Xollen,” she said quietly, offering me another of her soft smiles. “I know how hard it is to struggle to get your parents to accept you for who you are. My mom did the same thing, wanted me to be a nurse like her and my aunt, but I always wanted to do other stuff.”
I couldn’t help the smile that broke over my face. “Really?” I had felt so alone in this, seeing all of my peers—including Derris—following their paths in life with no issues, no resistance. They all seemed to just settle into where they were meant to without any of the angst and confusion I was rife with. But here was Joss, telling me that she’d felt the exact same thing. It warmed my hearts.
She nodded. “Can I ask what it is you felt like doing instead of business?”
I pursed my lips. Was it wise to confess something that personal so soon after meeting someone? Derris was the only person I trusted this with. I cleared my throat, swiping my long hair over one shoulder to get it off of my neck, which was getting uncomfortably warm.
“I, um—I like drawing. Not painting, that gets tedious to me. But just quick sketches. I like to try and tell a story with the pictures.” Goddess, it sounded so foolish and silly when I said it out loud like that. I felt my face get even hotter.
“Oh wow, that’s so cool!” Joss exclaimed, her eyes sparkling as she beamed at me. “So like a kommick, then? I’ve always wanted to try teaming up with an artist to do a web-kommick. Oh, I’m a writer—that’s my thing,” she blurted, color seeping into her own face.
“Oh. Um, I don’t know what that is,” I admitted. “What is a kommick?”
She cocked an eyebrow. “Maybe that’s a translation error. A kommick. You know, like you have a bunch of panels with drawings and speech bubbles and they tell a story.”
My brow furrowed in confusion. “I’m sorry, but that still doesn’t sound familiar to me.”
She frowned. “Interesting. Maybe I’m not explaining it right. Do you have something I can sketch on?”
I nodded, standing to retrieve a tablet from the charging bank over the food synth. I opened it to a note-taking app that allowed for handwriting and passed it to her.
She took it from me, concentrating as she moved her finger quickly over the screen, drawing something out. She had it in her hands and angled towards her face, so from my seat across from her I couldn’t see what she was doing. I was buzzing with excitement though. There was a name for what I wanted to do with my vision, meaning I wasn’t so misguided as others had led me to believe.
After a few minutes she put the tablet down flat on the table and pushed it forward. “I’m not much of an artist,” she said apologetically, pointing at what she’d drawn. I looked down, following her finger with its blunt delicate nail pointing out what she’d done as she explained it. “So, this is a kommick. See how it’s telling the story of this little doggie finding a big bone and deciding to give it to his friend the kitten?”
