----
Faizah and Asha squealed about whatever song was playing as soon as they walked in the door, and waved to Lori and her escorts as they took off. The beat was drum-heavy, pulling at Lori's chest and urging her to dance to it. It was intoxicating.
“Mischa! Leland! My goodness, what are you two doing here?” The woman was yelling over the loud music as she pushed her way through the crowd, a drink in either hand. She was tall, blonde, tan, and leggy, and Lori felt very small and pale compared to her.
“Faizah and Asha wouldn't leave us alone until we agreed, and brought Lori,” General Mischa called back as she ducked under an arm and came up with one of hers around the woman's waist, pulling her close as they backed up to Admiral Leland and Lori. “And true to form, they abandoned us as soon as we walked in.”
“Scandalous. Lori, you say? Where? Oh.” She'd finally looked down, and passed her glasses to Admiral Leland. “Quite small, isn't she?”
“And quite here, so talk to her like she is.”
The woman raised an eyebrow at the General, then offered her hand to Lori. “Admiral Victoria,” she introduced herself.
“Pleased to meet you, Admiral,” Lori called as she gently took the woman's hand. She winced when the Admiral squeezed, and the woman immediately let her go.
“So sorry; don't know my own strength. You're rather a bit weaker, though, aren't you? What? It was an honest question.” She matched glares with General Mischa. “I've been out past Pluto for the past six months, Mischa! I'm way behind on the news!”
“Yes, well, obviously you forgot your manners somewhere around Neptune!”
“Say, you're rather cute, aren't you?” Admiral Victoria was ignoring the General, and slid her hand around Lori's shoulders. “You haven't let Leland get to you, have you? I'll hurt him if he's tried!”
“I haven't touched her!” Admiral Leland cried. “Why does everyone threaten me like I'm some sort of paedophilic beast? For crying out loud, Lori's older than I am!”
Lori twisted around as she was drawn away from the Admiral and closer to General Mischa and Admiral Victoria. “I'm older than you?”
“You're twenty-five, correct?”
“Yes, but ---”
“Well, Mischa and I are nineteen.”
“What?” Lori hollered. A few Family Members looked over, but kept dancing and mingling.
“Damn it, Leland!”
Admiral Leland was laughing as he tugged at Lori's belt-loops, pulling her closer. “We're nineteen,” he murmured in her ear before General Mischa grabbed her back.
“Hands off, Leland!”
“Hey, is that that doctor woman?”
Lori turned as a tall man sidled up to Victoria's side and slid his hands around her waist. “Excuse me?”
“This is Lori, Mansur,” Victoria told him. “This is Mansur, my partner.”
“Pleased to meet you,” the man told Lori. “We're on a first – name basis now, you know. None of this Admiral – General stuff. Do you drink?”
“Oh, golly, no,” Lori exclaimed. “No tolerance whatsoever.”
“Not even a little? A small drink.”
Lori shook her head as the red – haired man offered his drink, embarrassed. “I'm so sorry, I can't.”
She was up against Admiral Leland again, and General Mischa once more pulled her away. “Go get something to drink, Lori,” she murmured in Lori's ear. “It's all right.” She watched as the young woman made her way to the bar, then turned back to her companions. “She's shy. Leave her alone.”
“Mischa's over protective,” Leland put in as he wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. “But Lori's a good girl.”
“Who just happens to be how much older than you two?”
“Only six years!”
“Six years, eh?” Mansur laughed as Victoria wedged one leg between his, moving to the beat as she took alternating sips from the drinks Leland had handed back to her. “Hey, wasn't she the three – year – old who made that one thing? What was it, Victoria?”
“Mm!” She gulped, then coughed a little. “Unicorn! Charlie the Unicorn, in the Sequoia Zoo. And she was three when she proved it could be done, Mansur.” Victoria rolled her eyes at Mischa and Leland. “Manny follows genetic engineering.”
“Not really; I just recall reading that a three – year – old had proven that unicorns could be genetically engineered. So she made him for, what, her last project in school?”
Lori leaned across to the bartender after he noticed her hanging at the edge of the small crowd around the bar. He waved a few Family Members away and nodded.
“What are you having, Miss?”
“Ah . . . this is going to be silly,” Lori started. He shrugged. “I mean, really silly.”
“We have that drink.” She looked at him blankly and he smiled. “A Really Silly. It's a drink.” Lori flushed. “What do you need, sweety?”
That made her flush again and she coughed. “Ah . . . just a shot of something with pineapple, and coconut. Just a shot.”
He shrugged and started pulling out bottles, but paused at her blank look and put all but two back. “Not a big drinker?”
“I'll die if I do,” she confided. The young man raised both eyebrows as he poured the half shots.
“The fumes,” Lori clarified. “I'm all right if I breathe in the fumes. An actual drink will stop my heart.”
“Got it. Just fumes for Probationary Citizen Tencha.” He laughed at the look on her face and pushed her drink at her. “Smell it. You prefer a shorter name?”
“Ah . . . just Lori? I'm sorry, I didn't know you would recognize me.”
“It's all right. How is it?”
Lori blinked tears out of her eyes as the fumes hit her sinuses. “Strong,” she gasped.
“Try this.” He poured some pineapple juice into the small glass, then stuck a mixer in and gave it a stir.
Lori sniffed delicately. “Oh, my, thank you so much.” She reached for her purse and realised that she hadn't brought it, and her heart clenched. “Oh. Uhm. Oh, my. I'm so sorry ---”
“It's on the house,” the man said with a wave of his hand. “It's on the house. Don't worry.”
Lori thought she might cry. “I don't even have anything for a tip, though.”
The young man laughed and brushed his brown hair out of his face. “Honey, you don't tip up here. We make enough; we don't need hand – outs. It's all right. Oh, please don't cry. It's a little different in the upper levels. Don't worry! Go enjoy your drink.”
“Thank you,” Lori said with a grateful smile. He smiled and waved her off, and she clutched her glass to her chest as she made her way back to General Mischa and Admiral Leland. Or Mischa and Leland.
“You made that Charlie unicorn!” Admir--- Mansur exclaimed as she walked up. “Magnificent! I love that thing.” He tilted his head as she smelled the drink carefully, and smiled. “Didn't realise you could drink by smelling.”
Lori glanced at General Mischa, who rolled her eyes. “Go on, get, both of you. I want to dance.”
“Mischa's dancing?” Victoria asked with surprise. “I didn't know you liked it.”
The younger woman was already swaying to the heavy beat, and sighed softly. “I love to dance,” she murmured. “Leland, keep an eye on Lori.”
He was watching her, one arm around Lori's waist, and shook his head. “If you're dancing, so am I. Come on, Lori, let's dance.”
Lori hesitated, leaning back as he tried to pull her forward. “Ah, I'm not sure . . .”
Mischa turned and pulled Leland by the belt – loops, moving her hips to the beat. “Lori's never been dancing, Leland. Not like Family Members do.” She turned and Leland grasped her hips, grinning down at her. “We're here solely to relax, Lori,” Mischa called over the music. “Relax, have fun, dance, and if in the case of Leland, possibly meet someone to Negotiate with.”
“Negotiate?” The situation was fast turning sensual, and Lori was starting to feel out of her element.
“Breed with. Sleep with. The Families are one big military breeding program,” Leland offered cheerfully. “You see someone you like here, you approach them, and possible you don't go home alone. Some Members are already partnered, and in those partnerships, outside Negotiations are still possible.”
Lori was swaying, as well, mainly because the four Family Members around her were swaying. Mischa reached out and pulled her gently, wrapping Lori's arms around her waist.
“You've never danced at all?”
“No, I love to dance,” Lori stammered. “I'm just not used to it being a prelude to sex.”
Leland burst out laughing and heads turned, and stared. “That's what dancing is, Lori. It mimics the body's natural movements.”
“Oh, shut up,” Mischa snapped as she pushed away from Leland. “You're making her uncomfortable. Come on, Lori, let's go play patty – cake or something somewhere that's not here.” She grabbed Lori's hand and took off, laughing as Leland tried to keep up. “He's an idiotic slut,” she told Lori when they paused. “Don't believe him. Well, he has a point. But I'm here to dance, not breed, so let's dance.”
Lori laughed as she and Mischa settled into a rhythm with the music, then laughed again when Mischa twirled her around. The dark – skinned woman --- girl, actually --- was smiling and seemed to be enjoying herself. Lori turned slightly and saw Leland heading their way, so she took Mischa's hand and pulled her farther onto the dance floor and deeper into the crowd.
“He's just jealous,” Mischa said when they paused, lowering her lips to Lori's ear and resting one hand on her hip, the other grasping her left shoulder.
“Why is that?” Lori paused to take a small sniff of her drink, then breathed in more deeply as the pleasant aroma rolled over her senses.
“Because I'm dancing with you, not him.”
The beat changed to a more bouncy tune, and Lori had to grab Mischa's shoulders to keep herself steady in the crowd. “Are you two married?”
That made Mischa howl with laughter and she shook her head. “Family Members don't marry,” she said. Lori tilted her head quizzically and Mischa elaborated. “We're partnered --- that means that there's one person we reproduce with, but it's not exclusive. Like I told your mother, we don't need her particular genetics at the moment, so there was no need for her and Leland to be together. He's a slut. Did I mention that?”
Lori's eyes unfocused pleasantly and she nodded. Dancing this close to the other woman was nice, and not the nerve – racking experience dancing usually was for her. “More than once, General.”
“It's just 'Mischa,' now,” she was corrected. “I refuse to use titles with someone I'm living with.”
“I'm not even unpacked,” Lori protested mildly. She took a breath of her drink and turned, leaning her head back against Mischa's shoulder. She felt the taller woman laugh, and it occurred to her that perhaps having a drink hadn't been the best idea. She hadn't had one in a year or two, after all.
“You're mine, anyway,” Mischa murmured in her ear. She smelled . . . wonderful. Lori was fairly sure she wasn't sober any more, but she also didn't care, as long as Mischa kept dancing with her. “So shut up and enjoy it.”
“Yes, Mischa,” Lori whispered. The song changed once more, back to a primal rhythm, and in the thick of the crowd it was impossible to move to the music and not touch someone else. The lights pulsed in time with the music and Lori swallowed sharply, glad that Mischa and Leland had convinced her to wear short sleeves. Her pale skin glistened with sweat, and she tilted her head to brush her cheek against Mischa's fingers as the woman trailed them across her shoulder.
----
These two start with prompts from a NaNoWriMo write-in I attended.
Lori was convulsing with laughter, laying on her side on the couch as she held her hands to her mouth. “He wasn't!”
“He was!” Leland gave Rory a passing caress as the cat walked across the coffee table. “A grown man, hiding amongst the syrups. We never even noticed him. I tell you, when he brought up the Martian conversation the next week, we couldn't believe that he knew about it.”
----
“If they didn't send the distress signal, who did?”
----
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