Page 17 of Redondo (Mates of the Mylos #7)
CHAPTER 17
REDONDO
Coming had been a mistake. I knew it the moment we stopped inside and the stares and whispering started.
“That’s the guy I told you I saw,” I heard someone say.
“Wow, he’s huge.” This time a female voice, coming from the area marked “Snack Bar”.
The human male behind the counter stared at me. Yllip snapped his fingers in front of his eyes. “You okay there? You seem stunned.”
The man startled, turning a deep red. “Oh! Yeah, sorry.” He looked back at me. “I apologize if I was staring. It’s just you look like this action figure I had as a kid, from the Dragon Warriors cartoon show. I loved that damned thing. My brother stole it and traded it for some pogs, can you believe it?”
I blinked. “You are not afraid of me?”
His brows knit together. “Should I be? I mean, you’re here within the Fleet, so I presume you’ve been cleared as a safe person to be around.”
Yllip nudged my side with his elbow. “See? What did I tell you?”
“I am. Safe to be around, I mean.”
“I figured. I’m Sam and welcome to my bowling alley.”
He looked back at Yllip. “Sit down on the bench and take your boots off. Then stand in the circle, where the picture of two feet are. Put each foot on one of the feet. It will then scan and make your shoes and a pair of socks.”
Yllip did as he was bid and true to his word, a replicator behind the counter then created a pair of white socks and multicoloured shoes in Yllip’s size. Sam handed them over, and Yllip sat back down on the bench to put them on. I toed off my boots, mine a simple slip on style approved as they were designed to not allow water ingress should I need to wade into any as part of my duties. I moved to stand over on the scanner icon.
“Hey, man!”
“Ralph,” I replied, inclining my head as I stepped off and accepted the proffered footwear.
“Oh yeah!” he cheered. “No stinky shoes sprayed with air freshener!”
Sam grinned. “Yeah, thanks to the replicator system they rigged up for me. Pretty cool, isn’t it?”
“Very,” Ralph agreed, leaning off the counter as he began tugging off his footwear.
“There’s a bench,” Yllip told him, joining us.
“Nah, I’m alright.”
“I’ll take it,” I said. I ended up having to angle my body sideways a bit to accommodate my tail.
“Do you think he can fuck with that?” I heard a female say, from a group of players seated and eating the delicacy known as “hot dogs”, which were usually neither especially warm nor made from dogs, but possibly named after the long bodied dogs known as ‘wiener dogs’. Hot dogs were also known as wieners, as I discovered one day when Ralph sang about his Oscar Meyer weiner as he replicated one to eat one movie night. Strangely, cocks were also known as wieners. It was all very confusing, but the wiener dogs were very, very cute. I was considering seeing if any were available for adoption.
Tying my second shoe, I glanced around, trying to see if I could spot who asked that question. It was time that some humans realized that other species often had much more acute hearing than they did. Also, that they should think before they speak. Bingo. It had to be the one in the blue tank top and denim shorts who was now looking at me wearing an “oh shit, did he hear me?” expression.
Yes, I certainly did, I thought to myself, feeling an unusual sense of boldness as I slowly stood up, and then pointed my tail straight at her and made it coil and pump twice in her direction. She turned so red, I was afraid all the blood in her body had rushed to her neck and head.
Following my gaze, Yllip laughed.
“I’m not even going to ask what you did to make her blush like that.”
“She asked her friends if they thought I could fuck with my tail, so I gave a small demonstration.”
Ralph guffawed as his feet were scanned. “You dirty, dirty boy! I had no idea you had that in you.”
The doors opened, and a tantalizing scent wafted towards me. I stood still. What was that scent? It reminded me of something, but what?
“Cool! We’re not late!” Terry said, bringing the source of that exquisite smell closer. I eyed the unknown male. Who was he?
He gifted me with a brilliant smile. “My, my,” he purred. “Terry wasn’t lying. You are one tall, delicious, dragon man.” He held out his hand, and I stared at it, my mind blanking for a moment before I recalled the human greeting custom. I took his hand in mine, loving the way mine engulfed his, but he still held mine firmly. “It’s awfully nice to meet you. I’m Tom.”
“He plays the shop assistant on Playtime Fleet,” Terry said.
Ah, so that’s how Terry knew him. Terry played Mr. Re-Use in an interactive craft show that the schools on board used. Mr. Re-Use’s Craft Shop was revealed to be on the Playtime Fleet mothership during the initial episode of the new program.
“That’s wonderful,” I said, pulling back my hand and feeling bereft at its loss. “Education is very important.”
“Agreed,” Tom said, beaming as he plopped down on the bench next to Terry and began unlacing his shoes. “I think when kids are introduced to education as something fun as well as useful, it helps set them down the path of having a lifelong love of learning. So, what do you do?”
“I work in environmental science, with plants.”
“He means he helps maintain the ship’s oxygen levels and CO2 levels, as well as supply fresh foodstuffs by helping maintain the green spaces,” Yllip said. “Not to mention working to save the banana.”
His scent carried notes of confusion, as well as interest. In me! No fear at all. If only my mate was as open as he was…no, I dared not hope. Besides, he wasn't really interested in me, but my work.
“I’ve been working with the University of Hawaii, as well as Jakarta, and Udayana to try to stop the decline of musa, or bananas and plantains,” I explained.
“I’d heard somewhere that bananas were in danger of dying out,” he said. “I figured that’s why they kept going up in price.”
I nodded. “I think I actually might have made a breakthrough,” I confided, “at least as far as the bunchy top virus is concerned.”
“Oh, wow,” he said, looking impressed as he stood on the two feet and activated the scan. “I don’t know what that is, but it sounds mega important.”
I smiled at him, realizing too late that my fangs were on display.
He didn’t seem to mind. Instead, his eyes widened, and he darted out a hand, his finger tracing the length of one canine. A rumble started in my chest in response.
“Are you…purring?” he asked, looking delighted.
Yllip’s eyes were bouncing now between me and Tom.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
Tom withdrew his hand, shaking his head to indicate he didn’t know. I didn’t either, other than we both seemed drawn to each other. It was just a shame he wasn’t my mate. If he was, we’d have been matched already.