A Big Shiny Blue Marble Ch. 57

He nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but she held up her hand and he stopped.

"Just so you know, you did not one, but two things wrong.

She leaned forward a little with her fists clenched and she yelled into his face, "I DON'T WORK FOR YOU!

So if you wanted to have a discussion with me about what I did wrong, then you should have done that in as civil a tone as you could.

The fact that you failed at it utterly tells me a lot about you.

The second mistake that you made -- and it's a big one, so listen, alright?

You don't EVER give a female who might be dumb enough to have the insane thought of wanting to know you for a long time - well, you never give her crap IN FRONT OF SOMEBODY ELSE!"

She stepped away then, "Now good evening and get the fuck out of my life. I'll try to stay out of your way and file a few more reports, and then I'm going back to my shitty life. I can do no wrong there, though the satisfaction that I get from it makes me want to smile prettily while I slash my wrists.

Please don't ever speak to me again unless I'm about to do something that will get you yelled at again.

I'd never want to do that, since then you'd pout and need to yell at me AND I'D WANTO KILL YOU FOR IT -- JUST LIKE I DO RIGHT NOW!"

She turned and walked away.

Xhan walked out of the door feeling just about the way that she wanted him to feel -- though he didn't know that.

Jerrthi went back to the Utility room and tried to put everything back inside. But like a lot of those rooms all over the universe, there seemed to be such a quantity of stuff in there that once freed, it seemed determined to never want to go back in.

She tried for a while, but then grew frustrated and kicked a bucket, which brought down a stepladder and that fell against a gigantic stack of toilet paper rolls which knocked over the drain cleaner that she'd spent a long time looking for.

Jerrthi began to pick everything up and then she was back to muttering and ranting.

Xhan walked back up the spotless street until he met Troxi and Cerrith, who already knew that he'd been rebuffed.

"I'm really sorry for what I said, but she won't listen to me, "he said, "I want to do something to fix this, but -- "

Cerrith shook her head, "Not possible. You can't do anything while she's like what you described -- all females would likely do the same thing. She needs to speak to inanimate objects for a while."

"You could send her a gift of some food or candy that she likes,"Troxi suggested, "She'll throw it out, but if you let me know when, I'll come by to get it out of the garbage and we'll split, - "she looked over, "Never mind."

"You'd really do that?" Cerrith asked and Troxi shook her head, "Usually, it's me who gets the gift from a guy. I never go back to him, but I enjoy the gift every time.

Give her a couple of days, Xhan," Troxi said, "It's all you can do. There's no talking to her when she's like this, and I know that because she's no fool."

He nodded and sighed a little, "I just wish I'd have had the brains to have avoided it. She's right. I just wish - "

He walked away and they continued until they came to Jerrthi's door and walked in where they spent the next two hours commiserating with her until Ronkahh walked in.

"That Ter'l guy told me that I couldn't sleep in the craft anymore," she said in a little disbelief. "They got a new guy to replace --"

Troxi walked out, followed by Cerrith.

"Let's go to the canteen," Ronkahh said, "There's a party there tonight."

Jerrthi shook her head, "You go without me," she said, "I'd rather stay here."

Ronkahh looked at Jerrthi and wondered what was wrong with everyone that night before she walked out of the door and headed back to the canteen.

------------------------

Cerrith and Troxi didn't go a restaurant for their meal. They just decided to grab something at the fast food place on the base and sit outside to eat. A lot of their conversation centered on Jerrthi and Xhan.

That petered out too after a while and then there was a silence, but it wasn't an awkward one or anything.

"There's something that I've been meaning to ask you about," Cerrith said, and then she smiled, "and it hasn't got anything to do with Jerrthi or the flight today."

She hesitated for a moment while Troxi looked over, waiting, her ears up.

"Ok, this is a little tough, but what the heck did you do to me when you came to my table at the last party? It only lasted a few seconds, but it was ... I've never felt something like that before."

Troxi looked uncomfortable for a moment and then she smiled, "I guess I ought to explain why I left, too.

Alright, I saw you watching me dance and I just ... I just thought you were wonderful, but then I saw this male behind you and I thought you were smiling because of that and not me, so I kind of felt like I should just stay there on the bar.

Then I changed my mind because I decided that I really wanted to at least get closer to you and I got off the bar to come over. But then the guy finished and I was already a little, ... um, excited, I guess -- and also a lot drunk, so I just started humping you, but then I realized that you were leaking right then and I'm not gonna have that in me if I didn't get the full um, benefit like you did, so I just used my hand instead."

"Why did you hold me down?" Cerrith asked, "I didn't mind and I liked it too, but -- "

"I wanted to improve the angle," Troxi said, "I noticed right away that you've got really puffy lips there. That's my favorite kind, but if you straightened up, I'd have lost you.

Then I kind of lost my nerve and I walked away. I saw Ronkahh and after dancing with her a little, we went outside. When I came back in, you were gone."

She sat for a time looking at Cerrith as she processed it all.

"But how were you humping me?" she asked, "I still don't understand that part. I mean anybody can see that you've got a bump that really sticks out. Was it that?"

Troxi nodded, "Well not just that. When I get, uh, going, it sticks out a lot more. I've only seen another one like mine on a cousin of mine.

We live out on a farm, my family. My folks never make much at it and it's a ton of work, but it's better than growing up in the city, I think. I mean, it's pretty lonely sometimes because your nearest friend might live a long way away. But at least you feel like you're breathing free air out there. In the city, I always feel like I'm having to steal every breath."

"I know," Cerrith said," I'm from the city. The most open countryside that I ever see is when we're flying over it. Sometimes, I sort of daydream about living out there, but I've never been there, not with my claws on the ground."

"Hey," Troxi said, "Tell you what, when this job's over, why not take our leaves together? I mean, I don't know your situation, like if you gotta go see your folks or anything, but we can go to my dad's farm and stay there for a while. At least then you can say you've been there and if we get bored, I'll take you up in Dad's crop sprayer. It'll be just like riding in the command ship, well, just about as slow as they seem to want to fly, but you'll feel the wind on your face.

Well, if I haven't driven you nuts by then. I've heard that my cheerfulness just drives some people crazy, but that's just the way that I am."

"That sounds wonderful, "Cerrith said, "I think I'd like that. I don't have to go see anybody. I left home and I've never been back."

"That sounds like my cousin, Shaevre" Troxi said, "I only saw her a few times and she stayed with us one summer to help out and make a little money at it. She was a little older than me. Anyway, I never saw her again, though she'd write when she had some paper.

I heard that she came to the 43rd, same as us, and I was kind of hoping that I'd meet her there, only I heard that she left the service after a while and nobody knows anything about her or where she went."

They went for a walk then, still talking.

"So, you were looking for me?" Cerrith asked, "It sounded pretty nice to me when you said it this morning -- even though I guess I wasn't really prepared to listen then. I was still on my high perch."

She looked away, "I am glad that I got knocked off it though. I finally wised up."

"What do you mean?" Troxi looked over.

Cerrith laughed a little, "Somewhere in the time that I realized that I'd really screwed up, I noticed that you were a lot more than somebody that I loved to see when you danced like that."

She looked down at her feet for a moment, "Sometimes I'm just such a jerk. I was staring at how you just took over the whole craft and it just became sort of an extension of you. You weren't flying it or anything, but still ...

And then I heard the calls from the assault craft that we'd disappeared. Holy .. "

Troxi nodded, "It was just on a bigger scale, today, but that's what I do. A lot of it is doing my best to get in and out, undetected if possible. Those are the best runs to me.

And I was looking for you. I kind of like just having a good time, but lately, I just don't really want that anymore. It's a big reason why I wanted off Mud Six. I was just somebody to fuck to them. They never said it, but that's the only way that I could see it after a while. Today, they were doing Ronkahh and I could see it all really clearly.

Looking at you, I just kind of knew that I wanted to know you; find somebody who I didn't know and try to make a friend or something to get me out of the rut. I just had no idea where to look to find you after you left the party. I know I didn't exactly impress you this morning, but ..."

"I was impressed, Cerrith smiled, "I've never seen anybody like you, Troxi. I was just looking for anything to shoot you down with. Now I feel stupid. I mean, I know that Jerrthi isn't a regular Merren and it's not just that, but there I was, using her to look down at you." She shook her head, chuckling.

Troxi laughed a little, "I was actually trying to snub you when you asked me out, but I pretty much suck at that because I can't really keep it up.

At the party, I saw you and I just felt better about a lot of things. I'm sure it was the booze to a large degree, but I couldn't help it.

Then when I saw the way that you were standing over that table, I had to set that aside and try. I don't know what I thought would happen. There were too many people around and it was just too drunk and crazy. But I did want to know you."

"Why?" Cerrith asked, "I'm a miserable bitch a lot of the time -- at least I think I am. I try not to think of the way that some people get a pass because of who they were born as." She snorted, "It's almost like a compulsion sometimes.

I'm nobody, Troxi. I come from the gutter in a huge city. I tell myself to shut up but, ... well I even did it to Jerrthi, didn't I? I even flat-out asked her if she was high-born to get her job. I had no idea that she didn't even get a chance to decide what she wanted to be. I'm such an idiot."

"I don't think so," Troxi smiled, "The way that I saw you, I couldn't believe my luck. Having you there today made all the difference to me. I didn't know anybody, but I knew that I needed certain functions and you just ... - blink- and there it was -- what I'd asked for on my screen or in my ear.

I just had to stay focused. I mean ... forgive me for this, but I could have sat there and looked at you all day."

"Thanks, Cerrith smiled, "and I'm taking that at full value, but I'm not perfect. I've got a whole lot of scars. My ship got slapped and went down. I wasn't with the 43rd then. It took a long time and a lot of medical procedures to make me better."

"You mean, from the crash? That must have been awful."

"No," Cerrith sighed, "I wasn't hurt. I was the only one not hurt or killed, but the other side found us then and I got shot up trying to fight them off alone. I still have nightmares almost every night. You'll find out soon enough, I guess. I'm apologizing now for waking you, alright?"

Troxi suddenly realized that she had a problem. What Cerrith said went clean by. "I forgot to find out where I'm supposed to bunk tonight! I shoulda asked Ter'l, but I forgot and it's too late to find him now and I don't wanna sleep in the racks in general. Holy crap."

"Hey," Cerrith smiled, "for somebody who catches details the way you do, you do miss some things.

You're command craft flight crew now and that gets you a cabin. Not big, but it's bigger than a lot of them."

Troxi looked and still looked confused, "How do you know? Have you seen it?"

"Yeah, Ter'l told me that you're racking with me. I call bottom rack, since I've been there by myself since I got here and agreed to be Xhan's paper bitch."

"I heard you say something like that to him in his office. So, do you like him?"

Cerrith laughed, "What does it matter? I'm only his if we dump somewhere and even then, who's to say that I survive the wreck? Who knows if he will? The way I see it, I've already had my good luck getting out of one crash alive. I mean, I could probably do it and have his whelps, but to be happy, I'd want him to grow up a little more, I think. He's a lot better than my first impression of him -- which was as wrong as it was of you and Jerrthi, but I'm a bit annoyed at how he was to Jerrthi today. She didn't deserve that at all."

They walked on and their talk got to something that they'd each wanted to mention but felt that they didn't know each other well enough for. Troxi took a stab at it anyway.

"Have you ever been with another girl, Cerrith?"

They passed under a large tree then and the branches hid the darker one well in the shadow. Almost the only reference point that Troxi had then without looking specifically was Cerrith's bright blue eye as she looked over, "No. Not ever. I've always had the thought to want to try, though -- well that was how I used to feel about it, anyway. I've never really had the chance, the way that I seem to be able to ruin things. That was one of the things that I took away from the party the other night.

I decided that I want that. If its half as good as I think it might be, then it's just gotta be better than it is with the males that I've had."

She paused then. "I'm actually a little nervous about it. I mean, if it's not, then what I'll have left doesn't thrill me all that much. I've never had all that much tender. As much as I want a good hard fuck a lot of the time, I can't seem to find just a little tenderness."

She looked over, "Sorry. I was just --"

Cerrith felt Troxi's arm around her waist as she listened to the lovely striped Xer chuckle softly.

"Cerrith. Why do you think I wanted to find you so much? I'm a little tired of seeing the room moving because Arshan bangs me so hard. I'da thought that Doona would know better, but she's just like he is a lot of the time with her strap-on. Oh, the two of them have always had a jolly old time handing Troxi back and forth. I kinda had a little hope for Ronkahh, since she can be really nice, but it looks like she's just got a short attention span. It bothered me a little this morning but Jerrthi told me what she's like and I can see it now."

She laughed a little, "If you want to try with somebody who also wants gentle sometimes, then I think I'm your girl."

Cerrith looked over, her eyes open wide enough that even in the darkness, Troxi could easily see both of her eyes and the look of surprise.

She stopped suddenly and they stood looking at each other.

"Troxi, that sounds so nice."

She stepped forward and they were in each other's arms then. Cerrith rubbed her snout under and along Troxi's jaw as she inhaled her scent. "I knew we'd need to get along to some degree once I knew that we'd be racking in the same cabin. There are another pair of females who sleep in there if we're deployed, but they mostly hang out with their guys and they're on the opposite watch from us.

I want to do this now. This could be pretty good, well, I'm hoping."

Troxi waited until Cerrith's head began to move back a little and then she slid her own snout along the side of Cerrith's softly until they shared a first long and very slow kiss.

"I knew that I wanted you," Troxi said, "Xantham, we fit together so well, too.

But we gotta go to the attack hangar to get my stuff."

Cerrith felt the hardness of Troxi's mound against her own and began to move her hips against it just a little, "We can get it tomorrow. I'll be lucky if we even make it to our cabin if we stay here another moment or two. You smell so good."

"So do you," Troxi groaned a little, "I think it's the shaved meat that we ate. I've always liked the smell of a beautiful female who carries just a hint of scent that she's just eaten. It's always had an effect on me."

She pressed herself against Cerrith a little more, not being able to help it. The feeling of Cerrith's breasts against her own was almost their downfall in a literal sense, so they pulled apart.

"Come on, "Troxi said a little shakily as she took Cerrith's hand, "I don't want to hear Xhan's voice yelling anymore. If we stay here, the base police will have us in a cell. We can't do this out here in the street."

They strode away quickly, hand in hand. Just as they rounded the corner, a military police floater began its trip up the street where they'd been a few seconds before.

Not far from the flightline, they passed a few fire pickets who were out on their rounds and walked to the ramp. There were a few moments of confusion until the sentry was able to find Troxi's name on her list.

"Here itt ith," she said around the end of the small flashlight which she held in her mouth as she flipped the pages back down on her board. "You're thlotted in one of the Comm cabinth, ..." She took the flashlight from her lips, "... and you're with Cerrith, so that's good. You'll take her there, will you, Cerrith?"

She found that she'd been talking to herself as she looked up the ramp and saw only a pair of tails disappearing inside. She shrugged, "What the fuck ... hey, you're missing a really good party over at the ...!" she called up but they were already gone.

In their cabin, Troxi pressed Cerrith up against the wall as their hands slid slowly over each other. There were only quiet whimpers and a few low growls between them as their tongues danced behind their kisses.

"I don't know ... how you can do it," Cerrith sighed as she raised her head while Troxi slid her teeth to hold onto as much of Cerrith's throat as she could get into her mouth, "But ... ohh.. Troxi, I need .... I need you to fuck me really slowly, baby."

They moved to the bed and Cerrith found the lovely striped body on top of her own in an instant.

An instant after that, she felt something else as Troxi moved to get her very pronounced and firm lips against Cerrith's plump and fat ones. After that, Troxi pressed inward in a gentle thrust and Cerrith's lips were spread open, Troxi's prow-shaped lips beginning to slip in between Cerrith's.

The coal-black Xer raised her legs and began to rock Troxi as they kissed. She knew that she'd never be able to explain to anyone what she'd just found for herself with this new lover. The way that Troxi's long clitoris felt to Cerrith as it lifted hers a little with every stroke as it slid by to penetrate her was far, far past pleasant to her and a little intoxicating as well.

There wasn't much inside her, she guessed, not more than the length of her index finger from the tip to the second knuckle or a little beyond that, but she was being penetrated in the most wonderful way. It wasn't like having a male in there, for sure.

But Cerrith could feel herself being taken and she knew that the two of them could get there like this. They fucked through several orgasms each, stopping only for the time that each one was caught in it.