A
Arbitrated
188604, Nath Tower
The USO did have a few ST facilities... but nothing nearly as expansive as what was on Yamatai. Instead of sprawling cloning facilities, there were only a handful of high end medical nanomachine tanks that had been stored on one of the floors of Nath tower. There were no real furnishings here, just rooms, tanks, and some medical peersonel monitoring the make shift hospital and the somewhat spartan furniture that had recently been added.
The body of USO's resident brib had been placed in a tank a while ago, the machines slowly sealing the hole in her chest and bringing her brain back to its fully-functional state, sans any knowledge of what had happened on I'ee.
Alex paced around outside the room, fuming at himself for not being there during the hunt to protect Araxie. His mind raced. Would she be okay? Would she remember him? He didn't really understand how any of this ST stuff worked, and his pacing reflected upon his anxiousness.
It seemed like years before one of the medical staff slid open the room, locking eyes with Alex. "We've just taken her out. She's still unconscious and won't know what happened since her last backup, but Ms. Serai should be with us in just a few moments."
Alex followed the doctor into the room, his eyes sliding across the space to take everything in. There were monitors all over the place, as well as what looked several tanks, one of which seemed to have recently had blood in it. Then he noticed Araxie, whose currently-nude body was being rubbed down with fluffy white towels. He blushed a bit. He had never seen her without clothes on.
Araxie's eyes seemed to snap open, the silver irises contorting wildly as she responded to the harsh lighting within the medical facility. Her chest heaved as air thrust through her lungs.
"W-where am I?"
Alex's eyes widened slightly and he reached out instinctively, attempting to grasp Araxie's hand. Thank the heavens she was alright. He thought.
"You're in the tower back home." Alex said as he gave her hand a little squeeze.
"How'd I get here?" turning her head to look Alex in the eye, Serai's motions seemed to slow a little, starting to relax just a touch. She seemed only then to notice her current wardrobe, or lack thereof, and her face turned red. "How'd I end up like-like THIS?" The medical staff finished the last bit of drying they needed, before one placed a light paper sheet onto a majority of the angel's body, despite Alex having already been given plenty of time to see it.
Alex's eyes seemed to look into the distance for a moment. "There was a hunt on the I'ee's home planet. You were... I wasn't there... I couldn't..." He began to choke up and stutter, tears welling in his eyes. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't there for most of it and I couldn't protect you and you got killed and... and..." Words poured out of him like the tears threatened to pour from his eyes. He wrapped Araxie in a powerful hug.
Araxie seemed to be too caught off guard by Alex to react for several seconds, only to be somehow brought into this hug. She gently-if not quietly due to the sheeting's crinkling-brought her arms upwards, and around Tasuki, slowly squeezing him tight.
"I... Alex, please don't beat yourself up... I don't think it was your fault," she spoke into his ear, "and... Alex? Alex. Alex, I'm here, right now, I'm still with you... I'm still here..." Something blue slowly folded around the couple, Araxie's personal little way of getting some visual privacy via plumage.
Alex shook a little, small sobs wracking his body. This was the first time Araxie would have ever seen him cry. Get upset, maybe once or twice before, but never cry. Something wet splashed onto the paper gown with a spatter, followed by several more.
"I know...I know you're here. I know it might not be my fault, but I don't care. I wanted to be able to protect you and I couldn't. I wasn't there when you needed me, and... I thought I had lost you forever because of that."
A deliberate squeeze hit Alex, as his partner pulled herself to fully, properly sit up. "Shh-shh-shhhhh, I'm alright... Please don't be sad... Alex..." Her voice faded for a few moments as Alex cried, keeping herself as close to him as she could. "I'm alright, you needn't worry so much about me..." The feathery cocoon tightened slightly, partially sealing Alex off from the rest of the world.
Alex continued to cry, but the sobs softened and the small spasms grew gentler. "I can't help it... I didn't remember about the backups until they told me a while ago. I thought that you had died. For good. I was so afraid, I didn't know what to do." He ran his right hand through Araxie's hair gently. "I didn't know what I would do without you."
Alex's angel brought her head back slightly, looking him in the eye again. "Well, you don't need to worry, because I'm still here." Bringing her lips forward, she kissed Alex directly, swaying slightly from side to side.
Alex's eyes widened for a moment, then closed gently as he returned the kiss fully, his tongue poking into Araxie's mouth a little bit, hesitant as he was to break up the kiss by accident.
Araxie didn't seem to mind the tongue's intrusion, although her mouth tasted disturbingly like blood.
If Alex noticed he didn't seem to care, his tongue now exploring further into Araxie's mouth and caressing her own, prompting a somewhat defensive push backwards as he seemed to have gone too far.
Alex pulled away. "I... I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me." He mumbled, looking down in embarassment.
Araxie sighed, "I... Sorry. I'm just... That's not normally something for me, I guess..." She continued to hug him, although the cost of resurrection seemed to be showing on her face-she seemed to be very tired.
Alex noticed this all of a sudden. "Oh... umm... I'm sorry. You must want to get some sleep. I can take you back to my room at the airbase or we can go to the Queen's slave. Or maybe you can get a room here." At the thought of laying down on a bed, Alex realised that he hadn't slept since he'd learned of Araxie's death more than a day and a half ago.
"Mmm...? O-oh, yeah..." Her head bobbed for a moment. "Whichever is... Easiest, I think?"
Alex lifted Araxie up in a princess style carry and began to walk out, contacting the people in charge of the building through his mindware and getting out a room before taking an elevator up a few floors and carrying Araxie to the room before laying her down on the bed, tucking her in and flopping down on top of the covers on the opposite side of it.
Her voice cracked through the room, "Alex? Are... Are you going to just sleep like that, or...?"
Alex blushed profusely. "I mean, you're... I didn't think..."
"I don't mind," the angel interrupted him. "You shouldn't just sleep like that though if you've been worrying about me for the past... I'm not sure how long it's been. You need to take care of yourself a little more than this..."
Alex hesitated for a moment, considering protesting but eventually deciding against it, and pulled off his jacket and shirt so as to not overheat. Then he slipped underneath the covers and crossed his arms behind his head to make himself more comfortable. His eyes slowly drifted closed.
Next to him, Araxie turned to her side a little, resting an arm onto his chest, murmuring a "good night" through the pillow, she lasted about thirty seconds more before darkness brought her to sleep.
The next day, Tasuki woke to his angel laying partially on his chest, as if she was listening to his heartbeat through the night. Her face was directed somewhat toward his, and one arm still draped across his body lazily. An occasional snore, soft and barely audible, would dampen the relative silence of the shared bedroom as she slept.
Alex placed a gentle kiss upon Araxie's forehead and wrapped an arm around her as she had hers around him, then began to gently stroke her hair.
Stroking her soft hair, Alex managed to have a few more minutes before the lightweight girl stirred slightly. Arx's eyes slowly cracked open, drifting upwards towards Alex's with a small smile.
"G'morning..." Her voice could be felt in his heart, shortly before the girl pulled herself slightly closer to him and pecking him on the lips, her one arm having shifted to make room for her torso.
Alex smiled back at her. "Hi." He simply said before he felt a slight preassure on his chest and noticed how close the two were. He began to blush a little. "Uhhh..."
"...Yes?" She asked him sweetly, softly, re-settling her weight upon him with a very minor blush of her own.
"Ah..." Alex looked down at Araxie's chest pointedly, "Well... it's just that we're really close and I didn't know if that was okay and uh..."
The angel either didn't know or didn't care about Alex's looking about, sighing contentedly and resting her face on top of his other shoulder, her arms somewhat akimbo across the bed and couple. One wing had managed to assert itself on top of the man's legs partially, being surprisngly comfortable to the touch.
Alex nuzzled the other wing subconsiously, causing her to chuckle adorably and sneak her arm under his back in a sort of angled, laying-down hug.
Alex kissed Araxie as he had the previous day, this time slightly more carefully so as not to startle her too much. She at least held the kiss, although she seemed slightly guarded against the possibility of another tongue-based assault.
Alex's tongue did not go any further than a brief poke on Araxie's lips, and his hand ran through her hair gently.
Serai simply relished in Alex's gentleness, relaxing visually as her eyes slid closed for a couple moments. "I love you, Alex, and I'll never leave you... Even if death should come again, I will come back, just for you."
Alex's eyes widened slightly. "I... I uhh... I don't know what to say," he mumbled.
Araxie stilled her partner's voice with a kiss, before saying, "Don't worry... Sometimes you don't have to say anything at all."
Alex opened and closed his mouth a little. He looked a bit like a fish out of water, and it was clear that he had absolutely no idea what to do with himself now.
On the other hand, his angel seemed quite entertained with the motion, giggling in a quite silly manner. "Trust me, we're going to be fine. You don't need to panic like that." Smooching him on the nose briefly, she smiled again, her silver eyes glittering in the muted starlight.
"I... I guess you're right. But I was so afraid, I didn't want to lose you and the idea of it scared me so much." This prompted a full squeeze from Araxie's hug.
"I'm sorry I had to force you through that... I'm sorry... But we're still together, even through it all. You're still with me. I'm still with you." She kissed him, once more.
Alex stared into Araxie's eyes as she spoke. "Yeah... I guess that's what matters." He thought for a moment before speaking again. "Do you want some clothes? I imagine it must be uncomfortable for you to be here with you naked and me half clothed."
Her eyes screwed shut for a moment as the color red conquered her face, before sliding off of Tasuki's chest to lie down directly on the bed. "Y-yeah, I don't think... Let's say it's not very pleasant to run around naked..."
"Hmmm... would it help if I took off some of my clothes?" He asked straightfaced.
"Alex," she chuckled through her dialogue, "I don't think that'd help anything, really. Even if you sometimes do look better without a shirt ."
Alex frowned. "Well, what can I do? I thought that it might help because then we'd both be in the same condition, but other than that I've got no clue what to do here."
"You could call for someone to bring up an outfit or something, for one... Or I guess we could get creative with towels or something?"
"I'll call someone up. Any preferences?"
There was a short pause of thought, "Something that can easily cover me. I don't feel like trying to debate fashion or deal with something that barely passes for clothing."
Alex placed a quick call, and in a few minutes a clothes hanger was brought up holding a brown pair of adjustable fit pants and a white t shirt.
"Would you like me to go out while you change?" he asked.
Araxie nodded briefly.
Alex pulled on his own shirt and exited the room. "Okay, let me know when to come back in."
With a small bit of struggling and some clever wing manipulation, Serai managed to escape the exposure of nudity, opening the door a significantly different-looking woman. "They're kinda folded under here," she said was she flaunted the lower end of her shirt. "I'm not really surprised or disappointed either, it's hard to make something work for an elysian." With the wings wrapped around her upper body, Araxie had taken on the look of a human woman, if slightly on the larger end of the scale.
Alex scratched his head. "So what should we do now? Are you hungry?"
"Wouldn't be a bad idea. Come to think of it, I'm famished-have YOU eaten over the past two days or so?"
Alex said nothing but pointedly looked in any direction but at Araxie. His stomach growled as if saying what he did not want to. The girl sighed, taking his hand and pulling him with her. "I wouldn't doubt there being several restaurants in here. If none of those interest you, we might be able to try the city?"
Alex looked around for a bit before speaking, though there wasn't actually anything to see aside from the hallway. "I'm happy to go wherever."
They stepped into the elevator, Araxie setting it to head down. "Well, there's a... Hm. I can't recall... I think that there's the one really nice bakery close by. It's a start, I guess?" She shrugged.
Alex nodded. "Sure."
A short trip through the city later, and the couple was strolling through the streets, searching out for their next meal.
Alex looked around at the shops, there was the bakery mentioned beforehand as well as a seafood shop serving a local variation of sushi with rolls made from the local algae.
"So... do you want to go to that seafood shop or the bakery?" Alex asked.
"Hmm... Do, uh, d'ya normally have seafood when you get up in the morning?" Araxie shaded her eyes and looked at the restaurants in view again.
"I dunno. I just normally eat whatever is in the fridge in the Queen's slave or whatever they're serving in the mess at the airbase." Alex replied with a shrug.
"I'm... Not surprised, actually. We'll go for the bakery then, it's a bit... Easier on the stomach than leftovers, and a bit more comfortable than the normal stuff on the base."
"Yeah." Alex stood up a bit straighter and looked back at Araxie.
Leading him into the small building, Serai waked over to an interior table next to the wall, her seemingly wingless form still being awkward to work around. Her shirt shifted around somewhat chaotically for a few moments, drawing a minor amount of brief attention from the other patrons.
"We really should try to design a way for regular clothes to be adapted for Elysians."
"Well, I know the quick and dirty way. But I can manage." She picked up her menu, taking some time to overlook her options. Normally she'd have already chosen, but she's feeling a touch adventurous today
Alex looked at the menu and just picked out the first thing. "I'll have this french toast. What is french toast?"
"It's sort of, a piece of bread with a bit of batter on it and sugar, baked again. Sometimes they have cinnamon, or an egg." Taking a moment more, she decided, "I'll have a panini, myself." The waiter wrote their orders down, retrieving the menus.
Alex looked around. "I don't think I've ever been to a resteraunt aside from that time with Uso."
:Let's... Not talk about that, please." The service was fast, food being delivered to the couple within a matter of minutes. Alex's three slices of toast seemed to no be the egg-heavy version, but still smelled amazing nonetheless. Araxie's sandwich spent a total of three seconds on its plate after delivery before she picked it up, tearing a chunk off with her teeth, chewing with a filled mouth.
Alex pulled off a chunk of the airy toast with his fork and took a bite, savoring the flavor of it as it seemed to dissolve partially in his mouth. "Mmmmh..." He mumbled through a mouthful of confectionary.
Gulping hown her first mouthful, araxie took a moment to breathe, smiling pleasantly at Alex. "I see you're enjoying yours as well, then! That's good, that's good... Love the toast here."
"Have you been here before?" Alex asked after he swallowed his bite.
"A few times, yeah!" She chased her response with another bite.
"Huh. We should do stuff like this more often."
"Mhm!" Arx winked at Alex simply, clearing her mouth. "I will say, I haven't actually had the seafood. Perhaps tomorrow, or later otday, or some time?" She took a napkin to wipe her face of a small amount of juices which had escaped her sandwich onto her plate, cooling herself with a drink of water.
Alex smiled back at Araxie and poked at his french toast a little. "I'm honestly happy eating anywhere or doing anything as long as I'm doing it with you."
The angelic girl blushed, her cheeks taking on a powerful rosy hue. "We could make this a regular thing, if you'd like. Well, mostly regular," she chuckled, "On account of my... Irregular sleeping habits."
Alex nodded. "That makes sense. I'm just really happy to be able to spend time with you. Losing you made me appreciate how much you mean to me."
Birdy smiled. "That's so sweet... I'm so sorry for making you go through that to think of that, though, Alex... I truly am..." Her arm set itself above the table, the slightly greasy hand reaching out to stroke his face slowly.
Alex reached up and held her hand there for a moment. "It wasn't your fault. Just like it wasn't my fault. All we can do now is make the most of the time we have toether."
She smiled, sadly, quietly, simply staring into Alex's eyes for several minutes. "And we shall..." Even as their food started to get cold, she held her pose, her eyes almost like mirrors, shining brightly.
The USO did have a few ST facilities... but nothing nearly as expansive as what was on Yamatai. Instead of sprawling cloning facilities, there were only a handful of high end medical nanomachine tanks that had been stored on one of the floors of Nath tower. There were no real furnishings here, just rooms, tanks, and some medical peersonel monitoring the make shift hospital and the somewhat spartan furniture that had recently been added.
The body of USO's resident brib had been placed in a tank a while ago, the machines slowly sealing the hole in her chest and bringing her brain back to its fully-functional state, sans any knowledge of what had happened on I'ee.
Alex paced around outside the room, fuming at himself for not being there during the hunt to protect Araxie. His mind raced. Would she be okay? Would she remember him? He didn't really understand how any of this ST stuff worked, and his pacing reflected upon his anxiousness.
It seemed like years before one of the medical staff slid open the room, locking eyes with Alex. "We've just taken her out. She's still unconscious and won't know what happened since her last backup, but Ms. Serai should be with us in just a few moments."
Alex followed the doctor into the room, his eyes sliding across the space to take everything in. There were monitors all over the place, as well as what looked several tanks, one of which seemed to have recently had blood in it. Then he noticed Araxie, whose currently-nude body was being rubbed down with fluffy white towels. He blushed a bit. He had never seen her without clothes on.
Araxie's eyes seemed to snap open, the silver irises contorting wildly as she responded to the harsh lighting within the medical facility. Her chest heaved as air thrust through her lungs.
"W-where am I?"
Alex's eyes widened slightly and he reached out instinctively, attempting to grasp Araxie's hand. Thank the heavens she was alright. He thought.
"You're in the tower back home." Alex said as he gave her hand a little squeeze.
"How'd I get here?" turning her head to look Alex in the eye, Serai's motions seemed to slow a little, starting to relax just a touch. She seemed only then to notice her current wardrobe, or lack thereof, and her face turned red. "How'd I end up like-like THIS?" The medical staff finished the last bit of drying they needed, before one placed a light paper sheet onto a majority of the angel's body, despite Alex having already been given plenty of time to see it.
Alex's eyes seemed to look into the distance for a moment. "There was a hunt on the I'ee's home planet. You were... I wasn't there... I couldn't..." He began to choke up and stutter, tears welling in his eyes. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't there for most of it and I couldn't protect you and you got killed and... and..." Words poured out of him like the tears threatened to pour from his eyes. He wrapped Araxie in a powerful hug.
Araxie seemed to be too caught off guard by Alex to react for several seconds, only to be somehow brought into this hug. She gently-if not quietly due to the sheeting's crinkling-brought her arms upwards, and around Tasuki, slowly squeezing him tight.
"I... Alex, please don't beat yourself up... I don't think it was your fault," she spoke into his ear, "and... Alex? Alex. Alex, I'm here, right now, I'm still with you... I'm still here..." Something blue slowly folded around the couple, Araxie's personal little way of getting some visual privacy via plumage.
Alex shook a little, small sobs wracking his body. This was the first time Araxie would have ever seen him cry. Get upset, maybe once or twice before, but never cry. Something wet splashed onto the paper gown with a spatter, followed by several more.
"I know...I know you're here. I know it might not be my fault, but I don't care. I wanted to be able to protect you and I couldn't. I wasn't there when you needed me, and... I thought I had lost you forever because of that."
A deliberate squeeze hit Alex, as his partner pulled herself to fully, properly sit up. "Shh-shh-shhhhh, I'm alright... Please don't be sad... Alex..." Her voice faded for a few moments as Alex cried, keeping herself as close to him as she could. "I'm alright, you needn't worry so much about me..." The feathery cocoon tightened slightly, partially sealing Alex off from the rest of the world.
Alex continued to cry, but the sobs softened and the small spasms grew gentler. "I can't help it... I didn't remember about the backups until they told me a while ago. I thought that you had died. For good. I was so afraid, I didn't know what to do." He ran his right hand through Araxie's hair gently. "I didn't know what I would do without you."
Alex's angel brought her head back slightly, looking him in the eye again. "Well, you don't need to worry, because I'm still here." Bringing her lips forward, she kissed Alex directly, swaying slightly from side to side.
Alex's eyes widened for a moment, then closed gently as he returned the kiss fully, his tongue poking into Araxie's mouth a little bit, hesitant as he was to break up the kiss by accident.
Araxie didn't seem to mind the tongue's intrusion, although her mouth tasted disturbingly like blood.
If Alex noticed he didn't seem to care, his tongue now exploring further into Araxie's mouth and caressing her own, prompting a somewhat defensive push backwards as he seemed to have gone too far.
Alex pulled away. "I... I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me." He mumbled, looking down in embarassment.
Araxie sighed, "I... Sorry. I'm just... That's not normally something for me, I guess..." She continued to hug him, although the cost of resurrection seemed to be showing on her face-she seemed to be very tired.
Alex noticed this all of a sudden. "Oh... umm... I'm sorry. You must want to get some sleep. I can take you back to my room at the airbase or we can go to the Queen's slave. Or maybe you can get a room here." At the thought of laying down on a bed, Alex realised that he hadn't slept since he'd learned of Araxie's death more than a day and a half ago.
"Mmm...? O-oh, yeah..." Her head bobbed for a moment. "Whichever is... Easiest, I think?"
Alex lifted Araxie up in a princess style carry and began to walk out, contacting the people in charge of the building through his mindware and getting out a room before taking an elevator up a few floors and carrying Araxie to the room before laying her down on the bed, tucking her in and flopping down on top of the covers on the opposite side of it.
Her voice cracked through the room, "Alex? Are... Are you going to just sleep like that, or...?"
Alex blushed profusely. "I mean, you're... I didn't think..."
"I don't mind," the angel interrupted him. "You shouldn't just sleep like that though if you've been worrying about me for the past... I'm not sure how long it's been. You need to take care of yourself a little more than this..."
Alex hesitated for a moment, considering protesting but eventually deciding against it, and pulled off his jacket and shirt so as to not overheat. Then he slipped underneath the covers and crossed his arms behind his head to make himself more comfortable. His eyes slowly drifted closed.
Next to him, Araxie turned to her side a little, resting an arm onto his chest, murmuring a "good night" through the pillow, she lasted about thirty seconds more before darkness brought her to sleep.
The next day, Tasuki woke to his angel laying partially on his chest, as if she was listening to his heartbeat through the night. Her face was directed somewhat toward his, and one arm still draped across his body lazily. An occasional snore, soft and barely audible, would dampen the relative silence of the shared bedroom as she slept.
Alex placed a gentle kiss upon Araxie's forehead and wrapped an arm around her as she had hers around him, then began to gently stroke her hair.
Stroking her soft hair, Alex managed to have a few more minutes before the lightweight girl stirred slightly. Arx's eyes slowly cracked open, drifting upwards towards Alex's with a small smile.
"G'morning..." Her voice could be felt in his heart, shortly before the girl pulled herself slightly closer to him and pecking him on the lips, her one arm having shifted to make room for her torso.
Alex smiled back at her. "Hi." He simply said before he felt a slight preassure on his chest and noticed how close the two were. He began to blush a little. "Uhhh..."
"...Yes?" She asked him sweetly, softly, re-settling her weight upon him with a very minor blush of her own.
"Ah..." Alex looked down at Araxie's chest pointedly, "Well... it's just that we're really close and I didn't know if that was okay and uh..."
The angel either didn't know or didn't care about Alex's looking about, sighing contentedly and resting her face on top of his other shoulder, her arms somewhat akimbo across the bed and couple. One wing had managed to assert itself on top of the man's legs partially, being surprisngly comfortable to the touch.
Alex nuzzled the other wing subconsiously, causing her to chuckle adorably and sneak her arm under his back in a sort of angled, laying-down hug.
Alex kissed Araxie as he had the previous day, this time slightly more carefully so as not to startle her too much. She at least held the kiss, although she seemed slightly guarded against the possibility of another tongue-based assault.
Alex's tongue did not go any further than a brief poke on Araxie's lips, and his hand ran through her hair gently.
Serai simply relished in Alex's gentleness, relaxing visually as her eyes slid closed for a couple moments. "I love you, Alex, and I'll never leave you... Even if death should come again, I will come back, just for you."
Alex's eyes widened slightly. "I... I uhh... I don't know what to say," he mumbled.
Araxie stilled her partner's voice with a kiss, before saying, "Don't worry... Sometimes you don't have to say anything at all."
Alex opened and closed his mouth a little. He looked a bit like a fish out of water, and it was clear that he had absolutely no idea what to do with himself now.
On the other hand, his angel seemed quite entertained with the motion, giggling in a quite silly manner. "Trust me, we're going to be fine. You don't need to panic like that." Smooching him on the nose briefly, she smiled again, her silver eyes glittering in the muted starlight.
"I... I guess you're right. But I was so afraid, I didn't want to lose you and the idea of it scared me so much." This prompted a full squeeze from Araxie's hug.
"I'm sorry I had to force you through that... I'm sorry... But we're still together, even through it all. You're still with me. I'm still with you." She kissed him, once more.
Alex stared into Araxie's eyes as she spoke. "Yeah... I guess that's what matters." He thought for a moment before speaking again. "Do you want some clothes? I imagine it must be uncomfortable for you to be here with you naked and me half clothed."
Her eyes screwed shut for a moment as the color red conquered her face, before sliding off of Tasuki's chest to lie down directly on the bed. "Y-yeah, I don't think... Let's say it's not very pleasant to run around naked..."
"Hmmm... would it help if I took off some of my clothes?" He asked straightfaced.
"Alex," she chuckled through her dialogue, "I don't think that'd help anything, really. Even if you sometimes do look better without a shirt ."
Alex frowned. "Well, what can I do? I thought that it might help because then we'd both be in the same condition, but other than that I've got no clue what to do here."
"You could call for someone to bring up an outfit or something, for one... Or I guess we could get creative with towels or something?"
"I'll call someone up. Any preferences?"
There was a short pause of thought, "Something that can easily cover me. I don't feel like trying to debate fashion or deal with something that barely passes for clothing."
Alex placed a quick call, and in a few minutes a clothes hanger was brought up holding a brown pair of adjustable fit pants and a white t shirt.
"Would you like me to go out while you change?" he asked.
Araxie nodded briefly.
Alex pulled on his own shirt and exited the room. "Okay, let me know when to come back in."
With a small bit of struggling and some clever wing manipulation, Serai managed to escape the exposure of nudity, opening the door a significantly different-looking woman. "They're kinda folded under here," she said was she flaunted the lower end of her shirt. "I'm not really surprised or disappointed either, it's hard to make something work for an elysian." With the wings wrapped around her upper body, Araxie had taken on the look of a human woman, if slightly on the larger end of the scale.
Alex scratched his head. "So what should we do now? Are you hungry?"
"Wouldn't be a bad idea. Come to think of it, I'm famished-have YOU eaten over the past two days or so?"
Alex said nothing but pointedly looked in any direction but at Araxie. His stomach growled as if saying what he did not want to. The girl sighed, taking his hand and pulling him with her. "I wouldn't doubt there being several restaurants in here. If none of those interest you, we might be able to try the city?"
Alex looked around for a bit before speaking, though there wasn't actually anything to see aside from the hallway. "I'm happy to go wherever."
They stepped into the elevator, Araxie setting it to head down. "Well, there's a... Hm. I can't recall... I think that there's the one really nice bakery close by. It's a start, I guess?" She shrugged.
Alex nodded. "Sure."
A short trip through the city later, and the couple was strolling through the streets, searching out for their next meal.
Alex looked around at the shops, there was the bakery mentioned beforehand as well as a seafood shop serving a local variation of sushi with rolls made from the local algae.
"So... do you want to go to that seafood shop or the bakery?" Alex asked.
"Hmm... Do, uh, d'ya normally have seafood when you get up in the morning?" Araxie shaded her eyes and looked at the restaurants in view again.
"I dunno. I just normally eat whatever is in the fridge in the Queen's slave or whatever they're serving in the mess at the airbase." Alex replied with a shrug.
"I'm... Not surprised, actually. We'll go for the bakery then, it's a bit... Easier on the stomach than leftovers, and a bit more comfortable than the normal stuff on the base."
"Yeah." Alex stood up a bit straighter and looked back at Araxie.
Leading him into the small building, Serai waked over to an interior table next to the wall, her seemingly wingless form still being awkward to work around. Her shirt shifted around somewhat chaotically for a few moments, drawing a minor amount of brief attention from the other patrons.
"We really should try to design a way for regular clothes to be adapted for Elysians."
"Well, I know the quick and dirty way. But I can manage." She picked up her menu, taking some time to overlook her options. Normally she'd have already chosen, but she's feeling a touch adventurous today
Alex looked at the menu and just picked out the first thing. "I'll have this french toast. What is french toast?"
"It's sort of, a piece of bread with a bit of batter on it and sugar, baked again. Sometimes they have cinnamon, or an egg." Taking a moment more, she decided, "I'll have a panini, myself." The waiter wrote their orders down, retrieving the menus.
Alex looked around. "I don't think I've ever been to a resteraunt aside from that time with Uso."
:Let's... Not talk about that, please." The service was fast, food being delivered to the couple within a matter of minutes. Alex's three slices of toast seemed to no be the egg-heavy version, but still smelled amazing nonetheless. Araxie's sandwich spent a total of three seconds on its plate after delivery before she picked it up, tearing a chunk off with her teeth, chewing with a filled mouth.
Alex pulled off a chunk of the airy toast with his fork and took a bite, savoring the flavor of it as it seemed to dissolve partially in his mouth. "Mmmmh..." He mumbled through a mouthful of confectionary.
Gulping hown her first mouthful, araxie took a moment to breathe, smiling pleasantly at Alex. "I see you're enjoying yours as well, then! That's good, that's good... Love the toast here."
"Have you been here before?" Alex asked after he swallowed his bite.
"A few times, yeah!" She chased her response with another bite.
"Huh. We should do stuff like this more often."
"Mhm!" Arx winked at Alex simply, clearing her mouth. "I will say, I haven't actually had the seafood. Perhaps tomorrow, or later otday, or some time?" She took a napkin to wipe her face of a small amount of juices which had escaped her sandwich onto her plate, cooling herself with a drink of water.
Alex smiled back at Araxie and poked at his french toast a little. "I'm honestly happy eating anywhere or doing anything as long as I'm doing it with you."
The angelic girl blushed, her cheeks taking on a powerful rosy hue. "We could make this a regular thing, if you'd like. Well, mostly regular," she chuckled, "On account of my... Irregular sleeping habits."
Alex nodded. "That makes sense. I'm just really happy to be able to spend time with you. Losing you made me appreciate how much you mean to me."
Birdy smiled. "That's so sweet... I'm so sorry for making you go through that to think of that, though, Alex... I truly am..." Her arm set itself above the table, the slightly greasy hand reaching out to stroke his face slowly.
Alex reached up and held her hand there for a moment. "It wasn't your fault. Just like it wasn't my fault. All we can do now is make the most of the time we have toether."
She smiled, sadly, quietly, simply staring into Alex's eyes for several minutes. "And we shall..." Even as their food started to get cold, she held her pose, her eyes almost like mirrors, shining brightly.
