AMBUSH., raen!

[Cherina Azazel]

((Thursday, January 26th, 3572.))

Laundry was not a fun thing for the Venusian to do. She frequently found articles of clothing in her room that were not her own... And then she had to try to think back and remember which girl had been wearing it and how long ago. She always washed the stuff before trying to return it. But when she'd gone to take a nap and her pillow had smelled like sweat, she'd frowned and gone to wash the pillowcase in the laundry room down the hall. Changed the case, then realized that it wasn't the case that had smelled – it was her pillow.

She frowned. So much for the nap. She didn't want to sleep without her pillow, and it'd be hours before she actually got the pillow dry after putting it in the washer. Well, now would be a great time to write the rough draft for the hospitality management paper she had due next month. She didn't usually bother and got B's... Why not get an A this time around?

Two and a half hours later, the blonde (in her rather interesting style of pajamas) trotted down the hallway, noting that Raen Mars' door was open. And the girl was inside. And the shower was running. Nearly beside herself with glee at the opportunity, she jogged the rest of the way, shoving her pillow into the case she'd washed just hours before. Then she started back down the hallway, watching the door like a hawk the whole time.

She rounded the corner and leaned on the doorframe, smiling. ”Hey, Raen, how are you?” Ushriya's desk light was on – a good indication that she was the one in the shower. Her eyes traveled the room – half bare, yet functional. ”I like what you guys have done in here. Is everything treating you well?” Small talk was the way to start these conversations – hopefully this one might get her somewhere on the otherwise unshakeable Martian. After all, she was trapped.

[Raen Mars]

She was still ungodly upset about the doctor's visit. One, because she had been tricked. Two, because she just hated doctors so much. It was a pathologic fear of them that kept Raen at a safe distance at all times. It extended to... well, pretty much anybody who acted even a little bit like they knew their way around surgical equipment. Dentists (not that there were often dentists willing to stick their hands in a Martian's mouth), optometrists, haidressers because they used scissors that smelt too-clean just like a doctor would.

The fact that Amina had sat her down for a long chat about no, you can't do those things right now and it's because your heart sucks hadn't made her feel much better, either. So maybe she was moping - sue her. At least she was using the time to study, and studying was... pretty constructive, all things considered.

Minus the part where she was trying her hardest not to go chasing after the Venusian in her mind. Her schedule was starting to grate on her nerves, especially given that now it seemed to include having to take pills all the time (well, okay, take them once a day, but everyday), and she felt like they didn't get half the time together that they should have. If it meant cuddling, she would cuddle. She could cuddle, definitely. She was tempted to promise her hours of it if it meant getting out of the hours of reading she had to catch up on, rubbing tiredly at a violet eye with her fist. The tired thing had come with the pills too.

It was probably for the best she wasn't allowed to henshin.

Worse yet, they seemed to overheat the already too-hot brunette, prompting her to leave her dorm door open whilst Ushriya was in the shower. The other two, to her knowledge, were in class, and the steam from the bathroom had been killing her. She had cooled, mind you, ruffling her hair to get it off of her neck and swiping the majority of it to one side. She'd flip it over the other shoulder soon enough, and then repeat the cycle in an effort to keep herself from getting too hot. It was the only thing she could do, really - she wasn't Amalia.

Raen had just assumed she would be safe like that, in there, doing her homework. Hearing Cherina in the hallway, she had figured the Venusian she wasn't hopelessly in love with would just keep passing by. No such luck, mind you. Her nostrils flared in agitation, noting that the sooner she had her work done, the sooner she could be going to Amina's to spend time with her instead, and that her RA was definitely not going to help her case. "I'm busy," she said sharply, not bothering to even pretend to be polite. "You should let me do my work."

[Cherina Azazel]

Martians were small by nature – she wondered absently how one of them would grow if they had a constant supply of nutritious food from birth. Probably well, she guessed – she had gotten through Professor Kallan's biology last semester with some effort on her part, but very little of it had actually stuck with her.. She didn't really understand the concepts behind all of it – they were genetically small, right? She was overthinking that... She did, however, frown at the sharp tone the pretty little Martian took up when she replied to her. Ah. Playing hard to get, huh? She felt the smirk slip onto her face. She could play this game.

The fact that Raen was immune to the pheromones that had other girls falling over to jump in her bed was annoying, certainly, but it was also fun. It gave the rather... interesting relationship that they had a bit more of a game-feel. She actually had to try to get Raen's attention – and this particular round was in her favor. She'd gotten words out of the violet-eyed beauty – that was more than she'd gotten in a while. She leaned off of the door frame for a moment, squashing her pillow between her hip and the hard... what was that material, anyway? She assumed some synthetic plastic from god knows where, but she wasn't sure.

”But jalie falle, work is so overrated. I'd be more than happy to help you so that you could get done early and do something more fun, if you want.” She'd been on both sides of this game before. She could play any way Raen wanted. ”It's nice and cool outside, you know – it's a beautiful day... I'm sure a break wouldn't kill you, right? You can get back to it in a little while. I could treat you to dinner or something.”

Baiting her with food was probably going to annoy the Martian, but the only other Martians she'd ever known had responded positively to food bribes. That was something she'd learned in one of her planetary ethics classes – Mercurians responded well to their own kind. Venusians to flattery. Terrestrials to pretty much anything... Martians to food, Jovians to drink, Saturnians to drugs, Uranians to relaxation, Neptunians to music, Plutonians to … well, no one really knew. Those were a rare breed.

[Raen Mars]

Great. Just great.

Raen stiffened, pondering how she was tired she was, and how she would've killed to have been curling up on the couch with her Amina as opposed to plugging her way through schoolwork. She didn't work that night, if she could get through the afternoon, she could get to her in time to nap together, a bit. But when she'd been calculating how long it would take her to get caught up in school, she hadn't included how someone really annoying might be willing to interrupt.

Enter Cherina, she supposed, scowling over to the RA as she didn't move to leave. Hadn't she told her to go, in no uncertain terms? She was pretty sure that she had. Nostrils flared in agitation, the Martian lifted a hand to rub at her temple, reminding herself that she had been through worse things this month. She'd had needles in her (and whined like someone had been killing her), she'd had someone stop her heart... she hated this January.

It required putting down her pencil, which was agitating enough, but the brunette bothered to actually turn around and face the woman who was, apparently, trying to ask her to dinner, raising her left hand and wiggling the fingers there to emphasise her ring. "Sorry, married. No thanks to dinner. Kind of have plans with my wife." If someone would let her get her darn work done, that was.

Violet eyes bore holes into blue, staring her down in what she assumed would be a fairly easily-won staring contest. As much as her stomach churned at the idea of food, other parts of her were so adamant about keeping away from the Venusian in front of her, or about finding her way back to her Venusians, that it was too easy to refuse. So long as nobody went on some big rant about steak, she wasn't falling for it. She wasn't.

[Cherina Azazel]

Raen must not have had much life experience with not getting her way, she mused, watching the dark headed girl's reaction to her not immediately popping out of sight. Oh, no, she'd put up a fight... Until something better came along, anyway. The girl's words did bring a look of surprise to her face. Married, huh? Ooh, Venth.

That was annoying. Anyone from anywhere on Venus would know that ring. That meant that one of the Venth kids (she wasn't in the know enough to know how many of them there were) had set their sights on the Martian. Just because the ring meant that they were married by Venusian terms, though, didn't mean that they were married by Terrestrial terms. And they were on Earth... Besides, she mused, she'd known plenty of families back home that had no concept of staying loyal to only their spouse. Including her own mother, now that she thought about it.

She shrugged. ”I just heard that this new restaurant in the city had awesome steaks, and I hate going out alone... You seemed like you needed a break. I'll pay, if you want.” She continued staring at the girl, who probably didn't know that her unique eyes were one of the reasons that she was chasing so damn hard.

She remained leaning on her pillow, waiting for the response that she was hoping would happen. It wasn't like she was saying, 'Hey, let's have sex!' No, she was simply inviting the girl out for food. As friends. Of course, the right amount of alcohol, and the girl would probably be puddy in her hands, but she didn't want to do that... It was too easily classified as rape. Of course, a Venusian girl raping a Martian girl... that wouldn't make too big a splash because it seemed highly... illogical.

[Raen Mars]

To say that she had been spoilt, at least whilst in the safety of her own home on Earth, would have been an understatement. The hazards of the world outside of her home, or the harsh reality of Mars was generally enough to remind her that things weren't always going to go her way. But getting people to leave her alone on Earth was, at least in one-on-one confrontations, usually not an issue. People were terrified of Martians in spite of their size. She could growl or shoot them a glare, and they would tuck their metaphorical tail between their legs and just run.

She should have expected Cherina to be more difficult, given the looks she'd had shot her way since day one. Still needed to think up a way to broach that topic, since 'stop looking at me' didn't seem to work any better than 'you should let me do my work'.

Or 'I'm married', she gathered. Raen's eyebrows shot up in surprise, blinking once in absolute astonishment. She had totally thought that was going to work. Well... hm. Okay. There had to be some sort of Plan B. One that didn't involve frying the Venusian in front of her, or giving her the mental slap she so desperately needed. It wasn't her job to abuse her powers, especially not in public. Even if they were annoying and offering her steak. Wait. Offering her steak? Steak?

Her stomach growled on cue, lit up with the noises of a hungry too-thin girl as she cursed the fact that everybody and their dog was starting to learn how much her kind loved meat. It was an obvious attempt to get her to forget her schoolwork (and possibly Amina, at least for a little while), and what was worse, it was working. She licked a bit at her bottom lip, a whine of indecision cut off midway so as to avoid seeming too weak.

Well, the brunette reasoned. It wasn't as though steaks were a bad thing. Plenty of people fed her steaks, and Amina never got upset. And Cherina was making it sound pretty innocent...

Her resolve crumbled, the Martian twisting a bit too eagerly around her bed as she snapped her textbook shut and threw her legs over the side in one swift movement. "Fine. But I can pay for my own." That way, it couldn't be in any way, shape, or form construed as a date. And she still got meat. That was important to remember. "Let's go."

[Cherina Azazel]

And ding!

Cherina nodded, getting up off of the wall she'd been leaning on and scurrying to her room with a 'hang on one sec.' She was quick to just throw on a pair of jeans and some real shoes, thankful that most Terrestrials thought that Venusians were pretty no matter what. She usually wouldn't be seen out looking like this, but since the girl she was after had seen her in a variety of appearances; probably including drunk off her ass in several of the parties that their hall had hosted after the superbitch had left campus.

She scurried back out to the hallway, leading the pretty little Martian out the front door of their building to get into her car. She never really left campus, save food and drink runs, so this would be fun. She didn't think that Raen would be too chitchatty... Of course, the other girl didn't say much on the way to the restaurant. She herself made some comments about girls they lived with, how her boss was a bitch. She didn't really know what else to ask, besides who are you married to and how's your sister?. Both of which would have been quite... Weird topics. She wanted to know, but she wasn't completely lacking in social graces.

She parked the car in the almost-full lot of the recently opened restaurant. The large sign on the front of the building claimed that they were experts at the foods from every planet. That usually meant that the food tasted really bland, since the only people that ever came to these places was typically Terrestrials who wouldn't be able to handle the real flavor of the other planets.

She'd remembered her wallet, luckily. She popped open the door, stretching as she stepped out and closing the door with a small laugh as she looked over at Raen. The smells coming from the building were pretty good, she guessed. ”I really hope this place is as good as I've heard, or I might feel bad about dragging you out here.” She knew some other really good places, but for once, she actually wanted to try a place. ”You ready?” She didn't want to rush the girl into the crowded building.

[Raen Mars]

It was like watching someone squirt a cat with water. Cherina went from lounging to moving fast, leaving the brunette to blink a few times as she literally leapt out of the room. She wondered vaguely if she should have been doing anything to prepare for the occasion, glancing down at herself with a tiny shrug. It wasn't a date. She was fine in whatever.

She took the moment apart to actually breathe, thankful for the lack of smell that all Venusians seemed to bring with them. Amina's wasn't bad - made her stomach tight, but wasn't bad. The rest seemed overpowering, like they were trying to trap her. She knew a thing or two about traps, at that. Enough to know that she had no desire to be in anyone's (least of all Cherina's). They tended to knot in her gut just about as badly, without any of the comfort she associated with her wife. It was aggravating to deal with, to say the least.

Others didn't seem to notice the smells. That was fairly typical. People reacted often to things she could smell and register that they picked up on, just barely. Her RA, for example, was typically swathed in people. She might have been one of them, if the smell was the only thing she cared about. Thankfully, she had a few other things in her corner. Like standards. And dignity.

Some part of Raen kind of hoped that being in close quarters with her would help the smell fade.

It didn't. The hovercar was practically coated in her scent, to the point where she practically had to leap out of the vehicle once it was parked in some attempt to escape it. Something equally tempting wafted in her general direction, testing her patience and her resolve. She took a single, staggering step towards the building, then back towards the blonde behind her with a quirked brow. "Smells good, so I think we're fine. Ready." People or no people, there was definitely meat in there.

She kind of hoped that the only Venusian she'd have to deal with was the one she'd come with. Others meant more smells, and the more of that, the more she didn't want to eat. Ugh. Why did it have to suppress her appetite, of all things?

[Cherina Azazel]

She wasn't quite sure why she was so excited. It didn't make any real sense – she wasn't an idiot. She knew that her chances, even after the bribing with food (which had miraculously worked!) and the extra effort. But all the same, she was nearly giddy. Raen was quite nearly giving her the time of day. She led the trek into the building, sniffing the air. Her sense of smell wasn't anything spectacular by any means, unless it came to alcohol, but even she knew that this place smelled good. She waved at the two waitresses that she knew – the thing about this city, since it was what it was, was that you could see anyone, anywhere. She waited until Raenw was behind her before she allowed the hostess to weave them through the building, finding a window booth away from the smoke and reek of the bar, to Cherina's delight. So maybe this place was used to dealing with Martians?

The woman left them with the screen-menus on the table and said that they could just punch their orders in whenever they were ready and the food would come out when it was ready. She nodded, used to the setup. There were few restauraunts that hadn's switched to this new system yet. It was nice, though, as she scrolled through the menu and crossed out things that she knew she didn't want. She glanced up at Raen for a second, then grinned. ”Go ahead and get whatever you want – I think I'm going to try something Neptunian. Seafood sounds good.” She said, crossing out a few more things as she looked back down. She'd placed the order for her drink when they sat down.

”So, Raen, how is Ushriya adjusting to the college life? You seem to be doing great, but I don't see much of her.”

[Raen Mars]

Yeah, so... this was really weird. Beyond the part where Cherina had a smell like Amina's (albeit a little bit more offensive, stronger), there was the idea that she wasn't her wife to contend with still. It wasn't guilt, really. She was pretty sure that if she explained, it'd be forgiven. She was kind of like a moth to the flame when it came to food, especially meat. And this place was basically drizzling the smells of various cuts of steak. The Martian did her best to stop from looking too eager, following their hostess with a bit of a spring in her step.

Until they passed by the bar, which absolutely reeked, that was. She was thankful not to have to sit near there, scooting to their seat with a grateful flare of her nostrils before pulling up a seat. Yeah, Amina would probably understand this. Not that she hadn't wanted to eat with her, but... well, the faster she could get food, the better.

She blinked, shifting uneasily in her seat as someone bothered to set a glass of water in front of her, at least (she would need that for eating, later). Okay, so... maybe this had been a bad plan. Raen offered a short whine, cut off by the seemingly easy conversation the blonde across from her had struck up. Didn't she get how awkward this was? Because it was really, really awkward. Or maybe that was just her. "Um... probably just... steak... as rare as they'll give it to me."

Something about salmonella, but most restaurants seemed to be hesitant to hand out meat positively dripping in blood still. She'd settle for 'mostly pink' and let that be that. There were always raw steaks back at the apartment. The brunette quirked a brow at the older girl then, scarcely believing what she was hearing for a moment. "You can't have my sister. She's mine. She's doing fine, but mine."

Trying to thieve someone's sister should have been an interplanetary crime.

[Cherina Azazel]

She was having a very heavy debate with herself over what she wanted to ear. She really just wasn't incredibly hungry, but it would look strange to the girl across the table if she didn't get something to eat. Her fruity little drink came, complete with one of those cheesy umbrellas that had somehow been popular for what seemed like forever. She pulled that out quickly, dropping it on the table. For a drinker like herself, all the trimmings and such were generally unnecessary – she got the alcohol for the alcohol, not because it was pretty.

She hardly registered the whine that the other girl had let out, and she tried not to make a comment about it. It sounded like someone had kicked a puppy, albeit softer... Was it really so terrible just to go out and eat with her? Free good food... You'd figure the Martian would be able to handle it. She nodded in agreement to the steak, wondering how the restaurant would respond to that. She could probably talk someone into it, but they'd more than likely throw a fix. Bacteria and the like.

The next unexpected response to her easy conversation starter made her eyebrows shoot up. ”Oh, well, uh... Trust me, I don't want your sister. At all. She's nice, sure, seems like a sweet girl, but she's definatley... not my type. I just wanted to make sure that you guys were adjusting well... Coming to University can be scary for some people.”

She took a swig of her drink, making a face at it. Either their bar tender sucked in general or was new. It wasn't terrible, but she would never serve this at her bar. To the kids at the parties, sure, but to paying customers, never.

[Raen Mars]

Wait. Cherina cared?

She blinked back her surprise, trying to get over the part where someone who had been looking at her like a sizeable piece of meat for the past four months had motives that weren't just trying to take a bite out of her. Or trying to steal her from Amina, which had been her first thought. Unwittingly, she relaxed, somewhat calmed by this revelation. "I guess," she half-agreed in response to university being 'scary'.

For normal people, sure. Maybe the prospect of moving out and starting a life by getting their first degree was scary. For a Martian who spent every summer on her home planet, it wasn't so bad. She'd have to ask her foster sister later if she had been afraid, the thought never really having occurred to her. They were supposed to be more than just two girls in school, after all. They were supposed to be prepared to save the worlds, with a few other girls, some untrustworthy guys, and to used-to-be-cats. Not terrified of the hazards of university.

"Not your type?" she asked after a moment, frowning a bit. Types? "What do you mean?" Raen wasn't dumb. She really, really wasn't. That was the sort of phrase she heard people use all the time, in reference to girls and boys. She was kind of concerned that it meant they were keen on eating people.

She scrunched her nose a bit at the drink in Cherina's hand, picking up what she now recognised to be the smell of alcohol wafting from it. She could hardly remember New Year's as anything but a big mess, thanks to that stuff. Maybe that was why the blonde across from her wanted to eat people?

[Cherina Azazel]

Okay, so this was beginning to top her list of weird-sober meals. Weird-drunk meals, she'd developed a list of places she could never show her face in again. Weird-sober, meals, though... She didn't have many places that she could think of that she'd had meals that were just weird. Bad, yes, good, yes, but weird? Not many. Of course, there weren't many meals that she'd sat opposite a Martian who seemed to be able to ignore every advance she made... Of course, she didn't exactly eat with Martians often, either. While Venusians were the people most commonly seen with their otherworldly companions, it was still odd.

She leaned back against her seat, blue eyes searching her companion as the other girl spoke. What did she mean? Oh, well... Was there some way that this girl's parents had never given her the talk? She blinked back in surprise. That was unheard of on Venus, the planet of free love and pleasure. Most kids knew what sex was by the time that they could walk. Having a type was just a thing, she supposed. She'd heard people say that they didn't have a type, but in reality, the only people that didn't have a type were those who were desperate or who just didn't give a fuck to begin with.

She cleared her throat, starting with the always helpful Um.

"Well... When people are speaking romantically, most of the time, they envision a certain type of person. Like..." She trailed off, trying to think. "What your... dream lover... would look or act like. That's your type. And Ushriya isn't mine." She swallowed, wondering if she was now going to have to give a girl that most certainly should have known the talk.

[Raen Mars]

Was it just her, or was this whole thing really, really awkward? And weird?

Raen kind of hoped it wasn't just her, so that the Venusian wouldn't bother trying to haul her out on any of these almost-dates again. Because she was slowly starting to worry if just friends meant that something was going to be expected of her later, even if she paid for her own food. Well, the upside to that was that she could probably just run away... she was good at running away from things, after all.

This type thing kind of made her wonder, though. Maybe she fit a type. Maybe that was why things happened on Mars the way that they... happened. She shifted awkwardly, thinking about how just being someone's type could land you in a world of hurt and shame and violation and...

Oh, she was still being talked to. The Martian frowned, trying to think up something to say as she refocused, deciding that she may as well stay on this sort of note. "So then... you don't have a type." That made sense, right? They'd at least been talking about that, so may as well continue. She was relatively pleased with herself, the brunette coming hard and fast onto that conclusion.

It made sense. Women didn't want men, and they couldn't do anything with other women. So even if she found Amina pretty, it didn't mean anything. Same went for Cherina, she guessed. She could find people pretty, and then just... not be able to do anything about it. Well. She definitely seemed a lot more harmless now.

[Cherina Azazel]

Okay, conversation was happening. And it was going rather well, in her semi-professional opinion. Even if she didn’t get sex out of this, she was still getting to have a nice conversation with one of her residents, which was good, right? And good food, hopefully. And maybe but doubtfully sex. More doubtfully than maybe.

The Martian girl’s statement surprised her slightly. She grinned. ”Oh, I have a type, yeah. I just mean that Ushriya wasn’t for me, that’s all.” She let out a laugh. ”I mean, you probably know by now that I’m a girl’s girl.” She shrugged. She could go into detail about what she imagined, but she had the sneaking suspicion that Raen wouldn’t want to hear it. She swirled around the little umbrella in her drink, tilting her head to the side, eyes shifting from Raen to the window to the bar and back, blue lighting on the Martian firmly at the end of the cycle. ”Do you have a type, Raen?”

It was probably not something that she should have asked someone who had just learned what a type even was. But all the same, she wanted to know. This was a good conversation – it allowed them to get to know a bit more about each other. And hey, maybe the other girl would say her type was a blonde haired, blue eyed, Venusian or something. That’d be pretty cool, though it was highly unlikely.