Trial Run!

[burningpainting]

Karolina sat on the edge of her new bed and gripped her knees 'til her knuckles went white.  This was not her familiar room back at the Hostel; the air here was processed and metallic rather than muggy and sulfuric.  The furniture had a stark, utilitarian feel to it, the ergonomics totally alien.  She wondered if she'd be able to sleep at all, then

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[shemalien]

Xavin was in his skrull form right now, sitting in the cockpit, staring at the screens and read outs. Everyone was settled in, the hatchling with a person they could trust and he had...

...he had done it. She was with him. He had to remind himself, her parents hadn't told her anything. Her parents had expected him to be dead by now.

He couldn't thank enough gods of any race that she had agreed to at least come with him. Scent being better among his people, he smelled her before he heard her, and the scent was like sunlight.

He turned around, and smiled, before he thought to shift into the female form. It hadn't bothered him at all that she preferred a woman's shape on her mates, some did, some didn't. It was merely an ascetic. The person was on the inside.

"Karolina," he would refrain from calling her love, despite feeling it even more now. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable, "Is everything well?"

[burningpainting]

The shapeshifting was going to take some getting used to. It was strangely beautiful, like watching an icicle melt, but it also raised the hairs on the back of her neck. It didn't escape her that Xavin's Skrull form was male. Or was it? Did they even...they were aliens, so maybe he didn't have a...

Karolina jerked away from that train of thought, blushing furiously. "Um!" she stammered, "It's fine! The room is...fine, thank you."

Oh, she was off to a great start.

"I was...kind of hoping you could tell me a little more about Majesdane. And the war. I'm sorry, but my parents never said anything about it, and I don't want to go into this blind." There, that was a safe way to begin.

[shemalien]

That confirmed one of his suspicions about how much her parents hadn't told her. Xavin gestured to the co-pilot's chair. He had come alone.

There weren't enough soldiers left to waste on a guard. Even for him.

"I can tell you anything you ask, show you too, the ship's computer has logs... I can have them translated into English for you if you like," she offered, since he was a she right now.

"While you're here, with me, you don't need to wear that form," she offered gently. He hadn't seen any Majesdanians walk around with their natural light shielded like that.

[burningpainting]

"Could we start with my parents' role in all of it?" Karolina asked as she took the proffered chair. "If I'm going to catch the flack for that, I'd better be prepared. And I'd like to know more about that part of their lives."

She blinked when Xavin suggested that she "turn on" her light. It hadn't occurred to her until that moment that she was going to be around people who looked that way all the time. Even the realization was surreal.

"I guess I just don't think about it," she apologized, fiddling with the clasp of her bracelet. "I didn't know I was anything but human until last year so, for me, this is more normal."

The bracelet came loose and her light fell around her in waves. It reflected off the metal consoles and shone back from the softly curved walls of the shuttle. Karolina found herself smiling unselfconsciously. "But this does feel more natural."