(I'm no good at Gimp or Photoshop, you'll just have to imagine that Iris has thistle-colored eyes. Though I do now have an anime-ish avatar depicting Iris.)

[i]Author's note: "snog" means "make out/kiss."[/i]

"In Tandem Orbit, Chapter 6"
By = Sure As Elle

Chapter 6: All Wet

On Wednesday morning, I groggily sensed a presence that was both familiar and foreign at the same time, the warm presence of my sister Kam nude under the covers with me, and for a moment I was confused before remembering the events of the previous day and night with a smile. It wasn't quite time to be up yet, so I snuggled closer to her, missing the familiarity of it from across the years we'd been apart. How could I have been so against the idea of polyamory? I would have to ponder that seriously some other time, when I was more awake.

Kam being a heavy sleeper, didn't wake up from my movement. Not even when I finally pulled myself out of bed and began my day. While I got ready, I had Cleo check Kam's schedule, and found Kam didn't have any classes til this afternoon, and her Omnus was set to wake her in plenty of time. Not wanting to bother her, I ate my breakfast and then left her a note saying she could stop by anytime in the future, though please check with Cleo beforehand in case I was out or busy. I also added a bit about how much fun last night had been, how much I missed her, and how much I loved her and was glad we'd reconnected. I told Cleo to make sure Kam got it, and then left for work.

My day at work was unremarkable, except that Iris came around a half hour before work was over with a sheepish grin on her face and a wobbly little wave. I winked at her and she grinned broader before wandering off somewhere else in the library.

When I got off work, I saw Iris once more sitting outside on the bench, reading. I finally got a good look at her; she was wearing a simple blue sleeveless summer dress. I couldn't see what she was wearing on her feet, though, because she had them tucked under her.

I sat down next to her, and she looked up from her book momentarily before looking at the ground sheepishly. "So, did you enjoy the show last night?"

She turned bright red and nodded, not speaking. I leaned closer, and said to her, "Do you want a hug?"

Iris nodded and leaned into me for me to hug her. She still didn't speak. I knew the feeling.

"Like I said, I'm a little disappointed you didn't ask us first. Even if you were sure we'd say yes, it's always best to ask first. We could've given you a better show, for one thing."

She looked up at me and sighed. "Yeah, I know I should've asked. But I didn't think about it. I just wanted to see if you actually, you know, did it. I wasn't planning on watching the whole thing, just enough to know... but well, I er..." She pulled away gently and nervously touched her index fingers together. "I may have gotten a lot of, shall we say, enjoyment from the experience?"

I laughed. I couldn't help it. It was just so cute the way she avoided talking about the subject directly. "Well," I said, once I stopped laughing, "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. So, uh...would it be impolite of me to ask which mode you were in?"

"Oh, I was in red mode."

I blinked. "Pardon?"

"Oh yeah, it's a Lucite thing. We say 'red mode' for, well, having certain things extended. And blue mode is for the opposite. I actually got to an orgasm last night. Might've been better in blue mode, but," she shrugged.

"Well, if I understand these designations correctly, then yes, in blue mode you might have even had [i]multiple[/i] orgasms."

"Yeah, that's what people say."

"Oh by the way, I remembered something." And I proceeded to tell her about how I had taken several pictures of her with my Omnus, such as on the night of our first real date, and how I intended to make those pictures into art if she permitted.

"Cool! Yeah, go ahead and take pictures of me whenever, as long as I'm clothed. For anything else, I... well..." She seemed unwilling to say it, probably because she hadn't given me and Kam the same courtesy, so I finished for her.

"...ask permission for nudes? Of course. Just remember, the same applies to me and Kam."

She nodded, looking down at the ground again, so I leaned close to her again, and she and I hugged again. That all settled, she and I got up and walked over to my house.
I would like to say a lot happened. I would love to regale you with a detailed story about the whole day like I've been doing, but honestly, we mostly just cuddled, read, or watched three-vee. We had sandwiches for dinner, so nothing special there. It was just a lovely quiet afternoon and evening, the two of us enjoying each other's company. Iris went home again like usual, and I read a little more before going to bed.

*

Thursday wasn't really remarkable, either. Kam had school most of the day, I had work, and Iris didn't even show up at all. I did get a message from her, though; seems she was excitedly preparing for the vacation this coming weekend. I must admit I was excited, too.
I slept in on Friday because my hours are later on Fridays, but still no Iris. This time she was busy packing, which I spent some time doing as well, before leaving for work. I still didn't see her at work that day, and when I got home late after work, I would have been really surprised if Iris had bothered to show up by then, especially with the next day's excitement.

*

I woke up at 7am on Saturday and got up almost at once, for I too was excited for the trip I'd been invited to. I got everything ready, ate breakfast, did the rest of my routine, then got a call on my Omnus from Matria, saying they were going to pick me up at 8:45. Since it was only 8, I flipped on the three-vee, since I knew I wouldn't be able to focus on reading.

It took what felt like ages, but finally Cleo informed me that they were pulling up. I grabbed my things and bolted out the door with them to see a large blue van parked behind Jeeves. Inside the van I could see Derris and Matria in the front, Taanlen in the middle with the teenaged Avra, and Iris was in a rear passenger area behind which was a storage area. A lot of things were also put inside a detachable storage device atop the van's roof. Iris was grinning like mad, bouncing up and down on the seat.

Derris got out and helped me get my stuff into the back. Iris chattered at me the whole time, to which I smiled. I so love the sound of her voice, it didn't matter that she wasn't saying much of anything, I just liked to hear her voice. When we got everything packed, I got in the back next to Iris, and we prepared to get underway. Iris was so excited that I had to work my patient charm to get her into her seatbelt. With everyone secure, the car pulled out and started the drive to the beach.

The trip took 3 hours, but Iris chattered herself out after only 40 minutes, and so we spent most of the ride playing some computer games together on a gaming device she'd brought with us. After taking 20 minutes to decide we didn't like the first choice of games, we spent the rest of the time on the second choice, a two-player cooperation game, and were working together on the final boss level when the car announced we were 20 minutes from our destination, the hotel we would be spending the night at. We finished the game with 5 minutes to spare before pulling up to the hotel.

After we checked in and unpacked our stuff into the room, we all went outside and walked several blocks to a nearby restaurant cluster for lunch. I knew the moment we saw a Taco Tavio's there among the restaurants in the area, that we would be going there, and sure enough, I was right. Naturally, Iris ordered five of their spiciest tacos. Before we left, she went to the restroom and, upon coming back, said, "I was extra careful to remember to wash my hands well this time, Rianna!" The rest of the family looked at me in confusion, and when my face turned back to its normal temperature, I explained about the incident on our first date with the hot sauce on her hand when I kissed it.

With lunch finished, we went back to the room to change into our bathing suits and get our things ready to go to the beach. When we had everything with us we needed, Derris checked something on his Omnus and led us to a short bus line that would take us on the ten-minute ride to the beach.

The beach we went to was long and wide enough that it wasn't too horribly crowded, but we could see areas farther down that had even fewer people on them, so since it was a partly-cloudy and pleasantly breezy day, we took the time to walk to a less-crowded area.

It was not my first time seeing the ocean, but apparently it was Iris's, because she gawped open-mouthed at it, and ran laughing into the waves - at least, she did once Derris finished warning her about going too far, and about undertows and stuff. As she nodded and ran off, wearing armband flotation devices (I noted with relief), I also made note of a lifeguard station nearby, its lifeguard monitoring the screens showing footage from cameras of different kinds pointing at the water so that AIs could track the humans for safety. There was also a small fleet of automated rescue crafts with robotic arms for dragging humans out of the water and speeding them back to the shore to be resuscitated. (It helps, I'm sure, that Omnuses are waterproof.)

Derris, Matria, and Taanlen set up a sun-shade and put some beach chairs down under them for the three of us while Iris and Avra went into the ocean to play in the waves. I didn't want to sit there all day long, but I sat there for a few minutes at least, taking distance shots of Iris with my Omnus. I'll be honest and say it wasn't for my art. At least, not mostly for that. Iris looked very nice in her little aquamarine bikini, and a part of me was annoyed that I hadn't suggested a tie-up set; specifically, the part that wanted to untie the ties and watch the bikini fall off her. This part was more active than usual because I could see, even from this distance, that Iris was in "blue mode," as she would say. This made me think briefly about Avra, who was topless where Iris wasn't, even though they were both sex shifters; but then, he seemed as assurred of his identity as a boy as Iris was of her identity as a girl, so I put that thought aside and continued to admire Iris from afar.

I sat there being a quiet perv, stewing in my own juices, for maybe 15 or 20 minutes before deciding I'd had enough, and getting up to join them. Iris noticed me coming and said, "Finally! I thought you were gonna be boring like the other adults," and soon the three of us were splashing water at each other and laughing fit to burst.

From what Iris had said, I expected the three Zahane adults to sit in their beach chairs all afternoon long, but I noticed another group of adults moving into the area and drafting them into a game of beach volleyball. I asked Iris and Avra if they wanted to join in, but by then the three of us were immersed in making sand castles, so I wasn't surprised that they weren't interested. I hadn't really been, either, but I thought I might as well ask.

Now you'd think, with her skill at designing things on VC, that Iris would have had the best sand castle of us all, but no; in fact, the medium seemed to frustrate her, for no matter how hard she tried, her sand castle looked more like crumbling blobs of wet sand than a building of any kind, while Avra's sand castle was a little above average. I think it helped Iris's mood that mine was not much better than hers; I am a painter, not a sculptor, after all. In fact, Iris eventually just shrugged at her crumbling sand castle and said "Meh. Kinda sucks, but whatever."

"Yeah, mine isn't very good either. I guess neither of us are very good in this medium."

"Yup. Bytes and pixels are much more cooperative than sand. In a VC, things usually stay where you tell them to stay, and you can always undo mistakes. Here in the real world, with sand, not so much."

"Oh yea, but the laws of physics are a pain sometimes, right?"

"Yup yup. Oh well, the best part of making sand castles is destroying them, right?"

"Indeed. Though only your own, of course. And yours is close enough to Avra's that you might want to wait until he gives the go-ahead. He might want to take a picture of his before it gets knocked over, and if you demolish yours now, his might get caught in the crossfire."

"Yeah. Well I can add a moat and some little stick people anyway, then Avra and I can pretend to be dragons when he's ready."

As it turned out, Avra wasn't impressed enough with his own work to want to get a picture of it, and so with a nod to his little sister, the two had an epic mock dragon fight in the area, which I started filming on my Omnus, the two of them like great monsters very dramatically nearly missing stepping on villagers or knocking over buildings many times before Iris-dragon grabbed Avra-dragon's ankles and sent him straight into his own castle backwards, while roaring. She scrambled up onto him, also roaring, and pretending to claw at him. They wrestled each other for a while, rolling over her own castle. I took my Omnus off and set it up in a little hillock of sand to continue recording as I joined in, the big mama dragon roaring at her... cubs? Dragonlings? for them to stop fighting, because they'd wasted all that delicious human meat. I picked the two of them up in my arms - for Avra, while adolescent, was only maybe 15 years old, which of course looks younger for Paxites and Lucites - and tried to haul them away from the wreckage, but they were too heavy for me, and I toppled backwards onto my own sand castle.

When we were done laughing so hard we were all clutching stitches in our sides, I went over to my Omnus and stopped the recording, putting the device back on my wrist, and sat back down next to Iris as the two of them sat there, still recovering.

"A part of me thinks that would have been even more fun, not to mention hilarious, if you'd brought your Autonotinies with you; we could have had little terrified villagers running around for real. But another part of me is glad we didn't. Quite apart from the potential pain of falling on one, they're not terribly bright, so I can easily see them running off into the ocean and getting swept away."

"Yeah. Actually, I've heard of that happening," Avra said. "Kids bringing their Autonotinies to the beach to inhabit the sand castles or to build their own, which I imagine would be fun to watch, and then like you said, they either get too close to the ocean, or they run off in terror during roughhousing and either way, get swept away. But even more interesting, sometimes Autonotinies wash ashore, still able to walk around. Usually they drop dead a few hours after that, their batteries depleted, but still, kind of cool."

I tried not to stare at Avra, though I'm not sure how successful I was. Aside from the dialogue in the game, it was the most I'd heard him say... ever, really. I made a mental note to ask Iris later if he was shy or if he was just naturally quiet.

"Yeah," Iris added when he stopped. "And then some of them end up in the Ocean Skimmers." I nodded; it made sense, after all. Ocean Skimmers are automated ships that constantly wander about the oceans, skimming garbage out of the ocean and recycling it. An early version of them had been invented by a young inventor in the early decade or two of the 21st century, but it took a bunch more decades for them to begin to be made and implemented. With the rise of metamaterials, many of which were very resistant to any kind of decay, they'd become even more important than they'd originally been. Fish choking to death or being poisoned by plastic was bad enough, but some metamaterials could cause truly gruesome deaths indeed for any wildlife unfortunate enough to ingest them.

We got into a discussion, then, about the various things that could happen to Autonotinies, including some people who just flat-out released the small machines into the wild with programs that included a fear of returning home, and a desire to find ways to keep their batteries charged. So while human homelessness was not an issue on Paxum, it wasn't terribly unusual to see homeless Autonotinies wandering around. Of course, their range was limited; Autonotinies usually become inert if they end up too far away from their home base, IE the little wirelessly networked house unit they came with.

I pointed this out, and added that I thought that might be part of the reason why the company that made them designed them to be too difficult to customize to really be worth the effort. That wasn't the only reason, of course. Autonotinies were one of the few products from the capitalist colony Greshnok 4 that Paxum had, which only worked out because a company on Paxum was paying the Greshnokkians for the Autonotinies with rare minerals mined from local asteroids and adjacent lifeless planets.

Being a bit tired out, the three of us went over to take over the beach chairs while the other adults were playing volleyball. After being out in the sun, even with the breeze and the evaporating water clinging to me, which had long since dried, it felt good to sit in the shade a spell. But the heat was getting more oppressive, so when Iris and Avra got up to go into the water again, I followed them into the cooling waters.

Our mood in the water this time was much different. Avra went off on his own, wading in the waves, while Iris and I drifted together and cuddled in the water. I began to float, with Iris floating atop me; we just stayed like that for a few minutes, bobbing in the water as waves went past us, before she used her legs to get a better purchase on me. I felt a surge of warmth as she did, and felt my swimsuit bottom get tighter. Judging by her wry facial expression, Iris had noticed as well.

"Well I'd always heard wood expands in water, I guess this proves it," she said; I once more felt the familiar sensation of my face warming up.

"Smart ass," I playfully countered.

"Yes, but I'm [i]your[/i] smart-ass, right?"

"Sure thing, my Queen."

"You know, you can come up with other pet names to call me, too, for some variety."

"How about 'my flower'?"

She grinned. "I like that one."

"Me too. So, my flower, I notice you don't have any pet names for me. You don't even call me Rea, like my sister does. Always just Rianna."

"Oh. Well, that's an oversight I should correct."

I waited for her to continue. When she didn't, I asked, "Are you still thinking, my flower?"

"Yeah. Your name doesn't lend itself well to pet names, and I don't want something cliche, nor do I want to use Kamaria's pet name for you."

"Well if it helps, the rest of my family calls me Rea as well."

"I appreciate the attempt, but that doesn't help."

"Alright. There's no rush. If you think of one, let me know, but it's perfectly fine to take your time if you need to. I like the idea of having something special."

"Okie dokie, when I think of one I'll run it by ya." She sighed, and snuggled in a little more, but pulled back a little, making a face.

"Something wrong?"

She hit herself on the side of the head a little. "Got some water in my ear."

"Well don't beat yourself about the head. Come on, let's go back, I think your parents brought something for that."

She sighed. "Do we have to do that right now? I like it here."

"Me too, dear. Hmm... well, it'll probably be fine if we wait a little longer. Just, let's try to remember it needs doing, okay?"

"That's easily handled." She lifted her wrist, pressed a button on her Omnus, and said into it, "Remind me when we get back on land, I need to take care of the water in my ear."

"Understood. Reminder set," the Omnus intoned, the text of the reminder flashing on the display briefly before the Omnus went into standby again.

We went back to our own sort of standby mode too, floating there, relaxing. I don't know how long we were like that before she spoke again. "I think I just peed."

"Meh. The ocean is full of pee already. Human pee, fish pee, and so on. But I'll make sure not to get thirsty anytime soon."

"Silly person, you can't drink ocean water! It's not good for you."

"I know that, my flower. It was a joke."

"Is that what they're calling it now?"

"You know, my little Iris flower, with your eye color and your occasionally impish behavior, I think you might have been better named 'Thistle.'"

"[i]Thistle[/i] be the last time I let you call me 'Thistle,' you impudent scallywag!" And with that, the relaxed mood instantly transformed into a silly mood, and we started splashing water at each other and chasing one another about, playing a game of Shark and Seal. I started out as the shark, naturally, but I think Iris made a far more convincing shark when it came her turn to try to catch me. I had barely been able to touch her during my time as shark, she was so much better at swimming than me (probably went to the pool a lot, the little whelp), and it took all my energy to get away from her when she was the shark. As it was, I had to head toward shore.

"Hey no fair! No going on land!"

I pulled myself ashore and turned back to face her. "I'm a seal, remember? Seals can go ashore."

"Oh, OH!" Iris jerked around a little, which confused me, until she spoke again, "what's this? I... seem to have ingested some kind of... mutagenic chemical. Evolution... changing me. I... I AM NOW A LAND SHARK!" She stood up and ran at me, and I yelped and, staying true to my role, tried to drag myself away like a seal, even going so far as to bark like one. I had an ulterior motive for this; soon enough, she caught me, and began to mock-bite me.

"I, the land shark, have caught the seal! I'm eating you right up! You will be in my belly!"

"Oh no! Oh no! Whatever will my pups do without their mother? Please have mercy on me, Ms. Land Shark!"

"No! I'm gonna eat you, and then I'm gonna take your pups and fatten them up for later. And there's nothing you can do about it!"

"Ahhhh!" I writhed about, making piteous moans as Iris nibbled me all over. This quickly devolved into me giggling like a drunken high schooler at prom, because her mock bites were tickling me.

Luckily, the land shark did eventually take pity on me, and stopped before I started to laugh too much. I lay there, recovering as Iris snuggled up next to me on the sand, waves occasionally washing over our lower legs. Once I calmed down enough to stop giggling, Iris leaned closer and began to nibble my ears lovingly, and I could do nothing but lay there enjoying the sensation, the pressure in my bikini bottom returning in earnest.

Wanting to do something for her, too, I tried running my hand along her arm, but between the wrinkliness of my fingers, our skins' wetness, and the sand on her skin, that didn't work out well, so I stopped it. Iris lay herself atop me and started to nibble the other ear. In this position, I was able to run the backs of my fingers against her own ears, which probably didn't do much for her, but she gave no sign that it bothered her, so I continued it.

"Ugh! Get a room!" We both looked up at this voice, and saw Avra rolling his eyes. "I'd rather not witness my sister and her girlfriend getting hot and heavy, especially in public."

"Nobody's forcing you to stay here," Iris pointed out.

Avra countermanded with, "Actually, our parents kind of [i]are[/i] forcing me to stay in this general area."

Iris rolled her eyes. "Yeah but you could always look somewhere else. Your Omnus will tell Mum, Dad, and Mom where you are. Or go back into the ocean. Nobody's forcing you to look at us. Or maybe it really turns you on and you don't want to admit it."

Avra snorted and crossed his arms. "Well yeah, probably, if you weren't my sister. If you were some other girl, I wouldn't have stopped you."

"Rianna and her sister are lovers, so I don't-"

"Yeah well I'm not into that kinda thing. You're pretty, I guess, and maybe if you weren't my sister... but, well... you are." He turned bright red, something which was obvious with his ginger hair and lightly freckled complexion, and walked off in an embarrassed huff.

"Wow, what a mood killer," Iris commented. "But kinda funny, and flattering, to know he fancies me."

"I do [i]not[/i] fancy you!" Avra shouted back at her without pausing or even really slowing down. In fact, he sped up.

"It's okay," she shouted back, "I know I'm highly fanciable! I make all the boys and girls drool!"

"[i]You[/i] drool!" I could barely even hear him that time. Iris shrugged. "Soo..." she said more quietly at me, like a question.

"So, I think I've been in the water too long, and need to get my land legs back. What say we go for a walk?"

"Okie dokie." She stood up and strained to see where Avra was going, then pointed in another direction. "There's some nice trees over there, we can take a nature walk." Before we did, we brushed sand off each other and got into some sandals, since whatever sand that wasn't being pummeled by ocean waves was getting quite hot in the sun. We also took a moment to poke Iris in the ear gently with this device that made sure her ears were free of water and disinfected the ear canal just in case, before heading off on our walk.

Our time in the water must have gotten to Iris pretty bad, too, because we'd barely made it to the large rock marking the beginning of a small nature trail before she had to sit down again. My own legs were recovering faster, but that might have had something to do with the fact that I hadn't been swimming as much or as fast as Iris had been. When we stood up again, Iris eyed the path and then asked me if I'd let her ride on my shoulders. I agreed, knelt down, and soon I was standing up with her perched on my shoulders, and she was grabbing the top of my head to keep herself from falling backwards.

It wasn't a terribly long path, so after our first time through, we went through it a few more times, twice with her on my shoulders, and the last time side-by-side, holding hands. Actually, we only went through another 2 and a half times, stopping to rest on a bench under a large oak tree. At least, it started out as just a rest and a cuddle. But then the romantic mood came back, and this time Iris climbed up on my lap, straddling me, and initiated a kiss.

She seemed to be focusing her attention on making it a really good kiss, only pausing a couple times to giggle and comment as she felt "little Rianna," as she called it, make its presence known from beneath my bikini bottom. Naturally, I returned the attention. And I must say, Iris was a fast learner. Her technique already seemed to have improved from our first real kiss, like she'd been paying attention at the time and not just getting lost in the sensations like I'd done. Probably she was doing the same now, too. I suppressed a grin at the thought that I was teaching her to be an excellent kisser. Since Kam had taught me kissing, I guess that meant I was paying it forward in a way. That made me imagine Kam watching us, which I could totally see her doing, even if she wasn't a fellow paedoromantic, which got me harder. Iris giggled again, more of a titter than a giggle. [i]Heh,[/i] I thought, [i]titter.[/i]

I couldn't help it; I snorted mid-kiss, which made Iris pull out and break into a fit of the giggles. Which, naturally, set me off giggling too. We both made several attempts to go back to kissing, but those only made us laugh harder, until we both fell over in the bench laughing like a pair of hyenas at a comedy show. Neither of us noticed the sun getting lower in the sky, the day getting slightly darker. We just kept giggling. We would stop every so often, attempting to restore a serious atmosphere so we could go back to kissing, but it was just that really tense suppression of laughter that kept invariably exploding out of one or the other of us, setting the other one off.

We were in the middle of an extended giggle fit, one where both of us were struggling to stop so we could breathe again, when the others found us. I was upside down in the seat at the time, but I was able to look up and see Taanlen smiling with wry amusement at us. Derris and Matria were grinning, as well. Even Avra had to fight to hide his smile at finding us acting like a couple giggly toddlers; I imagine he'd been expecting to walk in on us snogging. Which, of course, we had been doing, before we got caught up in an extended giggle fit.

Seeing the rest of her family finally, somehow, got us to calm down and stop laughing. We righted ourselves and stood up.

"Okay you two sillies, it's time for dinner. We need to shower and change first. Are you done cackling like loonies?" I nodded, not recovered enough for words yet. Iris did the same.

"Good," Taanlen said. "We're going out for seafood. Come along."

They turned around; Iris and I followed, still faintly amused, but all giggled out for now. But we did keep looking at each other with amusement and smiling all the way back to the hotel room, like we were having some kind of silent conversation that was funny.

Once we were all changed into our street clothes, everyone got in the van and drove a couple miles to a really nice seafood restaurant. I was a little worried, at first; I wasn't sure if I had it in my budget for a place like this, yet. But at my concerned expression, Matria informed me that they were paying for my dinner, too. I was relieved. Maybe in a couple months when I'd been working my increased hours for a while, I could afford to splurge on a place like this, but until then, it was a relief to be treated by someone else.

The room was abuzz with talk, and quite busy, but there was no line. Before long, a woman in a uniform walked up to us and said, "Hello and welcome to The Pearl Room, I'm Misty, I'll be your server tonight. Table for six? Or are there more?"

"Only the six of us," Taanlen said.

"Ah," Misty said, spotting Iris's crown. "And royalty, no less. This way, my liege, my lords, and my ladies." Iris smiled and looked at me, mouthing [i]I like her.[/i] I mouthed back [i]I like her too.[/i]

When we got to the table, which was plain old wood and had nothing computerized at all on it, I began to get an inkling of the kind of place this was. When I noticed that the menus were also analog, this was confirmed. This place, which was fairly busy, spent extra hiring servers who actually took orders themselves, rather than ordering from a networked menu. Between that and the fancy, fresh seafood they served, it was no wonder the place was expensive. A lot of places only hire human servers at all because it's got a more personal feeling to it than having a robot roll out with your meal, but at this place, their servers actually serve.

After some internal debate, I ordered a platter of crab. I wasn't the only one, either. Iris, to my surprise, ordered calamari. Nobody commented on this at first, so I didn't either. For all I knew, she'd had it before.

When Misty left to give the cooks our order, Taanlen turned to Iris and asked, "You do realize calamari is squid, right?"

"Yes."

"And that it's really chewy, a bit like rubber?"

She shrugged. Taanlen rolled her eyes and smiled. Then she started up conversation, and before long, we were all joining in, except for Avra, who was quietly reading something on his e-board.

Matria, who had for some reason decided to sit on my left side (Iris was on my right), got my attention without alerting Iris, and said into my ear "we found a woman qualified to authenticate Iris's design work, and her initial reaction to it was to suggest we get her tested to see how smart she is, and in what areas. But we haven't set up an appointment yet, mostly because none of us knows how to broach the subject with Iris. We don't want her to be unnerved like she was that first couple days. I was wondering if you could do it? No pressure, it's fine if you don't, it's just that she's so comfortable around you, and vice versa."

"Sure, Matria. I'll see what I can do." She looked relieved, and went back to talking with someone else. As for me, I kind of drifted off in thought, so zoned out that Iris had to prod me in the side to get my attention when the food finally came.

"Silly goose, woolgathering at the dinner table," she said in a fake 'affronted royalty' voice.

"I needed to make yarn for a sweater, my queen," I jokingly explained.

"Well don't; such behavior makes you a baaaad girl," she said, making the 'baaad' sound like a sheep. I laughed, and so did the rest of the adults. Even Avra smiled at the joke.

Despite apparently never having had it before, Iris loved the calamari, and ended up eating all of it. I was glad to see this; adventurous eating in children is a mark of bravery. A lot of adults look down on picky eating, but children have more tastebuds than adults do, and the ones they have are more sensitive as well. But with age comes a dulled sense of taste, which I'm sure would make a great anti-adult slogan, too. But more to the point, with a better sense of taste, kids who are 'picky' are picky because, frankly, the food often doesn't taste at all the same to them as it does to adults.

After the main meal, we all had ice cream for afters. By the time I was done, I felt like I'd have to be rolled home. But instead of just leaving, we stayed and continued to talk about various things. Iris got bored of whatever it was the others were discussing, and she and I got to talking instead. During a lull, I decided to broach Matria's earlier suggestion.

Iris was the one who got us on the subject of her designs, mentioning a new plan she was working on for a solar-powered personal vehicle she hoped would be able to go just about anywhere. So when the lull opened up, I said, "Well let me know when you get that one done, because that sounds pretty cool. I would have loved to have had something like that as a kid."

"Yeah I want one too, which is why I'm designing it. Not sure how I'd make something that big, though, but oh well. I think there are places to go that have industrial-sized fabricator devices."

"Oh, speaking of your designs, my flower, your parents took some of them to an Authenticator. Sounds like she was really impressed with them."

"Really?" Iris turned a little red, her eyes downcast, but she was smiling. She suddenly reminded me of me, how my cheeks flush and I go quiet when embarrassed.

I leaned closer to Iris, and she leaned against me for emotional support. "Yeah, she hadn't even gotten around to doing a full Authentication, just looked at it like I did, but of course with a professional eye. She thinks your school might not have any idea how smart you are, and that having you get professionally Observed by some nice specialists and their AI's might help you get more out of school. Does that sound like something you'd like to try?"

"I dunno. What's the testing like?"

"Ah, well, I do know a little something about that. I was tested as a kid. I was found to be above average, but not too much so. It's easy. They just put this funny helmet thing on your head and let you loose in a special classroom with all kinds of cool stuff, and you do whatever you want in there, and the people and the AI's monitor the readouts from the funny helmet as you do. It's just like being alone in a classroom at school while the teacher has stepped out for a while, but with a silly hat."

"Oh, okay. That sounds fun. Yeah, you can tell Mama to get me an appointment for that. But on one condition."

"Let me guess, you want me to go with you?"

"Yeah."

"Well I don't know if they'd let me in the room with you, but I can ask, and even if they don't, I can be there up til that point, and be waiting for you when you come out."

"Sounds good to me, Rianna." She hugged me, then said, "You know, I thought of a pet name for you. I'm gonna cal you 'my anchor' because you're my emotional anchor. I was gonna go with 'my rock,' but I like 'my anchor' better."

"I like it, too. You can call me either, or both. I don't mind being called a rock."

"Okay. I'll keep that in mind."

When we finally decided to head back to the hotel, Iris skipped ahead to the van, which gave me the chance I needed to pull Matria to the side and relay to her the conversation Iris and I had had, about getting her tested. Matria was pleased that I'd managed it so quickly, and said she'd get on that as soon as we all returned home.

*

Back at the hotel, the three Zahane adults decided to go find the hot tub. I gathered from the way they were talking, that they were planning on being nude in there, and since I didn't feel comfortable being nude around these people I didn't actually know all that well despite the fact I was dating their daughter, I politely declined the invitation to join them. It seemed Iris wasn't interested, either. She said she'd had enough of water for one day. Avra also was uninterested. He went somewhere else in the hotel, I don't remember where, and I'm not even sure he said where he was going anyway.

When everyone else was gone, I asked Iris what she wanted to do, and after a few moments of thought, she said, "I wanna go outside on a walk with you. It's getting dark, we can look at the stars."

I agreed that sounded like a good idea, and grabbed a beach towel in case we wanted to lay down anywhere. I informed Matria where we were going, and soon we were out walking along a path leading from the hotel to a nature area that was mostly wild grasses and a few small bushes and trees. It led uphill, but the incline was gentle, so we held hands and made our sedate way up the path.

The night air was balmy as we walked, a small bit of sunlight still shading the sky a light grey. There were a few streaks of clouds in the sky, but otherwise our view of the sky was clear. A few stars had already come out, shining bright in a darkening sky untouched by manmade pollutants. Like I did whenever I could see the sky, I tried to find the star that old Earth revolved around, but it was impossible. Maybe I could see it, maybe not, but I couldn't identify it if I could, not being an astronomist.

When we got to the top of the hill, it evened out and there were no more trees or bushes, and we had an unimpeded view of the land around us, blocked only by the hotel.

"I can see the ocean from here," Iris exclaimed, pointing.

"Yes. And I can see the little wooded area we were walking through earlier."

"So do I."

We spent a few more minutes admiring the scenery, or what little of it we could see in the dying light, before the only light left was the stars in the sky, and a couple of brighter dots I'm pretty sure are two of the four moons Paxum has, only one of which is really obvious as a moon when it's out. Actually, I could see the blackness that was Paxum's shadow on that moon, which appeared to be half the size of Earth's moon, Luna, if pictures of Luna from Earth were to be believed.

"Iris, look! See that round, black circle? I'm pretty sure that's the moon Azikiwe."

Iris looked where I pointed, squinted a bit, then nodded. "Yeah, that'd be it. Only one I know how to find. No idea where Probst, Albaf, or Singh are."

"A little odd that the four genetic engineers responsible for the Paxite subspecies chose such small celestial objects to name themselves after," I said. "I guess it was a humility thing, maybe?"

"Well I dunno, they can all be seen from the surface, if you know where to look."

"So, speaking of the founders of my race, do Lucites know who founded their race?"

"Yeah. It was a huge team, but there are six credited with the biggest breakthroughs. Hmm... I can only remember four offhand, though. Dr. Jane Allison, Dr. Nascha Hataalii, Dr. Ananya Raji, and Dr. Pranav Arun."

I nodded and spread the large towel down on the grass for us to sit on. It was so big it practically qualified as a blanket. I was glad I'd brought it; I was a little tired from the combo of all the earlier activity, and then the trudging up the hill. There must have been some flowers nearby, because Iris brought me a handfull of yellow dandelions.

Handing me the flowers as she sat down next to me, she said, "Beautiful flowers for a beautiful woman."

I couldn't tell in the dark if she was blushing or not, but I could feel that I was. I took the flowers with a smile, sniffed them, and said, "Thank you. Beautiful flowers from my own beautiful flower." I moved the flowers to my left hand and ran the back of my right hand's fingers along her cheek. I could feel her cheek get warmer.

As she lay down next to me and began to snuggle closer, I searched my purse by touch for a hard case I knew I had with me. They were for my sunglasses, but the flowers fit well in there without getting squished, so I knew they'd be safe in there with my sunglasses until I got back to the hotel. I told Iris what I'd done, and I felt her nod her head in response.

We lay there on our backs, looking up at the stars, amazingly bright in the black sky, the two of us silently astounded by the sight. Words were driven out of my head as I looked up into the abyss. It felt so good, staring into the vastness of outer space, the warm weight of Iris beside me, and only after an unknown amount of time did something profound occur to me, that I just had to share with Iris.

"It's amazing, don't you think, that almost 600 years ago, this spot on the planet would have been bare rock, the planet's thin air would have been unbreathable, and the robots that were sent ahead of the colonists would just have been beginning the terraforming process? It kind of blows my mind that the solar roadway technology we use today was around before this planet had life."

"Yeah, didn't the robots use solar power?"

"Yes, they did. And Earth was using it, too, once the oil reserves began to be depleted, and climate change was threatening the human way of life."

"Have you ever been in space?" she asked.

"Me? No. Never been more than a few hundred miles from Lavernia. But you came here from Lucem, right? What's it like?"

"Well, it was kind of a short trip. Lucem is about the same distance from Paxum as Venus is from Earth. We were only in the ship for a few days. But oh my goodness, I saw Lucem from space, and it was lovely. Amazing blue and brown and green, and so small. Everything I'd ever known for my whole life was so tiny, from space. And Paxum looked very similar. But Paxum was new, and I wondered for so long what it would be like. Not just on the trip over, but also for the couple months we planned and packed for the trip."

I held her hand in mine, and she continued. "It was both climactic [i]and[/i] anti-climactic when I saw Paxum after we landed. Everything was so much like Lucem. The same plants, the same animals, for the most part. The same kind of landscapes. Same sky. Same air."

"Yeah, the robots did a great job terraforming the place."

"Uh huh. But the differences are neat, too. Like, some animals our two worlds have, can't be found on Earth. Some are new. Like duth-duth birds."

"Yes. As I understand it, there were holes in the ecology. These holes weren't world-shattering in importance, really, but the founders wanted to fill them anyway, and didn't have the DNA of the animals that filled those niches. Either because the animal that had filled that niche on Earth had gone extinct, or because nobody knew what animal had once filled a certain niche, or because there were no viable genetic samples of that species. Or, just because the founders hadn't brought the right DNA templates. So they used what they had and made some new species."

"Dunno bout you, but what really gets [i]me[/i] is that there are planets out there that already had life, but nothing sapient. And so, like, those colonists [i]had[/i] to use genetic engineering, because some of those worlds were too different from Earth for them to survive on them otherwise, at least without resorting to like, living inside hermetically sealed buildings their whole lives."

"Agreed. And then, too, remember that our ancestors had it easy; our founders didn't have to travel at relativistic speeds. There could still be people out there, between the stars, traveling at 97% the speed of light. Every so often, one of those groups is discovered. And some people wander like that by [i]choice[/i]. They know about FTL, and may even occasionally use it, but mostly they just drift between the stars."

Iris shivered, but not with cold. She crawled up on top of me and lay her head down on my chest. "I can't imagine living like that, never seeing sunlight, just drifting from one pinprick of light to another." She shivered again. "Let's talk about something else, now."

"Puppies and kittens and bunny rabbits," I said, eliciting a slight giggle from Iris. "You know, speaking of animals, Iris, does your family have any pets?"

"Taanlen has a white cat, but he's the only one. He doesn't get along well with other animals, we tried. So long as he's there, he rules the roost."

"Not even any turtles or goldfish or anything like that?"

"Nope. He'd find them, and eat them or bat them around." She sighed. "What about you? You ever have a pet?"

"My family had a dog once. I didn't have much to do with it. I might like a cat, I dunno."

"It would be cool if you got a kitty that liked us both. Snaggletooth - that's Taanlen's cat - is a big old grumpybutt who mostly stays in her room because he doesn't like anyone else. He growls at anyone who isn't Taanlen. I'm glad he stays in her room mostly."

Iris snuggled in closer, and just lay there quietly. I sensed something in her quietude that made me decide not to speak, either. I just lay there, listening to her breathing. We lay like that for... I don't know how long. But finally, Iris sat up, looked at me thoughtfully for a little while, then stood up.

"It's buggy out here. I need a shower."

I sighed, but got up myself. "Oh okay. Probably best." I looked at the time. It was only 9:30, but it was pretty dark out, so going in was probably a good idea. I grabbed the towel, lit the way with my Omnus, and we headed back down the hill to the hotel. It took me a few minutes for my eyes to adjust to the brightness of the hotel, but by the time we got back into the room, they had adjusted.

Because the room was actually two rooms connected, there were two showers, and both were available. A quick check of things showed the others were still out and about somewhere in the hotel. Iris and I took different bathrooms and showered. Iris must have been doing a more thorough job than I, because she was still showering when I got done. I got into my pajamas and lay down on our bed to read.

I was halfway through a second chapter before Iris came out of the bathroom in her teddy-bear PJ's, her hair tied up inside a towel to dry. She bypassed the bed, though, and sat at one of the desks with an eTab, kind of like an eBoard but it was a simple computer. I could kind of see what she was doing on it, and it looked like she was writing something. Could have been a journal entry, or could have been an email, who knew. I kept on reading.

Iris was only on the eTab for about 20 minutes or so (I wasn't really keeping track) when she put it away, took her hair out of the towel, and hopped up onto the bed next to me, snuggling up to me. She reached up a moment to press something, which was apparently the control for the bed's privacy screen, since that started to whirr along the track around the bed on the floor and ceiling. The privacy screen, as I understand it, is made of a meta-material that is soundproof. It also blocks out the light from the rest of the room. Naturally, personal bed lights on the ceiling lit up as the screen closed.

"I want to snog," Iris said. "I'm feeling kissy. What about you?"

I marked my place and set the eBoard aside on the end table. "Well, I might need a little encouragement there, but I'm sure you'll be able to provide it."

"Oh okay, silly bean, how about this?" Iris lifted the covers up a little and crawled on top of me, her pajama-clad crotch and mine making contact. My womanhood responded, naturally, to this beautiful little girl sitting right on it, and Iris giggled as it did.

"Mmm, you sure love to tease me," I purred.

"And you sure do love to be teased, right?"

"Very much, yes."

Iris shifted forward, her body pressed against my pajama-clad breasts. I felt my nipples harden as Iris bent down and kissed me on the lips. I opened them automatically, and her wonderful little tongue slid into my mouth and wrestled with my own tongue. I held her close, my hands slipping under her pajama shirt to feel the skin of her back underneath them. Iris's hands were clutching my head, one hand in my braids, the other one rubbing my ear lobe. I decided to return the favor, and freed one hand to rub at one of her earlobes.

When we paused for air, Iris moved from my mouth and began to nibble my neck. It felt so good that the hand still on her back moved up far enough to lift the whole back of her pajama shirt up in the back. Once I got control of my other hand again, I grabbed her little butt with it, and she giggled. Then her nibbling mouth got to my earlobe and I felt her little teeth and tongue wandering over and around it, which made me grab her tighter. When her tongue began going inside my ear, I almost came on the spot, my back arching, my delighted moans eliciting more giggles.

And then, the little devil rolled off me, giggling sadistically, for once more she had left me hanging. I shot her a piteous look and she just pressed the button to open the privacy shield. I slid out of bed, Iris plainly trying not to laugh too loudly, and ran to the bathroom.

Once the door closed, I pulled my pajama pants and panties down and sat down on the toilet seat lid, looking down at the evidence of Iris's sadism. I normally would just have finished quickly, but I decided not to, this time. Instead, I took my erection in hand and teased it, keeping it interested but drawing out the pleasure and also diminishing its excitement just enough so that I wouldn't go off at the slightest effort. Once I was sure it was at the right level, I got some lube out of my travel bag and slowly began to massage my girlcock with it.

I closed my eyes and imagined myself in bed with a naked Iris. I was nude, too, and this time I was the one kissing her neck, and working down to her undeveloped tits. I imagined what they would feel like in my mouth as I licked and sucked on them. While I did that, in my mind's eye, I ran my hands along her belly, with the slightest trace of a taco pudge, and along her hips, which from my weeks of knowing her I imagined as having the very beginnings of a curve to them.

My eyes still closed, I ran my hands along imaginary-Iris's bottom, feeling its warm plumpness and firmness, as my mouth continued on its journey to kiss the ghost of her belly, and closer to her sex. I had to pause a few moments when my imaginary trip along her thighs almost made me ejaculate prematurely, but once it calmed down a little more, I resumed my sexy daydream.

Starting this journey, I had pictured her in "blue mode," fully intending to give fantasy cunnilingus, but when my mind's mouth finally got to imaginary-Iris's sex, she was in "red mode," and I was picturing a cute little pre-pubescent girl cock and testes. I kissed a wandering trail around them before finally kissing her member. I kissed it, and licked it, getting almost too excited to continue. I began to grow slightly impatient with myself, so I pictured myself pulling back the foreskin and putting the whole thing in my mouth. I sucked it with a passion so strong I knew my body was miming the act with my mouth and one free hand, and I must look silly if someone were to walk in on me.

In the way minds work sometimes, IE non-linearly, as I was giving my fictitious blow job, another, stronger image overlapped it, of Iris and I just cuddling under the covers. This was hardly a new thing for me; being demisexual, the majority of my lust is tied in with my love. And so it was this image that pushed me over the edge into orgasm. I felt my oversized clit pulse with ejaculate, and I slumped backward against the toilet tank.

When I came, I realized that the lust aspect of my feelings for Iris had slowly been building for much of the day, and had roared up like a bonfire when her "encouragement" had poured proverbial gasoline on that fire. I knew this because suddenly, the bonfire of my lust became mere embers. The [i]other[/i] fire, of my love for her, had been somewhere between campfire and bonfire for a week or two, and had not diminished. I cleaned up and left the bathroom, knowing I could now go back to Iris.

I opened the door to the bathroom and paused, hearing something. Iris had not closed the privacy screen again, so I could hear her breathing heavily. It was closed enough, though, that I couldn't see her. I went quietly back into the bathroom, but since my lust had been sated, I merely sat down on the toilet and waited another 10 minutes before opening the door again. When I did, Iris was quiet.

"You finished in there, Iris?"

She started, but as I had not put myself in view, she had to poke her head around the partially-closed privacy screen to see me. "What did you see?" she asked nervously.

"On my honor, my Queen, I saw nothing. I heard just enough to give you more time alone, however," I said with a grin.

She blushed, but grinned back at me. "Well, I'm all done. I finished five minutes ago, and I was beginning to wonder what was taking you so long."

"Ah yes, I wanted to take my time."

Iris yawned deeply. I yawned in response. "Well," she said, "I'm tired now. I'm gonna go to bed. What about you?" She pulled up the covers for me.

I felt a good kind of butterfly feeling in my tummy at this. I had been wanting to fall asleep with this little cutie at my side, and wake up in the morning with her still there. Now it looked like it might happen. Not that I was surprised, mind you; the way the rooms/beds had been booked, it was either sleep next to Iris or sleep on the floor. But here was the moment at last, and it made me feel warm and happy.

"Yeah, I could use some sleep too. Almost zonked out in the bathroom, which would have been embarrassing."

Iris chuckled at that, and I got in beside her. I noticed she was still fully clothed. I wasn't sure what she'd done earlier, whether she'd pulled things down for access to Jill herself off, or had just put her hand down her PJ's, but whatever she'd done, there was no evidence of it now. Well, it wasn't really my business, so I internally shrugged and closed the privacy screen, and cuddled up next to Iris.

It took us a while to get to sleep, because neither of us were used to sleeping in the same bed with each other, and we kept talking, fidgeting, and giggling. But eventually we wore each other out, and drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.