Summary: In the future, humans are nearly universal surrogates and Earth has taken to profiting off the ability. However, while humans can intermix with aliens, it doesn’t mean it’s without complications.
When Taliyra signed up to be a Companion to an alien, she had expectations. Mainly a lot of sex in an attempt to conceive an alien baby. What she didn’t expect was her counterpart to be so distant and - for lack of a better term - relatively hands off. For all intents and purposes, Khravel seems completely disinterested in her and will not hold a discussion to explain why.
After four months of this behavior, she’s had enough. Confronting Khravel, she gives him an ultimatum: either he sits down and talks with her about what the problem is or she’s going back to Proxypanion and requesting a transfer.
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Part 1 | Master List | Part 9
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Three days passed with no sign of Taliyra. She didn’t come to visit him in his offices nor did she try contacting him over communique. Whenever he thought about the situation, Khravel wasn’t sure what to do. She had seemed upset at the conclusion of their last liaison, but he still didn’t understand why. He had carnally served her then fulfilled the needed steps for potential reproduction.
Of course, he wasn’t that dense. Part of him knew what she wanted and knew he had failed to give her that. Considering what was at risk – her very physicality – if he caved, Khravel hardly felt bad for his actions.
It seemed prudent to wait until she contacted him.
However, the longer he waited, the more he pushed the bounds of the Companion contract. By day seven, Khravel found himself at Taliyra’s door, bag of gifts in hand, buzzing for entrance. He swallowed against the throbbing beat of his pulse, the itch of anxiety crawling over his arms.
He wondered if Taliyra would be pleased with the gifts he gathered for her. The first thing he’d gotten was a pair of shorts he had bought to replace the ones he’d ruined. Then, after much discussion with colleagues, he added a mix of Tivikonian and Terran sweets, a small wheurga plant that would blossom with fruit, and a collection of Tivikonian plays to be uploaded onto her gauntlet.
Then the largest concession: a booklet detailing upcoming events – some of which tied into the collection of plays he had gifted her – with a note for her to choose some and he would try to attend with her.
Anxiety started to claw down his spine the longer he waited for Taliyra to open her door. Surely, she’d be in. It was evening and she never risked missing their meetings before.
“You two really didn’t need to walk me to my door.” Khravel perked up, hearing Taliyra in the complete opposite direction he presumed she’d be. He turned to face the hall just as she rounded the corner, trailed by Delegate Yivo and his Companion, Laryse. The two wore matching blue outfits, Yivo with a bodysuit and white jacket while Laryse donned a similarly blue dress.
Khravel’s gaze didn’t linger on the other two very long. Unlike Yivo and Laryse, Taliyra wore an opaque deep reddish-magenta bodysuit with a semi-sheer long crimson jacket. Her braided hair was piled atop her head, threaded with red beads, and dangling metallic earrings hung from her lobes, catching the light as they spun.
For a brief second, her eyes widened as she caught Khravel standing at her door. He was the last person she expected to see, but she supposed quite a lot of time had passed. Trying to hide her surprise from Ghensil and Laryse, she smiled. “Oh, hello. I didn’t expect you tonight.”
“Yes, I brought you some things.” Khravel couldn’t help glancing to Yivo, not quite sure what was going on. There was nothing in the ProxyPanion contract that said Companions could not hang out with each other, with or without their contract holders present. His colleague flashed a pleasant look toward him, apparently unaware of the clash of feelings roiling inside Khravel.
Taliyra’s eyebrows quirked up in surprise when Khravel mentioned bringing her some things. He was not one to give her gifts.
Laryse glanced from Taliyra to the Tivikonians, quietly assessing the situation. Soon enough, she wrapped her arm around one of Ghensil’s lower arms, gently tugging him away from the other two. “Well, we should take our leave so you two can enjoy the rest of the evening.”
“Good night, Tali. Maybe Iedro should join us next time!” Khravel watched silently as the ever-cheerful Yivo nodded to him and waved to ‘Tali.’ It took all of his self-discipline to not balk at the pet name. Had Taliyra given him permission to use a nickname? Or had Yivo merely taken it upon himself to assign her one? He was rather terrible about personal boundaries.
“You two have a good night.” Taliyra nodded to the two, watching them retreat down the hall and around a corner. A small part of her felt left alone to fend off a beast. She wasn’t sure what to do with herself once the silence settled over the hall.
“I wanted to make up for upsetting you last time.” Khravel lifted up the bag again, explaining his intentions while being left to languish in the quiet. His eyes unable to meet hers as he shifted awkwardly on his feet, casting a look at the wall opposite of him.
“Ah,” was all Taliyra could bring herself to say as she moved toward her door. Waving her gauntlet in front of the console, she stepped in and motioned for Khravel to follow.
This had been a moment she had been dreading. After she had time to think over their last meeting, she had come to a decision. It wasn’t one she wanted to land on. It clashed against her desire to do her job and her intrigue of Khravel as a whole. However, his actions made his own sentiments clear enough to her.
As the lights bled on, she kicked off her heeled boots, settling them onto a laminated section by her front door before moving further into the living space. She managed to get beside the couch when Khravel approached. Once again, he lifted the bag, proffering her gifts. Taliyra eyed it warily, as if it would bite her, before accepting it from him.
Settling herself down on the couch, she started to slowly unload the items onto the coffee table. As she did, Khravel dropped to his knee next to her, uncharacteristically babbling as he pointed to the items in turn. “There’s new shorts, to replace the old ones I ripped, and some popular treats in there. Well, I’m told those are popular Terran treats, but I am not really sure. I also got you a plant and a selections of plays that–“
Taliyra couldn’t focus on what he was saying. Her eyes just flickered over the gifts, wanting to feel happy he’d gone to such lengths but unable to find the emotion. Shaking her head, she held up her hand. “Stop.”
Khravel’s head snapped toward her so fast, Taliyra flinched. His ramrod straight posture slunk lower, his red eyes widening as he tried to seek out the problem. A frown curved across her lips, her expression pinched and strained. He glanced back to the goodies he got for her, frowning and wondering where he had messed up.
Silently, she watched him. He was trying to understand what was lacking with what he brought. In her lap, Taliyra grasped her hands together tighter, a swarm of confusion feelings warring in her chest. She had made a choice earlier and needed to see I through.
“After spending time with Laryse and Ghensil, I’ve decided to give you what you want,” she started softly, her eyes focusing on her own flexing hands in her lap. From her periphery, she saw Khravel turn his head slowly toward her, could feel his red eyes on her skin. “I’ll notate that you’ve come around every few days, regardless of the reality. You can carry on as you want and Tivik-4 will retain good relations with ProxyPanion.”
It had been a hard pill for Taliyra to choke down, but seeing how easy the other two operated just affirmed her dread. She and Khravel were ill-matched and it didn’t make sense to push him. Avry had been the first Companion and he was still hung up on what happened with them. He had his reasons and he was concerned for the state of relations between his people and ProxyPanion. They were admirable concerns.
“I see. I’m glad you have come to understand my side of things,” Khravel heard himself say, his tone crisp as if he were speaking to a colleague. Something inside him cramped and felt as if it were withering. Nervously, he got to his feet in an attempt to ease the sudden burst of prickling energy inside his veins.
He didn’t want her to distance herself so entirely, but did he really have a right to say so after he himself had placed the boundaries?
It took all of Taliyra’s determination to look up at him, meet his gaze head on, and cooly reply, “Of course, Delegate Iedro.”
Khravel froze at her tone, the smoothness of her voice. She was distancing herself, far more than he had seen her do. He liked that even less and his mind raced around potential solutions. No reasonable answer landed in his mind.
When the silence stretched on beyond politeness, Taliyra cleared her throat and stood. Raising her hand toward the front door, she managed to shoot a wobbly smile in Khravel’s direction. “If you don’t mind, it’s been a long day and I’d like to get some rest.”
Frozen, he stared at her for a half-beat, blinking as her words forced their way through his brain. She was dismissing him. She had never dismissed him.
Pulling himself up to his full height, Khravel steeled his spine. Well, that was it. She asked him to leave and he would do just that. Stiffly, he nodded his head to her. “Rest well, Ms. Deyva.”
Before he turned around, he was meanly glad to see a stricken look pass Taliyra’s face similar to the feeling he felt when she called him ‘Delegate Iedro.’
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Another week passed. Then two. Other than occasionally visiting Taliyra so she wouldn’t have to lie completely, Khravel had not touched her again. He supposed, even though she hadn’t said as much, Ghensil had taken over that part of the contract.
It didn’t matter. As long as the Tivikonian’s managed to fluff their population numbers, it didn’t matter who impregnated whom. Many ProxyPanions were often shared, as was. This was not atypical and Ghensil Yivo was a caring male. And apparently one better suited in size for humans, Khravel bitterly thought.
Still, hard-to-label aggravation clawed through him whenever he thought about the whole situation. As he was wont to do, he ignored it completely and focused on work. There was always so much to do.
He was up to his upper elbows in work, reviewing documentation on new legislation and rewording it to be better understood, when Mx. E’verra burst into his office.
“Delegate Iedro!” They scrambled over to his desk, slamming two hands down on the surface. Their eyes were wild, skin a pallid, and everything about them seemed to be in disarray.
Before Khravel could address Mx. E’verra, they burbled out breathlessly, “Delegate Yivo and Ms. Rena have been taken hostage! Ms. Deyva was with them!”
Khravel did not remember much after that, except for his vision going red.
