Chapter Text
They were landing on a Yautja hub ship.
It wasn’t owned by any one clan and was considered neutral ground. Dun’dak had told her all about it when she learned that was their next destination. It was the size of a small planet and self sustainable. When she stepped into it for the first time it did not feel like a ship, it felt like a city.
Dun’dak spent a lot of time showing her around with Ti’nil trailing after them. She was in awe and she chatted with her caramel colored brother about anything and everything she saw.
She wasn’t oblivious though. She could feel the eyes of the other predators around taking her in, assessing her. She was a human after all.
When not on the hunt she often wore a Yautja-like outfit. Ti’nil and her had spent hours together making her clothes. Firstly, her hair was in a half up half down style with a metal clip she had picked up from an artisan. Under her breasts was a thick leather strap leading up to well fitted, pretty, leather coverings that were secured around her neck with a smooth silver clasp.
Ti’nil had asked why she had wanted a breast covering. Female Yautja didn’t usually wear them. This was where human and Yautja anatomy differed. Yautja nipples were only visible during breastfeeding. Selene had explained that human nipples were always visible and that they were also an erogenous zone. Ti’nil didn’t need any more explanation after that since erogenous zones in predator culture were meant to be respected and if someone touched one without permission it was sexual assault and punishable.
Her entire stomach was bare until just over the curve of her hips where her belt sat. She wore a beautiful loin cloth that stopped just above her knees and it was a matching length in the back, leaving the sides of her legs exposed.
This kind of outfit also made it easy for others to see the scars she wore proudly, the most prominent ones being from the rock drake. She also had a feather from the beast hanging from the back of her right hip, opposite of the scars it had left on her thigh. She also wore cute sandals to finish off the look.
No one stared at her too long though since it was obvious she had adopted their culture and fought battles.
Dun’dak split off from them to take care of some business and Ti’nil started leading her somewhere specific. “Where are we going, mei’hswei?”
Ti’nil trilled, “Be patient, mei-jadhi. It is a surprise.” Wherever they were headed wasn’t a popular area. She could tell there were less and less people.
They stopped in front of a large door and she read the sign. “Kennels?” She looked up at Ti’nil in excitement. “Is this what I think it is?!”
Ti’nil’s top mandibles lifted slightly but didn’t open. It was their version of a grin. “Sei-i.”
She jumped up and down. “Yes! Do you think they’ll let me meet one?! Oh, oh, I wonder if I can pet one!” She threw her arms around his waist. “Ti’nil, thank you so much!”
He settled a hand on the top of her head. “Let go of me so we can go inside.”
“Right.” She quickly released her hunt brother and he turned to the panel to open the door. It looked like they had stepped into a dog training yard. To the right was what looked to be an admissions area which was currently empty. Behind that were what she assumed to be the kennels. The rest of the room was open, there even looked like a mini forest in the back left corner. There was a large clear area where she could see two hounds wrestling each other with a handful of others lounging around them and watching.
She heard the clicking of claws and searched for the source. A hound was coming up to them! Honestly it looked like a combination of a lizard and a dog but supersized. It sniffed at Ti’nil then came and started intently sniffing at her. Its face was level with her stomach and she felt the warm air ghost over her. She guessed it probably has never seen a human before.
“Ti’nil! Can I pet it?”
Ti’nil laughed, “Sei-i.” Not wasting a second she lifted her hands slowly to give the animal time to back away but it didn’t. Her hands landed on either side of its wide head. It just stared at her. With a grin she started rubbing and scratching at it. That broke the ice because it plopped down on its butt and its tongue lolled out of its mouth. It leaned into her touch and she was just so happy.
She got really into petting the hound to the point it had rolled onto its back asking for belly rubs and she happily obliged, not minding the wicked claws that were now in the air near her body. “Aw, so cute! I could just love on you all day!”
A faint growl came from in front of them. The hound immediately reacted and rolled back onto its stomach to look for the source. Once seeing who it was, its tongue popped out again and it trotted over to the Yautja that had come up to them and stared up at him. The Yautja growled at the dog and spoke in his own language, “Don’t look at me like that. You got enough attention as is.” She giggled and that drew his attention from the dog to her. He cocked his head to the side. “You understand me?”
She nodded, “Sei-i. I am fluent.” Dun’dak and Ti’nil had worked with her on a bastardized version of their language with her to the point she could talk to someone without making them cringe and still be understood.
She remembered all the things they had gone through to get the language to stick in her head. One time she was being pulled into a lake by a tentacle monster and neither brother had helped her until she had switched to screaming at them in the correct language. Fun times.
Ti’nil’s hand landed on her shoulder. “I have business to attend to. Don’t get mauled.” Then he promptly turned around and left.
Selene took the chance to introduce herself. She tapped her fist against her chest. “Selene.”
The Yautja did the same. “Parn. Kennel master.” He was a few inches shorter than her hunt brothers and his hide was a warm creamy color with pale yellow mottling. His eyes were a more vibrant yellow. His forearms and calves were decorated in many bitemarks she suspected came from the hounds.
“Need any help around here?”
He tilted his head again. “Clean out the kennels?”
She gave him a closed lipped smile. Yautja considers showing one’s teeth as aggressive so she broke the habit of smiling with her teeth quickly. “Only if I get to see you work with one of the hounds.”
He nodded, “Deal.” That moment was when she thought she gained a friend in Parn. He valued hard work and taking action. When she finished getting down and dirty in the kennels (after leaving her trophy feather at the front desk) he had slapped her on the back hard, sending her stumbling forward. Back slaps were friendly among the reptilian race and ways of displaying friendship and appreciation.
“Go bathe. You smell like hound cjit.” He directed her behind the desk where she had left her feather and she found the bathroom. She quickly washed her clothes in the bath water which had so many things packed into it, she would never want to take a normal bath ever again. She didn’t even need to use lotion anymore because of it.
The reason she was washing her clothes was because Yautja had an extremely good sense of smell to the point they could smell someone’s mood. She didn’t want to assault anyone’s senses with shit.
Once she was finished bathing she slipped back into her still slightly damp clothes and went to find Parn after putting her trophy feather back on. He was working with three of the hounds that all looked similar to each other. They were probably related somehow. Now they also had thick metal collars around their necks when earlier they didn’t. She settled in the nearby grass to watch him work.
One of the other dogs took that as an invitation and came up to her. It sniffed at her a bunch before laying down next to her. She started absentmindly petting it while watching Parn at work.
He was definitely a master at handling hounds. It wasn’t all the different from how one would train dogs back on Earth. He had a poach full of meat cubes he would toss to whoever was doing the right thing. She quickly noticed that Yautja Hounds were a lot smarter than the average dogs she was familiar with. Many of their commands were complex and he even sent one climbing up a tree at one point.
The hound she was petting had scooched closer and laid its head over her thigh. She started rubbing under its dreads and it started purring. That apparently drew the attention of another nearby hound that came over to investigate. Seeing what was happening, it immediately sat on her other side and stared at her with puppy eyes. She did not realize that look was universal. She patted her other thigh and the hound took the hint and laid down too. Now she had two Yautja Hound heads in her lap. They were quite heavy.
Her hand that was petting the first hound was getting tired so she stopped. It growled at her and she immediately hissed back. The dog jolted in surprise and quickly slipped off her lap to lay next to her instead of on her. She couldn’t growl like a Yautja but hissing like a cat often got her message across.
A while later Parn walked over to her and looked at the scene. “They like you,” he said. He pointed at the one laying next to her. “He is pouting. What happened?”
“He growled at me when I stopped petting him. I hissed back.”
Parn nodded approvingly. “Good. Do not let them bully you.” He held a hand out to her and she grabbed his forearm and he grabbed hers to pull her to a standing position. “It is time to get them into the kennels for the night.”
“How do you do that?”
“Easy.” He pulled a remote off his belt and hit a button. It was like a title wave. There were maybe twenty hounds out and about and they all ran back to the kennels. He hit the button again a second after the first time.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Whistle only they can hear.” Ah, so like a dog whistle. That made a lot of sense.
She looked up at Parn. “Do you mind if I come back?”
“Come back when you wish. Plenty of work to be done.”
She laughed at that. “I see how it is.” They said their goodbyes.
Once outside of the kennels Selene sent a message to her hunt brothers asking where they were. Turned out they were at a bar and Selene joined them. The place was pretty busy and there was music playing. She nodded along to the beat. The closest thing she could describe it was like tribal music. She could definitely dance to this.
She spotted them at a table and she slid in next to Ti’nil since Dun’dak was quickly on his way to getting smashed if the slur in his words were anything to go by. “Sssister! Here, have a drink!” He slid his half empty cup across to her.
She pushed it back to him with a giggle. “No, thanks Dun’dak. I think you’re enjoying enough for the both of us.” Selene had quickly learned the two mouthfuls of Yautja spirits would have her almost drunk in the span of about fifteen minutes. Never again.
He laughed, “Sure! I’ll drink for you too!” he promptly emptied the rest of the cup and she stared at him slightly alarmed.
Ti’nil nudged her with his elbow. “He’ll be fine. I’ll just have to drag him back to the ship after.”
Dun’dak frowned at his empty cup then went to go get a refill. Selene started telling Ti’nil about her day at the kennels.
Overall, the night was going pretty well until Dun’dak got an idea. He pointed at her and declared loudly, “You should dance!” That got them a few stares from the nearby bar goers.
She looked at Ti’nil. “Is there any reason I shouldn’t?”
Ti’nil clicked his tusks together. “H’ko.”
Dun’dak piped up again. “Come on! Show off what you can do. Everyone will love it!”
She smiled at him. “Alright, alright. I will.” Both her and Dun’dak stood and the nearby Yautja moved out of their way since they wanted to see what was going to happen. She made sure to take off her sandals and leave them with Ti’nil. Dun’dak drunkenly got people to clear a space for her and then disappeared. A moment later the music stopped and then suddenly music she recognized started playing louder.
She started dancing.
Dun’dak was right and people loved it. Drink and food started flowing and she would catch the occasional person trying to copy how she moved which ended up turning into a group of rolling bodies. There was trilling whenever she did something the crowd liked. It was an immensely fun time.
At one point Ti’nil appeared at the edge of the circle people had made around her. She called out to him, “Mei’hswei, Do you want to do our dance?”
At her words, many heads turned in his direction. He looked around before stepping into the circle with a nod. She had taught both her brothers how to dance and she even noticed they incorporated some of the things she taught them into their fighting style. Yautja really were physical geniuses. She had a special dance she did with each brother. She would have called Dun’dak forward but he was riding high on the crowd and absolutely shitfaced. He wouldn’t know his right from his left.
The thing about dancing with a Yautja was that they were so much bigger than her. It actually opened up a whole new spectrum of moves she could do. Ti’nil was the one who told her to make her small size a strength and that came through in how they danced together. Her feet were hardly on the floor. She was often twirling around one of his limbs, flipping around his torso, or slithering between his legs. It was always an adventure when dancing with Ti’nil.
When they were finished and she declared she wouldn’t be dancing anymore she was promptly pulled into a group of female Yautja who were all tipsy. One had simply grabbed her by the waist and sat her on the table they had been using so they wouldn’t be talking down at her. Females were often taller than their male counterparts so it was appreciated.
One had shoved food into her hand and they had immediately started asking her questions. They were very curious about her for many reasons. They may have convinced her to belly dance on the table for them at one point.
Eventually she left the group of females when she saw Ti’nil waving at her with a slumped over Dun’dak hanging off of him. The sober Yautja passed over her sandals and they left the bar. Once they were out in the much quieter street she could hear Dun’dak happily mumbling nonsense to himself. Wait, was it a street if it was on a spaceship?
Ti’nil got fed up with dragging Dun’dak and growled while pulling the other Yautja over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. They made it to the ship in one piece and Ti’nil dropped Dun’dak onto his nest with little care. Selene giggled as the caramel colored Yautja landed in the bedding with a dull thump and didn’t even stir. He just laid there spread out like a starfish.
“Are you going to bathe?” she asked.
Ti’nil nodded, “Sei-i. We both stink of strangers.”
“I’ll join you then.” In Yautja society communal bathing was common and a time for socializing and bonding. Everyone was comfortable with their bodies and their strict cultural code when it came to sexual acts meant it was safe to bathe with others, even strangers.
They cleaned up together with Ti’nil washing her hair for her and she scrubbed his back and slipped in a shoulder message. After that they went to their own rooms and slept for the night.