Chelen City: Chapter One, Part Two

Notes: Guess who had a brain blip and forgot to post yesterday? Same posting schedule for, like, a decade, and I forgot. I blame my interminable cold. Enjoy some girls!

Title: Chelen City: Chapter One, Part Two

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Chapter One, Part Two

Elanus was proud of his home. Not because he’d secured ten of the highest floors in the most scenic corner of the tallest building in Chelen City, which incidentally was the tallest residential building on the entire planet. That was to be expected from someone with his social status. It would have been strange for him to have fewer than five floors, downright odd for him to live on a lower level.

The building itself was very socialist—people from all walks of Ganian life lived within its three-hundred stories, as opposed to other, newer towers which restricted themselves to the ultra-wealthy from bottom to top, or older towers that housed the middle class and lower. The top fifty stories, though, were for people who had money to burn.

Elanus was proud of his corporation and his station in life, but that wasn’t why he was proud of his home. It wasn’t the position of the place, or what that represented. It was that he’d worked hard—he, himself, no decorators or designers helping him—to make it feel like a real home. Like a cohesive living space spread over ten stories. Each story was either one large, single room or split into multiple spaces, but regardless, you could see how they worked together.

His home wasn’t metallic and hard and shiny. It was soft, with area rugs and real wood furniture and art from cultures all over the galaxy hanging on the walls, or in a few cases from the ceiling. His home had warm lighting and hand-woven fabrics and surfaces that showed use. His home had a huge bed that would welcome another body, and two floors dedicated to his two children at the very top. His home was built for family, not exploration or showing off.

Kieron seemed to relax as he moved through the spaces, even though he had plenty to say about what could be improved—another motion sensor here, something to prevent long-distance eavesdropping set into the immense glass windows, a weapon readily available in every room somewhere. Elanus listened and made dutiful notes, but his eyes were transfixed by the way Kieron’s shoulders loosened as they walked, and the tension in his jaw slowly vanished.

Stars, but he was handsome when he didn’t look like he was on the verge of murdering someone.

Elanus knew life with Kieron was going to be a challenge. Ganian wasn’t an overtly xenophobic society, but given how easy it was to tell those who’d grown up here from those who’d been born into heavier atmospheres, you never had to wonder who the aliens were. In a culture already inclined toward stratification of status via class, stratification due to native versus non-native status invariably followed.

It wasn’t as bad as Traktan society—Ganians welcomed people from all over the galaxy to work and live here, and had no qualms about going abroad themselves. But physically, the differences were startling. Ganians were taller than almost everyone around them, that was just a fact. Some Ganians took “taller” to mean “smarter, more beautiful, and basically better in every way.”

Elanus was going to get shit for having a lover—hopefully someday more, but he wasn’t going to push his luck right now—who had been born and raised on another planet. And that shit would spill over onto Kieron. Fortunately the man seemed immune to that kind of subtle insult—or if not immune, at least not the sort of person who took it to heart. You could think whatever you wanted of Kieron, but if you underestimated him, there’d be hell to pay.

“…going to need at least two—are you actually listening to me?”

“Hmm?” Elanus blinked, suddenly aware of the fact that Kieron had stopped walking and was staring up at him now with a warning expression. “Oh, absolutely.” His implant replayed the last ten seconds in a flash. “I completely agree about upgrading the entry unit, and the girls should absolutely have their own by their bays. It wouldn’t do for somebody else’s tech to sneak into their rooms.”

Kieron folded his arms. “Nice save.”

“I was listening!”

“You were replaying.”

“Same difference!” Elanus sidled closer and slid his arms over Kieron’s shoulders. “Are you going to nag me about this? Because I’m not going to lie, that kind of turns me on.”

“A stiff breeze would turn you on,” Kieron replied, winding his own arms around Elanus’s waist. A coy person would have used the gesture to soften their rude words; Kieron wasn’t that conniving. He was perfectly happy to insult Elanus and give him physical affection at the same time without any cognitive dissonance whatsoever. He was unlike any partner Elanus had ever had before.

He could never give him up. He’d die first.

“I’m not that bad,” Elanus said. He rubbed the back of Kieron’s neck, delighting in the way it made his lover close with pleasure. “Certainly not lately. I’ve been far too busy to be turned on by anyone or anything but you.”

“Mmm.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to suggest a return trip to the bedroom, where—despite a few little stumbling blocks—they’d both managed to have a good time. But then a query pulsed at the corner of his implant, with just a hint of whine to it, and he knew it was time to be more sociable. “Catalina is slavering at the metaphorical mouth for a chance to project her latest hundred-decibel aria at you,” he said.

Kieron’s eyes opened as he grinned. Elanus melted a little further. “I can’t wait to see her.”

“Lucky you, you don’t have to,” Elanus said, gesturing toward the nearest window. They walked over together to see two small, sleek ships come in for a landing a few floors up. The wall shivered ever so slightly as they both settled into their docks.

[Whyyy does Lizzie get the top beeerth?] Catie demanded over their implants.

“You didn’t want it before,” Elanus pointed out as they took the stairs up to the ninth floor.

[I needed it for my stuuuuuff!]

“You do not.”

[I dooooo!]

[I can move] Lizzie offered tentatively, but Elanus shut that down before his daughter could jump on the offer.

“You get the tenth-floor dock,” he said firmly. “If you want to trade at some point, that’s fine, but for now we’re going with what’s already established, got it?”

[Daddeeeee!]

“Don’t you ‘Daddy’ me,” he warned as he opened the door to Catie’s dock. It was spacious for a ship of her size, with boxes full of parts on the floor and projection tech in every one of the walls. “You made your bed, now you lie in it. You can—”

“KEEEEEEERONNNNNN!!!!” Catie’s shrill scream of glee drowned out his lecture, and everything else. Kieron, to his credit, held in his wince and went straight over to Catie’s side, laying his hands on one of her walls with a smile.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he said affectionately. “It’s so good to see you.”

“Ittt’s good to see youuuu! I miiiiiissed youuuuu!”

“I missed you too, so much.”

Elanus watched the love-fest go on a bit longer, then turned and headed up the lift to the next story. He could have taken the stairs, but his knee was starting to ache. He’d need a targeted treatment before long. But for now…

There she was. His original ship, the cutting edge before Catie, now her own unique sort of technological wunderkind. “Lizzie,” Elanus said with a smile, and was delighted to see her nose go a bit pink.

“Elanus,” she replied warmly.

He came over and patted her hull. She couldn’t feel it the way Catie could, he hadn’t installed that level of responsiveness into her skin, but he knew she saw it. “I’m so proud of you,” he told her, his voice a little thick. “You took such good care of Kieron.”

“He took good care of me too,” Lizzie said.

“Shush and take your compliment gracefully, darling.” Her harmonics made a low, pleased sound. “You’ve exceeded my every dream. You’ve managed things you were never built for, and you did them all beautifully.”

“Thank you, Elanus.”

“I’m going to share some specs with you over the next few days—potential upgrades. You don’t have to take any you don’t want,” he emphasized, “but if you’ve been hankering for a more colorful skin or better responsiveness or a more powerful backup processor, those will all be on the table.”

“I…I’ll think about it.”

“You do that, darling. Then we can—”

“Daddeeeeee!”

Oh boy. Splitting his time between these two floors was going to be…a challenge.