The tharp responded to her gentle caress with a caress of its own. Suddenly the royal blue fabric seemed to be tighter around her nipples and below, it was brushing inward, to stroke the soft patch of blonde curls between her thighs.
“Hey!” Kara wasn’t sure about this. It was one thing to be friendly with your clothing but something else to have it be friendly back—especially since the tharp seemed to be edging past friendly and into sexual harassment territory.
“Take it down a notch!” She tried plucking the blue fabric away from her chest but it only clung tighter.
“You must be a male tharp,” Kara told it through gritted teeth. “You really have to stop this!”
Just then, there was a knock on her door and Uncle Grennly stuck his head in.
“Your Aunt Zeelah asked me to get you for last meal, my dear. You uh…look lovely,” he added, his eyes crawling greedily over her body and taking in the way the royal blue fabric was molded to her curves.
“Oh, uh—thank you. I’ll be right out.” Kara crossed her arms over her chest, hiding her breasts as well as she could, feeling horribly uncomfortable. Uncle Grennly had seemed so nice before but the way he was looking at her gave her the creeps.
“Very well—our dining area is just down the hallway and to the left of the heat stream.” With a final lingering look, Uncle Grennly withdrew.
“Behave yourself!” Kara hissed to the tharp under her breath as the living fabric squeezed her nipples until they stood out like hard little buds. “If you think I won’t take you off and put back on my other clothes—the ones that don’t molest me—you’re wrong!”
The tharp responded by loosening a little around the breasts and thighs which made her breathe a sigh of relief. Good, maybe she just had to show it who was boss.
“That’s better,” she told it as she finally exited Nadiah’s room and made her way to the dining area. “Now be good at dinner, all right? I’m trying to make a good impression.”
When she got to the large dining table her great aunt and uncle were already seated. The table was heavy, elaborately carved stone and looked like it could seat twenty if need be but there were only three spaces set. Her aunt and uncle were seated on either end and there was a spot directly in the middle just for her.
Somewhat awkwardly, Kara took her seat. It seemed strange that the three of them were so far apart but maybe Aunt Zeelah and Uncle Grennly liked Last Meal to be a formal occasion.
“Ah, we’re so glad you could join us, Kara,” her aunt said. “I hope you enjoy gumby stew.”
“I’ve never had it before but I’m sure it will be delicious,” Kara said politely. She hoped she liked the stew—she had a full bowl of it in front of her. Picking up a spoon with a square-shaped bowl and a long handle, she poked at the strange mixture. It was full of dark green meat-like chunks swimming in pale green broth and the smell of it was slightly spicy, like the Tex-Mex food her Aunt Kat loved.
“Well, go on—eat up,” Aunt Zeelah commanded, taking a bite of her own stew.
“Oh yes, of course.” Kara took a spoonful of the mixture and began eating.
She had heard horror stories from her mother about the food on Tranq Prime but to her relief, the gumby stew wasn’t that bad. It was spicy and tangy with a slightly metallic aftertaste but it wasn’t horrible. Kara was able to finish the entire bowl which seemed to satisfy her elderly relatives.
There was bright blue woo to drink but it burned Kara’s throat and she stuck to the water, which was in her other goblet. It was rather awkward trying to make small talk across such a large expanse of the long table, but her aunt and uncle seemed more interested in eating anyway. At last, they were all finished.
“Did you save room for dessert or are you too tired, my dear?” Aunt Zeelah asked when the last mouthful of green stew had been swallowed.
Kara had to suppress another yawn. It really had been an incredibly long day. She couldn’t believe that only that morning she had been offending the Fr’Ensons and climbing Rainbow Mountain with Raak and now, tonight, she was on a whole different planet. But she didn’t want to offend her relatives by refusing dessert outright.
“Well, if you made something special—” she began.
“Oh no.” Aunt Zeelah waved one perfectly manicured hand negligently. “Nothing special. I just know we have some frozen sweetened xarna mucus in the icehole.”
“Oh, uh…that sounds delicious but if you don’t mind, I’d rather get some rest,” Kara said carefully. Growing up on the Mother Ship, she had tasted all kinds of foods from many different cultures but she had no desire to eat any kind of mucus.
To her relief, Aunt Zeelah nodded approvingly.
“That’s a good idea dear—get some rest. We’ve booked quite an early appointment for you with Dr. ThrobGood and you want to be at your best for the, uh, procedure.”
Kara wanted to ask again about the procedure but having a full stomach was suddenly making her horribly sleepy. She put a hand over her mouth to stifle a yawn.
“Thank you, Aunt Zeelah, Uncle Grennly,” she said, nodding to each of them. “May I please be excused?”
“Such lovely manners.” Aunt Zeelah beamed at her. “Of course you may. Have a good night’s sleep, my dear. And if you need anything, please let me know.”
“Thank you so much.” Kara smiled at them both, being careful to keep her fangs covered, and then made her way back to Nadiah’s room.
“Time to go to bed,” she told her tharp, which had behaved nicely during dinner, much to her relief. “I wonder
