Gabatrix: Force and Vehemence

Chapter 9: Warming up the Oven

"Ugh.....," Bransen grunted as he struggled to get out of the pool. "Girsha'lar, can you help?"

It had been almost five hours. Girsha'lar had already been out of the pool as the water dripped off her naked body. With Bransen, his body had adapted to being in the water. His back refused to budge as he tried to climb out. He was summoning the strength, but he didn't need to worry. Girsha'lar leaned down, grabbed the man by the armpits, and plucked the naked man from the pool. He felt his feet press to the ground before gravity took him completely. He buckled under and almost fell over before Girsha'lar caught him in the air.

"Ah....thank you," Bransen said.

"Can you walk?" Girsha'lar asked.

"Barely. Later on tonight, I need to head back to Doctor Abril to undergo more surgery."

"You don't regenerate like Itreans?"

"I wish I did.....even then, your people aren't exactly invincible."

"Hmph....," her nostrils flared upon hearing that.

Bransen noted his body had gotten waterlogged. His fingers had been reduced to prunes, and he could see the water dripping off him. His augmented arm was no weaker than any other human arm, but he could still stand in an emergency. However, his stomach was growling. It wasn't loud, but the Shal'rein woman's ears were tuned to his stomach.

"Bring me to your kitchen," Bransen said.

"Ugh....you're going to have me carry you everywhere?" Girsha'lar asked in annoyance.

"I don't think you'll complain after I'm done."

The human looked over to Nir'vina. Her head was laid back in the pool fast asleep. A snoring sound could be heard from her nostrils. It was so loud that the man looked over at her.

"Do we have to worry about....?" He asked Girsha'lar.

"How do you humans say it? Ah....'She sleeps like a log.'" Girsha'lar replied as she picked up the man and carried him to the kitchen. "She won't wake up unless I bite her or something."

"I was surprised that I slept through that."

"Hmm...You'll get used to it."

"Don't they have treatment for that?"

"She doesn't want it. I think she keeps it just to be annoying or some cultural tradition."

"Snoring a tradition?"

Girsha'lar placed the man by the counter. It was too tall for him to sit down and be level with it. It required him to stand to do everything that he needed to do. He observed the entire counter and the appliances in his field vision.

"Let's see," he commented. "You got a stove......a refrigerator, countertop. Same as my apartment."

"You're going to actually cook?"

"I got the hang of it back in my hotel room. Almost incinerated a soup by accident, but I learned how your equipment works."

"It would be just as easy for us to order our meal and have it delivered."

"Trying to be lazy? I guess prison and ship life must have given you a bland tongue."

"Bland tongue?"

"Basically.....ungh.....," Bransen remarked as he shifted his elbow on the countertop. "You eat anything that you're given and know nothing about how to actually cook for yourself."