Origins of an Icer

Chapter 4

Fighter corridor, Room 13

Akifa slowly rolled over, grumbling under his breath as he pulled the cushion closer to his body, sighing as he nuzzled the soft fabric and inhaled a soft, clean scent of simple peppermint and salt water. His eyes slowly opened, seeing a vast see of white hair draped over, gasping as he suddenly realized his "cushion" breathed slowly under his hold. The spine pressed flat against Wren as the tail had curled around both of their waists, almost like a lazy limb covering as much as possible while his legs somehow curled just right to let Akifa spoon his body from behind. As much as Akifa stiffened and tensed, he somehow felt too comfortable to really move away from the subtle heat Wren's body gave off, not so much giving off heat as conducting his own. Akifa noticed Wren's body somehow absorbed the cold, as if his body was an exchange for absorbing cold for a low, comfortable heat to give off without overheating his own self.

Slowly reaching up to get his handheld device, similar to the antique Earth's concept of a "Smart phone", this one was simply a slab of glass, fitted to Akifa's hand and bioelectricity, only accessible to him alone. Booting it up, he simply flipped through missions, ensuring he was clear for the next two weeks as he found a whole list from the head doctor to double-check and make sure Wren followed the list of diets and medication before the next check-up in a few weeks. He noticed several messages from Oracle that had popped during the night as he chuckled softly, clicking on them as he skimmed the obvious texts babbling on "how valiant it was for him to take on the new guest", "how mysterious the alien was", and one caught him off guard completely: "Any chance of doing research on alien intersexual pleasures and relations?? Sexual biology research??"

He swore silently in his native tongue, rolling to his other side as he tapped furiously on the phone, more fluent in his keyboard displaying hieroglyphs than the Universal, but his phone translated everything in and out in a secure line.

Anubis: For the love of all the gods above and below, what in all the universe gave you the idea I was sexually attracted to him?!

Oracle: So it's a he?! That's so cool to know! Hey, you never were attracted to girls, or you would've been in my bed years ago!

Anubis: You're confident, considering I won't know where all you've been, or how many you've had. I doubt it'll ever happen, for now I'm a glorified pet caretaker. I'm more guardian parent than potential partner

Oracle: Have you told him about the captain's plan for him? He has a right to know...

Akifa sighed softly, tossing his phone away with a groan, closing his eyes to try and clear his head from the lingering matter of the captain's greediness towards Wren. He glanced over as he felt the scaled tail sliding off his waist, curling back around Wren as the long, white body curled up tight, the black stumps fluttering lightly. He could almost imagine how big the wings would be, rustling softly with as much as the stumps fluttering. Perhaps a sort of a stretch for him? He gently traced the edges of the stumps, lost in his imagination as he tried to picture what kind of wings would be attached to armored, black skeletal stumps. Perhaps like a bat... more long fingered, thin leathery membrane. Surely not like a bird, needing to be covered in feathers... too wet of a planet and too amphibious of an evolution. Maybe something like a dragon's? Scales, and maybe more armored? His thoughts strayed, gently tracing the stump as he failed to notice the blue eyes opening slowly, the breathing pattern changing.

(Well... good morning to you too, handsome. You're doing a wonderful job tickling me where I can't scratch), Wren commented, giggling as Akifa blushed dark, pulling his hand away. The tail tip carefully scratched at the base of the stumps before Wren rolled over, stretching catlike with his tail arching fully above his head. He opened his mouth in a wide yawn, showing all his teeth before shaking himself free, his hair tumbling all over as Akifa spluttered and tried to fan away the long hair.

"Okay, our first thing of the day is figuring out what to do with all this hair. It's way too much high maintenance." He sat up slowly, getting up to go to the bathroom to retrieve a small case filled with combs, brushes, and hair ties. He came back, sitting on the edge of his bed frame as Wren crawled over, sitting with his back to Akifa before carefully pulling all of his hair up, letting the long white waves pour over Akifa's brown thighs. The pilot accidentally blanked, seeing tinges of pale blue and lavender mixed into the hair, almost sparkling like pure white snow before he quickly shook his head and began to brush the long hair. Using some small pipettes with water, it helped to smooth the long hair, sorting out the good from the bad as Akifa carefully trimmed the split ends and terribly matted knots.

Patiently, slowly, he transformed the matted, tangled knots that were cleaned from yesterday into the long, flowing thick mane Wren had grown up with, softer than silk, and filling Akifa's nose with the scent of salt water and clean peppermint. Separating the hair into three thick, long chunks, he did a simple tight braid as his fingers dipped and wove into the sea of white, even taking some extra ties and braiding the hair on Wren's head into tight rows against his scalp, leading to the thick, longer braid going down the Icer's back. He felt his stomach growl once he finished, Wren shaking lightly as small, frozen droplets from down the alien's cheeks.

"A...are you crying, Wren?" Akifa asked softly, gently placing his hand on the creature's shoulder as Wren sniffed loudly, whimpering softly with a shaky voice.

(M...my species took braids as signs of powerful warriors, mixing the braids with jewels and pearls to mark certain battles and victories. I... I don't remember any now, but... I feel overwhelmed. It's been so long... I had long forgotten how to braid my hair once they shaved it all off, those damned scientists. They took one look, ripped and pulled my hair off before finally shaving it all, not even letting me keep the braid. I don't know... I can't thank you enough, Akifa.) Wren sniffled loudly, rubbing away his frozen tears as he shook his head, the braid swishing softly as Akifa smiled, petting the top of Wren's head.

"It's okay... I'm glad you like it. Once we get you on active duty, you can restart your warrior's duty, earn your own pearls and jewels. Besides, we have some cooler jewels than underwater pieces of sea glass and shells," he added, smirking with confidence before going to the small shrine to give morning prayers. Wren hummed softly, slowly pulling the braid over his shoulder as he threaded his fingers through the thick braid, admiring the tight binding. It was damn near perfect, equally woven and separated, even on his head, though his scalp certainly stretched and pinched with those. He smiled softly, glancing up as Akifa came back into the room, dressed in a simple dark blue jumpsuit with boots, the suit unzipped to reveal a chiseled chest and six carved abs as Wren hid a small groan. If anything, this pilot will kill me with how much he detests clothing, Wren thought to himself, getting up slowly to follow Akifa out and down the hall.