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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/icallshogun on 2025-06-30 11:01:00+00:00.
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The three of them hung out while the rest of the crew staying in Barracks 3 filtered in.
Carbon had sent out an email immediately to the Tsla’o team about how Humans were prudes and got weird about being naked in areas that were not explicitly private - though she did not word it that way. ‘Be mindful that the Human contingent of this exploratory venture may have different views on being unclothed, and attempt to keep it to a minimum in shared spaces.’ Something like that. It was very diplomatic. She even mentioned that Humans will, on occasion, wear clothing that may be inappropriate to Tsla’o sensibilities and give off the wrong impression, so this goes both ways.
Alex had snagged the tablet from his bunk to check what updates had made it into the primer while the ladies dragged chairs out into the hallway, treating it as a common area. Carbon and Linda sat beside each other, chatting and drinking tea.
He was pleased to see the primer had been updated - it wasn’t the same version that he had used on the Kshlav’o, having gone from 1.3 to 1.4 at some point. Alex skipped all the way to the back matter, where the revisions were listed. It detailed where the updates had been made, a brief description of the changes, and the date the revisions had been added. The most recent one was a little over a year ago. It mentioned the launch of the Kshlav’o expedition, marking the first ship with a mixed crew and listing one Alex Sorenson as Pilot, with Shipmaster C. Tshalen as acting Engineer.
There was a moment where Alex wanted to huck that tablet right into the snow. He had written six reports, over a hundred thirty pages total, and not a single sentence from them had made it into the document that all the other Humans in this little party had been required to read. Yes, some of it had been padding because he was mad at ONI. The paragraphs of information on table spices weren't that useful unless you were trying to live among them, but the casual nudity part sure was.
He whipped up a quick email about how casual the Tsla’o were about getting naked, from a Human standpoint, and maybe avoid shorts as outerwear because flashing leg has potentially suggestive meaning to them. Mind who you’re offering to get to know better.
As he typed that up, he listened to the ladies talk.
Zheng was a mechanical engineer who specialized in materials testing and did reactor inspection and refit for the Navy, but dabbled in a bit of everything because reactors were a large set of systems working in concert. Her and Carbon were getting along great. Had a conversation about engines that Alex largely couldn’t follow.
Dominic Crenshaw and Tena Amalu came in at the same time, just after he sent the email - he heard Crenshaw’s comm ding as it arrived, just as Amalu was preparing to get out of his suit. For better or worse, those two had gotten bunk 3 together. They were also getting along well, probably because they seemed to have roughly the same maturity level. That was good, though Alex did expect to hear Amalu say ‘pause’ a lot now.
He did his best to stop flipping from bummed out to jealous and back.
Ale was staying with his wife, after all. Sure, he wanted to be bros with people, but also... Wife. Yeah, they weren’t doing Married People stuff here, probably, but it was nice to have a private area with her.
Zheng was bunking with Tokona. There was a polite but very brief discussion between them about who got what bunk when he arrived, and Tokona parked his armor in the frame and went to bed without further discussion. A bit of an odd one, but Carbon assured Linda that he was selected because of his previous work with Humans back in Na’o in relation to setting up communications networks to allow easy ship to ship comms.
Bunk 2 was empty. They had space for twenty four total but only twenty bodies, so two rooms had been held in reserve should personalities clash, or if they needed to hold someone in isolation for whatever reason.
Not long after Tokona arrived, Zheng went to bed as well. Alex and Carbon retreated to their bunk, having no one left to meet.
Carbon tapped the control panel beside the door, locking them in for the night, then turned the room lights off, the panel itself staying lit, and the reading lights in the bunks being on left the room filled with a dim, warm glow. “The Ell Tee has put Zenshen in Barracks 2 in a similar role as us - managing interspecies interactions, should there be misunderstandings or actual friction between individuals.”
Pause? Shit, Crenshaw almost had him doing it. “Oh, so we are the Barracks parents. I kinda got that impression when Williams told me where I was going to be, but it’s nice to have it confirmed. Kind of.”
She blanched at his turn of phrase, not enthused about being ‘parents’ to a bunch of adults. “We do have the necessary experience to smooth out problems between our kind, but I prefer to think that is more as mediators. Despite what Crenshaw has been encouraging Amalu to take part in.” Carbon said, taking Alex by the hand and gently encouraging him to have a seat on the bottom bunk, then sliding into his lap, arms wrapped around his torso and squeezing him tight.
He had been about to make a funny little comment about it funny how it was always the Human that’s the bad influence, but having the missus in his lap was sufficiently distracting to prevent that from happening. “Uh-” Look, he wasn’t going to say no to a little affection, but...
Carbon leaned in, resting her head on his shoulder and whispering in his ear. “I swept for observation devices, the room is clean save for the door controls. It contains the expected camera and microphone, but those have limited range. No further than the desk, visually.” She sighed softly and squeezed him again before continuing just as quietly as before. “I missed you.”
Of course she thought of that. She probably checked for cameras and microphones at home but he’d just never actually seen her do it. Alex set his arms around her waist and held her, matching her volume when he spoke. His gaze shifted down to where the bite mark on her shoulder should be half hidden by her clothes, but the silver fur marking the scar had been dyed to match her normal fur. It should stick for a few months.
He knew it was going to happen, but was unprepared for how sad it left him feeling. “I missed you too.”
“We should sleep separately.” Carbon kept her voice down, but she didn’t really mean it, the lack of enthusiasm behind the words was obvious. She knew it was the most reasonable course of action. “Just... In a few minutes.”
A few minutes became quite a few minutes, at which point Alex gave her a little nudge and, getting no response, noticed that Carbon had fallen asleep. Her breathing slow and steady, nose wheezing softly into his ear. That was cute, and knowing that he made her feel safe still felt good... But this was less than convenient.
It wasn’t as much of an ordeal as Alex had expected to get her laid out on her bunk, an impressive feat considering she didn’t want to let go of him. He got her tucked in, set her alarm, turned her light off, then finally gave her a kiss on the head and said goodnight before closing the shutters on her bunk. He was not sure exactly when he’d become so detail oriented about things unrelated to being a Scoutship pilot, but it was nice to see that skillset making the jump to whatever his life was now.
Alex looked over the room one last time. Everything - most importantly the closet that his armor was in - was closed up, the window was set to privacy mode, and the door still locked. Good enough.
She was right about the ladder. It was collapsible, meant to be stowed so it didn’t have to be printed during setup, and there was a little bit of flex in it with every step that he didn’t particularly like. Still, it got him up there. The mattress was reasonable, the pillow soft enough. Alex set the alarm for six, which was when he had set Carbon’s alarm for, and then rolled the shutters on his bunk closed, too. It wasn’t as coffin-like as he had imagined, but having two people in here would be a challenge.
Not that he was planning on having two people in there. Not consistently anyway.
Morning came around swiftly, a slap at the wall turning the grating buzz of his alarm off, the one he could just barely hear coming from Carbon’s bunk shutting off a moment later. Her shutters slid open immediately, his wife already starting her day. He wanted to laze about a little, but it was likely to be a busy day finishing up the base - the sooner they got going, the better. They seemed to be up before anyone else, and by the time they were done monopolizing one of the two heads in the barracks... there were still no more signs of life.
“I think I will try wearing a base layer today.” Carbon said abruptly as Alex was stepping into his armor. “We are unlikely to be far from the barracks, so should I need to take care of any bodily functions I can just return here in short order. Just to see how it works before recommending others do it.”
He was naked, of course, that was how you wore it. “Yeah? I wonder if I should give that a go, too. I mean, I’ve got the privacy curtain and all, but... I dunno, hopping out of this thing bare-ass naked just...
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