Domesticity did not come naturally for someone like Dvylikh. It fell gently like a slumber, bone-tired, and suddenly they woke up warm in each other’s arms. When he could not justify arguing with his mind anymore — that he should sleep on the couch, or the floor, or quite frankly anywhere as far away as he possibly could from Ryland Grace — Dvy surrendered himself to any interpretation of this vulnerability, and pulled the other warm body closer against him.
Malnutrition. That was it. He was beginning to think much slower than he’d like, caring much less about details (which in one way helped him from overanalysing every little aspect of his designs), and had grown colder each night around his extremities. He’d lost weight, easily discerned from the way Ryland’s shirts were beginning to hang loose around his chest and arms, but hadn’t dared to ask Armando to measure the rate. Figuring out the rate meant that he’d need to figure out a solution, and the solution was staring right in front of him this whole time: meat.
First you hold his hands (or rather, let him hold yours), then you sleep on his bed, and now you’re thinking about eating his flesh? If this is how the infection is progressing through his brain, he’d better ask Rocky about fashioning himself a gun, since it sounded to him like he was going to lose his mind soon.
“Yeast.” He cleaned up the sink thoroughly and gave his face a quick wash. Walking out of the bathroom with a small towel in one hand, he handed Ryland a comb and a hair tie. “The answer is yeast. I’ll be fine for now, I might lose a lot of weight but I’m not doing too horribly just yet. The seeds will hopefully take, and we will have yeast.” That would mean a few more months yet, not including the fermentation process. Eridians are clever folks, he thought — if they’d managed to clone Ryland’s cells in vitro and made him lab meat for him to chow down on, there was no reason why they wouldn’t be able to culture yeast. Fast, too.
“Maybe we’ll even have beer by the end of the year.” Hopefully that would be sufficient to staunch the worry in Ryland’s tone. He made a dissatisfied face when Ryland offered him a chart, and sat in front of him with a grunt.
“I hope it is as good as you say. Last time I went, it was calling to me. I just had to see it. Tell it to fuck off.” He sighed. “And—-“
[ —LONG MUST ROCKY WAIT OUTSIDE. HUMANS TAKE TOO LONG TO—-]
Rocky barged through the unlocked door, and paused at the threshold, looking at the two men in the living room. Dvylikh’s heartbeat rose and Rocky swerved to the side, two claws up in surrender.
[ APOLOGY. APOLOGY. APOLOGY. NOT USED TO DVY. ROCKY COME IN PEACE.]
“You better be,” Dvy answered. Ooh, the little rock guy was so lucky Ryland was holding a handful of his hair then. “We agreed at—“ Dvy whistled, “—hour.”
[ WRONG. DVY MADE SOUND THAT MEANS <MOLTING CARAPACE >. THE CORRECT HOUR IS 🎵🎶. DVY GRACE LATE, STRONG STATEMENT.]
Dvy glanced at a clock ticking away on a console table. “By three minutes.” He raised an arm to silently beg for Ryland to help him up, and when he’d managed, the back of his hand trailed down Ryland’s forearm, lingering near his hand. “Fine, let’s go. But there’s a rule you have to agree to adhere to before we go.”
“Because you’re a d—“ he took a deep breath, “impatient. And I don’t like being rushed.”
[ SECOND HUMAN SLOWER THAN GRACE. INTELLECTUAL DEFECT? GENETIC DAMAGE FROM SPACE? HEAD INJURY BRAIN DAMAGE? ]
“Lack of nutrition. And patience.”
There was a long silence then, with Rocky looking up at Ryland but saying nothing. He’d been well advised to tread any conversation about food lightly. He wasn’t sure what ‘lightly’ meant, but had gathered by inference that Dvy was just not up for the line of query, so he moved on to the next, while they slowly made their way to the beach.
[ DVY SAID RULE FOR ROCKY? WHAT RULE ]
“Oh. Right. One question, one answer. No chaining like you did when you first pissed me off.” At least this word was already in his dictionary, Dvy thought. “I’m already nursing a headache from this, and we haven’t even started.”
[ BECAUSE DVY CONDITION ROCKY AGREE. ONE QUESTION ONE ANSWER. DVY CAN ASK TOO. ROCKY ANSWER. ]
[ ROCKY ONE QUESTION INCOMING. DVY BETTER NOW? ]
“In general. You mean in general.”
Dvy took a deep breath, grasping Ryland’s hand tighter in his. He knew then that he couldn’t possibly lie. “I don’t know. I’m healing. And Ryland keeps me company. I was expecting nightmares but it’s been quiet on that front and I’m worried about that. But in general, I’m… I don’t know.”
[ ITS OKAY NOT KNOW ANSWER. GRACE TAKE LONG TIME TO HEAL TOO. HUMANS TAKE TIME TO HEAL. LOTS OF TIME. ROCKY HELP. GRACE HELP. DVY REST. ]
Oh, okay. Dvy could see why Ryland was so attached to this guy. “You forgot your question. That was a statement.”
[ OH. YES. ] Rocky moved this way and that. [ WHY DVY INSIDE CRAFT NO DOOR? DVY SAID PUNISHMENT. ROCKY ASK GRACE WHAT < PUNISHMENT> MEAN. NEED CLARIFICATION ]
“I…” they were facing the ocean then, and Dvy paused in the middle of his sentence. Ryland’s hand felt like an anchor, rooting him to the ground before he could plummet again. “I won’t lie to you. I killed people. That’s why I was punished.”
Rocky flinched, turning his head to look at Ryland urgently.
[ DVY KILL? OWN PEOPLE? WHY? ]
“Resources. Our stars died. People get hungry and… and they kill each other for it.”
[ DVY KILL PEOPLE SO DVY CAN EAT? ]
“If I hadn’t done it, someone else would.”
A long, uncomfortable pause before Rocky managed to say anything again. [ WHY NO WORK TOGETHER TO SHARE. WHY MUST KILL? ]
“Pass. Too philosophical.”
Rocky’s claws clicked together — a quiet protest — but managed to contain himself. For now. Grace will have the brunt of it later.
”No, of course not.” Dvy answered quickly. “He saved me. You saved me. Erid saved me, I wouldn’t do that to any of you.”
”You weren’t trying to kill me first. That’s the difference.”
Okay. Fair. [ UNDERSTOOD. ] Rocky swayed and settled on the sand. [ DVY QUESTION LIST TEMPORARY HALT. ROCKY ASK GRACE QUESTION NOW. ]
”Thank the stars,” Dvy rumbled.
[ PROGRESS ON RESEARCH? DVY INSIDE CRAFT WITH MEAT. MEAT FOLD GROW WHILE GRACE AWAY. NOW BLOCK WAY TO CENTER OF GROWTH. ERID SCIENTIST SUGGEST CUT MEAT AND PUT XENONITE CAGE AROUND CENTER GROWTH. BUT WAIT FOR GRACE RESEARCH. ]
Rocky paused, swayed, and continued slower. [ WHY NOT EAT CRAFT MEAT? PROTEIN GROW NO STOP?]