“Come on then.” Nina nodded and got up off the bed. “Let’s go.”
“After you.” Reddix followed her, moving stiffly from having been unconscious for so long. His clothes felt grimy and stained—probably from days and nights of sleeping in them. “Uh, is there anything I could change into?” he asked as they made their way out of the small sleeping room and into a long, dark hallway.
“Sure—the Feeling People don’t really have clothes per se because they’re all covered in fur,” Nina said. “But they do have fabrics. See this?” She pointed at the dress she was wearing draped over one shoulder, leaving the other one bare. “It’s actually a blanket, but I found a little sewing kit on the ship and modified it.”
“It’s, uh, nice,” Reddix muttered. Actually, now that she was standing he could see it was much more than just “nice.” The blanket dress appeared to be made of some short, dense light blue fur which glimmered in the low light of the hallway. It clung to Nina’s curving full hips and ass in a way the shapeless garments she’d called scrubs didn’t, making it almost impossible for him to look away from her shapely backside.
“…if you want.”
“Huh?” Reddix realized she’d said something else to him, and he had missed it because he was ogling her like a horny adolescent. He looked up quickly, fighting to keep his eyes on her face.
“I said I found a grooming kit too—you know, some clippers, scissors, a razor—I can give you a shave and a haircut after you get your bath. If you trust me to, that is. It’s been awhile since I cut hair,” she said.
“Oh. Sure.” Reddix nodded. It was true he needed a shave, and his hair was certainly much too long, but that wasn’t why he was eager to take her up on her offer. Any excuse to have those small, soft hands on him again was welcome—no matter what it was.
“Good.” Nina looked pleased. “I promise I’ll be careful. Oh—here we are.” They had come to a low door at the end of the hallway that seemed to be made of a thicker, sturdier wood than the light woven grass one on the bedroom. “Brace yourself,” Nina warned him. “We have to go outside to get to the bathhouse, and it’s probably going to be pretty cold. Healing One told me this was the hottest summer they’ve had in years, but it always feels really chilly to me.”
Reddix shrugged. “Cold weather doesn’t bother me.”
“Well it does me.” She shivered. “I’ve lived in Florida all my life. We put on a sweater if the weather gets below seventy-five.”
“Seventy-five what?” he asked, mystified.
“Degrees. Never mind. I’m sure you have a different system of measurement. The point is, if it’s not blazing hot, it’s cold. At least to me. Come on.” Nina pushed through the wooden door and ducked outside.
The sunlight wasn’t particularly bright, but it still took Reddix’s eyes a moment to adjust. He saw that they were in a small village filled with wooden huts—some small to normal sized, some very tiny that looked like they had been built for children or dolls, and a few huge ones that looked more like facilities for keeping immense animals.
“That’s the kids’ part of the village,” Nina said, following his gaze to the big huts. “They mostly keep them over there to keep the little ones from trampling the town like Godzilla.”
“Who?” he frowned.
“A big scaly movie monster that liked to flatten cities,” Nina said. “If you’d ever promise to take me back to Earth I’d take you to see some classic monster movies—they have them sometimes at the Tampa Theater. They’re a lot of fun if you don’t mind the cheesy acting and terrible special effects.”
“Sounds…interesting,” Reddix said doubtfully.
“It is.” Nina smiled. “Sitting in the darkness in a classic old theater, eating hot buttered popcorn and watching a black and white monster destroy Tokyo—it’s a lot of fun.”
“I don’t know about a monster destroying things or eating hot buddered pockorn, whatever that is, but I’d welcome the chance to sit in the dark with you any time,” Reddix murmured, looking at her.
“Oh.” Her cheeks got pink, and she turned away quickly. “Come on, we’d better go. It’s freezing out here.”
It felt pretty temperate to Reddix, but he followed her willingly enough to a round wooden building at the center of the town. He was apprehensive as Nina swung open the tall wooden door, but when he saw that the interior was empty except for a large steaming pool of pale purple water, he relaxed.