Chapter 36 #2
"Just apologize," I told the security guard. "She's in a bad mood, and I'm certain if you apologize, she'll let you go." I leveled a look at Lily. She swallowed under my gaze.
"It is as my captain says. If you apologize to him, I will let you go," she corrected herself.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he blubbered quickly, and she dropped him with a small splash. I realized the kikai had made a puddle in his fear, and I sighed, shaking my head.
"You don't have to do that, Lily," I said as we walked away.
"People should respect you, and if they will not, I will make them fear you." Her eyes glowed briefly, and I realized arguing in this moment was likely a lost cause.
So all I could do was shake my head. "For me?" I asked, and she paused, chewing the inside of her cheek for a moment.
"Fine. However, I reserve the right to make it their problem, should they fail to respect you in more impactful ways," Lily answered.
I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "Alright, I won't try to change who you are. But do be careful. Too much violence and it'll make it harder for us to be welcome where we go." I laced my fingers in hers and kept walking.
She bobbed her head, a smile on her face.
***
By the time we got to the penthouse seats, all of the fun seemed to have already transpired.
Perez was on the floor, looking like he was going to have trouble answering any questions.
Meanwhile, Violet was standing over two unconscious goons, and that didn't even begin to address the reason that Brick and Tiri were making out.
"Well, good for him," I said, watching the scene.
"Yes, it would be good for Brick to have relationships. I understand in many species it is unfulfilling to have no mate and potentially damaging to watch another male consume multiple—”
I squinted at Lily. "What have you been watching?"
She turned her head curiously towards me.
"Melgara found some David Attenborough videos," she said the name slowly.
“They are very old videos, but in them he tells you the general tendencies of most species.
There are many ways to court among the animal kingdom, but all are fulfilling. Species need to reproduce to survive."
"I don't know…" I began to say, as Lily smiled.
"That was a joke, Captain. Though his videos are quite interesting, both understanding the world that humans developed in, and how different species might have very unique traits for different problems. I find the evolution and the adaptation of your species to be fascinating." Lily smiled.
I suppose that made some sort of sense. Given her ability to adapt in an instant, she should have a better understanding of the much slower process the rest of the universe had to go through.
"Did you know male lions can mate up to a hundred times a day?" Lily grinned. "I've asked Melgara if there are any planets nearby that might have lions or samples that would contain their genetics."
"And why would you need that?" My head slowly turned in her direction.
"Well, if you're going to attempt to keep both Violet and me satisfied, I figured I could get the entire improve-the-captain team behind certain improvements." Lily just smiled back at me.
I was at least mildly concerned about what this team would come up with if I left them alone for too long. "Yeah, well, we're a long way from Earth. I doubt that we're going to find lions."
Lily looked at me with wide eyes. "There are zoos, I'm certain. We can find zoos that will be able to give us something," she said, her lips puffing out in a small pout. “But something from Earth would be ideal. Introducing another DNA pairing to you would be risky according to Melgara.”
I swallowed and avoided her gaze. "Sure," I said quickly, trying to escape the subject.
Clearing my throat, I focused back on the situation before us. "What are we doing with him?" I pointed at Perez.
"What?" Perez mumbled weakly, still looking concussed. Given Brick's proud mug, I assumed we had him to thank for Perez’s current state.
"I said, what are we going to do with you?" I crouched down low and gave him a vicious smile. "After all, we've got plenty of items from you, but there are still so many answers that I'd like."
"Lily," I asked, looking over my shoulder, "would you by chance have any toxin that you could produce that would paralyze him or put him down for a while?"
The helivore tilted her head thoughtfully to the side. "Yes, though I don't believe it's particularly pleasant. Neurotoxins with paralytic effects are reported to be quite painful."
I grinned down at the stunned grogax, who seemed to be rather quickly coming to his wits as he listened to our conversation.
"Wait, I'll tell you whatever you want. There are two divine kikai—" he started.
"Oh, we already met them." I waved a hand. "Scheduled to duel with them, all that jazz. No, I'm trying to understand how you ended up in your current position."
"Luck," Perez said hesitantly, "but mostly because I was next in line after the divines killed my boss."
"You mean you were always in gambling?" Brick growled.