Chapter 8 #2
“Once your main variation has been identified, you sort through secondary options. That is where the people of Earth have the most diversity.” Studying the three men, he couldn’t seem to decide who to focus on.
“The intensity of pain and emotional preferences will also vary the options. A branching chart to work through might be ideal but I did not find a comprehensive one on Earth. They do what is called winging it. Do you need an explanation of that reference?”
He didn’t seem surprised when Shiloh shook his head but I was pretty sure he was shocked when the two other curious men practiced shaking their heads.
Were they doing it for Shiloh?
Just practicing in general?
“Those were both clear nonverbal signals and the correct ones as long as you were indicating that you did not need an explanation.” When the three men just blinked, Klynn kept going.
It took a lot to throw him off his game.
I liked that.
It was sexy too.
“You must explain to Zorin and Raxius if a response is not clear.” Focusing on Shiloh had the shy man blushing, but Klynn didn’t back down.
“Our nonverbal signals are much smaller and usually more subtle than yours and we use cultural expectation in conversations far more than the people of Earth seem to. They may not understand something is confusing you or upsetting you until a safeword is used. Communicating early will prevent this.”
Shilo’s sigh said they might’ve already run into those issues.
“I…I’m not really good at that.” He seemed to be better at it than he realized because he sat up and took a deep breath. “Shutting down verbally when I get overwhelmed has been an issue in our communication.”
I wasn’t even going to begin to guess at how that shy boy had ended up with those two men.
“What forms of nonverbal communication can you use?” Klynn’s mind jumped to an appropriate response, making me want to pull him into my arms and kiss him. “They are smart enough to learn American Sign Language even if you sometimes question their intelligence.”
Laughing would not have been the right response but both Shiloh and Raxius seemed to get why it was funny if I was reading the silent guy right. There was just something about the way his eyes tightened and his body barely twitched that made me think of laughter.
Shiloh’s shy smile even peeked out for a second before he blushed and glanced at the men he was bracketed between. “I…”
Was overwhelmed.
“Some people shut down when they get overwhelmed.” It seemed like my turn to play BDSM teacher. “It can be just verbally or it can be more than that. You just need ways of communicating physically if that’s the only form of communication you have at the moment.”
There was no way for me to ask about the mind-to-mind communication that mates seemed to have without actually asking if they were mates.
I was guessing they’d get that eventually, but for the moment they needed a way to manage their difficulties. “One finger up means green. You’re fine with whatever is going on. Can you do that?”
One finger went up.
Perfect.
“Two fingers will be slow down.” The faintest pause had him raising a second finger. “Good job.”
Hmm.
Our confused professor looked like he was ready to jump off the couch, so I focused on the quiet guy. “He needs some kind of praise to give him emotional comfort and to reinforce behavior that you like.”
Yes, it was a bit like I was explaining how to train a puppy, but it made Shiloh giggle, so I didn’t worry about it.
Raxius sat there quietly for entirely too long, even for them, but after a few moments he turned to Shiloh.
And made us wait even longer.
What happened to him to make him so hesitant?
Mates were always compatible.
I heard that on repeat every time one new mate got frustrated with the other, so I’d learned that lesson quickly.
Fuck it all.
“Raxius.” Waiting for him to turn to me, I did my best to make sure he saw nothing confusing on my face and kept my expression as neutral as I could. “I want to remind you of several things. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Dom or a sub, you safeword if you need to. Period.”
Nothing.
Nothing.
Nod.
“Second, I know this is new to your entire society. Part of me is sorry we’ve changed your lives in such difficult ways but being a Dom is a wonderful part of my life.
” We’d turned a lot of their lives completely upside down.
“It genuinely makes me happy and has given me ways of dealing with my emotions and needs in a healthy way.”
Did he see that?
“It’s not always easy to talk about but everyone has to start somewhere.
A submissive has to take the first brave step to let someone else take care of them.
A Dom has to trust their sub enough to share what they want and what makes them happy.
To get to that point requires trust and the people of Earth start with verbal and physical communication.
Shiloh might be shy but he’s going to hold up one finger to show that it’s okay for you to touch his head and shoulders while you verbally communicate with him. ”
How many times had Raxius felt out of place?
Was it more than that?
What happened when someone who needed domination or submission lived in a world where no one knew it existed?