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Monoco sat down next to Lune, who was laying on her mat and working on her journal. Of course she was working instead of resting.
"You know the journal is not going anywhere, right? That big Nevron hit you hard, you should be sleeping or eating soup or whatever humans do to recover their strength."
"I relax best when my mind has got something to do. Just because I'm not in fighting shape doesn't mean I can't do something useful." Lune didn't even look up from the journal while saying that.
Monoco had always wondered how one could be as driven and focused on their goal as Lune. Couldn't be the limited lifespan of humans, Sciel took every opportunity she could to have fun. Apropos fun, when Monoco looked at Lune's feet he had an idea. Maybe he could convince her to participate in a small experiment.
"Soo, you have some Pictos in your feet, right?" Monoco asked.
"Yes, I do. Why do you ask?" She pulled her feet closer to herself and finally looked at him.
"Did you ever wonder what would happen if I used my powers on your feet?"
"No, because I can't just detach them from my body like Verso," Lune replied but he saw a spark of curiosity in her eyes.
"But what if I stimulated them by, I don't know, massaging? Best case, we can unlock a new power. Worst case, you get a footmassage," Monoco said.
Lune smiled at him and put away the journal. She stretched her legs again and motioned with her hand towards her feet.
"Who could say no to that? But please remember that human feet are pretty soft compared to Nevron feet," she warned him.
"Don't worry, there are no feet I don't know how to handle," Monoco assured Lune, and got in position by putting her feet on his lap.
He was surprised how soft her feet were even though she never wore shoes. Must be the Pictos, he thought and started to brush over her skin and the golden relief of the embedded Pictos.
Monoco applied pressure here and there, stretched her toes and kneaded at her heels.
"This feels quite nice", Lune said, "but I think you need to use more force to activate my pressure points."
"What are pressure points?"
"Never mind, just don't treat me like a raw egg. I'll say something if it hurts."
So he changed his approach and put some actual pressure on Lune's feet. Once or twice she let out a warning sound and Monoco adjusted his technique accordingly.
Slowly with every stroke on the sole and every push on the right spots Monoco felt a change in the air and in the way Lune reacted. Where she first remained mostly silent with a couple encouraging words whenever he hit the right spot, she now let out a constant stream of content humming.
Monoco was not sure what they wanted to achieve bit he felt that they were close to something. So he worked tirelessly; then he had an idea.
"Lune, do you mind if I use some of my special foot oil?", he asked, already pulling a small clay bottle out of his pocket. Lune put on her skeptical scientist face.
"Depends, what is in it?"
"Mostly oil I pressed from some weird nuts you humans seem to enjoy, and oil from some flowers that smell nice," he explained and held out the bottle so Lune could smell its content.
"Mh, almond oil and jasmine?", Lune said and Monoco shrugged.
"I guess, Verso might have told me a couple decades ago. So you want some?" Monoco had already put a generous amount of oil on his hands when Lune nodded.
The slickness of the oil made it possible for Monoco to move his hands way quicker over Lune's feet, to stroke, knead and stretch them in more efficient ways.
He worked himself into a kind of trance, the world consisted only of him and Lune's feet; even her increasingly intense sounds of pleasure were muffled in his ears. He felt like he was about to achieve something grand, something only he was able to do, something-
Suddenly Lune let out a loud moan and started to shake.
Monoco immediately took off his hands. He watched very concerned while Lune rolled into a ball, breathing heavy and body shivering.
"Lune! Are you okay?! Are you having a - how do you humans call it - a seizure?" he asked, not sure what he should do.
"I'm, huh... I'm fine... No seizure, I just- I just need a minute," Lune said between breaths.
"Are you sure? You look heated and a bit out of it."
"That's normal when you, uhm, climax," Lune said and avoided to look directly at Monoco.
"You what?" Monoco uttered completely confused.
"Right, you Gestral don't reproduce sexually." Lune rubbed the bridge of her nose and let out a long breath, as if to collect herself. "Do you know where human babies come from?"
-
"Hey, guys! We're back! Are you feeling better, Lune?" Sciel threw herself on the mat next to Lune and softly bumped shoulders with the other woman.
"Yes, I'm fine, I'm, ah... fine..." Lune said, flashed a very awkward smile and looked into their campfire, while Monoco shuffled his feet and remained silent.
"What happened? Did you fight?" Verso asked concerned and moved in front of Monoco, trying to look at his face. A moment of silence passed and then-
"You never told me that making more humans is so messy and weird!" Monoco exclaimed, "Why would you do that for fun?!"
"Uh, what?" Verso asked very confused. Meanwhile Sciel was already up on her feet, ran towards Monoco and grabbed his shoulders.
"Nooo, Lune doesn't know anything about the arts of love and passion!"
"Hey!"
"Just give me 15 minutes and you'll think completely different about this!" Sciel said, her eyes shone brightly while Maelle was pretending to throw up.
"Oh no, you won't!" Verso cut in before Sciel could start her lecture, "Lune traumatized him enough, he does not need to know more than he already does."
"I did not traumatize Monoco! I just explained the biological facts of human reproduction to him," Lune said in an offended voice.
While the older expeditioners started a heated discussion, Maelle got close to Monoco.
"You want to ditch these gross old people and find a nevron to beat up?"
"Yes! Esquie! Let's get out of here!"