Page 24 of Mated By Twilight

Next thing she knew, her combot was ringing – telling her it was time to wake up. She was going to learn how to clean and set up the backstage area today. It was her last day of work before a couple days off. The show was tomorrow, and the others insisted she enjoy the show instead of work. It was her first zero-g play, her first time seeing her mates perform, and her first alien story she’d heard. They wanted her to enjoy it, and the time afterwards.

She fully expected to do more, honestly. Robots really did make the labor easier. Even when she did something, everyone was careful not to give her anything too taxing or intensive. They seemed quite concerned about her size and strength. And considering she’d seen some of them deadlift things she couldn’t even tilt up on one side, she couldn’t really argue.

Besides that, there wasn’t as much of a work culture here. Work to break time seemed to be about fifty/fifty in terms of hours. Not even including sleeping hours. So, what she considered to be a half day’s work, they called a full day’s work.

Were they much more relaxed than humanity, or had humanity just not yet caught up to where the rest of the universe was?She really didn’t know, but she did feel extraordinarily lazy only being expected to work a few of her waking hours.

Leah was excited to do things though! Cleaning wasn’t particularly exciting or glamorous, but it was familiar. Even though it was significantly higher tech here in space, wiping dust could really only be done a certain number of ways. She had been told growing up that cooking and cleaning for her future husband was the most rewarding thing she could aspire to achieve, the only real job a woman should hope for. She didn't believe that anymore, at least, not really, beyond that initial, knee jerk reaction her parents had trained into her. But it still felt familiar and good to keep things tidy.

With everything else changing so drastically around her, was it any wonder that she threw herself into basic chores with such enthusiasm?

Aside from where she was working today, the chores were very similar to yesterday. The people she stayed with were the same. The tools she used were more familiar to her now. She was a bit more cautious picking lunch, but otherwise, it was a nice day with her new friends until her new mates showed up. And that was still not something she was used to stating, even to herself.

But it was fun. And it was easy. More than anything, it felt stable and safe.

Then, came the day of the show. She was told not to worry about cleaning. Instead, Sollit and Tillos showed up that morning to pick her up. She was going to be following them around as they got ready just to get the full experience.

She wasn’t sure what full experience people meant initially. It was nice to eat breakfast with them – there were only a few bugs this time – and it was certainly nice to get to know them a littlebit better, but she doubted the audience got this as part of their experience typically.

Then, they changed into their costumes.

The costume room was run by a single male who was only slightly taller than her, making him very short for a domini male. But what he lacked in height, he more than made up for in attitude. He snapped at Tillos and Sollit when they walked in, barking orders at them immediately, and with great annoyance, as he pushed them towards a single changing room. It happened so fast, Leah was too surprised to move. She froze further when, the moment the twins were out of sight, the short male locked his eyes on her.

“You!” He leveled a finger at her – claws glittering brightly and shortened to near non-existence. “I don’t have your measurements.”

“Oh, I’m not-”

“Here!” He snapped, pointing to a stool in front of a mirror.

“But I’m not-”

“I didn’t stutter! Come. Now.”

He grabbed her wrist when she didn’t move and pulled her forward. He might be short, but he was still strong. She had no choice but to be yanked over and onto the stool. She blinked at herself in the mirror, surprised, as the short male – who hadn’t even introduced himself – moved around her, snapping orders at his combot as it slowly rotated her, scanning her with a blue laser light. It took a stunned moment to realize it was his measuring tape.

“What is this you’re wearing? Rags?” He asked, lifting her sweater. “You’ve got a nice body under this. Why aren’t you showing it?”

“Hey!” Leah, gasping, jerked the hem back down when he pulled it up over her belly button.

“Ugh,” he made a face, glaring at her. “I’m not interested! But the fact that you drape yourself in trash is disgusting. Where’s the color? Where’s the form? Where’s thepersonality!?”

“I’m comfortable.”

“Ugh!” He repeated, head dropping back. “Was there ever a more insulting word to the world of fashion and good taste as ‘comfortable’?”

Leah frowned. “I’m not one of the actresses.”

“Of course, you’re not,” he sneered, picking at her loose chinos. “Actresses havepresence. Where is yourpresence?You have none. You’re like wallpaper. No one looks at you, and the ones who do don’t find anything to care about.”

“Hey,” she pulled away from him, stepping off the stool. “That’s not nice.”

“You want nice, go buy something. Salespeople will be happy to lie to you.” He stuck his nose in the air, looking down on her.

“You can’t just talk to people like that,” she muttered, backing away from him.

“You wouldn’t be upset if I was wrong,” he countered through pursed lips. “You know you have no presence. You’re doing it on purpose.”

“Wha-”