Color hit his cheeks for a second, his eyes widening. “Bathroom! You… err…” he paused, mouth working as though he’d lost the ability to form actual words and was just making random shapes.
“You probably need to use the toilet. To… urinate?” he finally managed.
Realization hit her.
“Waste elimination, of course! That’s what it is? Are you sure? I mean… I’ve been in this body less than twenty-four hours. It can’t have built up that much waste already, surely?”
He nodded as she slid off the couch, ushering her toward the facilities. “Yup. Humans need to… eliminate waste often. Several times a day usually for urine, once every day or so for solid matter.”
Even without the onboard sensors of her metal body, she could tell he was embarrassed. After being around him and the other two humans for a while, though, she’d realized that some subjects, especially those concerning bodily functions, were somewhat taboo in conversation. Particularly conversation between the genders.
“Okay, if you’re sure.”
She nodded as she stepped into the bathroom. Jay didn’t follow her, standing at the door.
“What do I do?” she asked, hiding her grin as his expression twisted. But the horrified look was just too much for her and she chuckled.
“Don’t worry. I think I can figure it out,” she said with a wink and shut the door.
A short while later she’d figured out not only how her body worked when it came to waste elimination but had also taken a shower. The lower stomach pain had completely disappeared now, which eased her worries about cellular degradation. Obviously, biological bodies had their own warning signs when something was wrong. She grumbled under her breath. A simple mental alert would have been sufficient, rather than making her feel like she was dying.
Leaving the bathroom wrapped in a large towel, she felt much better with the gunk from the biotube out of her hair. She’d thought she’d gotten it all before but there had been some left behind her ear. She’d been a little sidetracked with the sensation of the water and soap sliding over her skin. The textures and slipperiness had fascinated her all over again.
Jay had cleared away the makeshift bed on the couch, and the blanket was neatly folded and placed in the middle of one of the cushions. She didn’t need the visual measuring aids from her old body to know that all the corners would be ninety degrees and it would be precisely in the center of the cushion.
It hadn’t taken her long after meeting him to see through Jay’s rebellious, didn’t give a draanth attitude to the disciplined soldier beneath. He needed order and routine, craved it. Even when he had no control over anything else, she’d seen him create it with small rituals… like folding a blanket or eating in a particular order.
“There are some clothes on the bed for you,” he called out, his back to her as he sat at the desk, reading on a digital pad.
“Thank you.”
She padded on bare feet toward the bed. Her eyes wide, she picked up the comfortable looking tunic and pants. In a deep burgundy, they were the prettiest things she’d ever owned. She’d never needed to own or wear anything before. The closest she’d ever gotten was maybe a new paint job on her ship body or the time Rynn had glued a shawl to her mobile interface unit when she’d asked what it felt like to have hair.
“Not me.” His deep voice held a note of amusement. “Gracie dropped by while you were in the shower with them. Said they would fit you. I wouldn’t have a clue where to start with women’s clothes and… errr… underwear.”
Keris might have lost a lot of her analytical power when she’d given up her other body, but she could still tell when Jay wasn’t completely honest. She suspected he had far more experience with women’s attire than he made out. Probably mostly in removing them.
A rush of fire ripped through her body, tightening her throat and her chest. She froze, gritting her teeth so hard she was surprised they hadn’t broken. How much pressure was required to break human teeth? Automatically she reached for the knowledge, but it wasn’t there, nor was the ability to analyze the sensations tearing through her.
Why was that? Had she done something… hurt herself? The feeling eased and disappeared.
Biting her lip, she slowly began to get dressed. It took her a few moments to figure out how the underwear worked. It didn’t look like a Latharian design, but without an uplink she couldn’t check. Belonging to a male as she had, she was only familiar with warrior’s clothing and armor and then, later on, assassin’s weaponry and equipment. Never females’ underthings…
They were pretty, though, and the soft fabric and lace felt nice against her skin. She wished she had a mirror. For a moment, her gaze flicked over to where Jay sat. She could just see him through the latticework of the room divider, the tousled spikes of his hair and the width of his broad shoulders.
Heat hit her cheeks. What would he say if she walked out there and asked him what he thought of the underwear? Of her in the underwear. Whether he would want to take it off of her instead of taking some other female’s underwear off—
The heat and tightness in her chest made her gasp this time, her heart thundering. It happened whenever she thought about Jay with another female. Curious.
She pondered on it as she put the other clothes and shoes on, smoothing her tunic over her hips as she emerged from behind the divider. Her knees felt weak and her stomach jumped as she looked over at Jay, waiting to see his reaction.
And… he wasn’t even looking at her.
Deflated, she sighed and walked over.
“What are you reading?” she asked, glancing over his shoulder.
“I think it’s a Latharian legend,” he frowned at the page. “But I can’t make heads nor tails of it.”
She leaned over him, reaching for the pad. “I’m not surprised. This isn’t standard Latharian. It’s one of the ancient texts. It’s not been a spoken language for about a thousand years.”
“Really?” he asked, his voice low and croaky. He cleared his throat before he carried on. “I just thought it was me. Miisan installed a new translation matrix, an experimental one, to let me read and write Latharian. I was hoping looking at the language might kick start it.”
“Hmmm…” she commented, scanning the text. “Unlikely with this. It’s not in the current language codex. And this is an obscure legend anyway. It’s probably not even been translated into the modern dialects.”
“You can read it?” he twisted a little to look up at her.
Leaning over him as she was, she couldn’t help but register his scent as it wrapped around her. The crisp spicy-green aroma of the cleansing gel in the shower warmed by his skin and something else. She couldn’t identify it, but she itched to get closer… to bury her nose in the curve of his neck and fill her lungs. Draw him in.
“Yes.” She nodded. “I am… was programmed with every Latharian language and dialect from the S’inaar period to present day.”
“Really?” He arched an eyebrow. “You managed to retain all that knowledge during the switch?”
Before she could answer, a deep growl cut her off. Jumping, she spun around, rubbing her aching stomach as she looked for the source of the noise. It sounded low and organic, like an animal. Perhaps something had gotten in there with them.