Page 31 of Yorix

I pursed my lips, desperately trying not to giggle at their antics. Mylos might be big, muscly warriors but they were also adorable as hell.

Korah stiffened in offense. “Not a coward! How could you even suggest such a thing?” They stopped in front of the door.. “I’m thinking strategic retreat. After an hour, we could call, and if he’s not decided, have him come home, make him a nice meal, offer him a glass of wine, give him a massage, and once he’s nice and relaxed, we can offer to help him.”

“And by relaxed, you mean loose from all the wine and a massage that is foreplay to a hot and heavy bout of sex,” Oshar scoffed.

I shook with silent laughter. This was pure gold. I couldn’t wait to tell Chris this story later.

“Well, yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?”

The door opened, revealing Chris with Lucille behind him.“We could hear you out there talking! Thank goodness you’re here. I don’t know what to do. Everything looks great but it’s so expensive!”

Korah and Oshar exchanged looked at each other. “Okay, well, let’s pretend these don’t cost anything, okay? And look at the top three you liked best,” Oshar finally suggested.

“Because it’s free to us and the Fleet is the one paying for it?” Chris asked. “I thought of that, but I don’t want anyone to spend unnecessary money on me. It feels wrong!”

Korah stepped closer to him and placed his hands on his shoulders. “Shh. Calm down.”

Oops. Wrong thing to say. He knocked Korah’s hands off his shoulders and took a step backward.

“Don’t you shush me and tell me to calm down,” he replied, indignant.

Oshar glanced back at me. I held up both of my hands in a “See what I mean?” gesture. He sighed in response before turning back to face Chris. “You know we don’t have actual money in bank accounts like humans do, right?”

Chris stared at him “Yeah?”

“So while serving in the Fleet, we work in exchange for all we need and whatever we want within reason. This includes living expenses and medical care for extended family if we so choose, and paying for guests to attend significant events, and so on.”

Chris deflated, the tension leaving his body. “So what you’re saying is while you’re not paying cash, you are bartering and have banked or will bank enough work to pay the Fleet back for all of this.”

Oshar nodded in silent agreement.

“And when I start selling books or whatever, it’ll go into the kitty to help pay it back too?”

Korah stepped forward, giving him a quick peck on the lips. “Yes, so to speak. That’s all I was trying to say as well.”

“Alright,” he sighed. “That I can live with. Just don’t ever try to calm people down by telling them to calm down and definitely don’t shush anyone but a child or a dog,” he scolded Korah, who had the good sense to look abashed.

“I’m sorry, honey.”

“Right, um, so there’s actually four I really, really like,” Chris said, turning and gesturing for his mates to follow him inside, closing the door.

Several minutes later, Oshar poked his head out.

“You’re done already?” I asked, feeling optimistic.

“Yep. Now we need to know what colors to order for the rest of us, and a few other things.”

“Yes!” I shouted, jumping up from the seat I’d settled down to wait in, clapping my hands as I did so. Now we could get down to the final nitty gritty: choosing the suits for our grooms. They simply needed to be the right colors, preferably in the same style as Chris’s. Easy peasy, right?