Part 4: Picture This

“Our first press day?" Toby asked, as he lay on a mattress on a desk next to Mae's hotel room bed.

He and Mae were on a direct line to Saos. The AI's features were lovingly rendered through the holographic interface on Mae's yutri.

“Yes. Pictures in the park for Mae'eliis, and some audio interviews for you." Saos cheered them on.

Despite the dry subject matter, she still had that unshakable positivity. Toby figured being rich and disembodied didn't give her much reason to frown. Press days were one of the items detailed in Saos' initial email dump. On mercifully rare occasions, Sixth Eye would stop somewhere on the road between gigs, have cameras and/or microphones shoved in their faces all day, and then round things off with an afterparty after some other group's performance. Toby's yutri pinged in his ear. A new message, and likely a new headache.

“Those would be your directions, Mae'eliis. Tobias, that's your interview schedule. You have five minutes."

Toby smiled and nodded despite the surprise that shot through him. Cal-Gea moved fast, he was aware, but that was hardly any time at all.

“Silly question, but are there any complaints you would like to levy before I go?"

Mae's huge eyes practically screamed at him to say something. He knew she was right. Their first afterparty was a train wreck, and they even had to bring their own human sized mattress to the hotel since it was too cheap to accommodate his species. The only thing that stopped him was the cackle that hissed from Mae's yutri. Saos cracking up at the thought of them even having problems killed his every desire to speak out.

“Nah. Everything's fine, Saos." He injected some fake cheer into his voice, just as much trying to convince himself as he was their handler. Mae gawked at him like he sprouted a second head, but Saos was overjoyed. Any of their candid feelings slipped far beneath the AI's notice.

“Excellent! I'll leave you kids to it. Buh-bye!"

Saos's image dissipated, taking the quiet hum of the yutri's hologram projector with her. Toby received another message, again from Saos. With some trepidation, he opened it to find dozens upon dozens of yellow smiley faces. Toby's brow would have left his face if it rose any higher. Mae had curled up onto the lavish double bed the hotel gave her. She was incredibly let down by something, that he could tell.

“Oh, Toby. Why didn't we make any complaints?" Mae looked genuinely lost, but Toby didn't give her much guidance.

“What's there to complain about?" He knew the answer very well. Not that it stopped Mae from telling him.

“Where do we even start? Your bedding, the tour schedule, the party!" She sighed, “You, being stuck in this hotel all day. It's not fair to you."

Mae's hand slithered closer to him, stopping the second Toby began to back away from her. He could have sworn he heard a little whine come from her throat. “It's fine." Toby insisted.

“Are you sure? You never enjoyed being stuck like this before." She simpered, tail worriedly twitching on the bed spread.

Toby wasn't having it. “I'm very sure. Me being here all day is fine."

Mae's brow raised, a gesture she borrowed from him. She didn't seem to believe him. It was true, though. Outside of concerts and afterparties, his contract forbade him from travelling outside of hotel rooms or Cal-Gea owned vehicles. The human injury suits were too costly to take so many risks. He'd bemoaned the restrictions before, but recent events had made him embrace them despite his lingering resentment.

“No, I'm serious." He stressed, “You go out there and enjoy that shoot. I've got methods of keeping myself entertained."

“If you say so." Mae still worried. The reassuring quality he aimed for must have eluded him, as it often did when he tried to force it. She pulled herself off a bed that creaked louder than a truck's engine and walked to the door. When her hands pushed it open, she turned to him.

“It's going to be hot out." She said, one foot outside in the hallway. “I would have loved to complain about it with you."

“Maybe next time." He laughed.

She left looking wary and unsure of herself, even if a tiny hint of optimism still peaked through. The lock clanked behind her, and he was finally alone. That fabled first call could have happened at any second. Instead of preparing, he chose to ruminate on what happened a few days ago.

Ark and Kio. Those girls were everything he feared from aliens before he met one. The businessmen mostly referred to him as 'the Human' without any genuine engagement. He was a complete non-factor to them. An asset, not a performer. And they were the 'nice' ones. Then there was Mae. A dear friend, and a musician he'd clicked with like no other, giant or not. Or at least, that was what he once believed. Between her freezing up when Kio manhandled him and her recent jumpy behavior, the line between 'concerned about a friend' and 'forced to take care of a useless little alien' had been blurred. In any case, he wasn't exactly in the best of moods when the interviewer finally called.

--

Mae wasn't a fan of the heat. Her thick coat and broad paws ensured that. Trying to wade through the humid air made appreciating the park's beautiful greenery a far sight harder. The fact that they were in the middle of Tebeish's equator during the summer didn't help her temperament either.

“And one, two, three!" She heard a cameraman say, as he snapped another picture.

She almost forgot what species he was when he'd hidden behind the black tarp for so long. Regardless, Mae smiled for the camera and leaned against a nearby tree, arms crossed as she'd been instructed. Another loud, startling snap emanated from the camera. A second cameraman ducked in and out, vying for some good B-roll to put in an upcoming news segment on the band.

“We want happiness for this shot. Think of something that makes you happy."

She leaned against a nearby bench, pulling out a drumstick she'd been given for the shoot and balancing it between her fingers. She knew one thought that could cheer her up. The thought that she had left her old life behind at last. Those days, stuck on a different planet along with her drooling beast of a mother, were finally dead and buried. These pictures were living proof, and that alone made the emotions in them a lot more genuine.

“Two more. We want a serious face. Think sad thoughts."

Mae let her mind drift to thoughts of Toby. Her bandmate was far too willing to be stuck in that stuffy hotel room for his own good. Those girls must have hurt him much more than he let on. That much was typical, really. Toby always tried to keep those more vulnerable feelings to himself. She didn't want to force him into talking about them, but she pined for the day that he finally did. Her face fell into a grimace, her tail wrapped around a leg. A perfect shot.

“One more before we switch locations, Ms. Delphin. Give us something hopeful."

She pulled her lips into a smirk, angled her neck towards the sky and turned to give him a side profile. She came up short on thoughts that made her feel hopeful, but she managed to fake it well enough. It felt wrong, so unlike the version of her that came out on stage. Sometimes she just had to be somebody else. She had to be spirited, confident, immovable. She had to be Mae'eliis Delphin, a grab bag of prior emotions and projected self-assurance. She hadn't the faintest idea if Mae'eliis was 'real', but Mae'eliis could certainly give them a very good show.

The cameramen wrapped up and congratulated her. The praise rang hollow. The day was far from over. Next up were some pictures at the nearby eateries in town, some interviews in the hotel room, and an afterparty to go to. In any case, Mae was going to need Mae'eliis again very soon.

--

The afterparty was hosted at a glitzy uptown nightclub a few streets away from their hotel. A sharp, clean looking metal structure drenched in what Toby could only understand as neon lights. Toby and Mae didn't have to worry about being alone this time. The two of them made sure that Cass and Endi were on the list, but they'd still arrive much later. Toby sat in Mae's hands again. Next to her stomach as usual, yet sorely lacking the feeling of security it once gave him.

“Are you sure that you want to do this, Toby?"

Mae kept her head forward as she walked them to the entrance.

“Yeah. Now that I'm prepared." He said, hugging a rapidly warming six pack of beer as if it were his own child.

“But what if something happens when you're drunk?"

A slight twitch entered Mae's movements, which only made Toby more frustrated. She had definitely started to tip into 'concerned about tiny, useless alien' territory, in his estimation. “Look, I'll be fine. I can drink any of you giants under the table, OK?" He stressed, a bit more aggressively than he meant it.

Mae stopped walking for a second. He couldn't quite tell what face she was making, but the sad little hum she let out killed him to hear. “That's the first time you've called me that. A 'giant'." She whimpered.

“Oh! I didn't mean-“ He tried to apologize, though the words died in his throat.

A dreadful silence fell between them. He'd hurt her. She tried to hide it in her voice and saw no success. It was true. He said it in his head, but Toby had never called her 'giant' out loud. It simply never seemed appropriate when he spoke to her. He could tell that he was headed down a dangerous road. If he didn't pull up the roots of these emotions, then their differences may well have been the only thing he thought about. And that hurt far more than anything an alien's wanton hands could do to him.

Mercy graced them when they reached the club door. The same neishor bouncer from last time stood in the way, every bit as invincible as before. He reminded Toby too much of the last party for him not to tense up, and Mae felt the same. The bouncer let them in without a hassle. Though not before prodding Mae and rumbling, “You make nice songs." That alone managed to lighten the dark cloud above Toby's head. It soothed the soul to learn that a big guy like him enjoyed their music.

The atmosphere of the place hit him hard. He couldn't see much, but what he could see was dimly lit and polished to a mirror sheen. In the middle of the club lay a writhing mosh pit, filled with bodies that flowed like waves. It was the kind of sight he saw at their concerts all the time, he was proud to say.

Surveying the current clientele gave Toby some doubts. Almost all of them dressed casually. He'd have thought that they'd walked in on some other party by accident if he didn't know better. Sadly, it wasn't enough to put him at ease. The suits weren't the ones who tried to cop a feel on him last time. Toby tried to put it out of his mind. He couldn't assume every other person would grind his bones to make their bread.

Mae set him down on an unoccupied table, as had become the standard for their proceedings. He'd been on so many that he almost forgot what solid ground felt like. Toby was about to crack his first can open, before Mae's sour expression got to him. Her cautious optimism was long gone. She didn't even sit down once she laid him on the table. Opting instead to stand up and hold her hand in front of him to keep him guarded.

A frightening growl revved in her throat. She looked just about ready to kill the first person she saw. It crushed him to see her in that state. Even if she didn't consider him a burden, he certainly felt like one when she acted like this. Toby stowed the drinks for the moment. He knew better than to try and console somebody else when he was tipsy.

“Look, Mae. I don't wanna ruin this party for you just by being here."

“You're not." She murmured.

“Really? You look like you're gonna fucking pounce on somebody."

Mae groaned and desperately avoided eye contact. Toby's instincts told him to hold one of her fingers and reassure her, but questions of how much she could feel him forced his arms to his sides. “Everything's gonna be fine." He swore, “This is supposed to be fun. Just try and relax, OK?"

He barely came up short on looking like he believed what he said himself. Mae looked back at him and sighed. Her tail curved in submission. “I'm sorry, Toby. I can try and relax."

Toby gave her a nod. He wasn't sure where they stood anymore, but at least she was still the big timid drummer he knew and loved. That aside, he had a goal. He needed to make a statement. Show her that he wasn't a little walking target. That he could put everything back on track. That booing the worst he had to fear from the larger folk.

“I have an idea." He said, continuing when he was sure she was listening. “Go up to the first person you see and tap them on the shoulder. Then you bring them back here, and we'll just talk."

“I don't think I can." Mae sighed, shuffling her hand off the table in trepidation.

“'Course you can. Look, there's a guy now." He pointed to a man sat on the table next to them.

Toby couldn't see his face, but he could tell the man was one of those tiger looking ralai. Ra'tieen, if he recalled correctly. He was enormous. Probably a few heads (or stories) taller than Mae and a good deal wider to boot. There were a couple of empty glasses, or whatever the outer space equivalent was called, strewn about the table in front of him. Toby figured that he must not have had much occupying his time.

“Tap him on the shoulder. You can do it!" He finally managed to muster that reassuring aura he was gunning for.

Fully resigned, Mae diligently, if hesitantly, took his suggestion. Even if she had to ball her hands into fists to stop herself from shaking. A fuzzy finger prodded the man's shoulder. He looked about the same as Toby figured he would. Mae, on the other hand, swooned in starstruck delight.

“It's you!"

--

“You're Hare'ker!"

Mae beamed at him. She could hardly contain her excitement over seeing somebody so famous, much less someone she crushed on as an adolescent. He was every bit as handsome and charismatic as the pictures made him out to be. His incredible muscles, pristine fur just the right shade of orange, and even his intoxicating natural aroma. Though in turn, she could have sworn she smelled at least three different types of alcohol on him.

“And you're Mae'eliis Delphin." His every word was a purr, as deep and sultry as it was in his songs.

“You know me?" She gasped.

Of course, Mae was so astounded she nearly forgot to breathe. “I know everyone." Was his lone reply, perfectly downplayed like he was known for.

Mae laughed. The still lucid part of her mind was confident that his comment wasn't literal. Her little bandmate still stood beside her hand, and he was completely lost. Clearly some introductions were in order. “Toby, this is Hare'ker. He's enormous in the ra'lai music world. Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, he can do it all."

Toby was visibly impressed. He held his hand out in a traditional human greeting. The mechanics of which were sketchy at best in this context, but she hoped Hare'ker appreciated the intent. “Pleasure to meet you!"

“I'm sure it is." Hare'ker grumbled in return. His friendly smile didn't reach his ears, though Mae tried not to let his strange reaction color her judgement.

“Mae'eliis, I'm blessed to have found you here. You see, my live drummer was causing too much trouble for the rest of us, and we had to let her go. Having a talent like you behind me would be an honor."

He wanted her. Her, of all people! It was an offer she could only have dreamed of before, and she was sorely tempted. She thought of the places she could go, the people she could meet. Everything the life of a touring musician promised her could have been hers if she went under his wing. It was almost too good to pass up.

Almost.

“What about Toby?"

A serious air seeped into the room. Hare'ker frowned, completely uncomprehending. “Toby?"

Mae's good mood soured in one fell swoop. “My bass player?"

Hare'ker finally seemed to understand when she pointed in Toby's direction. Though the knowledge only irritated him. “My apologies, Mae'eliis. I meant no offense. However, I don't see a niche that the Human could reasonably fill."

Hare'ker tried to sound remorseful. He could mask his emotions vocally well enough, but the slight twitch in his tail and his dilated pupils gave him away. He was putting on a show, projecting his finer qualities to get what he wanted. And she wouldn't allow him that right.

“No."

No. She said no. Stated with such definitive authority that even she was shocked by it. Hare'ker let out a heavy sigh and readjusted his approach.

“I know that you must have a 'bond' but think about it like this. I had to leave my band behind before I became a success, and the same could be true for you."

Hare'ker brought her in close. His impassioned confidence sounded more and more affected as he went on. “I've given you one of the greatest opportunities you'll ever have, Mae'eliis, and young talent like yours will not got to waste under my watch."

Mae pulled herself away. The growl returned to her throat and rattled her gums. “Oh! So my talent is 'going to waste' now?" She snarled.

Internally, Mae was panicking. Outwardly, she was livid. Hare'ker's striped tail angrily thrashed behind him. It could have swept Toby off the table if Mae hadn't stood between them. Bitterness drenched him. “It will go to waste if you keep letting your 'bass player' hold you back. I'm sure that the Hum-“

“Toby."

“Toby would understand." Hare'ker rumbled, the smokescreen of positivity had well and truly faded.

“Why don't you ask him about it, then?"

Mae couldn't believe the kinds of things that came out of her mouth. Any other time, the wall would have stopped her dead in her tracks, but she wasn't the one making the progress. She was drawing upon a persona, pulled from specific traits amplified to the nth degree. Mae'eliis had come out in full force. She said everything that Mae couldn't, even if the vile creature she spoke to wouldn't listen.

“And why would I do that?" Hare'ker scoffed.

His hands itched for combat, claws unsheathed. It was nearly enough to cut through Mae's resolve, before Toby finally spoke up.

“Cause I'm not deaf, dickhead."

A fearsome growl, nearly a roar in and of itself, bellowed from Hare'ker's chest. He'd reached a boiling point. “Mae'eliis. Your proximity to this 'friend' of yours is clouding your judgement. You're too attached. Let's take this conversation outside."

He strangled Mae's arm in a tight enough grip to cut off the circulation. The claw of his thumb poked at her fur, and very nearly pierced her skin. Mae almost melted down on the spot. She trembled, her pulse pounded. If she wasn't hyperventilating yet, then she was frighteningly close. Mae would have passed out from the stress if not for the angry little voice to her right.

“Oi, face-ache!"

She and Hare'ker turned to see Toby on the table. His blunt teeth clenched in a rage. If he were any other species, she'd be frightened of him. Unluckily for him, Toby was a human. Small, fragile, perishable. The last person on the planet who could have done anything about Hare'ker's advances, and one whose future wellbeing was sorely in doubt.

“Do you have a problem with me, Toby?" He retched her friend's name like poison.

“You think this is about me?" Toby yelled, startling even Hare'ker. “She said no, so get your hands off her!"

Hare'ker didn't budge. Instead, he leered at Toby in a vicious glee. “Or what? I think her coddling has made you forget something important."

Hare'ker dragged himself and Mae back towards the table. Clenching his free fingers, he scraped thin lines perilously close to Toby's legs. The scene was enough to alert more nearby club goers. A distant camera flash made Mae wince. Somebody had the gall to record it, and yet nobody felt the need to help.

“The club can fix that. They can't fix you."

Toby looked at the scratch mark in horror. She could feel the fright coming from him. If Hare'ker terrified her, she could hardly imagine what Toby must have felt. Even then, Toby didn't back down. The little human gathered his courage, looked Hare'ker in the eye, and did the unthinkable. He laughed in his face. Loud, unashamed, and humiliating to the monster that had restrained her. She felt Hare'ker's fur bristle with anger. Trying to insult an ego like his was a dangerous game. The laughter went as quick as it came, and Toby snapped back into the righteous anger that made his presence known in the first place.

“You're threatening humans now? What? Was manhandling a girl with anxiety not enough for you? You're pathetic!"

“That's it!" Hare'ker threw her arm aside with murder in his eyes.

Hare'ker roared at the top of his lungs and lunged at the offending human. Toby, frightened for his life, managed to evade Hare'ker's first attempt at a grab. He was about to try another, but, thankfully, crowd chatter and camera flashes brought him back to reality. Everybody got their eyeful of the scene: a growling half-drunk celebrity harassing a woman half his size and a human ten times smaller than that. In the midst of the panic, Mae reached back to Toby, and gently scooped him up to her chest. Hare'ker shot her a spiteful glare.

“Ra'hamiir!" He snarled before he skulked out of their lives.

Everything he said and did appalled her. He must have done so many awful things to people in the past. Even thinking about her pubescent dreams of him made her want to vomit. Then there was Toby. So brave, so uncompromising in his defense of her. And so insanely reckless to have tried it in the first place.

“What were you thinking?" She pressed the still frightened human.

He put an arm in front of himself defensively. “The guy was literally dragging you away, Mae. The hell was I supposed to do?"

“He was angry and drunk. You could have died!"

Toby waved off her concern, not that it helped much. “He would've stopped. If he didn't, he never would have lived it down."

“But if he didn't, you might not have lived at all!"

Her yelling made Toby flinch. Mae didn't even realize she was doing it, but she tried her best to remember her guardian etiquette and calmed down. She was very thankful that Toby still had his ear protection installed. She couldn't stand the thought of having him fear her again, much less deafening him. “Please. I know you care about me, but you can't put yourself in danger like this."

Toby shook his head. She feared that her pleas fell on deaf ears. “I'm not gonna leave you hanging out to dry like that, Mae. Not ever." He said.

Mae's ears folded. “Like I did when you needed me?" She keened.

The memory still stung, and likely would for some time. He showed courage that she simply hadn't back then, and yet he still had to suffer for it. Toby didn't appear to be suffering anymore, however. Instead, he seemed thankful for her.

“But you said no, Mae. You stood up to him. That takes balls."

That genuine comforting quality he had returned in full. Mae tried to take the strangely phrased compliments on the chin, but she didn't stand up to Hare'ker. Mae'eliis did. Though she doubted she could ever adequately explain that to him.

“I suppose so." She smiled.

Seeing the bright side of things, that was something Toby was always good at. That, and staying brave in the face of stacked odds. Dangerous as it was, that ability to face off with somebody over twelve times his size was something she admired.

“I can admit, the way you said, 'get your hands off her' gave me quite a rush." She said with a light chuckle.

“Well, I wanted to chuck a beer can at him and say, 'get the fuck off my drummer,' but I don't think it would have translated." He told her, returning to his little holster of beverages at long last.

“You were going to get him off me by having sex with him?" She balked at what she just heard through her earpiece.

Toby snickered, and that told her all she needed to know.

“Oh. it's that word, isn't it? That ugly little four-letter word you love so much."

“Yeah. Still don't know why you won't say it."

“Because I'll never understand what it means." She lamented, more hurt by the lack of knowledge than she could admit. Some things remained lost in translation, despite her best efforts to learn.

“Well, it means anything you want, I guess. Just fit it to the context." He shrugged.

Fit it to the context. Mae didn't have much time to think that over, as Endi tapped her shoulder not long after. She and Cass's mech stood behind them, presumably having had much less trouble with the bouncer this time. Mae was immediately reminded of what she'd meant to discuss with her since that whole shower debacle.

Ra'hamiir. That's what Hare'ker called her. The name of the home world, but over time it had come to mean 'half breed'. She hadn't heard the dreaded term in years, even from other ra'lai. Having it resurface at one of these terrible parties was only appropriate. That in mind, Endi was the only person in recent years who'd seen her naked. If Endi was as fixated on her stripes as the Cal-Gea staff seemed to be, then she'd at least be honest about it. And Mae needed to know.

“Endi, can I talk to you alone for a moment?" She begged.

Endi turned to her charge, instantly grabbing his attention. “Cass, we're going to be gone for a little while. Make sure Toby doesn't do anything stupid." Endi told him.

Her tone was stern, but Mae could tell that Endi put the utmost trust in him. After receiving the go-ahead from the boys, Mae gently locked hands with Cass's mech. Toby crawled into the mech's palm without any trouble. When both parties were settled, Cass crossed his free arm along his chest in a sarcastic UTO salute. Mae was almost certain something would go wrong after that. If the partygoers didn't kill them, then the boys might have ended up killing each other anyway.

Regardless, Mae pulled Endi over to Hare'ker's empty table. Despite her feelings about its former occupant, it was the closest they could be to their smaller friends while staying outside of earshot. Mae balled a fist atop her mouth as she cleared her throat. “Endi. Do you remember when you showered me?" She trailed off.

She couldn't quite complete the thought. Yet to her surprise, Endi instantly understood. Or at least, she appeared to. “No need to worry. I stayed well clear of your 'second tail'!" She said with a strange, almost performative, cheer.

“My 'second tail'?" Mae was completely baffled by this turn of events. Endi must have rehearsed this scenario in her mind over and over. Not a shred of it helped Mae understand what she was implying.

Endi's smile wavered, downright stunned that Mae didn't know what she was talking about. “Andrew said that 'second tail' was the phrase that hermaphrodites used when they were ashamed of their penises." Endi told her with the utmost sincerity, as if it were a fact of life she had somehow missed.

Mae reeled in shock. “Wh-what? I'm not ashamed of— Hold on, I've never even heard of this 'second tail' thing!"

“Andrew lied?" Endi tensed up in anger, furless fists clenched at her waist.

“Yes, Andrew lied!" Mae screamed through gritted teeth, sounding somewhere between an angry growl and an embarrassed whine.

“I see. He's mine." Endi cracked her knuckles.

Mae had to stop herself from burying her head in her hands. Andrew sounded like a human name. She couldn't fathom what Endi would do to him, let alone why she'd trust a human to tell her about supposed non-human slang. Part of her wanted to slap Endi right then and there. The rest of her wanted to go find a room for her and her 'second tail' to cry in.

“Never mind." Mae muttered.

After a quick pause to gather her thoughts, she took a deep breath, and started the conversation afresh. “How much did you touch my stripes?" Mae whispered.

She quietly dreaded the kind of answer Endi's honesty would force out of her mouth.

“I held you by your armpits, so hardly at all." Endi told her, almost robotically.

“Did you want to?"

Endi shook her head. “What would be the point?"

Feeling an immense warmth, Mae reached out and hugged Endi tight. Both of her arms wrapped around Endi's smaller waist, oversized paws locked over each other.

“Why are you hugging me?"

Mae didn't respond.

“Mae?"

She held Endi tighter.

“Mae? Hello?"

--

The metal of the mech's hand was cold to the touch. Worlds away from Mae's all-encompassing warmth, though that didn't stop him from taking inventory of the nights events. His attempt to assuage Mae's fears for him backfired tremendously. She was right. Hare'ker could have killed him in a second for confronting him. The terrible adrenaline crash he was going through proved it beyond any doubt.

At the very least, the other people in the crowd seemed as horrified as they were about his actions. He always hated people like Hare'ker. He'd have knocked him to the floor if he could. Just like he did to schoolyard bullies when he was young. But that simply wasn't the world he lived in. Just like the other night, he felt powerless in every sense.

“What happened, lad?" Cass pried from on high.

Toby was entirely unprepared, only managing to slur out a, “Huh?"

“You're drifting off, lad. Something's wrong, so speak up." He demanded, a far cry from the kind of conduct he'd come to expect from Mae.

Being in his hand got him comparing the two of them, despite him knowing how ridiculous it was. “Really not in the mood, Cass." He said, keeping his voice as level as possible.

“Right. You're not in the mood cause something happened. What was it?" Cass demanded, devoid of snark for once.

“Nothing, it's just—" He stopped himself.

If he wasn't discussing this with Mae, then he certainly wasn't about to do it with Cass. But he wanted some input, at least. He chose his next words carefully. He needed to talk about it without talking about it. “The aliens. Did they ever get weird with you?"

Toby tried to kill any lingering emotion in his voice, though it seemed he overcorrected.

“What do you mean?"

Toby crossed his arms, keeping his back turned to the mech's optics. “I mean, give you funny looks. Say weird things. Try and touch you. All that shit."

“Not in my mech." Cass told him nonchalantly.

“And when you were out of it?"

“Right, who feckin' touched you?" Cass growled with a surprising amount of anger. Toby never knew he cared.

“Nobody. Just humor me. Please."

Cass groaned, more tired than irritated. “Yep. All the ladies I met at Cal-Gea looked at me like a toy. The fellas just wanted to push me around."

The story was very familiar to Toby, though it lacked a crucial detail. “And the people outside Cal-Gea?"

“Dunno. Never met the folks. Should be about the same, though. Cal-Gea doesn't change you much."

“Fuck off." Toby spat. “You can't expect me to believe every single person out there looks at us like toys."

“They do when you don't reach their ankles, idiot."

Toby was aghast. He knew Cass could be cynical, but this was a whole new level. “You really believe that shit? You're a charge, man!"

“Me being a charge is why I believe that shit." Cass spat back.

An ugly, disgusting disdain tarred his voice. Toby took a step back, struck by what Cass was implying.

“Endi? That gal never looked down on me, always treated me equal. I'm a person to her. But that's cause she had training."

“That's not—"

“They train guardians to stop 'em from seeing us as cute, for pity's sake. Imagine that! Training! Reminding 'em over and over that we're actual feckin' people until they finally grasp it! Where's that leave all the untrained folks, dare I ask?"

Toby didn't have an answer for him, as Cass probably expected. He didn't want to believe it. There were decent aliens other than Mae and Endi. The bartenders from their old gigs. The bouncer at the door. But Toby didn't know if he could trust those memories anymore. He wasn't joined at the hip with them like a charge was to his guardian, so he would never truly know if their version of equality matched his.

“Chuck that care bear shite out your head, lad. It does you no good."

Cass finally stopped twisting the knife after that. He sounded oddly warm despite his bitter, bleak outlook. Perhaps he thought he was giving some real sage advice that would spare Toby future heartache. Cass very well could have been for all he knew. Toby couldn't tell what he hated more; the thought that people like Hare'ker weren't a minority, or the fact that he had such little experience to counter his friend with. But Cass was wrong. He knew it.

He had to be.