Relationships with Samurai heavily skew towards the sapphic, either in single couples or poly puddles. The most well known example being Foxfire and her whole family in Austria, shows that it is possible to fulfill that fantasy safely and with minimal drama. Hilariously, most of the single couples that last longer than a year are also lesbians, like me and Bo, and the straight couples who are still together were married well before one of them initialized. Heracles and his wife, High Noon and his, they even had kids before they initialized. I'm not saying all straight couples are doomed, but I do know that Bo has gone on more than one drunken rant about how every couple would be better off without a penis, that way there is no measuring contests.

  …Hah! Yeah, there would also be less compensations happening, BlueGang23. And probably a lot less road rage related incidents.

  -Vanguard Red Menace doing a mukbang stream, turtle meat based, 2056

  After finishing my fourth bowl of the peanut pasta, I made my way to the pool area. I had discovered that I quite enjoy the feeling of floating in water, just beneath the surface. Plus, due to the nanites in the water, I wasn't dirtying it if I didn't shower ahead of time.

  Shifting my armor to be trunks and a breathing mask, with some dots on my back to keep me perfectly buoyant, I slipped into the main pool, shifting the screens that make up the walls and ceiling to show the feed that Morrigan set up on the moon. Before I relaxed, however, I did see her lab had changed significantly, or rather, the facade of it had.

  What was once a series of blocks stacked on each other, now it looked like a glacier formation, with huge chunks of blue ice forming different vistas and plateaus, connected by looping ice bridges and slides. There were a number of different penguins waddling about the ice, playing and sliding about, however I saw that they also wielded various rifles and armors. I had no clue as to why we had a space force of penguins currently, as the lab should have been far enough away from any of the settlements on the moon already, but that was future me’s problems.

  I slip beneath the water, just an inch below the surface, feeling the coolness wash over my skin, taking away the sweat and grime of the last few hours. Thinking about it, the Slitherians did have some water-based adaptations, but that was mostly for combat, thus were volunteer based only. They weren't a race that enjoyed being in water, so that was something I would have to work on with Synaptic. No way would I give up this bliss just because these snakes didn't like water. That reminds me, I wonder if Cari has an adverse reaction to water? I mean, showers were one thing, as they were hot and nice in their own way, but soaking in this below body temp water for extended periods of time was something that might be problematic for her.

  As I let my mind wander, thinking of the eventual entwining of tails and how nice that cuddling would be, I feel some rippling in the water to my left. I focus on my Scouts and see Cari is sitting on the edge of the pool with her legs in the water, staring at me. This was the second time she bypassed my Swarm senses, which was something I would have to look into.

  I poke my head above the surface, raising an eyebrow at her. She was in a light, flowing night gown of shifting blues and white, with it bunched up near her thighs. It looked really good on her as it highlighted her proportions and figure really well. I could feel my face heat up.

  She giggled at me, raising her hand and calling me over with her finger. Turning in the water, I floated closer to Cari, until I was right below her while she leaned over me, her gown shifted in such a way as to hint at her cleavage, while still hiding it.

  “I wanted to thank you for saving Alice today.” She said softly, her voice echoing over the water. “While we both know Bestlé would have kept her alive, they would not have treated her well.”

  I nod slowly. “Of course, Cari. I just wish we could have prevented this from happening in the first place.”

  “And I know Outsider is working hard to make sure this doesn't happen again.” she said, tapping a finger on my forehead. “I'm not so vain as to blame you for anything, especially since Jill was also captured. No, I blame Black Log for this, but that is neither here nor there right now.”

  She patted the space to her left, indicating for me to sit with her. I had gotten better at getting out of the water, but it still wasn't very graceful. Some water splashed onto her side, showing that she was wearing something darker underneath. I made sure to look her in her eyes once I noticed. She grinned at me, placing her hand on mine. “I wanted to say that you did a good job. You saved people today and prevented a lot of unnecessary deaths from those idiots down south. No matter what, that is something good you did today.”

  I took a deep breath at that, and turned my head to look at the stars above. “And yet I still killed a lot of people today.” I murmured.

  Cari placed a hand on my right shoulder and another on my left cheek, and softly forced me to look at her. Her eyes were full of concern, yet also conveying a stubborn reprimand. “None of that, Victor. Those fools were a corpo PMC, and we both know there was no other choice. I followed along in The Screen, so I know you didn't torture them, nor-”

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  Her words faded as I panicked. She saw everything I did. She heard my orders. She knew I killed hundreds, maybe thousands of people in short order, executing them like-

  I felt her arms wrap around my torso as a hand was placed behind my head. She pulled me in, placing my head on her left shoulder. I could feel her rubbing small circles on my back as she was saying something softly. I felt my thoughts calm down as I melted into her embrace. I wrapped my arms around her waist and simply existed in this moment.

  We stayed like this for a while before she turned her head into mine, kissing my temple. “Talk to me, Victor. I can't help if you keep it all inside.”

  It took a moment for me to find my voice, as the anxiety was still there, yet my throat wasn't working. I decided to try something else, connecting to the speakers in the room. “I was afraid you would see the monster I am and change hiw you looked at me.”

  I felt her jump a bit, but then she chuckled and held me tighter. Her laugh reverberated through me, grounding me once more. “Victor, may I remind you of the first night we met? You took a bullet to the face and removed the offender's arm, all while refusing to treat the entitled brat as anything other than the nuisance he was. And I know for a fact that that act of casual violence, one that came naturally to you, turned on all my friends, if the memes in our group chat were anything to go off of. It was also that act of decisiveness that made me want you. Not just as a body guard, but as something much closer."

  After a brief pause, she continues. "I have spoken with Jill at length about what you all once were, and while I agree with her that the actions were problematic, none of you were in a situation to do anything about it. And once you had the power to leave, you did. No hesitation.”

  At her reminder of my past, I tense. “What…. What all did she talk about?” I ask.

  “Broad overviews of the types of tasks you all have done, from infiltration to assassination to kidnappings. She also mentioned a few… specific missions that helped explain some touchy subjects and traumas that we agree you need to work through.”

  I felt my blood rush to my head as my adrenaline spiked. She knew. She had to have known now, if Jill was the one talking.

  “Hey, hey, hey. It's okay. You're okay. Stay with me, Victor. Focus on me, on my voice.” She murmured in my ear. And so I did. I focus on her voice, her breath on my ear. I focused on her cool hand on my back, on the fabric of her night gown on my skin. I grounded myself on the feeling of the water pulling the heat from my body.

  “Victor.” She says. “I do not think less of you for your past. In fact, I love you more because you are who you are despite your past. You and your family are a miracle, having resisted that environment and what it tried to mold you into. You are nice, clever, and kind, despite the machine that place tried to turn you into. If you weren't, you would not be this scared of losing me, of my opinion of your past. You are not a monster, no matter how monstrous your past actions might have been. You are the man I fell in love with, and the only thing that would change that is if you did something to me or my friends that would justify such a response.” She kissed my temple once more. “Do you think you could look at my eyes, love?”

  I nod into her shoulder, then pull back as I look into her eyes. I could feel my tears gathering in my eyes, yet them unable to flow, as the adrenaline and anxiety holds them in. Cari moved her arms, placing her hands on my waist. Her smile was gentle and full of love. “Can you make me a promise? To eventually talk to me about your past, in full, at a later date? You don't need to talk about it all at once, not even the full job each time. But I want to learn about your past from you, Victor. Once you are ready to talk.”

  The though terrifies me, reliving my past, sharing that part of myself with her. I wanted to leave it behind me, to pretend that it didn't happen, but apparently Buddy and the others aren't doing that. They are talking with their mentors, and Buddy said it helped. And now Jill has talked with Cari about some of it, about parts of my past that damaged me, and she wasn't scared off. She asked, she asked to hear about it from me. She would even allow to control the pacing.

  I could only nod, my voice still unwilling to function. She placed her forehead against mine, closing her eyes. “Good. You promised, and if I remember that night right, you don't break your promises.”

  We stayed like that for a few moments, simply drinking in each other's presence. When Cari pulls back, her smile was no longer soft, but rather foxy, her eyes in crescents. “Now, it's rather late, love, and it's been a long day for you. So, why don't we head to bed, hmm?”

  I nod, untangling myself from Cari as I stand. I help her up and feel the nanite infused water flow off of us back into the pool. She wraps around my left arm, pressing into my bare skin. I could feel all of her through her thin gown and felt my face flush. I try to shift my armor to my night clothes, but I feel it not responding. That causes me some alarm as I feel Cari giggle.

  “If your wondering about the nanites, I may have asked Synaptic for a favor. Don't worry, its only for tonight...maybe.”

  While my confusion on why I can't move my nanites abates, I am now a confused as to what favor Cari asked.

  Figure it out yourself, Victor.

  Before I could put any more thought into it, we are at my room. I go to wish her a good night, but she simply pulls me inside, and that's when I notice my room has changed considerably. The wall screens are no longer the night sky, but luxurious red drapes that shift as if a small breeze is passing through. The ceiling is dark with twinkling lights, and my bed…

  It's three times the previous size with four corner posts and a frame above, with very thin red fabric dropped across it, lightly obscuring the bed. I feel stunned as Cari pulls me to the bed and shifts. She wraps her arms around me and lifts me up as she slithers into the middle of the bed. I was a bit surprised at her strength, yet that took a back seat as she laid me down, pinning me beneath her.

  “I love you, Victor, and I know you are a rather touch starved person. Every time you stroked my scales, or my skin, I know you do it not for of sexual pleasure. But the problem is your touch does do something for me, and I have had no outlet for that.” She leans in to my right ear, and I could feel all of her pressing into me. “And because I'm sure this is your first time, I will ask you first. Do you wish to simply cuddle tonight, and I will relieve myself alone tomorrow? Or….”

  She purred out that last word as she pulls up from me, her eyes filled with a hunger different from that time Jill looked at me when I initialized. I knew my answer, and I convey it by pulling her into a kiss.