Apsara Pt. 01

Note: Thanks to KillerRomance for her careful edits

"You're better off without him," said Sophia, slinging back her cider.

Lindsey took a smaller, tentative sip. If one of her friends had gotten drunk on cider after getting dumped she would have never let them hear the end of it. But here she was, nursing a bruised ego, and she wanted cider. Besides, she was pretty sure this cider was at least ten percent. Lindsey figured if it was ten percent she wasn't being a lightweight.

Lindsey heard a laugh and looked up. Two greys were sitting a few tables over from them, one was laughing at some joke the other made. They were touching the tips of their fingers above the table. Lindsey knew that was a pretty bold sign of affection for greys. They were probably going to have a fun night.

Lindsey looked around the bar. It was built out of the prefab materials every alliance space station used. A mix of smooth off white paneling and abstract decorative shapes that implied it was futuristic even though the greys had been using the style for centuries. The bar owner, an ixion apex who rumor had it used to be a pirate, had given the place some flair with a space pirate theme. The lighting was dim, there were rusty model freighters in bottles, videos of lean looking ships hiding in nebulas, and the drinks came with little packets of flavor powder that was a fake version of the spice space pirates were always stealing. The bar was full of humans, greys, ixions, apsara, and even some myrmidons. All the races of the alliance, all having a good time in a kitschy bar. Most of them looked like they were having a better time than Lindsey.

Dany nodded in agreement. "Of course she's better off without him! He's an asshole."

"No, no, he wasn't," said Lindsey. She winced at the words coming out of her mouth. Even she thought that sounded pathetic. "I mean the part at the end was bad..."

"The part at the end? That's what you're calling it? He was great, right up till that part where he cheated on you?" said Dany.

"I know, I know," said Lindsey, "But before that, he was great. He was..."

"No, Lindsey, that's not how it works," said Dany, "If he cheated on you, it means he was an asshole the whole time and you just didn't realize it. Besides it's not even true. It wasn't that good. It was so obvious you were more into him than he was into you. Every time you called him, he sounded annoyed. How many times did he blow you off to hang out with his dickbag friends?"

"He just liked his space," said Lindsey.

"And that's fine, but he obviously wanted more space than you did. There was no way it was going to work," said Dany.

"Stop browbeating her!" snapped Sophia, "You can't just assume you know what their relationship was like. We just got little glimpses, but maybe he was nice when they were alone. And besides, tonight is supposed to be about healing, about moving forward. No regrets," said Sophia. Then she took a big swig of her cider.

Dany gave Sophia another of her glares, then nodded slowly.

"Yeah, you're right. No regrets." said Dany. She took a bigger swig of her cider.

Lindsey looked down at her drink. She thought about the last vacation she had taken with Chris. It had been to a beach on Magus II. It was everything she had wanted out of a vacation on an alien planet. The sand had been orange, the tides had been gentle since the moon was farther away than Earth's, and there was no dangerous sea life. It hadn't even been crowded because Magus II had twice the coastline in its temperate zone compared to Earth's. She and Chris had sat on the beach and talked for hours, played and swam in the lake calm salt water, and after the sun went down, everyone on the beach, including them, had shot off fireworks for the colony's Founding Day. They could see the fireworks for miles.

She had looked at Chris and wanted to be with him forever, had imagined a whole life with him. And now it was all gone. It was a lie that never existed.

"No regrets," said Lindsey, and finished her cider.

Then she slammed down the empty glass, suddenly furious, "You know what gets to me? He cheated on me with an ixion!"

Dany looked at the ceiling, "I fucking know!"

"I mean I work with plenty of ixion women and they're great with other women," said Lindsey, "But when they talk to guys, they're so..."

"Demure," said Sophia.

"That's one way to put it," said Lindsey.

"Submissive," said Dany.

"That's more accurate," said Lindsey.

"It's part of their culture. Having an extra gender has led to their gender roles being more restrictive," said Sophia. She always liked to quote the xenoculture courses she took as part of her medical degree.

"I know, I know," said Lindsey, "But they act so submissive around guys and they're all so skinny..."

"...and blond," said Dany as she handed Lindsey another cider.

"...And blond," said Lindsey. She took a swallow of her new cider, "And I'm just like..." She took another swallow, "That's what he wants? That's what he wanted me to be this whole time? A tall skinny blond..."

"Bimbo?" Said Dany.

"That's a little mean," Said Sophia.

"I calls it like I sees it. But anyway, you're right, Lindsey. He's an asshole and he's not worth missing," said Dany.

"I'm so sorry Lindsey," said Sophia. Then she reached out to squeeze Lindsey's hand.

Lindsey squeezed her back. When she did, her sadness dissipated a little. Sophia had a knack for that.

"I know you're hurting, but the best thing for you to do is move on," said Sophia. Then she glanced over Lindsey's shoulder and pointed with her chin.

Lindsey turned and saw a man sitting by the bar. He was tall and well-muscled, with a shock of black hair and really nice cheekbones.

"Barry, from accounting? All he does is talk about building model ships. And besides, he's married."

"What? No! Three to his left."

Lindsey looked past Barry to a group of blue skinned women, drinking and laughing together.

"The one with the brighter purple hair. She's been stealing glances for the last thirty minutes," said Sophia.

Lindsey turned back to Sophia, "An apsara?"

Dany burst out laughing. She had a very loud laugh, not just when she was drunk.

Sophia tried to look innocent, "What? She's very cute."

"Sophia, I'm from Earth. We don't do that."

"You don't think she's cute?"

Lindsey looked at the apsara again. She was very cute. She was short and curvy, with a broad face and big violet eyes. Lindsey's gaze lingered on her ass for a moment. It was a very nice ass. As soon as she had the thought the bottom dropped out of her stomach and she looked away quickly. She had never thought about a woman that way before.

Lindsey turned back to Sophia, her face heating. "Of course I think she's cute. She is objectively extremely cute. But I don't... there are no... what is it called again?"

"Lesbians!" said Dany.

"Yes, there are no lesbians on Earth. Not anymore."

"You're not on Earth anymore," said Sophia, using her most reasonable voice. Sometimes Lindsey forgot Sophia grew up on a colony founded by religious dissidents. Politicians and the press on Earth loved to rail about the immorality of the dissident colonies. The group marriages, the orgies, the furries. When Lindsey had asked Sophia if the propaganda was true, she had shrugged and said what people did behind closed doors wasn't her business. Sophia's colonist background meant she treated things that Lindsey found shocking as if they were totally normal. Things like hitting on an apsara.

"Besides, apsara aren't technically female," continued Sophia. she was using her xenopsychology voice again, "They're mono gendered so they don't really fit in our conception of gender. They actually refer to themselves in gender neutral terms but the earth diplomatic corps insisted the universal translators present them as female. Because Earth is run by bigots."

"I have no idea what you just said. What does 'present female' mean?" Said Lindsey.

"Never mind."

"I don't know, she looks female to me," said Dany, giving the apsara a leer. Sophia rubbed her temple and sighed in response.

That was the thing about apsaras. The normal rules of attraction didn't apply to them. Human women, or men for that matter, who weren't attracted to human women still found apsaras attractive. Apparently, they gave off some sort of pheromone that biologists were still trying to get a handle on. It wasn't that apsaras were irresistible. The pheromones just made all apsaras register as if they were a member of whatever gender you were attracted to.

Apsara's universal appeal had led to a lot of awkward interactions when humans had first made contact with them. There had even been some diplomatic tension. Earth had become more conservative in the past few decades, and the apsaras were at first viewed as deviant and threatening. But the combination of apsaras generally being friendly and outgoing and having a much bigger and more advanced military than Earth kept things from getting violent. In the last decade, humans had gradually gotten used to apsaras and things had calmed down.

Lindsey had to deal with apsaras on a regular basis while working on a space station at the major trade hub between Earth and the species to the galactic south. When she had been with Chris she had treated attractive apsaras the same way she treated the attractive men she worked with: she ignored her attraction as much as possible.

But now Chris was out of the picture, she wasn't at work, and there was a very attractive apsara sitting at a bar looking at her and licking her dark purple lips. When the blue skinned woman spotted Lindsey looking back, she looked away and hid a smile. The apsara's two friends saw it and started laughing.

Lindsey turned back to her friends. Dany had broken out in a smirk. Sophia looked more serious, but there was a light in her eyes.

"There's no way," said Lindsey.

"I think this would be a good way for you to broaden your horizons," said Sophia.

"By having a one-night-stand with an alien? That is literally the opposite of what you're supposed to do when you get dumped."

"When you say it like that it sounds like an even better idea," said Dany.

"Be serious for once,"

"Oh, you're right. I'm sorry, I'm just joking. I know you'd never really do it,"

Lindsey gave Dany a glare. It annoyed her because Dany was right. Her idea of a wild night was doing crosswords on the couch with her boyfriend. And she was an Earth girl. She could just imagine what her college friends would say if they saw her checking out an apsara. About how hanging out with aliens and colonists had corrupted her. She decided Sophia was right. She didn't want to be that person anymore.

She took a big swig of the cider, draining half the glass, and stood up. She swayed a little, wondering once again how strong it was, then steadied herself and turned to face the apsara. The apsara's friends must have seen it, because they suddenly engaged in the time honored, cross species tradition of leaving their friend to go to the bathroom.

"Lindsey?" said Dany, sounding excited.

"Don't wait up for me,"

"Good luck," said Sophia. She sounded serious but she had a big smile.

Lindsey walked over to the apsara, drink in hand, and sat in one of the seats her friends had vacated. The apsara was looking at her with wide, excited eyes and a little smile as she sat down.

"Hi, I'm Lindsey."

"Tara."

There was a pause. Lindsey suddenly realized she had no idea how to chat someone up. And it wasn't because Tara was an alien. She couldn't chat up a human either. Most of the men she had dated had done most of the talking.

"Do you live on the station?" asked Lindsey.

"Oh, no. I'm just on leave. I'm at the military base on Eldaren IV. It's just a quick jump away," said Tara, "I'm training to be a ground drone pilot."

"Oh wow, that's so cool!" said Lindsey. As soon as she said it, she kicked herself. She must have sounded so stupid.

Tara didn't seem to mind Lindsey's vapid response. Maybe she really was interested.

She said, "Thank you. This is actually my first leave and my friends thought... it would be fun to come here and celebrate," Tara looked over Lindsey's shoulder and her voice sounded distracted. "This is my first time around so many aliens. It's..." She was still looking over Lindsey's shoulder and her eyes widened... "A little overwhelming."

Lindsey followed her gaze and saw a few Myrmidon neuts drinking, laughing their deep rumbling laughs.

"I know what you mean. It took me a while to get used to the neuts. The bone spurs are kind of intimidating."

"That makes me feel better, thank you. You seem so at ease here."

"I've been on the station for a year, so I guess I've gotten used to it," said Lindsey.

Tara looked impressed, "So you do actually live here?"

"Yup. I'm in dispatch. I calculate the flight vectors for the station's traffic. It's like being a pilot with training wheels."

"Oh, that's not true! The calculations needed to map all the flight paths for a hub this busy are so complex," said Tara.

Then she leaned forward and touched Lindsey's hand. The feel of her skin, smoother and softer than a humans, sent a tingling rush up Lindsey's arm and directly between her legs.

"You should be proud," said Tara.

Lindsey felt her face warm at the compliment. Then she laughed, "It's funny, apsaras have been in space so much longer than we have. I just assumed apsaras are all used to aliens."

"Oh no. We've been in space a long time but I'm from our home world and there aren't many aliens there. Even our base is all apsara so up until now I haven't had the chance to meet any aliens," said Tara. She blushed a nice deep purple, "I have classmates from multispecies colonies and they've been teasing me for being sheltered."

"My friends do the same thing. They practically dared me to come talk to you."

Tara smiled, "I'm glad they did."

Lindsey cleared her throat, and Tara licked her lips nervously. Her tongue was purple too, and Lindsey suddenly wondered how it would feel in her mouth. How it would taste. She took a sharp breath as the heat in her stomach rolled over.

"It's really impressive that you came all the way here for work. I know off-planet travel is still new for humans. That's more adventurous than anything I've done. I've followed my family's plan for me since I was old enough to walk."

"Oh, that's..." Lindsey didn't know what to say to that.

Tara waved her off with a rueful smile, "Sorry, just venting. I've started training and now that I have, its really set in what I signed up for. I'm just..." she took a drink, "A little anxious."

"Do you regret joining the military?"

"No! No, that's not it. I'm in a military family and with the war, it's expected," said Tara.

Lindsey knew the apsaras, along with the Greys and the Myrmidons, were at war with another species on the other side of their territory, hundreds of lightyears beyond where humans had ever gone. The war was never mentioned on human newsfeeds and Lindsey didn't know much about it. So, she just nodded in response to Tara mentioning the war.

"I just... it can be a lot to start something that will determine the course of the next few years," said Tara.

"I know why you mean," said Lindsey, "The first month I was here, I was so stressed. I couldn't believe what I had gotten myself into, but I made friends and settled in, and it was the best decision I ever made. Even though it did not make my family happy."

"Your family didn't approve of you coming here?"

"It's not that they disapproved. Getting jobs with the alliance is always competitive so they can brag to all their tennis friends, but it definitely wasn't what they were expecting. But my family runs an agricultural drone business and the idea of spending the rest of my life programming flight programs for crop duster drones sounded like... Well, not much of a life."

"So you decided to make a life among the stars," said Tara.

"Exactly. In space traffic control."

"Here's to traffic control," said Tara and raised her glass.

Lindsey raised hers and they both drank.

"That's one thing I like about humans. You seem to have a rebellious streak," said Tara.

"I'm not sure if we do. It's probably just the rebels that leave Earth," said Lindsey.

"And talking to me. Is this another rebellion?" asked Tara.

"Talking? No. I talk to apsaras all the time. It depends..." Lindsey choked back on the end of the sentence.

"Depends?" Tara arched an eyebrow and offered a little half smile.

Lindsey took a sip to buy time. The drink splashed on the roiling in her stomach.

When she was done, Tara was still waiting for an answer, still looking at her with that half smile and those big purple eyes. Those eyes dragged the answer out of her.

"It depends on where the night goes."

Tara's half smile turned into a full smile and that blush was back. Lindsey had always liked purple, but she decided the purple of Tara's blushes was now her absolute favorite color.

Tara leaned forward.

"Where do you want the night to go?" she asked. Her voice had gotten a little lower.

Tara's smell filled her nostrils. It was nutty with berry undertones that made Lindsey think of Christmas. Her mouth went dry. Things were going so fast. She realized she couldn't tell how drunk she was, or how drunk Tara was.

Before she knew it, she leaned in to Tara and kissed her. She hadn't meant to do it. She had meant to make more small talk. Ask about her family, her friends, her favorite movie, but her mouth had somehow skipped to the end. To what happened after the final question.

Tara made a little half gasp and sucked a puff of air right out of Lindsey's mouth. The sound of that gasp and the feel of Tara's breathing wound her up instantly and filled her with warmth.

It was a short kiss but when it broke, Lindsey was breathless. So was Tara.

Lindsey realized there was one more question after all.

"Did you want to get out of here?" she asked.

Tara's eyes widened and she licked those beautiful purple lips again.

"I... yes I'd like that, but my friends..." She looked over Lindsey's shoulder and gave rueful grin. Lindsey followed Tara's gaze and saw Tara's friends halfway across the room, making urgent shooing motions.

"Never mind," said Tara. "Yes, let's go."

...

Lindsey opened the door to her quarters, mentally kicking herself for not renting a cleaning bot for the last few days.

But Tara didn't seem to notice. As soon as the door closed her arms draped around Lindsey's neck and their lips met again. Tara's lips felt just as wonderful as the first time.

They explored the soft comforts of each other, the swipe of Tara's lips sending sparks shooting through Lindsey's body.

When she broke the kiss they stared at each other. Tara looked a little scared, her eyes were huge.

"I've never done this before," she whispered.

"This is your first time?"

Tara laughed a little, "First with an alien."

Lindsey smiled, "Me too."

Tara smiled back and Lindsey had to kiss her again. This time, Tara opened her mouth and Lindsey accepted the invitation, pressing her tongue in to mingle with Tara's. It felt even better than she had imagined. Tara stiffened and made a small, surprised moan into Lindsey's mouth as their tongues danced with each other. She wasn't sure how long they kissed for, but when it broke Lindsey was breathing hard. They both were.

Lindsey grabbed her hand and started pulling her towards her bed. Chris was a distant memory. A worn figure from a hazy and happily forgotten past. When they got to the bed she swept the other clothes she had considered wearing tonight to the floor and grabbed Tara's hand.

Tara resisted though, staring at her uncertainly.