(Author's note: Dmeytri is an anthropomorphic species called a renoige - he basically looks like a black-haired, stubby-tailed cat person with a hairless belly like a gorilla. Robert is a human empath. They're from my original works, and work for an interdimensional airship delivery service, where they are delivery partners.)
Robert first heard it as Dmeytri twisted to watch the ship as they cleared it with the raft:
*
Why couldn't I use the bathroom?!*
"It isn't far," Robert said, replying to Dmeytri's other voice. He kind of had to go too, and hoped that would make it a little less awkward for Dmeytri.
The ride was only twenty minutes, to an isolated camp in a small, sheltered clearing in an old growth forest east of Redwater City. Dmeytri brought the raft right up to the campsite, and their group, a group of Haman and Amphibious researchers greeted them from the tent line. Robert handed them their six crates: food, ink, paper, pencils, and pen casings. The researchers weren't able to tip them, but offered to make them dinner -- which Robert accepted when he saw that one of their crates contained a giant bottle of ketchup. Dmeytri groaned on the inside; he didn't know how much longer he could hold his bladder, and he knew from the storm clouds rolling in that the ship would probably soon start moving away from them, making the ride back even longer than it had to be. Still, Dmeytri sat quietly next to Robert on some logs placed around the campfire, where two of the researchers were busily cooking.
"Excuse me," Robert asked one of the researchers, an amphibious woman with sun-faded teal skin, reflective pink eyes, and short, feathery green hair. Robert thought she seemed strikingly familiar, but couldn't place where he'd seen her. "...Keyana?"
Keyana nodded, smiling at him over the vegetables she was cutting with what appeared to be oversized gardening shears. "Is it number one or number two?" she asked.
"Number one," answered Robert. Keyana, being amphibious and sensitive to certain electrical fields, was a weak physical empath. She could sense his need to relieve himself, but wouldn't be able to tell anything else from a distance.
"Why do you ask?" Dmeytri piped up nervously,
Another researcher - Arniel Hiver, a young Haman man with an impossibly bushy mustache, spoke: "We have a latrine, but it's only for pooping - remember to use the paper bags!"
Keyana snorted approvingly at Arniel and pointed to a copse of trees near the tents. "Find the driest part and water it. The trees'll appreciate it."
"Okay," said Robert, standing up. He nudged Dmeytri and Dmeytri got up.
"Don't be too long, food's almost done," said Arniel.
Robert led Dmeytri up the little trail behind the trees. He didn't have any difficulty squatting, opening his pants and letting go. He looked over his shoulder at Dmeytri, who stood shyly a few feet away.
"It's alright, Dymka. Nobody can see us here," said Robert, trying to smile encouragingly.
"...Why are you...squatting?" asked Dmeytri.
Robert shrugged. "Because it feels good. Lana looked at me like that too the first time I did it."
Dmeytri blinked, incredulous. "She's...
seen
you squat to pee?
Lana
?"
"Only when she showered with me-" Robert noted Dmeytri's shocked reaction and added, "I told you that I was ill when I came to the Greenbird. Lana had to wash me until I could do it for myself without slipping and dying on the tiles."
Dmeytri felt his bladder swell and took a breath. "Does that mean you two were-..."
Robert laughed, "No. Neither of us ever even thought about that." He looked down and finished up. The ground had readily absorbed all of the liquid, and he hoped the trees appreciated it like Keyana had said. "I can turn my back while you go if it makes you more comfortable."
Dmeytri started fidgeting as Robert stood up and buttoned his pants. "How do you know? Wh-who said I had to go?" he asked nervously.
"I'm an empath," said Robert matter-of-factly. "You think in very clear words, and I appreciate it."
Those words rattled Dmeytri so badly that he almost let go of his bladder. He fumbled with the front of his pants, rushing to the nearest tree with an exhalation that was somewhere between a yelp and a sob. He didn't so much let go as explode as he pulled down the zipper, leaving a wet spot in the crotch of his pants. He was starting to panic, but the fact that he was now firing safely away from himself calmed him a little.
"Hey Dmeytri, do you know any synonyms for the word esoteric?" Robert asked, taking care not to look in Dmeytri's direction. "I need it for a crossword."
The question made Dmeytri think, diluting the sense of dread threatening to consume his mind. "E-esoteric?" he stammered. "Um..." He looked down: he was spraying everywhere and it was making him panic again.
"D'you think 'orange' might work?" Robert suggested.
"Orange?" gasped Dmeytri. "W-wh-what?"
"That means 'esoteric' too, right?" Robert said glibly.
"No-no, orange means...orange?" Dmeytri half-moaned. He'd finally stopped trying to hold it, and his relief was palpable. "W-w-where did you get that?"
"A book about esoteric citrus fruits," replied Robert.
Despite everything, Dmeytri laughed. Robert could feel him shifting back to calm. The distraction was working, and that was good. "O-only you w-would read something like that!"
"It's fascinating," said Robert, bouncing on his toes. He tried very hard to make a mental note to show Dmeytri "Octopus Lemons and Edible Grapefruits: 4th Edition" when they got back to the dorm. "There's limes that grow inside flowers, and giant oranges that produce so much sugar that they crystalize on the inside."
"They have those in Grace Harbor in the summer," said Dmeytri.
