Out Of Left Field Ch 06

Chapter 6

I jumped to my feet in surprise as the door suddenly opened with no knock. Ariel Morgan, now definitely my favorite client ever, walked through the door, chuckling as she took in my lack of clothing, "Well, it seems you are in great hands and having a good time of it already! I had a sneaking suspicion my mates were going to take a liking to you." She got a mischievous glint in her eye as she asked, "Well ZaZa, is his... computer equipment up to par? Is he demonstrating it properly?"

ZaZa tried and failed to keep a straight face, finally giggling, "Oh yes, he has very fun hardware to play games with."

I gasped in mock dismay, snagging a pillow off the couch to cover my bits, "My hardware is fun, not impressive or even breathtaking? Gosh, a guy has to work extra hard around here to get a stellar review doesn't he? Well, once this headache has finished settling down, I guess I'll just have to give you a much more thorough introduction to all the features of this hardware. You've only played a few of the simple starter games, but there are lots of games left to explore!"

Ariel laughed at my attempt to play coy, then waved her hand at the pillow, "Oh no need to hide on my behalf, I love a good show. Seriously though, I'm glad you seem to be taking this all fairly well. The majority of the others that passed our initial selection criteria didn't make it through the interactive part of the vetting."

"Really?" I asked thoughtfully, "I would have thought more people would jump at a chance like this. Do you mind if I ask why they didn't pass vetting? Hopefully they didn't give you any serious problems?"

Ariel's face turned more somber at my questions, "I am happy to answer what I can, yes. Sometimes medical issues have come up that our initial bio screening didn't catch. Each time that comes up we have to update our health screening through the hard lessons learned. None of the unexpected physiological reactions have been fatal, thankfully. Our medical science is more advanced than yours, but our doctors and AIs are not all knowing, much as they might like you to think. Other screening failures have occurred because the people ended up being much more close minded than their personality and background checks suggested."

My eyebrow rose, and I couldn't help but ask, "About finding out we aren't alone in the universe, or something else?"

Ariel walked over and pushed gently on my shoulder to get me to settle back into the couch, before taking a seat next to me. ZaZa snatched the pillow away, somewhat to my embarrassment. She stuck her tongue out at me and giggled again before settling into my lap and purring lightly as she curled up against my chest.

Ariel smiled indulgently down at ZaZa, trailing her fingers through ZaZa's hair, "Some simply chose not to believe in aliens. Some were offended because they thought they were being set up for a prank or a crime in some way, and immediately left. Others didn't pass because they were offended by our lifestyle. That's part of why we are so clear up front now about non-monogamy being the lifestyle of choice in our group. Early on, we didn't fully appreciate that it was rare for humans to be able to truly integrate into a polyamorous setting. Most of you give your heart to one person, and you dedicate all of your time and energy to that partner. That isn't meant to be an insult to your kind, just an acknowledgement of differences in brain chemistry and differences in how our cultural history impacted our relationship structures. Our people just don't get attached to each other to the same degree as humans seem to. We still love each other when we are in a chosen mating group, but there is far less of what we would think of as codependency among Talorians."

I smiled at her choice of phrasing, "I feel like you are very carefully avoiding finding humans somewhat silly in their professed morals. I appreciate your delicacy, but no need to dance around the subject too much with me, I won't be offended. As you mentioned, different cultures and all."

Ariel smiled at my relaxed attitude, "Katrina said you mentioned you had some experience with, how did you phrase it, non-standard relationships?"

My hand drifted down to ZaZa's arm and I started running the side of my thumb gently up and down it as I cast my mind back, "Yeah, I think that is how I phrased it. I was part of a four person relationship for about a month most recently, but jealousy between the other partners broke that up pretty quickly. I'd had a few three way relationships before that, but those didn't last super long either. Have you heard of a BDSM relationship?"

ZaZa laughed from my lap, "We think it is pretty crazy that you humans have to put all these terms on all your relationships, but yep, we've heard the phrase. Our people did some studying on human sexuality before beginning reaching out to candidates, ya know, we didn't just pop in here and immediately start grabbing humans for experiments. I also personally find your species fixation on anal probing an absolute riot, considering what percentage of your population think it is somehow innately bad!"

Ariel chuckled, "Now now, ZaZa, no teasing about anal fixations. Everyone has their taboos, though humans seem to have more than us." She ran her fingers deep into ZaZa's hair, gripping it near her scalp, and gave it a good tug. ZaZa gasped quietly and let out a small moan, grinding into my lap. Ariel gave me a satisfied smirk, "We are no strangers to rough play or to the concepts of dominating others, if that is what you are asking. We enjoy a wide variety of flavors for our senses. I am what you would consider the dominant in our mating group here on Earth."

ZaZa's squirming in my bare lap felt quite nice, and seeing Ariel casually tease ZaZa was pretty sexy. As my lower anatomy began a rapid recovery, I tried to keep my mind on track on the conversation, "I served as a dominant in a three way relationship with a married couple for a few months. My partners seemed to enjoy everything, and they never had complaints about the variety of physical activities I planned out for them, but I couldn't put enough time towards it. I was having to work a ton of overtime, so that relationship crashed and burned in the end, even though it was probably my longest and most stable relationship. I couldn't blame them for being upset with me for not spending enough time on their needs, though of course it hurt a little having to let them find a different dom to play with. I like to think of myself as having experience with a variety of relationship types and having an open mind, but I try not to have an ego about it at the same time."

I reached up and tickled ZaZa's ear as I sorted my thoughts. When she swatted at my hand, I grabbed it and laid a few kisses on the back of it, and then resumed my self reflection. "Growing up, I feel my parents did their best to not pass any intolerance or bigotry on to me. They taught me a lot about different cultures. One was a psychologist, and the other was an archeologist, so I got to hear a lot about what made both current and ancient people tick. I'm sure from your point of view, I'm a backwoods savage in a lot of ways since, as you said, humans have a lot of hang-ups and taboos. I do try to think through and analyze the causes of any shortcomings brought to my attention though, and better myself from that introspection. I live in hope that the results speak for themselves."

Ariel smiled, "Yes, so far they definitely seem to. Well, we are glad to have you aboard, and I very much look forward to getting to spend more time getting to know you in the very near future! I've got to get back to my work now, but don't hesitate to come talk to me anytime you feel... the desire to!" She winked at me saucily, "Just ask anyone here where to find me, and they will guide you until you get the lay of the land." With that, she turned and left the room.

ZaZa piped up from under my chin, "So, are you ready for me to take you to your room? I know you will have some things to take care of before you can really settle in, but I figure you might wanna see where you'll be staying, huh?"