Adventures Of Tash And John Ch 01

Authors Note:

I've decided to go through and clean up this chapter to (on the one hand) fix the gratuitous spelling and grammar mistakes that I originally overlooked (I originally wrote half of this on a phone because my computer was having issues, a lot of mistakes were just autocorrect auto correcting) and to bring the continuity up to a level consistent with the other chapters. Something that has long been overdue. Please enjoy this updated and fixed version.

Humaboo Anon

*****

Vakal K'shon Tashaiea groaned. Her eyes reluctantly opened to the sound of her alarm clock filling the air. It was morning again, and as always it came too soon. She continued to lay in bed, attempting to ignore the increasingly annoying tone as the haze of her post sleep state slowly began to dissipate. Eventually she couldn't ignore it any longer. Throwing back the sheets to her bed, she slowly swung around, planting her feet firmly on the ground of her apartment's bedroom. With all the effort she could muster, she pushed herself up and walked over, still groggy, to the opposite side of the room where her alarm clock sat blaring.

As much as she hated it, Tashaiea knew that this was the only way that she would actually get up in the morning. When it used to be beside her bed she would constantly and absentmindedly turn the alarm off in her half asleep state. As one could expect that of course that always lead to plenty of problems that she would have preferred to avoid. She taped the off button on the alarm and began to relax as the soothing sound of silence began to fill her ears. She was momentarily drawn to seek out the soothing and comforting embrace of her bed once more. Through sheer force of will she however pulled herself towards her dresser instead, stopping just shy to give herself a once over in the mirror.

As usual she had fallen asleep wearing nothing but her panties from yesterday. A light blue affair that seemed to clash with the tan/green mix of her skin. Her two slender legs lead down to her species inverted knees and then down again to her four toed feet. She noticed that she had to trim the nail tips on her toes or risk once again accidentally breaking one off. Sure they might have been an asset back when her species was in its primitive phase and hadn't worn shoes. However in the modern age they just seemed to cause more of a mild annoyance than anything.

She continued up her body past her navel and past her two symmetrical bare breasts, finally looking herself in the face. Her hair was a mess, a jumbled brown clump that gave the clear and correct message that she had just gotten out of bed. She grabbed the hairbrush laying haphazardly on the ledge before her (discarded and untouched since the previous day's morning routine) and started attempting to untangle herself all the while continuing with her morning examination. Her lips were slim and were a slightly darker version of her skin. She felt a yawn come on and allowed it to force open her mouth revealing her slightly white teeth and dark green slender tongue. After it subsided she continued up her face settling next on her nose, or what was considered a nose by her species.

It wasn't as big as most species but it worked the same. A smallish bump with two nostrils on the bottom which she flared to make sure there was nothing inside them. Satisfied she continued up until she was looking herself in the eyes. They were green with black pupils, which was very common color among her people, although hers were slightly more green this morning in keeping with the fact that she had just woken up. Her two round eyes continued to stare back at her, she blinked a few times to try and get some more moisture into them before once again returning to her hair.

It took a couple more minutes of brushing before the final tangle had been subdued. Satisfied with her work she put down her brush and began to fish through her dresser for an appropriate outfit. Finally deciding after a good minute of searching on a red and burgundy patterned top with light black formfitting pants. Content with her choice Tashaiea decided that she probably shouldn't wear the same underwear she wore from the previous day and subsequently to sleep as well. Slowly she started to remove them, taking a second to check her now completely naked body before picking up her discarded panties and balancing them on her foot.

With a kick she flung them through the air towards her clothes hamper, frowning as they fell just short and became one with the ever growing pile of clothes that had missed in a similar manner. The young woman had a thought that she should really go and pick them up dispose of them correctly before the pile got any bigger, but ultimately decided that was a problem for future Tashaiea. Picking out a new pair she began to get dressed. When it became time to put her top on she paused. She should really probably put on a bra no matter how much she hated those breast coffins. She understood the need for them, make the chest as small as possible lest they get in your way. It wasn't like she was nursing right now and needed them unrestricted anyways. Keeping them tight to the chest was just a practicality thing. That didn't mean she had to like it however.

Normally if she was just staying around her apartment she wouldn't wear one, or maybe wouldn't even wear a shirt at all. However since she did have to go out today it was probably for the best. After a quick search she discovered that the only thing she had (that was relatively clean) was an old sports bra that had always been a little too tight and never quite fit right. She deduced that all the rest must have been in future Tashaiea's dirty laundry pile. Sighing she squeezed the sports bra on and finished getting dressed.

Next on her priority list was breakfast. Tashaiea opened her bedroom door and stepped out into the main room of her apartment, quickly making her way to the kitchen. Upon arriving she opened the food storage unit to find the same thing as yesterday, which wasn't much. She sighed. Another problem for future Tashaiea. Grabbing a sealed package of some specially imported snack cakes, the young woman headed off back to the main room of her apartment, her main living room as it were. The room was covered wall to wall with posters and photographs along with several shelves full of figurines and other novelties.

It was the room of someone who should really learn how to prioritize her spending, a notion that became ever more apparent when she sat down at her computer terminal and checked her missed messages. Upon turning on the display screen she was greeted with the shirtless, muscle bound male Human that she used as her background avatar. Her eyes were instinctively drawn to its pectoral muscles and began to wander down past the abdomen where the edge of the screen suddenly and sheepishly cut the image off before showing anything else. It was little liberties like these which made her like living alone sometimes. No one to ask why she had a half naked alien greet her every time she turned on the screen.

Peeling her eyes away she thumbed open her message inbox where the first, and only message, was from her landlord. A female Voss who by the sound of it was getting increasingly annoyed at Tashaiea's increasingly late payments for this cycle. She let out a long drawn out sigh. They wouldn't be late if her employer would just pay her more for her damn pictures. Attempting to put her frustration aside, she finished eating her snack cakes and opened up the day's itinerary. Today was a fairly big day for the smaller, not quite backwater but almost, Voss colony that was Kerpzu'avi. A name that you really needed a set of Voss vocal cords to pronounce correctly.

It was the opening day for the Confederate Colonial Light Gravity Athletics Competition. A competition comprised of light gravity worlders from inhabitants across this sector of Confederate space. Which really only meant the Voss, but it was open to residents of other species so long as they met the muscle density requirements. Which meant that Tashaiea species, the Kai'ani, would not be invited as they fell just on the "too heavy" side of the muscle density spectrum. Not than any Kai'ani (with the notable exception of her) would be caught dead on a Voss colony world. Another grating reminder of her continuing stream of poor life choices.

With that notion still in her head she spun around in her chair to the opposite corner of her desk to where, she assumed, she had left her camera. As she correctly remembered, there it was, sitting next to her VR equipment. Tashaiea knew that if other people could see they would question why she used such an outdated technology. After all why wear all that equipment when you can just project a hologram of whatever you're watching? Well to those fictional people she would say it's the same reason why she uses a flat display monitor for her computer terminal. It was all about the experience.

You can't touch a hologram, there is no substance to it. Where with her VR rig she could get actual physical feedback. And sometimes all she really wanted was some physical feedback. Scooping up her camera she checked the battery. Still fully charged she saw, good. She picked up an extra battery and swapped out the memory card for a fresh blank one, taking a quick picture to make sure everything was working correctly.

Satisfied with the outcome she continued to pack everything she would need for the day into her small carryall. Camera gear, press pass, water, keys, snacks, moisture lotion and UV blocker... she mentally ran through the checklist as she threw the items into her bag. Before long everything had been packed. She clipped her translator into her ear and took one last quick look around her apartment before heading out the door.

Tashaiea had barely finished locking her apartment door and taken a half step down the hallway when her throat dropped in her chest. At the end of the hallway was her landlord. As it seemed, the older female Voss had yet to notice Tashaiea. As quickly and as desperately as she could she tried to fish her apartment key-card out of her pants, fumbling with the various loose items she keep in the same pocket in her frantic search. If only she could sneak back inside her apartment... the thought was cut short by a shrill sounding yell which was moments later translated to her as "Girl!".

Realizing she had been caught, Tashaiea put her keys back in her pocket and turned to see the now rapidly approaching Voss shuffling towards her on its six stubby legs. With an inward sigh she forced a smile and responded.

"Hello miss R'atun." Tashaiea said, mustering all the joyfulness she could.

"That's Madam Proprietor R'atun Kpzvik to you girl." The older Voss hissed as she stood on her hind legs and attempted to get right in the taller Kai'ani's face, still falling short by about a head and a half. "Where is your payment?" It demanded.

"I... don't have it right now Madam Proprietor." Tashaiea said, bracing for what was coming next. The older Voss narrowed its eyes and began making a rhythmic clicking noise that seemed to emanate from nowhere in particular. "But!" Tashaiea piped up before the Voss could respond, "I am due to be paid for my work in the next day or so, so I'll have it soon, I promise!"

The Voss continued to stare at the younger Kai'ani, still steadily clicking away. "You've said that before, girl." The Voss finally said.

"And I paid you each time, did I not?" Tashaiea chipped in, still trying to maintain her joyful demeanor.

The Voss stared at her for another minute before finally saying "You have two days to pay, or I'm tossing you out on the street."

Tashaiea sighed a sigh of relief, two days wasn't much, but she'd take it seeing as her payment was already over eight days overdue by this point.

"Thank you Madam R'atun! I won't let you down, I promise. I'll get you the payment the moment I get paid."

"That's Madam Proprietor." The Voss said recoiling back down on all her legs.

"Yes, sorry Madam Proprietor." Tashaiea said, clasping her four fingered hands together and bowing slightly. "Thank you Madam Proprietor."

And with that, Tashaiea hurriedly stepped around her landlord and quickly made her way down the hall to the buildings exit. Not fancying the slightest glance back until she was safely on the opposite side of the door.

Two days wasn't a lot, Tashaiea thought to herself as she walked down the street to the local rapid transit terminal. Hopefully the local news station that "employed" her would be willing to pay a premium for her pictures of the opening ceremony of the athletics competition. That wishful thinking carried her as she boarded the rapid transit train heading into the entertainment district of the city where the games were being held. The train was extra full today. Packed with tourist in town for the games, the young Kai'ani figured. It was still majority Voss, but there were handful of other species as well. Some she recognized and some she didn't.

Of course she was still the only Kai'ani. No surprise there. And as normal she did catch some odd looks. It wasn't that the Voss were xenophobic, but more that it was strange to see one of her species on a planet like this. They always just assumed it was too hot and too dry for one of her and thus tended to look at her with suspicion. And they weren't wrong, it was damn hot and dry. Most of the planet was a barely habitable desert. Uncomfortable for her but perfectly habitable for the Voss. Again, it was poor life choices that lead her here.

When Tashaiea was looking up schools with photography programs she stumbled upon the Kerpzu'avi Colonial Institute of Higher Education. It boasted an in-depth and highly competitive photography program. And best of all, it was cheap. That should have been her first red flag, but being young(er) and naive she continued to look into it. Kerpzu'avi at the time seemed exotic. A Voss colony, barely fifty years (as it translated into her cultures time) old and looking for colonists. The colonial administration was also offering a bonus for xeno (as in non-Voss) settlers.

That should have been another red flag, but instead of doing more research she took an educational loan and applied to the school's photography program. The final red flag should have popped up when she was nearly immediately accepted to the school. As in just about as long as the transmission took to get from her then home to Kerpzu'avi and back again. Within a day Tashaiea was on a transport with everything she ever owned, eager to start her new life, willfully ignoring the protests from her family. It was only once she landed at the Kerpzu'avi capital spaceport a few days later that those red flags started to creep up on her.

The Kerpzu'avi capital was a decent sized city with a few hundred thousand inhabitants, planted smack in the middle of a sprawling desert. Within minutes the heat started to get to her, but she soldiered on. She took the same train she was on currently to the site of what would soon be her apartment, granted to her as part of the xeno settler bonus along with enough local currency for her to buy the necessities for her new place. For a while she was excited, she was finally out all on her own. No family to constantly gripe on her for wanting to be a photographer or constantly asking her if she had found a suitor yet, or worse trying to set her up with one.

The school wasn't really what she was expecting, it was smaller than she had thought. And not just small in the size of the campus, but small in a way that she constantly had to duck while walking through the halls so she wouldn't hit her head on the ceiling or hanging objects. It clearly wasn't designed for someone of her height as the Voss normally walked lower to the ground. But it was designed with at least some xeno's in mind as there was writing from many different languages scrawled throughout the building. None in hers but that didn't really matter when she had a translator, a final parting gift from her family.

The photography lab was quite underwhelming. The computers and equipment seemed old, like they had been bought from a company trying to get rid of their old and outdated equipment, or simply stolen out of their trash. Regardless she kept up her enthusiasm as the semester started. She didn't have many classmates, apparently photography and image processing/manipulation wasn't an enticing subject to the locals. Before long Tashaiea ended up taking a "paid" internship with a local news station who was in need of someone to take pictures for their morning news broadcasts.

She would work by taking pictures of interesting sites and scenes around the capital and in exchange if the station liked her pictures they would use them and pay her a sum that didn't seem to have any basis on anything. It wasn't fantastic but it was something, and she eventually was able to save up enough to buy some nice things for herself. It didn't last though. Before she knew it the semester was over and was handed a diploma and told that she had graduated. Tashaiea thought it was odd that she had "graduated" after only a few months, and she had been barely taught anything as most of it was a self learning curriculum.

Reality crashed down on her like a ton of bricks when she looked up the "degree" she had acquired and found out that it was only valid in Voss space, and even then only just barely as it didn't hold as much weight as some of the other, more expensive schools. To top things off, she had used up the last of her settler bonus and now had to start making her own payments for her apartment as well as start paying back the loan she had taken. She had been trapped, blinded by her youthful optimism and complete disregard for the multiple warning signs.

It had been nearly a year and a half, local time, since she had discovered just how truly screwed she had made herself. For a while she had been able to just barely scrape by selling her pictures and doing the occasional odd job, but it was getting harder as the colony continued to grow. Prices started to steadily increase and her employer seemed willing to pay less and less for her pictures. Everything seemed to come down to the next two days. If she was able to take some good pictures and get paid for them, then maybe, just maybe she could survive for a little while longer.

The depressing memory was pushed away as the sudden lurch of the train coming to a stop snapped Tashaiea back into reality. This was her stop. She gathered up her bag and waited her turn to exit the train. The rapid transit station was directly in the middle of the entertainment district, and it was as full as she had ever seen it. She unslung her bag and fished out her camera, taking pictures of the crowd as she walked to the stations exit.

The district was even more crowded than the station. The air was a buzz with chatter from a dozen different species. In the distance she could hear music and every once in a while would catch a whiff of something cooking at one of the open air restaurants. It almost seemed like the entire population of the city was here. She started to walk through the crowd, stopping every so often to take pictures. The atmosphere was almost electric. Her translator would pick up on multiple different conversations and started to feed them to her all at once.

It soon became a garbled soup of noise in her ear. She winced when she started to get pops of static. A tell tale sign that her translator was having problems keeping up. Deciding to save herself a headache, and potentially ruin her only way to communicate, she shut it off. She didn't really need it right then anyways as she knew generally where she was going.