Niqi Cannot Stop Talking To People

This is joint-written.

"Was it necessary to pierce his body?" Niqi asked, walking into Glide's room without greeting.

Glide snarled over his shoulder at Niqi, completely nude, his long tail flicking back and forth in agitation. "Don't you know how to knock, shithead!?" He snapped.

"S**t!" Niqi hissed, turning around and covering her eyes. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Changing." Glide replied, grabbing a pair of boxers. "What the f**k does it look like?"

"Damnit," Niqi hissed. "I'm sorry. F**k."

"I oughta frickin' kill you." Glide muttered, pulling his boxers on. "Now, what the hell was it you wanted?"

"I was pissed at you for being so harsh to Micah, but now I'd rather just go wash my eyes out with bleach than bother you," Niqi replied, still facing the other direction.

Glide scowled. "That's kind of offensive."

"Sorry. There's nothing wrong with your body. But you're Glide," Niqi explained.

Glide rolled his eyes. "I get what you're sayin'. At least, I think I do. Now, turn the f**k around, I've got my goddamn boxers on. Tell me what's wrong with me fighting all-out."

Niqi turned around, went to speak, and then paused. "...Your eye," she said.

"What about it?" Glide asked, grabbing a new pair of pants from a hammerspace bag on his bed and slipping them on.

"I don't think I've ever seen the replacement. You've got an eyepatch on 24/7," Niqi said.

Glide shrugged. "Yeah, well, now you've seen it."

Niqi grinned. "It's interesting-looking," she said, noting the cat-like shape to the pupil and the fact that the iris was two colors; one half was pink, the other purple. "Sucks about the depth perception, though."

Glide raised an eyebrow. "Say what?"

"You can see out of that thing?" Niqi asked, skeptical.

Glide nodded. "Want me to prove it?"

Niqi shrugged. "Sure."

Glide closed his right eye. "Okay, do somethin'."

Niqi held up four fingers.

"Something harder than 'count the fingers'." Glide smirked. "For the record, though, four."

Niqi rolled her eyes, and then did a handstand as quietly as she could.

"... Damn." Glide chuckled, shaking his head. "Handstand. Good form."

Niqi grinned and got up. "Practice. Having the same body indefinitely does wonders for grace, too." She paused. "Okay, so you can see out of the eye. Why the eyepatch, then?"

Glide grinned, picking the eyepatch up and putting it on. "Because there's a couple of powers in this thing that are light-sensitive."

"So now we're back to 'sucks about the depth perception' again," Niqi said, smirking.

"I got used to the eyepatch a couple days after I first lost the eye." Glide replied. "I've adjusted accordingly." He paused for a moment. "... Hey, why does it matter to you what happens to Micah, anyway?"

"I just thought it was harsh," Niqi said, her heart suddenly thudding harder. She briefly wished that she were a vampire without a heartbeat, like the ones in all the legends she'd heard. "I mean, him being a newcomer and all... and suddenly it's like, bam, you're getting owned by Glide."

Glide smirked. "I can hear your heartbeat, y'know. Tell me the truth. You're sweet on him, ain'tcha?"

Niqi bared her fangs, wishing for the lack of a heartbeat a thousand times harder than before, and also wishing she'd never come here. Shetani might not be that kind of person, but Glide most likely was. And there was no use lying or threatening. She forced her mouth back to normal. "Only a little bit," she tried.

Glide sat down on his bed. "I think you're still lyin' to me."

Niqi wondered how life-threatening his heartattack would be if she told Glide she had slept with him twice just on the boat, and that she was pregnant with his child. She shook her head. "It's...nothing." So much for not lying.

Glide rolled his eyes. "If you don't wanna tell me, fine." He reached into the pocket of his discarded pants, pulling out his wallet. "Hey, c'mere a second."

Niqi approached Glide warily.

Glide smacked Niqi upside the head with his wallet, then opened it and showed her a photo inside.

"...Dude, is that Iccy?" Niqi asked.

Glide nodded. "Yep, that's Iccy."

Niqi's face looked torn between disgust and admiration. "I didn't need to see that," she said, smiling.

Glide raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with it?"

"He's nude, for one. I think I've seen enough of that for one day," Niqi replied.

Glide scoffed, putting the photo away. "Whatever. He looks good nude."

"Sure does," Niqi said, grinning.

"Bat's got a cute butt, doesn't he?" Glide asked, nudging Niqi.

Niqi rolled her eyes. "Yeah. You sure love showing him off." She went to say of course, if I had someone that cute, I'd probably show him off too, but stopped, thinking of the times she'd tried to hide her feelings for Micah and what was going on between them from others. She stood silent for an abnormally long period of time.

Glide looked at Niqi expectantly. "... Well? Anythin' else you wanted to say?"

Niqi's heart beat even harder than before, and then she slowly lowered herself onto the bed beside Glide. "Yeah. Uh, I..." She stared at her paws, twisting them together.

Glide wrapped an arm around Niqi's shoulders. "Better say it now or I'm gonna put you in a headlock and squeeze until your head pops off." He grinned.

Niqi grinned back. "It's just, you're someone I can confide in, we've known each other ages. And well, I sort of feel like I'm going to explode with all this anxiety...about something I'm not so sure I should be feeling so conflicted about anyway...It's just...with... Well, do you remember the night I went to... No, of course you wouldn't. You were off having fun with Iccy." She paused to roll her eyes. "But, uh, when...and I'm sorry for my inability to talk straight, by the way... but while Ambree and I were on Hygeia, I went to that club you recommended. Icarus Rising?"

Glide nodded. "Yeah, I remember. I told you about that DJ, Seraph, too. What's your point?"

Niqi blinked. "I f*****g met that DJ, Seraph. But I didn't even know it was him at the time, he told me afterward. After we fucked in the men's bathroom, that is." She winced.

"Damn, way to go." Glide laughed.

Niqi couldn't help smiling. She shook her head. The smile faded, and she pulled her legs up to her chest, staring at the opposite wall. "And, uh..." She paused. "Seraph," she said quietly. "Micah Seraphi. Make the connection."

Glide nodded. "I got that when you asked if I remembered tellin' you about Icarus Rising. So you fucked him, what's the big deal?"

"...It became...more than that," Niqi responded. "I gave him my number. I don't even know why. And we had one phone chat. That's it. But I couldn't stop thinking about him...and just when I thought I'd shoved him from my mind, he shows up disguised as a vampire hunter while we're trying to find Dham. And then I'm too thick-headed to figure out the clues right away, but eventually I figure out it's him, but this is after he said some s**t about Cupid and 'that DJ might even love you' and stuff, while I was under the impression that he was someone else completely. And then we fucked again, and I got my hopes up that we could be...uh, mates," she mumbled, and then quickly continued, "but then he...I...I'm f*****g..." She shoved her mouth into her forearm, which had come to rest on top of her knees, and mumbled into it inaudibly.

"... Dude..." Glide murmured. "Are you frickin' pregnant? Is that why you're not fighting?"

Niqi cringed, her paws balling into fists. "Yes," she said.

Glide went silent. After a few moments, he broke into a grin. "Boy or girl?"

Niqi smiled, her head now resting on her arm. "Boy," she said, and then grinned widely. "He's going to look like Halloween threw up on him."

Glide laughed. "Thought of a name for the little dude?"

Niqi shook her head. "I haven't been thinking about it much. Trying not to. But at night, when I'm about to fall asleep, sometimes I do think of things like that."

"Want me to help you come up with one?" Glide offered.

Niqi shrugged. "Sure. What've you got?"

Glide thought for a moment. "What about Koga?"

Niqi scrunched her nose. "No. What else?"

"Aaron?"

Niqi shook her head again. "Bad connotations. And too plain for this little fella." She smiled.

"Well, what about Rylee?" Glide grinned.

It took Niqi a moment before she realized where she'd heard the name before. "That f*****g character you made on a game? No thanks." She grinned widely again.

"F**k you, he turned out kinda cute." Glide muttered. "Y'know, Alysteir's got a nice ring to it..."

Niqi paused. "Alysteir," she said, testing the name out. "Hm. Alysteir, the great warrior," she boomed in her best 'this movie is epic' voice. She laughed.

Glide rolled his eyes. "You don't know if he's gonna be a warrior. He might be a cunning rogue, or a powerful mage."

Niqi shrugged. "I'll try to judge when he starts kicking." She lifted her head. "But, as I was saying, I'm pregnant. And he told me he made me pregnant after we slept together again for the first time."

Glide blinked. "... You fucked him more than once?"

Niqi smiled. "Long boat trip. Anyway, I was kind of...startled, as you might imagine. Still not exactly used to the idea that there's someone else in here," she said, glancing down at her stomach. "But Micah said it was because he had some sort of...premonition, when he was an angel. About me and a pup. And that the pup needed to live or something, or bad things would happen...so he was sent down here to conceive and protect him. He said he'd be with me every step of the way, and that's what gave me more hope...and I was about to ask, about, uh, being mates, but then he was all 'I might not even have to stay if the pup something or other' and that kind of crushed my confidence. And now I'm so confused. I mean, we've talked since then, but not about...what exactly we are. And I also don't want to feel like a b***h, no pun intended, if he doesn't want to stay and I end up making him stay because of the pup and such. And just...augh. Do you know what my love history is?"

"... Slow. The f**k. Down." Glide said after a moment. "What, exactly, did he say about the pup?"

Niqi blinked. "Sorry. I don't really remember. Something about it coming into its full powers in the womb?" She paused. "S**t, I'm a f*****g moron. Why didn't I pay attention to that?" She put her face in her paws. "Because I'm in love and totally self-absorbed, that's why. F**k. What did he mean?"

Glide smirked. "I think I get it."

Niqi looked to him. "What is it?"

"If he said he wouldn't need to stay if the pup came into his powers in the womb, the pup will protect himself and you from inside the womb." Glide stated.

Niqi blinked. "Dude." She glanced at her stomach again. "Powerful lil' guy."

"Now, was that all?" Glide asked.

"I just...I'm confused. I've had like a twenty year dry spell when it comes to love. And before that, how many times had I been in love? It was like..." Niqi held out her paw, one finger extended. "Damien. Manipulating motherfucking a*****e. Hope he died painfully." She extended another finger. "Brec. Liked him at first because he wasn't an a*****e, but then he turned out to be a wimp. And immature." She held out a third finger. "Wade." She paused. "Couldn't get over him for a long time. Fell so hard, and then we got separated by so much distance. He went to another world. And we tried to keep in touch but the conversations never went anywhere, and I was constantly aching...so I just snapped one day and decided that I hated love, because of what it was doing to me. And it's doing it to me all over again now, and maybe it's even worse. I'm so conflicted. I can't stop thinking about him, wanting him, wanting more than his body, and at the same time I don't even want to admit that I like the guy. And he seems offended at that, but at the same time, it seems like he doesn't care...I'm so confused. And terrified." She sighed. "But there are worse things, much less petty things, and I can't seem to convince myself of that."

"I guess Cupid hit you with another goddamn dart." Glide grinned. "Just checking, are you actually expecting relationship advice, or do you just want me to sit here and listen?"

Niqi shrugged. "Either would be fine. I wouldn't mind a little help."

"Well, to be honest, I got jackshit." Glide admitted. "I mean, it's hard for me to even get Iccy's attention when I'm not drilling his a*s, so I don't know how the f**k I'm gonna help you."

Niqi grimaced. "Looks like we're in semi-similar boats. But that's okay, I'll work this out on my own, somehow." She inhaled deeply and then exhaled. "But it does feel good to finally get that out. It's like a million flies buzzing around in your head otherwise."

"Yeah, I get that." Glide replied. "But at least me 'n' Iccy are makin' progress."

Niqi smiled. "That's good to hear. Progress how? Gimme an update."

Glide shrugged. "I get tail on a regular basis, plus he trusts me. And we hang sometimes, when s**t like this isn't happening."

Niqi nodded. "I take it the hanging out is the important part. Anyone can f**k anyone. Spendin' time is intimate." She grinned.

"Yep." Glide said. "That and the whole 'trusting me' thing is what's really important. I mean, don't get me wrong, getting tail is sweet."

Niqi closed her eyes and growled contentedly. "Is it ever." Her tail wrapped around her legs.

"I doubt you really get what I mean, though." Glide smirked.

"What do you mean, then?" Niqi asked.

"I can't really explain well enough for you to get it." Glide responded. "All I gotta say is, next time you get it on with Micah, see if he'll let you finger him. If he does, believe me, you'll understand afterward."

Niqi made a disgusted face. "No thank you, not really into that."

Glide chuckled. "You won't ever get what I mean, then, but to each their own."

"Is it something to do with f*****g someone instead of being fucked, then?" Niqi asked.

Glide nodded. "There's that, but it's also about how f*****g tight it is."

Niqi grinned. "You enjoy that." She paused. "On an unrelated note, I've been getting this...feeling. Like something huge is going to happen soon." She unconsciously placed her hand over her stomach, and then noticed and looked down. "Besides, like, my stomach." She flashed another grin. "But from what Micah said, if I'm not mistaken, I think the little guy might have something to do with it, actually."

"Well, I think we'll be pretty ready for it when it happens." Glide said. "Now, do you mind? I kinda wanted to sleep tonight."

Niqi yawned. "Agreed. I'll see you in the morning." She got up off the bed. "Night, Glide. Thanks for letting me vent."

"Knock next time." Glide grinned. "Or I'll have to chop your fingers off."

"Ugh," Niqi muttered. "I don't think I'll ever forget to knock again after that." She grinned.

Glide rolled his eyes. "F**k you."

"Love you too, Glide," Niqi replied, still grinning. "Later." She walked out the door.

Therali passed by Niqi as she was making her way back to her room. The bat god smirked and shook his head, though he said nothing.

"Dropping eaves, were you?" Niqi asked.

"Perish the thought." Therali replied. "Don't think I don't know, though. I am the god of life and death, after all."

Niqi rolled her eyes. "It's like all you gods and goddesses have nothing better to do than meddle in the lives of us mere mortals slash immortals. Oh, wait." She grinned.

"Really, we don't." Therali said, walking away. "Sleep well, wolves."

"Night," Niqi said, and continued walking. Abruptly, she stopped and looked back. Therali was gone, and the hallway was dark and clear. She shook her head and silently walked to Micah's room. She opened the door as quietly as she could, in case he was sleeping.

Micah was seated on his bed, growling quietly as he forced his wounds to heal.

Niqi shut the door behind her. She looked at Micah, perplexed, and watched silently until it became apparent what he was doing. She decided not to interrupt, in case he hadn't noticed her yet.

"You need something?" Micah asked, his wounds becoming smaller, until they eventually vanished.

Niqi shook her head, walking over to sit down close beside him. "I just want to sleep with you tonight. One way or both," she said, smiling. "Screw the rules; neither of us needs to conserve our strength. And...I don't care anymore, if someone finds us together." She bit her lip. "I mean, if you mind still, I could leave, that would be fine," she stammered, realizing she was assuming too much.

Micah shook his head, laying back on the bed. "I don't really mind."

Niqi flipped the lightswitch, making the room much darker, and joined him in bed. She was hesitant to touch him. "Still hurt?"

"Nah." Micah replied. "Healing hurts like hell, but once it's over, no pain."

Niqi pulled up the covers and placed a hand on Micah's chest. "That's good to hear," she said, sighing.

"I don't know how the hell I lost..." Micah murmured.

Niqi chuckled. "Glide's got about a hundred years' experience. And he spent a lot of that training. Don't feel so bad, I would've gone down faster than you."

"That guy needs something or somebody to keep him busy." Micah said.

Niqi grinned in the dark. "Oh, he does. Got himself a cute little bat boy. He's not so into intensive training anymore, he just fights damn well when he has to."

"Yeah, I noticed that much." Micah laughed. "F****r caught me completely by surprise with that Hiryu move."

Niqi laughed as well. "Yeah, he seems to like those announce-before-you-do-s**t attacks. But I haven't seen him set many traps. I think he was just showin' off."

"I'm a fan of those, myself." Micah grinned. "I should've known it was a trap when he went for another Hayabusa, but it was either intercept and risk it or let him cherry my a*s."

"Mm," Niqi replied, running her fingers through Micah's fur. "Don't let it bother you too much. Just don't get on his bad side and you should be fine." She paused. "Also, cherry you?"

Micah nodded. "Yeah. Y'know, cherry. Disrespect-finish with a weaker attack."

Niqi snickered. "Don't think I've heard that term before."

"Can't say I'm surprised." Micah replied. "It's not really widely-used."

Niqi shrugged, and then nestled closer to Micah. "You wanna sleep together, or sleep together and then sleep together?" She asked, grinning.

"After being stabbed a couple of times, I need something to take my mind off of today." Micah said.

Niqi maintained a smile, rolling on top of Micah and kissing his chest twice before beginning to unbutton.