The sights, sounds, and smells of human civilization mesmerized Vyrsa during her walk through the place that Tristan called a mall, which appeared to be filled with goods that were neither necessary nor rare but yet appeared to bring immense joy to the visitors. On Vyrsa's home planet, all vital goods were provided by the rulers, to avoid unnecessary waste. Many were the planets that had toppled under piles of trash, and the Isolans wanted to avoid such a fate at all costs. Vyrsa's own father had been instrumental in the decision to forbid consumable goods, and since the decision had been made before she was born, she had never questioned the wiseness in it.

But seeing the spark in these humans' eyes as they chose between different models, colors, and cuts of products, made her wonder just a little what it would be like to choose: to actually have the chance to express her individuality in her clothing and accessories.

Her human beau skillfully guided her up several escalators—which were a scary experience at first—toward a darkly lit place emblazoned with colorful posters.

"Tris!" the call made Vyrsa turn toward two humans by the entrance, one with blond hair that swirled in circles around his shoulders and the other with dark straight tresses. She appreciated the fact that humans had different hair colors and styles. It made keeping them apart much easier. Her kind all fashioned their hair similarly, with only minor differences in shade and shape.

The human habit to change clothes daily and dress for different occasions also fascinated her. Tristan must have changed his upper body garments, which he referred to as t-shirts, every day since she met him. Today's choice was in bright blue with an image of a small green figure in a robe on it. She figured this must be a revered deity on Earth.

When she'd asked him about it during their walk to the mall, he'd mumbled something about Baby Yoda and then gone on an adorable tangent into a fantastical world she knew nothing about. To be perfectly honest, she hadn't understood much of it but she'd understood that it meant something to Tristan, so she'd listened attentively anyway. Maybe one day, it would all make sense to her.

Although maybe on that day, she would no longer be here, among blathering and fanciful humans. The realization hurt like a blade to her heart every time it dawned on her, so she distracted herself toward an intriguing query instead.

Before that day of inevitable separation, she felt compelled to find an answer to the question of how humans... mated? Not that she wanted to mate in the "let's have a cross-species baby, hopefully, it'll be cute"-way but she was curious about their customs nonetheless. Very curious. Perhaps that was a subject she and Tristan could explore together even.

For science, of course!

She suppressed the thoughts of alien mating habits—because she worried the intensified glitter level on her cheeks would give her curiosity into such matters away—and plastered on a beaming smile to mingle with Tristan's friends. On most planets, physical relationship habits weren't something usually discussed in public and she figured this planet probably was the same.

"Robin, Tyler, this is Vyrsa," Tristan introduced her to his earthling brethren.

She shook both humans' hands when they were reached toward her. Luckily, Tristan had held a tutorial earlier on how to greet people so she now mastered the skill of shaking not too hard but also not too light.

"Wow," Tyler exclaimed upon gazing at her face, which was half-hidden beneath a hooded jacket to not draw too much attention to herself at the mall. "Tris wasn't kidding when he said you're into cosplay! You're actually sparkling!"

"Thank you..." Vyrsa mumbled, a bit embarrassed about the focus on her looks. Back at Isola, everyone sparkled at all times. Although perhaps she currently sparkled a bit more than usual, on account of the not-exactly-pure queries plaguing her mind.

"Yeah, Vyrsa decided to dress up for the movie," Tristan smoothly explained, squeezing her hand to showcase that he got her. "It's common to do so back where she's from."

"Yes, in Lithuania," Vyrsa seamlessly filled in, cocking her head to the side. She'd spent the morning, while Tristan was in class, carefully memorizing the facts from the fake backstory. It had seemed much more important than continued scanning for the presence of astatine. Especially since she already had a lead to follow. Which she would get to any day now, once she'd explored human culture just a little bit more.

"I'm taking a module on Eastern European culture next semester," Robin said with keen interest. "Maybe I can ask you some questions about growing up there?"

"Sure..." Vyrsa mumbled, looking toward Tristan.

"Vyrsa is returning home soon," Tristan said. "So she's probably not around then."

That was a true and sad fact. She observed Robin and Tyler share a look upon hearing the words, probably surmising that they shouldn't poke in such wounds.

"So should we?" Tyler grabbed his boyfriend's hand and took a step toward the entrance to the movie theater. "I mean, the movie is starting soon. And we need to stock up on snacks beforehand! I want popcorn, jelly worms, and chips! And a big soda as well!"

"The place will be out of snacks once you're done..." Robin mumbled, pressing a kiss to Tyler's cheek. Vyrsa wondered if she was supposed to do the same with Tristan.

But before she could try, Tristan chimed in with "Let's go!" in a chipper tone. He squeezed Vyrsa's hand tightly in his, guiding her toward the mythical popping corns that she'd been told about.

***

Flashing neon lights filled the screen. Buttery and salty popcorn melted in Vyrsa's mouth. A warm and safe hand rested in hers.

She could understand the allure of this particular earthling activity now. It was immersive, engaging, and surprisingly intimate, despite the number of people gathered in the same cramped space. Luckily, no one was seated close to their party, and even Robin and Tyler had chosen to sit a few seats away from her and Tristan.

Glancing over toward Tristan's friends, she understood why they had opted to do so, as their tongues were engaged in a game of dominance and their hands were... well, she couldn't actually see their hands.

While things got steamy beside them, she noticed the same was also happening on the screen. The handsome earthling hero—who reminded her a bit of Brody with his clean-cut blonde hair and unwieldy muscles—and his green-colored alien love interest with pointy ears had finally got a moment to themselves in the med bay of the supposed spaceship, and they were taking full advantage of it. The activities performed on the operating table were definitely not medically necessary.

Vyrsa watched the events unfold with keen interest. Her conclusion was that humans did mate in a similar way to her own species, and they didn't just do it for procreation, they also did it for pure amusement. Which was her preferred purpose for the activity as well.

Fascinated she looked upon the action on the screen, making mental notes of the different steps. First a lot of kissing, then some fondling, and after that, the clothes started to come off. There were also... sounds. Grunts and moans that formed a symphony of lust.

This was definitely something she wanted to explore further.

Caught up in the moment, Vyrsa acted, fueled by pop and popcorn. In the darkness of the theater, she climbed atop Tristan's lap, straddling him just like the green chick in the movie. Before Tristan could utter a word, she pressed her lips to his, blending sweet and salty together into an intoxicating brew.

"What are you—" Tristan tried to protest but she silenced his lips with another kiss. He definitely didn't seem like an unwilling participant in the exercise. As she gyrated against his groin, she felt something harden below her thighs. If males on this planet worked the same as on hers, she was quite sure what that meant.

"Not... here..." Tristan managed to express between muffled moans. He bit his lips to try to temper himself.

"But your friends," Vyrsa countered pointing over toward Robin and Tyler a few chairs back. Hands were definitely in naughty places now.

"My friends don't know how to behave in public," Tristan grunted. "But we shouldn't draw such attention to us. Let's wait."

With a sigh, Vyrsa sat down beside him again. The movie had moved on to an explosion-filled action scene, with outrageously unrealistic battle strategies. If she wasn't preoccupied with other interests, she would have explained to Tristan how logistically unsound the plan of the hero's fleet was.

"When we get home," Tristan promised, leaning over to kiss her neck. "Then we can..." he nodded toward Robin and Tyler to make this point.

Vyrsa perked up. "Can we go home now?" she asked, already forgetting all about the silver screen's allure.

Author's Note: While writing this, I found out that my other story, First Frost, actually made the ambs picks for ONC! I'm thrilled about that, but also a bit torn as this story has been my main focus and I was considering dropping the other one. My current plan is to get that story over 8k in the coming week though, so I can submit both stories to round 2! (this story is already at 18k so way above the threshold for that round) Which means there probably won't be any updates of this story during that time (but after First Frost has hit 8k, my focus will be to finish this story!).

Who's smart idea was it to write two ONC novellas? Oh yeah, mine...