General Store

Kasei-La pouted "D'awww, no fair. It's not THAT late... I mean, we have at least TWO hours until sunrise."

"Awwww, yeah! Unfair! And it's not so weird. The souls of the plants on my planet scream as well." Wesa nods.

"See? Wesa agrees with me... Say, how often do moon phases change on your planet, Wesa? Are you gonna just like, change ages when the sun comes up, or something?" Kasei-La blinked, the idea suddenly dawning on her.

"Oh, more or less. It's about a year a day."

Kasei-La did the math in her head, and then blinked. "...So you die at, like, thirty?"

"No, no. Our moon cycles are longer. I die at 100."

"Oooh, makes sense... Well, then... This friendship should be interesting, especially every hundred days or so. I'm gonna enjoy seeing you 3 feet tall." She stuck her tongue out playfully.

Wesa made a face. "Well, I won't. I don't really like being a kid. So hard to concentrate."

Kasei-La gave her a hug. "Oh, don't be so glum. I'll watch out for you and all that, if Taban's not around, of course. And besides, you get to tease me for as long as you're older than me, anyway. I'm never going to get any taller than I am now. I'm a midget in human standards!"

Wesa hugged her back and then looked her over. "Really? You're fully grown?"

"Nope. We just stop getting taller JUST before puberty, is all. It's a bummer. Especially since we tend to have large chests and hips, so we look like cartoon characters, kinda."

Wesa giggled. "Well, wouldn't it look normal too you, then?"

"Not when you haven't seen another Venusian for 6 years of your life, it isn't. I spend most of my time around human women, so I see human women as looking normal."

Wesa shrugged and swished her tail. "I spend a lot of time around other species and I still think that they look sorta weird. But that's probably because I'm ooooooooold."

Elena chuckled and shook her head. "Either way, it's time to head back, you two."

Wesa flicked her tail. "But I still haven't found Taban! He's my soul-half, you know."

"I think the question you should be asking yourself, Elena, is how you're going to make us. We're both rather small, and agile. Heck, Wesa appears to have double-jointed legs. Besides, like Wesa said, she needs to find Taban."

"Ok, listen..." Elena said, kneeling so she was eye-level with the girls and looking at Wesa first. "I'll help you find this Taban first, but..." she turned to look at Kasei. "...after that, you have to promise me you'll go back to the inn, ok?"

"If it's good with Wesa, it's good with me."

Wesa nodded and gave Elena a huge grin. "Okay!"

Elena smiled and stood up, looking around the store. "Now...what does Taban look like?"

"He's green. Sometimes I call him Greenie. He doesn't really like that though."

"Hm. Alright... In my universe, it seems that people appear at innopportune times, like when you're making fun of them. Maybe, if we're lucky, some of my own world's rules could apply to here temporarily?"

"Eh. Probably not. But this usually works. . . " Wesa reached behind her ear to pull out a small hairpin-like dagger and swiftly stabbed herself in the hand, wincing a bit.

Suddenly, the door to the shop slammed open and a wild-eyed adult aylem burst in, grass blade at the ready. He calmed down when he saw Wesa smiling at him innocently though. "You know, someday, I'm not going to come when you do that. That's cheating, you know."

"Yeah, well, hide and seek gets boring after a while."

"...He's kind of attractive, in an effeminate, genderless sort of way."