Indokani

If You Love Something...

Instead of sealing the union with a kiss, as more species did, Blue and Ilk leaned forward and rubbed their heads together, purring loudly. The crowd around them erupted into loud cheers and whoops. Purple additionally fired confetti wrappers and colorful smoke bombs from his PAK, whooping loudly.

Red didn't verbally join in, but he clapped his hands loudly, staring at his little Ilk with a broad, tender smile. If learning to let her go was hard enough, watching her accept another man in her life was even worse. Sure, the bond he and Ilk shared as father and daughter would never be broken, but now he would have to share her, something he was still not sure about. What if Ilk got hurt? What if things didn't work out and she ended up with a broken heart? There were so many possibilities...

Then he remembered this was Ilk they were talking about. She had grown into a fearless, strong, independent irkenette. Whatever it is that the universe has cooked up for her, she's more than capable of dealing with it. He'd always be there for her, that is right, but she was no longer a smeet.

Red's eyes met with Blue's for a few seconds. He said nothing, but the kryvtor could tell what his... father-in-law meant to say: 'Take good care of her, lizard, or I will drag you to the Massive so I can personally toss you out of the airlock.'

Blue nodded solemnly.

Purple glanced at the budding white flowers around Ilk and Blue. One, in particular, had already bloomed into a beautiful white iris-like plant. It was almost identical to the original, except its color has a mild reddish hue and its petals curled in a way that reminded Red of Ilk's curly lekku.

"So, what did you call those ones?" he inquired curiously.

"Ilkdrop flowers*," Akkono said.

For once, Purple liked the name.

-IZ-

The following few days were, thankfully, calmer. Unfortunately, it was time for Red and Purple to depart and continue with Operation Impending Doom 2, but they decided to take at least a few more days before actually leaving. In the meantime, many things happened.

Thankfully, the Control Brains had been dormant during the whole issue and they didn't know all the details as to why the Sobrekt had invaded the Massive, much to Red and Purple's relief. This meant they could modify the events to their convenience, and so the official story was that Bob and Skoodge had forged a permission slip to bet the Massive behind their backs. They lost the bet, but Red and Purple managed to negotiate its safe return in a peaceful manner.

With the Massive securely returned and the wedding going on without a hitch, Red could now pamper his pregnant wife, and he was happy to do so. Another check-up revealed that the smeet was healthy and growing: Red literally cried once he saw the picture of a tiny, curled up body in the ultrasound monitor. According to the information, a soft eggshell would form around the smeet and then it would be laid. To Lena's chagrin, though, Red got a little carried away with what things she could eat or not, and he made sure that nobody could give her Sobrekt related food. Echo was kind enough to give her some fried adaarksscotch on a stick when he wasn't looking.

Tenn made a full report about all she had learned about the kurokran program and insisted that she stay behind to keep digging into the war hybrids. The Tallest didn't have a problem with that, but in truth, Tenn's actual reason for staying was that she felt... drawn to her kurokran and didn't want to leave it. Besides, she had taken a liking to her new teammates and figured she could 'get some more information out of them', as she put it.

Purple decided to give Red some time alone with his family and instead hung out with Akkono a bit, claiming it was amusing to be around her. He'd spend some time in her home or in the indokuro sanctuary, and she'd give him some tips regarding indokuro training so he could take better care of Cheesecake. Sakr and Captain would tease the Irken leader, saying he was head over heels for the female kryvtor. But frankly, Purple didn't care what they thought.