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Eden: Morning! Hope you slept better than I did. I’m going to head over to the conference if you want to meet there.

Mezli responds almost right away.

Mezli: Nah, I couldn’t sleep for shit. Stupid dreams about stupid Phelix. Ugh. Let’s go find that loser so we can get this over with. Have any ideas for how to locate him?

Eden: Yeah, I scanned the conference schedule and picked out a few panels that line up with his medical background, as well as some exhibits that might interest him.

I forward a highlighted schedule and convention map to Mezli’s comm so we’re on the same page.

Eden: Maybe I go to the panels and you look at the exhibits? Whoever finds him first can let the other person know while we keep him occupied. Though I’m not sure how I’ll be able to get him to stick around.

Mezli: Just bat your eyelashes and ask him questions about his work. He’s conceited enough that should keep him interested for at least a few hours. If that fails, flash him your tits.

I sputter at her message, glad she can’t see how red I’m turning.

Eden: I can’t do that!

Mezli: Why not? I know I wouldn’t be able to look away if you did. Seems like a pretty good tactic.

Eden: It’s a medical conference! I can’t go around exposing myself like that.

Mezli: Fine, I guess I’ll be the one exposing myself.

Another message appears before I can beg her not to do that.

Mezli: Kidding. I don’t need any more violations for public indecency on my record.

I wonder just how many violations she has…and what she did to get them. I’d ask her, but I need to focus on the mission. Thinking about Mezli naked is far too distracting.

Eden: Okay, good.

Eden: I’m heading over to the conference now. Good luckfinding Phelix.

Mezli: You too! Let’s meet up for lunch and do some more strategizing if we don’t see him before then. I don’t know about you, but thinking makes me hungry.

I suddenly feel less motivated to find Phelix right away. Lunch with Mezli sounds fun.

Eden: Alright. I’ll comm you later.

With the first step of our plan in place, I head out of my hotel and make my way to the conference hall, excitement and anxiety thrumming through me as I wade through the sea of aliens on their morning commute. Yes, I’m surrounded by unfamiliar beings, sights, and smells. Yes, I’m nervous and scared of fucking this mission up. But I’ve also never felt more alive.

“Goddess, I’m so sorry!”I hold out my hand to the seladin on the convention floor. The one I knocked over when I thought I saw a flash of beige skin the same shade as Eden’s. My tea, thankfully lukewarm, spilled all over their crisp white suit as I crashed into them, making the situation even worse. So much for maintaining my professionalism and making a good impression on my peers.

I wince as they look up at me, their glowing eyes narrowed in frustration. They take my hand and I haul them back to their feet, glancing at their name badge to find out just how badly I justscrewed up.Ulena Breks A’Leth, she/her. Not a name I recognize, thank the Goddess.

Once upright, the seladin towers over me by at least three hands. I brace myself for the onslaught of angry words about my carelessness, but it doesn’t come. Instead, she frowns at her wet jacket, then strips it off unceremoniously, leaving herself with only a plain gray tube of fabric across her chest that blends into her charcoal skin.

After a shocked glance at her mostly bare torso, I tilt my chin up to look at her face. Others around us pause to stare blatantly at the now shirtless seladin with curiosity, distaste, or attraction.

“It’s alright. I didn’t particularly care for that jacket,” she says with a shrug, finally speaking to me.

My top hands dart to the fastener of my shirt. “Here, take this. It’s the least I can do for crashing into you like that.”

Her lamplike eyes glow slightly brighter as she wordlessly watches me remove my shirt, but doesn’t rebuff my offer when I pass it over.

“Thank you…Dr. Nafar.” She looks down pointedly at my badge before saying my name. My shirt is far too wide and short to fit her properly, but she still manages to look elegant. That shade of green certainly goes with the subtle luminous markings that dot across her skin better than it does with my complexion.

“And here I thought giving someone the shirt off your back was just a silly human saying,” a husky, teasing voice calls out to me from nearby.Mezli.

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