Katrilla stumbled forward, eyes wide, but regained her composure and walked up to him. "H-hi. I-I'm Katrilla."

"My name's Adonis." He waved a hand toward Clyde and Andraste. "Since those two are striking off on their own, I'd be happy to show the rest of you around."

Clyde grinned and faced forward again, and he and Andraste walked around the corner.

"The recreation center is this way," she said. "That's where we just came from."

"What kinds of things do you do for recreation? I haven't really had an opportunity to talk with one of you before, so I'm pretty clueless."

"That's okay. I don't know that much about humans, either. So this will be educational for both of us."

"Great. Anything you want to know, just ask."

"Thank you." They came to a door and she opened it for him. "Oh, to answer your question, we read, watch movies, play games, exercise. Same things humans do, I’m told. In fact, we just came from the dojo, where we were practicing our moves. We were programmed with knowledge of martial arts and other forms of hand-to-hand fighting, but as with everything else, you start to get rusty if you don't keep practicing." She glanced at him and said, "By the way, what brought you here?"

Now it was Clyde's turn to blush. "Well … I … all of us, really … well, we were kind of … uh … well … "

"Ah." She nodded. "You want to have sex with one of us."

His blush went into overdrive. "Now that I think about it, it sounds pretty weird."

"I don't know. Humans show up here for that reason every now and then, and I've heard that it happens other places where a lot of us gather. Some people are curious, I suppose, and others … well, I dunno. There's nothing wrong with being attracted to someone." She sighed. "No one's ever approached me for that, though."

Clyde raised an eyebrow. After wondering how to respond for a moment, he said, "Well, it's their loss."

She glanced at him and raised a brow ridge, mirroring his expression. Sort of. "You'd … ?"

Uh … He shrugged. "Why not? Like I said, I think you're cute. And you've got a great body. And you're a nice person." He smiled. "I'd definitely like to get to know you better, at least. And if you want to, um … have sex … then yeah, I'm up for it." He held up his other hand. "But only if you want to. We've already learned not to try to force you to do anything you don't want to do."

"Ah-hah." Andi laughed. "I guess you've met Tiamat."

"Yeah." He laughed with her. "One of the guys I was with, Mitch, tried to put the moves on her and she damn near killed him."

Andi laughed harder. "Tia wouldn't really harm anyone unless she's defending herself or someone she cares about. But she does just enough to put a scare into someone when necessary."

Clyde chuckled. "It'll be a miracle if Mitch didn't shit in his pants."

Andi giggled. "I guess some people forget that we were built for combat. Tia never hesitates to remind them when they push her far enough."

"He got what he deserved. If he has any brains at all, he'll be nothing but polite from now on." He grinned and looked around. "So, what all goes on here? I mean, what's this place for, other than a shelter?"

"There are orientation courses that give us the information we need about human society and how to fit in. They're basic primers. Nothing's official yet, but we might have to do at least a year in school alongside humans as a requirement for citizenship, so that'll pick up where the classes here end."

"Cool. I've got a year of high school left, myself." He smiled. "Maybe we'll see each other there."

"I'd like that." She slowed and stopped, and turned to face him. "I can ask to be sent to your school."

"That'd be great." He grinned and, a moment later, realized that he'd taken both of her hands in his. They gazed at each other for a moment before she spoke again.

"You know, the staff here could always use some extra help. This kind of operation is low priority for a lot of the people who make the decisions for this city. If you'd like to, you could apply for a job here over the summer, so you could help us learn more about humans. And we could see each other more often, that way."

He smiled and nodded. "I'd like that."

After gazing into each other's eyes a moment longer, they turned and continued walking and talking. Clyde wasn't sure why, but he felt completely comfortable with her.

They kept holding hands through the rest of the tour.