[Day 8 - LA] Getting a Breath

[Daunt]

"I have no idea. But by the looks of you, you still are one." He chuckled, actually not ogling her, focusing on the eyes and lips. "I guess that's part of the risk I am taking. But nothing so far has led me to think you're not interesting in what you can offer out of your own volition."

[Elaranu]

"Fair enough, I am ready when you are then.''

As she said this she moved the other steak medallion to her plate, not wanting it to get cold on her.

[Daunt]

"I'm ready." He smiled faintly. "Ask away."

[Elaranu]

She had just asked, but she was prepared for this to be a bit off kilter.

"All right; Are you married, and or do you have any children?"

[Daunt]

"I am yet to be married or even consider such a step, and I don't know of any children of mine." He decided to keep it on point to save space for additional questions. He gestured in her direction.

[Elaranu]

"What, the same question for myself? I can say with certainty I have never been married, nor had any children. I have enough to worry about in my life without such things certainly. At least with the children part."

[Daunt]

"Like I said, you choose what you reveal each and every time. It doesn't have to mirror your own questions. I just indicated that the ball is in your court." He chuckled, waiting. "Besides, I could tell most of it already. You usually need some sex to have a shot at having children."

[Elaranu]

"Ball in my court... is that a sexual euphemism then?"

She genuinely had not heard that one before.

[Daunt]

"Not really, but if you think it is, it can be. Everything can be a sexual euphemism if one wants to hear them. It may be your subconscious speaking, communicating sexual curiosity or deprivation." He chuckled. "Or not. I wouldn't presume. I guess your real question is slightly different, but I won't solicit it as promised. Agency is yours here."

[Elaranu]

"Ah, I just was not sure. I have learned to be wary of the mention of 'balls' since I left home. I have learned they do not always refer to bouncy spheroids used in recreation.''

A passing cloud passed over her face, but she visibly shook it off before biting down on a piece of steak in an almost irritated manner.

[Daunt]

"Sometimes a ball is just a ball." He shrugged, letting her think and chew at her own pace. Starting a conversation on genitals now felt out of place, so he didn't. He was comfortable in the hammock.

[Elaranu]

"I know that. I just wish there were not all these double layers to things. How do people who speak galactic common manage when a ball may not be a ball and a moon may not be a moon?''

[Daunt]

"Context." He said simply. "You read more than words, but also emotions, tones, behaviour. But if you find it weird, you can always demand more straightforwardness and see what happens. Or ask the right questions."

[Elaranu]

She furrowed her brow, "That is quite the puzzle. Well, I suppose I would feel bad about myself if I backed down from bettering myself, feeling less frustrated.''

[Daunt]

"Then I guess it's one good outcome of this conversation." Her brow drew brief attention. "But if you are used to cracking technical puzzles, you may learn to crack social ones too eventually."

[Elaranu]

'A good point. Now! To not dwell on that... Are you an only child? If you do not mind me getting back to questions, after that diversion that was my fault."

[Daunt]

He shook his head. "I wouldn't know, but that's my guess. In my society, women take men when they wish to procreate or seek carnal pleasure. The girls stay with mothers in the coven while the boys are returned to the village. My father, however, got himself killed when I was young, and my mother, who I knew very little due to separation, perished soon after in a CIS onslaught. She might have had other children, but I had never learnt of that, and if it were a sister, she'd likely be dead now too. In some sense, however, every man in the village was my brother, so initially I didn't grow up alone."

[Elaranu]

''So, an orphan of sorts. Cultural norms or not. I had one sister and three brothers growing up, all older than me: Reduran, Yulangnu, Hyudinur, Zedenanu, and Jiremanu. I will admit, I was not the closest with any of them. Not like they were with each other."

[Daunt]

"Closeness being made rather than given is also my experience." He said quietly, looking away from her for a moment. "My custodian was more a groomer than a father figure. He directed me into having certain abilities but was disinterested in any bond. I remember games with my peers. Those are good memories."

[Elaranu]

"Oh I know it is made. I do not really blame anyone but myself; While they were all working on the ranch and playing with the animals, I was usually off on my own. Either tinkering with something or reading. I preferred solitude, usually. Or at least calm and relaxation. Too much stimulus was unpleasant compared to simplicity and cleanliness."

[Daunt]

I'd like to believe that how we grew up doesn't define us with finality. We're not children anymore to look the other way in confusion when encountering incomprehensible things. Why I also like violating taboos. If something is so forbidden, it probably holds a key to something important to know." He said without offering any commentary of her childhood behaviour.

[Elaranu]

That got a chuckle after another bite, "I see. You do have a point there; Scientific process does not advance without trying to do the undoable, or trying to push beyond what is accepted. Every time we think we have discovered everything about something, our knowledge about it becomes obsolete within a generation or two. At least, that is the way it is back home."

[Daunt]

He smirked. "You get it. So you have it in you, just not in the right brain compartment."

[Elaranu]

She nodded thoughtfully before finishing the last bite of her steak. Setting her napkin on her plate, she put her now free hands on the knees of her pants, "Well, I shall just have to keep learning then, shant I? Speaking of, what did you want to be when you grew up, when you were little that is."

[Daunt]

"A... dancer." His hesitation might have come from both difficult recollection and own incredulity once he realised what was true. Apparently, he forgot many of his childhood dreams, or perhaps they had been so few and ephemeral that they were hard to find.