Hey everyone, story arc involving Alkah, her romance with Skixal and how he helps her out. This arc is going to start off fairly cute and will hopefully give people an insight as to how the Azuri live and function. Skixal is even going to confront Omen at a later date too.

Skixal and Alkah are a cute and almost child like couple.... its quite fun to write about them.

No sex with chapter and i don't think i'll detail any later either. But please, let me know what you all think!

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This had not been the best day for Alkah, it had infact been one of the worst in a long time... and the poor girl didn’t have the best of Azuri lives to start with. In the morning she broke a tool, got frustrated and promptly fell asleep as she hadn’t eaten any meat that day, after passing out, she banged her head on the way down, knocked the project free of the vice and it smashed on the floor. Then when she awoke, no one had even bothered to check on her, so she’d just been left there. The pot of liquid metal had been left on the fire for too long and the pot itself had melted, thus losing all the material too. And to top the morning off, there was no food in the kitchen either. And she didn’t have any food tokens left to get any. Because Alkah doesn’t fight, she gets food tokens instead of getting food completely free. When she completes projects and is useful, she gets additional tokens and whatever else she wants. Usually, she does absolutely fine for food and items, but this week? Violett was back. And making her life hell. Again.
 
Violett had sabotaged the tool and had ruined previous projects Alkah had been working on too. As a result, Alkah had done nothing this week, nothing that earned her food. Then, after she left the workshop feeling very depressed, Violett hit her over the back with a binbag full of boiling water. Sure, it didn’t hurt, but it certainly did surprise her and it ruined her clothes too. The resulting anger from the attack caused her to fall asleep yet again. She woke up several hours later at sunset (someone had moved her into a bench nearby at least) and sobed a little to herself. She decided to get herself home, see if there was any left over food there and have a shower, thinking it better just to move past this and try again tomorrow. Dragging her feet across the floor, she plodded along the river front path towards her little apartment, sighing every now and again due to how shitty she was feeling until she got to the door. She huffed and patted down her pockets to see which one her key was in and started to panic. None of them seemed to have it. She patted herself down again, faster this time and still, nothing turned up. Panicing even more now, she frantically stuck her hand in each one and still, no key was to be found... There used to be a spare somewhere but she’d forgotten where it was, like she does with most stuff...
 
She stood there, still soaking wet and began to whine, slowing breaking into a tearful cry as she started to break down. She kept thinking how this... despite how shit was, would not be the climax of her shitness. Violett would ensure that. No one would stop her, no one protect her from Violett and no one gave a shit. Tomorrow would be exactly the same for her, if not worse. More bullying, no projects completed, no food, no happiness, no nothing. She was just sick of it all, but she couldn’t even do anything about it. When she cried, no one listened...
 
Or at least thats what she thought...
 
Tonight would be different though. Someone was close by and heard her crying. Curious as to why someone would be crying in such a beautiful place, he came closer, popping his head around the corner of the street to investigate. Since his training, he’d become a bit more confident, confident enough to actually ask what was wrong at least... in his own time.
 
He slowly made his way down the street, carapace glowing visibly in the dark. Skixal just had to know why this Azuri was crying. Azuri’s just don’t really cry... they have no reason to, so he became anxious as to why she could be... She turned around and spotted him coming, trying to cut off tears and see what he was. The two of the stood in silence, staring at each-other for a while, not sure quite what to make of one another. Alkah spoke up first, which was highly unusual for her as she rarely ever speaks at all.
 
„v-v-violett send you?! H-h-here to r-ruin what l-little else i h-have?!“ She somehow shoutly quietly and shakely.
 
„N-no. I heard crying and came to see why!“ He shook his head frantically as he spoke.
Skixal approached a little closer „W-why are you crying?“
 
„B-because i’ve h-had enough for everything! No one helps me! No one cares about me! Violett won’t stop harassing me! I’m wet and cold! I haven’t eaten in two days! I can’t complete any projects because of Violett and i’m locked out of my house because i’ve lost my keys!“ Due to fainting twice already, she was able to get angry now and was showing it to the best of her ability, Alkah never could show anger very well, not enough practise.
 
„W-why? Why don’t you eat?!“
 
„Because i don’t have any stupid food tokens!“
 
„Food tokens?! I thought Azuri’s just got food for free whenever they wanted!“
 
„They do! But i don’t because i can’t fight! As Omen says to me „An Azuri who can’t fight isn’t an Azuri!“
 
„W-what?! Thats crazy! Why can’t you fight?“
 
„Cause every time i get angry... i faint and fall asleep...“ Her lower lip wobbled as she spoke and she tried her best to fight back the tears „A-and because of that, no one cares about me! I’m just a thing that needs feeding...“
 
Skixal looked shocked and approached her quickly, softly grabbing her hands.
 
„No... nonono... you’re a person! Just like me! Nonono, this will not do... not on my watch... come with me!“
 
„M-mmaybe i can just find my keys, maybe i just dropped them or something...“
 
„No! You must come with me! I won’t leave you until you do! Skixal gonna sort this mess out! Don’t you worry!“
Alkah didn’t want to, she didn’t like drawing attention to herself and she certainly did not like making a fuss. She refused to talk about what happened when she saw Omen about her problems but whatever happened, it certainly made her want to stay hidden.
 
„No no no, theres no need bug man... Alkah be fine... I just... Alkah been a bit overwhelmed...“
 
„No! I will not let you stay! Something needs to be done here! I’ve never heard any Azuri being foodless before! Its not like theres any shortages!“
 
„Please... n-no... i-i don’t want to make a fuss!“
 
Skixal shook his head defiantly. „No! You’re coming with me! Gonna get you showered and fed and stuff and we can sort out all this mess! Who is this „Omen“ Azuri anyway? I’ve never heard of her!“
 
„I dun know.. She just...“ She leaned in close to Skixal and whispered to him „... S-she mean to me, bug man...“ Her voice broke out into a soft cry and she sniffled next to him „S-s-she made me cry!“ With her final words her soft crying turned into a loud weeping and she hugged on to Skixal who promptly hugged her back and tried to comfort her, he’d usually feel very nervous and uncomfortable around Azuri’s this close, but he was too determined to help her to care about that. The silence they hugged in was only broken by the occuasional sniffle from Alkah as she calmed down from the bugs imbrace. Skixal waited until she was ready to move before doing anything, not that he minded the hug, she was very well... equipped per say. A good few minutes later, Alkah loosened her grip on his torso and grabbed his clawed hand gently. „S-so where a-are we going then?“ she said sqweeking a little.
 
„I live not too far away, just a few water paths down.“
 
„D-d-do you live with anyone?“ She asked as they started walking together, curious to know what he was and what he was doing here.
 
„No, its just me, its one of Prisms places she gave to me, so i guess she could sleep there if she wanted but she never does...“
 
„D-don’t get you get lonely?“
 
„Not really, i don’t spend much time there“ She became slightly fixated on his slowly chattering mandibles as he spoke „I usually appreciate the private time to be honest!“
 
„Uh-huh!“ She nodded and shivered a little bit. „Y-you sure you no mind Alkah coming over?“
 
Skixal smiled at her with a kind face, hoping his expression would answer that question, he was feeling tired himself and didn’t feel like talking too much anymore, mainly because he was trying to form ideas of how to help her out beyond feeding her and giving her a place to stay. The whole food stamps thing was just crazy to him. Azuri’s had no shortage of food, ever. There was simply no need to make her work for her food. Whoever this Omen was, she sounded like a bitch. Skixal had certainly never heard of her, but that being said, he didn’t really know any of the Azuri high commanders, apart from the Leader, Amethyst. He broke his thoughts momentarily to find Alkah staring at him intently, taking in the details about his face and neck and somewhat admiring them. They both remained rather quiet as they completed their journey, walking at a rather slow rate too. Apparently, they both were enjoying it quite a bit. Alkah seemed to have calmed down since they started too, finding solace within him. Skixal liked the fact he was taller than her.
 
As they reached his section of the city, they began climbing up stairs to Skixals apartment, which was on the highest floor and Alkah began to get really exicted.
 
„You live up?!“
 
„Yeah, i do... why?“
 
„Omen says „Only the elite Azuri live on the top level of the city.“ And das why i gotta live in the bottom!“
Skixal shook his head again. Although it was somewhat true that higher rank Azuri’s live higher in the city, Alkah did NOT have to live on the lowest level. The first 3 levels of the city were for anyone. Its 4 and 5 that are for the higher ranks. Skixal had a place on level 4 as Prism was a high rank herself. This Omen was seeming more and more cruel with each detail told by Alkah. She looked over to the huge luke side, admiring the dying sunset view over it and nuzzling against Skixal’s shoulder a bit as she watched it. Skixal himself was far too caught up in his own thoughts to notice. Not that Alkah minded. They carried on walking together, turning around a corner until they arrived at the ornate door whch Skixal lived in, which was far taller than either of them. He pressed his key into the lock and the door opened without much of an issue, allowing the two to enter.
 
„Go go go get showered Alkah! Go go warm yourself up, i’m going to see if i can get some food from somewhere, cause i can’t cook, no way.“ He pointed to another large door just across from them, indicating which was the bathroom and scuttled off to find something in his bedroom, leaving Alkah alone. She was a little breath taken by how big this place was and how nice it was too. The place seemed more like a palace than an apartment to Alkah. It had one of those huge floor pillows that Azuri’s seem to love in one corner, a giant sofa next to the, a huge wall mounted screen opposite that... She stood in awe of the place for a while before remembering that she was still rather cold and headed off to the bathroom to get showered and dried. As she entered, she heard Skixal leave behind her, assuming that he was off to get some food for them. The huge ornate bathtub was designed for Azuri’s 3 times her size and the shower itself was more of a waterfall than a shower. The water was even lit up by some crystalline backlighting as it poured forth from the silver metal work, reflecting its heat with an orange hue. Perhaps she should have felt a little sad about how bad her apartment was in comparason to this, after all, Skixal wasn’t even an Azuri! But instead, she just felt happy that she had the luxary of being here, her happy go lucky attitude stopping her from being depressed. She began to think more about Skixal or „the bug man“ as she didn’t actually know his name yet... He was cute and sweet... and different, like her. She couldn’t help but wonder if it was wrong of her to seek romantic interest in him, did he even have a sex drive? Alkah didn’t really know, but she figured she’d see where tonight went and perhaps if she got lucky, she’d end up with more than just a friend here. As she got more and more caught up in her thoughts though, her leg shot out from underneith her and she promptly landed on her bum, whining to herself, she decided to remain seated and enjoy this while she still could.
 
Soon enough though, Skixal returned with a couple of bags full of food and started to set up the adjusting table for the two of them sit at, knocking on the bathroom door to let Alkah know, his chintinous hands rattling the door softly so as not to scare her. He’d also bought her some spare clothing which he quickly popped inside the bathroom in a golden bag, resisting the urge to peak on her strongly as he did so. As she pulled herself out of the bathtub, she spotted the golden bag just inside the door and had a peak inside, unsure if it was for her or not, after all, she didn’t recieve many presents anymore. Not since the interview with Omen. She started to panic when she couldn’t see a label or a note directed at her. She didn’t want to assume this stuff for her! Perhaps he was a cross dresser! Maybe he wasn’t even a HE! He could be a she! Alkah didn’t know a lot about bugs. Or Him. She peaked outside the door quickly and saw him pulling out food from the bags, she didn’t want to disturb him either! Her panicked look rapidly switched between the bag and him until she sprinted out naked and dripping wet from the bathroom towards Skixal, then changed her mind half way through and ran back into the bathroom, nearly slipping over twice and closed the door behind her, nearly stepping on the bag in the process.
 
Having nearly made an absolute fool of herself, she took a deep breath and grabbed a towel off the side, drying herself off and decided to pull out whatever was in the bag and go from there. The garmet inside was some sort of hooded dressing gown, thick and wolly with a silver trim on it and deep purple body. Alkah felt rather breathless as she stared at it, nearly folded and wrapped in a golden bow. She had always wanted something like this, she’d been Kaj wearing something similar and wanted one herself. Carefully unwrapping it, she slipped the gown on and snuggled in its silky soft fabric. After standing to her now slightly wobbly feet, she popped her head out the door again to see Skixal waiting for her at the table, currently choosing some songs to play on the holographic keyboard floating in front of him.
 
„T-t-thank you!“ She shouted rather awkwardly from behind the bathroom door before quickly slamming it shut and leaning against it as if a monster was trying to break in. Skixal’s annetenna twitched upon hearing the words and he pulled a somewhat confused expression at the door. Alkah just... didn’t know what to do! She made sure her boobs were tucked properly inside the gown and tied the front tightly, the last thing she wanted was to suddenly end up naked in front of him/her/it and now she was worried about what gender he/she/it was too! This wasn’t an issue before! She took another deep breath and popped her head out the door again, seeing him looking at her with somewhat hopefully eyes, wondering if she’d make it to the table in the next 5 minutes before the food got cold. He waved over to her and accidentally signalled for the music to start playing (Similar gesture that the computer reconised) rather loudly, scaring him into flinging a fork loaded with noodles across the room, which further terrified Alkah and caused her to sprint/slip out of the bathroom door and fall her way in ever increasingly stupid ways to the chair Skixal had set up for her, almost in time to the blarring techno music, Whilst Skixal desperately gestured in the air to turn the music down in an attempt to regain any sort of control of the situation. She plonked her butt down heavily on the seat, nearly missing it and bolted upright to see Skixal frantically jumping and waving his arms around to just get the music to stop, which after a few more embarrassing seconds did finally cease, giving way to a somewhat awkward silence between the two. Alkahs attempt to make herself decent had just been ruined by her successive panic falling, as now half of her impressive cleavage was visible and Skixals attempt to seem regal and profession had been completely annihilated by his performance to stop the music. Only his anxious mandible chatterings echo’d through the room as the two just stared at each-other for a while. Alkah’s face suddenly turned bright red as she realised a good portion of her chest was visible to him and she just flopped onto the table. Skixal thought she’d perhaps fainted or something similar until he heard something that cheered him up to no end.
 
She was giggling. It was quiet at first, but she soon got louder and it broke into a full laugh from her. He took his seat across from her and started to chuckle himself, until the two of them were in hysterics, barely able to breath. It took the two a good few minutes to regain what little composture they had and soon the two of them were tucking into their food and giggling about just about everything that happened, from Alkah dropping noddles into her clevage to Skixal getting them caught on his outer mandibles and Anntenna somehow. The whole thing had somehow lured them both in a sense of identity and security. Seeing each-other do such stupid things made them both realise that neither of them were perfect and both were trying their best. It gave them both a sense of how they weren’t alone in how... silly... they could both seem. Skixal had been holding himself together for weeks now, trying to seem more professional, using Scaarth as a role model, but he realised that he’d ever truly be like Scaarth, no matter how hard he tried. But now with Alkah, he could finally seem to relax again, she didn’t think he was weird or make him feel bad for all the little things he did which others weren’t used to. She just laughed and showed her own little quirks right back at him. They didn’t talk about anything important or complicated, they just laughed about anything and everything. It was a night they both sorely needed and truly enjoyed.
 
Skixal had bought way too much food for the two of them and they both stuffed their faces messily until neither could really walk properly, laughing at each-other as they both tried in turn to do something the other dared them to do. They decided after a while to try and sit on the sofa together and they managed to haul themselves over to it, leaning on each-other as they walked, before finally falling flat on the huge leather sofa, getting a little tangled within each-other. Soon enough though, they found a comfortable position each and carried on teasing and laughing from opposite sides of the sofa. Due to it being so much bigger than them, they could both lie down either end of it and there was still space between them. Skixal found a small ball from somewhere and the two passed it from one another whlist talking about themselves, Alkah finally learning the bugs name. The conversation did turn to darker subjects as talked about things that had happened to them, both finding it easy to relate to each-others experiences, but they didn’t dawn on it for too long as neither was in a bad mood. The sudden burst of energy from the food being digested prompted them to start dancing after an hour or so, finding yet more ways to laugh and entertain each-other. Skixal impressed Alkah with his dancing at it was the first time he’d ever danced in front of anyone on purpose. Alkah herself wasn’t the best groover but she certainly was cute, regardless of what moves she was attempting to pull. They danced for hours, loving every second of it until they finally both collapsed together on the giant pillow, both giggling a little as they came very close to each-others face.
 
Staring into each-others eyes for a while, both trying to guess what the other was thinking, the two just laid still for a while side by side, Alkah’s gratiously curved figure rising far higher into the air than Skixals much slimmer frame. The silence between them only rocked by their occusional exhale until finally, Alkah couldn’t take it anymore. She gently placed her hands on the sides of his face and pulled him gently towards her, which he followed without resistance until she came close enough to press her lips into his own and lock them together, both of the getting more and more into it over time until they finally broke free to breath properly.
“S-so, you like me to huh?” Alkah asked, panting a little as she spoke.
 
“Mhmm! Yes I do.” The bug nodded rather frantically. “I’m not very good at this thing I am? It doesn’t happen often to me… Crimson tries to come onto me but I’m too scared of her! Shes just soooo big!”
 
Alkah laughed a little “Yesh, she is pretty big… Skixal… are you a guy?” Her question made the bug go wide eyed and he laughed rather heartily.
 
“Of course I’m a guy! Why? Did you think I was a girl?”
 
“Well no! I just wanted to know if you got a… you know…”