“I wonder if Nonah could beat me at shaar and tupp?” Naskia asked Niall half teasing, half curious. She was sitting on her bedroom floor brushing her hair out before bedtime.
“What’s shaar and tupp?” Nonah asked.
“It’s a game where Naskia crawls on all fours like a shaar and I have to try to make it from one side of the room to the other without getting caught.” Niall explained.
It was the end of the first day of Nonah’s stay with Niall and Naskia. Nonah had enjoyed herself practicing to write and trying more new foods. She had gotten a proper wash for the first time in a while. Usually it was a quick dunk in the sink but Naskia had let her shower under hot water for as long as she wanted and given her lots of nice creams, lotions and shampoos to use. Nonah thought she now smelled very pretty.
“Oh can we play? I bet I could win. I’m much faster than Niall! I beat him at every game we play.” Nonah chimed in.
Naskia laughed and Niall went red at his girlfriend finding out the ditsy little girl was faster and a better climber than he was. He prided himself on being the best at everything.
“Sorry sweetie but I have class tomorrow morning. I need to get a good night’s sleep. I definitely want to play it with you sometime though and I want to see you beat Niall too!” Naskia said much to Niall’s consternation. He definitely didn’t want Nonah showing him up in front of Naskia. He was starting to feel ganged up on by the two girls. Naskia liked to lavish attention and affection on the little girl and they would usually team up to beat him in arguments. He could get his way with one or the other but he stood no chance against them when they backed each other up.
Naskia finished her hair and stood up. Niall looked up from the floor at the long, bare legs of his girlfriend and admired them for a few seconds before Naskia caught him staring and stuck her tongue out at him. She walked over to the bed and got in. Niall ran along behind her and hauled himself up the sheets to the covers. Nonah took this as her cue to head to bed as well.
“Not tonight Mister we have company.” Naskia said to Niall who was busy crawling underneath the stomach end of her vest top.
Niall pressed on licking her creamy skin as he went. Naskia loved it when he explored her like this. She loved the feel of his little hands tickling her as he crawled, his tiny tongue exciting her when he licked and the occasional surprise nip with his teeth. Niall loved being this close to Naskia; her smell and warmth surrounding him, his hands pressing into the baby soft skin of her tummy, the rise and fall of her chest. Everything about being this close to her was incredibly disarming. Niall’s hard exterior would quickly break and he would quickly devote himself to pleasing her.
Niall felt the ceiling of fine vest fabric press down around him as Naskia stopped his progress with her hand. There was a pinch at his ankle before he was dragged a long her tummy and out into the light. Niall blinked his eyes adjusting to the light, hanging upside down in front of Naskia’s grinning face.
“Niall! We have a guest. No hanky panky. It’s rude, especially when she’s sleeping right next to us.” Naskia said trying to look annoyed but failing completely.
Niall folded his arms across his chest showing his disapproval at both being hung by his ankle like a dirty tissue and being denied access to Naskia’s ample chest. “Fine…..I wasn’t going to do anything inappropriate….just work my way up to your collar bone to go to sleep….”
“Suuuuuure you were.” Naskia winked at him. She was confident that Niall would not have been able to go straight to his bed and would have had to make a couple of stops along the way. She was not wrong.
Naskia set Niall down beside her collar bone and he got himself settled before she turned out the light. Nonah rolled over in her bed and wrapped herself up warm in the covers and closed her eyes ready to drift off to sleep.
“Ohhhh….Niall…..get away from there…..” Naskia giggled followed by a high pitch squeak.
Nonah pulled the pillow over her head and smiled to herself.
Naskia left for class at the normal time leaving some cooked meats and spicy sauces along with a bit of chocolate each for of the Humans. Niall was standing at the pad reviewing some of his notes and footage of previous classes to see when Nonah would be ready to move on to more complex exercises. Nonah was quietly working away writing out simple sentences over and over. Her progress was amazing and Niall was having trouble keeping up, he was spending more and more of their lesson time playing catch up.
Niall didn’t know how long he’d been staring at the screen before a noise snapped him out of his work induced trance. A soft, gentle familiar noise coming from behind him, he turned around to see Nonah still writing away but softly sobbing as she did so.
“Shit…” Niall cursed under his breath. He was never good at comforting crying women, he’d probably only end up making things worse. Nonah hadn’t seen him; he quickly turned around panicking slightly. He was afraid.
“You idiot, you run from a crying Nonah when she just wants a hug but an angry Naskia you call a whore.” Niall said inwardly berating himself. He forced himself to turn around and walk over to Nonah.
“Nonah….are you ok…?” Niall asked doing his best to take a softly, softly approach.
Nonah looked up and wiped her cheeks. Tears had splashed onto the pages below staining her work with random patches of transparent circles. She sniffled before answering. “Yeah…it’s ok. Don’t worry about me.”
Niall was sorely tempted to take the out she had given him but his conscience forced him to hold his ground. He placed a hand on her shoulder and then let it drift down to her back before rubbing her upper back gently. “C’mon Nonah, tell me what’s wrong.”
Nonah got up and walked a few paces from Niall before turning to face him. She was uncomfortable with the contact and didn’t want to betray Naskia in any way. “I…I…miss Loona. I’ve not been away from her for this long. When is she coming back?”
“Soon Nonah….just a few days more. I thought you liked staying with me and Naskia?” Niall said trying to distract her.
“I do! It’s just I love Loona lots and want her to come back. Have I made her mad? Is that why she left me?” Nonah said her voice starting to waver again.
“Noooo! Noooo! She just said she would be too busy and it wouldn’t be fair to leave you all alone. It’s because she cares that she left you with us.” Niall said stepping forward to try and comfort Nonah before she backed off.
Nonah started to cry again and kept her distance from Niall. Niall sensed he wasn’t winning here and did the only thing he could do. He went to his pad and tapped on Loona’s contact. “Naskia is going to kill me when she gets the bill….”
Nonah stood with her face buried in her hands before she heard a familiar feminine voice.
“Nonah?”
Nonah turned around and saw Loona’s face on the screen.
“Loona!” she squealed running up to the screen restraining herself from hugging it.
“Niall says you’re upset. What’s wrong?” Loona said with a hint of concern.
Nonah looked down at her feet feeling unsure of herself before her master. “I just miss you is all. I hope I’ve not made you mad.”
Loona tilted her head on her side and smiled sweetly. “Awwk no of course you haven’t. I miss you too! I have no one here to cuddle me! You have Niall and Naskia to play with and all I have is a crappy room and this pad to follow someone around with. It’s no fun.”
Nonah looked up and sniffled. “I’m sorry. I wish I could make you feel better….”
“Seeing you has made me feel better already. Now go on back to work. This is going to cost Naskia a fortune!” Loona said. She didn’t want to go but she knew she had to.
“I love you Loona. Please come home soon.” Nonah said.
Loona scrunched her chin and pursed her lips. Nonah was such a lovely little thing. “I love you too Nonah. I’ll see you soon. I promise. Bobye!”
Loona’s image disappeared from the screen and was replaced by some notes Niall had been making. Nonah thanked Niall and set herself down in her chair to go back to work. She wanted to get her mind focused on her work before she started to get upset again.
“Phew….” Niall said to himself glad he didn’t have to worry about a crying girl anymore. Now it was the matter of justifying a video call to a planet 950 light years away.
Nonah woke up with a start. She’d been asleep for a couple of hours after being worn out by tears and too much writing. She was still exhausted; something had startled her awake. Her pulse was racing and she could feel her senses tingle with anticipation. She sat up and looked around her, everything looked normal, as it should be. Niall was asleep in his sock on the floor. He was tossing and turning, his arms would reach out occasionally.
“No! No! Please no!” he screamed in terror.
His cries shocked Nonah, the fear in his voice was like nothing she’d heard before. It was a primal sounding fear and it struck deep at her animal core.
She thought back to what Naskia had told her about his dreams. They terrify him, waking him for Nonah could be dangerous. He could snap and attack her without realising. Naskia was safe as he couldn’t hurt her but Nonah was far weaker than he was. She couldn’t just leave him to suffer like that. His screams cut through her like a knife. She threw back the covers and slowly approached him. She deliberately approached him from above his head. If he lashed out there she’d have the best chance of escape.
She crouched down a few feet from his head.
“It’s ok Niall. I’m here….Nonah is here. It’s ok, I promise it’s all ok.” She said somewhat gingerly.
Niall continued to thrash. He muttered words that Nonah couldn’t make out but he wasn’t screaming. She moved a little closer.
“I’ll look after you. Nothing bad is going to happen. There’s nothing to be afraid of.” She said trying to sound as soothing as possible.
It seemed to be working. Niall was moving less, muttering more but no more screams. She moved closer still and softly stroked his cheek. She was aware of her promise to Naskia but knew she’d be less happy if Niall was traumatised from nightmares when she got back.
“Shhhh…..don’t worry. You’re safe. It’s ok….it’s ok.” She continued to reassure him.
Niall seemed to settle and Nonah went to remove her hand when Niall grabbed it round the wrist with his right hand and pulled her arm into his chest, holding her elbow with his other arm. Nonah was jerked forward and found herself kneeling over him unable to free her arm. He was clinging to her for comfort.
“Niall….c’mon I need my arm back. I can’t stay here, I have to go. I can’t break my promise to Naskia.” She said rocking him slightly with her knees.
Niall didn’t budge. He was muttering occasionally, obviously still deep in a dream. Nonah didn’t want to risk waking him if he would be as bad as Naskia said. Her shoulder was aching and her arm had gone dead due to the angle she was sitting. She was shivering with cold, exhausted and emotionally drained. She just wanted to sleep. She tucked herself into the sock behind Niall with her arm wrapped over him and drifted off to sleep.
Naskia half skipped her way into the lobby of her residential building. Clutching her books over her chest and humming away a non-descript happy song of her own composition. Her afternoon classes had been cancelled meaning she now had the whole day to spend with Niall and Nonah. She was thinking about seeing if there was a holosuite free for the three of them to go out and have some fun face to face in.
She opened her door and went through to her room. Niall and Nonah were asleep as expected but something was very wrong here. She felt every muscle in her body tense at once and fire rising uncontrollably within her, she could almost feel the anger pumping straight into her veins. They were in bed together. She had been betrayed by the two people she trusted most in the world never to betray her.
Naskia let out a scream that would have frightened a howling banshee. She threw her books across the room and they crashed off the wall before tumbling to the bed.
Nonah instantly shot out of bed, immediately identifying the source of the noise. Niall, who had been deep in sleep, was slowing coming to. Nonah felt herself start to shake as her eyes met Naskia’s. They were wide, very, very angry and locked straight on to her. Her nostrils were flaring, cheeks flushed red and she was digging her nails in and out of the palms of her hands.
“You!” Naskia screamed pointing at the cowering Nonah. She stomped over to the tank and snatched Nonah up from its floor and raised her to her face. She dangled Nonah by her arm in front of her face.
“You promised me! You said you wouldn’t go near Niall! I told you what he meant to me and you looked me straight in the face and lied you little slut! I gave you everything you wanted. Everything! You’ve been all sweetness and light but all you were trying to do was screw Niall!” Naskia yelled at the tiny girl she had deliberately placed in front of her mouth for full effect.
Nonah was utterly terrified. She had never seen Naskia like this, she knew she had hurt Niall before but didn’t understand how she was capable of it until now. Her arm hurt as Naskia yanked her up and down and shook her every few seconds as she screamed at her. Nonah wanted to cover her ears it was so loud but she couldn’t. She looked straight ahead of her into Naskia’s deep, red, cavernous mouth. She was so close she could feel warm saliva splashing against her face and bare legs as Naskia yelled. All Nonah could focus on was how near she was to Naskia’s mouth. She wasn’t even listening to what she was saying. One flick of Naskia’s finger and she would be gone.
“Well?! Are you gonna say something?!” Naskia said after her tirade had ended. She enjoyed the satisfying sight of her rival flailing between her fingers.
Nonah was finally raised away from Naskia’s mouth and found herself uncomfortably hanging directly in front of a massive eye, the dazzling blue iris was easily the size of Nonah’s head. Nonah tried to curl up and hide from its glare but Naskia shook her again.
“Answer me!” she yelled.
“I didn’t do anything! I promise! Niall was afraid! I helped him!” Nonah cried out before bursting into tears.
“Liar! I saw you with your arms round him. You’re only making this harder on yourself. The more you lie, the worse I’ll punish you.” Naskia said rather than yelled, her voice got lower as she spoke. Her eyes had narrowed to slits as her mind moved on to what Nonah’s punishment should be.
“Please….I didn’t do anything. I swear.” Nonah begged. Her arm was screaming in pain, it felt like it was about to rip off at any second.
“Stop it! Lying just makes me angrier. Do you want me to pull each of your limbs off one by one?” Naskia spat at her.
Nonah’s eyes widened as the full extent of Naskia’s threat hit home. She was going to die, because she tried to help someone. The person who had been nicest to her in her whole life was now going to be the one to kill her in the cruellest possible way.
Naskia curled one side of her mouth into a smile as she saw a trickle of urine run down Nonah’s leg and dribble off her foot before cascading to the floor.
“You’re pathetic you know that.” Naskia said her voice keeping its low rattle.
“NASKIA!” she heard coming from behind her.
Niall’s face was on the screen and he looked nearly as angry as Naskia did. He’d been trying to get her attention for nearly a minute and using the screen to amplify his voice was the only way he could get through to her.
“You just stay right where you are. I’ll be with you in a minute.” Naskia snapped at him.
Niall steadied himself; he still occasionally felt the pain left over from their last angry encounter. He had no idea why Naskia was so upset but he knew he didn’t want to be on the end of her rage again. He had to get through to her while Nonah was still in one piece. “Please put Nonah down! Think about what you’re doing! What are we supposed to have done to hurt you?”
Naskia gritted her teeth, shocked that Niall would so act so innocent when she was ready to snap Nonah in two. Her priorities changed. Niall now, Nonah later.
She bent her knees and lowered Nonah to the floor and set her between her feet. Naskia pulled the shirt off the frightened girl and ripped it in two before standing back up. She was sending her a message about where she belonged in the universe.
“Do not move a muscle girl. If you do my foot will be on top of you faster than you can say splat.” Naskia warned her.
Nonah stared up at Naskia’s long, pillar like legs arching her neck up as Naskia’s shadow loomed over her as she stood up. Nonah had felt safe and reassured by her shadow before but it had taken on a horribly sinister edge. Nonah wrapped her arms around her bare chest, she was cold, frightened and felt so very insignificant. Naskia’s enormous feet stood either side of her clad in soft, white cotton socks. The socks came to just above Nonah’s height at Naskia’s ankles and had frilly white edges. They looked so cute, so non-threatening but Nonah was now shaking with fear at the thought of ending up a bloodied smear underneath one of those pretty socks.
“What have you done to hurt me?! How about cheating on me!? You men are all the same. Take what you want and then move on to the next floozy when you get bored. And now here you are acting like I’m the one being irrational!” Naskia said. Her voice got higher and higher in pitch as she spoke, her words more frantic. She crossed her arms across her chest and subconsciously stomped a foot.
The sudden stomping foot, three times as long as Nonah was tall, rocked Nonah and threw her to the floor. It was all too much for her and the adrenaline overwhelmed her. Her survival instincts took over and she bolted as fast as she could towards the underneath of the bedside table. Nonah had only been running for a few seconds but she was nearly at the relative safety of 3 foot tall gap at the bottom of the table when she felt a weight press down on her. She squealed as she was squashed flat against the carpet.
“What did I tell you?!” Naskia shouted down at Nonah. She had pinned her under her toes. She could feel her squirming, pushing back against her. Naskia pressed the tiny girl into the carpet harder just to let her know who was in charge.
Niall looked down over the edge. He could see Nonah’s feet sticking out from under Naskia’s white sock but otherwise she was helplessly trapped beneath hundreds of tonnes of much scorned woman.
“Naskia stop this now! You’re being a big child. No one has done anything to hurt you. Let Nonah go before you kill her!” Niall yelled.
“I saw her with you!” Naskia yelled back.
“I don’t know why she was there but I can prove I never touched her. The pad has been recording everything, just play back the footage.” Niall said trying to sound rational. He needed Naskia to calm down before she accidentally killed Nonah.
Nonah’s face was pressed into the floor cheek first, her arms were pinned to her side and she could not move anything apart from her feet. She could feel the warmth of Naskia’s body heat radiate through the cotton sock that currently enveloped her. The air had a bitter smell of slightly stale sweat from Naskia’s morning activities. Every few seconds the pressure would shift as Naskia adjusted her footing and Nonah would cry out in pain; from her shoulders down her back down to her bottom, every few seconds she winced fearing something would snap under the immense weight of the Titan above her.
Naskia felt some hope rise inside her at the thought Niall hadn’t cheated on her. There was nothing worse, nothing more gut wrenchingly sickening than being betrayed in that way by the closest person to you. “Show me…”
“Let Nonah go first. You might hurt her…” Niall said.
Naskia mulled it over for a second. She liked feeling Nonah trapped under the arch of her toes; she was still assuming she was guilty. But if she wasn’t guilty she couldn’t risk hurting her, Naskia’s conscience told her.
“Ergh…..fine.” Naskia said quickly reaching down and plucking Nonah up and setting her down near Niall.
“Don’t move.” Naskia waved a finger at Nonah.
Niall walked to the pad keeping his eyes on the trembling Nonah and searched through the video indexes. He found a movement notice from a few hours ago and skipped back to it. Naskia leaned down over the table to get a better look at the screen, her breasts hung low over Nonah’s head who just stood still shivering, too terrified to move.
Naskia watched Nonah on the screen get out of bed and comfort a screaming Niall. She was soft and gentle with him and soothed him back to sleep before Niall grabbed her arm and wouldn’t let go. Nonah eventually fell asleep beside Niall. There was nothing more here than a concerned friend trying to help.
“Oh no….” Naskia said out loud and starting to shake realizing what she had done. Nonah had been nothing but kind, loyal and a good friend to Naskia. She had returned that friendship with pain, humiliation and torture. Naskia felt queasy and the colour drained from her face.
“Nonah….I’m so, so sorry. I….I….” Naskia said her eyes starting to fill with tears.
Nonah consciously realised she was out of danger but her body didn’t. Adrenaline was still coursing through her. She started to breath faster and faster, she felt light headed and dizzy. She dropped to all fours and vomited on the floor of the tank.