Author's Note

another one! productive night ig, lol.

2 - Star Light, Star Bright...

The three of them filed into the dining room together, each taking a seat. The table was small, cozy. It was well suited to the occasion, not terribly imposing. That was more due to the fact that there were usually only two of them living there and them not seeing the point in a larger table for one additional houseguest, however, than due to any deliberate planning. Aldritch gave Luna a nervous smile as he took a seat at the circular table, watching her and Tia quickly settle in as well before speaking. “So, Luna. Was the trip pleasant?”

Luna gave a small cough and nodded as she used her magic to levitate the insulated cover from her plate, eyes lighting up just slightly at the choice of dish. It was a delightful spinach pie. Homemade of course, by Tia’s own loving hooves. Al had put in some work as well, but the kitchen was far from his comfort zone. That had not stopped him from doing his best to make their new housemate feel welcome.

“The trip was...quite pleasant yes. The personal transport afforded by the DDRA was more than satisfactory for Our needs.” She said politely as she floated a fork over towards the pie and dug in, pulling out a chunk of the delicious-looking dish, steam erupting pleasantly from the bowl, the soft, rich melted swiss stretching as the fork was guided to the ponies lips. She gave a soft groan of satisfaction, her eyes widening as she heard the sound come from her throat unbidden. She quickly chewed and swallowed, and seemed to be fighting the urge to dig in more vigorously. “We...consider Ourselves quite lucky to have ended up with a reputable adoption agency such as that one. Many droids are not so fortunate…”

“I suppose that is true. I hope you know that we consider ourselves fortunate as well.” Al said kindly as he started to tuck into his own place, Tia having already long-since gone ham on her portion of the meal, almost a third of the way done, though she was intently listening, showing interest in the conversation.

“Oh, and why is that, if We may ask?” Luna said somewhat cautiously, seeming almost...worried, for some reason, her eyes darting towards him and Tia a few times hesitantly.

“Well, because we get to have a new member in our family of course,” Al said with a small chuckle, seeming a bit confused by her reaction, but trying not to downplay any discomfort she might be feeling, opting instead to try to reassure her. “We have been looking forward to finding out what sort of individual we were going to be letting into our lives and well, to be honest, I can’t say I’m displeased with who we got. You seem quite pleasant.”

Lu seemed relieved at his answer and visibly relaxed. Though it seemed that she was more relaxing at all than from having become tense. Rather, it was more that she had been tense since her arrival and was only now loosening up a bit. “Well, that is...very nice to hear. We are pleased to have someone who is simply happy to be around us for once. We got a small taste of it during our time at the DDRA shelter, but...it is still somewhat foreign to us…”

Al nodded, and Tia stopped eating to chip in. “Lu, we know that you have probably had a difficult time of things before finding your way to us. You do not have to tell us what has befallen you until you are ready, if you ever are. But if you ever want to speak, I think I speak for both of us when I say we are here for you, and happy to listen.” She finished with all grunting softly, nodding in agreement from behind a mouthful of pie.

Lu gave them an appreciative glance and hummed her approval softly, “We are...thankful that you both would be so understanding of Our plight. We are not sure how long it will be until We are ready to share that information with you, but We appreciate that you are willing to be patient with Us. We are...admittedly unused to being allowed to do things at Our own pace.”

“Well, as long as you are living under our roof, you will be treated as a proper individual with your own needs and feelings. And we will do our very best to respect those feelings and care for those needs as long as you make a good faith effort to do the same, Lu.” Al said after swallowing his mouthful of spinach and cheese. “We are here to help you, and we only want you to be able to feel as if this is an environment where you are comfortable with getting that help. I’ll tell you what. How about tomorrow, we spend the afternoon planning an evening out for the three of us to wherever strikes your fancy. Would you enjoy that?”

Lu seemed taken slightly aback, surprised, not displeased. “We are...unsure. We have not had the onus of deciding something for others before.” A strange thing to hear coming from one so regal to be sure, but Al stowed his opinion, knowing that appearances leave much to be discerned. “We will have to think on it and inform you of how We feel in the morning if that is okay…?” as she let the sentence out of her mouth she became notably more tense again, and a tinge of anxiety crept into her voice.

“Of course!” Take as much time as you need to settle in and adjust, we can talk about doing activities together once you feel ready.” Tia said quickly, with Al nodding his agreement, taking another bite of his food.

She relaxed again at this, seeming almost...embarrassed? Ashamed? It was difficult to tell, but certainly a mix of relief and some more negative feelings. “O-of course, thank you…” she said as she placed her fork down, most of the dish now gone, but some still remaining. “We will be going to Our room now, if neither of you need any more of Our time this evening, We have much to think about…”

Neither of the other two made a move to stop her, both simply respectfully nodding and allowing her to be on her way, the door closing behind her softly as she went into her new room. Al gave a small sigh and looked over to Tia, who returned his gaze with a similar look.

They both smiled gently at one another and finished dinner in silence before cleaning the dishes together and retiring for the evening to their now shared bedroom. Tia of course still retained her own room, for her personal belongings and affairs, but in terms of which room she spent more time in these days, it was the one she shared with her partner.

Al changed into a set of comfortable dark flannel pajamas and slipped into bed with Tia, placing an arm around her barrel and spooning her gently from behind. The pony spoke softly to him “So, that went pretty well. I think that once she has had some time to adjust, she will be able to do very well here.”

“Yeah...yeah I think so too…” he said as he hugged her a bit closer, nuzzling into the back of her neck. “But….you saw it too right? She seemed so nervous, so...vulnerable. The idea that she had autonomy seemed almost alien to the poor girl.” he said, seeming somewhat distraught about it as his hand slowly slid up and down her stomach.

As he absentmindedly rubbed her belly, he elicited a pleased, soft knicker from his lover as she nodded along with his thoughts. “I did notice that, and you did a very good job trying to be respectful of her boundaries without making her have to spell them out in my opinion. We may not have a good idea of exactly what they are yet, but they certainly seem to be there and it seems like we did well enough in not crossing them.”

“Yeah, but I think it might get a bit harder to suss out exactly what is and isn’t okay as time goes on, at least until she’s comfortable enough around us to open up. I feel like asking her about what she is and isn’t okay within an explicit manner might get some...non-committal answers from her. She’s obviously scared of disapproval, and pressing her to do things she isn’t ready to do yet might hurt more than it will help if she only does it because she thinks we expect her to…”

Tia turned around and gently embraced him in her forehooves, planting a gentle kiss on his forehead and rubbing his back, placing her wing over him tenderly. “Darling, you are a wonderful man, and you are doing your easy best here, but I think you might be overthinking it just a bit. There is no need to look so deeply into these things just yet, she only got here today. Give her some time to adjust and see how she is doing once she has her bearings about her, then we can see about what we should do to help her heal, if there is anything we should do at all besides letting things take their course.”

He breathed a sigh of resignation and nodded his agreement. She was right, as she nearly always was. There was no good to be had from rushing into things. Sometimes the best thing you could do is let time do its work and see where to go from there. After all, that is how they had ended up together, so it had to have some merit. “Thank you, Tia, You always no just what to say….”

She smirked softly and let a hoof trail down to press at his buttocks, getting a small squeak from him as she leaned in and took a slightly more husky tone. “Good, because I have a few more things to say, liiiiiike…” She leaned in close and whispered in his ear, and he blushed heavily at the unspeakable things he heard before suddenly rolling atop her, and gently, playfully pinning her wrists, garnering a loud, happy squeal and a cry of “Oh, you beast~” from his lover as he started to nibble her neck, her hind legs kicking softly and wings flapping under her aimlessly as she cooed in satisfaction…

Luna was curled up under a blanket with a good book, humming softly to herself. She had to admit that the entire experience of being adopted was far more pleasant than she had been expecting so fa-

She froze as she heard a rhythmic squeaking noise and several grunts and squeals through what was unfortunately apparently a fairly thin wall between her room and the room of her host. She blushed heavily and with her telekinesis, grabbed a set of noise earplugs from her bag, giving a small sigh as she stuffed them in and turned off the lights, save for a bedside lamp and continued to read, a small, slightly irritated scowl across her face for a brief time until she was sucked back into the book, reading ever so softly out loud under her breath as her eyes scanned the paper.

“I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during the day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep. You may have heard of me…”