stykera | Hynerian Royal Planet, Saturday Fandom TIme

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Hynerian Royal Planet, Saturday Fandom TIme

After getting settled on Moya (in Stark's quarters despite Chiana's continued offers of other arrangements), Stark and Chiana had taken Summer on a tour of Moya and then there had been a little get together to welcome Summer to the ship.

Noranti had emerged from wherever she'd been hiding, asked uncomfortable questions, offered highly questionable beverages which everyone warned Summer off of, and made a meal. They'd eaten, Stark had tried his best to not be too weird about anything, and they'd shared a lot of chocolate.

Today they'd boarded one of Moya's transport pods and headed down to Rygel's palace. A perk of having a Dominar for a former shipmate was that royal welcomes were always possible, even for quick visits.

"Some of his guards can be a bit jumpy," Stark was saying to Summer as the door to the pod opened. "But we'll be fine. We're not criminals here at least, and everyone knows us. Not you, yet. but they will. And Rygel himself is...he's Rygel. You get used to him. Mostly."

He was a tiny green jerk at times but he was decent when it mattered. Usually.

"And he adores little D'Argo." Wait until Stark explained why, Summer!

[NFB for distance, obvs, and for Stark's favorite ginger, though I suppose if you're in the mood for calls/texts that could totally happen I am not the boss of you!]

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And now Summer was struggling to keep a straight face for an entirely different reason, glancing over at Stark with with a fond smile, just to see the look on his face.

"Which ones are the marjools?" Summer asked. "Where I'm from, we have medjools, which is a kind of date. I wonder of they're similar..."

Stark's face was certainly going on some journeys today.

"Marjools are...like snails," Stark said. "He loves them. A Hynerian delicacy. I didn't eat any of them, Rygel. Not like dates, no. Dates are better."

Hey, that worked on multiple levels!

Rygel sniffed, loudly, and floated closer to the table of food. "Stark, fetch me a plate full."

Stark just shook his head. "You have people for that. That you pay. I'm not here for that and you know it. And we...were just going. To look around. The ponds, outside."

You know what? That kiss on the cheek that Stark missed out on a little earlier? Summer decided he was getting it now, because so help her, if she had to step in with Rygel just ordering him around like that...

...but she didn't, because he stood up for himself, and that was definitely not going unrewarded.

"That's right," she agreed, looping her arm into Stark's once she settled back from the kiss on the cheek, "the ponds. I hope you find plenty of your marjools, though, your Excellency. They sound..."

Like something she might need to put into jello.

"Very fancy."

The look Rygel gave might have been approving if it had been on any other face. But it couldn't be an approving look from Rygel, could it?

"I'm going to search for young D'Argo," he said loftily, gesturing towards the table to one of the servants flanking him before floating off.

Stark held on to Summer's arm in his, placing his other hand on top of hers, shaking his head again. "Outside?" he asked, already turning. "It is lovely here. The ponds are beautiful and there are gardens outside. They're amphibians, the Hynerians." In case their froggy features hadn't been a clue.

Summer watched Rygel float off for a moment with a look of amusement before turning with Stark and snuggling into his arm a little bit. Everything about this right now was checking all her boxes, just...being in space, doing space shit, with space people, god, she loved every single thing about it. "Now I can't help but wonder what would happen if we managed to get the Hynerians and the Zora together. Can you imagine that guy and Sidon in a room together? Being all royal and diplomatic, eating snails and being amphibious?" She laughed a little, then tilted her head thoughtfully. "I wonder what that guy's even been up to lately..."

"Maybe Sidon could eat him," Stark said thoughtfully, leaning against Summer and enjoying that feeling. "If we asked nicely?"

Stark, no!

"I would miss him. Eventually. But he's best in small doses, most of the time. He does dote on the child though."

"I don't think Sidon could be convinced to eat another ruler of another planet," Summer said, with a little bit of a regretful sigh, " but I will say this much, that's kind of endearing, right? That he's got a little bit of a soft spot for the little guy."

Stark huffed out a soft laugh. "He was pregnant, with D'Argo. For a short time."

Stark, that was not an explanation. That was just a very bizarre statement.

"Before the baby went back to Aeryn."

It took a lot to throw Summer off, Stark.

Consider her thrown.

Enough to sort of stop and blink at him anyway.

"What," she asked, "like a surrogate or something?"

And then she blinked again.

"Wait, there's a universe where I have a giant fucking baby somehow, why am I even questioning this?"

"I'm not sure I've ever seen you quite so stunned," Stark said with a grin.

"It wasn't intentional. It was after they were crystallized, John and Aeryn. Rygel collected the pieces so they could be reconstituted but he kept some and then the baby was in him instead of where he should have been. It all worked out in the end. Eventually."

The universe had almost ended, among other horrible things.

Well, you know, the universe almost ending was just par for the course for this sort of thing, right? Summer shook her head. "Okay," she said, "now I'm mad, Stark..." She paused, just long enough for him to start feeling a thread of worry that she was actually mad, before she added, "that it took you this long to bring me out to your space. That sounds almost as messed up as my space, and that's a pretty tall order right there."

Stark looked at her, concern building, then let out a relieved sigh.

"I could tell you so many things, Summer. But I've never brought anyone here before. Only you."

Because she was important and she was loved and she had wanted to come.

And there was that sincerity of Stark's, leaking out and filling his every word, but in that moment? Summer didn't actually mind it so much. And she just sort of took a moment to settle on it, as they moved, and maybe it was because they were in the gardens and by the ponds now and maybe it was because he was right, it was lovely out here, and a lot quieter, they were mostly by themselves...

So she stopped and turned toward Stark, putting a soft hand on his cheek and leaning in to kiss him lightly. Her hand lingered there when she pulled back a little, smiling softly and keeping close.

"Thank you for inviting me, Stark," she said. "This has really been great so far."

Aaaaand this was probably the moment where everything was going to start going horribly wrong, right? Summer was half-bracing herself for it, because that's just how these things tended to go...

It had felt like a moment for sincerity. There might even be more of it later.

Stark lifted his own hand to cover hers and gave her that soft smile he never gave to anyone else.

"I'm very glad you came," he told her. "And that you're enjoying it." And that nothing horrific had happened so far.

"I like having you here. Showing you my first home. Moya, I mean, not this planet." Rygel's home was not Stark's. Not at all. "And I've very much enjoyed having you meet the others. Even Rygel." There was part of him that thrilled at the idea of being able to show her off a bit, especially in the dress she was wearing.

The only thing to do now was lean in for another kiss, moving his hand from hers to the back of her head.

Summer might have had something to say to all of that, but, well, Stark had upped the ante on her kiss and that felt like a much more effective use of her lips and tongue right now.

Especially since it really felt like a moment to be interrupted with something ridiculous. Had to get it in there before they were rudely, cataclysmicly interrupted.

So she was absolutely kissing him back, her free hand sliding over Stark's hip to his back to pull herself closer, the hand on his cheek dropping to his chest.

They could get interrupted by one of Stark's shipmates...or perhaps Chiana had spotted them and was running interference. Or perhaps Crichton had and was mentally giving Stark a high-five?

Stark was quite happy to melt into that kiss, deepen it, and make a low noise of pleasure. His free hand slid over the exposed skin of Summer's back, fingers toying at the edges of the dress.

Summer's back arched with the touch of Stark's hand, pressing into him as she pulled back from the kiss. Catching her breath, biting her lip, and then meeting his eye with hers, bright with intent.

"So," she said, finger trailing down his chest, "know of any good dark corners here in these gardens, too?"

"I'll find one," Stark said, voice a little rough. "We'll find one. Right now..."

Except that would involve pulling away from Summer for the moment and Stark was disinclined to that. "We'll...go this way." He jerked his head in the direction of a likely looking wall. There was bound to be some sort of alcove partially hidden behind a well-trimmed shrubbery.

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Hynerian Royal Planet, Saturday Fandom TIme

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