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Vecta goes out with a Psychic

Vecta goes to a psychic reading

Vecta was strolling the streets on her week off from work. She had been slightly intoxicated when she picked up a flyer for a psychic reading and went over to the place.
It was barely dawn when she arrived and the liquor had finally been flushed from her system. She had begun to think this was a silly idea but she was already knocking on the door.
Soon, a young man answered the door. He was more than a foot shorter than her and had dark skin. His pale green eyes didn't focus right and he stared straight ahead as he asked, "Hello? Is someone there?"
"Yes." Vecta answered and he looked up. His eyes landed near her mouth but still didn't focus. She was pretty sure he was blind. "Are you the one who gives psychic readings?"
"I am, but were closed right now." He gestured at the front of the door, "I thought there was a sign or something that told what our hours were."
Vecta checked the door but there was nothing there. "Nope."
"Ah well," he sighed, "come in anyway and I'll see what I can do."
He opened the door the rest of the way and Vecta walked into the ornately decorated room. It looked exactly like a stereotypical psychic’s room, complete with purple curtains ringing the room, a table, and a crystal ball. She took a seat on one side of the table as the man found his way over as well, using a cane to feel around and maneuver in his surroundings.
He sat down and extended his hands, lying one palm up on the table. "Let me see your hand."
Vecta obeyed hesitantly and laid her hand in his, palm against his. He jumped a little and flipped over her hand quickly.
whoops Vecta thought to herself.
The man felt along her palm with his other hand, slowly and thoughtfully. "Hmmm... Let me see now... You're a mechanic, am I right?"
Vecta was surprised, he had gotten it right on the first guess. "Yeah, that's right."
"Coal mining ship? Is that where you work?"
"Mhm, yes."
"And..." His brow furrowed, "You like to work alone."
Vecta nodded. She realized that he couldn't see and was going to answer verbally but he seemed to have known she answered yes.
"Hmm... Well, enough of what you already know. I suppose you'd like for me to get on to the predicting part."
"Uh, sure." Vecta responded. She was actually pretty impressed at how much he could tell about her just from feeling her palm.
The man let go of her hand and touched the crystal ball. Smoke started circulating inside it.
After a minute in silence, he spoke again, "This week off is going to be the best you've ever had."
"Why's that?" Vecta asked, very intrigued. The week this far had been pretty average. She thought maybe one of her least favorite captains she always had to work with was going to get fired or something like that.
"You are going to fall in love this week." the man said, with a little smile.
Vecta suppressed the urge to laugh. What an outrageous statement that was!
But then, maybe it wasn't that outrageous. He had known quite a bit about her, why wouldn't he be able to guess her future as well?
He felt the crystal ball over more but soon the smoke inside died down and he removed his hands from it without another word. "Hmm... That's about all I can tell you."
"Oh kay." Vecta said, "Uh, how much do I owe you?"
"Well, since that was one of my weaker readings, just throw a few monies in the tip jar before you leave." He said, getting up and walking around the table half way, his hand resting on its surface.
"Sure, uhh, what's your name?"
"Dyphenn. My name's Dyphenn." He sighed.
Vecta got up and gave him a big bear hug. "Alright Dyphenn!"
Dyphenn stiffened with fright as he was crushed in Vecta’s arms. "Don't kill me, please!"
"I wasn't going to!" Vecta said, releasing him.
Dyphenn smoothed back his antennas and squeezed his sides. "Sorry. I don't not like hugs, I was just a little startled. You're really strong!"
"Oh, yeah." Vecta laughed, "Sorry about that."
Dyphenn shook it off and gave her a hug back and this time Vecta was a little more careful about not hugging him too tightly.
When they broke apart again, Dyphenn smiled in the general direction of her face and she reflexively smiled back, even though she knew he couldn't see it.
"Alright, nice meeting you, Vecta." Dyphenn said pleasantly as she headed for the door. She dropped a few monies into the jar and opened the door and left.
"W-wait!" yelled Dyphenn, leaning out the front of the door. Vecta stopped waking and turned towards him.
"Yeah?"
"Would you... Like to come over for tea... Later today, maybe?" He asked slowly.
"...sure." Vecta nodded.
"Okay. Bye now." Dyphenn sighed at her and pulled his head back inside the door then closed it.
Vecta walked away with a pleasant feeling buzzing through her. He was nice. she thought to herself Kinda weird, but nice.
It sort of scared her how much he knew about her, but it also intrigued her. How did he do it?
How could he tell she worked as a mechanic when he never saw her? How would he know she didn't like to work with others when he didn't know her? How did he know her name when she never told him?
---

Vecta goes for tea

That afternoon, Vecta was making her way back over to the psychic reading place. She couldn't help but feel a little excited to ask Dyphenn the questions that had bubbled into her mind.
The two of them hadn't set an exact time, but he was psychic and so shouldn't he be able to predict when she gets there? Vecta thought it was a little silly to think that but what the heck. It was afternoon.
She rapped on the door and Dyphenn answered it quickly. "Hello?" He asked, staring unblinkingly through her abdomen.
"Hey." Vecta said.
His face brightened at hearing her voice and he looked up at her face, "Ah, you're just in time. I just started boiling the water for our tea. Come in."
He opened the door the rest of the way and she came in. The air was lightly scented with cherries from a stick of incense smoldering on a shelf. She followed the slow-moving man back towards the table they had sat at earlier that day, then passed under a purple and gold curtain to another room.
This room was less decorative than the other room. There was a short table by some couches near the far left corner of the room opposite the petit kitchen which was sectioned off only by a small wall with a window and counter there.
"Make yourself at home." Dyphenn said to her and walked towards the kitchen where the water for tea was already steaming.
Vecta kicked off her shoes and set them out of the way then went over to the couch. She brushed off the plastic covered seat and sat down. Dyphenn came in carrying a tray of little cookies. He set them on the table and went back to get the tea. He brought in the tea pot, cups, and tea leaves carefully, one by one.
He took a seat across from Vecta and began preparing the tea. He placed a few leaves into the teacups. Then he poured the hot water into them, filling them a little more than half way. Vecta watched as the leaves swam around briefly and bled their color into the water, turning it a faint shade of green.
Dyphenn handed Vecta a cup. He sipped delicately from his tea and Vecta copied him. The tea tasted faintly sweet and a little minty. It was an interesting flavor.
Dyphenn held his teacup to his chest and was very quiet. Vecta couldn't tell if she should speak or not. She stayed quiet for the whole first cup plus a few cookies.
"Sooo..." She finally said.
Dyphenn looked up. "Hm? Did you want something?"
Vecta set her empty teacup on the table and opened her mouth to speak.
"More tea?" Dyphenn cut in before she could say anything.
"Err, sure." Vecta said and pushed the cup towards him. As he poured her more tea, she started to talk. "How do you do it?"
"How do I do what?" He asked and handed back the now filled teacup.
"The... You know, psychic stuff?" Vecta asked, "You knew all about me and you'd never met me. At least I know I never met you before." The man shrugged. "You used my name when I never told you it."
"Everyone has that name." quickly said Dyphenn.
"No they don't, I'm the only person I know that has this name." Vecta pushed, "Are you really a psychic? How do you do it?"
Dyphenn set his drink down and looked at her with a dark expression. He held up his hands. "I can read other people's minds through touching them."
"Wow." Vecta breathed, "Show me."
"I already did this morning!" Dyphenn said.
"Pretty please?" Begged Vecta, making puppy dog eyes.
"... Fine." He got up and cautiously edged around the table and took a seat next to her. His hands fluttered near to her face and she shut her eyes.
Dyphenn brushed a single finger lightly over her face. It tickled and Vecta stifled a laugh. She could vaguely feel memories resurfacing but she almost instantly forgot them like they were just a dream.
At one point, she felt him arrive at her scar. The memory opened up like a blooming flower and became clear, as if she were living it again.
It had been an awful accident.
She had been trying to pull down a crate from a shelf that was a little higher than her and it shifted when she didn’t expect it and got hit in the face by it. She had been knocked unconscious and when she woke up she was in a hospital with one hell of a headache.
Vecta learned she had nearly gotten a concussion from her fall and they had had to stitch up the gash made by the crate. As soon as the doctors left her alone, she got up to look at herself in the mirror. Her face was swollen and dirty. Her eye drifted over to where she could feel the center of pain, and there was the black string sewn through her skin, holding together two ragged bits of skin.
Abruptly, the memory vanished from clarity. Even though Vecta could still remember it, it was much foggier and less powerful. She blinked open her eyes and found that Dyphenn had taken his hand away from her, looking hurt.
She rubbed her scar and asked him, "You ok?"
He rubbed the same place on his face, "I'm ok. Are you?"
"Yeah, fine. Just a little... Overwhelmed. I wasn't ready for that."
"Sorry.” Dyphenn said and ducked his head down like a mistreated dog. He added quietly, "You're brave not to cover it up."
"Brave?" Vecta asked incredulously, "How is that brave?"
"I always cover mine up." Dyphenn said.
"You do?" Vecta took a close look at his skin and noticed that he was wearing makeup. Not enough to be noticeable, but it was enough to hide what he wanted.
"Yes." answered Dyphenn, feeling around on the table and grabbing a cloth. He took it along his face and wiped away the cover up.
Around his eyes was a network of scars, as well as a few on his cheeks. He took off his contacts and she could see cuts in his real eyes and parts of them torn completely away.
"Oh my god, how did you get those?" gasped Vecta.
Dyphenn sighed. “My archenemy scratched my eyes out when I was eleven.”
Vecta winced. “Ouch. And you never thought to get replacements? Or surgery?”
“My blindness is special…” Dyphenn said, “It reminds me of my archenemy, the only one who could match me in physical combat, and my teacher, the one who helped me refine my powers so long ago.”
Vecta nodded, but she wasn’t sure she could relate. She had hardly ever raised a fist in her life. Not to mention that she didn’t much like to remember the times she fought, physical or otherwise. In fact, Dyphenn voiced her very thoughts. “You probably couldn’t understand. Fighters honor and such. It’s kind of silly now.”
“Yeah, I’ve never been in any real fights before. I hope I never am.” She laughed, “I’d probably hurt myself.”
“You’re very strong, though.” Dyphenn pointed out.
Vecta shook her head. “I might be strong but all I know what to do with it is build and repair things.”
“Mm, that’s a good skill. Better than fighting.” Dyphenn bobbed his head. He set the towel back on the table and reached over to the other side for his now almost room temperature tea.
Vecta took another cookie. “Not as cool as psychic powers.” she mumbled.
“Not as useless as psychic powers.” Dyphenn muttered back.
Vecta spat her tongue out at him, not feeling like arguing anymore. She remembered then that he couldn’t see and laughed. “Whatever.”
The two finished their tea and cookies in relative silence over the next few minutes. As Vecta swirled the tea leaves around in her cup, Dyphenn spoke up.
“Do you want to try something?”
“Sure, what?”
“Tea leaf reading.”
“Oh… Sure!”
Dyphenn showed her how to dump out the remaining tea and just get the leaves. Then he asked her what she saw in the leaves.
“Ohhh… Hmm… I see a… circle, I think. And, um, maybe a bird? The rest just look like blotches…”
“What do you think they mean?” Dyphenn asked seriously.
“I think they’re good. Are they good?”
“Mhm, they’re good.”
Vecta squealed happily at having done her first tea leaf reading for herself and gave Dyphenn a tight hug. The cricks in his back popped as she squeezed him then let him go just before she crushed his bones. Dyphenn tried to catch his breath.
“I guess you enjoyed that.” he gasped. Vecta nodded. "I'm glad..." He said.
He gathered the cups and plates together on the tray and was about to lift it when Vecta offered to carry it to the kitchen for him. He nodded and followed her as she took all to the sink with ease.
Then, she went back to put on her shoes. It seemed time to go. Dyphenn approached her.
"Hey, maybe you wanna do this... Again soon?" He asked.
"I guess so." Vecta said, "How about tomorrow, same time, I'll meet you here?"
"Yeah, that sounds good."
Vecta gave him another big hug and left. She found herself wondering what would happen tomorrow.
-
Vecta goes home
...a few days later...

Vecta was trotting back over to Dyphenn’s house for the sixth time that week. She had spent most of her days off with him since she had nothing better to do and, apparently, neither did he.
The week had been fun. She remembered some highlights from the past few days she had spent with him.
The day after they had met for the first time, they went out together to the park.
-
It was sunny when she went over to Dyphenn’s house again. She had considered asking him to do something outside that day, but he voiced her idea almost the moment he answered the door. He was even dressed for a day out.
Vecta laughed as he slipped out the door, shut, and locked it, “Did you read my mind? I was just gonna ask to go out.”
“No, I just listen to the weather a lot,” Dyphenn said, feeling his way forward with his cane, “I knew it was going to be a nice day.”
All the way, Dyphenn was fairly quiet, only giving short answers when she tried to initiate conversation. Vecta felt a little sad since the day before he had seemed happy to talk to her and now he was being so curt.
When they arrived at a park, Vecta was still trying hard to get him to talk more. Dyphenn shushed her and touched her arm. She couldn’t feel him searching through her memories this time. She was also quite miffed at him shushing her. She almost pulled away until she looked at him and saw him look back at her. This time, his eyes were focused more than she had ever seen them before. That’s when she realized that he was using her to see.
“Sorry,” she whispered and saw him mouth the word as well. She turned her head back and gave him a good look of the park. There was a lake with flowers around it and a playground that kids were climbing on. There were people walking their pets, birds pecking food off the ground, and aliens of all kinds picnicking, strolling along the paths, and playing together. It was a very clean park and felt good to be in.
Dyphenn stood there with her until she nudged him. A variety of emotions passed over Dyphenn’s face. “Can we go over there? I want to smell the flowers!” he said excitedly, pointing in the direction of some tulips. He looked almost like a little kid.
Vecta laughed, “Sure.” She took him over to the flowers and he bent over and sniffed them carefully. Vecta laughed and did the same…

-
The day after that it rained, so they stayed inside and he taught her how to read Braille.
-
“Ok, close your eyes.” Dyphenn instructed Vecta, who obeyed. “Now,” he set her finger on the page and had her start moving it to the right. There were bumps she could feel raised up from the page.
“What’s it say?” she asked.
“That’s the alphabet,” he answered, “A, B, C, you know?”
“Yeah. How do you know when the letter ends?”
“There are six spaces: two at the top, two in the middle, and two at the bottom. They aren’t usually all filled in.”
“Oh, okay. How do you know where a word ends?”
“There’s a space.”
“What about when a sentence ends?”
“There’s another symbol.”
“What do those feel like?”
“I’ll show you after you master the alphabet...”

-
That night, as a change of pace, she took him out to get drunk.

-
“Where are we going again?” Dyphenn asked nervously, being lead along by the arm by Vecta.
“I told you, a bar.” Vecta said. He grumbled something she couldn’t hear. He seemed to be getting cold feet. “Come on, it’ll be fun!”
“If you say so.” He muttered. At least he wasn’t saying no.
They arrived at the bar and she walked right in. Dyphenn hung back, clinging to her like a frightened child. She reached around and pushed him forward by the small of his back and he dragged his feet to the bar counter with her by his side. She ordered them a few drinks. When they came, Vecta snatched hers up and drank for it, paying notice to Dyphenn. He felt around a moment before contacting glass and picking it up. Then, he sipped carefully from it. A moment later, he spat out the contents as if it were poison. The barkeep sighed really loudly.
“Aw, what’s the matter? Never had beer before?” asked Vecta, concerned.
“No, not in a long time.” Dyphenn answered, “I always thought it was pretty nasty. I mean, it tastes like pee.”
Vecta snort laughed, “Okay, I’ll give you that. What would you rather have?”
“Something sweet.” he said, scooting the mug away.
Vecta nodded, “Ah. Then maybe you’ll like this…”

-
The next time they had met, they had had dinner and a movie. He swore he hadn't suggested it as a date and, though she somewhat doubted him, she was still happy to go along.
He liked the dinner and she liked the movie.

-
The two of them were seated at a table across from each other near the corner of the restaurant that Dyphenn had suggested. He was kind of sluggish that night; Vecta assumed it was because he had had a busy day.
She studied the menu, barely speaking until the waiter arrived. Both of them ordered for themselves then were quiet again. It took until their drinks arrived for them to speak to each other.
"So..." Vecta said as Dyphenn sucked down half his water, "How was your day?"
"Good. It was good," he answered, "What about you?"
"I had a good day too."
"Tell me about it."
Vecta swirled the straw in her drink around the glass, making the ice clink together. "Well, when I got up, I went to that breakfast place a couple blocks away from where I'm staying and got a doughnut. Then I went and got to see a magician do some magic tricks. That was really cool. I got called up and I got to pick a card, any card, and then put it back some place random. And then he shuffled all the cards and then he pulled out my card! That was pretty awesome."
Dyphenn reached his hand across the table, "May I see?"
"Mhm." Vecta said, touching fingertips with him.
She felt him replay the memory then remove his hand from under hers. "Neat," he said.
That was when their food arrived. Dyphenn just about leaped on the food, but Vecta ate slower. Dyphenn slurped his noodles covered in sauce messily; Vecta spun them around her fork and only after they were rounded up did she put them to her mouth.
Dyphenn finished his food in half the time it took Vecta to eat hers. He wiped his mouth with a napkin and looked up in her direction. Vecta giggled because he still had some sauce on his cheek.
"What's so funny?" he whined, "Do I still have something on my face?"
"Yeah, here, let me get it." She said. She reached over and wiped the little spot off with her napkin, "There, all better..."

-
Within minutes of the movie starting, Vecta found herself giggling. She poked Dyphenn, whose head was lolling down, and he perked up and laughed as well.
A little later, Vecta could hear his breathing deepen into a barely audible snore and felt his head rest against her shoulder. She let him rest.
After the movie was over and they were walking out, Vecta asked him, “Enjoy your nap?”
“I wasn’t napping!” said Dyphenn indignantly, “I was awake through the whole thing.”
“Ok, then tell me, whodunit?”
“Who done what?”
Vecta laughed, “You were asleep!”
“Okay, you caught me. It was a good nap.”
“You paid ten monies to take a nap!” Vecta giggled, “You should have stayed awake; it was a good movie!”
“Too late now. I’ll just have to read it off your memories later..."
-

Later, he tried to do psychic message sending with her and showed her what it's like to be blind by hiding her eyes with a bandana. She was very bad at both things but had enjoyed her time nonetheless.
She hated that she was going to tell him she was going back to work and they might not see each other for a while.

She arrived and rang the door bell. No answer.
She rang it again. Still no answer.
Was the bell broken?
She tried knocking instead, just in case. Again, nobody came.
Vecta huffed and stormed down the steps on his front porch. Some friend he was.
She rounded the corner and plowed straight into somebody coming the other direction and knocked groceries out of their hands. She tried to apologize and started picking up the items on the ground, "Oops, sorry. I wasn't looking-"
"That's fine, that's okay." said a familiar voice. She looked up and saw Dyphenn.
She gabbed him and hugged him tight, "Dyphenn!"
"Vecta!" he cried as the air whooshed out of his lungs.
Tears welled in both their eyes- one because of emotion, the other because of discomfort at being squeezed too tight.
When she finally let him go, she could only ask, "Where were you?!"
"Gr-" he croaked, then cleared his throat, "Grocery. I thought that was obvious."
Vecta picked up his groceries and started back to his house. "I meant, why were you?"
He trotted along by her side. "I wanted to do something at the beach and pack a lunch, but I didn't have any food for it, so I ran out to get some and you're early!"
"No, you're late; it's already twelve thirty." Vecta said.
Dyphenn sighed, "Shit. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it." she said. Her spirits were already soaring from getting to see him and realizing he wasn't trying to run away from her.
She carried his groceries into his house for him and set them on the counter where he wrestled all the things out of the bags. Vecta calmly assisted him, setting the items out within his reach. He then gathered all the bags and shoved them under the sink. His hands fumbled over the store bought goods as he tried to figure out what was what.
"Do you need help, Dyphenn?" Vecta asked quietly.
Dyphenn looked disappointed in himself and nodded. Vecta gladly assisted him pack a lunch and store everything else away. Since Dyphenn couldn't help Vecta with the food, he left to gather other beach-going materials.
Soon, they were ready to go. They left down the street, found the teleporter for the beach they wanted and passed through.
-

At the beach, the sun was hot and the water looked inviting. Vecta left Dyphenn briefly to change into her swimming suit. When she came back, he had already lain out the towels on the sand and was massaging sunblock into his skin. To her surprise, he was still in his casual clothes.
"Aren't you going to swim?" Asked Vecta as she sat down beside him.
"No." he said, "It's not much fun to swim blind. I could easily drown in the waves."
"Oh," mumbled Vecta. She tried not to imagine that happening as she applied her own sunscreen.
"Are you going to swim now and eat later?" he asked, hunched over the lunch sack he held in his hands, "Or...?"
Vecta looked out at the water and the beachside, then back at Dyphenn. "Uhh... I'll eat some now."
These words seemed to make Dyphenn happy and he dug into the food bag hastily. He laid everything out on the towels. Vecta ate sparingly from a bag of potato chips while Dyphenn hunted down the sandwiches she had made. He ripped back the plastic wrap and sniffed it before carefully taking a bite.
"Mmm..." he hummed quietly as he chowed down. The sandwich was gone in under two minutes. "It's been so long since somebody else made me food," he said, reaching for the chips. He grabbed a handful and ate them quickly, one by one, "I mean, since a friend made me food at least."
Vecta mumbled in agreement. Watching him eat made her feel full even though she had barely eaten anything. "How come you eat so fast?"
"Habit." he answered around a mouthful of chip shards.
"Don't you ever... Slow down and savor the flavor?" she asked.
"When it's important."
"And when is that?"
"When I'm trying to draw out conversations."
Vecta watched pieces of food fall on the towels as Dyphenn kept speaking with food in his mouth. Her brow furrowed and she cleaned up the mess he was making with a napkin.
"You don't have to eat all the chips." Vecta said, working her hand into the bag and taking a few more when Dyphenn wasn't digging in it.
"Mmf." He grunted and stopped after his third handful. He pulled away from the food and wiped his mouth and hands, then sat quietly with his hands in his lap. He seemed to be waiting on her to say something.
"Will you be okay here when I go swimming?" Vecta asked.
"Yeah. I'll just nap or read. I brought a book." He reached in the towel bag and pulled out a novel written in Braille.
"What is it?"
"You can read it." He set it in front of her. She placed her finger at the left and began figuring out which letters they were through touch.
"T-H-E... W...?-I-...Z-A-R-D.... I don't know that one. S-R-O-C-K. The Wizard's Rock?"
Dyphenn nodded and took back the book.
"Neat."
"Yeah... You can go swim now."
"I think I'll wait a few minutes for the food to digest a little."
"Suture self." Dyphenn said. He put the book away in the bag and rolled onto his back with his hands behind his head. She laid beside him.
Since he wasn't talking, she tried to relax like he was. Her mind wandered, however, and she ended up thinking about how silly tanning was. You were slowly cooking away your outermost skin layer with the sun and some people thought that was cool and a good look. She huffed out a laugh and Dyphenn mimicked her, even though he didn't know what she was thinking about.
After another ten minutes in the sun, Vecta left for a swim. She waded out along shallow banks, jumped into deeper parts, and splashed around in the water to her hearts content. After nearly an hour and a half of swimming, she hunted along the shore for some neat sea shells and pieces of sea smoothed glass. Although many animals had been scared away from the area because of the locations popularity, Vecta was still able to see fish and birds by the beach.
It was almost three o'clock when Vecta returned to Dyphenn to towel off, eat, and show off her new finds. Dyphenn was still asleep with his book across his chest until she reached into the food bag. He sprang upright with a snort. "Vecta?"
"Yeah?"
"Oh, good, you're back."
"Mmmhmmm." She ate her sandwich slowly as she recounted her outing to him and was done by the time she explained about the shells.
She dusted her hands off and grabbed the seashell and held it up to Dyphenn's antenna. "You can hear the ocean with this." She had him feel a shell with spines across its surface. "Neat, huh?"
"Yeah." Dyphenn said.
"Mm... Hey, wanna try building a sand castle?"
"Uh... We could give it a shot. I didn't bring a bucket or anything." Dyphenn tried scooping together a pile of sand. Vecta watched and helped him. They dug a little moat around the castle and then decorated the whole thing with her seashells.
"It looks good." Vecta said after they were done.
"Mmpf. I'm glad you like it." Dyphenn said. He wiped the sand off his hands and lied down again. She lied down on her side next to him.
"Do you not like it?"
"I like it."
"Hmm... Okay."
Vecta rolled onto her back. She reapplied sunblock and then rested for a while.
-

The sun was falling out of the sky, the ocean reaching up to drown its light out. Most of the beach-goers had left for home by this time but a number of people were still sitting out or walking about. Vecta and Dyphenn were still laying out on their blankets.
Vecta elbowed Dyphenn in the shoulder to rouse him. He jolted awake and patted next to him, contacting her arm. "Oh, Vecta. It's just you."
"Yeah, just me."
"What time is it?" he asked, scooting closer to her.
Vecta looked at her wrist. "I don't have a watch on so I don't know," she paused and then added quickly, "but the sun is almost gone."
"We can stay to watch the sunset if you'd like." Dyphenn offered.
"Sure." Vecta said.
One of his hands reached for hers. He wanted to see the sunset too. Vecta held his hand and together they watched the sun dip below the horizon with a rainbow of colors chasing its last light through the atmosphere.
Vecta couldn't remember the last time she had enjoyed a sunset with somebody. Her fingers shifted against Dyphenn's hand.
She looked at him. He stared back at her. She smiled. He smiled. She leaned and they both kissed each other on the cheek. When she sat back up straight, Vecta saw that Dyphenn's face still mirrored her emotions: he was blushing and hiding a smile.
Dyphenn at last pulled his hand away from hers and rubbed his cheek that had been kissed. His expression had become much more concealed, though Vecta could still see that his skin was still darkened from blush.
After a moment, Vecta felt as if she needed to say something. "Dyphenn, I-"
"Shh." He looked up at her face, put one hand on her crossed legs and one on the side of her face, and raised up to kiss her lips. Vecta didn't pull away.
Dyphenn held the kiss shortly before breaking it and sitting back. "You like me?" Vecta asked.
"I was trying not to make it that obvious." Dyphenn muttered.
"With a kiss?"
"No, before the kiss. The kiss was supposed to be the thing that made it obvious... Ugh, I don't know what I'm saying anymore."
Vecta chuckled and tugged Dyphenn into her lap. "Then shh..."
They kissed again for a little longer. Dyphenn pulled away after.
"Does this mean we're..." he started to ask.
"Boyfriend and girlfriend?" Vecta finished his question, "I guess. If you want to be."
"Yeah, of course I want to be."
"Then it's settled." Vecta smiled, "We're officially 'going out'."
Dyphenn put his arms around Vecta. "Mm..."
They sat in silence for a while. It started to get cold slowly with the sun gone. Vecta shivered slightly as an ocean wind whooshed over them.
"I guess it's time to head for home." Dyphenn said.
"Yeah." Vecta concurred. They got up, gathered their belongings, and headed back to the teleport.
They passed through, back onto Dyphenn's street, and trudged to his house. Dyphenn unlocked the door and dragged the stuff in. Vecta stood in the doorway. When he realized Vecta wasn't coming in, he decided to say something.
"Vecta, you're welcome to stay a while." Dyphenn offered.
"I'd love to... But I can't." Vecta said.
Dyphenn put his stuff down and came up to her. He had a hurt look on his face. "Why not?"
"I have to go back to work tomorrow." Vecta said, putting a hand on his shoulder. He nodded understandingly. He took her hand in his and kissed and rubbed it against his face. Memories from the past week rolled around her head.
Vecta knelt to his level and stroked his antenna. "I'll be back soon. And I'll call when I can."
"When you get back, we can have tea again." Dyphenn said.
"Yeah, that sounds good."
"I'll have tea and a warm scone waiting for you when you get back." Dyphenn promised.
"Mm..."
"I guess this is goodbye?"
"For now." Vecta kissed Dyphenn on the lips one last time. Vecta said softly, "Goodbye Dyphenn."
"Goodbye Vecta." he whispered back.
He let go of her hand and she left, though reluctantly. As soon as the door closed behind her, her heart started to ache from having to leave him. She had to do her work though. They would see each other again before long.

-
Vecta goes back

Dyphenn went about his usual daytime chores and did a few psychic readings for those who asked. That afternoon, he threw two scones in the microwave to heat them up and boiled the tea water as he normally did. He set out two saucers, two cups, and the two scones.
But he sat alone. Vecta had been gone for only a little over a month but to him it felt like years. She called when she got the chance, but it was nothing like being close to her and feeling her thoughts.
He was beginning to think that she wouldn't come back. Maybe she didn't remember her promise.
No, of course she did. She would come back. If she felt the same for him as he did for her, she would be back.
Not long after, the doorbell rang. His hopes rocketed through the ceiling. Was it her? He hurried to the door and opened it, "Hello?"
"Hey, it's me, your neighbor. We got your mail again." said a reserved male voice. Various envelopes were stuffed into his hand delicately; the other person was obviously trying to avoid touching him.
"Th-thanks." Dyphenn said, trying not to sound entirely disappointed.
"You're welcome. Have a nice day." The neighbor walked off.
Dyphenn went back inside and miserably thumbed through bills. He sat on the couch moping for a long time before turning on the radio and falling asleep.
He was woken up by the sound of his doorbell ringing. He didn't know what time it was but he got up and answered the door. Sigh. "Hello?"
He was lifted into the air and warm lips were pressed against his. He happily kissed back as her tongue slipped into his mouth. This was who he had been waiting for.
Dyphenn put his arms around Vecta’s shoulders and put his legs around her waist as she held him up by the butt. The two of them kissed for a good whole minute before breaking apart.
"I missed you." panted Vecta.
"I missed you too." Dyphenn breathed back. She let him slide onto the ground and they walked inside together. “I kept my promise.” He said as they ducked under the curtain. She sat down on the couch and he sat next to her. “It’s probably all gone cold by now though.”
“That’s okay.” Vecta said quietly. Dyphenn heard her pick up the plates and cups and go into the kitchen. He curled up his knees to his chest and tucked them under his chin, listening to the faint whirring of the microwave going. It beeped loudly and the door was opened then slammed shut again a moment later. Vecta came walking quickly back and sat down beside him, munching on something.
He felt the prick of her eyes on him. He stared blankly back at her. She finished chewing after a while. There was the clink of china against wood when she set down her plate. The couch made its soft huffing noises as she moved closer to him and pulled him into her lap.
Dyphenn snuggled into her softness as she played with his antenna. He had wondered briefly where her other hand was, but got his answer from the quickly fading sound of the radio. He was trying not to read her thoughts and another lip kiss drowned out his temptation to do so.
For a few minutes, he stopped worrying about his abilities and just enjoyed the sensations which he hadn't felt in so long. It wasn't until Vecta's thoughts zeroed in on sex that he had to pull away.
"What's the matter?" she asked, rightfully feeling crestfallen.
“It’s just…” Dyphenn wondered if he should not be so blunt about it….. “If you’re hiding any memories from me, which I know that you’ve got at least one that you are, you have to show all of them to me. Otherwise, sex won’t be all that much fun.”
He felt Vecta retract into herself. She pulled away from him. “…All of them?”
“Yes. All of them.” Dyphenn said, drawing back from her.
Vecta was very quiet. Dyphenn knew how big of a decision it was to expose all your memories to someone else. He did not dig to any memories she was even the slightest bit protective of; not because he couldn’t, but because he respected the privacy of others.
“I’m happy to just cuddle if you’re not comfortable with sharing your memories with me.” Dyphenn said after she had been quiet for over a minute, holding out his arms to her.
“…” Vecta stayed unmoving for a moment, then slid back into his embrace and nuzzled his neck. “Alright.”

Description
Vecta goes out with a Psychic

Vecta goes to a psychic reading

Vecta was strolling the streets on her week off from work. She had been slightly intoxicated when she picked up a flyer for a psychic reading and went over to the place.
It was barely dawn when she arrived and the liquor had finally been flushed from her system. She had begun to think this was a silly idea but she was already knocking on the door.
Soon, a young man answered the door. He was more than a foot shorter than her and had dark skin. His pale green eyes didn't focus right and he stared straight ahead as he asked, "Hello? Is someone there?"
"Yes." Vecta answered and he looked up. His eyes landed near her mouth but still didn't focus. She was pretty sure he was blind. "Are you the one who gives psychic readings?"
"I am, but were closed right now." He gestured at the front of the door, "I thought there was a sign or something that told what our hours were."
Vecta checked the door but there was nothing there. "Nope."
"Ah well," he sighed, "come in anyway and I'll see what I can do."
He opened the door the rest of the way and Vecta walked into the ornately decorated room. It looked exactly like a stereotypical psychic’s room, complete with purple curtains ringing the room, a table, and a crystal ball. She took a seat on one side of the table as the man found his way over as well, using a cane to feel around and maneuver in his surroundings.
He sat down and extended his hands, lying one palm up on the table. "Let me see your hand."
Vecta obeyed hesitantly and laid her hand in his, palm against his. He jumped a little and flipped over her hand quickly.
whoops Vecta thought to herself.
The man felt along her palm with his other hand, slowly and thoughtfully. "Hmmm... Let me see now... You're a mechanic, am I right?"
Vecta was surprised, he had gotten it right on the first guess. "Yeah, that's right."
"Coal mining ship? Is that where you work?"
"Mhm, yes."
"And..." His brow furrowed, "You like to work alone."
Vecta nodded. She realized that he couldn't see and was going to answer verbally but he seemed to have known she answered yes.
"Hmm... Well, enough of what you already know. I suppose you'd like for me to get on to the predicting part."
"Uh, sure." Vecta responded. She was actually pretty impressed at how much he could tell about her just from feeling her palm.
The man let go of her hand and touched the crystal ball. Smoke started circulating inside it.
After a minute in silence, he spoke again, "This week off is going to be the best you've ever had."
"Why's that?" Vecta asked, very intrigued. The week this far had been pretty average. She thought maybe one of her least favorite captains she always had to work with was going to get fired or something like that.
"You are going to fall in love this week." the man said, with a little smile.
Vecta suppressed the urge to laugh. What an outrageous statement that was!
But then, maybe it wasn't that outrageous. He had known quite a bit about her, why wouldn't he be able to guess her future as well?
He felt the crystal ball over more but soon the smoke inside died down and he removed his hands from it without another word. "Hmm... That's about all I can tell you."
"Oh kay." Vecta said, "Uh, how much do I owe you?"
"Well, since that was one of my weaker readings, just throw a few monies in the tip jar before you leave." He said, getting up and walking around the table half way, his hand resting on its surface.
"Sure, uhh, what's your name?"
"Dyphenn. My name's Dyphenn." He sighed.
Vecta got up and gave him a big bear hug. "Alright Dyphenn!"
Dyphenn stiffened with fright as he was crushed in Vecta’s arms. "Don't kill me, please!"
"I wasn't going to!" Vecta said, releasing him.
Dyphenn smoothed back his antennas and squeezed his sides. "Sorry. I don't not like hugs, I was just a little startled. You're really strong!"
"Oh, yeah." Vecta laughed, "Sorry about that."
Dyphenn shook it off and gave her a hug back and this time Vecta was a little more careful about not hugging him too tightly.
When they broke apart again, Dyphenn smiled in the general direction of her face and she reflexively smiled back, even though she knew he couldn't see it.
"Alright, nice meeting you, Vecta." Dyphenn said pleasantly as she headed for the door. She dropped a few monies into the jar and opened the door and left.
"W-wait!" yelled Dyphenn, leaning out the front of the door. Vecta stopped waking and turned towards him.
"Yeah?"
"Would you... Like to come over for tea... Later today, maybe?" He asked slowly.
"...sure." Vecta nodded.
"Okay. Bye now." Dyphenn sighed at her and pulled his head back inside the door then closed it.
Vecta walked away with a pleasant feeling buzzing through her. He was nice. she thought to herself Kinda weird, but nice.
It sort of scared her how much he knew about her, but it also intrigued her. How did he do it?
How could he tell she worked as a mechanic when he never saw her? How would he know she didn't like to work with others when he didn't know her? How did he know her name when she never told him?
---

Vecta goes for tea

That afternoon, Vecta was making her way back over to the psychic reading place. She couldn't help but feel a little excited to ask Dyphenn the questions that had bubbled into her mind.
The two of them hadn't set an exact time, but he was psychic and so shouldn't he be able to predict when she gets there? Vecta thought it was a little silly to think that but what the heck. It was afternoon.
She rapped on the door and Dyphenn answered it quickly. "Hello?" He asked, staring unblinkingly through her abdomen.
"Hey." Vecta said.
His face brightened at hearing her voice and he looked up at her face, "Ah, you're just in time. I just started boiling the water for our tea. Come in."
He opened the door the rest of the way and she came in. The air was lightly scented with cherries from a stick of incense smoldering on a shelf. She followed the slow-moving man back towards the table they had sat at earlier that day, then passed under a purple and gold curtain to another room.
This room was less decorative than the other room. There was a short table by some couches near the far left corner of the room opposite the petit kitchen which was sectioned off only by a small wall with a window and counter there.
"Make yourself at home." Dyphenn said to her and walked towards the kitchen where the water for tea was already steaming.
Vecta kicked off her shoes and set them out of the way then went over to the couch. She brushed off the plastic covered seat and sat down. Dyphenn came in carrying a tray of little cookies. He set them on the table and went back to get the tea. He brought in the tea pot, cups, and tea leaves carefully, one by one.
He took a seat across from Vecta and began preparing the tea. He placed a few leaves into the teacups. Then he poured the hot water into them, filling them a little more than half way. Vecta watched as the leaves swam around briefly and bled their color into the water, turning it a faint shade of green.
Dyphenn handed Vecta a cup. He sipped delicately from his tea and Vecta copied him. The tea tasted faintly sweet and a little minty. It was an interesting flavor.
Dyphenn held his teacup to his chest and was very quiet. Vecta couldn't tell if she should speak or not. She stayed quiet for the whole first cup plus a few cookies.
"Sooo..." She finally said.
Dyphenn looked up. "Hm? Did you want something?"
Vecta set her empty teacup on the table and opened her mouth to speak.
"More tea?" Dyphenn cut in before she could say anything.
"Err, sure." Vecta said and pushed the cup towards him. As he poured her more tea, she started to talk. "How do you do it?"
"How do I do what?" He asked and handed back the now filled teacup.
"The... You know, psychic stuff?" Vecta asked, "You knew all about me and you'd never met me. At least I know I never met you before." The man shrugged. "You used my name when I never told you it."
"Everyone has that name." quickly said Dyphenn.
"No they don't, I'm the only person I know that has this name." Vecta pushed, "Are you really a psychic? How do you do it?"
Dyphenn set his drink down and looked at her with a dark expression. He held up his hands. "I can read other people's minds through touching them."
"Wow." Vecta breathed, "Show me."
"I already did this morning!" Dyphenn said.
"Pretty please?" Begged Vecta, making puppy dog eyes.
"... Fine." He got up and cautiously edged around the table and took a seat next to her. His hands fluttered near to her face and she shut her eyes.
Dyphenn brushed a single finger lightly over her face. It tickled and Vecta stifled a laugh. She could vaguely feel memories resurfacing but she almost instantly forgot them like they were just a dream.
At one point, she felt him arrive at her scar. The memory opened up like a blooming flower and became clear, as if she were living it again.
It had been an awful accident.
She had been trying to pull down a crate from a shelf that was a little higher than her and it shifted when she didn’t expect it and got hit in the face by it. She had been knocked unconscious and when she woke up she was in a hospital with one hell of a headache.
Vecta learned she had nearly gotten a concussion from her fall and they had had to stitch up the gash made by the crate. As soon as the doctors left her alone, she got up to look at herself in the mirror. Her face was swollen and dirty. Her eye drifted over to where she could feel the center of pain, and there was the black string sewn through her skin, holding together two ragged bits of skin.
Abruptly, the memory vanished from clarity. Even though Vecta could still remember it, it was much foggier and less powerful. She blinked open her eyes and found that Dyphenn had taken his hand away from her, looking hurt.
She rubbed her scar and asked him, "You ok?"
He rubbed the same place on his face, "I'm ok. Are you?"
"Yeah, fine. Just a little... Overwhelmed. I wasn't ready for that."
"Sorry.” Dyphenn said and ducked his head down like a mistreated dog. He added quietly, "You're brave not to cover it up."
"Brave?" Vecta asked incredulously, "How is that brave?"
"I always cover mine up." Dyphenn said.
"You do?" Vecta took a close look at his skin and noticed that he was wearing makeup. Not enough to be noticeable, but it was enough to hide what he wanted.
"Yes." answered Dyphenn, feeling around on the table and grabbing a cloth. He took it along his face and wiped away the cover up.
Around his eyes was a network of scars, as well as a few on his cheeks. He took off his contacts and she could see cuts in his real eyes and parts of them torn completely away.
"Oh my god, how did you get those?" gasped Vecta.
Dyphenn sighed. “My archenemy scratched my eyes out when I was eleven.”
Vecta winced. “Ouch. And you never thought to get replacements? Or surgery?”
“My blindness is special…” Dyphenn said, “It reminds me of my archenemy, the only one who could match me in physical combat, and my teacher, the one who helped me refine my powers so long ago.”
Vecta nodded, but she wasn’t sure she could relate. She had hardly ever raised a fist in her life. Not to mention that she didn’t much like to remember the times she fought, physical or otherwise. In fact, Dyphenn voiced her very thoughts. “You probably couldn’t understand. Fighters honor and such. It’s kind of silly now.”
“Yeah, I’ve never been in any real fights before. I hope I never am.” She laughed, “I’d probably hurt myself.”
“You’re very strong, though.” Dyphenn pointed out.
Vecta shook her head. “I might be strong but all I know what to do with it is build and repair things.”
“Mm, that’s a good skill. Better than fighting.” Dyphenn bobbed his head. He set the towel back on the table and reached over to the other side for his now almost room temperature tea.
Vecta took another cookie. “Not as cool as psychic powers.” she mumbled.
“Not as useless as psychic powers.” Dyphenn muttered back.
Vecta spat her tongue out at him, not feeling like arguing anymore. She remembered then that he couldn’t see and laughed. “Whatever.”
The two finished their tea and cookies in relative silence over the next few minutes. As Vecta swirled the tea leaves around in her cup, Dyphenn spoke up.
“Do you want to try something?”
“Sure, what?”
“Tea leaf reading.”
“Oh… Sure!”
Dyphenn showed her how to dump out the remaining tea and just get the leaves. Then he asked her what she saw in the leaves.
“Ohhh… Hmm… I see a… circle, I think. And, um, maybe a bird? The rest just look like blotches…”
“What do you think they mean?” Dyphenn asked seriously.
“I think they’re good. Are they good?”
“Mhm, they’re good.”
Vecta squealed happily at having done her first tea leaf reading for herself and gave Dyphenn a tight hug. The cricks in his back popped as she squeezed him then let him go just before she crushed his bones. Dyphenn tried to catch his breath.
“I guess you enjoyed that.” he gasped. Vecta nodded. "I'm glad..." He said.
He gathered the cups and plates together on the tray and was about to lift it when Vecta offered to carry it to the kitchen for him. He nodded and followed her as she took all to the sink with ease.
Then, she went back to put on her shoes. It seemed time to go. Dyphenn approached her.
"Hey, maybe you wanna do this... Again soon?" He asked.
"I guess so." Vecta said, "How about tomorrow, same time, I'll meet you here?"
"Yeah, that sounds good."
Vecta gave him another big hug and left. She found herself wondering what would happen tomorrow.
-
Vecta goes home
...a few days later...

Vecta was trotting back over to Dyphenn’s house for the sixth time that week. She had spent most of her days off with him since she had nothing better to do and, apparently, neither did he.
The week had been fun. She remembered some highlights from the past few days she had spent with him.
The day after they had met for the first time, they went out together to the park.
-
It was sunny when she went over to Dyphenn’s house again. She had considered asking him to do something outside that day, but he voiced her idea almost the moment he answered the door. He was even dressed for a day out.
Vecta laughed as he slipped out the door, shut, and locked it, “Did you read my mind? I was just gonna ask to go out.”
“No, I just listen to the weather a lot,” Dyphenn said, feeling his way forward with his cane, “I knew it was going to be a nice day.”
All the way, Dyphenn was fairly quiet, only giving short answers when she tried to initiate conversation. Vecta felt a little sad since the day before he had seemed happy to talk to her and now he was being so curt.
When they arrived at a park, Vecta was still trying hard to get him to talk more. Dyphenn shushed her and touched her arm. She couldn’t feel him searching through her memories this time. She was also quite miffed at him shushing her. She almost pulled away until she looked at him and saw him look back at her. This time, his eyes were focused more than she had ever seen them before. That’s when she realized that he was using her to see.
“Sorry,” she whispered and saw him mouth the word as well. She turned her head back and gave him a good look of the park. There was a lake with flowers around it and a playground that kids were climbing on. There were people walking their pets, birds pecking food off the ground, and aliens of all kinds picnicking, strolling along the paths, and playing together. It was a very clean park and felt good to be in.
Dyphenn stood there with her until she nudged him. A variety of emotions passed over Dyphenn’s face. “Can we go over there? I want to smell the flowers!” he said excitedly, pointing in the direction of some tulips. He looked almost like a little kid.
Vecta laughed, “Sure.” She took him over to the flowers and he bent over and sniffed them carefully. Vecta laughed and did the same…

-
The day after that it rained, so they stayed inside and he taught her how to read Braille.
-
“Ok, close your eyes.” Dyphenn instructed Vecta, who obeyed. “Now,” he set her finger on the page and had her start moving it to the right. There were bumps she could feel raised up from the page.
“What’s it say?” she asked.
“That’s the alphabet,” he answered, “A, B, C, you know?”
“Yeah. How do you know when the letter ends?”
“There are six spaces: two at the top, two in the middle, and two at the bottom. They aren’t usually all filled in.”
“Oh, okay. How do you know where a word ends?”
“There’s a space.”
“What about when a sentence ends?”
“There’s another symbol.”
“What do those feel like?”
“I’ll show you after you master the alphabet...”

-
That night, as a change of pace, she took him out to get drunk.

-
“Where are we going again?” Dyphenn asked nervously, being lead along by the arm by Vecta.
“I told you, a bar.” Vecta said. He grumbled something she couldn’t hear. He seemed to be getting cold feet. “Come on, it’ll be fun!”
“If you say so.” He muttered. At least he wasn’t saying no.
They arrived at the bar and she walked right in. Dyphenn hung back, clinging to her like a frightened child. She reached around and pushed him forward by the small of his back and he dragged his feet to the bar counter with her by his side. She ordered them a few drinks. When they came, Vecta snatched hers up and drank for it, paying notice to Dyphenn. He felt around a moment before contacting glass and picking it up. Then, he sipped carefully from it. A moment later, he spat out the contents as if it were poison. The barkeep sighed really loudly.
“Aw, what’s the matter? Never had beer before?” asked Vecta, concerned.
“No, not in a long time.” Dyphenn answered, “I always thought it was pretty nasty. I mean, it tastes like pee.”
Vecta snort laughed, “Okay, I’ll give you that. What would you rather have?”
“Something sweet.” he said, scooting the mug away.
Vecta nodded, “Ah. Then maybe you’ll like this…”

-
The next time they had met, they had had dinner and a movie. He swore he hadn't suggested it as a date and, though she somewhat doubted him, she was still happy to go along.
He liked the dinner and she liked the movie.

-
The two of them were seated at a table across from each other near the corner of the restaurant that Dyphenn had suggested. He was kind of sluggish that night; Vecta assumed it was because he had had a busy day.
She studied the menu, barely speaking until the waiter arrived. Both of them ordered for themselves then were quiet again. It took until their drinks arrived for them to speak to each other.
"So..." Vecta said as Dyphenn sucked down half his water, "How was your day?"
"Good. It was good," he answered, "What about you?"
"I had a good day too."
"Tell me about it."
Vecta swirled the straw in her drink around the glass, making the ice clink together. "Well, when I got up, I went to that breakfast place a couple blocks away from where I'm staying and got a doughnut. Then I went and got to see a magician do some magic tricks. That was really cool. I got called up and I got to pick a card, any card, and then put it back some place random. And then he shuffled all the cards and then he pulled out my card! That was pretty awesome."
Dyphenn reached his hand across the table, "May I see?"
"Mhm." Vecta said, touching fingertips with him.
She felt him replay the memory then remove his hand from under hers. "Neat," he said.
That was when their food arrived. Dyphenn just about leaped on the food, but Vecta ate slower. Dyphenn slurped his noodles covered in sauce messily; Vecta spun them around her fork and only after they were rounded up did she put them to her mouth.
Dyphenn finished his food in half the time it took Vecta to eat hers. He wiped his mouth with a napkin and looked up in her direction. Vecta giggled because he still had some sauce on his cheek.
"What's so funny?" he whined, "Do I still have something on my face?"
"Yeah, here, let me get it." She said. She reached over and wiped the little spot off with her napkin, "There, all better..."

-
Within minutes of the movie starting, Vecta found herself giggling. She poked Dyphenn, whose head was lolling down, and he perked up and laughed as well.
A little later, Vecta could hear his breathing deepen into a barely audible snore and felt his head rest against her shoulder. She let him rest.
After the movie was over and they were walking out, Vecta asked him, “Enjoy your nap?”
“I wasn’t napping!” said Dyphenn indignantly, “I was awake through the whole thing.”
“Ok, then tell me, whodunit?”
“Who done what?”
Vecta laughed, “You were asleep!”
“Okay, you caught me. It was a good nap.”
“You paid ten monies to take a nap!” Vecta giggled, “You should have stayed awake; it was a good movie!”
“Too late now. I’ll just have to read it off your memories later..."
-

Later, he tried to do psychic message sending with her and showed her what it's like to be blind by hiding her eyes with a bandana. She was very bad at both things but had enjoyed her time nonetheless.
She hated that she was going to tell him she was going back to work and they might not see each other for a while.

She arrived and rang the door bell. No answer.
She rang it again. Still no answer.
Was the bell broken?
She tried knocking instead, just in case. Again, nobody came.
Vecta huffed and stormed down the steps on his front porch. Some friend he was.
She rounded the corner and plowed straight into somebody coming the other direction and knocked groceries out of their hands. She tried to apologize and started picking up the items on the ground, "Oops, sorry. I wasn't looking-"
"That's fine, that's okay." said a familiar voice. She looked up and saw Dyphenn.
She gabbed him and hugged him tight, "Dyphenn!"
"Vecta!" he cried as the air whooshed out of his lungs.
Tears welled in both their eyes- one because of emotion, the other because of discomfort at being squeezed too tight.
When she finally let him go, she could only ask, "Where were you?!"
"Gr-" he croaked, then cleared his throat, "Grocery. I thought that was obvious."
Vecta picked up his groceries and started back to his house. "I meant, why were you?"
He trotted along by her side. "I wanted to do something at the beach and pack a lunch, but I didn't have any food for it, so I ran out to get some and you're early!"
"No, you're late; it's already twelve thirty." Vecta said.
Dyphenn sighed, "Shit. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it." she said. Her spirits were already soaring from getting to see him and realizing he wasn't trying to run away from her.
She carried his groceries into his house for him and set them on the counter where he wrestled all the things out of the bags. Vecta calmly assisted him, setting the items out within his reach. He then gathered all the bags and shoved them under the sink. His hands fumbled over the store bought goods as he tried to figure out what was what.
"Do you need help, Dyphenn?" Vecta asked quietly.
Dyphenn looked disappointed in himself and nodded. Vecta gladly assisted him pack a lunch and store everything else away. Since Dyphenn couldn't help Vecta with the food, he left to gather other beach-going materials.
Soon, they were ready to go. They left down the street, found the teleporter for the beach they wanted and passed through.
-

At the beach, the sun was hot and the water looked inviting. Vecta left Dyphenn briefly to change into her swimming suit. When she came back, he had already lain out the towels on the sand and was massaging sunblock into his skin. To her surprise, he was still in his casual clothes.
"Aren't you going to swim?" Asked Vecta as she sat down beside him.
"No." he said, "It's not much fun to swim blind. I could easily drown in the waves."
"Oh," mumbled Vecta. She tried not to imagine that happening as she applied her own sunscreen.
"Are you going to swim now and eat later?" he asked, hunched over the lunch sack he held in his hands, "Or...?"
Vecta looked out at the water and the beachside, then back at Dyphenn. "Uhh... I'll eat some now."
These words seemed to make Dyphenn happy and he dug into the food bag hastily. He laid everything out on the towels. Vecta ate sparingly from a bag of potato chips while Dyphenn hunted down the sandwiches she had made. He ripped back the plastic wrap and sniffed it before carefully taking a bite.
"Mmm..." he hummed quietly as he chowed down. The sandwich was gone in under two minutes. "It's been so long since somebody else made me food," he said, reaching for the chips. He grabbed a handful and ate them quickly, one by one, "I mean, since a friend made me food at least."
Vecta mumbled in agreement. Watching him eat made her feel full even though she had barely eaten anything. "How come you eat so fast?"
"Habit." he answered around a mouthful of chip shards.
"Don't you ever... Slow down and savor the flavor?" she asked.
"When it's important."
"And when is that?"
"When I'm trying to draw out conversations."
Vecta watched pieces of food fall on the towels as Dyphenn kept speaking with food in his mouth. Her brow furrowed and she cleaned up the mess he was making with a napkin.
"You don't have to eat all the chips." Vecta said, working her hand into the bag and taking a few more when Dyphenn wasn't digging in it.
"Mmf." He grunted and stopped after his third handful. He pulled away from the food and wiped his mouth and hands, then sat quietly with his hands in his lap. He seemed to be waiting on her to say something.
"Will you be okay here when I go swimming?" Vecta asked.
"Yeah. I'll just nap or read. I brought a book." He reached in the towel bag and pulled out a novel written in Braille.
"What is it?"
"You can read it." He set it in front of her. She placed her finger at the left and began figuring out which letters they were through touch.
"T-H-E... W...?-I-...Z-A-R-D.... I don't know that one. S-R-O-C-K. The Wizard's Rock?"
Dyphenn nodded and took back the book.
"Neat."
"Yeah... You can go swim now."
"I think I'll wait a few minutes for the food to digest a little."
"Suture self." Dyphenn said. He put the book away in the bag and rolled onto his back with his hands behind his head. She laid beside him.
Since he wasn't talking, she tried to relax like he was. Her mind wandered, however, and she ended up thinking about how silly tanning was. You were slowly cooking away your outermost skin layer with the sun and some people thought that was cool and a good look. She huffed out a laugh and Dyphenn mimicked her, even though he didn't know what she was thinking about.
After another ten minutes in the sun, Vecta left for a swim. She waded out along shallow banks, jumped into deeper parts, and splashed around in the water to her hearts content. After nearly an hour and a half of swimming, she hunted along the shore for some neat sea shells and pieces of sea smoothed glass. Although many animals had been scared away from the area because of the locations popularity, Vecta was still able to see fish and birds by the beach.
It was almost three o'clock when Vecta returned to Dyphenn to towel off, eat, and show off her new finds. Dyphenn was still asleep with his book across his chest until she reached into the food bag. He sprang upright with a snort. "Vecta?"
"Yeah?"
"Oh, good, you're back."
"Mmmhmmm." She ate her sandwich slowly as she recounted her outing to him and was done by the time she explained about the shells.
She dusted her hands off and grabbed the seashell and held it up to Dyphenn's antenna. "You can hear the ocean with this." She had him feel a shell with spines across its surface. "Neat, huh?"
"Yeah." Dyphenn said.
"Mm... Hey, wanna try building a sand castle?"
"Uh... We could give it a shot. I didn't bring a bucket or anything." Dyphenn tried scooping together a pile of sand. Vecta watched and helped him. They dug a little moat around the castle and then decorated the whole thing with her seashells.
"It looks good." Vecta said after they were done.
"Mmpf. I'm glad you like it." Dyphenn said. He wiped the sand off his hands and lied down again. She lied down on her side next to him.
"Do you not like it?"
"I like it."
"Hmm... Okay."
Vecta rolled onto her back. She reapplied sunblock and then rested for a while.
-

The sun was falling out of the sky, the ocean reaching up to drown its light out. Most of the beach-goers had left for home by this time but a number of people were still sitting out or walking about. Vecta and Dyphenn were still laying out on their blankets.
Vecta elbowed Dyphenn in the shoulder to rouse him. He jolted awake and patted next to him, contacting her arm. "Oh, Vecta. It's just you."
"Yeah, just me."
"What time is it?" he asked, scooting closer to her.
Vecta looked at her wrist. "I don't have a watch on so I don't know," she paused and then added quickly, "but the sun is almost gone."
"We can stay to watch the sunset if you'd like." Dyphenn offered.
"Sure." Vecta said.
One of his hands reached for hers. He wanted to see the sunset too. Vecta held his hand and together they watched the sun dip below the horizon with a rainbow of colors chasing its last light through the atmosphere.
Vecta couldn't remember the last time she had enjoyed a sunset with somebody. Her fingers shifted against Dyphenn's hand.
She looked at him. He stared back at her. She smiled. He smiled. She leaned and they both kissed each other on the cheek. When she sat back up straight, Vecta saw that Dyphenn's face still mirrored her emotions: he was blushing and hiding a smile.
Dyphenn at last pulled his hand away from hers and rubbed his cheek that had been kissed. His expression had become much more concealed, though Vecta could still see that his skin was still darkened from blush.
After a moment, Vecta felt as if she needed to say something. "Dyphenn, I-"
"Shh." He looked up at her face, put one hand on her crossed legs and one on the side of her face, and raised up to kiss her lips. Vecta didn't pull away.
Dyphenn held the kiss shortly before breaking it and sitting back. "You like me?" Vecta asked.
"I was trying not to make it that obvious." Dyphenn muttered.
"With a kiss?"
"No, before the kiss. The kiss was supposed to be the thing that made it obvious... Ugh, I don't know what I'm saying anymore."
Vecta chuckled and tugged Dyphenn into her lap. "Then shh..."
They kissed again for a little longer. Dyphenn pulled away after.
"Does this mean we're..." he started to ask.
"Boyfriend and girlfriend?" Vecta finished his question, "I guess. If you want to be."
"Yeah, of course I want to be."
"Then it's settled." Vecta smiled, "We're officially 'going out'."
Dyphenn put his arms around Vecta. "Mm..."
They sat in silence for a while. It started to get cold slowly with the sun gone. Vecta shivered slightly as an ocean wind whooshed over them.
"I guess it's time to head for home." Dyphenn said.
"Yeah." Vecta concurred. They got up, gathered their belongings, and headed back to the teleport.
They passed through, back onto Dyphenn's street, and trudged to his house. Dyphenn unlocked the door and dragged the stuff in. Vecta stood in the doorway. When he realized Vecta wasn't coming in, he decided to say something.
"Vecta, you're welcome to stay a while." Dyphenn offered.
"I'd love to... But I can't." Vecta said.
Dyphenn put his stuff down and came up to her. He had a hurt look on his face. "Why not?"
"I have to go back to work tomorrow." Vecta said, putting a hand on his shoulder. He nodded understandingly. He took her hand in his and kissed and rubbed it against his face. Memories from the past week rolled around her head.
Vecta knelt to his level and stroked his antenna. "I'll be back soon. And I'll call when I can."
"When you get back, we can have tea again." Dyphenn said.
"Yeah, that sounds good."
"I'll have tea and a warm scone waiting for you when you get back." Dyphenn promised.
"Mm..."
"I guess this is goodbye?"
"For now." Vecta kissed Dyphenn on the lips one last time. Vecta said softly, "Goodbye Dyphenn."
"Goodbye Vecta." he whispered back.
He let go of her hand and she left, though reluctantly. As soon as the door closed behind her, her heart started to ache from having to leave him. She had to do her work though. They would see each other again before long.

-
Vecta goes back

Dyphenn went about his usual daytime chores and did a few psychic readings for those who asked. That afternoon, he threw two scones in the microwave to heat them up and boiled the tea water as he normally did. He set out two saucers, two cups, and the two scones.
But he sat alone. Vecta had been gone for only a little over a month but to him it felt like years. She called when she got the chance, but it was nothing like being close to her and feeling her thoughts.
He was beginning to think that she wouldn't come back. Maybe she didn't remember her promise.
No, of course she did. She would come back. If she felt the same for him as he did for her, she would be back.
Not long after, the doorbell rang. His hopes rocketed through the ceiling. Was it her? He hurried to the door and opened it, "Hello?"
"Hey, it's me, your neighbor. We got your mail again." said a reserved male voice. Various envelopes were stuffed into his hand delicately; the other person was obviously trying to avoid touching him.
"Th-thanks." Dyphenn said, trying not to sound entirely disappointed.
"You're welcome. Have a nice day." The neighbor walked off.
Dyphenn went back inside and miserably thumbed through bills. He sat on the couch moping for a long time before turning on the radio and falling asleep.
He was woken up by the sound of his doorbell ringing. He didn't know what time it was but he got up and answered the door. Sigh. "Hello?"
He was lifted into the air and warm lips were pressed against his. He happily kissed back as her tongue slipped into his mouth. This was who he had been waiting for.
Dyphenn put his arms around Vecta’s shoulders and put his legs around her waist as she held him up by the butt. The two of them kissed for a good whole minute before breaking apart.
"I missed you." panted Vecta.
"I missed you too." Dyphenn breathed back. She let him slide onto the ground and they walked inside together. “I kept my promise.” He said as they ducked under the curtain. She sat down on the couch and he sat next to her. “It’s probably all gone cold by now though.”
“That’s okay.” Vecta said quietly. Dyphenn heard her pick up the plates and cups and go into the kitchen. He curled up his knees to his chest and tucked them under his chin, listening to the faint whirring of the microwave going. It beeped loudly and the door was opened then slammed shut again a moment later. Vecta came walking quickly back and sat down beside him, munching on something.
He felt the prick of her eyes on him. He stared blankly back at her. She finished chewing after a while. There was the clink of china against wood when she set down her plate. The couch made its soft huffing noises as she moved closer to him and pulled him into her lap.
Dyphenn snuggled into her softness as she played with his antenna. He had wondered briefly where her other hand was, but got his answer from the quickly fading sound of the radio. He was trying not to read her thoughts and another lip kiss drowned out his temptation to do so.
For a few minutes, he stopped worrying about his abilities and just enjoyed the sensations which he hadn't felt in so long. It wasn't until Vecta's thoughts zeroed in on sex that he had to pull away.
"What's the matter?" she asked, rightfully feeling crestfallen.
“It’s just…” Dyphenn wondered if he should not be so blunt about it….. “If you’re hiding any memories from me, which I know that you’ve got at least one that you are, you have to show all of them to me. Otherwise, sex won’t be all that much fun.”
He felt Vecta retract into herself. She pulled away from him. “…All of them?”
“Yes. All of them.” Dyphenn said, drawing back from her.
Vecta was very quiet. Dyphenn knew how big of a decision it was to expose all your memories to someone else. He did not dig to any memories she was even the slightest bit protective of; not because he couldn’t, but because he respected the privacy of others.
“I’m happy to just cuddle if you’re not comfortable with sharing your memories with me.” Dyphenn said after she had been quiet for over a minute, holding out his arms to her.
“…” Vecta stayed unmoving for a moment, then slid back into his embrace and nuzzled his neck. “Alright.”