veryroundbirdfics | Arknights | For Science Reasons

Rating: Spicy
Words: 2466
Characters: Doctor (F), Kal'tsit, Mon3tr
Relationships: Doctor/Kal'tsit
Summary: Dr. Lau is bored and wants Dr. Kal'tsit's attention; Dr. Kal'tsit has a lot of work she needs to get done. Everyone gets what they want—sort of. Set nebulously after main story chapter 8, but not really any spoilers.
Notes: this one goes out to Friend Tara:

"I'm getting you a desk," Kal'tsit keeps threatening, which holds very little water on account of the fact that you keep countering that it's a piece of furniture in her quarters that you could clutter up.¹

Tidy as she is, you spreading your medical school refresher work across her bed while she works at her desk still irritates her to no end. Though at least you appreciate her not telling you to just find a cubicle somewhere and stop bothering her; it helps to have someone to nudge you when you nod off unexpectedly,² and furthermore, you functionally share quarters at this point.³

Unfortunately today you're still working your way through Pharmacology, which while incredibly relevant to your work here, is a lot of rote memorization that even the legendary Dr. Blood can't make particularly compelling. You are not terribly good at sticking things out through boredom.⁴

So, you swing your legs over the side of the bed, and wander behind Kal'tsit's desk chair, planting your face into her hair and your thumbs behind her ears, moving them in small massaging circles; she makes a low rumble in her chest that flattens into a disgruntled noise.⁵ "I see you're bored, but I'm still working," she says, turning her head up to look at you.

"I know, I know," you mutter against her hair, muffled, and comb your fingers through the pale strands, down to trace her spine. "I'm suffering, though."

"I fail to see why that should change what I'm doing whatsoever."⁶ She shifts, though, under your touch, arching slightly in her chair.

You trace your fingers lightly down the curve of her upper back. "Love you, too, Kal'tsit."⁷ You pause. "Well, I do have a science question, actually."⁸

She exhales. "Is it more important than logging all the useful intelligence from these after-action reports so that we do not get absolutely wiped off the map by some over-paranoid nation with delusions of grandeur?"⁹

"Well," you say, brushing a knuckle down her spine, "I legitimately have a lot of questions about why you had your spine embedded with a summoning arts unit implant—"

"Nnh—" She jerks upright, nearly smacking her head into your nose. "Are you sure you want to know the answer to that—"

"Well—" You're a little taken off-guard by that reaction,¹⁰ but—"You know me, so the answer's 'always.' Unless it's one of those things that's 'better for me to remember on my own'¹¹—"

"Please," she mutters. "That was well before we met,¹² and—you're really determined to distract me, aren't you?"

You put a beatific smile on your face; the picture of innocence. "I might be."

She sighs. "I can't have that," she says, and then something under her breath that you can't quite make out¹³—

And you're flung backwards faster than you can process exactly what's happening, landing on your back on... the bed, you think, a flash of black cutting across your vision.

"Mon3tr," says Kal'tsit, not looking up from her work,¹⁴ "restrain Dr. Lau until I'm finished working."

Spiny black articulated limbs pin your arms to the mattress by the fabric of your sleeves–just missing the skin, although you can feel the tiny sting of a cut where a sharp edge grazed you.¹⁵

"I suppose I asked for answers," you mutter, as the creature wraps its long, dragon-like body around your torso, pulling your arms behind your back.¹⁶ "I've already seen this thing plenty, Kal'tsit; this is a mildly interesting practical demonstration, but I'm more interested in the experimental background, you know."

She sighs, and taps her tablet stylus against her screen. "Well, at least you're getting vocabulary back.¹⁷ You talk more than you used to, though."

"Would you trade that for the old me?"

"Absolutely not." She snorts.¹⁸ "But I do need you to shut up while I get this done." At long last, she turns her chair toward you; leans over to brush a knuckle under your chin.¹⁹ "I'll need to keep you busy. There's a few things Mon3tr can do that you haven't seen." She raises an eyebrow, expression perfectly icy-cool. "Would you like some experiential learning?"

You make what you hope turns out a mostly-flabbergasted expression that doesn't betray anything embarrassing.²⁰ "You're not seriously suggesting—"

She taps a finger against the tip of your nose. "I am always entirely serious, Dr. Lau."

There is a non-zero chance your face has gone beet-red. Are you really that into it, though?²¹

"Iiiiiii'm amenable," you stammer out.

"Good girl," Kal'tsit says, briskly, and stands to return to her desk, stretching her arms above her head as she turns away from you. "Mon3tr, rotate Dr. Lau one hundred-eighty degrees and initialize personal stimulation protocol."²²

"I can't believe you say it like that–"

"—and make sure she's too distracted to commentate," she adds, as Mon3tr unwinds to flip you on your front, your chin landing on the accursed Pharmacology text in the direction of Kal'tsit's desk. Which conveniently gives you a good view of her, but before you can come up with a smartass thing to say out of contrarianism, Mon3tr drags the blunt back side of a long claw down your back and your brain promptly bluescreens and has to restart.²³

“Unfair—“ you squeak out, and Kal’tsit ignores you, chin propped in her palm as she tap-tap scrolls through whatever she’s working on, lip jutting out slightly in concentration; honestly, there’s something erotic about it,²⁴ which only makes this more what it is.²⁵

Abruptly, Mon3tr changes the direction she’s dragging her claw, and slices neatly through the back of your shirt and shorts—cutting fabric only with perfect precision down to the fraction of a millimeter. Didn't even cut your underwear, you realize, as the fabric falls away.²⁶

There's a sort of click-click sound of moving parts, and a slightly wet noise, as the creature reconfigures herself. Blunted claws press down on your shoulders,²⁷ pinning you to the bed; a second set tug your hips up. Across from you, Kal'tsit presses the end of her tablet stylus thoughtfully against her lips,²⁸ and then scribbles down a freehand note in the margin of some report before swiping to turn the page.

Something drips onto your back—viscous, rather than watery.²⁹ Another languid, wet noise, and something thick and uneven-textured drags between your legs, slick and cold;³⁰ you groan, voice already becoming ragged, and react instinctively, pushing your hips back against the touch. There's a hiss of something like a valve releasing, or an inhuman breath against the nape of your neck, and you curl backwards against it, skin bumping against a craggy and inhuman beak.

Kal'tsit still doesn't look up at you, as Mon3tr continues to drag... whatever that is,³¹ slowly back and forth between your legs, working you up; in fact, she looks away, at her farthest monitor, making a quiet "hm" to herself at the data there, crossing her legs neatly at the knee,³² the one raised ankle making idle circles in the air. You sigh lightly into the pages of your textbook, and breathe, "Kal'tsit—"

And of course she just keeps scrolling through her reports.

It's becoming almost more than you can bear—the rough texture against you, even through the fabric of your underwear;³³ the way the fabric clings against sensitive skin. The strokes grow firmer and faster, but only tantalize at pressing in further³⁴—just enough to coil the tension tighter and tighter between your legs, slick and warm and needy. Keeping your eyes open and watching Kal'tsit becomes... difficult, but it's worth it, even gripping the sheets so hard your knuckles turn pale. She wets her lips lightly with her tongue, in thought, twirls her stylus between her fingers—

—did you see her gasp, slightly?³⁵ Just a little, but... oh, but you're going to have to think about that later,³⁶ because you're almost, almost to release—

Kal'tsit taps her stylus on her desktop. "Mon3tr," she says, crisply. "Return."³⁷ And just like that you're dropped on the bedsheets, panting unevenly, sticky³⁸ and shaky.

Your face is pressed into the pages of your textbook again,³⁹ but you can hear Kal'tsit push herself back in her chair, and stand, padding lightly across the carpeted floor over to the bed. When she sits down next to you, you reach for her, and she catches your hand to lace her fingers in yours, cupping your face with the opposite.

And then she leans in next to your ear, and murmurs: "We can finish after you can tell me the recommended medications and starting dosages for the ten most common Oripathy presentations, Dr. Lau."⁴⁰

[1] The other reason is that you're not going to do it, and doing it herself would require her to expose herself to Closure's nosiness.

[2] This happens a lot. The additional useful reason is having an actual doctor who you can ask questions of without needing to first explain the inconvenient truth behind why you can't remember your medical degree.

[3] ...which is nice. It's nice.

[4] Thankfully plenty of things interest you—in fact, most things. It's just that your absolute shit garbage memory leaves you little patience for anything that relies on it.

[5] She does the cute little eartwitch thing, though. Your soul is healed a little.

[6] As expected, but you're into that.

[7] Even if it's teasing, every time you say that she looks deeply taken off-guard and it's definitely not discouragement from continuing.

[8] This is not pretense; there's something that you noticed a while ago, actually, that you'd been meaning to ask about.

[9] Strictly speaking it is not but you can only think about that for so many hours a day without feeling like you're starting to fray around the edges and maybe you think that everyone could use a little time off from thinking about it!

[10] Considering how often she's been using it recently you didn't expect it to be a huge secret, but—maybe it's partially subconsciously-triggered and she doesn't want to set it off?

[11] You adopt her tone of voice in as obnoxious a mode as you can for that. Sometimes, a little bit of being intentionally annoying as a treat.

[12] ...well, you got one of those coveted little bits of information out of this, at least. So net gain, really.

[13] Actually, it's not so much under her breath as subvocalized, uttered in her throat only.

[14] This is intentional of her, you're sure.

[15] This is also intentional. She always has such perfect control and it's so unfairly sexy of her.

[16] You're being a bit glib here but also you're not actually worried. And, in any case, you were trying to get a reaction out of her. You still are, in fact.

[17] Oh fine, rub in all the times you used "you know, the thing" and "that doohickey" and your many other vague attempts at replicating concepts you couldn't quite put to words.

[18] It's a little fond, though. That, and every time she says that she wouldn't trade you for who you were, your heart flutters a little. Well—a lot.

[19] Oh no you're gay and it's terminal.

[20] It is not entirely successful. Kal'tsit?????

[21] Yeah you are.

[22] You're like 99.9% sure this is bullshit and that the advanced neural link embedded in her spine lets her use Mon3tr as if she were a natural appendage but if it isn't you have some real questions about why she has that preset.

[23] You suppose turnabout's fair play with her taking advantage of Liberi erogenous zones considering how often you do the same to her but it's a little irritating how predictably it gets you.

[24] On the other hand if she's hoping this discourages you from interrupting you while she's working this is going to be counterproductive.
You're pretty sure she's not trying to discourage you, actually.

[25] It's hot.

[26] It's a shame if Kal'tsit isn't looking, because you did wear something nicer just in case, but also this lends itself to an interesting science experiment of its own, which is trying to determine how much of Mon3tr's sensory input Kal'tsit gets.

[27] Research note: interesting that Mon3tr either has some kind of built-in armor (?) or the ability to secrete something to create safety tips.

[28] Just very slightly parted, because she is in fact winding you up.

[29] Hey Kal'tsit a few questions about your design process here and is that lubricant or grease or what.

[30] Although now the "I have so many questions" is getting superseded by "can't be bothered to care."

[31] Mon3tr's tail, maybe, the way it's rough-textured and far from smooth, unless there's more parts in there you don't know about.

[32] It's a very tidy, businesslike movement, but as you study her—and oh, you really want to touch her—she might be squeezing her thighs together just slightly, like she's trying to take the edge off without looking like she's doing it.
Which is something to think about. You wonder to what degree Mon3tr is an extension of her, like an extra limb that like all the body can operate semi-subconsciously—and also if you can use that to get her back.

[33] It's rough and you're not entirely sure it would feel strictly comfortable getting any further, but it's not... bad. Like this.

[34] You suppose she's trying to keep you going for as long as possible, and she's doing a good job of it, in fact.

[35] Just a slight hitch of breath, but—you're pretty sure. Just a little more hunched over at her desk, like she's having trouble with her composure.

[36] You're going to be thinking about it a lot, actually.

[37] You're still like 99.99999% sure all her audible vocal commands are for show and this is just to be hot and commanding and you know what? You can't argue with that.

[38] Honestly you're a little concerned about the degree of stickiness and the fact that while it was a perfectly servicable lubricant it now smells a little bit like WD-40 and also... oh hell it's also black and is all over your new underwear. You only have one pair of cute underwear so far.

[39] And you'll probably have to peel it off your face, sweaty as you are.

[40] And you will memorize them the fastest you have ever memorized anything in your entire short new lease on life, because Conviction may know and judge your priorities—but you've certainly got them.