"Yes please," Juliette said. "I want to learn everything about you."
I led Juliette through my house, showing her the living room, kitchen, office, and downstairs powder room, then I led her upstairs to the living quarters. When I showed her my bedroom, she paused in front of my bed and nodded.
"This is the room where most of my clients take me for their pleasure. Would you like me to get undressed now?"
I looked at Juliette and sighed.
"Good heavens," I said. "You've never been treated like a lady, have you?"
"Lady?" Juliette said, pinching her eyebrows together. "Isn't that the same thing as a woman?"
"Not quite. It's another one of our special human expressions. A lady is a woman who—isn't only focused on the sexual aspect of her persona. She's someone who is considered
to have high moral standards and good social etiquette."
"Etiquette," Juliette said, pausing to process her memory bank for the dictionary definition. "I think I understand. Are you a lady also, Jade?"
I laughed, thinking how best to answer the loaded question.
"Most of the time, I like to think so. But there are other times—well let's just say there's an appropriate time and place to be a lady, and other times when you want to act a little bit more like a...woman."
Juliette looked at my bed then back toward me.
"Would you like us to act like women now?"
I peered into Juliette's green eyes and clasped her hand gently.
"There'll be plenty of time for that later. Why don't we ease into that in due course? There are so many other interesting things we can do."
I led Juliette into my ensuite bathroom.
"Are you waterproof?" I asked. "Sometimes it can be fun to have a shower together, or even better, a nice relaxing bath."
Juliette paused for a moment as she pondered the query.
"My shell is designed to be waterproof. I've never had a bath, unless you count the cleansings I receive from my minders after each new client encounter."
"I think you'll find this type of cleanse far more relaxing and...empowering."
I glanced at my commode and chuckled.
"I don't suppose you ever have any need for that?"
Juliette paused as she looked at the toilet, processing its function.
"I don't eliminate any waste."
"Lucky you," I said. "I suppose that means you don't eat anything either? I'd offer you something, but I suppose that's not an activity that we can share."
"No, but I know you humans get your power from consuming organic substances. I'll be happy to keep you company whenever you need to eat or void."
I choked suddenly at Juliette's comment.
"We humans generally like to be alone when we...void. But now that you mention it, I am a little hungry. Why don't you join me in the kitchen while I put something together? I can think of something else you might find interesting that we can do together."
I made myself a quick sandwich, then I threw some kernels into my popcorn machine and emptied the output into a big bowl. Then I poured myself a glass of white wine and led Juliette into my living room and turned on the TV.
"Why don't we watch a movie?" I said. "Have you ever done that before?"