Chapter 2: Warlock
The three of us set our ships down in the hangar. We all got out of our ships and walked towards The Speaker's observatory, accompanied by our ghosts. Once we got there, The Speaker turned and greeted us.
"Hello, Guardians," he said very calmly. "Was your mission a success?" Titan gave a nod, holding the light shield in front of him. I held out the fire cannon whilst Hunter held up the ancient sword. Three of The Speaker's personal guards took the artifacts from us gingerly. "Your work is appreciated, Guardians," The Speaker said. "I believe the three of you have earned some time off. You will have another mission in three days."
"Of course Speaker," Titan said respectfully. "Thank you Speaker."
"You may leave now," The Speaker said. "Enjoy your, 'vacation' of sorts." Titan gave a nod and led us out of the observatory. Hunter was first to speak.
"Three days guys!" he said excitedly. "Titan, how are you gonna spend it?"
"Training," Titan said plainly.
"You always say that," Hunter said, seemingly disappointed.
"It's the only way to get better Hunter," Titan said in response.
"Fine," Hunter said. "Warlock, what are you gonna do for the next three days?"
"I am not sure," I said. Titan slowly removed his helmet, revealing his silver skin and the red arc on his forehead. That prompted me to remove my own helmet, revealing my short orange hair and the red marking on my forehead. Hunter flipped down his hood and removed his helmet as well, his curly blonde hair spilling down to his shoulders and revealing the blackish gray streaks across his face. I looked at my ghost. "What do think, little friend?" I asked him.
"Perhaps take the first day to relax," he suggested. I nodded.
"Perhaps," I said.
"Hey, uh Warlock," Hunter said. I looked over at him. The three of us stopped at the terrace, looking out at the city. "I was wondering if you and me could talk a moment." He glanced at Titan. "Alone." Titan quickly took the hint. He turned, patted Hunter on the shoulder, and walked away, his ghost following close to his shoulder. I looked at Hunter. His ghost was hovering by his head. I smiled and looked at my ghost.
"Little friend," I said. My ghost gave a nod. He flew off toward the hangar, knowing I'd meet him back at the ship. Hunter dismissed his ghost as well. Then it was just the two of us standing at the railing. "You wished to speak with me?" I asked.
"Yeah," he said. I noticed his pale cheeks had turned pink. "I have something I wanna tell you."
"Well," I said. "What is it you wish to tell?" He took a deep breath before speaking again.
"We've been teammates, or rather, friends, for a long time now." I nodded in agreement. "So I wanted to get something off my chest." It took me a moment to realize he was speaking figuratively. I was still learning about human customs and such. "What I wanted to tell you was I…" He trailed off. His cheeks were going from pink to red.
"What?" I asked. He took another deep breath.
"I really like you, okay," he said rather quickly, but I still heard every word.
"I like you too, Hunter," I said, wondering why he had been so nervous to tell me something that I already knew.
"No," he said. "Like… Like as more than just a friend." I raised an eyebrow.
"I do not understand." He sucked in another breath.
"I, um…. I love you." My eyes widened when he said that. I was familiar with the term 'love' and its many meanings. I was stunned that Hunter felt such an emotion towards me.
"You… Love me?" I asked in disbelief. He nodded. I looked down at my feet nervously. "Well…" I said, trying to come up with a response. Then the only response I had came out. "I love you too," I said.
"Y-you do?" he asked, clearly surprised. "Even though I'm not an Awoken?"
"Yes," I said. "I care not about the color of your skin." I smiled at him. He smiled back nervously.
"So um, would you maybe wanna, go on a date tomorrow?" I was confused.
"A date?" I asked, unfamiliar with the word.
"Oh," he said, realizing I was confused. "Um, a date is when two people who are in love go do something together. Just the two of them."
"Oh," I said, starting to understand. "What shall we do?"
"I was thinking maybe I could take you out to dinner?" I thought a moment, then smiled.
"Dinner sounds lovely," I said. He smiled wider.
"Uh, great. What time should I pick you up tomorrow?" I thought about it for a moment.
"Seven o'clock tomorrow evening." He nodded.
"Okay, seven it is." An awkward silence fell over us. I felt like I had to do something. So I did the first thing I could think to do. I touched the first three fingers of my right hand to my lips and then to Hunter's cheek. He looked at me, confusion in his eyes. "What was that?" he asked.
"It is an Awoken sign of affection," I said.
"Oh," he said. "Well that's not how Humans show it." I became curious.
"How do Humans show affection towards someone they love?" I asked. He became nervous again.
"Um… well, Humans use a sign of affection called a kiss." I nodded.
"Is kiss a noun or a verb?" I asked.
"Both, actually. It just depends on the context you use it in." I thought a moment, then smiled.
"Would you like to kiss me?" I asked, curious to know what a kiss was. His cheeks were growing redder.
"Um… yes, I would love to kiss you… But I'm not sure how you'll react." I pitied him a little.
"Oh," I said, a little defeated. Then an idea popped into my head. "Hunter? Would you mind walking me to my ship?" He smiled.
"Not at all." I smiled and held my hand out to him. He took it gently, locking his fingers with mine. We walked to the hangar, hand in hand. When we reached my ship, I turned to face Hunter. We said our farewells and Hunter left to go to his own ship. I opened the door to my ship and walked in. I closed the door and looked at the inside of my ship. There was a small bed to my right and the cockpit to my left.
"Little friend?" I called. My ghost materialized and hovered over to me.
"Hello Guardian," he said. "How was your talk with the Hunter?" I smiled.
"He said he loved me," I said, feeling the elation in my chest. My ghost's one purple eye widened.
"He did?" he said in disbelief. I nodded. "What did you say in return?"
"I told him that I loved him as well." I smiled wider as I remembered our conversation from just moments ago.
"That's wonderful Guardian," my ghost said.
"We are going out for dinner tomorrow night," I said. I walked over to my bed and sat on the edge of it. Then a thought occurred to me. "Little friend," I said. "Could you do a search on the word 'kiss?'"
"Certainly Guardian," he said. He quickly and quietly brought up the ship's computer. A second passed before the computer spoke the meaning out loud to us.
"Kiss. Noun. An action performed by two individuals in which both individuals touch their lips to the other's. Example; 'He gave her a kiss.' Verb. To press one's lips to another's. Example; 'She loved to kiss him.' Other forms; kissed, kissing, kisser, kisses." I was intrigued.
"Show image results," I said. The computer quickly showed images of what a kiss was. I was stunned by what I saw. It was image after image of humans with their lips together. Their eyes were closed in most of the images and the males in the images tended to be holding the females by their hips, whilst the females had their arms around the males' necks. But the thing that caught my attention the most was that in some of the images the participants of the kiss were partially disrobed. I blinked a few times as I admired the images. Then I started to feel odd. "Computer," I said quickly. "Shut down." It did as I asked and I lay back on the bed. My mind was running wild. I couldn't help but imagine what a kiss would feel like. I closed my eyes as I thought. Hunter had said he wanted to kiss me but he was scared as to how I'd react. How would I react to a kiss? Would I enjoy it? Or better yet, would he enjoy it? What if I was no good at kissing? All these thoughts rushed through my mind as I lay there. I needed to at least try it. Try a kiss. Just to see what it felt like. My curiosity would never stop eating away at me until I did. I was determined to kiss Hunter. But I also wanted to do it right. "Little friend," I said. "Run a search on 'how to kiss.'"
"Right away," he said. I spend most of the night researching everything I could about kissing and dating. By about nine o'clock I had learned all that I could. I yawned, tired from all of today's activities. I stood from my bed and removed my armor so I was in my under clothes. A simple set of dark purple undergarments or as humans called them, a bra and panties. I crawled back into bed and pulled the covers over me.
"Goodnight, little friend," I said with a yawn.
"Goodnight Guardian," he said, turning off the ship's lights. I slowly fell asleep, thinking about what Hunter and I would do tomorrow.
