"Hmmmm… So that's what happened." Trender Man was wrapping Eli's ankle with bandages and listening to her recount what had happened when his brother had allegedly kidnapped her. They had gotten her cleaned up (With him outside that bathroom this time.) and in fresh clothes.
"Y-Yes, I must have offended him horribly if he reacted the way he did." Eli looked down ashamed a deep blush coating her pale cheeks. She had acted impulsively hugging him and giving him a kiss. She never acted that way. It was as if all reason had left her in that moment! She had just been so happy to be alive, it was like she had no control whatsoever over her body. What was wrong with her!? Though he had indeed treated her badly before and in truth some well-deserved payback was long overdue. Slender man had undeniably saved her from what would have been quite a gruesome death…
"Well I wouldn't say that exactly I believe that you may have shocked him more than anything else's." Trender man hid a smile as he looked down at Eli's ankle which was neatly wrapped due to his amazing skills.
"S-Shocked him enough to make him run away?" Eli couldn't help but think that Slender man had over reacted a bit. He had never really been to gentle with her. But to just save her one moment and scoop her into his arms only to throw her (Quite hard might she add, she had felt like a baseball that was dthrown by a pro athlete!) the next, was just over kill.
"Well yes I suppose your actions would indeed have made him retreat in the manner he did. However, I can't really blame him any male Slender would have been taken aback by such an abrupt proposal with no real hints or buildup to speak of. Really I would have never pegged you for being such a forward girl. You surprise me Eli!" Trender man leaned back against the wall with a smug aura just oozing off of him. "You see in our culture what you did was a proposition of sorts."
"A-A proposition?" Eli was lost what type of proposition could she have made with just a kiss on the nose?
"Well as you probably know since you did describe how you met our brother Splendor man to me. We have very strong noses. Since we have no facial features (Splendor man being the exception) our nose makes up for it. Think of a dog's nose but a thousand times stronger. It can indeed be overwhelming but we have developed a way to close off this ability if need be; so we are not overpowered by smells around us. If a smell gets too close to our nose that we were not prepared for. That scent is all that we will smell for the next week or so. For our culture if a female kisses a male on the nose it means that she wishes for the male to court her. The fact that he will be smelling her and only her for the next week is to remind him of her proposition. He has one week to respond, long enough for the scent to fade. If he does not respond, then it is considered a sign of rejection." Trender man watched as Eli's face turned almost as white as his pale complexion, her blush disappearing as if it had never been there in the first place.
"W-Well that's simple then he just won't respond." Eli felt a lump begin to form in her throat. Clearly it was all just a big misunderstanding, a clashing of cultures. It could easily be fixed by Slender man simply rejecting her. No big fuss and no big deal. Right?
"Eli you must understand my brothers and I are quite old. So old that we have honestly lost track, I know that we were around when Count Dracula (The real one) was alive. We are out of our younger years and only really have a few years left-" Trender man was cut off mid-sentence by Eli.
"A-Are you trying to tell me that your all dying!? W-What about Splendor man! I-Is he dying too!? N-Not that I'm not concerned for you as well. B-But this means that I will never see him again!" Eli was becoming frantic sure she was surprised by how old they were but they idea of Splendor man being in trouble took top priority in her mind.
"What? Heavens no! We still have at least a few thousand years left to our life spans!" Hearing this Eli calmed down, "What I was trying to say was that we are reaching the end of our fertile years. Though I do not remember exactly how old we really are I can feel that we are close." Trender man kept speaking ignoring the uncomfortable look Eli was giving him. "We will soon be unable to reproduce I would say we only have around three hundred more years before our time is up. You see Eli we would have all found a mate sooner but the slender race has thinned out severely."
"A-Are you going extinct?" Eli couldn't help but ask. The idea that the beings before her were slowly dying out like some sort of rare animal species did not sit well with her.
"No, we are not exactly going extinct but we are also not as plentiful as we once were. Slender females are all but gone. The few that are around are snatched up as soon as they are discovered. Slenders mate for life and once one of the mate's die the other usually soon follows. In our race there is no such thing as divorce or separation. Due to these evens breeding out of the species is not unheard of. In fact, it is quite common now a day. How do you think Splendor man ended up with a face? One of our ancestors must have had a mate of a different species for that to show up. If not for outer species breeding, we would have gone extinct a long time ago for sure! Trender man was making dramatic motions with his hands as he said this. He spoke as if he was talking about the weather or about a brand new clothing line that had come out recently.
However, the fact is that no female has ever made a proposition to any of us in our lifetimes. You are the first to do so. Even if you did indeed do it accidently. You still did it, the proposition has been made and as such must be answered." Trender man's demeanor immediately changed into a serious one as he said this.
"B-But Slender man doesn't like me like that! H-He insults me every chance he gets! H-He would never see me as a potential wife!" Eli looked at Trender man with disbelief and a slight hint of fear.
"The term you are looking for is potential mate. Slender man is very old fashioned. A proposition to him holds a lot of weight due to his old values. It would not be the first time that our species has mated with humans I'm sure. Though he may verbally beat you down he has yet to kill you. I do indeed believe that he has a small soft spot for you." Trender man had to bite back a laugh at the look on Eli's face.
"B-But it just wouldn't work…" Eli looked at the ground almost remorsefully.
"Oh? And why may I ask would you say that?" Trender man seemed to be studying Eli. She was sure that if he had eyes they would be intently boring into her. "Is it because we aren't shaped exactly like you humans? Because we don't have faces? Or perhaps because your disgusted by our anatomy?" As he said this Trender man allowed his own tentacles to appear and began to lazily wave one an inch away from Eli's face.
"N-No nothing like that… I-I don't care that you guys are different. I-I find none of you lacking in the physical department (Though perhaps very much lacking in the manners department.) and I don't really mind the tentacles. I-In fact I imagine that they are quite useful. O-On top of that even though you don't have any facial features you are able to convey emotion better than most people I have ever met. S-So that has nothing to do with it." Eli quickly began to look around the room anywhere but that intense stare that she could feel Trender man giving her. (How on earth was he able to do that with no eyes!)
"Hmmmm…. So what appears to be the problem then? Slender man is a strong male. He will be able to take care of you. He has already demonstrated that he can protect you. He is also a very good hunter you will never starve." Trender man's watched as Eli began to squirm.
"W-Well yes I'm sure that he would make a fine mate so some other lucky female. B-But I ummm… W-Well I just uh…" Eli's cheeks began to stain a dark crimson and she began to stumble over her words horribly.
Trender man allowed a smirk to envelop his face showing a row of sharp teeth. "Ah, I see now…" Eli's head shot up and her eyes grew wide. "You love my brother Splendor man don't you?"
Eli quickly looked down at the ground the blush reaching all the way down past the collor of her shirt. Due to the embarrassment she was feeling words were far beyond her mental capability at this point.
Trender man let out a booming laugh, "Wow you truly are something! For us slenders a few years are more like days but for a human that is a really long time to wait for someone! Well I can't just ignore such faithful actions and affections from a female! Hmmm… I have to admit that I was indeed considering it before when I first meet you…. I will allow it!"
Eli was taken aback, "A-Allow what?"
Trender man's smile stretched to the point where it almost seemed to take up his whole face. "I will allow you to become Splendor man's mate. If that is indeed dwhat you chose to do."
"W-What? W-Wait but I don't even know if he would ever even allow me to be considered in that manner! O-On top of that what do you mean by allow it?" Eli barely managed to choke the words out she was so flustered.
"Nonsense of course he would! After all he gave you a physical part of himself." Trender man made a motion to the bell that was around Eli's neck. "As scatter brined as he might be at times, I'm sure that he knew you wouldn't stay a child forever! Who knows maybe he had all of this planned from the start! I am the eldest brother. So as our culture dictates I decide if a female is a worthy mate or not. Of course my younger brothers are free to go searching for a mate but in the end I have the final say. You have already taken the first step after all. The kiss you gave Slender man has already set the courting process into motion." Trender man watched as Eli seemed to shrink into herself right before his eyes.
"B-But that was Slender man I kissed not Splendor man. It doesn't count because I kissed the wrong brother." Eli really wished that she could shrink into the wall behind her.
"Ah yes! I forget that you humans do a one on one mating system (Most of the time anyway). You see in our species we practice a form of polygamy marriage." Trender man had to admit he was enjoying getting a rise out of the female before him.
"P-Polygamy marriage!?" Eli was at this point frozen in a mix of horror and shock. Sure there were some humans that practiced polygamy. But she had never thought herself to ever be a part of such a marriage. Eli tried to picture sharing Splendor man with another woman. A woman who would kiss and hold him in her arms. A woman who would have his children. She would be beautiful of course Splendor man's wonderful personality would insure of that. The thought of it made Eli's eyes grow moist with unshed tears. She felt a lump the size of her fist get stuck in her throat and her heart grew heavy. She could never do it. She could never share him with another woman and because of that she would lose him….
"Well yes you see we Slender's possess the ability of telepathy. This allows us to send messages and our thoughts to others as we please. We learn how to use this ability at a young age and are able to turn it on and off at will. However, siblings who were all born from the same clutch have a special mental bond. One that they cannot turn off no matter how hard they try. This only retains to males since more than one female is never born at the same time. Its believed it has something to do with female dominance and territorial instincts. But in truth no one really knows why. Male siblings born form the same clutch can tell if one of us in danger or needs help. If we are close enough to each other we can even force our way into the others mind and physically see what they are seeing. The same can be done with each other's memories. (This is a last resort and is considered rather rude so it really is not done often only in true emergency's.) We also experience what the other is doing physically and emotionally at all times. This is one of the things that cannot be turned off no matter how hard we try. It can be slightly muddled if we really put our minds to it but we will still feel it. For example, I know that Splendor man has just given a balloon away to a child. I also know that Slender man is sitting on some sort of tree branch watching the sunset." Trender man was doing his best to explain this all to Eli. He knew that it would be a hard concept for a human to grasp.
"You are communicating with them!?" Eli really didn't know how to react to the information she had just been given.
"Well no not exactly or rather at least not with words. For instance, with Splendor man, I can feel the string in my right hand it is light and every now and then I feel a gentle tug on it from the direction of the sky. Clearly this must be a balloon of some sort. I feel a deep happiness and I feel a small hand of a child brush mine as it takes the string." Trender man looked down at his right hand flexing it slowly. "With Slender man, I feel the rough texture of bark against my legs as they swing in the air. I also feel the warm sunlight on my face though his emotions are not nearly as calm as Splendor man's. I'm feeling this while it is muddled. We are all trying to block each other out at once and yet we still feel so much of what the other is doing." Trender man stopped flexing his hand and went back to giving Eli an intense stare. "You see Eli, because of this shared mental link it is impossible for us to have different mates. Each time we have intercourse we would all feel it even if we were at the other ends of the earth. Our emotions would be shared as well. So even if only one of us loved that mate the feelings of love would be forced on the other two unwillingly. Its best to agree on one mate and build a relationship together. Than attempt to each get different mates and battle each other's physical and mental responses and emotions. Some Slender males have actually been known to go mad trying to do that."
"…" Eli knew that Trender man was expecting some sort of reaction from her. But she really had no real way to respond to this. What was she supposed to do or say in this situation? After a few minutes of silence passed Eli's voice broke the hush. "S-So if I wanted to be with Splendor man…."
"You would have to accept Slender man and myself as well." Trender man filled in the silence after it became apparent Eli could not bring herself to speak the rest of her thoughts.
"B-But what about the process of ageing? You clearly age much slower than humans. I would die long before all of you. O-On top of that you told me Slenders mate for life and that if one mate dies the other would follow. I-I couldn't do that to all of you…." Eli was looking at the ground her heart breaking a little inside of her chest. She had always known that she admired Splendor man. She wore his bell everywhere she went. She had never truly allowed herself to entertain the thought that she could be with him some day. However, a small deep part of herself wanted nothing more than to be with him forever. And now that she knew it could have been a true possibility if not for her being human… Well it ripped her heart in two.
"Hmmmm? Oh that? Don't worry about that. If you became our mate your life span would grow to match ours. Your ageing process would slow down to our speed as well. That is really not an issue at all." Trender man watched as Eli's head shot up a small glint of hope in her eyes.
"B-But I'm not special… I-I'm just a plain girl…" Eli bit back the hope she felt, there was no way that someone so special as the slenders really wanted her.
"Eli I would not have extended the invitation to you if I had found you lacking in any way. You are beautiful, kind, and faithful. True I have barely even had time to get to know you, but even a blind man from fifty yards away could see all of that. Those are only three traits I have named and already they make you amazing. I would love to get to know you better so that I could list all the traits that make you the remarkable female that you are for the rest of our lives. If you were to allow me of course that is." Trender man had grabbed Eli's hand in his much larger one and began to gently run his thumb across the back of her palm.
Eli blushed at the contact and was shocked by his words. She studied his face and despite his lacking features she knew that he was being honest and serious. "I-I have never really had a true chance to date before so I really don't know how it works. B-But if you are sure that you want to… I-I will give this courting of yours a try."