My name is Jask, and I...have a boyfriend!
It still feels strange to think that. Had you asked me a week ago if I thought I would ever, EVER have one, I would've never said yes. For a whole multitude of reasons.
And yet, here I am.
It's so sureal, waking up after that magical night to the feeling of an arm draped over me. I turn my head and find myself face to face with Ninebrels, still fast asleep. A smile comes across my face as I watch him.
He's so beautiful asleep. Who am I kidding, he's beautiful awake too. But for now, I'm content to just listen to his quiet snoring, see the rise and fall of his chest, feel his gentle breaths flowing across me.
There's still a lot of stuff I need to figure out. First and foremost, what the hell am I going to do about the rest of the Hive? But that's something I'll worry about later. It's far too early and far too nice a place to be for me to work myself into a mess wondering about that.
After about five minutes, Ninebrel's eyes slowly open up. I smile and watch until they focus on me.
"Morning." I whisper.
"Morning." Ninebrels whispers back. Rolling over, his arm leaves me, and I immediately miss it. Scooting closer, I lay my head against his chest, Ninebrels laughing as his arm curls around my shoulders to hold my arm. "You know, afterglow looks good on you."
I twist my head around to face him and his lips meet mine, soft and gentle and only there for a moment before he pulls back to look at my blissful smile.
"You're one to talk." I tell him. His hand shifts mostly off my arm, just the fingertips left, tracing a line up and down it, making me shiver.
"Do you feel safe?" he asks quietly.
"Like you wouldn't believe." I nod, pressing myself more firmly against him. "I don't know what it is about you, Brels...but you make me feel safer than I've ever imagined."
"I'm glad." His head shifts to press a kiss to the back of my head. "Cuz you make me feel more alive than...well, then I ever have."
"Yeah?" I ask, my eyes slipping shut.
"Mmhmm." Ninebrels nods. "Life was so boring here. Peaceful, but...boring. Then I stumbled across you and..." He laughs. I'm quietly smiling at that when he speaks again. "Can I confess something to you?"
"What's that?" I ask curiously.
"When I saw you in that tree, watching the village?" he tells me quietly. "My very first thought was...'Whoa...'" I stifle a laugh as he goes on. "You were crouched up there, so exotic and...and mysterious, and just...I don't think I've ever seen such a beautiful sight." I look up at him.
"You know what my first thought was when I saw you?" I ask. Ninebrels nods in interest. "It was...'Oh god, is this guy gonna kill me?'" Ninebrels struggles to keep from laughing at that. I can feel the vibration in his chest as he forces it down. "You did cut me straight out of that tree."
"That I did." Ninbrels admits.
"But, once I got past that..." I roll over so that I'm looking at him directly. "Then it started to sink into me, that I'd just met the sexiest specimen this race would ever produce."
"Oooh. Spicy." Ninebrels grins as I push forward to kiss him, laying my check against his neck afterwards, his arms fully wrapping around me and holding me tight. "I'm glad I cut you out of that tree."
"Me too." I whisper, settling in to just relax in my new lover's arms.
It's been several of the best days of my life, but now, something has come up. A challenge unforeseen, one that could prove tougher than any I've had to face. I draw my blade, raising it up and positioning it carefully.
"Careful now..." Ninebrels says from behind me.
"I am being careful." I hiss back, trying to focus on what I'm doing.
"Remember, even cuts." he goes on.
"You're making me nervous!" I protest.
"And whatever you do, don't make it explode again." Ninebrels says with every hint of amusement.
"It was one time!" I complain.
"I don't even know how you did that." Ninebrels muses.
"I'm never gonna live it down, am I?" I mutter.
"This is just a fruit." he points out.
"Brels!" I turn my head and look at him pleadingly. In front of me on the kitchen counter sits one of the same fruits we enjoyed my first night here. I am attempting to replicate the recipe, with his guidance to help me along. So far the restults have been...less than ideal. "Can you please back up and give me some space?" I request. Ninebrels laughs to himself as he moves back out of my sight.
Turning back to face the board, I inhale deeply as I raise my blade, ready to slice down into the juicy piece of fruit. Before I can, I feel a presence hovering over my other shoulder, far too close.
"Brels, I swear..." I growl. "I'm gonna smack you so hard..."
"Promises, promises..." Ninebrels whispers into my ear. I whirl around and he quickly backsteps, raising his hands. "Okay, I get it." He grins. "Giving you space, gotcha."
I slowly turn back to the task at hand, making sure that Ninebrels isn't going to try anything further. Taking a deep breath, I position my sword and go to make the first cut.
My blade bites into the fruit, slicing cleanly down through until the first piece slides free. Moving over, I attempt to slice down an equally thick slice next to it, repeating this down the fruit until the entire thing has been sliced. Sighing, I step back and Ninebrels walks closer to examine it.
"Well?" I asked hopefully.
"Not...bad." he nods. "A little uneven, but not too much." He looks back and smiles. "Nice work."
"Thank you." I sigh in relief. "Finally."
"We'll cook those in a moment." Ninebrels slides them down the counter out of the way. "For now..." He locates a bowl and sets it on the counter, holding up one of the red tubular plants he got the sauce from before.
I quickly stick my swords in the sink as I take it from him, examining it closely.
"Just get a firm grip on the bottom." Ninebrels tells me. "Then hold it over the bowl, this end down, and squeeze, moving your hand down as you go."
"Okay..." I step forward and hold the plant over the bowl, placing my hand on it. Ninebrels watches from a few steps back as I squeezing, slowly bringing my hand down the stalk in one fluid motion. I meet Ninebrels' eyes and he smirks. "Something funny?"
"Oh, nothing." Ninebrels shakes his head, his eyes lighting up. "But it figures that would be the part you're really good at." I'm confused at what he means for a moment until I realize what motion I just made, a furious blush coming across my face.
"Can you think of anything else?" I say indignantly, tossing the empty tube aside.
"Tough, when you're around." he tells me, walking past and running his hand across my back as he retrieves several jars of spices along with specially marked cups. "Here." He holds the latter out towards me.
"I don't remember you using these." I say in confusion as I take them.
"I've been making this stuff for years." Ninebrels tells me. "I know how to estimate the right amount of spices by hand. Until you can say the same, you measure with those." He leans against the counter and slides the jars down towards me. "Otherwise our lunch is gonna end up either too bland, or way, way too spicy."
I try to remember the amounts of each that he told me, with him chiming in whenever it's clear I've forgotten. As I work through it, my mind drifts off to the Hive.
There's no working around it, things aren't going to go well when they find out about Ninebrels. Even aside from the whole dating another guy thing, they'll hate me for dating another race, one that I was supposed to help conquer. They discover this, I'm a dead man walking.
Soon, the right measurements are gathered and I pour them into the sauce, stirring it together. Ninebrels takes a spoon and dips a small portion out, tasting it and closing his eyes in satisfaction.
"Fantastic." Ninebrels takes that and carries it to the table as I find one of the white spherical mushrooms that he previously shredded and wash it off. Ninebrels extends a hand with the grater in it and I take it, my mind still bouncing elsewhere.
On the flipside of the equation, I really need to tell Ninebrels about what I was really doing here. That I'm no researcher, but actually a spy, an infiltrator, a conqueror. The thought of coming clean, necessary as it is, fills me with an intense feeling of dread. How is Ninebrels going to respond to that? What if he hates me? Could I even blame him if he did? Not really.
"Jask..." Ninebrels' hand grips my wrist, drawing my attention back to him. "Not so aggressive. You're trying to grate it, not rip it to chunks."
"Right..." I nod numbly, realizing that I was going furious with the grater. "Sorry."
"It's okay. Just try again." Ninebrels says gently. "Remember, clean, even sweeps." I move to start grating again and Ninebrels manuvers himself behind me, wrapping his arms around my midsection and resting his head on my shoulder.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
"Calming you, wild thing." he whispers teasingly. "Now, like I said. Go on."
I slowly nod, beginning the task of grating the mushroom again. My mind can't seem to go anywhere but to Ninebrels's embrace, the feel of his chest against my back, the sound of him whispering supportive praise in my ears.
"That's the way..." Ninebrels tells me, the bowl before me filling up with shredded mushroom. "See, you're doing perfect."
Before I know it, the task is complete. I set the grater aside, but Ninebrels doesn't let go, his head shifting to kiss my cheek.
"Now that wasn't so hard." he tells me. "Got those bad thoughts out?"
"How did...?" I start to ask.
"You looked like you were trying to rip somebody's face off." he chuckles. "Don't you worry none."
"How can I not?" I ask. "When the Hive finds out about us..."
"The Hive can go shove it." Ninebrels growls, his grip on me tightening. "Nobody's taking you away from me now that I've got you here."
"Wish I could just shrug if off that easy." I murmur.
"Hey, don't worry about it." Ninebrels lets go just long enough to spin me around and push me back until I'm practically sitting on the counter, from where he can better look me in the eyes. "I promise you, we will figure it out, together."
He holds my gaze, keeping my eyes locked on his own dark pools. They hold the same gentleness I've come to associate with him looking at me, but beneath it all, there's something else. A harder, protective layer, as if daring anybody to try and hurt me with him around. Slowly, his stare draws a nod out of me.
"Alright." I tell him. "No more of those thoughts today." He smiles. "But!" I quickly stop him before he can go on. "It is something we need to deal with soon."
"And we will." he promises me. "But for now..." He reaches down the counter and pulls the sliced fruit back. "You need to heat these up. I'll set the table."
As Ninebrels goes to locate dishes and utensils, I carry the fruit to the stove and sit its tray over the fire, tossing several pieces of wood in. Thinking how long Ninebrels had told me to let it cook, I time it in my head as I turn and watch him work.
He goes through the cupboards and arranges plates, forks, and cups at our spots of the table before retrieving a pitcher of water. Once he's done that, he digs out a small bag of round, pinkish vegetables. A type of root vegetable, I believe. We had some once a couple days back. They have a rich, deeply savory flavor to them.
As Ninebrels washes two of them off in the sink, I'm struck with that thought that I could've had this sort of thing years ago, if it wasn't for the Hive's brutal mentalities towards my type. The thought of all the years of my life I've wasted alone is deeply depressing, so I try to push it away and focus on a silver lining. All of it led me here, to this moment and this wonderful partner.
Ninebrels finishes cleaning the bulbous roots and places them on the table. There's a smile on his face as he looks up at me, but it fades in a moment.
"Jask." He points past me and I slowly turn in confusion, discovering the fruit slices smoking and just starting to blacken.
"Damn it all!" I grab for the tray, promptly burning my hand and pulling back with a hiss of pain. Grabbing a protective glove, I snatch it out, looking at the overcooked fruit in abject disappointment. "I don't get it...I was timing it, and it wasn't..."
Ninebrels walks straight past me, crouching and looking into the stove.
"Too big a fire." he tells me. "Cooked it too fast." He stands and looks back at my fallen expression, a smile returning to his face. "Oh, I'm sure it's not...THAT bad." His eyes flick down to the fruit as if he knows exactly what it's gonna be like. "C'mon." He grabs my shoulder and makes me walk to the table, pushing me into a seat as I set the tray down in the table's center.
I tip out some of the sauce and spread it across the fruit slices, pulling one onto my plate with a fork as Nineebrels does the same. I look up at him nervously as he tries to cut a slice off, finding it a struggle.
After a several moments of frustration, he gives up and extends one of his blades, using it to slice the fruit apart. Looking over to me, he extends it further and slices mine apart too.
"Thanks." I mutter. Ninebrels sticks a fork into one of his pieces, raising it up and pausing, clearly waiting for me to do the same. I reluctantly comply, forcing my fork to stab into a piece and lifting it.
"Here we go." Ninebrels smiles, both of us raising our respective bites and placing them in our mouthes.
The first thing that hits me is a how overly chewy it is. This fruit done right is supposed to be tender, practically melt in your mouth. This version, I find myself having to apply genuine effort to bite through a piece.
And then the flavor comes. There is next to no sweetness in this thing; all of it has been cooked straight out of it. What's left is the paste's flavor, and without that sweetness to balance it...
"Oh god..." I pant heavily, my mouth feeling like it's burning. "What the...?" I grab my glass of water.
"No, don't...!" Ninebrels tries to call a warning, but it's too late. The fiery aftereffect is already spreading throughout my mouth, making me pant in desperation and hunt for something that can cool me down. Jask laughs to himself as he pushes the vegetable he cleaned at me, having already taken a bite of one himself. "Try this."
I swiftly snatch and bite into it, chewing eagerly. As I do, the heat begins to fade and I sigh in relief.
"Water just spreads it around." Ninebrels tells me amusedly. "You need something that can absorb it instead."
"Duly noted." I sigh in disappoint. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be." He grins. "I got to witness that, so it's all worth it in the end, ain't it?" I groan and flop my head onto the table.
"I really must stop giving you ammo." I mutter.
"Hey, it's okay." I look up as Ninebrels sticks another piece into his mouth, taking a bite of the root at the same time. "Trust me, I've had FAR worse. We'll try again tomorrow."
I hesitantly take up my fork and spear another piece for myself, taking the root in hand and going for a bite of it immediately after sticking it in my mouth. As Ninebrels said, the root does indeed keep the heat under control. A thought occurs to me.
"You knew this would happen." I narrow my eyes, pointing my remaining root at Ninebrels. "That's why you picked this to have as a side?"
"I SUSPECTED that it might happen." Ninebrels corrects. "I certainly don't expect you to get it right so soon."
"Guess not." I sigh. "Still wish I had done better though."
"Don't worry." He smiles. "You'll get your chance to humiliate me when we spar later." A similar smile creeps onto my face at the thought.
"You shouldn't have suggested that." I warn. "Cuz you're in for it now."
"I'm really sorry." I cringe. "I just didn't expect you to be in that exact spot."
"Jask, you don't have to apologize every time you nick me." Ninebrels laughs, a healing spore emerging from his cap and floating down to his arm to restore the cut that my blades had left. "I'm willingly sparring with you using real blades. That should be expected."
"But you never hit me." I frown. "You're so careful."
"You don't have super healing." Ninebrels laughs. "It would mean more if I cut you, would hurt you considerably more." He steps closer and grins. "And I can't have that." He presses a kiss to my lips quickly. "So try and relax."
"I'll try." I agree. Ninebrels looks himself over to see if there's anything else to heal. "Your species is fascinating, you know that?"
"Really?" Ninebrels looks up at me as I nod.
"Sure. I mean, you got blades in your arms and super-healing spores, but most of you are inherently peaceful." I tell him. "Seems pretty interesting to me."
"Wasn't always that way." Ninebrels shrugs. "At least, according to the history books, there was a time when we were less peaceful and more at each other's throats. Wars spanning the entire planet, stuff like that." A smile forms on his face and he chuckles.
"What?" I ask in confusion.
"Just thinking of an old legend." he tells me. "Of the Fungusians' 'true power', as they called it."
"True power?" I tilt my head. "You hiding tricks you haven't showed me?"
"Not really, no." He shakes his head. "It's just a silly old legend. Supposedly, a Fungusian desperate to save his home village from invaders, evolved to dwarf the others in capability. Me...I'm just standard." He smiles. "Oh, but I CAN do this!" Gripping one of his blades, he grits his teeth and pulls, yanking it free of his arm. Sticking it base-first into his other hand, a healing spore emerges and fuses the two together into a much thicker, more powerful looking blade.
"Where've you been hiding that?" I ask in surprise, leaning closer to look.
"Eh. I prefer two-handed." he shrugs. "That's not unique to me either, by the way. Anyone could do it." Grabbing one side of the combined blade, it glows and splits apart, allowing him to pull one half free and reinsert it into his other hand, a healing spore emerging to reattach it.
"So what is unique?" I ask curiously. "What could this legend do?"
"Well, if you believe the story..." Ninebrels tells me, sounding very much as if he doesn't put much stock in it. "The evolved Fungusian could heal far more extensively. He could generate far more spores, so he could repair bigger wounds much more easily. They even say he could entirely regrow from a single spore if he had to. Or he could use them to increase in size until his head scraped the clouds." He laughs. "Like I said, just a silly old story. Nobody's ever done anything like that." He looks me up and down. "How about you? You got any fantastic abilities you're hiding from me?"
"Not that I'm hiding." I tell him. "I do have one that you haven't seen though." I smile at the look of intrigue that comes across his face. "You wanna?"
"Yes!" Ninebrels tells me. "Obviously!"
Taking a step back, I indicate for him to stay where he is before spreading my arms.
"Prepare to be amazed!" I tell him, closing my eyes. An itching sensation spreads across my body, and I feel it begin to shift. Ninebrels gasps in shock, making me struggle not to laugh as my outer body changes.
I open my eyes and look at my hand, the fingers now much longer. A collection of tails flicks behind me, pawlike feet press to the ground, and I reach up to feel a longer Ninetales-like face under a Breloom cap.
"You can...?" Ninebrels gapes at me.
"We can disguise ourselves as other species." I explain. "Just a surface level shapeshift. It doesn't let us...you know." I hold out my palms. "No blades, for example. No healing spores or anything like that either. Just a really convincing disguise."
"That's still amazing." Ninebrels insists as he circles me. "You look just like one of us..."
"That's the idea." I say, amused at his awe of my ability. Ninebrels moves back around in front me, his eyes lighting up with an idea.
"Hey, what if you stayed in this form?" he asks.
"Like it better?" I grin.
"T...that's...no!" He shakes his head, stumbling over his words. "I mean, it's very nice and all, but..." He groans. "What I MEANT was that if you stay in disguise, the rest of your people might not be able to find you so easily, right?"
"Not so easy, I'm afraid." I say sadly. "We can tell when we're looking another member of the Hive in disguise."
"Oh." he mutters in disapppointment. "So, you can see through it?"
"I wouldn't say that we see through it, really." I tell him. "We still see the disguise. It's more that...we get this instinct. We just kinda know what we're looking at. It's...hard to describe." I smile happily. "Good thought though."
"I tried..." Ninebrels watches me as I let my form mold itself back to normal. "We'll think of something." He falls silent until I'm entirely changed back, and I catch him smirking at me when I look up.
"What?" I ask.
"I really do think I like this form the best." he tells me. "The true you." He steps close enough to wrap his arms around me and pull me into a kiss, but something catches my eye before he can. My head shifts aside, his lips brushing my cheek before he realizes and looks at me in confusion. "What's going on?"
Grinning, I spin him around so he's pointing towards the window. It takes him a moment to notice what I have.
"The storm's stopped!" he calls out in glee once he does. "Come on!" Grabbing my hand, he practically drags me around to the front of the house and out the door.
A layer of damp pinelike needles from the enormous trees around us covers the ground, but fortunately they are very soft and gentle to walk on. And damp; I can already feel my feet being soaked after just a few steps out the door.
Ninebrels laughs and spins in place as he looks up at the rapidly clearing sky. I watch him with an increasingly wide smile before I notice the wooden contraption that I had seen on my way in, toppled onto its side. I walk in that direction, Ninebrels noticing and following me.
"I usually bring this thing in before the storms." he says as he moves to lift it back upright. I quickly move to help him, and together, we are able to return it to its old position. "Guess I got distracted with meeting you."
"What is it?" I ask, still not able to figure out of what use this thing could be.
"A training tool." He tells me. Holding an arm out, he pushes me back until I step out of range, extending one of his blades. "Watch."
Swinging, he strikes one of the wood extensions, sending the ring it's on spinning. Extending his other blade, he quickly does the same to the rings below before striking the extension of the first as it circles around and almost hits him. I watch in awe as he perfectly counterstrikes each of them. Any wrong movement would lead to him getting smacked, but he's moving so quick and aggressively that they're all kept away, even striking blows to the main central shaft of the contraption.
After a few moments, he hops back, landing beside me and out of its range.
"I use that to keep myself sharp, so to speak." he tells me. "Didn't always have you around to train with."
"Clever." I nod. "I see why your style is so offense focused though. You kinda have to constantly press the attack with that."
"Yeah..." Ninebrels agrees after a moment of thought. "I guess you do." He nudges my arm. "Good thing I have you to teach me other ways."
"Heyo!" Both of us turn as a voice rings out. Walking down the path towards Ninebrels' house is another Fungusian. He appears to be older, with streaks of grey running through his fur and his cap being more wrinkled. Despite which, he holds a lot of energy in his walk and a merry twinkle in his eyes as he gets near.
"Dad!" I turn to Ninebrels in surprise as he runs forward and into the new arrival's arms, hugging him tightly. "How you been?"
"Oh, ya know the drill, my boy." his dad says as he releases him. "Waitin out the storm, then comin to check on ya." He chuckles. "Ya didn't forget that I'd be stoppin by, didja?"
"Aheh..." Ninebrels looks down in embarassment. "I might've." Turning, he runs over, grabbing my arm and pulling me forward. "Come on. I want you to meet somebody." His father's eyes examine me as I'm brought closer. "Jask, this is my father."
"Dr. Fungra." he introduces himself. "Happy ta meet ya!"
"And dad..." Ninebrels' hand almost moves from my wrist into my own hand, but he stops himself. "This is Jask. He's..." He looks to me, letting me decide what I want to tell him.
Unfortunately, I don't know myself. From everything Ninebrels has told me, there's no reason to hide from the people of this planet, but old habits hold me back, making me too nervous to speak as I'm brought back to all the years I've spent hiding.
After a moment of awkward hesitation, I glance at Ninebrels to see a sad expression quickly pass across his face before he forces it away, even that brief appearance feeling like it stabbed deeply into me.
"He's a fr..." Ninebrels starts to continue.
"I"m Brels' boyfriend." I make a snap decision that makes my heart freeze up with nerves, Ninebrels' head turning towards me in surprise. I lower my hand to find his own, as much to comfort myself as to show our connection. "Good to meet you too, Dr. Fungra."
Dr. Fungra looks me over in a new context now that he knows, whistling.
"Well well!" He laughs. "Ya sure found an exotic partner, didn'tcha Niney?" He moves to the side, examining me as he circles. "He must be from across the planet!"
"Further." I say quietly.
"Jask isn't from our world." Ninebrels explains. "He's part of the Hive."
"The Hive?" Dr. Fungra scratches his chin as he emerges on our other side. "I think I've hearda them..." My blood practically turns to ice in my veins. "Vaguely, somewhere. Can't remember where tho..." I almost sigh in relief that I'm not about to be immediately outed, quickly beginning to try and piece together where he might have heard of my race. It has to have been from one of those rare visitors from other worlds, maybe from a long time ago, before Ninebrels was even born. "What brings ya to our little corner of the universe?"
"I'm a researcher." I say, the same lie I've been giving Ninebrels. Dr. Fungra seems uncertain about the answer, looking me over one more time, his gaze lingering on my swords. I get the feeling he's less willing to accept that answer than Ninebrels was, but he doesn't say anything yet. "An explorer." I add, starting to feel uncomfortable under his stare.
"That does sound like the kinda person Ninebrels would fall for." Dr. Fungra's smile reappears in an instant, though the worries he's left me with don't leave so easily. "Always did like seein new sights. From the moment he could walk, he was always slippin away from me and wanderin off inta the forest, just ta see what he could find."
"Dad..." Ninebrels groans, his face increasingly embarassed. "Please don't start telling him about every goofy thing I did as a kid."
"Come now, Niney!" Dr. Fungra lets out a booming laugh. "What kinda parent would I be if I didn't?"
"I think I like hearing about tiny Brels's adventures." I say with a grin, Ninebrels closing his eyes in affectionate annoyance. I look back to his dad curiously. "Is his mom still around? Or...other father, maybe?" Dr. Fungra shakes his head.
"Single parent and proud!" he says. Ninebrels leans over closer, whispering to me.
"Remember what I said, about only one of us being needed to make a child?" he says. I nod in confirmation.
"Gotcha." I tell him before looking back to his dad. "That's most impressive, raising a kid all alone like that." And far more than can be said for pretty much everyone in the Hive. Just about every one of them doesn't even raise their kids, just tosses them into a collective Nursery to be raised by the Hive Keepers.
"Why, thanks!" he grins. "I'm mighty proud of it, how well my boy turned out!"
"That's..." Ninebrels starts to object.
"As you should be." I interrupt, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. "He's an absolute treasure."
"ANYWAY..." In spite of Ninebrels' protests, I can tell that he's loving it, his hand gripping mine in approval. "Dad, do you mind waiting inside? There's a few things I wanted to show Jask around town now that the rain's passed."
"Of course!" Dr. Fungra grinned. "I wouldn't want ta keep ya from your date!" He moves past the both of us. "Enjoy yourselves! I'll be waitin when ya get back."
"We'll see you then." Ninebrels tells him. "C'mon, Jask." He pulls me along with him as he begins to walk in the direction of the town.
I look back, finding Dr. Fungra staring at me, his smile gone, his expression somewhat difficult to read. Again, a sense of dread and worry that he might know more than he's let on fills me. I do my best smile anyway and wave goodbye, Dr. Fungra slowly returning the wave a moment later.
"I guess this is our first date, isn't it?" Ninebrels asks. I turn back forward and look at him sideways. His voice has become filled with nervousness.
"Why do you sound like a shy schoolgirl going out with their crush for the first time?" I ask in amusement. "We've literally slept together."
"Yeah, I know that!" Ninebrels manages a laugh. "But I just...you know. It feels...different, actually going on a date." He grips my hand tighter. "Don't worry. I'll make it the best first date you've ever had."
"It's the only first date I've ever had, Brels." I point out, pulling him closer. "And it's already the best."
As Ninebrels leads me into the village and starts debating places to eat, really getting into the prospect of turning this into a full date, my eyes drift to the distance, thinking about the Hive ships that are hidden out there. With the storm over, undoubtedly the rest of the Hive sent out as scouts are returning, bringing news of their own discoveries. As I ponder, one thing becomes very clear to me.
I need to go back there. My absence is going to be noticed if I don't, and that'll just lead more of them here, to this exact place. On top of that, I have to do something to try and curb their conquest attempts on this planet.
My mind is made up. Tomorrow, first thing in the morning...I'm going.