Edwin P.O.V:
It has been two days since my jog with Jasiri, and I felt that I have learned a new side of her. I have never seen her cry before, and it really made me curious that if she went through that bad of an experience during the drought while living in the Outlands, I wonder how that exactly compared to the Pride Lander's experience in the drought. While I was working in the genetics lab today, I was still thinking about her so frequently that I almost spilled agarose powder on my hand. I was initially going to ask Jasiri out during our jog, but after accidentally triggering those memories for her, it might be best that I wait a few days before trying to ask her out again.
So, I placed some finished placing some agarose filled petri dishes in the incubator and I left the rest of my colleagues and started heading downstairs towards the cafe.
"So how have your weekends been?" I asked my colleagues.
"Oh nothing special, just relaxed and practically did the same stuff I do almost every weekend." Vuruga replied.
"Yeah, same here." Bupu replied after her.
"Me too." Pete replies.
"Same, how about you Edwin, did anything interesting this weekend? Oh wait, didn't you go for a jog with Jasiri?"
"Oh yeah and we tried out this ice cream parlor she recommended, totally worth it if you guys ever have the opportunity. So yeah, and then I said how I have not really had ice cream that good since my grandmother's wake and then she asked me to tell her a little more about my grandparents and I recalled one story about my grandmother which I now deeply regret." I said as we were walking down the stairs to the lower level.
"Wait, why would you regret that story?" Pete asked.
"Because I told her a story involving how my grandmother was once an active woman, but I also told of how things have changed before she died of breast cancer… and then she said that the story of my grandmother's death was similar to the deaths of several loved ones in the clan she once led in the Outlands, and then she began to tell the story of how her mate, niece, nephew, sister and almost everyone she knew in the Outlands have died. She started to cry a little bit so I tried to comfort her a little bit, I apologized to her several times and things seemed to cool down. Oh and we follow each other on Instagram now… but that's beside the point. The point is that I still feel a little guilty about it and-" I continued before Makini interrupted me.
"Oh Edwin, it's okay, I know you didn't mean to do that and yeah, Jasiri and I actually talked yesterday and she doesn't hold anything against you, many of our therapists actually recommended the same thing as Jasiri's to talk about our experience as a way to let those memories go. Just next time, be more careful about approaching the subject of death." Makini said in a more calming tone as we approached a table in the cafe.
"Yeah, even when it was over twenty years ago, there are sometimes things we are still haunted by, so if you do reach a trigger with us, we'll let you know." Vuruga said.
"Don't feel bad Edwin, I also learned that the hard way." Pete replies. As he finished that, we started to hear footsteps approaching us, and as we turned around, we just see Beshte approaching our table.
"Hey guys, how's it going?" He asked as he sat down.
"Oh nothing much, I was just telling them about my jog with Jasiri. We both told each other a little about our pasts. For example, she told me about the Prime Minister thing, and did you ever met this mate she had in the Outlands?" I said and there were some more serious expressions on my colleagues' faces, well except for Pete, who seems to have a more inquisitive expression.
"Oh yeah, Janja, yeah he once used to cause so much trouble, but then he began to change for the better before he was killed. That's probably a topic you want to avoid bringing up again." Beshte said, sounding a little more stern towards the end.
"Okay, I've taken note of that. I'm sorry if this is an inappropriate question, but in your opinion, how does dating or relationships differ from the human world to back in the Pride Lands?" I asked. This caused the former Pride Landers to look at each other and Bupu started to snicker a little bit.
"Honestly, we were surprised how complicated human dating is because back in the Pride Lands we just mated with someone from our herd or whatever, while in the human world you could meet absolute strangers through bars, apps, mutual friends and so on, which could only last one night in some cases. Sometimes I'm still shocked how complicated dating is in the human world." Bupu replies.
"I know right? I tried Tinder a few times, I'm still perplexed by the idea of trying to find a match through swiping pictures of total strangers." Beshte said.
"Oh yeah, and I remember being stood up on three occasions by people I met online." Makini said with a hint of irritation in her voice.
"Oh yeah, that's annoying, try having several of your dates runaway within seconds of your transformation, leaving you alone at a table with two meals by yourself. Oh and there was one instance where a guy I met seemed a little too interested in my buffalo form, but in a creepy way, so I basically snuck out of a bathroom window to get away from him. Chipped the tip of one of my horns in the process." Vuruga said.
"Yeah, I totally understand where you guys are coming from, I can't count how many times I've been friend-zoned by women I was interested in. But the most embarrassing dating memory for me would probably be the time where I accidentally spilled a glass water on my ex-girlfriend's mother." I replied, getting a few laughs from the group.
"Oh Edwin, that is nothing compared to my most embarrassing memory. So you see, I was in high school and Usher was pretty big during the time so I decided to impress my girlfriend at the time by trying to learn some of his moves. So yeah, that ended up being a total disaster and I accidentally bumped into a teacher, making them accidentally spill a cup of hot coffee on my girlfriend. It ended with me getting one day of detention for bumping into the teacher, and I earned the nickname 'Sloppy Legs' for the next three years of high school." Pete said, which produced light laughter from us.
"Okay, I admit that's pretty bad, but a large chunk of us did stuff we regret in high school." I replied.
"For those of us who took the GED, we might have not went to high school, but there were things we regretted both when we first lived with humans and when we still lived in the Pride Lands." Vuruga added.
"Oh no, it's not over. Two weeks after my dance number, my girlfriend dumped me for the quarterback of our school's football team, who was also my brother, and they are married now, so family reunions are quite awkward." Pete said in a slightly embarrassed tone.
"Oh, that's tough to hear, Pete" Makini replies.
"Yeah, it doesn't really bother me anymore, I've told the story nearly a thousand times so I'm now immune to people calling me 'Sloppy Legs'' Pete replies.
"Edwin, you know the drill, you hold our bags for us while we get our lunch." Bupu said as the eventually left many of their bags near my seat. As most of them left the table, I noticed that Beshte didn't leave the table.
"Hey Beshte, are you not buying lunch today?" I asked. He then placed a paper bag on the table.
"Oh no, like you I brought some food from home, I'm trying to save up for a new place closer to the museum." Beshte replied
"Okay, that's cool. So other than that, how are things going for you today?" I asked.
"Everything's going alright, I had to deal with only two lost kids today so far and on desk duty, Kion has only yelled at only three people today so that is a calming start compared to most days." Beshte replied. A question popped into my mind.
"Okay, that's cool. I'm not trying to judge but what is up with that Kion guy, because he seems to be tempermental a lot in some cases. Did he go through stuff or is his position stressful?" I asked. Beshte's face changed into a more serious expression.
"Yes, working security could be stressful once in a while, but I have no idea what is up with Kion. Back in the Pride Lands and Tree of Life, he used to be such a caring, level-headed and considerate friend and sure, he might have suffered through anger spills during our first journey to the Tree of Life, but he got over that. He was recovering well from those initial anger spills, but since the coup, drought and transformation, he started to become heavily insecure. It just got worse after being dismissed from the army and Rani divorcing him. After those two events, he took out his anger on everyone, even me on a couple of occasions, which also occurred in several failed relationships of his, but I would rather not talk about those details." Beshte said.
"Dude, it sounds like that Kion has some kind of anger problem, have you ever thought about suggesting him attending anger measurement sessions?" I asked being concerned about the situation.
"Oh yeah, we have tried suggesting to him several times, but he has rejected all those attempts. Even though I think he did receive a wake up a little bit of a wake up call several years ago when he- actually I would rather not talk about it but I think there is still a chance for Kion...I hope." Beshte said. With another question in my mind, I was hoping to move on past the awkward subject.
"Hey Beshte, moving on past this subject, I have a question to ask you and don't worry, it's not about Kion this time." I said. As I finished speaking, I saw Beshte's expression perk up a little bit.
"Sure Edwin, what is it?" Beshte said with slightly more enthusiasm than a few minutes ago. I took a deep breath before I finally spoke.
"So, do you know if Jasiri from the fossil department is single? It's because I want to ask her out but I'm not sure what the right time would be for that because I know today would not be a good time because we just discussed he dead mate two days ago. When do you think would be the right time?" I asked him. As I mentioned liking Jasiri, I saw Beshte raise his eyebrows with a slightly surprised expression on his face.
"Wow, I had no idea you were interested in Jasiri. Well, to be honest, I have no idea how she is with dating now. Of course I know about Janja, and she might have told me about a two or three guys she briefly dated in Milwaukee and then there was one ex that she really doesn't want to talk about. I know she wanted to focus more on her career after that ex, but I'm not sure how she is with dating now, we don't encounter each other that much outside of our lunch breaks. You could always give it a try but I'm not sure how she will respond." Beshte replied
"Okay, I understand but thanks for the input, so I will not mention anything about exes to her." I said, while Beshte begins to reply, I start to hear footsteps from behind us.
"That's probably a good start but who knows, she might react to it differently or-" Beshte said.
"Who might react differently to what?" a familiar voice interrupted. We turned around to see it was Jasiri and Makuu standing right near us. We were a little nervous because we didn't know how much she had heard, so I just started to act casual.
"Oh hey guys… when did you get here?" I said, trying not to seem suspicious.
"Literally two seconds ago, right when you guys were saying someone might react to something differently, I'm just curious on what you guys were talking about." Jasiri asked in an inquisitive tone. We were just trying to make an excuse out of the blue because again, this is not a good time to ask Jasiri out.
"Oh yeah… you see uh… Beshte talked to me about how he is throwing this… surprise party for this friend of his… uh… Tess from accounting…" I said and Beshte seems to be following up on it and decides to add to the excuse.
"Yeah, and I was just telling Edwin that… I'm not sure how Tess is going to react to the surprise party because... she gets scared easily." Beshte said, after which we both flashed some awkward smiles.
"Okaay...perhaps you could ask Kiara for some input since she works close with that department." Jasiri said in a slightly suspicious tone as both her and Makuu sat at our table.
Eventually the rest of my colleagues returned with their trays and sat down at the table, and shockingly Makuu had something to initiate a conversation.
"Oh and speaking of Kiara and her family, I heard that there is trouble in paradise for her parents' marriage." Makuu said with a hint of enthusiasm in his voice.
I was a little intrigued because they seemed put together when I met them, but from first-hand experience I understand that all marriages can have their issues sometimes. Even with that in my, I was a little intrigued that many of the people have expressions of surprise on their face.
"Really? They seemed so perfect all of the time, it's hard to imagine that anything was wrong with them." Makini said
"I know, they seemed to always be madly in love with each other in public so I assumed there were no issues." Beshte aid.
"Yeah same here, they just seemed to be in this bubble where everything seems perfect?" Vuruga said. After she finished, Jasiri then turned her head towards me.
"Hey Edwin, I'm just curious, how did your parents act around other people regarding their marriage?" Jasiri asked. I was a little surprised, even when part of me knew that it was coming.
"Well, before my parents divorced, they acted in a similar way to how you described Simba and Nala, acting seemingly a little too put together and portraying the facade of a perfect married couple when they actually hide all of their issues at home, and no one except for people living in the house know about them. Even when I understand that many married couples can have one or two issues and still be happy together, normal couples are usually willing to discuss their issues with either friends, counselors or each other in a rational way, but if a couple refuses to talk about their issues to people outside of their home, that is when I would get suspicious. Although, since I have only seen Simba and Nala only once, I really have no second set of notes to compare with my parents' sunken ship of a marriage." I replied.
"Okay, so I guess we have to just look closer at the signs to catch on to these issues, oh and by the way Makuu, where did you hear about Simba and Nala potentially having marital problems?" Bupu asked.
"Oh Rafiki told me when we bumped into each other to get coffee, and Rafiki heard it from Zazu, who allegedly heard the two arguing when he passed by Simba's office door." Makuu said.
"Wait? It started with Zazu? Great, now the whole museum will know including visitors and tourists. Since you're new here Edwin, we should tell you that Zazu is the biggest blabbermouth in the museum, so don't ever try to keep a secret with him." Vuruga said.
"Okay, noted" I said. Then at some point Makini turned towards me.
"Hey Edwin, I'm curious how are your parents doing since they divorced?" She asked me.
"Even when they divorced eight years ago, they each seem to be doing well, though they haven't really talked to each other since my father married another woman and moved to Florida. My mother still lives in Chicago in my old neighborhood and she's just living her life." I replied.
"Oh so your mother isn't dating any guys at this moment?" Vuruga asked and I actually snickered a little in response.
"Oh wait I forgot to tell you, a year or two after the divorce she came out as lesbian so she is dating no guys at the moment. So far she is still single as I know of, but she is definitely on the search for someone special." I said.
"Okay cool, wait I think Vitani from the tour guide is lesbian so perhaps we could set them-" Makini was about to say before being interrupted.
"Actually, Vitani is bisexual, but we could still give it a shot because I think she is also single." Jasiri said.
"Okay, it depends if Vitani would like to date a sixty year old bank teller named Julia who likes to roller skate and started a backgammon club." I said in a slightly playful tone.
"Okay, noted." Makini said.
After five minutes, we eventually finished our lunches and we were going to head back to our respective work areas. Before we left, though, I pulled Beshte aside and decided to tell him something.
"Hey Beshte, promise not to tell anyone about me trying to ask Jasiri out, and based on what I heard today, especially don't tell that HR receptionist, Zazu." I whispered.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." He replied while giving an assuring expression on his face as we exited the cafe.
A few hours pass by and the rest of my day was mostly just research and the last half hour of my day was just to get started on a paper discussing our research on the impacts of environmental changes to lichen genomes. After finishing those starting touches, I began to gather my things as I finish my workday and before I leave, I decided to check if there is anything in my mail slot next to my office.
As I checked my mail slot, I noticed a thin eggshell-colored envelope, no stamp, and the inscription:
"To Dr. Edwin G. Mariani PhD., Pritzker Genetics Lab"
I took the envelope and opened it from the back and I found a slip of paper which read:
To whom it may concern,
You are invited to take part in the first meeting of Field Museum Faculty's Human-Hybrid Alliance. This organization is intended to improve communication and relations between former Pride Lander/ Tree of Life Residents and human coworkers to potentially deal with any biases or misconceptions from either side. This first meeting will be held on the museum's lower level lecture hall at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, July 30. Since it will also be the 21rst anniversary of the hybrids' official transformation,before the official meeting there will be a short memorial for those who have died in the Tree of Life coup, and the droughts of the Outlands and Pride Lands. For the memorial, there will be a shrine outside of the lecture room, at which anyone is welcome to leave any cards or flowers to pay respects to the lives of the deceased. At the beginning o the meaning, there will be a two minute moment of silence to commemorate the twenty first anniversary. After the moment of silence, there will be a brief introduction on what this alliance will do to try to benefit all museum faculties and employees. Throughout the rest of the meeting everyone will be picked randomly to discuss either their experiences, hopes or questions about the hybrid or human experience and what could members of each type do to help make the lives of those of the other side somewhat easier, so we can communicate with each other in an efficient manner. For future meetings we plan to meet every other Friday since Tuesdays could be inconvenient for some workers. Please confirm your attendance through filling out the RSVP in the link below and if you have any further questions, please email me through the address below. Hope to see you there so we can communicate with each other.
Sincerely yours,
Your friend,
Rafiki Mwongozo
Human Resources
I eventually looked to see the link and e-mail address the letter mentioned. The alliance mentioned in the letter sounds interesting and perhaps I could attend a meeting just to see what it would be about.
I eventually just placed the envelope in my bag and left my office and lab for the day. After getting to the Red Line stop, I continued to think about when would be the right time to ask Jasiri out, but I can't figure out when...that is until I saw a woman with a familiar haircut on the subway platform. Perhaps this was the right time to ask her out? I started to feel a little nervous as I approached them. I eventually decided to try to get them to notice me.
"Hey Jasiri, how's it go-" I was about to say as they turned around...and it turns out that it's not Jasiri, it's just some random woman with a similar haircut.
"Oh, I'm so sorry miss, I thought you were someone else." I said, but the woman just walked away towards the train heading southbound towards 95th and Dan Ryan. Within two minutes, my train arrived and I resumed to get into the train.
Third Person P.O.V
As Jasiri walks down the steps towards the Roosevelt Red Line platform and saw Edwin getting in the northbound train towards Howard, but the doors closed before she even got down the steps. She continued to look at the train as it left the platform, but when looking at that train, there was a hint of uncertainty in her face, reflecting upon an inner conflict that has been going on in her mind for a while. After briefly staring at the tunnel, she just went to the platform to wait for the next train to come.
Edwin P.O.V:
As I got home to my apartment, I decided to go onto my laptop and type up the link from the envelope.
I finished typing the link when I received a text message, I looked to see that it was from Makini.
Hey Edwin, did you by any chance receive some letter about some Human-Hybrid Alliance Rafiki is planning because I received one this afternoon?
In my mind, I was relieved to see Makini received an envelope too, ensuring that this was not some kind of scam or something. I just replied back.
Hey Makini, yes I received that same envelope, I'm think I'm going to attend just to see what the meeting or organization would be all about
After I replied to the text, I finished going to the link and I just filled out the online RSVP for the meeting to notify that I will be attending it. As soon I finished the RSVP form, I just relaxed on my couch for a while, reflecting on my day, my life, whether or not Jasiri will say yes if I ask her out, and also… were my colleagues actually serious about trying to set the tour guide with my mom, well, I'll just have to see to find out.