It was like stepping into a different world. The lighting, comfortably low while still bathing everything in a warm glow. The reassuring scent of hundreds of books. The respectful quiet, employees and customers clearly focused on their own studies instead of her.

It had been too long since she'd visited a library.

The aircraft carrier felt a tension in her hull she hadn't noticed dissipating. This happened more often recently, but it was a sensation she experienced the most often here. It wasn't an entirely logical feeling, if she thought about it, but these libraries just seemed safe. Nobody paid her mind as she set a course for a computer, pulling aside a chair and allowing herself into it. The Wo-class relaxed there for a moment, before gathering her thoughts and signing in.

Her research list had grown quite a bit since the last time she'd been here, but some items were much more important than others. Figuring out what calories were would aid her disguise, and the battle with Dustin's modern forces had renewed her interest in researching the enemy's capabilities, but the importance of those things seemed dwarfed by the conversation she'd had with Laura yesterday. The human's knowing smirk still lingered in her thoughts, evidence that there was something very serious that Trinitite wasn't aware of. Selecting the search bar, the Wo-class checked the list of terms an officer had hastily scrawled, skipping to the first one relevant to that conversation.

Adorable

The window that appeared was as helpful as ever, defining the word as 'inspiring great affection; delightful; charming.'

That… actually seemed like a pretty useful word. Her sisters certainly inspired such feelings in Trinitite. Alex did as well, she guessed, but not quite as much, and the definition explicitly mentioned 'great' affection, so maybe it didn't fit? Laura had used 'cute' as a synonym, so she entered that term and hit enter. Instead of a definition, however, Trinitite's rangefinders were confronted by an array of photographs.

Best of Cute

What… What were these? The abyssal's rangefinders widened in surprise as they focused on rows and rows of images of… something. 'Cats,' the description said. She'd seen cats before, darting between bushes and out of her vision on some islands, and occasionally in the distance here in human territory. and the large thing that had attacked her had perhaps been one, but these? Those eyes were so large, their legs so stubby, and their fur was so… thick? Fluffy? What did it feel like? How did they move around at all? They were so small, too! One of them was clearly trying and failing to hide in the leg of a pair of jeans. Clearly they needed some kind of escort, but how did they get someone to do so for them? They didn't seem to have any obvious utility, but still the thought of something bad happening to one of them felt horrible! Why would she care? Was she missing her escort duties so much that she'd start defending just anything? No, this feeling had only really cropped up in relation to these things!

Exempt she hadn't just wanted to protect them, had she? Trinitite hadn't gotten anything out of saving Alton back at the construction site, but he hadn't found him cute at all, right? What about Alex? Trinitite had to admit that she would sacrifice her disguise to protect her fleetmate from harm, and she wasn't sure if she'd do the same for some human she didn't know. That was just because she knew him, though, not because she found him cute!

...right?

She suddenly realized that a minute had passed. The… creatures here had distracted her from her purpose! It served as a good way for her to learn the word, but how did that relate to herself and Alex, as a unit? The word had three definitions, only one of which seemed related to adorable. It was good to know she'd intuited the definition for herself, but otherwise the webpage didn't tell her anything more than the pictures did. Trinitite closed the tab, ready to enter the next entry on her list and come back later, when one of the related searches caught her attention.

Cute girl

Laura had called Trinitite and Alex together 'cute,' but what about her? Was she considered cute? The question seemed frivolous, but the Wo-class couldn't help herself from clicking the link and following the list of images. Pictures of human women filled the screen, and Trinitite found herself making comparisons. On average, their hair seemed long, falling to their waists in either straight locs or only minor curls. Her own hair didn't go far past her shoulders, but a lot of it in the front didn't even make it to her chin. The Wo-class held a lock in front of her, straightening it with a gentle pull. Perhaps it would be longer if it wasn't so naturally frizzy.

As for color, the abyssal started to regret choosing black dye for this disguise. Black-haired humans existed, but the vast majority of the humans in the images were a shade between brown, blonde, and red. She looked down, then back up to the images. Their breasts seemed smaller than hers, too, no doubt more practical for work and combat, but she couldn't say for certain because the chest wasn't the focus of any of the images. That being said, their build besides the breasts seemed fairly close to her own, and she couldn't tell any massive differences in their facial features. A shift in how she applied her makeup would make up for any deficit, but would it compensate for everything else?

She sighed, the chair squeaking slightly as she leaned back. The Wo-class just wasn't sure. Perhaps it was something to ask Alex about later.

The next term was 'Dating.' The search failed to bring a definition, the results page instead populating with a peculiar kind of title:

Online Dating in Chehalis / Hot Singles in your area

Over 40 Chehalis Dating / Totally Free Signup-No Payment

Best Dating Sites Washington / Dating Just Got Easy

Was dating something someone did online? That didn't match with what Laura had said, but perhaps this also had multiple definitions. The Wo-class didn't bother investigating the links, instead editing her search term.

dating definition

The term did have multiple definitions- most related to finding the date of an object, which was obvious in hindsight, but the last one was what felt relevant.

To be romantically involved with someone.

That was probably what she was looking for, but it wasn't particularly useful. What did 'romantically' mean? Normally, she would add the word to her research list and move on, but there was a Wikipedia link here, and instead of following an endless trail of definitions she could be more efficient with a deeper look.

As always, the website seemed as descriptive as she needed it to be. The wall of text looked like exactly what she needed! Dating is a stage in romantic relationships… there was that word, 'romantic,' again, but Trinitite merely opened the link in another tab and kept reading. She'd hopefully learn all she needed here, but it'd be there for her if she needed to dive deeper.

'The protocols and practices of dating and the terms used to describe it vary vastly between cultures, societies, and time periods?' There were protocols? As in, written procedures? Not only would it be vital to ensure that she followed them correctly, but Trinitite already knew how to work with those! If they weren't in this article, then she'd have to be finding them next.

Sadly, as she continued reading, no clear instructions on dating presented themselves. Still, there was plenty of useful information. A lot of the history section simply failed to catch her interest, but the stated link between dating and families was helpful. Forming an entirely new fleet would be an expensive task, she guessed, so long negotiations with a prospective fleetmate would be necessary to ensure every eventuality was prepared for. Apparently these negotiations used to be done by the princesses of the two families the original humans belonged to for political reasons. That had made sense to her, but it had changed for… some reason, too complicated for the Abyssal to get in her first reading, and now dating didn't necessarily lead to this… marriage, or meant that a trade in genetic material had to happen. Now, it seemed they simultaneously fulfilled the task of negotiation and reconnaissance, the humans looking to form a new fleet drawing out the negotiations to investigate their prospective partner. Feeling more confident, the Wo-class continued reading… until, as if it had struck a mine, the confidence shattered.

"The only rule is that there are no rules."

What did that mean? She kept reading, and her confusion grew even more. Again, the article asserted that there was a protocol to dating, but apparently it depended wildly on which human it was done with, where it was done, was unwritten, and constantly changed?

How did anyone do it, then?

The example the article gave didn't seem particularly useful. Use humor? Sure, she could joke with her old fleetmates effortlessly, but what did humans find funny? The abyssal sighed, forcing herself to calm down as she leaned back in her chair. At the end of the day, Trinitite didn't actually need to understand this. It was chaos, pure and simple, and chaos was what had let her escape the navy. The important thing was that Alex would have to take the initiative if he wanted to make a new fleet with her, and she would have plenty of time to figure out an operational plan when he did. That meant this research was still useful despite its vagueness, as it was always good to know what your… enemy didn't seem like the proper term for Alex, but it was good to know what kinds of tactics he might be using.

On that, the article still wasn't particularly helpful. The most emphasized guideline it gave was to ask for training from someone, instead of any solid doctrine Alex might follow. Only after reaching the section of the article dedicated to the United States specifically did any information on protocols appear. Apparently, if Alex wanted to initiate dating, he'd have to ask directly, so Trinitite should have no problem realizing that the process had begun.

That was good. She shouldn't have to worry about it until Alex proposed one.

Abruptly the image of the human returned from last night, his eyes bolted forward as he contemplated… something from his position in the driver's seat.

Sorry, I gotta think it through a bit more. I won't leave you in the dark too long, okay?

The Abyssal's eyes widened in realization. She didn't dare speculate, but there was a decent chance-

She needed a more solid plan, now. She didn't know what kind of tactics Alex could use, but that was manageable. If she played along and politely avoided anything extreme, she should be able to keep them from doing anything extreme without upsetting him. It was a rough plan, but flexible, which was one of the best qualities in a plan. It wasn't like she could narrow it down any more, considering how little actionable intelligence she'd gained from the article…

Trinitite sighed, her attention drifting to the 'romance' wikipedia page. It simultaneously felt like the abyssal hadn't learned enough about this, but still far too much for her to process in one sitting. Sure, she could look into it more via this other article, but would she really understand it. She'd need some time to consider what she'd learned, perhaps observe whatever Alex was going to do next for some much-needed context, and until then she wasn't sure getting more information on the topic would actually help.

A new tab opened, and Trinitite entered another search term. The romance definition could wait until Alex made his move. Until then, the abyssal was curious about the actual abilities of backfire bombers…

Pretty glad I stopped writing these types of chapters a while back, allowing me to bring the gag of Trinitite reading wikipedia back here without running it into the ground.

Also, sincere apologies, everyone. I've fallen behind on updating the story on this site, so I'm going to start trying to correct that. Expect more posts fairly regularly until we're caught up again.