October 31st
I had just finished putting on my Halloween costume when I heard a knock on the door to my room. I opened it up to see Scarlett dressed up as an unmistakable character. “How do you like my costume?” she asked as she curtsied with her dress.
“Why did you pick Maid Marian from Disney’s version of Robin Hood?” I asked as I walked out of my room.
As we walked down the hallway, she explained, “I decided that since I look this way, I may as well take advantage of it. When I find a way to turn human again, I’ll lose this opportunity.” We walked into the living room and saw Harry walking by without a costume.
“Where’s your costume?” I asked as we walked to the stairs.
“Unlike you, I don’t need a costume for this stupid holiday. Besides, what kind of costume is that? You look like you just changed into a nice yellow shirt and a pair of slacks,” he replied.
“I’m Captain James Tiberius Kirk. Don’t you see my Starfleet emblem?” I pointed at the badge I wore. It was obviously made of a piece of scrap metal, but I wasn’t a metalsmith so it was the best I could do.
We walked down the next hallway and stairs until we reached the lounge. I opened the door and allowed Scarlett in first. The lounge was radically different from when we went there last. One of the lesser-known features of the ship was that the lounge could double as a ballroom. It was now a ballroom with a stereo system on the stage along with refreshments against the back wall. It was overkill for such a small party, but I figured we needed to give Scarlett and Harry a little taste of a party before we returned home.
I dimmed the lights to simulate a dance party at night. As we walked towards the center, Malgorth walked onto the stage with the stereo system. He wasn’t wearing a costume as he picked up the microphone. “Dudes and dude-ettes, are you ready to get groovy? I hope so, since DJ Malgorth is going to, like, rock you out of this galaxy!” he announced before placing a record in the stereo.
The music wasn’t what I expected for a Halloween party. Instead of something spooky, the stereo blasted heavy metal music. It was mostly instrumental music, which indicated to me that he either managed to find some obscure bands, or this was music from his home world. I was concerned about how Scarlett would react considering that she probably grew up sheltered and had no exposure to music since her abduction. To my surprise, she was headbanging and dancing to the music.
I started to dance along, stopping to notice Gruma entering the room. As she did, I facepalmed when I saw her costume. “Gruma, when I said you dress up as someone else, I didn’t mean for you to dress up as one of us.”
“Why not? I think the hat and coat look good on me,” she replied as she tipped her cowboy hat. Why she chose to dress like Scarlett was beyond me. But it didn’t matter. She walked straight to the refreshments and grabbed herself some strange fruit. It started to make me wonder if she was herbivorous. She never ate meat yet didn’t seem to have any moral quandaries about killing. If it was the case, it would be interesting to see if the reason for their heightened aggression was due to fighting off predators.
Harry entered into the room and walked over to his girlfriend. Gruma kissed him before they started dancing to the music. I frowned as I felt that I missed my opportunity to have a normal girlfriend. If I wanted to have any dating experience, it would have to be with Scarlett. She wasn’t as bad as I made her out to be. Heck, I even thought she was beautiful. I think it was just the lingering doubts about us.
After the current track finished, I walked over to the refreshments to collect myself. I grabbed some nachos and ate them. Come on, Quentin, think. Do you want to start a relationship now? Honestly, it doesn’t truly matter. Perhaps I should go through with it. I took a deep breath before walking back to the floor. When I got close to her, the track changed to a slow one. I looked at her as she smiled.
“This song is for us,” Scarlett said as she grabbed my hands. Her hands were soft. Yes, they weren’t the smooth skin of a human woman, but they were still softer than I expected. I looked in her eyes and saw how pretty they were. They were human eyes, not the eyes of an animal or monster. A smile crept onto my face as I enjoyed the moment. “I’m glad that you can finally see me as the woman that I am.” A blush came to her face. I didn’t know how it became visible from under the fur, but it was there.
This time, a blush came to my face as I felt embarrassed. I took a deep breath before explaining, “All this time, I always found you kind of pretty. I just pushed those thoughts away because you didn’t appear human. Despite what I told Gruma about honor, I never internalized what I said. I felt that my reputation would be ruined by admitting that I was attracted to you. I didn’t realize no one would be watching me. And now, I don’t care even if the whole world was watching us. I like you.”
“I do too, Quentin,” she replied as we danced around. As I raised our arms up, she spun under them to complete the step of the dance. “I was a bit hesitant myself. I was afraid of rejection. You were nervous about your feelings, keeping them bottled even as we spent time together as friends. You were quick to start flirting with a parasitic alien monster because of your fear.” She smirked at the last part as it went to teasing.
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“Let’s not bring up Seraphina,” I said back as I felt ashamed of myself. I knew I was only that open to her mind control because I wanted a normal-looking girlfriend. “What about you becoming a mindless beast?”
“Touché,” she replied with a nervous laugh. “I was afraid I’d lose the chance to date you. It felt like the only chance I had for any normalcy in my life. With you, I don’t feel like a freak. You’re a normal, baseline human being who treats me mostly like a human being. The times you don’t are not for a malicious reason.”
We danced for a while longer, with me now feeling like there was something here. It helped that we were friends for five months. I knew we got along great. We liked each other’s company and had a mutual attraction, as strange as it was to admit. I would give her a chance and I hoped she would give me a chance.
Near the end of the song, I began my attempt. “Scarlett, this is difficult for me to ask. Especially since I’ve never done this before. I just wanted to ask you something.” The lights in the ballroom dimmed, leaving only a spotlight on us as everyone looked on. It just made me more nervous since I now had to do it in front of an observing crowd. Sure, a crowd of only three people, but still a crowd. I took a deep breath. “Scarlett, would you be my girlfriend?”
I didn’t even have to wait for a response. “Absolutely, Quentin! And you’ll be my boyfriend,” she replied before hugging me tightly. I hugged back before I felt something unexpected. It was a kiss on my lips. Despite the muzzle she had, it didn’t feel too awkward. I kissed her back, feeling myself filled with joy. It was official. We were now a couple.
Everyone’s reaction was different. Malgorth simply shrugged, having not known any context around the two of us. Gruma gave a round of applause to us. Harry, on the other hand, broke out laughing. “I just watched a man kiss a dog! That’s hilarious! I should’ve gotten a picture!” He kept laughing, but strangely, I didn’t care anymore. Perhaps because I knew the truth. No matter what anyone said, Scarlett was a woman, not a fox or dog.
After the scene was over, the music changed to the Cha-Cha Slide. All of us got in position and danced to the song. Despite the emotionally heavy events that happened earlier, the song had a hypnotic effect that forced everyone to dance along to it. Mostly because it told everyone what moves to make. The next dance was Footloose and this one was the true killer. The fast pace combined with the quick moves made it far more tiring than anything else. I was starting to regret having a dance for the party.
After following it up with the Macarena, the music went back to another slow dance. Scarlett and I immediately chose each other as partners as we danced around. Unlike last time, there was no hesitation or worry. The only awkward part was the fact that Scarlett was dressed as a fictional character instead of being herself. Granted, I was also dressed as Captain Kirk. That had to be an odd mental image to see Captain Kirk dancing with Maid Marian from Disney’s Robin Hood.
Once we were through with the slow dance, the next track was disco. It was a mood-killer since no one wanted to be the one to dance to a dead genre. “Fine, I’ll do it myself!” Malgorth shouted before flying onto the dance floor. In front of all of us, he broke out the dance moves. While his moves were crazy, insane, and relied upon his ability to fly, it broke the unease we all felt. We all started dancing to the beat.
As the track changed to hip-hop, Malgorth and Harry started breakdancing. Scarlett and I awkwardly danced while Gruma just looked on in confusion. I had to admit, their moves were inspiring. I wished I could dance like that, but I was sadly lacking in that department.
Once the track ended, the dancing portion of the party ended. As it ended, Malgorth immediately pulled out all the alcohol he could. He passed out beer bottles to Harry and Gruma before opening one up for himself. He chugged down the contents, shattering the bottle against the wall before grabbing a bottle of an alien intoxicant that I had never seen before. Seeing where the party was heading, Scarlett and I left.
We walked into the living room and sat down on one of the couches. Scarlet took the opportunity to take off the headwear, relieving her ears. I looked at them and asked, “Scarlett, this is a weird question, but can I pet you?”
“Huh?” she replied as she scratched her chin. “I never thought of that before. Maybe you should hold off on that. I don’t know how I’d feel about that. It may be a bit too intimate.” She turned on the TV and said, “Maybe we should watch Ghostbusters.” She turned on the movie and gave me a side-hug that I returned.
As we watched through the movie, I remembered how I used to watch it with my father. He was the one that got me into several old franchises. He ultimately was the reason that I studied astrophysics and loved sci-fi. He introduced me to Star Trek and Star Wars, from which point I watched several other old franchises. So when I watched the movie, I felt a sad longing for him. It was odd. I simultaneously felt the most elated I’ve felt in my life while also the loneliest. I had my first romantic relationship, but the movie made me miss my family even more.
“Scarlett,” I said, trying to distract myself from my longing, “what do you think your family will do when you reunite with them? Consider both cases of if you restore your humanity or you’re stuck the way you are.”
She pondered for a while before answering, “In the former case, it would be amazing. They’d see me for who I am. Their long-lost daughter.” She smiled as she thought about it. She then sighed. “But if I’m stuck this way, they’ll call me a freak. I’d be shipped off to a lab somewhere. That’s why there’s no way I’m going home without changing back.”
“Perhaps you’re being too worried,” I replied as I cuddled with her. Her tail wrapped around me, which was really cute. “Remember how easily I accepted you.” She nodded. I continued, “I knew who you were. You explained what happened and it made sense. Combined with the DNA results, I knew you were telling the truth. You’re Scarlett Rose Campbell, heiress of the Campbell estate and the coolest woman that I know. If they truly cared, they’d know it’s true,” I said, though not with full confidence.
Scarlett said what I was thinking. “But there’s the problem that I look nothing like my old self. You were dropped headfirst into a galaxy of insanity before meeting me. It made sense that you believed me. They, on the other hand, have only seen normal things their entire lives. If I was to claim to be myself, they’d be offended.”
“Perhaps I should incorporate a simulation of you meeting them the way you are,” I suggested. Immediately, she broke off the hug and scooted to the edge of the couch. “Or I could let you spend more time with the current one.” She sighed in relief as the tension faded from her face.
Since it was late, I went to bed after the movie finished. I took off my costume and plopped down on the bed, letting the worries of the day fade away.