I didn't have a plan. I hadn't really been expecting to do this, and before even a single day had passed, the inadequacies of my planning were already becoming obvious.

Staying here a couple days in a house with no food in it was going to be an issue.

I had my holo up, looking for anything nearby, before resorting to my months of experience in scavenge, fishing, and hunting. It looked like there was a little grouping of hotels about an hour from here which had a couple places to eat. Nothing like, intended to be taken home and eaten days later, but I guess I could always just order a dozen hamburgers, and pretend we were having the weirdest, worst cabin party ever.

I was already starving, which was crazy, because I'd eaten this morning. Out in the wild, I was lucky if I got a solid meal every day, and now my body was bitching that it didn't get at least two. How fast the damn thing turned on me. I didn't want Saga just keeping Tem brain-dead the whole time either, so I let her up as well and confirmed that she was also hungry.

And just like that, I was out of the house, Tem on my heels, outside of Saga's zone, and I could finally process what had just happened in my own head without interference or hurting her.

I hadn't planned for this either. I'd just acted impulsively and stupidly, seeing her breaking down, and feeling like I had to do whatever I could. Images of Lia, AEGIS, and Karu flashed through my head, each expressing their own particular form of disgust at what I'd just done, and the moronic reason why I'd done it.

It wasn't that I didn't want to be dating Saga, aside from the fact I'd been single for like, three days now, though her mental manipulation made it feel like it...feel like Karu was an eternity ago. It seemed like just...a slow-rolling disaster incoming and I could already see it coming.

Where would we stay? She hated being around people, and I couldn't live out here away from everything. What would we do? Saga might be keen enough on me now, but surely one mind, especially mine, couldn't be that exciting for her. I think she kept out of it for the most part because knowing everything was boring, and boredom was anathema to Saga, but that couldn't last forever. Like any couple, eventually I guessed, we'd know each other inside and out...just wildly accelerated with the mind-reading, and what remained after that?

Soul-mates? Commitments? I had no idea. I was a stupid nineteen-year-old who was still thinking that boobs were pretty dang neat. I was acutely aware how completely mentally and emotionally unequipped I was to be planning out our entire future as I crept out into the afternoon to pick up a dozen hamburgers to eat all weekend.

I sighed. There really wasn't much option here. I was completely out of my league and needed help.

I put my comms back in and dialed one of my contacts on my holo.

It rang, rang, rang, and went to voice message.

"Hey, Lia. It's your stupid big brother. If you get this message in the next hour, call me, please. I might have done something really stupid."

"What did you do?" Tem asked, the footprints in the snow beside me materializing into her military boots, followed by the rest of her.

I sighed. Tem was, possibly, the one person in the world worse-equipped for this than me. I tried calling AEGIS, which gave a disconnected number error, and even briefly considered Karu, before finally turning to the girl next to me.

"Tem I might have messed up really bad, and need some advice."

"Oh. I am...I'm not good at advice."

"I know," I sighed. "That's why I've been trying to call everyone else first."

"Would you like me to call as well?"

"I don't think that will help." I scratched my head as we kept walking. "Look, Tem, what do you know about Saga?"

"S-S-Saga's a very cruel Exhuman. S-s-...they would happily kill everyone around them if they wanted to, except you, Chariot. They love you, and they are a...a person from China. I don't like her, because they are mean to you, but you are friends with her anyway."

"You can call her 'she'. It's really okay."

"I apologize. I was told...if I can't...make a certain letter, I s-s-...I would be better off not uttering it," she explained, unnecessarily.

"Tem," I said, and stopped. She ran into my arm before she stopped as well. "That night, I'm sorry. You really crossed a ton of lines with me, and I wasn't in a good place to start with. That doesn't mean I didn't also cross lines right back. You should ignore everything I said that night, okay?"

"Oh no, it's fine. I'm...I'm actually happy you did what you did." She smiled demurely and blushed.

"Tem, I treated you like garbage."

"I'm used to it," she said with a growing smile and a shrug. "Please, don't worry about me. I just want you to be happy." She began walking again, almost singsong, like this was the perfect date for her.

"Hey," I said, and she stopped. "Nobody should treat you like garbage. You shouldn't put up with that, not from me or anybody."

"Oh no, it's fine. I understand, at times, I am a big nuisance, I push you too far, I irritate you or make things worse. I apologize, but if that isn't enough, it is fine to berate or punish me so that I don't mess things up. I understand."

"No, Tem, that is not fine. Jesus, that's fucked." I tried to think of any way to explain this to her without sounding like I was berating or punishing her, but all I really wanted was for her to just stop being such a freak and just be a normal freak like the rest of us Exhumans. But that was exactly the kind of thinking about her I wanted her to stop putting up with.

I ground my teeth in frustration, wanting to pull out my hair. Stupid, impossible girl.

"Look, we're wasting what time I have outside Saga's range. Just...for now, if someone is treating you badly, even me, especially me, please, please, please, just say that hurts your feelings, okay?"

"But you don't?" She looked genuinely confused. "You are always trying to protect me, even right now. Why would anything you s-say hurt my feelings?"

I didn't know how to respond. So I moved back to the original topic.

"So I did something stupid, as I said. Saga was having a...an emotional breakdown, let's call it, and out of desperation, I...I sorta…"

Tem nodded. "You did it with her?"

"What? No. I asked her out."

"Ohh."

"Wait, you thought we did?"

"I assumed they put me out for a reason, and that...was what I would want if I were you."

"Wouldn't that make you angry? Me being with her. I thought you were...aiming for me."

"Oh no. Oh no, no, no. I could never do that." She burned red under her silver hair. "I made that mistake once, I tried to reach the s-s-...the moon. That was a very bad mistake. I apologize."

"Tem, what the hell? You don't just turn off feelings like that."

"I know, I just realized it was impossible. I'm just going to follow you and make...make positive that you are happy. You are s-s-...are a very good person, and deserve every happiness in the world. You care for me and protect me like nobody ever has. It would be very greedy to expect you to love me, as well."

I stared at her, unable to interface with her completely alien mind. "You love me."

"Yes," she said blushing.

"And you don't have a problem if I date or even sleep with other girls?"

"No, of course not."

"And this is because...why, again?"

"Oh. Because you could never be happy with me, of course. You were very clear on that. And yet, you protect me and care for me anyway. You are a very wonderful person."

"Jesus. And I thought I fucked up with Saga today."

Suddenly Tem seemed more shadowy, more dangerous, her soft smile and carefree steps replaced with hard, calculating lines. Something dark moved behind her eyes.

"I understand," she said, her voice dripping with menace.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Tem? Calm down. Understand what?"

"They hurt you."

"Who?"

"S-S-S-Saga. They will pay." Cloudy ripples of darkness appeared in the air around us as it looked like light itself was tearing itself apart around her. Her two short pigtails began to whip around on her shoulders in an invisible wind.

"Woah, Tem, calm down. Saga didn't hurt me. Please, please, calm down. I'm fine, see?" I put on a smile like our lives depended on it.

"Oh," she said, and the tension dissipated over the next few seconds. "I apologize."

"Uh, yeah. I'm worried I might hurt her, not the other way around. Maybe I should just wait for Lia or AEGIS to get to their mobile."

"Whatever you'd like," she said, back in her light, carefree voice.

I was honestly worried she was about to unleash a lightshow on Blackett Cabin from here that would put Skyweb to shame. I needed to stop thinking of her as a troublesome girl and more as a grenade where someone had misplaced the pin.

We walked the rest of the way and waited for the food in silence. Not wanting to be intimate with Saga just yet, Tem and I ate a burger each though she only really played with hers, and split some fries. We must have looked like a couple, I thought. They had to triple-check my order when I wanted another dozen to go, but we got there.

And now, on the way back, still no notifications, not even a message from either Lia or AEGIS, and still no ideas of how I was going to handle Saga. I hoped the two of them were okay...but also hoped I would be.

What seemed like the worst idea, and this was weird considering this was me, was just to tell her the truth and air everything out. I might have done it more-or-less on accident, but I did ask her out for a reason. If I backed out now, I'd just double the damage I'd done to her.

And it wasn't like I was opposed to dating Saga...I just...didn't know how it would work. She was so alien, from how she interacted, to her entire perspective on lifespans, to the value of human worth. I didn't even know why she wanted to date me, compared to her, I was a flickering candle just waiting to be snuffed, while she was a star which could burn through the heat-death of the universe.

Maybe just a plaything to pass a few years? I didn't know. I couldn't know, and that was the problem with us as a concept. Even if she opened up her mind and showed me everything she'd ever lived, I still could never understand her.

And yet, I did understand. She'd spent her whole life locked away. Even if I was only a flickering candle, wouldn't it make perfect sense for someone to look towards the light after a lifetime in the dark? Wouldn't I, as the first person she'd met, and a man and an Exhuman besides, hold ever-so-slightly more place in her life than any other blip of living existence? Or maybe she would someday grow into a completely dispassionate being, but a hundred years hadn't quite yet deadened every bit of humanity in her.

It was heady stuff, not unlike trying to figure out one's value to the universe, though I didn't think quite that highly of her. But still, if she was immortal...that really did mean infinity, and infinite anything was a lot.

It was also a lot to think about, so I was surprised when I took another step forward in the snow and felt my mind prickle familiarly. I had an urge to take a step back and finish thinking of...of everything, but it was too late.

[Hi there, lover,] she said. Tem sighed and turned invisible to leave me in relative peace.

"Hi...Saga…"

[You ate without me? Not fair.]

"Haha, yeah, I'm sorry."

[Well, you brought more, so I forgive you. Hmm. Can we make Tem just wait there so I don't have to eat with her? Despite my openness on this, I'm not really into the whole threesome thing, especially before our first date.]

"I uh, kinda doubt it," I said.

"I'm not leaving him," Tem whispered, her voice dangerously close to the dark tone I'd heard before.

"Could you possibly attempt to avoid picking a fight with her if possible?"

[Why would I ever want to do that?]

"Because if she goes nuts and blows up the house, I will be cold at night."

[My idea of a compromise was to put her unconscious, but someone didn't like that plan.]

"Just be nice, okay?"

[You're one to speak. You treat her like shit all the time.]

I sighed. I couldn't argue with that. "Anyway. This whole dating thing. I don't know what I'm doing."

[So I can see. (Does he think I know? I might be older, but it's not like I've done this...) Uh. Well, fortunately for you, The Great Saga doesn't date like...like a normal human does.]

"The Great Saga? Are you going to start 'thee' and 'thou'-ing me again? I thought we were way, way past that."

[The Great Saga would kindly ask you to shut the fuck up.]

"So how does The Great Saga date, if not like a human?"

[(Uh.) Well. (Um.) You see…unlike...uh, mere human relationships, we will...begin with pure physical intimacy. Yes. See, when you have an Exhuman as great as I involved, you can skip past all of the emotional bullcrap and get right to the good stuff. Feel honored that you are officially dating The Great Saga in her splendor!]

I didn't say anything, but I did bring the fact to mind that Karu and I were banging it out well before we were ever officially dating.

[(Fucking hell.) I mean, obviously some humans are so carnal and filthy they would presume to skip the...the most important emotional connection. Which...is of course, the opposite of The Great Saga. We will be...taking it slow.]

"Okay, three things. One, please drop 'The Great Saga'."

[The Great--]

"Two, don't interrupt."

[(...)]

"And three, I understand you've never dated, and really, neither have I. I've had...let's call it a little practice. Can we just try things and see what works?"

[What was your actual second point going to be?]

"Not to interrupt." I sighed. "I kind of expect certain things from you by now, if you haven't picked that up." Tem and I had almost finished slogging through the snow, retracing our footprints back to Blackett Cabin.

[...yeah.] She didn't sound particularly happy about it.

It was starting to get dark, and I wondered why Saga didn't turn on any lights or anything. The house looked uninviting and empty. Sort of like my current dating prospects.

[Look, if you've got an issue with it, and I know you do, you can just fuck off. I'm not some china doll which needs protecting, okay?]

"What doll?"

[China doll? They're these weird like, ceramic dolls, made of china.]

"China's a country."

[What?]

"How can something be made of China? That's like calling something an America doll."

I felt confusion slowly settle into comprehension as we let ourselves in and I shook snow off my boots, while snow materialized and fell from nothing as Tem mimicked me.

[Weird. China used to be a word to describe like, I guess this one type of ceramic. China plates, china dolls, fine china.]

"I guess we probably stopped using that after the war. People still have fancy ceramic plates...they just get called...fancy plates, I guess."

[What about Chinese food?]

"Nope. Thought you all only ate white rice?"

[What.]

I shrugged, and clicked on several lights, which Saga responded to only by covering her face with a pillow, still exactly where I'd left her on the floor. "That's what they told us. Just propaganda, I'm sure. They're probably all sold as Japanese or Korean food now or something, if they were even worth keeping around."

Her brow furrowed. [That's really fucked up. You can't just erase a country like that.]

"You're the one who saw into Ajax and Celia's heads. You know what an erased country looks like more than the rest of us. I took off my boots and fell backwards onto the comfy couch with a wump. A moment later, Tem's boots appeared next to mine.

"Tem, no--uhf," I said, as she also jumped on the couch, right on top of me.

Saga looked at me, her brow even more furrowed than it had been in hearing we'd erased her entire culture. I pushed Tem off of me and she fell onto the floor next to Saga with a muffled apology and a squeak. [How'd you know she was jumping?]

"Sensed she was coming."

[Mind reader for real then? That is unfair.]

"No...something different. Something old, I think. I only started to notice when I was trying to keep up with Tem and Jack, but no matter how fast or sneaky they're moving around, if I'm paying attention, and they're in-range, I can tell where they are. Not just them, everyone, really."

[Hmm. Sounds a lot like what I have. Just feel their mind out there, without having to really look for it?]

"No, not their mind. Their body."

[Huh. Well, I have no idea, go ask your sister or the supercomputer.] Everything furrowing her brow now resolved to her apparent satisfaction, she went back to the important task of laying around.

It annoyed me some. She was right, Lia, AEGIS, even Karu...hell, even Tower, Jack, or Cosette would have a theory or two. Lia's would certainly be right, and Tower's would certainly be wrong, and Cosette's would certainly only be interested in how she could best use me, but damn it if that wasn't still conversation. Instead, the second she lost interest, Saga went right back to...making out with the carpet or whatever she was doing.

I put it out of my mind before we started fighting about it and started over.

"So, dating. Want to like...go on a hike or something?"

[Do I look like I want to go on a hike?]

"I don't mean right now. We've got a couple days, so...you know. Whenever we do this thing?"

[Okay. Tomorrow. Do you think I'll look like I want to go on a hike tomorrow?]

"...no, probably not. I could call us a car and uh…" my mind spun a little bit. What did girls like doing? "...go shopping?"

[Got no money, hate crowds, clothes are stupid. Pass.]

"I can pay. We don't make tons, but...well, it feels like tons compared to my allowance. Lia said she can wire me whatever I need if I need anything."

[Still hate crowds, clothes are still stupid, so still pass.]

"Uh, maybe just like, dinner and a movie then?"

[In a theater? With people? Are you deliberately being dense?]

"Are you deliberately being difficult?"

She seemed to have to stop to chew on that one for a moment.

[No?]

"I'm just really lost why you wanted to date me so badly if you can't even think of a single date you actually want to go on. I'm trying here, and you're just shooting everything down like Skyweb."

[Oh.]

I could almost feel her thinking now. I hoped I hadn't pushed her buttons, but there was zero chance of this working out, even in the short-term if the only one trying was the guy who didn't even really want to be here.

Her thinking, or the bleeding-out sensation of it stopped, and at once, I sensed a whole lot of peril. She'd sat up, her eyes hungry as she deliberately crawled over Tem towards me, eliciting a series of uncomfortable noises from the doormat.

[Athan,] she thought/said seductively. [I thought of one thing we should do.]

"Yeah, not happening," I said.