Rejection

Vi had been acting weird all day, in fact she had been acting weird ever since the battle aboard the Capital. Gato had noticed that she had been distracted and unfocused during training, and almost flinched every time he reached out to correct her posture. Part of him wondered if she were afraid of him, but if she were afraid then she wouldn’t go out of her way to drag him into Noctis. If she were afraid of him then why would she sit and chat with him over coffee then drag him off for ice cream, a treat she didn’t even like because of her weird Torweni proclivities against dairy. He could understand it if she were afraid of him, but this? This he had no context for.

He mused on her strange behavior as he licked his mint ice cream, the ice cream shop was a little out of the way and had a pleasantly green park space right next to it. Not many people came this way, so they had a little bit of privacy. She had bought herself a lemon-berry sorbet thing and was eating it with a tiny spoon rather than licking it straight off the cone like a normal person, said she was worried about her face and hands getting sticky from it. they were sitting at the same bench, and he couldn’t help but feel hyper aware of her presence, even when he looked away his skin prickled with the knowledge that she was right next to him. He tried looking away, but his wandering gaze always found its way back to her.

He shifted with anxiety and did his best to look away from her, but then she shifted, and his attention snapped back to her. Her sorbet had dripped onto her pants, and she was looking for something to wipe it up with, without thinking Gato took his own napkin and wiped at the stain. Only too late did he realize that he was rubbing at her thighs. He looked up at her apologetically as he realized the impropriety of his careless action, only to see she had gone an adorable shade of dark purple. She looked into his eyes, and he stared deeper into her steely grey eyes, and in that moment he realized why she had been acting so strange.

“Vi, is this a date?”

~~~*~~~

Sarah had been absolutely right, once Alwen got Gato away from all the crowds and it was just the two of them there was a noticeable change in his demeanor. The normally stoic Felinoid began to fidget, and every so often he would glance towards her, and she would pretend not to notice. She had been trying to figure out what she should do next when her sorbet dripped all over leg, she turned to find her own napkin when massive hand began to brush away the stain on her leg. She watched as Gato’s hand wiped at the stain and she felt her face heat at his brash touch, and then before she could fight back her arousal and attraction he looked up at her. It felt like an electric current ran between their eyes, and her heartbeat sped up.

And then as if he knew the perfect words to ruin the moment he asked “Vi, is this a date?”

She felt her senses return in a rush and she straitened up. What had Alice said back on Femeri, just be straight forward and honest, they’ll never see it coming. “Yes, wasn’t that obvious.”

He sat up straight as well “It probably should have been.” He grumbled. “When, when did it happen?”

“When did I realize I liked you?” she asked in confusion.

“Yeah”

“After the battle for the confederacy, on that roof top, if Alice hadn’t come up I would have tried to kiss you” she said matter of factly.

Gato looked at her and chuckled “You Torweni women sure are brazen, between you and those topless red skinned women we rescued from the Kruhur I’m wondering if your culture has any sense of shame” he teased wryly.

Alwen guffawed and lightly punched him in the shoulder “Don’t compare me to them, those women would have mounted you the moment they got you alone.”

His eyebrows shot up “Seriously?”

“Well, maybe not, but they would have made you a very enticing offer you couldn’t refuse.”

He got a dreamy look in his eyes “maybe I should retire on Torwen then, find myself a nice little island to the south, it’ll be like paradise”

Alwen laughed “I doubt you’ll enjoy it much; the south has little bugs that like to nest in fur and hair.”

He shuddered “Ugh, flees in paradise, no thanks.”

She laughed harder, after a year of living with Hellworlders she had learned that the very mention of flees, or ticks made any Mammaloid shiver. She realized that now was the best chance she would ever get. “I like you, and I would like to keep liking you, would you like to go out with me?”

He stopped laughing and his body language changed in an instant, one moment he was relaxed and open, and another he was tense and closed off. “No” he said gruffly.

Alwen had been riding high all day, climbing higher and higher, and had suddenly she felt like the ground had dropped out from beneath her. Her eyes went murky, and her throat closed up a little “Oh” she croaked “I see.”

He turned to her and his eyes were cold “I’m sorry, but it won’t ever work, you deserve someone better than me.” He said as he stood up and walked away.

Alwen held it in until he was out of sight before she broke down and cried. She was glad the park bench she had found was isolated, because she didn’t want anyone to see her break down so completely.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

~~~*~~~

Alice lounged lazily on one of the spiny chairs in the ship’s med bay as Bones administered the antidote to whatever sneaky drug Limey had snuck into the marines morning coffee. She had been tired and lethargic all day, she had tried some light jogging to wake herself up, but apparently the exercise had sped up the rate her body absorbed the drug and had fallen asleep on the tread mill. She had barely been able to walk herself to the med bay after Isabella had found her snoring on the gym floor.

Izzy had been the only one of the marines not to drink coffee that morning because she was finally getting an operation to remove that fugly back tattoo. She had also been the one to drag Limey in by the ear to apologize, and as soon as Alice had enough strength to stand without wobbling she would beat him senseless.

“There, that should do it” Alwen said softly, her voice sounded a little off to Alice, like her throat was raw.

“Thanks” Alice slurred “Glad you had the cure”

“Well it was one of the drugs I had been working on with Bachir, it was just supposed to make a person really tired, I never expected it to react so poorly to an increased heartrate.” She explained as she turned back over to Izzy, who was lying topless on one of the operating tables in preparation for her tattoo removal.

“Why’d you even make something like that” Izzy asked?

“I was tired of needing to keep my patients sedated and restrained so that they didn’t reopen their injuries, I thought this might be a less extreme way of making sure you people got some proper bedrest.” She said exasperatedly. “I didn’t expect anyone to push through it and try to go for a jog.” She said with an accusatory glance towards Alice, and Alice saw that her eyes were red, and cheeks looked a little raw.

“Are you feeling okay” Alice asked? “You look a little feverish, are you sick?”

Alwen paused and turned away quickly “No, I’m fine”

Well that was a lie, even among aliens the words ‘I’m fine’ were almost always a lie.

Before Alice could question her further Izzy pushed herself onto her arms and turned to Alwen “Oh no, did you have to cancel your date?”

“What date?” Alice asked.

“Limey said Bones was trying to get Gato out of the ship and have him show her around Noctis” Isabella explained.

“Lay back down” Bones ordered “I can’t work if you can’t stay still.”

“Not until you tell me how it went” Izzy said stubbornly.

Bones sighed “I’ll tell you if you lay back down.” She said as she pushed Izzy back down.

Alice felt her gut twist at the idea of Bones and Gato going out on a date, and she was glad that the haze of the knockout drug softened the blow.

“And if you must know it went fine, but I don’t think there’ll be a second” she said, stoically holding back some emotion that seemed to be ready to burst out, and Alice realize that Alwen looked so feverish because she had been crying.

“Details” Izzy pushed.

“There’s not much to tell” Alwen deflected “We talked about the politics of Martian city planning, the sociopolitical challenges facing the uplifted, and the gender roles a Torweni women is expected to follow.”

Izzy made a gagging sound “Nothing ruins the mood faster than politics.”

Alwen shrugged “I actually kind of liked it, I got to see how he thought about things like that.”

“Did you guys go anywhere? Did you do anything fun?” Izzy pushed as Bones laid a large white sheet over the misshapen eagle tattoo. Izzy hissed through her teeth as the she sheet went down “Oof, that burns.”

“What did you expect, I’m removing ink that’s been forcefully buried into your skin, luckily its not that old since old pigments tend to burrow deeper into the skin. And to answer your questions, we went to Madame Ito’s then had coffee and ice cream.” She said as she turned to get something from her worktable.

Isabela grunted “So you got topless while getting your measurements taken, then had a long chat over some coffee, then found a nice, secluded spot to eat some ice cream.”

Alwen looked flustered “How did you-?”

“-Know, come on girl all of that is pretty textbook date material, along with picnics by the beach, going to see a romantic movie, or watching a pro-wrestling match.” Izzy said very matter of factly.

Alice frowned “You’re the only one who likes to have your first date at a pro-wrestling match,” Alice met Bones curious gaze “She takes them to a loud arena full sweaty ravenous fans, goes completely berserk, then she wonders why her dates dump her afterwards”

Bones laughed “Really?”

“Well yeah” Isabella spluttered “Besides if they can’t handle going to a sporting event with me then they’re not worth dating”

“That would sound reasonable, if you didn’t have a thing for short, cute girls, and girly looking boys. They get one look at you going apeshit over a match and run for their lives.” Alice teased, she had known Isabela all her life and had watched her date tons of people, it always ended the same.

“That sounds reasonable to me” Alwen said sagely “You can’t really make something long term work with someone who gets a little scared of you”

Alice grinned “You’ve obviously never seen her really lose it, she pretty much hulks out and enters a berserker rage. And she’s someone who could literally crush heads with her biceps”

Alwen blinked in surprise and turned back to Izzy “Why not just date someone who can handle that?”

“Because cute people are cute” she said in defense, “and your skipping the juiciest part of the story, how did it end?”

Alwen’s smile faded “Not much to tell, he figured out it was a date and then said he didn’t want to go out with me”

Izzy looked crestfallen, and Alice saw the little tears Alwen was holding back “did he say why?” Izzy asked.

“No, he just said that I deserve someone better and then he left” she said softly, and Alice felt her heart break for Alwen.

Maybe it was the sleeping drug, or maybe it was her guilt over feeling jealous and angry at Alwen, but whatever it was Alice shot out from her chair and marched out of the med bay. She marched all the way to the gym where she knew Gato would working himself half to death.

She stormed into the room, and everyone within felt their danger sense prickle and promptly left as fast as they could, everyone except Gato who was currently in the middle of doing some pistol squats while holding heavy weights.

“You’re a complete asshole, you know that!” she shouted at him.

He sank back down for another lift “hello Alice” he grunted through his teeth.

“Don’t ‘hello Alice’ me, why the hell did you turn Alwen down. I know you well enough to know you’re head over heels for her, and I know she feels the same way.”

“It wouldn’t have worked” he said simply.

“Bullshit it wouldn’t, that girl would bend over backwards for you!”

“That’s why it wont work, she deserves some one better than me”

“Oh fuck that! You like her, she likes you, get over your “woe is me” attitude and just accept it.” Alice growled, her inner tigress leaking into her voice as she talked, sounding more like an articulate beast and less like an actual person.

He dropped his weights and loomed up over Alice and glared daggers at her. “No, I’m a killer Alice, more than any of the rest of you, I killed, and I liked it. I liked the power and aggression, and I still do. I would only poison her.”

Alice met his glare “Don’t lie to me, you’re afraid that if you let her into your heart then you wont be able to fulfill your suicidal mission, your stupid hope to die while protecting us. You think she’ll hold you back from throwing your life away.”

“And what’s so wrong with that!” he roared “Your lives are worth more than mine, you all have people waiting for you back home, friends, family, homes. I have nothing, nothing besides my killer instincts and a mountain of corpses. You said it yourself, I should just die if it means protecting someone else better than me.”

“And I was wrong!” she roared back “I was wrong and stupid to say that, and I’ve regretted it every day since.”

He went quiet and the rage seemed to leave his chest “No you weren’t, that day, that day when I could have saved Wendy I should have jumped in the way of that attack.”

“Then why didn’t you?” her voice broke a little at the end.

“Because I thought for a single instant how it would hurt you if I died, how sad it would make you. But I was wrong, how can I ever compare to a sister, the rest of you have someone who cares for you, that makes your lives worth more than mine.”

“That’s because you wont let anyone in, you wont let anyone care for you” Alice felt her heart breaking at the seams, everything she had said that day had been a mistake, and now that she saw how deeply it had warped his self-value she wished she could take it back.

He turned away and began to walk towards the showers “And I never will.” He growled softly.