Malina has had a crush on her best friend, Tytus, ever since they were kids, but Tytus has only ever seen her as a sister. While Malina is determined to fix this, the biggest obstacle in her conquest of love is her complete lack of facial expression...
"Mal, check this out!" Tytus ran into the living room and shoved a newspaper in my face, then traced his finger along the words of an advertisement. "Adventure is a man's romance, conquest is his birthright! Have you been feeling tired? Purposeless? Ready to once more quench that thirst of military service? Then join the scout corp of the Protectorate's Intelligence Branch today. Visit strange alien worlds, camp out under the stars, a life of excitement, danger and duty is out there. Will you answer the call?" He pulled the paper down and his eye shone with a childlike wonder. "I think we should answer the call."
I looked up at him, then placed the book I was reading on the side of the couch. "I am a woman."
He rolled his eyes. "Man, wo-man, they mean mankind, us as peldaks!"
"How long would our deployment last?"
Tytus shifted his weight to his back foot and grabbed his chin, "I assume seven years, same as always, but it didn't directly say. I guess we'll find out."
Even for peldaks, who are immortal, seven years is quite the obligation. Of course I felt the need to serve every now and then, it's in my blood after all, but the idea of staying out in the wilderness for nearly a decade wasn't terribly appealing. I much prefer the safety of peldak walls and bunkers. But it was either that or let Tytus go off by himself, and who knows what trouble he could get into? He could run afoul of the military police, he could get killed, God forbid he end up finding a girl and running away with her!
"Mal?" He leaned forward and poked my cheek. "You still thinking or did your brain shut off?"
"I am still thinking."
"Well don't leave me in suspense." He snickered as he put his two index fingers on the corners of my mouth, then forced me to smile. "You thinking yes?" He moved my mouth to a frown. "Or no?"
"Stop that." When I pushed his hands off, my face snapped back to the same blank expression I always have. "What would be our duties and responsibilities?"
Tytus' face lit up as he sat on the couch next to me, a little too close for my heart, and showed off the details under the advertisement. I pressed myself into the corner of the couch but Tytus, having no sense of personal space, followed me over to help guide my attention on the paper. The smell of his body wash, the warmth of his breath on my skin, it's a good thing my emotions didn't show on my face as it would have been impossible to keep my composure.
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He said a lot of things that I was too distracted to hear, but there was one part that dominated my attention. "Basically, it'll just be you and me, roughing it in the frontier for a couple months until winter. Kinda like that time when we were kids!"
I remembered well the camping trip he was referring too. Our whole class was involved and we were doing wilderness survival training. I had an innocent, childhood crush on him back then and I was determined to make him understand and accept my feelings. Sadly, too many of our friends were around and I was constantly interrupted. My plan failed, and up until now all subsequent plans to make him my boyfriend have met the same result. Now we're just 'friends' who share an apartment.
But upon the completion of this memory, my mind ran a million miles a second.
Just Tytus and I joining the scout corp?
Spending months in the beauty of a wilderness that no peldak had ever laid eyes upon?
Nobody who can interrupt us around for miles?
With danger all around to constantly keep the tension high?
Doing important work for the Protectorate?
In that moment, nothing sounded more romantic. This was my opportunity, I knew in my heart and soul that it was.
"C'mon, Mal," he whined. "It sounds like so much fuuuuun. I'll do anything you want, let's just go have an adventure for a quick few years, we'll be right back before you know it." He bounced on the couch to highlight his impatience.
Now, an attractive young maiden such as myself practically being pinned to the side of a couch by a dashing young man like Tytus? With my head already full of ideas, and him saying he'll do anything I want? I lost myself for a moment, then leaned forward just a few inches to give him a quick kiss.
His eyes shot open and his ears perked in alarm, "pffth!?" He leapt off the couch, "eugh! What the-?" He wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "Malina, if you wanted me to back up just say it. We're like... brother and sister. That's gross."
Note: We are in no way related to each other. We're not siblings, we're not cousins, our parents aren't married, we have no familial ties. We've simply known each other since a young age.
"Sorry." I said, not sorry. I was getting sick of hearing him say that, calling me his 'sister'. "Fine. I will go with you."
His pointed ears perked up. "Good." I saw a flash of smile behind his arm, which still wiped his lips, "great. We'll leave tomorrow, I'll start packing." He walked passed me to leave the room, and made sure to pat me on the head and ruffle my hair. "Don't worry, it'll be great fun." He walked away, and the door clicked behind me.
"Oh," I thought, "you're damn right it'll be fun. Seven years? I can make a miracle happen in seven years. With God as my witness, I swear, by the time we return home I'll have a ring on my finger and you'll never call me 'sister' again!"
"Aaaaah-hah-hah-hah-"
Tytus happened to walk back in at that moment and I abruptly stopped my laugh. "Awww, no, keep going. Don't stop just cause I'm here, I love your laugh, haha." He got something from the kitchen and walked right back out. If my face was capable of it, I probably would have turned a tomato red right there.
But with my declaration to finally make Tytus mine, I decided to start keeping this journal. It'll keep me straight in my efforts to win him over, and it'll be a nice outlet for my rage when that dense idiot is too oblivious. Also, if we're going to be scouting an alien planet, I guess I'll use this to document the things I see. Kind of like a historical record for all the strange new discoveries.
