Survival

“Marion? Are you in there?” Tobias’ voice called out from behind my door after a few knocks. I was planning on going to the common area and talking to the newcomers, the fifty males in particular, and had dressed up semi-nicely for the occasion. It had been a few days since I had last conversed with Otto, and I wanted to look nice and continue to make a good impression. But if Toby saw me like this, he’d probably make fun of me, or question my motives. My plan had been counting on the fact that Toby would be watching the children outside as they played on the beach, like he did every Monday. “I have a surprise, so please come out.” A surprise? Being a Kasien, the curiosity got the better of me before I could try and reason with myself, so I pulled my hair into a low and loose side ponytail and then opened the door.

“Please tell me what the surprise is,” I begged, trying to plead him with a sad face. I stopped playing around when his reaction had sunk in. Tobias had been leaning casually with an arm against the wall next to my door, but had pushed himself off it and was looking at me up and down.

“I- Wow, you look nice!” he spluttered, clearly shocked. “What’s the occasion?”

“The surprise,” I quickly lied.

“Did Sylus tell you?” Toby guessed and I shook my head.

“No. Don’t worry about it, let’s just go,” I ordered, pushing past and shutting the door. Toby didn’t complain, and simply lead me downstairs and outside to the front beach. The sand was still warm and felt wonderful beneath my feet. The sunset was a bit disturbed by the other bulky spaceship still floating in the water, but it was still nice. Children were running, and occasionally lifting off, back and forth from the water, playing some form of tag. Toby led me further down, but then suddenly stopped.

“Close your eyes,” he said with a cheeky smile.

“Why? Where are you taking me?” I giggled as he moved behind me, practically jumping on my back and gently covering my eyes with his hands.

“Not far, but it has to be a surprise!” he argued, leaning forward so I started walking again. The joyful cries of the children got a bit quieter and I heard rustling of leaves. Judging from where we had started and what direction he had been heading in, I concluded that we were now beneath a few lone trees that were by the water’s edge, a favourite place of many Kasiens. Toby tilted my head downwards, then took his hands off. “Surprise…” I blinked a few times to readjust my eyes and saw a table and two chairs with a slight orange glow from the sunset. Atop it sat a bowl of grapes, my favourite delicacy, and a box of dominos. My jaw dropped and I spun to face Toby.

“You didn’t!” I gaped happily.

“I did,” Toby beamed, taking a seat. “Come on, we have one hour before I have to get those little monsters back inside, so let’s get started!” I didn’t argue and joined him at the table, letting my wings rest as I leaned forward to grab my tiles. We played game after game together, seemingly easily slipping back into our childhood relationship. Our deep connection appeared to be back again, and I liked it. I had missed my Toby, and I didn’t want the moment to end. I was scared he would revert back to the leader who scolded me frequently once the day had ended, and I really didn’t want that.

“We should get going,” Toby said before packing the pieces up. Once everything had been cleared, he tucked the box under his arm and strode towards the energetic youngsters. “Children! Time to go inside!” His voice boomed above their calls and they all immediately stopped their game and started running towards the spaceship’s door. I couldn’t believe how good he was with them. Not even their mothers could control them that well! It must be because they knew to respect their leader. It made me wonder if the reason why I didn’t follow every instruction he gave was because of how we had grown up together. When we played, we had an even say in things. We were friends. One of us did not dominate the other. We were equal. I wanted that back again.

Toby ensured every child was back with its mother before he walked with me upstairs and back to my room. He made small talk about how he had enjoyed playing dominos with me again and how he wanted to do it again sometime soon. Of course I agreed. It was nice to have my friend back, instead of a disappointed leader. He embraced me and kissed my cheek before saying goodnight. I refrained from calling him Toby, and I could tell by his smile that he appreciated that. With one last reminder that I had ‘looked nice tonight’, Toby set off down the hallway and I went back inside my room.

Was our little outing a… date? Surely not. No, he didn’t like me like that. He’d established that plenty of times recently. Regardless, I felt like there was a difference in the meeting, and it was something I couldn’t quite place my finger on. Would Toby still be a candidate for my mate? And if he wasn’t, then perhaps there was still some time to go and chat to the new males. Once I had allowed enough time to pass for Toby to have left completely, I opened the door and peeped out. The coast was clear, so I left my room and headed down the hallway. I almost turned a corner but froze once I heard Toby’s voice.

“The thing that just happened?” he asked someone. His voice was very clear, so he must have only been a few steps around the corner.

“Yeah, with the table and the food and the laughter…” came Otto’s voice. Was he referring to what had just happened?

“Why do you ask?” Tobias continued, his voice a bit stronger than before.

“It’s just that Marion mentioned she didn’t have a mate yet, and I was wanting to talk to her some more. But if you’re interested in her then I will back off!” Otto replied, keeping his tone light and positive. Then Tobias laughed along with him.

“Oh, I think there’s been a misunderstanding. Marion is just a friend who I was spending time with,” he said. “Feel free to talk to her more. I just saw her to her room, actually. Room 259.”

“I’m so glad we cleared that up!” Otto chuckled as I backed away from the corner. I hurried back down the corridor to my room. Overhearing that only further confirmed that I couldn’t rely on my old friend to help me with anything mate-related. If I were to have a baby and to overcome the female barrier Tobias was struggling with, then it would have to be with a new male. My fists clenched as I wished this wasn’t as hard as it was. I just wanted to help out my group by doing something I was good at. A brisk knock echoed through the room. I sighed, not prepared to talk to anyone in this mood, but dragged my feet across nonetheless.