Survival

When I opened the door, I was greeted by Otto’s small toothless smile.

“Hello, Marion,” he said. “I was wondering if you were busy?”

“Oh, um, not really. I was just about to go and socialise with you newcomers, if I’m not too late,” I replied, just being honest.

“Ah. I was hoping to talk to you there, but I never saw you. I guess that explains why,” Otto said with a little chuckle. I smiled at him, pretty happy to hear that he was keen on chatting. “I’ve just come from the gathering and it’s breaking up now, so it’s probably too late to go back. Would you mind if I come in?” My smile disappeared when he said the meeting was finished. I had really wanted to attend, to meet some new males, but then again, one had literally turned up on my doorstep instead.

“Yeah, sure,” I replied as I stepped aside. As Otto walked in, his left wing almost brushed against my face. Now that I was up close to him, I could see the stunning patterns his feathers had. They were mainly dark brown, matching his hair, which was exactly the way my wings were. But Otto’s had light brown speckles throughout them. They were beautiful… I felt my face beginning to redden slightly, so I diverted my attention away from his large wings that he had folded behind him.

“Now, I don’t know exactly how different things are here, but from what I’ve noticed so far there are a few changes, so I hope I’m not about to offend you in any way…” Otto began, catching me off guard. What was he going to do that could possibly offend me? “On my ship, if a male likes a female, he just instantly expresses his interest upfront. That became custom because we, quite frankly, needed more children to keep our race alive. But anyway… I just wanted to say that I like you, and that I would like to get to know you better. From what I’ve heard from members from your group so far, you seem like a fine female.”

“From what you’ve heard so far?” I repeated, hardly believing what Otto had said. That surely would have meant that the others would have told him about my rebelliousness and my unfemale-like behaviour, which was only ever frowned upon.

“Well, yes… The ones that know you have perhaps… tried to make you appear unappealing, but it’s had quite the contrary affect,” he continued with a shy smile.

“I don’t think I understand…”

“I think this is due to the slight changes in our culture. We weren’t separated for that long, but that generation has led to your group keeping older ways, and mine adapting to accept females as equals. We have a few strong females who aided in defending the group when we stumbled upon an inhabited planet, and I do not wish to frown upon you for having the drive to protect your race. I admire that quality, actually,” he explained. I could barely believe it. A male liked that aspect of me. The new ship’s arrival was such a blessing.

“I… I never thought I’d hear that from a male…” I admitted as I looked at the floor.

“Well you might have to get used to it. That’s the way my group is…” Otto trailed off. There was a small gap of silence before he took a few steps towards me, making me look back up at him. “I’d like to meet with you tomorrow morning, if that’s alright. I mean, I’d stay with you all night if I could, but it’s late.”

“Oh my…” I whispered, really starting to think I was dreaming.

“Oh- my apologies, I didn’t mean that,” he laughed, rubbing his forehead with his palm. “I meant talking, I swear!”

“It’s okay, an honest mistake,” I grinned. His embarrassment was cute.

“So tomorrow morning, perhaps we could meet at breakfast? I heard that there will be an announcement for warriors afterwards on the training island, something to do with a weapon that was stolen from the other creatures on this planet…”

“Was that a metal weapon, by any chance?” I questioned, only to see his face light up with recognition.

“Yes, I believe so.”

“I took that from the humans after I saved Tobias’ life…” I said quietly, hoping he’d approve.

“You did? That’s very impressive!” Otto beamed kindly. “Well then I definitely think you should attend with me.”

“I couldn’t possibly go. Tobias wouldn’t approve at all,” I blurted. I really did want to go, but I had to ‘stay in line’ and be a good female. If Tobias looked cruel in front of the new group because of me, he’d never forgive me.

“There will be some of my females there too, so he shouldn’t have a problem,” Otto said with a slight shrug.

“I’m telling you, he won’t approve!”

“Well just come as my guest. He won’t try and defy me; it’ll make him look bad,” he said cheerfully. I lowered my head, uncertain of what to do. There was no way I wanted to annoy Toby, but I was actually receiving a proper invitation to a male’s meeting. Someone wanted me there, someone wanted me to learn about fighting. “Look, if you took the weapon, you deserve to hear information about it. So come with me.” I looked up and met the dark brown eyes and small smile, both of which were very soft and encouraging.

“Okay, I’ll go,” I replied with a little nod.

“That’s great! So I’ll meet you at breakfast and then take you to the meeting, yes?” Otto asked.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

“Excellent. I’ll see you tomorrow then,” he said before excusing himself and leaving. I quickly prepared myself for bed, then lied on the mattress, eyes wide open. Did all of that really just happen? A great playtime with Toby, then a male taking a liking to me, as well as being invited to a male meeting. I was too excited to sleep!