Till Death Do Us Part

Posted on Sat Aug 1st, 2020 @ 7:38am by Ka'see 'Cassie' Anderson (*) & Chief Helmsman Eden Bowers & Executive Officer Jake Ford

Mission: Mission 11 - Prospecting
Location: New Laurium - Market
1263 words - 2.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Eden was positively loving being down on the planet. There was so much to do, so much to see, so many new people to talk to. She'd been darting everywhere looking at all the stuff and all the interesting people. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye she spotted a small child who appeared to be alone in the crowd. She watched him for a while and decided to take action when it appeared after ten minutes that no one was coming for it.

"Hi there, are you lost?" Eden reached down to take the child's hand and felt a tingling sensation once she'd touched him. Her arm went a little numb. "Uhoh. Jake!" Eden said a bit loudly. "I think I have an issue here."

"Huh?" Jake wasn't paying attention until he felt Eden slip out of his grasp. "What?"

She came back to him with the child in her other hand. "He won't let go and my arm is going numb." Eden responded a tiny bit worried like.

Cassie was literally attempting to get some last-minute stuff for their departure when she heard the loud familiar voice through the crowd. What was happening now? Had they not had enough chaos and confusion for a while? Could they not have one trip to a market without raised voices?

"He hasn't said anything, I thought he was lost and I'd help him find his parents." She started explaining in Eden-fashion. "But maybe I got a bit too carried away?"

Cassie frowned as she looked at Eden then the 'child' in her arms and shook her head. How could someone who drove space ships for a living be such a trouble magnet to herself and the people around her. First Stand, then being a suspect in attempted murder on Gregnol and now this? "I think you might have. What is your name?" Cassie asked the last part it what she suspected was the 'child's home language.

The child made a noise that sounded more like a grunt and then spoke unintelligible words in a very deep voice. But Eden managed to make out the words "Wife and mine."

"Uhh...Eden..." Jake murmured. "I think you somehow managed to get yourself betrothed to this thing?"

Cassie frowned looking down at the being and shook her head. “She did not consent.” The scientist said first in federation standard then in his own language.

"No, I certainly did not. Big misunderstanding. I thought you were a child. I'll just let go now." Eden realized she couldn't get her hand free. "Or you can let go now and we'll chalk this up to all a big misunderstanding. I've learned my lesson universe," she said looking up at the sky.

The short creature only replied again. "Wife. Mine!" In a more firm voice.

"Uh, no," Jake replied firmly, as though speaking to a child. He glanced at Eden and Cassie. "Am I going to need to carry you out of here?"

"It would not work. It is a telepathic connection. Very surprising he is able to do that when you...well..." Cassie stopped and shrugged. She was not going into the woman's marriage with Sebastian but that should have stopped the connection unless the woman no longer considered herself married. They could only imprint for lack of better had worked either way. "It's is fascinating but not the time or place to have this scientific theory."

"She's already married," Jake tried to explain to the strange small creature. "Already. Married." He motioned with his hands a little elaborately, try to get the message across.

Eden raised her eyebrows at this as she stared at Jake. She didn't try to contradict him though. The little guy wasn't having it. He seemed to hold on stronger to her hand.

Cassie frowned and stamped on the being's foot hard, it a very un Cassie like gesture making the being cry out and let the woman go. "Run," Cassie yelled gathered her stuff pushing the pair through the crowd.

She felt sluggish but Eden ran as the being finally let go of her when Cassie had stomped on its foot. And to her great relief, he did not follow as she looked back. He looked down at his foot and at them sprinting away and pulled his head back for a cry that seemed to echo around them everywhere. "That can't be good. Let's go back to the ship before someone else finds us," Eden said.

Cassie covered her ears as they ran, the sound reverberated through them and would give her a headache one the ringing stopped. She finally stopped pushing them when she gathered they were far enough away that they could no longer hear the crying and that they needed a moment to catch their breath. “Well, that was interesting,” Cassie commented on shaking her head at her friend. “Can never have just a normal shopping trip, can we? Always something must happen, right? I am not shopping with either of you again.”

"I'd like to say that this sort of thing never happens..." Jake said, putting a comforting arm around Eden's shoulders. "But then I'd be lying, wouldn't I?"

The hybrid sighed shaking her head as the headache started. “Bastards know how to cry. You, humans, are lucky.” Cassie sighed as she sounded more human than she had in a long time.

"Me? Lucky? I feel nauseous and my arm is tingling and just ask Jake here how we met. I don't think I'm very lucky at all. I think the universe is testing me at every possible turn and somehow I still manage to slip out of it's grasp. But then that's how my life has always been."

"I'll try not to take that personally," Jake retorted. "If the universe helped us find one another, it can't be that bad, can it?"

Cassie just stood there looking a bit awkward for a moment before she shrugged. “I just meant you do not have the ringing in your ears but you are lucky Eden. You found Jake here and that was lucky, to say the least.” Cassie was jealous sometimes that people found others to share moments with. It had been making her think more and more about Johnathen and the way he had left her. It would have been less painful if he had died rather than leaving her high and dry with a connection that kept haunting her.

"Aww yeah, I didn't mean it like that. Jakie is the best thing to happen to me in 150 years, and that even includes being taken out of the transporter. I honestly would not have healed without him." Eden put her head down on his shoulder. "But I also seem to get into trouble a lot."

"Well I am going to leave you and Jakie to it all," Cassie said sounding upset for a second before shaking herself back to normal. "I still have the stuff to gather for my project and we leave in a few hours." She added trying to not sound quite as cool and upset as she could feel herself bubbling up too.

Eden frowned and glanced at Jake as she watched Cassie hurry off. "Did I say something wrong?

"No idea. Maybe she just wanted to get out of here before she accidentally got married too," Jake smiled, pulling Eden in close. "Ain't no alien midget stealing you from me that quickly."

Eden made a tisk sound with her tongue. "Horizontally challenged," she corrected him but grinned and snuggled into him too.