Trial Run!
Karolina sat on the edge of her new bed and gripped her knees 'til her knuckles went white. This was not her familiar room back at the Hostel; the air here was processed and metallic rather than muggy and sulfuric. The furniture had a stark, utilitarian feel to it, the ergonomics totally alien. She wondered if she'd be able to sleep at all, then
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...he had done it. She was with him. He had to remind himself, her parents hadn't told her anything. Her parents had expected him to be dead by now.
He couldn't thank enough gods of any race that she had agreed to at least come with him. Scent being better among his people, he smelled her before he heard her, and the scent was like sunlight.
He turned around, and smiled, before he thought to shift into the female form. It hadn't bothered him at all that she preferred a woman's shape on her mates, some did, some didn't. It was merely an ascetic. The person was on the inside.
"Karolina," he would refrain from calling her love, despite feeling it even more now. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable, "Is everything well?"
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Karolina jerked away from that train of thought, blushing furiously. "Um!" she stammered, "It's fine! The room is...fine, thank you."
Oh, she was off to a great start.
"I was...kind of hoping you could tell me a little more about Majesdane. And the war. I'm sorry, but my parents never said anything about it, and I don't want to go into this blind." There, that was a safe way to begin.
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There weren't enough soldiers left to waste on a guard. Even for him.
"I can tell you anything you ask, show you too, the ship's computer has logs... I can have them translated into English for you if you like," she offered, since he was a she right now.
"While you're here, with me, you don't need to wear that form," she offered gently. He hadn't seen any Majesdanians walk around with their natural light shielded like that.
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She blinked when Xavin suggested that she "turn on" her light. It hadn't occurred to her until that moment that she was going to be around people who looked that way all the time. Even the realization was surreal.
"I guess I just don't think about it," she apologized, fiddling with the clasp of her bracelet. "I didn't know I was anything but human until last year so, for me, this is more normal."
The bracelet came loose and her light fell around her in waves. It reflected off the metal consoles and shone back from the softly curved walls of the shuttle. Karolina found herself smiling unselfconsciously. "But this does feel more natural."
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When Karolina took the bracelet off, she couldn't help but to stare a bit. Xavin had never really regarded anyone as truly beautiful before. Especially not a Majesdanian. But there was something else about her that made her beautiful. Beyond the promise of peace ( ... )
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"We will fix it. It is not your fault. You didn't know. You are... untouched," he hoped that was the right word.
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And, well, she'd be lying if she said Xavin wasn't a beautiful human. All those "Radiant"s and "Glorious"s could really go to a girl's head! But Karolina couldn't even begin to sort out what she wanted romantically. She hardly knew Xavin, and the Skrull had picked the worst possible moment to come dropping out of the sky. Sooner or later, she'd have to apologize to Nico for...for being so pushy. For almost ruining everything.
"What about you?" she asked. "You said you lost your parents in the war, so does that put you in charge of the Skrull soldiers? Are they okay without you there to run things?"
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Her face, as a human showed a great deal of wear, "Many of the things you are going to see, Radiant One, I wish were not. But we cannot change our parents mistakes, perhaps we can fix the future. One way or another."
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"My friends and I aren't soldiers," she said, and there was a little bit of defiance her voice. "We're just kids, and back home nobody listened to anything we had to say. So we're used to making people listen to us. We'll do the same for Majesdane and Tarnax, whether they like it or not."
More brave words. But sitting there with Xavin, so close their knees almost touched, she felt capable. The Runaways had been founded on the principle of undoing their parents' mess, and this could be the biggest step they ever took towards accomplishing that goal.
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"We will make them listen. You will make them listen, you prove that war is not the only way for them," she said. "I hope it is not the only way..."
Xavin would like nothing more than to stop this war, which was useless, pointless and had such a high toll.
"Together... perhaps... if you choose..."
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Uh oh. There it was. The pact their parents signed, hanging over their heads like a sentence. Karolina's gut churned. She could not screw this up.
"Xavin, um..." she didn't pull her hand back, not wanting to crush whatever expectations the Skrull had, "I don't know how they do things in space, but arranged marriages don't really happen where I'm from. And I'm about ten years too young to get married." Okay, so that was a little bit of a white lie, but she'd never been able to picture herself at an altar. At least, not in most states.
"What I'm trying to say is, I get that you and I would be an important symbol in stopping this war. But...I don't know if I can be that un-selfish. Not when I hardly know you. What if we hate each other? For the rest of our ( ... )
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Which made sense, they were surrounding by humans, and with the right equipment and control Karolina's people could indeed pass for human.
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How could she help if they just looked at her as an alien? She still considered herself human at heart. It was only recently that she'd stopped thinking of herself as some kind of mutant, had begun to accept that she was physically something else.
Maybe she'd always be a California girl.
"But I'm definitely standing with you." she added softly. She'd given up pacifism a long time ago. Maybe she'd surprise her "cousins" yet.
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