“Oh. Uh. Hello…”
Phovos couldn’t help but stare. She had been sitting at the table on the balcony for about half an hour now, a full twenty minutes before her date was due to start. On the table in front of Phovos were two plates, two glasses, some cutlery, an unopened bottle of water and a single lone, lit candle. To one side was the entrance back into the outpost. On the other, the depths of space. Phovos had mostly been staring out into space when her date arrived.
“Hi, Phovos. Sorry I took so long…” Tahnahos stuttered. “I… wasn’t sure what look you’d prefer.”
Tahnahos was a Kronospast. He normally stood at about a meter and a half in height, with blue skin, the odd patch of silvery blue armour and a tail twice as long as his own body. Four bright blue eyes normally lit up his snouted face. What Phovos was staring at though wasn’t a Kronospast at all. It had all of Tahnahos’s colourings, but everything else was wrong.
“Turns out I’m a bit rusty when it comes to shapeshifting…” Tahnahos admitted as he sat down, but not before he had poured Phovos and himself some water. Phovos’s nostrils were telling her that a Kronospast was sitting in front of her. But her eyes only saw probably the bluest and prettiest Ksithan she had seen in a long, long time.
“Oh no, I don’t think you’re rusty at all!” Phovos smiled awkwardly, sipping her drink with equal awkwardness. “Thank you for the drink…”
“No worries…” Tahnahos’s smile was equally awkward.
After a brief silence, the not-Kronospast tapped the side of the table, which somehow instantly summoned Akah. The tall, armoured Lanex was holding a tray with two dishes on it. At first glance, they were very similar and both consisted of pasta, but the dish placed in front of Phovos smelled far different compared to the one Akah clumsily put in front of Tahnahos. Akah then waved at Tahnahos, gave him a quick thumbs up then disappeared from view, leaving him and Phovos completely alone.
“I kinda had the meals prepped in advance…” Tahnahos muttered. “Just simple things. I hope you don’t mind.”
Phovos picked up a fork and poked at her food. It was very clearly pasta in a heavy meat sauce, with a cheese sauce dumped on top. A quick glance at Tahnahos’s meal suggested the same thing, but, again, it smelled wrong. Sweet and sugary. Being a Kronospast, Tahnahos didn’t actually eat much meat, and all the meat-like lumps were in fact chocolate sauce and pieces of cake, topped with a white caramel sauce instead of cheese.
“You really went all out.”
“Yeah.”
“You really shouldn’t have.”
Tahnahos grunted. “I wanted this to feel normal for both of us. Because, well, I don’t feel normal as a Kronospast any more.”
“That’s… very considerate…” Phovos stuttered. “I honestly had no idea what I was walking in to. Haven’t dated in… like… a century.”
“I guessed as much…” Tahnahos moved his pasta around the plate, obviously not that hungry. “Been a while since I properly dated as well. Then again, I did mostly date Rethans. And their… dating habits are fucking weird…”
Phovos laughed a little, agreeing with Tahnahos, before taking a bite of pasta. To her surprise, it was genuinely very nice. More heavily spiced than she was used to, but nice. She would have eaten more but, well, there was a huge distraction sitting in front of her.
“So, uh… how did you choose your current look?” Phovos asked.
“I, uh, looked up pictures of cute Ksithans…” Tahnahos admitted. “Am I… too distracting?”
Phovos swallowed nervously. “A little, yeah. Got the right type and everything…”
Tahnahos glanced up at Phovos. “I thought you were asexual.”
“Eh, kinda…” Phovos admitted between forkfuls of pasta. “I definitely was in my last iteration. This iteration though, I’m… just delayed, I guess. Too busy and too awkward to have a real relationship.”
“I get that,” Tahnahos shrugged. “Last few decades have been a complete and utter clusterfuck.”
“You can say that again…”
Phovos and Tahnahos both trailed off, returning to their food. But Phovos would occasionally steal looks from Tahnahos. She couldn’t help it. Tahnahos had made himself genuinely attractive to her. Even if her nostrils were screaming that no, he wasn’t actually a Ksithan.
“Do you want me to change back?” Tahnahos eventually asked, having cleaned his plate. Phovos hadn’t realised just how obvious her staring was.
“Uh…” Phovos hesitated. “I… uuh… you… you do what you think is best.”
“You sure about that? Because I’m quite happy sitting here as a Ksithan and you seem at ill ease…”
Phovos took a deep breath. “You’re genuinely attractive. But you don’t smell right so my brain is confused.”
“You haven’t answered my question though…” Tahnahos sighed. “Do you want me to stay form-changed into a Ksithan? Yes or no.”
“Uh… yes.”
Tahnahos leaned forward, smiling. “Alright then. Your wish is my command…”