An emotional dam explodes from Fin as she throws her arms around me, wrapping them tightly around my middle as she starts to sob audibly, her cheek resting against my heart. She cries, then apologizes, then cries some more. Holding her close with one arm, I caress her hair with the other. I should probably say or do something, but I’m at a loss as to what that something should be. Surprisingly, my silence proves to be the best response since Fin soon stops crying and looks up at me with a bashful smile. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cry all over you, but…thank you for letting me. I guess I just needed to cry for a bit. I should be fine now.”
It seems like females are a mystery no matter the species. “You welcome,” I say as if I actually did anything to warrant her thanking me, then correct myself, “You are welcome.”
Staring up at me in earnest, Fin’s tear-stained smile is without fail, the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen as she congratulates me, “Good job! You really are a fast learner.” My cheeks feel like they’re burning as I smile in reaction to her praise.
As much as I’ve learned today, it’s not going as fast as I’d like. Still, spending the day watching television and studying the human alphabet has helped immensely. I gesture at the table, a little worried it will make her start crying again. “Eat food?”
“Yeah, we can eat now. I’m starving actually, and you must be too.”
“Yes.” The wing is healing nicely, but the speed is outweighed by the immense need to devour any and every bit of food in sight. Normally when using the healing accelerants, patients need to receive regular vitamin shots and eat a larger than normal intakeof calorie dense food than usual, but I can’t exactly do any of that here. Nor do I have the words to explain to Fin that I’m not usually this hungry all of the time. Except when it comes to sweets. I could eat sweet pastries every minute of every day and never get sick of them. Winds, what I wouldn’t give for a box of warpberry fritters.
The food Fin brought home isn’t sweet but it’s still delicious. I do my best to eat slowly, but my plate is still empty long before Fin has finished even half of her portion. Chuckling, she points to the unopened boxes. “I brought more, feel free to have seconds. I figured one portion wouldn’t be enough for your healthy appetite.”
Normally it would be but right now, I gratefully accept Fin’s offer. This dish proves much more challenging, however, as the long noodle-like things keep slipping from my utensil. When a few fall back onto the plate and spray me with red sauce, Fin laughs. “I take it, you’ve never had spaghetti before.”
“No,” I growl as I poke at the offending noodles, trying to figure out the best way to transport them to my mouth without getting the red sauce everywhere. I’m tempted to just grab them with my fingers, but I doubt that’s the correct way to eat them and I don’t want Fin to think I’m a complete barbarian.
Chuckling, Fin rounds the table, setting one hand on my shoulder for balance as she leans down beside me. Taking the pointy utensil from my hand, she stabs a few of the noodles, then rotates the utensil until the noodles are wrapped around it with no chance of escape. It’s damn brilliant, if you ask me. Why didn’t I think of that? “There,” she says as she hands me the utensil. “It’s the least messy way to eat spaghetti, but fair warning, I still end up with sauce all over my clothes half of the time, so don’t worry if you get a little messy.”
She’s so sweet as she smiles at me that I don’t even mind that this is probably something she’d say to a child learning how toeat on their own. “Thank you, Infinity,” I say, flashing her a smile of my own.
Fin rolls her eyes. “I’ve never really liked my full name but…I have to admit I kinda like it when you say it. I mean, in a strictly platonic way. Not in, like, a romantic way or anything. Just, uh, fuck, I’ll just shut up.” Rubbing her face as if trying to remove the blush creeping over her cheeks, Fin shuffles back to her seat, eyes fixated on her plate.
Oh Winds. I’m flirting with the girl, which is the exact opposite of what I’d decided to do, but I can’t seem to help myself. She’s so winds-damned cute when she blushes.
Without really knowing why, I decide to share something I haven’t shared with my crew mates. “Name no Omni,” I say, well aware that it’s not the right way to say it but hoping she’ll get the meaning.
Finally raising her head, Fin looks at me curiously. “I figured it’s probably a cosplay name, though I’ve never heard of such a character. Will you tell me your real name?”
“Is Ka’Omnireth.” It sounds rougher in Quintran language and reminds me of how my mother would use it whenever she was mad at me, which was often.
“Oh. That’s…a mouthful.” Fin chuckles. “Is it a common name where you’re from?”
“Yes and no.” If she were a Quintran, she’d immediately know what my name means. She would have probably heard of me, too. Fortunately, Fin is human, so she has no idea. Deciding that a change of subject would be for the best, I ask, “What work you?” No, that’s not right. “What you work?” Still not right. “What you do work?” Still not right, but better.
“Ah. What do I do for work?” Fin inquires with a sentence structure that I would never have thought to string together in a million years.
Belatedly, I realize she probably doesn’t want to talk about work after coming home so drained, but I lack the words to form conditionals, so I plod along with the current line of conversation. “You say, TV coffee ad work?” She mentioned something about a television advertisement but used a lot of words that didn’t translate well.
Fin doesn’t seem to mind talking about her work or, if she does, she doesn’t let it show. “Yeah, I’m an assistant in a small advertising company. We help other companies sell lies,” she says bitterly. “We were shooting an ad for dog food today and it was hell.”
Thanks to my alphabet learning program, I at least know what a dog is. “Dog no good?”
“Oh no, the dogs were amazing. The dog food we were advertising is complete crap. What about you, Ka’Omnireth?” Fin asks with a teasing smile. “Do you have a job? What do you do when you’re not cosplaying as a fallen angel?”
Damn. I should have seen this coming. Why did I even ask about her job when it should have been obvious she’s going to ask about mine in return? I don’t want to lie but what should I tell her? I fly around the galaxy with a bunch of other aliens and a handful of humans rescuing people from slavery? If she doesn’t already think I’m insane, she will afterward.
Chapter 12
Fin
Followingmyquestion,Omnigrows quiet, and I want to smack myself. I’m such an idiot. Why am I asking about his job? If he has a cognitive disability, he might not have a job. He might be permanently unemployable and ashamed of it and, like the idiot that I am, I just put my foot in my mouth in the worst way possible. “You don’t have to—” I start apologizing.
Shaking his head, Omni interrupts me. “No sorry, Fin. Okay. Complicated.”
Of course it’s complicated. I should keep my mouth shut and not poke my nose into things that aren’t any of my business. “Of course. I’m s—”
“Fin,” he interrupts me again, this time with a playful scowl. “No sorry. Good question. No many words. I work. I, um, fight!” His face lights up when he finds the right word.
