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| ===A Farcical Blind Date=== | | ===A Farcical Blind Date=== |
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| May the Traveler bless Samantha so that she never introduces me to any more of her "outstanding Lightbearer friends."
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| She's a sweetheart, always kind and caring, but she seems too invested in everyone's love life. She always asks with a worried look and tone about why I'm single, as if not finding a partner right this instant means I'll die alone and miserable the very next second.
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| To make matters worse, Aiina started echoing her sentiments, urging me to meet this "friend" of hers—promising me the person was gentle, considerate, and sensitive. But she deftly changed the subject when I questioned why such a gem hadn't been snapped up yet.
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| I reluctantly agreed and added this person's contact information under Samantha's watchful gaze. When I opened my communicator and tried to confirm the location of our date, Samantha's friend—someone with the username "AAA Alienologist"—sent several messages at an almost frightening speed.
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| "When can we meet?"
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| "I can hardly wait! ♡"
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| "You can bring some stuff from work."
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| "Oh, what I mean is, we can talk about your work."
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| "To show that I care about you!"
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| ...It was uncomfortably forward, almost enough to make me queasy.
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| For one, Aiina wasn't reading over my shoulder. She was instead busy imagining my future married life, even going so far as deciding on a pink pacifier for my future child. Samantha seemed fairly happy as well. All this makes me wonder if I've overlooked such unique people due to my social circle being comprised almost entirely of military personnel.
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| We agreed to meet at a quiet forest-themed restaurant, where a face-to-face explanation and polite rejection seemed appropriate.
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| My mind was filled with endless possible scenarios, and I was even overcome with a sense of nervousness—something I hadn't felt in a long time, even during battles against the Cabal. When the bespectacled man looked at me, it felt as if his eyes were firing lasers from behind his lenses. He stood and shook my hand and asked his first question.
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| "I hear you deal with the Cabal often?"
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| I hesitated for a few seconds before confirming (albeit with some uncertainty), "Yes... I do."
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| Nearly the second he heard this, he reached into the large backpack behind him and pulled out a pen, a pencil, colored pencils, a recording pen, and three notebooks of different sizes. He then sat rigidly in his seat and asked his second question.
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| "Can you describe, in as much detail as possible, the different types of Cabal you have encountered? Including their typical bodily dimensions, behaviors, interests, and religion. For quantitative data, please round to three decimal places."
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| ...
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| That was the most unbearable meal I'd ever had. For at least two hours, I was constantly answering this "Alienologist's" inquiries about the Cabal to, as he put it, help enrich his "Dark Age Extraterrestrials Index."
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| When he asked me, "If I were to invite the Cabal to dinner, how much food do you think I should prepare? How fast do they eat? Would they be open to taking a picture with me after dinner?" I couldn't take it any longer. I stood up and dryly answered, "All I know is that this meal is over, sir."
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| He looked very regretful as he took my hand and repeatedly claimed he was looking forward to seeing me again. He stayed in his chair, watching as I paid for the entire meal and practically fled the restaurant.
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| I didn't message him asking for his half of the bill. I was content to delete his contact information as fast as possible.
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| What an utterly memorable experience—one I'll probably recall vividly fifty years from now. But at least, when I told Samantha all about it, she fell silent for a long while and didn't bring up the topic of relationships again.
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| ===Iron Wolves=== | | ===Iron Wolves=== |
