“You think [i]my[/i] name is weird?” Serix said defensively. He let out an indignant huff. He happened to like his name. It rolled off the tongue easily and wasn’t difficult to remember. “Yours is the strangest name I’ve heard in my life. It even tops Zoar’Ozaumn, and he was always getting picked on about how strange his name sounded.”

Cassie tried to explain what a ‘nickname’ was to him, but she only succeeded in further confusing him. First of all, he had no idea what a ‘boyfriend’ was. He assumed it had something to do with a status of relations, since the human grouped it with family and friends. Perhaps humans had different kinds of friends? He would have to ask her more about that later. Then the human tried giving him examples of nicknames, using Serix's name to do so. He winced when she tried saying different variations of his name. They sounded clipped and curt, not at all pleasant on the ears. He preferred to have his whole name stated rather than just pieces of it.

Serix noticed Cassie’s expression turn solemn at the mention of her father. He found that he felt a bit of empathy for her. He knew what it was like to lose his parents; to suddenly be alone. It had to have been much worse for the human, though. Her parents died in the middle of a losing war, leaving her to fend for herself in the midst of a deadly Plague. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She did have that ‘uncle’ she mentioned before. He must have been the human that looked after her when her parents were gone.

[b]“Hey, look,”[/b] Cassie said, looking out the window. [b]“The rain is starting to let up a little bit. It should be gone pretty soon.”[/b] She looked back at him curiously. [b]“What are you going to do once the rain is gone?”[/b]

What [i]was[/i] he going to do once the rain was gone? Serix shifted in the chair. He was supposed to report back to the pilot at nightfall. He did a quick calculation, running through the different scenarios in his mind. If he chose to follow his orders and come back, one of two things could happen. Optimally, he would show up, report his findings, and set out again to continue Scouting with no problems. However if the pilot had somehow received word that Serix was harboring a human being, the situation would be much worse. He would show up to report his findings, and then… well, he entirely sure what would come next. All he knew for certain was that it wouldn’t be good.

Then there was the other possibility. He could choose to ignore his orders and hide out in the human’s ship. On the surface, it sounded like a good idea. The human had water and food that was (hopefully) edible, so he wouldn’t need to stock up at the cargo ship. He could survive without coming back. But when he took the repercussions into consideration… The pilot might assume something went wrong and send the other Scouts to find him. They all knew the general direction Serix had gone when they parted. What if they found the human’s ship? Cassie would be exterminated right away and he would probably be killed soon after. There was always the chance that the pilot could assume Serix died on his mission and forget about him, but the likelihood of that happening was slim to none. There were so few Lunairans left that every single body had to be accounted for, dead or alive. He only had one option.

“I have to report back to the ship I arrived in,” Serix said at last. “I have to restock on supplies, and my pilot wants to run a head count to make sure everyone is safe.” He looked up to meet her eyes. “If I miss it, he’ll likely send a search party to come get me. I have to go.” He hesitated. “But when I leave… I might not come back.”