[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/RkT0NcZ.png[/img]

[h3]In[/h3][h1][color=C71585]Space Oddity[/color][/h1][h3]Episode 05[/h3][/center]
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[center][b]THIS EPISODE'S THEME[/b]
[b][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juhBVAnLkHk]"Ride The Wind"[/url][/b] by Poison[/center]
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It had taken a while to even think of getting ready. The college life was not awfully conducive to prolonged space adventures, specially if you were there thanks to a swimming scholarship. Gabriel had to attend tournaments, pass his finals, finish his assignments, live through debilitating hangovers and caffeine overdoses, and all the while take care of a very voracious alien pet.

“Are you absolutely sure?” Asked Jake, and Gabriel could have sworn that he could hear the sad puppy eyes he was giving him behind his back. But the Andromedan did not relent, though he was extra sweet and tender about putting the leash around their baby Thorian Thrasher’s gooey neck.

[i][color=C71585]”Yeah”[/color][/i], he answered, sounding rather whiny about it. [i][color=C71585]“Don’t get me wrong. I’ve definitely moved past my prejudices now that I’ve actually lived with this cutie, but it’s still dangerous for them and for us.”[/color][/i]

“Sucks.”

[i][color=C71585]”Mhmmm”[/color][/i], voiced Gabriel, petting the alien creature’s head. They returned the gesture with some nuzzling and a very loving gurgling sound. Somehow, he no longer found those noises disgusting. [i][color=C71585]“If it helps, this one’s probably going to be fine no matter where I leave them. It has a very nice personality.”[/color][/i]

With the leash properly placed, all that was left for him to do was put on his ridiculously oversized backpack and thank the Universe for him never skipping back day at the gym.

“We really need to talk about...”

[i][color=C71585]“What this relationship is?”[/color][/i] Asked Gabriel, standing rather gallantly in the middle of their dorm room.

“Yes, that”, said Jake. “You said this whole trip with the alien girl and the knight might take a while. So...”

There was a pause, a rather awkward silence shared between the two young men.

[i][color=C71585]“Well, I do like you”[/color][/i], said Gabriel. [i][color=C71585]“A lot.”[/color][/i]

“You like everyone”, Jake said with a chuckle.

[i][color=C71585]“True.”[/color][/i], Gabriel grinned, though the gesture faded. [i][color=C71585]“My life is complicated… and I kinda want you to be a part of it. But it’s going to get stressful really fast and I don’t think it’s getting any easier in the near future.”[/color][/i]

“Friends with benefits, then?” Said Jake, pressing his hand on the taller male’s chest. “At least for now?”

[i][color=C71585]“I’d like that”[/color][/i], said Gabriel. And then they kissed. Just a little peck, really. Which then turned into a smooch. Which then turned into...

One steamy ellipsis later, the Andromedan and their pet Thorian Thrasher were gone, swallowed by a rift in space. All they left behind was a splatter of pale Thorian goo, thankfully odorless, and iridescent sparkles of cosmic energy in the air.

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First order of business, after dealing with all of the customary arrangements for a long journey through outer space, was finding his apparent travel partners. Which took a while. A long while. Or rather, finding Eva was easy, but not so much Riley. Her trail went cold almost as soon as Gabriel pursued it. It was as if she had vanished into thin air. Which, in his experience as a living spatial anomaly, did not bode well.

Getting rid of the Thorian Thrashers on Earth may have been his priority, but Gabriel knew better than to let this sort of mystery slide. And he would need help.

This was how the Andromedan found himself jumping through a rift in space into the women’s room of a dive bar in Lost Haven. The air within immediately reminded him of the time he had accidentally appeared inside a giant Tuafrun worm’s stomach, a memory that filled him with a surprising amount of nostalgia.

The bar itself was reminiscent of many alien cantinas, save for the lack of a weirdly enthusiastic band playing in the background for an audience that often was too busy plotting space crime. In that sense, it was cozy.

[i][color=C71585]“Eva?”[/color][/i] he called out to her as soon as he saw her, but she was already on her way to the exit. So he ran after her.

[i][color=C71585]"Eva, wait!"[/color][/i]