By Emie M. Little

Therrus eyed the snacks neatly aligned on the table and considered grabbing something before deciding that he was too nervous to find the food appealing. For now, he should just make his way to a corner. He turned and nearly collided with a young woman, almost sending the snacks on her plate tumbling.

“Oh!” He yelped and tried to step around her. Unfortunately, he’d stepped to the very side she had gone to avoid him.

She said something that sounded like a curse, though strangely Therrus couldn’t understand it. He would have to get his translator looked at. It should know all human tongues.

She stepped the other way at the exact same time as him. The dance continued for a few moments until both parties stopped entirely.

After a beat, the stranger giggled and said in a deep voice, “You shall not pass!”

“Wha-why?”

The woman startled. Her pale skin took on a shade of red.

“No, I—” she replied in a different voice. “Sorry, it’s a movie reference. I’m Ginny. Hi.”

“Oh, nice to meet you,” Therrus greeted. “I’m Luke. Like, ‘Luke, I am your father.’”

Ginny blinked. “Wait, are you Luke or is your son Luke? Both? Is it an ancestral name?”

“Oh, no, that’s… also a movie quote,” Therrus stammered. Suddenly, he remembered the standard greeting drilled into all who visited Earth. He stuck out his hand.

Ginny blinked at it. Therrus worried he’d done it wrong somehow until she brightened with an “Oh!” and shook his hand.

She eyed his hand. “Woah! You have six fingers! Ha!” Ginny brandished a small sliver of wood that had been embedded in one of her snacks. “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

“What?” Therrus stepped away. “I-I didn’t kill anyone! I thought your name was Ginny!”

She faltered. “No, it… it’s from The Princess Bride? You know, the six fingered man?”

“I… don’t know what that is.”

“Another movie…”

Ginny bit her lip and looked down at the snack table, giving Therrus a chance to observe her. She was a bit shorter than him, thin and willowy with eyes the brightest shade of green he’d ever seen. As someone who had studied Earthen flora it reminded him of sun filtered through leaves. She also had long hair as close to gold as he’d ever seen tucked beneath a beanie. The hat had shifted during their back and forth and now revealed one ear that was much pointier than those he’d observed on other humans. He hesitated to point it out. Humans were very picky about some physical observations, but he could never quite place where those limits were. She’d mentioned his fingers though, so maybe it was okay to point out unusual extremities.

In the end, he simply didn’t have the willpower to avoid making a joke. “I like your ears. Are you part Vulcan?”

She dropped her plate on the table and yanked her hat down so that it covered her exposed ears. “Um, what?”

Therrus grimaced with the realization that he had in fact committed a social error. “Vulcans? Star Trek? Live long and prosper?”

“Another movie quote?”

“Er, kinda. More TV shows, but there are movies… Sorry.”

“No i-it’s fine. I like that one. It reminds me of Elrond’s blessing. ‘May the stars shine upon your faces.’”

“I do like that. Maybe you can tell me more about your movies. I would love to expand my studies—er, I mean, my watch list.”

“Sure! You can tell me about yours, too. Can you try to find a seat while I get a drink?” She gestured at the furniture scattered across the room.

“Do or do not, there is no try,” Therrus responded as he veered toward a pair of unoccupied armchairs. Ginny joined him a moment later, carrying a cup and a snack plate laden with fruits and vegetables.

She had barely sat down when Janice—the enthusiastic event host who had welcomed Therrus when he’d come in—appeared out of nowhere. “Oh, I couldn’t have set this up better if I tried! You two have so much in common! If you hadn’t found each other I would have matchmade before long. Don’t forget to pick up coupons for our corporate partners before you go. We’ve had plenty of places sign up that make for the perfect first date! Well, I won’t keep you. Ta-ta!”

She left just as suddenly as she’d appeared but left behind a rush of panic in Therrus’s Civaran stomach. He was hit with the realization that the ‘Singles Mixer’ he was attending was not geared toward ‘meeting plenty of new and exciting strangers’ as the advertisements had claimed. It was part of the human mating ritual!

He turned to Ginny, apologetic, only to see a mirrored expression on her face as though she was coming to the same conclusion.

Maybe it wasn’t too bad of a mistake if even human Ginny didn’t realize what this was. When the girl seemed to get over her surprise, her face started to turn a dark red again. “Well, if you do want to go somewhere else, I saw a coupon for a vegan place near the old growth forest outside of town. I practically grew up there, so I could show you the best parts, and we could get dinner afterward.”

Therrus was going to get in so much trouble if the Earthan Initiative ever heard about this. Still, he couldn’t help but smile back tentatively. “I saw another coupon for the ice cream place by the planetarium. Maybe go there for dessert and see the stars after?”

She smiled back and took Therrus’s hand, leading him toward the coupon table. “As you wish,” she said with the cadence he’d begun to realize accompanied a quote.

While her exact words didn’t fit, Therrus knew there was only one quote he could give in reply. He gave his best intergalactic smuggler smirk and replied, “I know.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emie M. Little is an Accountant in Virginia who has had a love of storytelling from childhood, stemming from a love of reading. Ever since middle school she had been posting fanfictions across several websites. Now, over a decade later she has started to delve into the world of original works and short stories. Havok is her first official publication outside of fanfiction works.

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