Page 97 of Trove’s Purpose

In the end, Chee was ‘killed’, by a trio of males who hunted her down. Her armor flashed, alerting everyone, including herself, that she was dead.

Trove then took that moment to swear righteous revenge. He chased down the three males and took them all out before pointing the gun at his own helmet, ‘killing’ himself. When he left the arena and met back up with her, Chee, laughing after watching him on the vids in the exit room, asked why he didn’t just go to the ending circle. They’d located it by that point, so it wouldn’t have taken him long to reach after his revenge quest.

“I could never have a victory without you,” he declared, putting his arms around her.

It was all silly, good fun. Though, for some reason, she had a feeling that it wasn’t exactly an over exaggeration.

These males were a different breed from normal people. He very well might consider suicide to be the proper action to take if she died first.

She wasn’t exactly happy about that, but she couldn’t fix everything at once. His mental state, all of their world views, were different from the norm. Maybe that wasn’t something she could fix at all. It was just something for her to think about going forward.

After alien paintball, they went out to eat. They had spent a lot longer inside the arena than she expected, it was the tail end of sunset by the time they emerged back above the surface. Trove had his arm around her shoulders, and they didn’t have any idea of what they wanted to eat.

Luckily, this place being such a big tourist attraction meant that they didn’t have to go far to find food. Just like at the space station, they ended up picking a small food stall that was making a local specialty. Chee thought at first that it was a stuffed pancake because it was a batter put into a metal griddle – shaped like a local fish with a long tail. But the scent was as savory one and, as they got closer, she could see that the stuffing was a mincemeat mixture, turned dark blue with spices. The griddle was filled with batter, a scoop of stuffing, more batter was poured on top, then it was closed and left to cook. Once they were pulled out, they were drizzled with a glaze that was also blue then offered up, on a stick to their customers.

They got six of them – one for Chee, and five for Trove. He not only ate more than her, but he also pulled off the batter since he couldn’t eat it.

On taking a bite, she choked, unprepared for the flavor. It wasn’t just spicy, she wouldn’t have minded if it was that. It tingled on her tongue like popping candy, sizzling like a fajita plate. Altogether, it wasn’t an unpleasant flavor or sensation, but it was surprising on the first bite.

She and Trove took their food to the beach and sat down at the end of the breakwater where a bunch of people were playing and laughing so they could eat.

“This is good,” Trove said, finishing off his second one. The batter remains were being tossed into the ocean – food for the fishes.

Chee, still working on her singular stick, nodded. “This has been a great day.”

“I’m glad,” he smiled, offering his last stick. “Sure you don’t want more?”

She shook her head, showing the half-eaten one in her hand. It was a lot of food. “I’ll be surprised if I finish this, honestly. But I’m going to try, because this is really good. Even if it all goes directly to my hips.”

“I certainly won’t complain,” he said, leaning back, obviously admiring the curve of them. It was even more obvious when she was sitting down.

She gave him a look. “What?”

He clicked his teeth playfully. “I find myself fighting the urge to bite you all over. Leave marks all over those pretty hips. Go ahead. Eat more so I have lots to nibble on.”

“You say that now,” she frowned. “But my mom’s hips only got bigger after having me. So, these babies are just going to grow, even if I don’t help.” She smacked one in demonstration.

Trove’s gaze dropped to watch her do so – and lingered to enjoy the way she jiggled – before he looked back up and said simply, “Yay.”

She burst into laughter. “Well, you can’t say I didn’t warn you later.”

“Do you want many younglings?”

“Mm, I don’t know that I’d say many,” she shrugged. “Maybe two or three? I always wanted a sibling. Someone to play with growing up.”

“Your parents didn’t want any more?”

“Oh, I’m sure they would have, but there were complications with my birth, and I’m the only one they could have. They were going to adopt as I got older, but then that thing with my uncle happened and… Well, it just never happened after that.”

“I see,” Trove said gently. “He hurt you all a lot.”

“Oh, yeah. He ruined everything,” Chee chuckled, more sadness than humor in the sound. She passed him the rest of her food and leaned back on her hands. “Just came in and blew up the whole family and got to die about it before he really suffered. Straight inconsiderate.”

Trove chuckled. “Truly. I’ve never understood people who say they’re just grateful their problem was dead. I would desperately want them to suffer more. I would enjoy it.”

“Same,” she nodded along. “After everything we had to suffer for years after, he got off easy. I am grateful for one thing though.”

“Oh?”