Rising Shards

Lillia held an intense glare at Oka on the edge of an Exumi village, a race of beings Oka still wasn’t entirely sure she knew the full details of. She had also just made out with her first girlfriend ever at the prompting of Lillia as well, which really had completely thrown her off. And Lillia was not only hitting her trademark glare on Oka, but was also shaking her shoulders again, which was starting to make her almost dizzy on top of everything else.

“Alright,” Oka said, smacking Lillia’s hands away. “Explain this Ko Matora thing to me and stop shaking me!”

“At the Dentist Haircut premiere!” Lillia said.

“That crap movie?” Oka asked.

“Yes, it was terrible, but it was part of the cultural zeitgeist! We had to see it!” Lillia said. “That part doesn’t matter. What matters is that’s where it began.”

“Where what began?”

“Where Ko Matora asked me…or…she did something to me, I don’t know.” Lillia said.

“She did something?” Oka asked. “Did you, er, use. You were safe about it, right?”

“Shut up, it wasn’t that,” Lillia said. “Oh my goodness, was she asking if I…”

“Ko Matora’s the beam chasers girl, right?” Oka asked. ”With the twin sister?”

“Oka, she’s in your room constantly.” Lillia said.

“I mean, I know who the Matora sisters are,” Oka said. “I just. Leave when they show up. Because they’re annoying and always want to wrestle. I don’t wrestle!”

“That’s not important!” Lillia said. “Also, I know ‘I mean’ is used as a pause to think, but I despise it as a sentence starter.”

“I know, sorry,” Oka said. “I mea—it’s just. You’re throwing a lot at me at once! I just made out with Zeta kinda!”

“Kinda?” Lillia said. “I know! I was there!”

“Wait,” Oka squinted. ”You didn’t…see any of that, did you?”

“That doesn’t matter,” Lillia said. “More importantly, Ko Matora approached me at the theater and said someone has a crush on me.”

“What?” Oka asked. “Who…you don’t think…?”

“I do very much think,” Lillia said. “If Ko Matora somehow got wind that Naomi has a reciprocated crush on me, that’d be phenomenal.”

“So why’d she say that to you?” Oka asked.

”I don’t know!” Lillia said.

”What’d you say to all this?”

“That’s where it gets strange, and perhaps even confusing,” Lillia said, strumming her chin. “I didn’t say anything.”

“…alright.” Oka said, doing her best to not look judgmental. “So, are you into Ko Matora now?”

Lillia stopped to think. “I mean…”

”I thought you despised that as a sentence starter.” Oka said.

”Shut up,” Lillia said. ”This whole thing has me so turned around I can’t keep my hated phrases straight!”

”Well,” Oka said. ”Do you like her more than Naomi?”

“Well, Naomi’s still my priority crush, obviously.”

Oka tried to read Lillia’s expression.

“…but? Do you feel it for Ko too?”

“I feel. Something for her.” Lillia crossed her arms. ”I don’t know. It’s different when someone says they’re going to fight to get you and that they’d be better for you than the other person.”

“Whoa.” Oka said, suddenly glad Ko was going for Lillia and not Zeta.

“I. Know.”

“That’s…intense.”

“I know.” Lillia said. “She was…very…something at the fang deep cleaning.”

“Was she?” Oka asked. “I didn’t even notice.”

“She had me stroke her hair,” Lillia said.

“What the…?” Oka asked. “Aw, I should stroke Zeta’s hair, I know it’s pretty soft, and that it’s pretty pretty, eh? That’d be so relaxing—”

”And then this morning!” Lillia said. ”I believe she asked me on some kind of...mutual visit to a fun establishment?”

”A date?”

”Maybe! I’m...not sure.” Lillia sighed. ”I’m not sure about any of this.”

”Hmm,” Oka said. ”It’s too bad one of them isn’t here so you can make out with her to clear your mind.”

”I know,” Lillia siad. ”I’ve gone over that scenario in my head quite a bit.”

”Although I guess that didn’t really clear my mind,” Oka said. ”More just replaced the sad thoughts with...making out thoughts.”

”Uh huh,” Lillia said. She took her glasses off and rubbed them on her shirt.

”Sorry, didn’t mean to rub it in,” Oka said.

”You didn’t, it’s fine,” Lillia said, putting her glasses back on. ”Just...what would you do in my situation?”

”I guess I’d see who I liked more first,” Oka said. ”Then see if they liked me the most?”

”That could work,” Lillia said. ”Because if I had to pick right now, I’m not sure who I would pick.”

”Well maybe when we get back, I can be your wingman again! I did pretty alright with you and Naomi at the camp, I’d say.” Oka said. ”I can be nearby when Ko takes you to said fun establishment. Then you can see if you like Ko more, maybe?”

”That’s a good idea,” Lillia said. ”Thank you, I feel a lot better already.”

”Me too! Except more about my thing. Thank you again.” Oka said. ”But we should probably get back to the mission?”

”Right,” Lillia said. ”As soon as we’re back, we’re gonna talk about all of this in greater detail, correct?”

”Over some snacks at our favorite vending machine?” Oka asked.

”I’d like that.” Lillia said.