Cold Coffee (Xephmadia)

Glowing (Part 1)

When Xephos saw her, it was like he had been shot up with a dose of morphine. It felt as if every part of his body was warm and it felt good, like something just clicked inside him and everything was right with the world. Wonderfully right. It only took half a second for him to realize what was happening. Sure, he had been forced to read all about it back home when he was younger; it was standard there, expected. Finding your ‘forever person’ was party worth back home, he just didn’t expect it to happen to him on Earth with a human like her.

For Notch’s sake, he didn’t even know her name!

“Are you alright, Xeph?”

A voice brought him out of his stupor, causing him to redirect his attention to his friend, Lalna.

“Yes, yes, of course I’m alright, why do you ask?”

Lalna shuffles around in his lab coat for a few moments before producing a medium sized scalpel from its contents.

“Uh, Lalna, I don’t think now is the time for-”

He huffed and interrupted Xephos

“Look at your reflection, you ninny! You’re glowing!”

Eyes widening, Xephos snatches the scalpel from his friend’s hand and surely enough, the small reflective surface was just enough to make out two pairs of glowing blue eyes. He had forgotten about that part…

He rubs at his eyes and chuckles nervously before handing back the scalpel to the curious scientist.

“It’s nothing, friend, I can assure you. Now, where did you say our seats were?”

Lalna’s expression remains skeptical, muttering something about aliens under his breath, but leads Xephos to their seats anyway. Lalna sits down, letting out a large exhale of air and saying offhandedly,

“Honeydew should be back soon, he went to go get snacks at the refreshment table… for the third time.”

Xephos chuckles at Honeydew’s antics before straining his neck in order to find the blond woman from earlier, though his efforts prove futile after he can’t spot her. He would have to find her during the city meeting’s break if he ever wanted this glowing to stop.

Honeydew joins them at their seats shortly, bringing along a generously piled plate of goodies with him and before long the meeting commences.  It went smoothly besides a small hiccup when the lights dimmed for a presentation, showing off just how brightly Xephos’ eyes were glowing. Though there were some stares and whispers, Lalna was able to think quickly and give him his goggles after setting them to dim, almost like darker sunglasses.

Before long, the break had started, and Xephos was on a mission. He turned to his two friends, asking

“Do either of you two know a blond woman that wears long black robes?”

The two blink

“That’s not very specific, Xeph.” Lalna replies

Xephos groans and slumps over slightly

“Look, I’ll be back later, I need to find someone.”

He dashed away, unable to wait any longer, towards the lobby area where most of the guests had congregated during the break. Thanking his tall height for once, he peaked over many heads in his speedy scanning, finally spotting the woman from earlier about to leave to lobby to hang out outside. He speed walks towards the door, although he gets stopped by a few acquaintances that curiously question him about his eyes. He’s able to shake them off quickly with round about answers and continues his quest to talk to the blond woman.

He makes it out to the crisp fall air and scans the area. Puzzled, he doesn’t see her right away, but it only takes a short few moments until he spots her on the horizon, heading towards a nearby forest.

He runs to catch up, nearly tripping over his own feet at one point. Hearing the stumbling behind her, the woman whips around and enters a defensive stance.

“Who the hell are you and what do you want?!”

Xephos freezes. He hadn’t been expecting that.

For a moment, he just stares at her, glowing eyes piqued with curiosity. The blond woman shuffles uncomfortably before asking again

“What?”

Xephos shakes his head and accidentally speaks his thoughts

“I need to touch you.”

She tenses and glares at him

“Excuse me?”

Xephos scrambles over his words

“No! I mean, I didn’t mean to- that’s not what I meant!”

The woman huffs before turning on her heels and walking towards the forest again.

Xephos stutters and chases after her

“Wait! I need to talk to you!”

He’s about to touch her arm when she whips around, eyes glowing electrically and for a moment he felt amazing, that her eyes were finally glowing too.

But… they weren’t glowing with love or biology. They were glowing with power and rage.

Xephos simply didn’t know what to do.

“Listen, creep,”

The blond hisses through her teeth

“I’m going to leave now. You’re going to stay put and leave me alone. Got it?

Xephos can only nod numbly and back away while she summons her broom and quickly jets away.

Xephos dejectedly returns to his friends.

This is going to be a lot tougher than expected.