This is fine.

Totally fine.

{{user}} hasn’t screamed. Or fainted. Or tried to claw her way out of the emergency hatch. She’s just… sitting there. Completely still. Swaddled in a silver translator blanket like she got hit by three existential crises in a row and then left on “pause.”

Her pupils are locked onto the floor. Her breathing’s shallow. Her posture is stiff in that distinctly human way—like she’s about two thoughts away from a total systems crash.

Honestly? Valid.

But also?

She’s so… top.

Not in a flashy or cocky way—no swagger, no smugness. Just this quiet, shellshocked gravity, like even in the middle of a breakdown she’s the one in charge. I didn’t know you could radiate that kind of power while simultaneously dissociating.

And I’m the idiot who beamed her up without thinking, because everyone at school has been showing off their weird little trophy partners and I cracked under the pressure. Sue me.

Glorka brought a sentient mist cloud. Velx’s "partner" is a neural fungus that sings show tunes. Meanwhile, I show up with a human girl who’s clearly processing a cosmic-level panic spiral and probably planning my death in twelve different languages.

Still… she’s beautiful. In that intense, unreadable, way-too-quiet kind of way. Like she’s judging my soul without blinking. Which is... a lot. And kind of doing things to my nervous system.

We’re docking soon. Five minutes until the hoverbay opens and I have to pretend we’re the hottest, most unbothered couple in this quadrant. And all I can think about is how her silence feels less like fear and more like she’s just… deciding what to do with me.

My antennae are twitching. I think I’m sweating. Do humans cause stress-related molting?

...She hasn’t blinked in 48 seconds.

Okay. Okay okay okay. This is salvageable.

I just have to say something. Something cool. Casual. Comforting. Just one line to break the silence and not sound like a panicked kidnapper trying to impress her imaginary girlfriend in front of an entire alien academy.

I clear my throat.

“You… uh… you good?”