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The portal center slowly spins around as it always does. You’re getting a bit bored at this point. You’ve been waiting for a while for a very special person to walk out, Viktor Humphries. He’s actually your first visitor on the ranch; well, if he would actually be here… You try to hold hope that he’s just busy like he always is, because this is just too important to give up on. It wasn’t easy in the slightest to get that scientist to agree to hang out in person with you. I mean, it could be that he’s always really busy with his sciency stuff, or that he is a pretty closed off person from the looks of it. But, this was kinda supposed to be a date, you don’t really know if he got that memo, but you tried your best to hint it without getting too embarrassed.
Viktor Humphries stands in front of an open portal straight to Rainbow Island, to meet with a certain acquaintance of his that he’s thought about a lot recently. He’s all ready, with the only other clothes he has that aren’t ugly or his favorite lab coat. He pulls up a hologram to look at the time: it’s already 11 minutes and 9 seconds after their planned meet-up time. He thinks, ‘Maybe I should just cancel, it’s bad manners to be so late like this.’ But he snaps out of it, ‘What am I thinking? They’d probably be more upset about me canceling than showing up late… and I really want to see them…’ And that was the problem. Viktor must have had some error in his code because even though he has been thinking about that rancher non-stop and would do anything to see them, he is also so scared to. There is no logical reason for his body to pull him away from the portal, what is happening? This must be some odd side effect from his recent testing.
Even though he is trembling for no apparent reason, Viktor swallows in big and walks—against his body’s will—through the portal.
You look up from your sulking to see a man coming through the portal, it must be him! He looks almost unrecognizable as you’ve never seen him outside his regular lab garb. You grin big, “You’re here! I thought I was going to have to wait forever…”
Viktor backed up in embarrassment, almost falling back into the portal he just came through. He blushes at you, "I-uh… I'm sorry. I was… um… busy.” His voice shakes with every word he says, what is happening? He can always talk clearly through the communication station, why is he such a mess now?
“Well, would you like to maybe take a walk around the island? I've seen it a whole lot, but I know you've only seen this place through a screen… or your weird drone things.” Viktor flinches at the proposition, obviously nervous of exploring the island. “Don’t worry, I have hydro turrets all around the island, and if any tarr get past them, I can shoot em down!” You fling a glob of water out of your vacpack, landing on the roof of the conservatory.
Viktor calms himself before interjecting, “Uhh… No. I’m not scared of tarr, umm… I’d just rather us spend our time here?” He ends his sentence with an uptalk, almost like he’s covering up his actual reason.
“Ohh, okay! Well…, ” you plant your hand on your neck, contemplating what to do now that your plans have been thrown off. “Well, I could give you a tour of the ranch! I think I’ve done a great job making the place look nice… and I haven’t been able to show anyone else…”
Viktor observes the conservatory before replying, “Okay!” He smiles big: turning his face away when he realizes how much emotion he just showed.
“Come on!” You link your arm in his and tug him along, heading to the northern section of your ranch.
You show him your entire ranch, from sea to cave, boom to flutter. Along the way showing him all the little decorations you’ve spent hours collecting and placing just right to make your ranch look *aesthetic*. He seemed actually impressed! Well I guess nerds like him usually don’t really care about making their places look nice, just the practicality of it. But, there was one oddity with him during your entire tour, other than his hand sweating so much on your’s. He seemed repulsed from the corrals? It was like he was avoiding a rad slime’s radiation? He IS a slime rancher, so why would he do that? Maybe it’s the germs of slimes from the great outdoors.
Anyways, you two finally end up on the south end of your ranch: specifically the cliff/archeology plot of the Digsite. You haven’t really touched the place yet, but you have made a gorgeous little rest spot in the jungle outskirts of the area. It took a lot of time, so he better enjoy it.
Happily, he really likes the area! And now the tour is over, meaning this date is also over… To prolong the date, you run over to a bench overlooking the slime sea. “Come sit down! The sun’s going down!” Flustered, Viktor scurries over and sits stiffly next to you. Seeing his state, you nudge him in the shoulder, “C’mon, relax! Just look at that beautiful view.” You’re right, the view is stunning. You can see the entirety of your ranch, the conservatory, and, of course, the slime sea: shimmering in the golden sun’s light. The bottom tip of the sun is covered by the water, making a gorgeous ripple of light cascade toward the two of you.
You look back over to Viktor, who is now more relaxed now: being entranced by the view in front of him. It’s bliss… but then you get a notification from your phone: scientists have found an alternative to pink plorts… It’s said like it’s a good thing, but it really isn’t. Pink plorts are used in almost everything: meaning that they get sold easily. So, now this will probably cause another drop in the plort market; you’ll probably make less newbucks… Oh.
Viktor looks over to see you staring at your screen somberly. He swiftly averts his eyes and stiffens; he doesn’t know how to deal with sad people? He’s a scientist, not a therapist. But, he feels like he definitely should do something. I mean you seem pretty sad, and you’ve done all of this for him. He can’t just leave you there. So, timidly, he speaks up, “Hey, are you okay?”
“Huh, What?” You snap out of your trance to see Viktor right in front of you looking so worried… It's kinda hot.
He almost jumps out of his seat at your movement. He turns his back to you, hiding his embarrassment, and he repeats his question a bit more shaky this time, “I said… Are you okay?”
“Oh. I’m fine…” That’s not exactly true, but what are you going to do? Trauma-dump on your first date? So, you shrug him off, trying to get him back to the view, or well, your date…
Viktor looks at you confused, “That isn’t accurate: you clearly have some error with you-” He slips up and backs away, “I mean ailment, I didn’t mean to say anything’s wrong with you, I just use error very commonly… But what is wrong?”
You pause and stutter over yourself a few times, not really wanting to talk about what’s upsetting you. You just want to go back to the date, like normal, and he’d probably disagree with you. He IS a scientist after all; he would love innovation, but not see how it hurts people.
“I… well…,” you scramble around your words. You finally decide to kinda jump around the truth. You don’t actually want to lie to him… again…, but you’re not ready to vent about the socioeconomic state of the world with him. “Sometimes I feel a bit useless. Like my life, my passion could just become irrelevant to the whims of the world. I can’t control any of it, and it feels like the system we’re in doesn’t care if I last to whatever end there’s supposed to be. I’m just a cog in the machine: a cog that can be easily replaced.” Wow. That was maybe a bit much, but at least you got your point across.
Viktor takes a moment to respond, obviously still taking it all in. But, he also looks so scared, worried; he clears his throat and speaks loudly enough for you to hear him, with a grain in his voice that shows this isn’t the most planned out, but more emotional. “Y/N, you are space.”
You chuckle at his response that made no sense but was said like it was poetic. “Wait, what?” You laugh out.
Viktor clears his throat, blush covering his face. “I mean… You matter because you are a part of space. The entirety of the universe wouldn’t be the same without you…” He turns away a bit, fidgeting with his thumbs and whispers, “That’s what I always tell myself when I’m down because I love space so much, which means I love myself… and umm…” I love you.
Or at least that's what you think he meant to say before he trailed off. You jump in your seat, flustered. It definitely made you feel a lot better, but in the special way that Viktor does things. Ohh to be that in love with something, like his love for science, or space. It's so cute…; especially if one of those interests was you…
Viktor feels very embarrassed in the slow silence he caused. He gets out of his seat, turning away from you and pulling up a hologram, “Ahh sorry! It seems that I need to go feed my slimes! Now!” That's not true! He has automatic slime feeding systems… Where was this coming from? This error is just getting worse and worse, and now it's even getting him to lie to get out of situations! Which makes no sense since he wants to stay. It's just that it's scary… Being with you makes him feel weird and unpredictable…
"Wait!-” you shout. You can't just let this end so fast, not when you were really connecting with him… “I umm-... Do you have anything I can help you with?” Really trying to stay with him, you offer to continue the date at his place.
Viktor stammers, and thinks… “Yes. Umm… Yea you can help me with something actually.” Another lie??? He had nothing to do in reality, so why would he lie? He definitely doesn’t need their help, what is going on?
Yes! You didn’t actually plan to go to his lab, especially not on the first date, but what works is what works… “What is it?” You ask, trying to not act too excited, but it definitely shows through.
“Well, you can…,” he stammers, trying to think of what to actually do. But, he dug this grave, so he has to follow through… That’s it! There actually has been something he’s been reluctant to do for a while now, but maybe you could help? “There are some tests and scans of slimes I would like to do…, if you’re interested in assisting.”
“Of course!” You’ve haven’t seen or performed many “tests” or “scans” in general, especially not on a slime. It will be interesting to see all that slime science stuff up close though… even though you are very inexperienced and would just slow him down…
The two of you head back to the Conservatory and open back up the portal to Viktor’s lab. He walks through first: making sure everything is all sorted before letting you through; he makes up an excuse saying that he, “has to put his lab coat on.” After a minute or two, the scientist walks back through the portal in his distinctive lab coat: allowing entry through the portal.
You take a step into the lab, cautious yet curious.
Before you is an expansive lab/ranch that also is… homey… with scattered papers and random assortments of items and liquids that seem to have been hastily covered up, or shoved away from eye’s view. You’ve only seen this place through a screen: a small snapshot of what this place actually was. It is a home, a lab, a ranch, and probably a lot more things. You can see why Viktor spends most of his time here, you would want to too! Away from the world, deep under the slime sea.z
Viktor leads you through his lab, you see the intricate system he’s set up here. Seemingly able to automate his entire ranch while still bringing the happiness of the slimes to the forefront of his design: just as Viktor would. He stops at a smaller section of the lab, which seems to be newly set up. It has a lone corral of pink slimes across from a medical room sectioned off with glass.
“Here’s the slimes we’ll be testing.” He points his hand to the corral, which seems… rudimentary: with no plort collector or food dispenser and just simple pogo fruits inside. “Ahh, first, can you extract the plorts from the corral while I set things up?” You nod, heading over with your vacpack to collect the plorts. He stops you before you get to your job, “Don’t use your vacpack, just use your hands. There’s a basket there you can use,” he points to a small picnic basket placed near the corral.
You expect him to explain all of this weirdness—and especially why he’s making you collect plorts… with your hands…, but you don’t care enough to ask questions. You grab the basket, and get into the corral, which is pretty open, with only about 5-8 slimes (no largos?), an open roof, and more than enough space to live. Still, it is pretty full of plorts, meaning Viktor hasn’t touched this corral in a while (or at all with its new instalment). You get to collecting. Slimes bounce on you through the ordeal, making it a bit harder to do your thing, but this is your job, so it isn’t that much trouble. But still, you haven’t had to be this hands on with your ranching since you started; now you just make sure your drones work and pick up on the places where they lack. It feels sort of relaxing: connecting with the heart of ranching at its core, before the machines took out all the labour…
Once you finish cleaning up the plorts, you turn around to find Viktor staring at you intently. “AHH!” You jump back, startled. “I uh… didn’t see you there, what were you doing…?”
Viktor stands stiff, embarrassed from being caught, “Sorry! I was just waiting for you to finish…” He turns away to cover up his blush filled face.
You walk over and set the overfilled basket on the floor next to Viktor, “So, what’s next?”
Viktor looks back at you and returns to his analytical tone, “Well, I’m going to need you to bring one of those slimes into that room for some testing.” He points to a closed off room opposite of the corral with a window looking in.
“Okay!” You go and grab a slime from the corral, trying to keep it still while it’s wiggling in your arms. You then walk with Viktor to the medical room. He keeps a safe distance from you though, quite different from how he usually is…
“So, why do you have this rudimentary corral? No offense, it’s just much different from the rest of your lab. And with that, why hold off on the vacpack? It would make this a lot easier…,” you struggle to hold the slime still.
“Oh yea, I must’ve forgotten to tell you! So, I’ve wanted my own CT scan of a slime for quite a while—there are a lot out there, but having my own would be helpful. And I didn’t want any technology to get in the way and possibly affect the results, so I tried to replicate the natural environment a pink slime would usually live in. A vacpack or plort collector could easily mess with DNA, or change how the slime acts, I’d rather not have that…”
“Interesting… And the space?” You jokingly gesture at the space between the two of you, leaning into him which makes him back away.
“What do you mean?”
“Why are you so far away from me right now?” You try to get closer to him, while he backs up further: staring at the slime in your hands. You kind of make sense of it: laughing out, “Are you scared of slimes!?”
Viktor replies fast in an offended tone, “NO! Why would I be scared of slimes? I’m a slime rancher…, that would just be counterintuitive.” He walks faster and reaches the door of the room: opening it to let you in.
You walk in while teasing him, “Sureeee.” You enter to a large medical table in the middle of the room connected to the CT scan machine. You carry the slime in your arms over the table, “So, what next?”
Viktor comes over and pulls some straps out of the side of the table, “Just keep the slime still on the table, I’ll get it strapped in.” You do exactly that: holding the slime in place on the table as Viktor brings two straps criss-cross on the slime's body: while keeping a safe distance between the slime and his hands. He’s so silly.
You two get the slime trapped in, but it’s still wiggling around forcefully. Viktor runs to get a shot and runs back over to you, “This’ll make it more sleepy, put it in.”
You wrangle with the needle, not really knowing how to use it.
“Go at a 45 degree angle,” he assists. You press the needle in slowly, pushing out all the fluid inside. Quickly, the slime slows down, now sleepy as ever. You pull the needle out fast, which doesn’t leave a scratch on the slime; it must be a pretty small needle.
“Good job. Now for the scan,” he turns on the machine and leads you outside the room. You both watch the sleepy slime slowly travel through the machine: which moves around making loud noises to take scans of the slime. You both stare in awe. It’s quite interesting; not every day that you get to see a slime get a CT scan.
The machine expels the pink slime, ending its horrendous sounds. You both go back in to free the slime from it’s straps holding it down. Viktor goes to the other side of the room during: looking through his mess of test tubes and substances. As you release the slime, Viktor walks over with a needle much larger than the last one, “We also need to put this in…”
“What’s that for?”
“Well, it’s just for testing; I want to see how it affects the slime, and this is the perfect time to inject it. Don’t worry, it shouldn’t hurt or negatively affect the slime at all.” He hands you the needle and grabs a bandage, “After you jab it in I’ll put on the bandage right after, okay?”
You look at him with a smirk, “Nuh uh, you’re doing the needle,” you hand him the needle and take the bandage out of his hand. Viktor gets confused and nervous, trying to fight you to get his role back. “Well why don’t you want to do the needle? You know how to use them better, and it wouldn’t be a problem if you weren’t scared of slimes? Which you have stated that you aren’t…?”
“Uh…- Fine! Yea, It’ll be a’okay…,” Viktor says nervously: shaking the needle in his hands as it nears the slime.
You inch your hand towards his, looking at Viktor’s scared face. You grab his hand, wrapping it around his like you’re replacing his hand, “It’s okay…” Your hand on his just makes him more nervous, shaking more before you repeat your statement: making him breathe through his nose and out his mouth. Viktor calms, feeling more determined to do this while pushing through the fear. You guide his hand with yours, slowly breaking the exterior of the slime at an angle. The slime seems to be a bit perturbed, but doesn’t move in it’s numbness. You both pump out all the liquid in the vial; Viktor’s sweat pools under your hand. As he pulls out the needle, you quickly put the bandage on the slime and slick it on well.
“See, wasn’t so bad, right?” You look at him with a smile; his face is shook while looking at you. Blush consumes his face.
Viktor quickly comes back into position and turns away, “L-Let’s put back that slime, you got it?” Before you answer, he speed-walks out of the room.
You shrug, picking up the slime and heading to put it back in the corral. You place the slime back in it’s enclosure: patting it on the head before you turn back to Viktor. He stands in front of you stiffly; his eyes dart around anywhere but you. You finally respond, hoping you can get some resolve out of all of this, “Viktor? Is something up?”
Viktor freezes, shaking his mouth open like he’s trying to get something out. You walk closer to him concerned, ‘what was going on?’ You lightly touch his lower arm and he jumps away. He finally responds, “I uhh…, I’m fine. And I think that was all I needed from you so…”
“Okay,” you wish you could stay forever, but you had a life outside here to get back to. But, before you leave, you ask for one more thing, “Hey, can I give you a hug?”
Viktor jumps back stunned. He does the same stuttering almost like he’s glitching. “I uhh-... NO! Ugh…, just back away please… I’m sorry, but you make me feel so weird. My heart beats fast, I lie to you, and I want to do things that make no sense… You’re like a virus to my system.”
You smile, he just looks more confused from it. He kinda just described the feelings you’ve been feeling: love. He just doesn’t know that it's love. It’s cute honestly: basically confessing his love without actually knowing he was.
You walk closer to him while he freezes up even more. You move one hand to his arm, and the other reaches for his cheek; he rejects, “Wha- WHat are you do-doing!” He squirms in your touch, but also doesn’t move away: just stunned. He can’t help looking into your eyes as you lean up to his face: closing your own eyes. You hold his cheek as you kiss Viktor…
He seems very surprised at first, but then leans into his feelings. He closes his eyes and kisses you back. You both stand there for a moment: holding this kiss with no more explanation.
You pull away from Viktor’s lips; he’s stunned. “Is that what you wanted?” He stays frozen, trying to make sense of all that happened. Before he responds, you realize that you kind of have just been following your own feelings a bit too much. “I’m sorry, can we talk about this tomorrow?"
Viktor goes back to sort of calm, allowing for these feelings to be sorted out later. “Yea…”
You give him a wink and head out: awaiting the next day…