Trusting

What Matters

It was nighttime on Polus' 3rd Mira base, Base XB14.  The base was surrounded with cliffs and watchtowers that would alert if an impostor tried to enter.  Mira posters lived in every room: their slogan, their list of goals, their expectations for the crew, a photo of a beaming Fortegreen, the Mira CEO, giving a thumbs up.

The crew consisted of 10 people, and all were asleep except one.  He was sitting at his desk, researching impostors.  While the crew were banned from reading about the topic from anything but the Mira manual, Engineer tried to find all the information on them he could.

Part of it was genuine interest, and part of it was that he wanted as much information as possible in case one tried to hurt him or his fiance, Gnome.  Out of the whole crew, Engineer was the most fearful- if not hateful- of them. 

He eventually was yawning more than reading, and he went to lock the door- something no one else in the crew did- before laying down next to Gnome.  She had fallen asleep hours ago. 

She nuzzled him in her sleep and made a sleep sound.  Engineer smiled.

While the rest of the crew may not fear impostors the way he did, this was the reason.

To him, impostors didn't understand this: the concept of love and protecting others because you care about them, instead of how they didn't care about anyone and only seeked to kill others.

So he would have to make sure that didn't happen.

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Regardless of how late you went to sleep, though, you had to wake up early in the morning to get ready to start your tasks.  All 10 of them got out of bed and ready for breakfast with varying degrees of tiredness.

Engineer, despite going to bed late, wasn't that tired, and he walked with Gnome.  Player and his new boyfriend Veteran walked hand in hand, causing Captain to get jealous.  TheGentleman was grumpy as usual in the morning, but Mr Cheese walked with him happily.  Mr Egg walked happily with Blue and didn't pay attention to TheGentleman at all.  Mother didn't have a partner, but she had her kids, and that was enough for her.

The breakfast that was provided wasn't very fancy or good, but Mira claimed that it was healthy and best for the crew.  They all had gotten used to eating it though, and soon went off to do their tasks.

Captain watched Veteran and Player go off together and sighed.  It happened every day, but since the two had gotten together, it had become even more unbearable.  Seeing the other couples all going together too made it worse.

Captain was the only one who has utterly alone.

He pushed those feelings down as usual.  Seeing Player's smile was still amazing, and as the proud leader of the crew, he had different jobs to do anyway.  Doing tasks with someone would only slow down the crew.

He would occasionally go with Mr Cheese and TheGentleman.  It was still strange seeing how affectionate they were with each other, and he knew they were both even more when alone. 

TheGentleman helped Mr Cheese pick up the storage canister to fill it up. 

"I can do it on my own," Mr Cheese said, even though he obviously couldn't.  He was the shortest in the crew, including Gnome and Mother.

TheGentleman just smirked and helped him anyway, clearly used to this.

Captain's job in storage; however, was to check the boxes and see if they had everything they were supposed to.  Mira was terrified of impostor raids, and there had been plenty in other bases on Polus. 

As usual, everything was there.  Captain made sure to grab a toy that Mother had asked him to grab for Timmy.  By the time he finished, Mr Cheese and TheGentleman were gone.

Captain sought out Mother.  On the way there, he saw Mr Egg and Blue doing tasks together.  Mr Egg snuck a kiss and Blue blushed when he saw Captain looking.

Captain spotted Mother with her children in electrical.  "Timmy!  I have your toy!"

When he got closer, Timmy snatched the stuffed animal from him.  "It took you so long."

Captain looked up at Mother.  "Seems like Timmy may be more of a threat to the crew than the impostors!"

Mother chuckled.  "That honestly may be true." She ruffled her kids' hair.

"Maybe!" Captain said. He waved goodbye and went to finish his tasks.

Impostors may be more of a threat than Timmy, but they still didn't worry Captain that much, even as the leader of the crew. The base was surrounded by watchtowers that would alert if one came near. And Captain trusted all of the others enough to not be or help one.

Captain felt alone again after leaving Mother and her kids.  He let out a sigh. 

Tasks were more important right now.  Tasks, keeping the crew safe from impostors.  That was what mattered.