A Character's World

Tiki's Confession

(Tiki's POV)

 I did not bother to change into something more fancy; it was only a dinner date. Besides, Mar-Mar did not have anything other than his kingly garb. And anyway, I don't think he realised this was a date.

 I took a walking stick, but still leaned on Mar-Mar for support. I had a plan to confess my feelings to him in a nearby park under the stars. Then we could marry and have lots of dragon babies.

 "So where is this place, Tiki?" Marth asked. 

 "Just here, actually," I answered. We stopped in front of a burger joint. 

 "Tiki, this place looks cheap," Marth remarked. 

 "Hey, don't disrespect the burger joint. They serve good food," I argued. 

 "When did you start speaking like that? No, nevermind," Marth facepalmed and sighed. If this place makes you happy then I will give it a chance."

 We went inside and ordered our meal. After that we took a seat at a table and waited for our order.

 Marth looked around the building. "After coming inside, this place feels a bit more luxurious." 

 I giggled gleefully. "You should not judge things by outwardly appearance." 

 "Agreed." He looked at me and smiled. "It was nice of you to invite me here, Tiki." 

 I felt my cheeks grow warm. "I-It was no problem, Mar-Mar. You always treated me kindly in the army, so this is my way of repaying you." 

 "Wow, Tiki. You sound so mature. You have really grown in the two-thousand years since you left me. So much different from the little girl I knew that always wanted to play tag." 

 I blushed at the praise. "Th-thank you," I stammered.

 The waitress brought our food and we dug in. "Mhm, this is delicious, though it does not look very healthy," Mar-Mar commented. 

 "It's not, but it is a nice treat."

 Marth struck up a conversation while we ate. "So, Tiki. You were talking about a Character licence?" 

 I swallowed my bite of burger. "Yes. It will allow you to use your Falchion legally. I don't know what you would use it for, though." 

 "Maybe I could open a butcher with it," Marth joked. 

 "Ah, yes. The holy blade being used to cut meat." I rolled my eyes. "Back to the subject. We can go down to the licensing office tomorrow before Cob's induction and have you apply for one." 

 "Can I see your one?" he asked. 

 I took my licence from my pocket and gave it to him. "We are required to carry this whenever we leave our residences." Mar-Mar gave it a once-over and handed it back.

 We finished our meals and rested for a bit to let the food settle for a few minutes. In those few minutes, disaster struck.

 I spotted a certain someone heading towards our table. "Tiki, fancy seeing you here." 

 I sneered. "Thomas Lence, what a surprise. Harrassing Characters again, are you?" 

 He ignored me. "I see you brought another stupid game character to life. I thought the ray gun was destroyed." 

 "It had one more use. Now stop bothering us." I tried to ignore him.

 Unfortunately, Lence did not leave. "You are a parasite leaching off our goodwill. Sooner or later, you will rise up against us." 

 "I said leave," I hissed.

 He grabbed my hair in protest and pulled on my ponytail. "Ow!" I cried in pain.

 "Hey, stop hurting her!" Marth got up from his chair. 

 "Or what?" Thomas sneered. 

 Mar-Mar stood face-to-face with the evil man. "I will report you for harassment, and I have witnesses to back me up." Lence looked around the restaurant and found most of the patrons observing the scene.

 He finally let go of my hair, only after yanking out my hairband and letting my ponytail fall down, and stomped out of the building.

 I picked up my hairband and began styling my hair again. "That was brave of you to protect me." 

 Mar-Mar shrugged. "I only stood up for what is right, protecting my friend. I'm just glad you told me about the police. I had no leverage otherwise." And just like that, my attraction level went up by a lot.

 "I want to leave. He ruined the mood," I said. Marth offered me his arm and I accepted. With my cane, I hobbled my way outside with Mar-Mar helping me. "Can we visit the park quickly? I want to stargaze for a bit," I asked. 

 "Sure," Marth replied. We went to the park and found a bench to sit on. There were no people at this time of night so we had the park to ourselves.

 "Aren't they pretty?" I said, reaching towards the sky. 

 "Yeah, they are beautiful," Marth agreed. I spent the next few minutes gathering the courage to tell him how I felt.

 "Mar-Mar, can I ask you something very important? I need you to stay silent until I am done." 

 "You have my complete attention." He gazed into my eyes. I took a deep breath.

 "Mar-Mar, before you freed me from Gharnef's control, I always felt so alone. Even though I had Gotoh and Ban-Ban and Xaney with me, I felt so alone in my sleep. Then you came along and helped me. I was, and still am, very grateful to you for that. I had this feeling in my heart. A warm feeling. It made me want to be around you all the time. That feeling eventually developed into something greater. Mar-Mar, I'm in love with you. Will you give me the honour of being your girlfriend?" 

 Mar-Mar asked a question of his own. "Before I give my answer, are you really okay with one day having to see me die and live on much longer?" 

 I had prepared my answer for this question. "Yes. My love for you will outweigh the eventual grief."

Mar-Mar thought long and hard about his answer. "No." And just like that, my world shattered in front of my eyes. 

 "...What?" 

 "I am very sorry, Tiki, but my answer is no. I do love you, just not in the way you want." I could feel the tears start to fall. "I am so, so sorry, Tiki." Marth embraced me and I cried into his chest. He held me until the tears stopped falling.

 Once my crying had finally ceased, we stood up to go home. "Do you want to hold my arm?" Marth offered. 

 "S-Sure," I sniffled. He said nothing to me until we got home. And even that was just to ask where he was sleeping.

 "You can take MC's sleeping bag while he is not here. We will figure something out when he gets back," I said. 

 "Are you sure he would be fine with this?" Marth queried. 

 "Yes! Take the stupid sleeping bag!" I whisper-yelled.

 He reluctantly crawled inside. "Tiki, please don't be bitter about my rejection. I still want us to be friends." 

 "Goodnight, Marth." I faced away from him and shut my eyes on a day gone completely wrong. 

 He sighed. "Goodnight, Tiki."