A Close Encounter [PRIVATE | Rawk]

“Mm... Yes, I do suppose that is a fair point.”

There was little else Valentine could say in response to that, and indeed he felt the overbearing gaze of the Elders upon him as his own will clashed with that of the Red Planet. He knew fully that Chifuyu was entirely correct in her argumentation, and perhaps unfortunately, so too did the rest of Mars. It was something difficult to fully convey in any Earth manner, but suffice to say it was something akin to a grand inquisition occurring all in the span of but a moment. The final verdict? That Valentine's trepidation was only standing in the way of their purpose for having sent him.

“Well, thank you kindly, Chifuyu. I suppose that does make this much easier, then. I must also confess that Mars as a whole has given me something that would do well to fully explain this, so I suppose that will assist in this a great deal. Now then, I must apologize for this, I am not well versed in these sorts of interactons. I am, after all, a man of Mars, and according to what I have seen written on Earth, women come from Venus.”

Of course, he did not wait any further before simply placing his lips upon hers, a kiss that was rather abundantly lacking in actual passion, being that Valentine was far from a passionate man, but which was if nothing else excellent in its form and technique. He had studied these things along with all other aspects of Earthling interaction before coming to Earth, after all. But more importantly than the kiss in itself was that it carried with it the single drop of water containing Valentine's thoughts to Chifuyu, something he was rather pleased with if nothing else.

Within that water (and by extension the kiss) lied the memory, quite vividly, of Valentine's veritable trial at the hands of the remainder of Mars, myriad upon myriad minds all focused upon him in that single moment that had carried with them only disapproval and a chastising reminder, that he was here to be a human, not a Martian. This was, unlike the prior shared memory, a much closer examination of the nature of the Collective for Chifuyu, one which showed its fullest scale and gave a glimpse as to the sensation of being linked with his people to such a degree. There was, of course, the secondary aspect of it, that it did inform her rather abundantly that Valentine was indeed in the wrong in his apprehension toward their touching. What she did with that knowledge was not something Valentine had particularly prepared himself for, but he accepted that it was likely out of his hands.