August 9, 2364

We're engaged.

He actually managed to surprise me with it. He also managed to keep from me that he talks to my mother regularly. I was actually kind of mad at him for that at first, as I'd caught him in the middle of talking to her when I'd come down to the bunk room looking for him. I don't even remember now what I was looking for him for, but I am pretty sure it was something silly and doesn't really matter. At any rate, when I confronted him about talking to my mother behind my back, we had a minor spat that was more of a pretense to have sex. We seem to do that a lot.

When he started reaching for his shelf next to the bunks, after we'd finished, I'd teased him about not needing a regenerator. When he came back with a small box instead, he started talking about why he'd been on the comm with my mother. He'd been asking her permission to marry me. Silly Earth custom, he'd told me that had my father been around to ask, he would have asked him instead. He also admitted that while he likely would have asked me even if my mother had said no, he valued her approval on the subject.

It actually took him a little bit to actually ask me, instead of tell me he was going to ask me. Silly boy, I love him so, but sometimes he is a little easily distracted. He does know the way to my heart though, as once he'd actually asked me and I'd accepted, he produced tasty alcohol to celebrate with. Blood Wine, 2345, and Romulan Ale, 2341. The former my birth year, the latter his. I teased him about not selecting an Earth spirit for his, where he insisted that nothing good comes from the Earth anymore. The way he said this, it make me think it was a reference of some sort, but whatever it was, I missed it.

That said, I did tease him about this claim, and we exchanged barbs back and forth because of it. Along the way, we traversed the topics of why I keep him around, if Blue could be considered his sexual equal, and the finer points of not handing me alcohol when he wants more sex. I did elect to reward him by sharing my sample of the Blood Wine by way of a kiss. I might have even been eventually convinced to put aside the Blood Wine and Romulan Ale for more sex if Kaith hadn't elected to call me just then.

Mother seems to talk to everyone but me. It's a little frustrating at times, but I've gotten used to it over the years. She wants to know how I'm doing, she talked to Travis, if she wants to know if I'll come home for a visit, she talks to one of my brothers and asks them to call and ask me to come home. At any rate, I agreed to come visit in about three weeks.

While I'd been on the comm talking to my brother, Travis ended up talking to his mother. Cindy wasted no time hopping onto the “I want grandchildren!” bandwagon. I suspect my mother won't be as pushy about that topic, but I'm sure it'll come up at some point. We did agree to come to Earth and tell the family about the engagement. So we're splitting entirely too little time between two different planets that are more than a little ways apart, just to make the families happy over something that is ultimately supposed to be about me and Travis. I am not looking forward to planning the whole ordeal, but it's something that has to be done. That said, I wouldn't be opposed to taking advantage of one of those little Las Vegas chapels on Earth, and not telling any of the family until it was done.

Part of me is suspicious there's some sort of subconscious signal that broadcasts around the galaxy when a couple gets engaged. We heard from all sorts of people we know, and we usually go so long between contact with anyone outside the ship just because it keeps us so busy, and all of it was apparently entirely at random. Mara and Korth checked in, Kang called, easily half a dozen of Travis' friends on Earth called, most noteworthy being Chris.

Chris is a great guy, throws awesome parties, but he's really bad about keeping in contact with friends. The last time he'd called Travis was when he was reporting in about Jessica and Sam. Otherwise, every time I've known Travis to talk to him as long as I've known Travis, it's been when Travis was the one to initiate the call.

Between the barrage of comm calls, Blue, Travis and I enjoyed the alcohol Travis had provided as we exchanged friendly jabs back and forth on various topics. One thing did come up that I think is worth noting in my journal though. At one point, Blue did make a quip about there being room for two more in our bond. I know his choice of words were selected carefully, he would have called it marriage if that's what he intended. Travis took this as the joke it was presented as, though I know Blue still isn't so comfortable making jokes outside of his native language. Travis responded by insisting he loved Blue like a brother, and made a comment about belonging to a two gender reproductive system. Blue showed no indication of expecting any different answer from Travis on the topic though, but I'll have to make a point to check in with him some time when Travis is busy or asleep, make sure that everything is okay. At any rate, from there it decayed a bit. Blue's response to Travis insistence of being part of a two gender reproductive system was a comment about skin color, which Travis returned in kind... only to step it into an area that did irritate me a little, though Blue reacted to it less than I did. Travis compared the chan gender of the Andorian species to a “girlie man”.

As much as I love him, he is a touch on the xenophobic side. Thankfully it seems to mostly manifest in the form of mistaken assumptions and stupid things said that aren't actually intended to be as bad as they sound. And I know from the way he treats me, Blue and members of both of our families he's met that he doesn't think ill of anyone for being of another species... he just sometimes misses the important bits which lead to some odd conclusions reached.

The ring he got me is real pretty, and shows he can be aware of things when he realizes they might be important. It's actually fairly simple, understated even. The blue stone is set flush in the band, the metal of the band is something that requires little maintenance to keep up its appearance. It fits me correctly, has nothing sticking out to get in the way. All together the sort of thing you give a woman who gets into fights and doesn't like stuff she's wearing to get in the way, but can still enjoy a pretty thing for what it is. I've left the ring on since he put it onto my finger, and I have not had the urge to remove it. Usually jewelry makes me twitchy, I pull it off and play with it, often lose it for that reason.