SSSD - Spend the night with Ro

Alison sighs on the inside. She came here for adventure, but she has to do the right thing. Alison smiles and slips her arm around Ro’s waist.

“You can just think of our room as an American consulate,” she says to Niv, who looks approving. She’s picked up on Ro’s shyness as well.

“Good,” Niv says, and with that, she’s gone.

Bedtime without power is an experience in the big, shared bathroom and shower. On a normal night, Alison guesses that different people would retire at different times. Tonight, it seems as though everyone’s eager to get to bed, so the bathroom is full of people bathed in the light of lanterns and flashlights. They chatter continuously in Norwegian as they get ready. Alison is desperately curious about how the Norwegians are pairing off. The only thing she knows for sure is that there’s something between Julie and Birgitte. How serious? No telling. Linda’s spending the night with Golda and Signe is with Marit. Alison can’t read vibes and chemistry in the dark with lights flashing everywhere.

That would be wishful thinking in any case. These are normal, sensible women. They don’t view the world through a CCL lens.

Ro does, though. She should be relieved that the partner situation is resolved, but now she’s more shy and withdrawn than ever. It’s nerves.

The right thing to do would be to somehow put her at ease, but Alison has already given up her first free shot at some alone time with a Norwegian. She realizes that she’s fetishizing the idea a bit, but she’s willing to take ownership of that part of herself. Anyway, she considers herself entitled to a little fun.

Ro is at the sink beside hers, brushing her teeth. She wears workout shorts and a little tee with Baby Yoda on it.

Alison removes her toothbrush from her mouth long enough to say two words: “Cute jammies.”

Ro looks up at her, blushing in the lamplight. Even a tiny compliment is a tidal wave of romance for a closeted virgin under a lot of stress.

Alison regrets it immediately. It’s the sort of thing that Meri, the outgoing president of CCL, would’ve done. Alison’s feelings about Meri are complex. There’s a lot to admire in her, but there are also a lot of good reasons not to make her a role model.

One of the most surprising things about joining CCL for Alison was how quickly the leadership glommed onto her, and it wasn’t just Meri trying to get laid. Alison now regrets how she handled that situation. Meri had been more or less shameless about wanting to get her hands on hot young pledges in a good-natured one. Alison dodged her because at the time, she’d believed that it had been some kind of test.

And it had been. The criteria for identifying oneself as officer material in CCL is simple: don’t be drunk all the time and have some semblance of dignity. Alison had stumbled into officer candidacy ass-backwards. Dignity? No. She just wasn’t as bold as everyone else; they mistook her relative shyness as something like elegance. And Meri had taken Alison’s misguided parrying as a sign of strength and independence.

Meanwhile, the real Alison had just been regretting not sleeping with the pretty, funny, experienced president of the sorority when she had the chance.

Alison is starting to lean into some of that, resisting the imposter syndrome. A lot of the girls at CCL House find her private nature very mysterious, which they mistake for something exotic. In reality, Alison doesn’t want them to find out how vanilla she is.

She’d hoped that in Antarctica, the real her, whatever that is, could come out without all this juggling of perceptions and vanity and insecurity.

Yet here she is, teasing a Freshman. Maybe she’s just more like Meri than she’d like to admit.

She spits out her toothpaste and sighs, watching in the mirror as Linda walks behind her naked despite the temperature.

Linda. Linda and Golda. Alison wishes she could spend all her time thinking about fun stuff, but this generator situation has rudely reminded her that reality still exists. The Outpost has three official labs: Signe’s, Julie’s, and Linda’s. There’s a fourth one that’s locked up that both Americans have been instructed to ignore. Alison is certain that’s where Julie and Linda went the second the power went out. There’s something in there, something that the Norwegians aren’t talking about. It’s probably the reason that Niv is here; no one mentioned a military liaison at this place.

Alison has no plans to make trouble or sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong. But it’s safe to assume that Golda knows all about whatever’s in there, and Linda’s the one who doesn’t get an intern—that means she’s probably the lead researcher. And Linda and Golda are spending the night together. Talking shop? Or was Alison successful in teasing Golda a little in the sauna? Could go either way.

Ro hasn’t even begun to unpack, not that there’s much that one can do with these tiny rooms. Her room is identical to Alison’s, except she’s got a map of the Outpost on her wall with all the exit routes highlighted. There’s probably supposed to be one of these in every room, but Alison’s is missing.

Ro quickly crawls into her narrow bed, trying to hide her blushing face.

Alison catches herself. There’s a strong temptation to strip naked. She doesn’t usually sleep nude, nor does she especially want to, but it’ll drive Ro crazy. But that’s what Meri would do. Alison is not Meri.

She removes her sweats and top, but she can’t resist looking at the map one more time.

She shivers, rubbing her arms and wondering what went wrong with the generator. It’s only when she notices the chill on her skin that she comes to her senses. She’s just standing there in nothing but panties; there’s a zero percent chance that Ro isn’t staring at her. Alison will just have to hope that her butt looks good in a pair of navy blue bikini-cut briefs.

She turns around; only Ro’s face is visible in the covers, and she immediately pretends not to be looking.

“So which one of us is the big spoon?” Alison asks her.

“Huh?”

Alison gazes at her expectantly. Ro looks back in panic, unsure what to say or do.

“I’m kidding,” Alison assures her. “I’m the big spoon. Obviously.” She approaches the bed and moves the covers. Ro shrinks shyly, but Alison isn’t shy about climbing over her and nestling in snugly. Ro is stiff in her arms.

“I like your shampoo,” Alison tells her.

“Thanks.” Ro’s voice is shaky.

“Gonna get the light?”

“Right.” Ro quickly reaches out and switches off the lantern, plunging the room into total black. Alison lies in silence for a moment, breathing in the scent of Ro’s hair and listening. These rooms are not soundproof by any means, but the walls aren’t thin. She hears nothing from the neighboring rooms, but she only would if there were raised voices. Even if everyone is getting busy tonight, they’re being polite about it. Alison doubts that they are. There’s a lot of horniness in this outpost, but not a lot of strong connections. This team has only been down here for two weeks.

Anyway, it’s a sleepover. Just going to sleep would be a waste. This is the perfect opportunity to talk with Ro.

Talk to her about the Norwegians?

Or talk to her about the locked lab?