Ticky-Tacky: adj. something dull and shoddy; dull, unimaginative, or inferior materials, or something made from them, and often of uniform quality or design.
A/N: (10/10/10) This story is ticky-tacky thus it is dubbed so henceforth. :) This story will also be updated slowly, like, real slowly. Painfully slow because I'm lazy and have a lot of school work to do since I tend to procrastinate 'til the last possible second. So, sorry in advance to any whom may actually find this poorly written prologue-monster interesting now or in the future.
Summary-ish: The time is near for the world to finally grow up and mankind will have to make a choice that isn't exactly laid bare for them to see in black and white. Some positive and negative influences do wonders on those choices, depending on what is being influenced, as the Hetalians will soon discover. Alfred remembers the people that came from the stars when he was a small child and, unfortunately, they remember him too.
Intro:
Arthur remembers, when Alfred was little, finding his colony standing outside in the middle of the night late one summer. He doesn't exactly remember what woke him but he had gotten an odd feeling and got out of bed to check on Alfred. Upon discovering the boy wasn't asleep in his bed like he expected, he searched the house and had started to panic when he couldn't find hide nor hair of his charge. He happened to pass an opened window, to his slight irritation, letting in all the cold air and caught a blush of odd coloring in the darkness from his peripheral vision. He looked out in curiosity to find the blond child he was worrying over; he was just standing there in his nightgown, looking up at something.
Getting over the initial fear of having the boy gone missing, he allowed himself to get a little peeved since Alfred hadn't even answered to his name being called. Doesn't Alfred know how worried he gets when he wanders off like that; especially at the oddest of moments such as this?
Arthur popped the already cracked open door back and felt the cool fingers of the clean night air sigh against his cheeks. He breathed deep to feel his lung tissues expand and smiled at the fact that Alfred looked so small standing out there in the open. The boy's white sleep garments soaked up the bright moonlight beaming down and gave it back in an ethereal glow. The blue eyes held starlight, his upturned cheeks painted pale since he had yet to acknowledge Arthur standing there. Which reminded Arthur of why they were there. As he was getting ready to berate the boy for sneaking off in the middle of the night at his young age and of all the dangers that could happen, Arthur noticed something moving in the shadows cast off from the trees' faces. He paused and tried to stare out into the surrounding forest to discern if what he saw wasn't the shadow of a tree branch moving in the wind or an animal scampering off.
There was a sudden deafening silence that dug a pit in his stomach; it was eerie the way the world itself just seemed to stop breathing for a moment. Then there was a rustle of flora and the sound of leaves' bones being broken under something's weight. Arthur checked the distance between himself and Alfred, how long it would take to grab him and get inside or pull Alfred behind himself and defend them both where they stood. Arthur realized he left his pistol inside when he went to reach for its place at his hip. Then Alfred did the strangest thing that gave Arthur a twinge of fright. Alfred started to dance.
To say it was an odd thing to do would be an understatement. Alfred did these odd little twirls while he stomped his feet to a beat that wasn't there, he hopped and hooted and shouted and beat his arms like wings. It was energetic and seemed chaotic but it had some coordination. There was more rustling in the bushes and Arthur didn't know what to make of the whole scene until it ended. The birds fluttered, the wind whispered through the trees and gave them voices to moan and groan, he could hear the river trickling and the horses in the stables. Life was moving, and the world breathed again.
Although Arthur remained terribly curious about what the hell happened that night, he couldn't bring himself to ask Alfred to explain. For some reason, a little part inside of him didn't want to know. After the little blond boy stopped dancing and the noises of the wild beat softly against his ear once more he had gone back inside, he wasn't even sure if Alfred knew he had stood there watching or not. As he went back inside, though, he thought he saw the stars give off an odd little sparkle.
Tony the little gray alien sat comfortably in the lawn chair that Alfred provided for him, he was bundled up in Spiderman blankets and watched the human rove about a delicate device they call a telescope. He was trying to look at some oddly named planet and remain calm while doing it since he was having a hard time trying to locate the thing. It amused him. Greatly.
Alfred didn't think much of the fact that he and Tony were spending more and more time outside at night together. They used to play video games and watch movies when he had the time but now they're outside a lot. He didn't mind much, he supposed, he liked the peace and quiet of the nighttime and got to see the stars through the telescope, he liked spending time with Tony. It was actually pretty relaxing to be out here; despite the dreams he had been having lately. He can't remember exact details all the time but he knew when he woke up that they were pretty intense and creepy if the way he woke up was anything to go on.
He briefly glanced back at the little alien and knew it had to do with something about him but can't recall what it was. Alfred wonders if Tony hears the noise he makes when he has his night terrors. Arthur made a comment about it once when he graced the man with his awesome presence one evening and fell asleep in his clothes on Arthur's bed, which, come to think of it, was very comfortable bed too.
Anyway, Arthur said he was muttering but it wasn't in English then he flailed around a bit, tossing and turning before he actually started yelling and screaming in his sleep. Arthur had to smack him to wake him up, which he was only just a little too happy to do, and when asked what he was dreaming about Alfred asked him what he was talking about. Arthur replied that he fell asleep and was having a nightmare and Alfred remembers telling Arthur that he hadn't fallen asleep. To which Arthur gave him an irritated look like he did when he thought he was being toyed with and clearly wasn't amused by it, then pushed Alfred out of his house and told him to go home.
Actually, over the past few months, Tony has been acting rather strangely. Oftentimes when Alfred gets home from a late night at the office, he sometimes sees Tony wandering outside of the house in the dark. Some of Alfred's things would also go missing, like research papers, equipment, and parts for experiments in the lab. Tools from the garage go missing over night, some paper work gets "misplaced." He doesn't mind if Tony needs to borrow things, it's when he goes around behind his back like this and doesn't say anything or return the things that are clearly missing. Does Tony think he hasn't noticed?
Earlier this week he saw the small gray being standing on the lawn, staring up with a tilt of his head. It somehow seemed familiar. It was the strangest thing and Alfred had gotten an uneasy feeling the longer he stared at his alien friend. What really stuck with Alfred was when Tony lolled his head to the side and stared straight at him. It was just the way the atmosphere was, the darkness, the silence, the odd body of the gray awkwardly standing there as still as death. It was like he was a statue with those wide red eyes of his looking up at the moonless sky unblinking. When Tony looked at him his breath died in his throat, he swore his heart could have stopped in honor of the moment. There was something behind that stare that shook Alfred to his core, an intelligence that not only humbles you but also frightens you in its towering swagger.
Tony studied the human as he looked over its shoulder at him curiously. Alfred seemed to be a little worried, which was fine with Tony. He turns away from the blond in favor of the stars glittering in the odd oblique atmosphere, he wasn't actually stargazing but looking for a familiar movement. He was waiting for something, of which his human was unaware but nervous of since he sensed something was wrong. Fascinating species they were. He had fun studying them, but now that his mission was almost over he was going to go home. Bubbles of humor popped in his belly since he is reminded of the silly little Earth movie Alfred had shown him. What was it called? E.T.? He wanted to tell Alfred what he was preparing and waiting for just to get his reaction and turn to see the wake of human hysteria wash his lands and his subjects because he often found it wholeheartedly amusing to see them all scurry around like ants when you blow on their lines. He wanted to laugh, he had been "phoning home" this whole time without Alfred even knowing it. Alfred thought he heard an obscene giggle behind him.