Given their nature, cats did not get along well with Rex. This was something of a personal tragedy for him since he had a general fondness for animals. His best friend was a Chimpanzee, and in his line of work, he'd encountered many creatures in need of rescuing or curing. He was the biggest animal lover, but none loathed him more than cats. They were made frightened by his boundless energy and enthusiasm, becoming tense bundles of nerves in his arms.
It was a wonder how he and Rook Blonko could get along so well.
In all fairness, Rook wasn't really a cat or even feline. That didn't stop Rex from blurting out the resemblance he shared with the animal upon first seeing him. The EVO had been in the middle of trying to get something out of a snack machine when a shadow descended upon him. Rex still didn't have a single cent in his possession. He'd only been toying with the machine in hopes that his abilities had returned. So when his attempts yielded no results, he remained hungry, but didn't want to brave another trip to the mess hall. All he'd had to eat was foreign alien grub. Regular Earth candy wasn't asking for too much, even if it wasn't quite from his version of Earth.
"Come on…" He growled, slapping the clear glass. His force was controlled, not strong enough to cause it damage. He was so distracted that he didn't notice someone had approached until his source of light had been blotted out. Pausing his assault on the machine, he turned his head and was met with the sight of the tall, furry alien. His mind went blank with surprise and his mouth ran away from him before he could stop himself.
"Woah. Big kitty…"
As soon as the words had left his mouth, he wished he could swallow them back up again. Talk about all kinds of insensitive. As he worked with Providence over the years, he'd developed a nasty habit of calling people by their most defining traits. It was always 'Hey, Slimy!' or 'Not today, Ugly!' It wasn't as though he could help it. At this point in his life, it had become firmly ingrained into his speaking patterns.
"Pardon?" The alien didn't take offense. He was merely caught off guard, blinking several times at him.
Rex was quick to deny he'd so much as spoken. "I didn't say anything."
The alien cocked his head to one side. A lengthy silence filled the hall as he analyzed Rex's situation; the frustrated placement of his fingers against glass, curled and ready to claw their way to the candy. "It accepts most forms of currency. Did it not work for you?"
"What?" Rex's hand slipped off of the machine when he realized what he was asking. "Oh. Nah, I don't have money. I was trying to steal some chocolate."
"That is not something you should feel so comfortable saying to a Plumber…"
"What are you gonna do? Arrest me? I'm already here."
The disapproval remained present on the alien's face, but he stepped a little closer and pulled something from one of his pockets. Inserting his cash into the slot, he paid for the candy and Rex was hit with a major case of Deja Vu. Wasn't this a bit like how he'd met Noah?
Something inside him sank as he was handed the candy, and upon taking a bite, he was met with a disparity between his world and this one. It was plain chocolate. The flavors had never been swapped, nor was there a manufacturer error . It had always tasted as such to the inhabitants of that world. To Rex however, it was as though he'd bitten off a mouthful of peanut butter.
It was just so messed up.
"Do not… steal things." The alien frowned. "It isn't necessary. If you're hungry, meals are always free in the Cafeteria-"
Rex defeatedly tossed the candy bar behind him, in the general direction of the trashcan, without looking. The Plumber operative stopped speaking and cocked his head. Lifting a finger, he used it to gesture behind him.
"You missed the wastebasket." He said matter-of-factly. Then, seeing his expression, he added in concern,"Are you well?"
"Just fine."
"You don't seem 'just fine.'" He told Rex without a moment of hesitation. "You don't seem like a cadet either."
"That's probably because I'm not."
"Fine? Or a cadet?"
"A cadet." But the former also applied, and it had nothing to do with disappointing candy.
"I didn't think you were. Although, you wouldn't be the first to forgo the uniform."
"Not my choice." Rex pinched the collar of the plaid shirt he'd been given. He didn't have a lot of options for clothes. "This is a loaner."
"If you're not a cadet, then am I correct to assume you're the one staying here under the protection of the Plumbers?"
He shouldn't have felt surprised. It wasn't the first time his reputation preceded him. Probably wouldn't be the last. If he was being targeted, then it put everyone around him at risk, and it was likely that all the operatives had been briefed about the situation. Nevertheless, the fact that he was able to so quickly deduce who he was wasn't something Rex expected. This guy was fast. He swallowed hard, wondering now how much he knew. His eyes wanted to flicker away, but he met the alien's gaze evenly.
"Guess I'm famous around here now, huh?"
"A bit more than usual." He answered, though Rex had intended it as a rhetorical question. "It may not be a rare thing… someone needing our protection that is. But Eon can hardly be called the average threat."
"Funny. I keep hearing that."
And yet, after all he's heard, he hadn't actually been told anything about him. Though, somewhere in his gut, he felt that his unspoken inquiries didn't need to be asked. Because what more did he need to know beyond what was obvious? Eon's motivations, origins, and whatever the hell else weren't important. Unlike some of the people Rex had fought before, there were no blurred lines concerning the enemy here. He'd already seen what he was capable of. He didn't need to know more.
Needing protection however, wasn't the nicest feeling in the world. Knowing that people would throw down their lives for him, not even because they liked him, but because it was required of them. It had been that way at home too, but at least there, he could stand among the men ready to die for him. He couldn't do anything now.
"I am Rook Blonko." He finally introduced himself, extending a hand out to him. His arm faltered after Rex didn't immediately accept his handshake. "Do they greet each other differently in your dimension?"
Rook's eyes were earnestly curious, it instantly made him feel like a prick. And after he bought him a candy bar too... Was that a definitive way of knowing the kind of person Rook was? Of course not, but it was still nice. With certainty, it became clear to him that this was how friends were made. He was in a bad mood, but if he expressed it by taking it out on Rook, he knew he was going to mess up his chance to actually befriend someone. And remember it too.
Before Rook could drop his hand, Rex grabbed his hand. "You just took me by surprise. I'm Rex."
"Yes, I know." He reminded.
His initial assumption about him was proven correct. Rook was nice, if not too formal. It was fine though. He struck Rex as a dork really, but not in a bad way. As they walked the halls, he told him a little about himself. Rook came from a place called… Revo-
Revana?
Ravohana ?
Something like that. The syllables didn't immediately click together for him in his head, however that didn't mean he hadn't been attentively listening. It was a sort of farm town, which was something Rex tried to relate to.
"I think my family were farmers too at some point." He scratched his cheek cluelessly.
Caesar wasn't-
His thoughts halted. He forced himself to take an even breath.
-hadn't been the reminiscing type. Anything he'd wheedled out of him didn't cover how they came to stay at that farm in the first place or how often they spent there. But he'd seen himself in some home videos. They had to have stayed there, even if he couldn't recall ever stepping foot on his family's ranch other than the time he and his friends were there to whip it back into shape. It would have been nice to say he understood where Rook was coming from though. He didn't really have a clue. Rook must have assumed as much too, judging from the smile on his face.
"You 'think?'" He quoted.
"I… yeah." He didn't want to go into the subject of his memory loss. "They were mostly inventors."
"We were told the reason you were being targeted was some of their work." Rook nodded.
Rex laughed humorlessly, trying not to appear too annoyed. He was the one who practically spilled his life story to Max after all. He had no right to get upset.
"Well jeez, what weren't you told?"
"We were only told what was necessary..." He reassured. "Which might not be as much as you think. Not even what their work consisted of. I have no doubt your privacy was respected as much as possible."
"Huh." He made a noise of surprise, folding his arms over his chest. "Thought Tennyson would have dragged my name through the mud by now. Figured he would have warned everyone about what an evil guy I really am."
"That… doesn't sound like him. Unless you've done something to warrant distrust." Rook frowned.
So he wasn't a dastardly menace in farmer boy's eyes. "I was just trying to steal. You're not so great at your job, buddy."
Rook's eyes crinkled, once again amused by him.
"I suppose that would qualify as a misdemeanor." He agreed. "If you'd been successful."
Rex scoffed, feigning offense.
"You making fun of me? Just wait, dude. You're going to look one day and all the snack machines are going to be cleaned out. You won't be laughing then."
"I am not laughing now." He said, expression growing solemn. "Is that a threat?"
Rex hesitated.
"It was a joke." Rook smiled again, putting him at ease. "But you really shouldn't say those things."
"Ha. Funny."
"Are you unaccustomed to the food?"
"Not really, no. I mean yes. Yeah, I'm not used to a lot of it, " Rex looked at him questioningly. "Why?"
"You were getting a snack rather than eating at the mess hall." He clarified. "I can empathize with you. There are many Earth foods I could never quite develop a taste for."
His words reminded Rex that he wasn't the only one away from home. The headquarters may have orbited Earth, but he knew that not everyone here was from there. It was an obvious fact, he simply hadn't given thought about how his experience might have been a shared one. Not completely the same, but… similar. In some capacity, many of the people here were like him, though it was obvious that Rook had already grown used to being in a foreign environment. It was touching how he was making an effort to understand where he was coming from.
"I'd just kill for something I can recognize," Rex paused after speaking, and rethought his choice of words. "Not literally by the way."
"I'm familiar with a few of the Earth towns." He offered. "I can take you there if you'd like. You may find something that's similar to what you remember from home."
"Is that allowed? Leaving headquarters?"
"As long as you have a Plumber acting as an escort. I don't see why not."
"Tennyson won't like it."
"Ben is not the only active Plumber."
Ooh. Did Rex accidentally touch a nerve? There was something that creeped into Rook's tone. He swore it was annoyance, except he couldn't be sure from how emotionally collected he kept. Jealousy maybe? That someone else was in the limelight? He didn't know the alien well enough that he could form an accurate guess. He hoped that it was something negative though. He needed at least one ally against Ben around here. The place was crawling with bootlicking hero worshipers. And though Rex had been exposed to some of his fans through the conversations of others, he didn't actually see him around very often. Not in person anyway, and the more he saw him on television, the more he began to learn that Ben spent less time as himself and more as other creatures.
His absence didn't allow him to drop his guard. He wouldn't put it passed him to have found some paranoid-freakish way of keeping tabs on him.
"Let's hit the town then." Rex agreed.
"Why don't you like Tennyson?" Rex asked without preamble as they walked the sleepy streets of Bellwood.
It was strange. The chocolate wasn't the only thing swapped for his taste buds. While he was able to find a recognizable meal, a hotdog and a mango smoothie, they weren't right. The orangey taste of his smoothie was something he excused because it wasn't unheard of for smoothie places to mix their drinks, and it easily could have been that they didn't wash their blender. But he swore that something about his hotdog was strange. Not bad though, as he was able to finish the entire thing.
"Is that the impression I gave you? It isn't that I dislike him." Rook pulled his own drink away from his mouth. "That could not be further from the truth. Ben and I are partners… But lately, it might not seem that way, as we have not worked together much."
For real? Rex lowered his cup and stared at him, feeling a mix of emotions he was unable to process all at once. The main one being betrayal. Guess that made it clear why Rook immediately knew who he was. This was turning out just like his relationship with Noah, huh? Guess he really couldn't make friends the normal way. His fingers dug tiny crescent marks into his Styrofoam cup.
"He put you up to this?" Rex demanded.
Rook didn't follow, blinking at him a couple of times. "Pardon?"
"Tennyson. Did he ask you to keep tabs on me?"
"No, nothing like that." He was quick to shoot down. "I only happened to run into you. Nothing more."
Oh. Now he felt stupid. Of course it couldn't have been set up, he realized with slight embarrassment. Why would he be so honest about the fact that they knew each other if this had all been planned?
"You believe that Ben… dislikes you?" Rook asked him, since it wasn't the first time he alluded to the man in question.
"I know he does, just don't ask me why. I haven't seen him in years." But he definitely thought of him during their time apart. It was lonely when the world was on your shoulders. The only person he thought might have shared his grief was Tennyson. But apparently he'd made up their entire relationship because he was pathetic. Like the rest of Ben's admirers who got all cow-eyed over him.
"When I met him I just really… really admired-" He cut himself off and wondered why he was admitting that aloud. It was the truth of course, but he flushed and mentally kicked himself for saying it. Last impression he wanted to give was that he was a part of Ben's little fan group.
"I admired him too." Rook confessed, not ashamed unlike him. "When I was first assigned to be his partner, perhaps too much than what was probably deserved. Some of the awe faded as I grew to know him."
Rex took a brief drink of his smoothie. "He's different from when I met him. What happened to him? Do you know?"
Rook was his partner. If anyone knew it would have been him.
The alien however was tight lipped on the subject. "I do not think that it is my place to tell you. I don't like the idea of gossiping about him. He is still my friend."
What a great guy. Rex didn't press the subject any further and left it at that.
"You're a good friend." He told Rook, not a compliment just a statement.
"Thank you." He said nonetheless. "But it isn't about that. It's… courteous not to talk about someone behind their back. I would do the same for you."
"So does that mean we're not friends?" Just checking.
"We are... friends. But I would still feel the same were we not."
After taking one last sip from his strange smoothie, Rex tossed the cup into a curbside garbage bin and continued walking, his eyes exploring the town. He did a bit of people watching, observing the civilians act so neighborly toward each other. Being a part of a community, to belong somewhere, was always a nice feeling. He could picture a snotty, pint-sized Tennyson running up and down the side walks.
"You ever miss Revorhana?" He asked Rook thoughtlessly.
"Do I miss what?"
"Your home."
"Oh. It's actually Revonnah. And yes, I do miss it."
"But you wanted to be a space cop."
"Yes," Rook agreed, though Rex's choice of words seemed to strike him as funny. "A... ' space cop .' My father was certainly not pleased."
"You do it to piss him off or something?" Rex asked. People did a number of things to get noticed, such as acting out, especially if it was to catch a loved one's attention. But choosing an entire profession because of that would be a little far. He didn't think Rook had done so, but he knew of people who might have. Perhaps Rook didn't even want to anger his dad because he loved him. It was just a guess, but he was bad at making guesses.
"That is not why I became a Plumber…" He trailed off, so yeah he was wrong. "I imagine he is more accepting of my choice now. When my sister expressed her wishes to join the ranks, he told her he was proud and gave her his blessing."
"That's great!" Rex wished things were that simple for him whenever anyone disapproved of his own life choices. "Your relationship isn't strained anymore."
"I suppose." But there was still something lurking beneath the surface of his calm.
It must have felt awful for him, to see a sibling easily gain the approval of their parent when it wasn't so readily given to him. Rook had to fight for that, because it was the elder brother who lead the way for their siblings. Rex wondered if that was what he was thinking about, but didn't vocalize this assumption. Because he was bad at making inferences. Because that crossed the line of getting a little too personal. Rook wasn't asking too deeply about his own family's history after all, so he was kindly going to do the same.
"What was that thing they make on your planet?" Rex changed the subject. "Amber ooga? Gotta say, alien food's not my favorite but you're making me wanna try it."
Not at all a lie either.
"Amber Ogia." He patiently corrected. "It is not made, it's grown. I'll remember to let you try it the next time I have some in my possession."
"Thanks, man."