Opening Up
Epic Nine
Written by Cartman's Girl and Poe

It being a slow day at the lab, Zib had been let off early, and he perked his hair-scythes up as the doorbell rang. He stood up from the couch, opening the door to answer it, and was greeted by Ivy's neck,

"Oh, hi Iv-" he glanced to the side and saw the even taller, but familiar figure, jumping slightly, "and, your, um, friend?" Anzto nodded,

"Mr. Zib sir." he said simply. Enid walked up behind Zib,

"Who is.. is?" she stared up at Anzto "Oh... hello there..." she said quietly.

"I wanted you guys to meet him since certain family members seem to be under the impression he's dangerous," she scowled, not naming names but it was fairly obvious who she was talking about.

"Hello," Zib said nervously, stepping back to allow admittance, "Um, Ivy's told us quite a bit about you."

"Really.." he looked down at Ivy as he walked into the base, ducking only slightly to enter. "Well, I hope they're good things."

"Oh, yes they are.." Enid nodded, stepping back as he entered. Ivy wrinkled her nose-area at him, and Zib glanced back and forth between them.

"Well, A.. Anzto, was it? Sit down, and, um, make yourself at home." He grinned nervously, pushing up his glasses. Ivy deposited her backpack in the kitchen and stretchd out her arms, her shoulder sore from lugging it around.

"Anzto, yes." Anzto sat down on the couch, folding his arms and grinning at the two. "You got a nice place here.." he said, glancing at the base.

"Um, thank you... would you care for anything to drink...?" Enid was pretty nervous here, knowing what Beasts are like and what they're capable of, heck it'd make anyone nervous.

"No thanks." Ivy sat down on the couch arm, looking over at her parents and rolling her eyes.

"Mom, Dad, relax, he's not like that." Zib blinked,

"We're just.. well, not use to company, that's all." Well, they did have Allison over occasionally, but a teenage human girl was a bit different from a teenage male of a highly dangerous, large and carnivorous alien species.

"Quite understandable for you to be nervous, Mr. Zib." Anzto said, rubbing his forehead before he took his jacket off. "If I were you I'd be worried too. But, I'm not like how my species has been portrayed." he smiled slightly at Enid, who smiled still kind of nervously back at him.

"Well you.. you're very well mannered I... I guess..." she said.

"I try my best." he grinned. Zib glanced at Enid, then back at Anzto,

"Well, you seem alright.. But Enid and I are, well, some of the more easy-going Irkens in this family.." He sighed, "Mom's convinced you've come to eat us all."

"...your Mom..?" Anzto hadn't been filled in on the warped family line, and looked to Ivy. "I thought your Grandpa Zim was the one..."

"Oh, well, you see, my mother is actually male.." Zib laughed and scratched the back of his head , sitting down on the edge of the coffee table. "Dib's the other one, but he's not really part of the family," Ivy added, blowing at her bangs,

"Just where I get the hair from."

"Oohhh.. I thought it was a wig or something.." Anzto looked at Ivy's hair, then to Zib. "I understand now. So, he's the one who thinks I'm here to kill off Irkens and humans?"

"Pretty much." Enid said, "My Daddy told me how he reacted when he found out about you here, and he was going to... um, 'Kablam' you. So to speak."

"Kablam me?" he smirked slightly.

"Mom always did have an odd way of putting things," Zib folded his hands in his lap and shook his head, "He's.. well, rather stubborn, but I think he could be reasoned with.. in some time." He narrowed one of his eyes, "Maybe."

"But what could I do to make him not want to 'kablam' me?" Anzto asked, looking kind of lost.

"I dunno... save him from something, but him getting in danger is pretty unlikely. I think." Enid said, pausing to think it over.

"Maybe nothing," Zib sighed, "But I wouldn't worry too much about it. Mom's wanted to kablam half of this family at one point or another." He grinned slightly. Ivy sat down on the couch itself and leaned against the arm.

"Mostly my parents, and my brother... er, half brother." Enid said,

"Talk about family miffs." Anzto said more to himself.

"If anything, I think extraterrestrials should stick together. I mean, it's us against a planet full of humans." Zib pondered, then took out a notepad, "The computer didn't have a whole lot of information on your species, I was won-"

"Daddy!" Ivy scowled at him, and Zib blinked, "He's my friend, not a potential specimen."

"Oh, um, sorry." Zib grinned again, tucking the notepad away. Anzto smirked,

"You can ask me stuff if you want, Mr. Zib. I got no problem with that." no one had cared about him at all, and suddenly being asked about his species behaviour, well he'd like to be of any help really.

"Well, I suppose I was mostly wondering how the shape-shifting worked.. Or, or how such a large carnivore could sustain themself on a diet in the midst of a city with no marked change in any population.." He tapped a pencil against his chin, as he thought of things to ask.

"Well it's easy. We concentrate especially hard on what type of species we want to look similar to. Not a pretty site when it happens, a tad painful but in the end we fit. And as for my diet... well, I buy cooked meat as often as I can." he smirked at Ivy, "As Ivy found out. But, usually I dine on thrown out garbage."

"Wouldn't you get sick, though?" Enid asked, "I mean, garbage is germy." she said.

"My species, our imune system is above average so we rarely get sick. Whenever we do, it results in death."

"Oh." Enid said. Zib was jotting down notes,

"To have DNA-altering technology, your species must be incredibly advanced.. I think the best Irkens can do are holograms." Ivy just kind of sat back and listened.

"Well we don't really have access to technology, but since our species have been stealth hunters since we first well, evolved it sort of was worked in somewhere." Anzto sat back, crossing his legs. "Pretty useful."

"Really?" Zib arched his eyeridges, muttering something about highly advanced camoflauging techniques. Ivy looked up at Anzto, "Sorry.. Science is kind of his thing."

"Heh, I thought so..." he smiled slightly. "If you want me to demonstrate my morphing skills Mr. Zib, I'd comply."

"You would?" He seemed immediately interested, "Well, if you really want to, um, do you have enough space here?" He glanced around the living room, having an idea of how big adult Beasts could get and all. Ivy just looked a bit confused, the room seemed plenty big enough to her.

"Heh, well I'm not fully grown yet Mr. Zib... height wise I'm as big as I appear now." he chuckled slightly, tapping his finger tips together.

"Oh, well then." Zib relaxed a bit, "Feel free, if you're comfortable with it." Ivy blinked and got off the couch, moving to the coffee table by her father to watch.

"Good thinking Ivy." Anzto smirked, then took his sunglasses off and placed them to the side. "I actually found these, so I can't really morph with em on." he said, half closing his white eyes. Ivy picked up the glasses and held onto them for him. Zib looked around, figiting,

"I wish I had some sort of camcorder.." He muttered, as he adjusted his own glasses to make sure he got a good look at this.

"You forget the base records what happens, Zib." Enid said, as she moved out the way as well and sat down. Anzto stood up and put his feet together, and arm by his sides.

"All right...." he took a deep breath and began. First, his pale skin slowly stared to fade to a deep brown, and fur began sprouting around his neck and head - much like a lion's mane really. The clothing seemed to mold onto his body, forming the muscles as well. Black stripes faded in on his arms and upper neck. Black horns sprouted from his head, at this he cringed slightly and at the same time his fingernails (two fingers fusing together since he initally had four fingers) turned black, growing bigger. From the base of his back a tail suddenly sprouted quickly like a weed and his legs turned brown as the rest of his body had, and the Raptor-esque feet took over. Lastly, the bat like wings sprouted from his back, and spread out. After a moment, the teeth in his mouth shot out, as they usually did and he opened his eyes. "Whoa..." he murmered, his voice half distorted with a snarl. "...haven't done that in a while...." Enid could only stare for a while, before blinking.

"........wow." Ivy and Zib seemed equally speechless, Zib's jaw slack; he even dropped his pencil, before quickly retrieving it and jotting down note after note at a hurried place, mumbling excitedly to himself. Ivy was transfixed, blinking out of it only when he spoke,

"Wow," she breathed, echoing her Mom, "I had no idea you looked so.. cool."

"Haw... thanks I think..." he grinned, showing off the row of sharp white teeth.

"And... your whole species is like that?" Enid asked, stepping forward.

"Pretty much, except my imediate family has silver instead of black." he pointed to the fur around his head. Zib seemed to be going on a little diatribe about combined mammilian/reptillian features, probably largely incoprehensible to anyone without a degree in biology. Ivy tilted her head,

"I like the teeth." Then pondered, "You.. uh, always go about naked?" Anzto blinked, his ears perking as he looked down at himself. Course, you couldn't see anything thanks to the scale hide which kept everything out of sight.

"Well, yeah.... no need for clothing anyway." he blushed slightly. She laughed, then held up her own claws in comparison to his own much larger black ones.

"Those are incredible! I bet you could slice through anything with those, huh?" He held his hands up like she was, palm out.

"That's what they're made for Ivy." he smirked, his tail waving from side to side slightly, looking similar to how a dog wagged it's tail.

"Guess so." Needless to say, his claws practically dwarfed her hand, and she glanced back at the tail. "I didn't know you had one of those.." Then up at the wings, shaking her head, smirking slightly, "I'm jealous now!" Anzto laughed slightly,

"Naw, don't be jealous... I wish I was as mobile as you. I mean... no wings, no tail, no pointy teeth... kinda." hers was sort of pointy, but still.

"Still." She examined his wings, reaching up and touching the leathery skin stretched in one section cautiously, "What's it like, flying?"

"It's lovely." he smiled, "To just... fly away is great. Course, I only fly at night when no one can see me. Vist knows that. And how quiet I am." Anzto stretched his wing out to her hand. She blinked, running her hand down the elasticy substance. Zib, meanwhile, was running out of notebook paper;

"I'm going to have to go run this into the computer before I forget," he mentioned, a device suddenly dropping down from the cluster of wires from the ceiling, and he dictated to it all the way to one of the elevator exits.

"I really made your Dad's day, haven't I?" he asked, smiling slightly.

"Oh yeah..." Enid said, "He hasn't been this estatic in ages.."

"Yeah, he's always wanted an alien species to study. That wasn't one of his own, I mean." Ivy withdrew her hand, as interesting as the wing was it did seem a little rude.

"Yeah..." Anzto nodded, then blinked as Enid was now looking him all over.

"It's just... so bizzare how you have fur, but you're scaley.... wait, do your species give birth like mammals, or lay eggs?" she asked, the idea hitting her. Anzto thought for a while,

"We lay eggs, but shortly after the pups hatch and they suckle milk in a pouch the females have. So... we're kinda combined." he pointed to his stomch area, to where the pouch would be.

"Huh. Kind of like.." She squinted, thinking, "Like mono.. monotre.. bah, platypus?" She looked over his stripes and scales, then noticed his gauntlet. "What's that?" He looked at it,

"Well.. since my Father was ruler and I was second in line to become our clan's ruler, I was given this... my older brother was given one, but his was on both arms." Anzto rubbed the metal, "But he died, so I was left to take over for my Father, another reason why he became infuriated when I refused to kill anything when my trail came to enter adulthood." his wings lowered slightly, and his tail rested on the ground. "That's when he exhiled me. I can't really get it off since I grew into it, see?" he pointed to his flesh, which was almost fused with the metal. She examined the metal design as she listened, wincing at the nearly fused flesh, then looked back up at him, shrugging,

"Well, if you ask me that's a dumb reason to exhile someone."

"It's the main reason with us really.."

"I'm so sorry to hear that, Anzto." Enid said, patting his arm.

"Do you miss your, um, clan?"

"Sometimes… when the moon's full it reminds me back when we used to howl at full moons in packs to frighten nearby communities for fun… but, they'll never take me back." he said sounding slightly sad. Ivy frowned,

"Well, hey. We might be just Irkens but maybe in a weird way… we could be, uh, like your new clan?" She looked up at him, then at her mother, "I'm sure the rest would accept you.. besides maybe Grandpa Zim, but he hardly accepts anything."

"Really?" his ears slowly perked up, "You'd... take me in as a clan member?" Enid looked at Ivy, then up at the tall Beast.

"Well, I, would love to have you as part of the family Anzto, but it'd be right to discuss first with the other members. You understand, right?" she asked.

"Oh, oh yes... that's how it's done in our species... young males, who aren't destined to rule, are cast out to find other clans to become part of and spred the genes. So... I'm fine with that." Anzto nodded, smiling again. An indiscernible look crossed Ivy's face at the 'gene spreading' part, but she shook her head and looked back at her Mom,

"Has there ever been a big family get-together?" She couldn't remember one, at least.

"Not really..." Enid's antennae perked slightly, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Ivy?" she asked, grinning. She grinned a bit in return,

"Maybe. Besides, Ragde has to introduce Allison to the rest of the family sometime." She glanced up at Anzto, "Would you wanna go?"

"I... guess so." he nodded happily, grinning. "I'd love to!" She smiled broadly, a rare thing for her indeed, then pondered.

"But just where could a bunch of Irkens, one human and one.. um.. Anzto be without being noticed?"

"...Zim and Vishti have that thing floating above uor heads don't they?" Enid asked, "I'm sure if we asked Vishti she'd say yes if we tell her it's for a family get together."

"Oh yeah! That'd work.." Ivy seemed almost excited as her father now, "When do you think we could arrange something like that, Mom?"

"Well I could tall Vishti tonight, ask her... then we can tell the others tomorrow.. how about the weekend?" Enid asked, looking up at Anzto. "Is that good?" Anzto shrugged,

"I have no diary planner, so fine with me Mrs, uh, Zib."

"Call me Enid." Ivy kept on smiling, and actually hugged Enid,

"Thanks, Mom." She let go quickly, though, and ran off, probably to go locate Ragde, "I gotta go tell Raggy!" About this time, Zib emerged from the closet door, blinking and watching Ivy run off happily.

"What's gotten into her?"

"She's happy Zib!" Enid said, on the brink of being as estatic as Ivy was. "See, Anzto told us how his family exhiled him and he's now clanless, and Ivy said that maybe in a weird way he could join us." she walked up to him, slinging an arm around his shoulders. A thing she'd always done when they were younger, as if she was explaining a plan to get out of sports day at Skool or something. "So, I'm gonna ask Vishti tonight if we can organise a family get together at her and Zim's rotating thingie, and there, we can introduce Anzto as well as Allison. What'd ya think? Eh?" Anzto smirked, looking behind him at the picture of a purple goose he hadn't noticed before. Zib blinked when he had an arm slung about him, sensing trouble,

"Well, I dunno.." Heck, it'd been his hesitant response to most things she suggested after that, "Vishti's one thing, but Mom might be harder to convince.. Though.." Zib lowered his tone, "He had been wanting to see Anzto for himself.. How he'll react to Allison though.." Zib shook his head. "I guess there's only one way to find out."

"Aw I knew you'd see things my way!" she put her hands under his arm pits and actually hefted him into the air, "That's my little guy!" Enid grinned at him before hugging him. Anzto smirked, trying not to laugh at the sight of the two. Zib yelped, his glasses nearly being dislodged, before he laughed nervously and returned the hug,

"Well, I mean, we're all outcasts in our own way, from the Irken species at least, and from what I can tell about Anzto and Allison is that they're the same to their own race.. Like I said, why not stick together?"

"Yeah I know." she purred slightly, rather loud sounding purr as well. Another thing she picked up from Poe. She set him down, "I'll go and call Vishti then." with that she ran off, clapping her hands as she went. Anzto watched her go, then looked at Zib.

"…before you ask I could explain my species' production process if you want…"

[The End, I guess! Now move on! …when it's up I mean. Yeah.]