Before Perfection
by The Great Red Dragon


Chapter 14
We walked for a while, with Riley keeping the conversation alive. It started to rain after a while, and Riley pulled a handy-dandy umbrella out of his coat pocket and gave it to me. I eventually gave it back, and we just walked closely together, so neither one of us got wet.
Upon reaching the fifteen-minute mark, I blinked away a few droplets of rain and cast my eyes upon a mid-sized, gray-colored house. Its paint-job was slightly chipped, and the roof was slightly subsided on a single end, but otherwise it was good. A long stone staircase led up to the front door.

"That's it", Riley announced.
"Home sweet home. It's not much but..."

I was appreciative nonetheless; I loved it.

Riley pushed open the door (it wasn't locked) and led me inside.

"Yo!", he called loudly across the hall.
"I'm home!"

I looked up at him in a way that said;

"You never told me you lived with anybody..."

But before I could actually get words out of my mouth (I would've loved to have seen the shock on his face when he found out I could talk), a frantic pitter-patter of feet came from down the hall, and a small girl of six skidded into sight. She had shoulder-length brown hair, and was wearing a red and purple muumuu.
She caught sight of me, and without hesitation, ran right at me. I didn't even have time to react before she hugged me tightly around the neck. She had a grip more of an Olympic weight-lifter than a small girl!

"Oh Riley!", she said more into my neck than to the actual Riley.
"You finally got me a puppy!"

A puppy?! You mean those annoying little fluff-balls that make those shrieking, yelping noises? Did I really look that bad?
I looked up at Riley with an expression of S.O.S; I wasn't used to anybody touching me besides him, and an embrace by an unknown stranger was just too much for the moment.

"Rebecca, stop that", Riley said, though not too seriously.

Thankfully, he managed to pull her off of me. I took a step back, partially hiding myself behind him. 'Rebecca' kept beaming at me like I was a...a...well, you know little kids when a new pet is brought into the house.
She went into the expected prattle of "What's-his-name-how-old-is-he-can-he-sleep-in-my-room?".

Riley managed to silence her after a while.

"Listen, Rebecca", he said while looking down at her.
"We're both very tired. So could you please go into the kitchen and get us a gin lemon?""

Rebecca looked shrewdly at me, then back at Riley.

"He drinks alcohol?", she asked.

"Uh, maybe we'll just have lemonade", Riley decided, then ordered lightly;
"Now go!"

She ran back down the hall, with the same frantic scurrying with which she had entered. Riley smiled at me.

"That's my sister", he said almost proudly.
"Looks like you've made a friend. Come, I'll introduce you to Lara."

Huh? Another sister?
Oh yeah; I remembered. He had mentioned them back in the EWF building to Dave.
He led me into a dimly-lit living-room; it wasn't exactly a large place. The television that sat in one corner was about the size the monitor in my spaceship. An ancient couch took up most of the space, and sitting on it was Lara. She was about the same age as Riley, minus a few months, and she was reading a book. She, like her sister, had shoulder-length brown hair, but instead wore it in a tight bun at the back of her head, which I personally thought made her look like she had a huge tumour going.

"Hey, Lara!", Riley said loudly, as she hadn't looked up at us yet.
"Guess who I brought home!"

"Oh, I can't guess", she said dully.

I didn't like her from the start.

"Look!", Riley said, gently nudging me into the picture.
"-Lara...look!", he almost pleaded.

She finally gave us a sideways glance. The look she gave me suggested I had just crawled out of the sewer-system (...well, I'll admit that I wasn't the Eu de Cologne product, but my aroma wasn't THAT bad. I mean...Riley could stand it, couldn't he? Besides, I had just spent two weeks in the ghetto!)

"What IS that thing?", she asked in disgust.
"Where in God's name did you dig up that thing?"

'Thing'?! I thought my ears are failing me!
I growled loudly and balled my hands into fists. Riley could obviously sense my anger, and took a safe step front of me.

"Lara, how can you say that?!", he demanded in shock.
"This is our guest!"

"Riley, don't talk crap. I don't even know what 'this' is!", Lara said.
"What the Hell is it anyway?"

I really disliked her, but her question did spark some worry into my mind. If they couldn't figure out an explanation for what in the world I was, what would the answer be?
But thank goodness for Riley. He brushed the question aside without a care.

"It doesn't matter what HE is, I won't have you talking about him like that!", he said in my defense.
"And if you're not a bit nicer to him, you're gonna be the one who's the nothing."

Lara sniggered at her brother's threat and got up. She walked by us, and once again came that 'look' towards me. This time, however, I was able to counter it with one of my own menacing stares. She'll think twice about this the next time.

"I'm sorry about that", Riley apologized as he clicked the light-switch, illuminating the living room.
"Lara can be a real ass at times, but usually she's okay."

I doubted it, but he let me sit down on the couch, across from him.

"If you want to, you can take a bath or shower later", he offered, and I nodded vigorously.

I sat down, and it felt kinda good to have soft fabric under my tush again. Just then, little Rebecca came in, carrying a pitcher half-full of neon-colored lemonade and three colored glasses. Riley poured us all a fill. He gave me a straw and I started to slurp away at the sweet, refreshing beverage.
For a moment, there was silence: a time when we tried to find out as much as we could about each other by only eye-contact. Finally, it was the kid who broke the silence.

"What's his name?", she asked.

Riley looked at me.

"Do you have a name?"

I looked at the floor slowly in answer.

"...I guess not", he said.

"Can I name him?", Rebecca asked eagerly.
"Can we call him 'Sylvester'?"

Both Riley and I gave her a look that just screamed "NO!!!". Riley leaned his head back and thought for a moment.

"What about 'Auron'?", he asked thoughtfully.

Rebecca made a face.

"That's a name out of a video game", she said.
"What about 'Garfield?'"

Riley leaned over to me.

"What does it sound like to you, buddy?", he asked.
"Does 'Auron' sound good to you? I think it fits you."

I sat back and thought for a moment, while Rebecca lolled on another list of cartoon character-influenced names. A few more minutes passed in silence, in which Rebecca took hold of a loose sketch pad and began to doodle.

"Ah-ah-auh-aurrron...", I mumbled under my breath (it sounds a bit primitive, but I felt like sounding out my name).
"Aurrron..."

"...Did you just say something?", Riley asked, in surprise and near-disbelief.
"...Did you...really-"

"Hey, look!"

Rebecca pushed her way in between us and held up a sketch-pad.

"Look at the picture I drew of Auron!"

There I was, immortalized in aqua marine-blue and black crayon: a little too sketch-ish, but still pretty impressive for a six-year-old.

"Do you like it, Auron? Do ya, huh?", she asked exuberantly, waving it in front of my face.

I smiled at her, and nodded.
Time passed, and we talked long into the night. I declared Riley my personal savior (if he wasn't already) when he made us a large batch of sandwiches; hot sandwiches with hot chocolate.
Oh man, it tasted SO GOOD! No more garbage!
I tried to restrain myself, I tried to keep good manners, but in the end I ate in the way that a wolf devours a deer; nobody seemed to mind. They brought me more food when the sandwiches were gone, and I felt sinfully glutinous.
Rebecca fell asleep around midnight, with my hand clutched tightly in hers. I had finally gotten over my 'no-touchy' thing, though there was still a bit of shyness on my part. Riley gently pried her from me and carried her up to bed (it was a two-story house). I leaned against the cushion of the couch and sighed in contentment.

What can I say? It was pure Heaven.

Riley came back downstairs again a few minutes later, still looking lively.

"Look at the time", he said, glancing at the clock.
"I think I'd better get to bed. I have to get up in the morning."

I nodded.

"...Do you wanna sleep down here?", he asked me.
"I could get you some pillows if you'd like."

I shook my head and slumped into the couch's corner, meaning that I didn't want bed-wear.

"Okay, that's fine", Riley said.
"You can-whoops!"

I had accidentally hit a small button on the side of the couch. A compartment opened at the furniture's base. I peered inside, and beheld a fine display of small, thin, rectangular CD cases. I pulled one out, and admired its cover.
It portrayed a young woman, dressed in pink, cornered in the dark, with a large scorpion's tail emerging from her skirt; scorpion-lady. I looked up at Riley, and saw that he had a smile on his face.

Savage Amusement.

"Wanna listen to some music?", he asked, taking the case and popping out a small, silver disk.
"You look like a Scorpions fan."
"Wise man said, just walk this way...
To the dawn, of the light...
The wind will blow, into your face...
As the years, pass you by...

Hear this voice, from deep inside...
It's the call, of your heart
Close your eyes, and you will find...
Passage out, of the dark

Here I am
Will you send, me an angel?
Here I am
In the land, of the morning star...

-Send Me An Angel,
Scorpions
(A/N: 'Savage Amusment' is the name of the before-mentioned Scorpions album; all is copyrighted by people other than me)