Before Perfection
by The Great Red Dragon
Chapter 19
"As I, turn up the collar of my favorite winter coat,
This wind is blow'in my mind...
I see the kids in the streets, with not enough to eat,
Who am I, to be blind,, pretending not to see them weep..."
-Man in the Mirror,
Michael Jackson
Riley looked at me. I looked back at him, and I think he could see the terror on my face. He put his hand on the back of my head, and slowly began to scratch my ears. Why was he so calm?
This was crazy!
"...Are you scared, Auron?", he asked me quietly.
"...Me?", I replied shakily.
...Strange, I thought; I never really paid attention to my voice until then, and I just then noticed how strange it sounded: it was (and is) almost electric in its flow, and kinda high.
I sounded like a high machine gun...although at the moment, it was like a scared newt.
…I don't think I should have been, though…
Riley pulled his hand back; casually, but not arrogantly.
"Y'know...", he said.
"I've kind of been wondering if I just imagined that bit before; you talking...I guess not."
I still didn't know what to say, or even if I should say anything. I remember being so scared about what might happen.
I continued to stare in horror at Riley, and he looked back. We looked at each other, with me in kind of shivering awe.
This held for several uncomfortable moments...
I gulped...and noticed how profusely horrible I was feeling about the situation.
"I...I think I'm gonna be sick", I said quietly.
I don't think Riley was expecting that; I had just busted his 'cool'.
"O...okay", he said, and graciously pulled forth a wastebasket.
I leaned over, and it came up pretty quickly. It came too fast, and before long, I had the dry heaves. I was worried that my nasty, hacking choke would call for more unwanted attention…
But then, I felt Riley's supporting hand on my back, and I felt a tiny bit better.
After a while, I lifted my head and wiped a tendril of vomit from my mouth.
"Thanks", I said weakly.
Riley nodded.
"Y'know...you were vomiting while you were unconscious, too", he informed me.
"I'm kinda surprised you still had anything left in you."
I leaned on my elbows gingerly. The staring continued...but this time, it didn't weigh as hard on me. Did my vomiting break the ice at all?
Finally, Riley finally began the conversation again and brought up the obvious.
"...You can talk?"
"...Uh-huh", I answered blandly.
"...Whoa...", Riley audited, and he gulped afterwards.
"...Can...can I ask why?...or how...?", he asked slowly; cautiously, in a way not intending to hurt my feelings.
…He wanted to talk to me.
I wanted to talk to him…but there was a bit of anxiety still fuzzing in my chest
"...C-can I sit on your lap?", I asked him.
It all came out; the whole story. I spoke like a DJ with an hour of overtime, and I barely drew breath.
Oh man, was I ever nervous...but as I spoke, the feeling of being sick, and the anxiety of something bad happening began to lessen. It was strange, but before long, the worst feeling in my body was in my mouth, where I could still taste my vomit.
I told Riley everything – about my artificial creation, my training and torture under Jumba's cruel hand, my escape and trip to Earth…
Riley was a good listener, though, and that made things easier. He allowed me to sit in his lap while I spoke; I think he knew it made me feel more at ease. His arm was across my shoulders lightly, and with my head lowered and my eyes raised, I could just read the '2 Xtreme' line across his skull-tattoo.
...It's crazy; I don't think that Jumba ever wanted me to have emotion. I think the fact that I do have feelings is a miscalculation of his layout for me. Maybe that's why he didn't want me anymore; Jumba didn't want a prototype that faltered on the job, and objected to duties, due to actually feeling something other than that his (my) mind and body didn't belong to him.
After I had gotten to the part of me finally getting settled just outside of Mana, I decided against going into some details. I made it look like I had just been absentmindedly strolling down the neighborhood when Riley hit me; I didn't want him to know that I had been eavesdropping on him earlier.
I finished my story with my escape from the pet shelter. I think Riley understood that the reason I left then was because I was still unsure about everything, because he didn't question me about it; I was grateful.
After a while of listening carefully, he finally nodded.
"So...", he said slowly, lifting his arm from my shoulders and sitting back
"...You're an alien?"
I nodded glumly; it seemed almost shameful to me.
"Bred and watered", I added.
Riley laughed at my little joke, but I think he only did so to make me feel better.
"So why me?", he asked after he had giggled a bit.
"What do you mean?", I asked him; I really didn't know what he meant.
"Why...why did you choose me?", he replied in question.
...The truthful answer seemed the best to me.
"I...ah...I saw you fight in the gym, and I thought I'd...follow you for a while."
I felt bad again for having to admit it, but it was obviously an unsuspecting, un-mocking amusement for Riley. Hell, he even cracked a smile again. This told me that I wasn't in all of the trouble that I had prepared myself for; I wouldn't have to feel bad because of him.
"You like pro wrestling?", he asked me.
I nodded. Riley continued with the smile.
"I noticed you were always looking at it on TV", he said.
Riley now tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling. He did this so long that I began feeling uneasy.
"…Is something wrong?", I asked him carefully.
Riley looked at me. I couldn't read or translate the look in his eyes.
"Well...I just found out that I'm sitting here with an actual alien; that's big news, I think…"
I lowered my head. I knew it was all over.
"I'll leave", I said quietly and resentfully.
Riley looked surprised. He straightened up very quickly from his laid-back position.
"Why?", he asked seriously.
I looked back at him.
"Because I'm an alien."
Riley now looked...I'm not sure how. But it was somewhere between shock, forgiveness, and self-outrage.
"...But...but that doesn't matter!", he said, and I noticed that there was some distress in his voice.
"It...it doesn't?", I asked, raising my head in surprise; did he really mean that?
I was truly in surprise…I thought that the prospect of having an extra-terrestrial on your couch would make any human-being uneasy.
…Was I wrong?
"No!", Riley said, and he reached around and put his arm around my shoulders again.
"Why would you even think that?"
"...Because I'm an alien."
I think Riley was going to laugh, but he suppressed it.
"That doesn't matter", he told me, in a tone of somewhat-solemn-ness.
"You're still my friend."
When Riley said those words, I felt warm all over. I had just been told that I had a friend: I could now be sure that I wouldn't be alone in the universe, as I had thought I was before.
I wanted to reach over and hug him; hold him close for finally being the one who would accept me for who I am…what I am.
Oh God, how I loved Riley from that moment on – my sweet, brave, honest, and true best-buddy Shark-wrestler Riley The-Man Kivvana!
However, we could not continue our conversation, as the next second, the whole entire party of Lara, Rebecca, and Dr. Hartrum came back into the room, and I once again had to keep my trap shut.
Damn. We were just getting started!
