Thanks for the positive review, Comrade. So you have wished it, so it shall be!
Disclaimer: There are no concepts, characters, or ideas written below or in the rest of this story that I lay claim to, other than the first-person. Many, many thanks to XxSanitariumxX for the story idea, and I'd definitely recommend you check out his stories, because his are better. And more original.
I should probably have at least shook hands with the frog, Isaac, after he convinced a foster family to take me in, got me a translator, and helped me get into the right school. After all, he'd gone well above and beyond the call of duty, and I hadn't even had to cheat to make him do it all. But in my defense, his hand was that of a frog, and I wasn't too sure of whether it'd be slimy or warty. But I didn't forget to at least tell him thank you before he drove away, leaving me in front of the family's house.
I turned toward the house, feeling a little bit less than prepared. The new translator that had been loaned to me (the bulldog made that very clear) seemed simple enough. It somehow translated the words I heard and said, even though it was situated on my right arm, as opposed to on my ears or mouth. And apparently it had other functions. They hadn't told me much after showing me how to attach it and turn it on or off, but I didn't think I'd have much of a problem figuring it out.
I looked up and down the deserted streets nearby once more. The houses were all nice, and so were the lawns of most of them. One house across the street had a very untidy yard, and I made a mental note to avoid it, but I hadn't yet seen another person. Maybe they're at work, I reasoned, turning back to my new home. A maroon ceiling sat on top of the otherwise white two-story house, and a few windows sat on the second floor with the blinds drawn. There was a driveway off to my left, and the door sat a short way past it, shaded by the second story of the house. Things seem to be going well, I thought, walking up to the door. As long as I'm not living with a serial killer, right?
Even I had to admit, it hadn't been that bad. My new "mother" came out almost as soon as I knocked and swept me into a hug that may have injured my back. I almost had to applaud her enthusiasm at meeting someone who was not only a stranger, but also an alien by all appearances. I'm not one to judge women by their...attributes, but the raven that greeted me would have suffocated me with her chest if I was just a bit younger and shorter. And unlike what I'd thought, the feathers covering her body weren't like quills; they were soft and downy. When she finally let me go, I took a deep breath, and she pulled me inside, introducing me to everyone else in the house.
I found out quickly that she was named Joanne. She introduced me to her husband, a burly raven who she called Jake, but who I would give the oriental street name "Ho Lee Schitt." Maybe I would actually call him Lee, to make myself laugh. Their only real son was, obviously, a raven, too. He was around my new age, but he didn't seem to want to talk with me when he left the room the instant I entered. Joanne told me his name was Michael.
Nobody else was in the main room of the house, so after introducing myself, I asked where I could go to unwind and relax. Isaac must not have told the family of ravens where I'd come from, because they assumed I'd flown from a human-inhabited system somewhere. I didn't bother righting any rumors just yet, so I just agreed and made my way upstairs to the room they told me was mine.
Once inside, I sat on the bed closest to the door with a sigh. Not much else was in this room; there was a tall lamp near the door, which was almost pointless because of the lights on the ceiling fan. There was a window on the opposite side of the room as the door, and a computer across from the bed I was sitting on. There was another bed, but since both were neatly made, I assumed that neither one was being used.
"No cameras," I said, looking at the corners of the room. "So how weird could these people possibly be?"
Rather than trying to relax more, I began to inspect my translator. I'd been told that it had other functions, but since the few buttons on it had Cornerian symbols on them, I wasn't so sure pressing them randomly would help. For all I knew, the thing had a self-destruct feature that would very quickly and neatly screw me over. So after merely playing with the fastener for a little bit, I stood up and went to the computer. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to find, since it would probably all be in a weird language, too, but I figured it'd be worth a try.
"What are you doing?" a black feline asked from the doorway right after I found and pushed the power button.
"I was going to use the computer," I said hesitantly.
"You mean my computer?" he asked, stomping toward me. I stood up, and he shut off the computer's monitor just before it finished booting up.
"I didn't know it was yours," I explained.
"Well...just leave it alone, okay?" he asked. His long black tail stopped flicking back and forth so rapidly.
"Alright, fine," I told him. Normally I would just try again when he wasn't looking, but there was something about him that made me not want to upset him. Besides, since this was his computer, I could safely assume that he knew where I slept. You don't want to upset anyone who fits that description. I just sat back down on my own bed.
"Look, I'm sorry," he said after a few moments. "I just don't like it when people touch my things."
"No, it's fine," I said. "I was just getting bored, is all."
"Oh, well, I was about to go hang out with some friends of mine. I think they'd be around your age. I mean, if you want to come," he said, not making eye contact. After a moment, he added, "I'm Colin, by the way."
"Ditto. And sure," I said. "I don't have anything better to do."
"Alright," he said. "Just grab your...oh...right. I'll just...meet me downstairs."
I couldn't help but chuckle; he was as nervous as a cat in a dog pound, no pun intended. But I decided that it couldn't hurt to go with him, and even though I wasn't one for socializing, I didn't think it could really end that badly.
I followed Colin downstairs, back into the living room, where Joanne, "Lee", and a small red robin were watching something on the television. I didn't recognize it, but it looked like a movie with Cornerian actors, so I didn't even try to figure it out.
"We're going out," Colin called.
"Oh," Joanne said, standing up. "Take care. And make sure Ditto doesn't get hurt," she said, gesturing toward me.
"Will do," he called, walking outside. I tried to follow him, but he rushed back inside before I reached the door.
"Is something wrong, honey?" Joanne asked before sitting down again.
"There are people out there."
"What?" she asked, standing up again. This time, Jake rose too. I went to the window and peeked out. Sure enough, there was a fairly small crowd of people, many of which had professional-looking cameras or microphones.
"What, do I have fans, now?" I asked. I knew the sight of a human on Corneria was something exciting, but I didn't really want to be on the news.
"I'll take care of 'em," he said after looking out the window. I couldn't help but to laugh as he did just that. It didn't take much more than a gesture and they all turned tail (literally) and ran. Some of them even demonstrated their knowledge of his street name. I'll definitely be glad he's on my side, I thought as he came inside again.
The next week was much less boring than I thought it'd be. Colin turned out to be pretty cool, once he warmed up to me. He even decided to show me more about my translator, and after he showed me how to use it to translate text using a little holographic window, I managed to get pretty good at using it. His friends weren't bad, either. I mean, it was still unusual meeting a whole group of people who I didn't know, but being older than them in both body and mind made it less awkward for me.
As for the others in the house, I generally tried to avoid them. When I wasn't in my room, I was going out to have fun and pass the time. Since I went with Colin a lot of the time, we became pretty fast friends, even though he was close to twelve years old. I didn't very much like spending time with Joanne, but that's most likely because she was starting to treat me like part of her own flock, or family, or whatever you'd call it. I avoided Jake, too, but mostly because he was intimidating. But he managed to get in a conversation, just him and I, and after that, I didn't mind being around him.
It wasn't long before I met the little red bird I'd seen that first day. Her name was Ruth, and she was only six years old. And she must have thought that a human was the best thing since sliced bread. When she wasn't asking me to play a board game or watch a show with her, she was just following me and imitating me. It got a little awkward, but once Joanne noticed my nervousness, she made Ruth stay busy more. As for the young raven in the house, I didn't even see him the whole time. And Joanne told me that there was another one in the house, but I didn't see her, either.
I made sure through the whole week to wear my jacket everywhere, no matter how hot it got. Fortunately, summer was winding down, so I'd be able to keep up the ruse through the school year – or, at least until I got out of this universe. I didn't even show the marks on my wrists to those who I lived with; I wanted to trust them, but I barely managed to convince the officers. And I couldn't risk taking another Sin just to show them I was serious. Especially since Ruth was only six, and it wasn't a stretch of the imagination for her to tell all of her friends. I'd be lucky to go outside without someone taking a picture of me, in that case.
Speaking of paparazzi, it didn't get as bad as I'd thought. There were occasionally people who wanted to take pictures of me, but I kept my head down and my nose clean, and they began to get bored pretty fast. They still didn't dare coming near the house, which is why I stayed there much of the week. I eventually realized why they weren't worried about me. Another human was here, as an emissary of Earth, and they were more concerned with him. I knew more about him than technically possible, seeing as how I'd never heard of him while in this universe, so I hoped we'd never have to meet.
I hadn't found Fox, either. I tried to, but I only managed to figure out that one of Colin's friends knew someone who I knew would eventually join Star Wolf. I couldn't exactly tell the person that, so I stopped searching that way.
Fortunately, the nights went by quickly. I would close my eyes, and open them moments later to the sun rising. Before coming into this universe, I hadn't entered a game where sleep was allowed, so I assumed that it was normal to completely skip the entire night.
Before long, the first week was over. Joanne announced every morning and every night how many days we all had left until school started again, much to the chagrin of everyone but me. Apparently the mystery person of the house was starting her senior year of high school, and I would be going to the same school, along with Michael. I'll try to contain my excitement, I thought sarcastically when I found out.
I edited this chapter slightly to make it closer to the original storyline. And before I can upload the next chapter (which is done already), I need to do something with it.
And I edited it AGAIN more recently (3/13/2013), to make the tons of extra characters easier to cope with. Also, I'm going to be taking away that element of self-insertion, so I'll refer to the first-person as the Main Character. There's Colin, the black housecat who's the main character's roommate. There's Ruth, who is just about in love with the main character. The two parents, obviously. And Michael, the raven who we all know is emo, even though nobody said it yet.