Well hello again, everyone! Hi! I am sooooo sorry for not updating sooner! I'd meant to do this on Monday - or maybe even Tuesday - but I started School on Tuesday, and it's high school so it was REALLY hectic, and I didn't exactly like how this chapter was coming out - near the end - so I was kinda procrastinating working on it and I'm really just making excuses right now, so sorry!
Read away, loves!
…
I did not sleep well at all.
After taking a nearly hour long shower – which wasn't very unusual for me, seeing as I was kinda stupid like that – I dressed in some PJ's – surprised to find that some were actually brought along... Though altered from what they originally looked like (Not necessarily a bad thing) – and crawled off to my room, hearing Sasha faintly moving around in her room across the hall.
The walls here were weirdly thin for things that kept in the tortured screams of Johnny's victims.
Must've been a Waste Lock thing.
My room was simple and light in color. The walls were a light blue – they reminded me of my walls back home, but I tired not to think about that – and kinda dusty, but that could be ignored. I had a bed against one wall, two circular lamp desks on either side – the bed was still a bit dusty and made me sneeze when I plopped down into it – my window was neat, seeing as it had that little 'chair' part right under it – I'd have to get a cushion for it one day – and across from my bed – to the left of my closet; the closet's right – was a large desk with large drawers and a small space for legs.
I mused over how long I would have to work at 'Books A Plenty' to get enough money to buy some new furniture or new clothes, decided I didn't really wanna do the math right now – or EVER, really – and grabbed a book from my bedside table to read, trying – vainly – to fend of the somewhat depressing thoughts rushing through my head.
In the end, I just dropped the book back on the bedside table and lay on my back, staring up at the ceiling, chewing on the ends of my glasses and feeling depressed and somewhat blank – unable to really... Feel.
I hated that about myself... I never felt as though I could feel right... Like my emotions were muted... Like I couldn't access it all, or that others felt more than me...
It was a pretty depressing feeling.
Eventually... I fell asleep... I might've cried for a few minutes, though... I can't remember...
Morning came too soon, seeing as I drifted in and out of sleep and tossed and turned almost constantly. My glasses had fallen to the ground and, thankfully, weren't damaged and I got up at five to shut off my alarm as it started blaring out it's song, slapping on my glasses as I stumbled over to my desk.
I glanced over at my door after I scrambled across the room to shut it off, listening, and when I didn't hear anything that sounded like Sasha waking up in an irritated state of mind, I sighed and quietly snuck into the kitchen, hungry.
However, we didn't actually have any 'food', yet... Just snacks, which – as much as I would love to – we couldn't eat for forever. PLUS, we were getting a little low on them in general.
Also, my butt was big enough on it's own, thank-you-very-much. I didn't need any help from a diet of junk-food.
I grabbed a small, pocket sized notebook from my backpack – bringing the bag along to the table with me – and sat at the kitchen table, snacking on Fig Newtons and making a list of things we needed and just things in general, trying not to think about certain things too much.
I still felt muted, though... And, well, maybe that was good... Maybe I wouldn't get depressed, then.
Or maybe I already was depressed... I don't know... I might have been... But I couldn't really tell...
It was all rather annoying, really. I ought to just deal with it and get on with living...
But I was too human for that. Nah... This would all bug me for a while.
Well, after procrastinating it for a bit, I managed to work out how much Sash and I would make a week – we'd make $150 a week adding our sums together, if you were wondering – though I hated math with a burning passion. I figured that Mr. Berg didn't know that we didn't have any pa-
I felt a jab of pain in my chest and paused as I wrote for a second. I swallowed, before continuing my writing and my thoughts.
- parents, so he didn't know that we'd need the money to live.
Then again, maybe he just didn't like kids?
… Yeah, that was probably it.
Jerk.
CHEAP jerk.
Guh, anyway, it wasn't the end of the world, seeing as I had fifty or sixty dollars in cash on me... thank goodness I hadn't bothered to get a bank account... Yay for laziness, I suppose...
'Yay'.
I looked down at my list of groceries and things that needed doing, and sighed. Great. We needed a lot, grocery-wise – I'd kept the list down to what we'd need the most to make us happy, like eggs (for Sasha) and pancake mix – and I didn't have a lot of money...
Oh well... At least food probably didn't cost much here... Hopefully at least. I mean, everything was cheap looking. It had to be cheap when it came to buying stuff, right?
Eh, here's hoping, I guess.
There was a loud yawn to my right suddenly and I looked up – realizing I'd started doodling instead of writing, silly, procrastinating me – and saw Sasha walking into the room, rubbing at her eyes. She was dressed in a purple tank-top with a large white paw print on the chest and gray sweatpants with a white star pattern. She blinked her eyes a little and yawned again. "Good morning..." She mumbled, voice raspy and quiet.
I blinked at her, grinning suddenly. "Morning Sash!" I said cheerfully, which was weird, seeing as I wasn't a morning person.
Sasha only groaned. "It's too early for your cheerfulness..." She mumbled, opening her eyes. She then blinked at me. "... Are you wearing boxers?" She asked, pointing at me and looking a little surprised.
I gave her a look. "Yes." I said, glancing down at my outfit. I was wearing a baggy T-shirt with a TARDIS printed on it and boxer-shorts with the words 'The Avengers' scattered on it randomly. I looked back up at her. "I don't like wearing pants, you know." I said.
Honestly, she DID know that... She should have expected something like this too, seeing as I tended to do weird, random crud like this often... Especially in the morning...
Also, I'd been too lazy to put pants on anyway, and she knew I was lazy in general.
Sasha stared at me a moment before a very crooked smile appeared on her face. "Are you an alien, then?" She joked, raising an eyebrow.
I snorted, rolling my eyes and she laughed, walking over to the table and taking a seat. She casually swiped some of my fig-bars – thieving swine! – and proceeded to stuff her mouth with them as she peered down at my list curiously.
"Mhph. What-cha writin', anyway?" She asked after swallowing her mouthful of food.
I rolled my eyes at her rudeness. "A grocery list. Also, I figured out our salary total for each week while you were sleeping, so now we can plan what to buy. BUT, we're gonna have to go out for groceries soon..." I added, shaking the now empty plastic wrapping of fig-bars with a disappointed look. Aww... I'd liked those...
Sasha groaned. "Today?" She complained, crossing her arms on the table and resting her chin on them. "I was gonna paint pictures on my walls... Creepy pictures." She added, in case I didn't get it the first time.
I had, actually... I was, honestly, so used to her saying things like that that it had been expected.
… Man, she was silly sometimes...
I raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, I guess we can do it tomorrow..." I said slowly, then blinked. "Actually, that would be better, seeing as today is Saturday... Especially seeing as most people like to go out on Saturdays and do their shopping today and Sundays are just like a day to be all; 'oh, I'm gonna be lazy today and sit at the computer and waste my life, yuck, yuck, yuck.' or they go to church or something..." I grinned, standing up and pushing my chair in. "Yeah, we'll do that tomorrow, then!" I decided. I looked at Sasha, only to realize that she'd fallen asleep during my rant and wasn't even listening anymore.
There was no talking to her in that state, I tell you... Not unless you wanted to lose a few digits.
I sighed. "Great. She fell asleep..." I blinked. "Aaaand now I'm talking to myself – not that I wasn't already... Lovely." I shook my head and looked around the kitchen until I spotted a clock above the sliding glass doors – which revealed that the sun was now hovering over the horizon.
It was around seven now... Wow. I'd gotten up early... Weird. Normally I ignore my alarm...
After a moment of thinking, I grabbed the notebook, scribbled down a note about taking a walk around the neighborhood, and rushed off to my room to change into day clothes and fix my hair, which was horrible. I should have dried it before bed... Stupid, stupid, stupid...
A few minutes later, my hair was back to it's not-as-horrifying-but-still-pretty-messy-normal state, and I had donned my usual clothes, with a gray zip up hoodie added, and I was ready for a walk.
Why was I, the ever-lazy Casey taking a walk? Well, I'd been walking on the treadmill for a while before this whole incident because of my ankle – I needed to work up resistance and strength in it for gym next year, and I had been somewhat terrified that I would hurt it again – and there was no use stopping that now, especially if we were gonna be around Zim and Dib.
All that running. Yeesh, I didn't need to twist my ankle and re-sprain it or something!
Plus, it was nice and somewhat chilly out. An excuse to wear a hoodie and walk around a bit, spy on the neighbors... Yeah, that sounded creepy, and it was, no denying, but I was a little bored.
I checked on Sasha as I made my way to the front door – she was fine, if not soaking in a puddle of her own drool – made sure to move my backpack away from her gross drool, put the note somewhere that she'd see it, and exited the front door.
I stood on the outside front stoop, breathing nice, fresh, September air into my lungs via my nose and sighed. There was a slight chill in the air added with a cool breeze that nipped at my ears and tugged at my hair, and the sun was just starting to melt the slight ground-frost the cold night had brought. My breath fogged in front of my face and so did my glasses, slightly, as I exhaled.
I grinned.
Perfect.
I started walking in a random direction, hands tucked into my hoodie's pockets to protect them from the cold. I breathed in and out through my nose as I walked, head down. I glanced at my surroundings occasionally, not wanting to get lost, but I mainly kept my gaze on the concrete.
The neighborhood wasn't exactly pleasant looking, and the strangely red sky – caused by pollution no doubt (or maybe Jhonen's sense of humor) – didn't exactly capture my attention at the moment, seeing as it wasn't very sunny out and it was kinda foggy and crummy and horrible in general.
Still, I mused as I paused at a line of ants who were just starting their daily work. I stared at them a moment, before shrugging and stepping over them – not having the heart to kill them today – continuing on my way. This IS rather pleasant in itself... Just walking...
And it was kinda surreal, knowing that this all really was real, if that made any sense... It felt like a small part of the BIG impact that entering another universe – the total SHOCK of it – had leaked through and was leaving me slightly numb... Maybe that was why I was so 'Muted' today? Hmm... Or I was just tired, of course...
I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I almost shrieked when I just barely missed stepping on something pink and squishy looking.
I did, however, jump back, trip on my own feet, yelp in surprise, and land on my butt all very quickly and with a lot of jerky, embarrassing wavy arm movements.
But you didn't hear that from me. Nope. Actually, I wasn't freaked out at all! Nope!
…
Whatever. It scared me, big deal.
I blinked, looking at the small fleshy looking thing that had scared me, and blushed a little in embarrassment.
It was a pig.
A rubber pig.
Great.
I looked around, slightly panicked that someone had seen me, and realized what the pig was and what it meant the exact same instant that my eyes settled on the eerily glowing green house and never-ending-stares of the 'Lawn Gnome Guards' all owned by a certain 'boy'.
I had – unconsciously or consciously, it didn't matter – wandered through the neighborhood until I'd reached Zim's 'house'.
… Cool, I guess...
I frowned a little, standing up. With one hand I brushed the gravel and dirt off of my butt and with the other I picked up the little squeaky pig toy, eying it. I squeezed it and it let loose a squeaky 'oink'.
I giggled. No wonder Gir liked these things, they were adorable. I could see how the easily distracted robot could come to love these.
I looked up at the house, eying the darkened windows and laser-wielding-yet-somewhat-innocent-looking fat gnomes. My ears picked up a faint, weird humming sound that I realized was the base, and if I concentrated, I could feel the faintest of vibrations from all the underground machinery in the soles of my feet.
Machinery. I smiled at that, only to frown a bit. I looked around worriedly, my curiosity – unwillingly – peaked. I mean, it didn't look like anyone was home – and of course I understood that that could be the whole point of what Zim was trying to pull off here – but he could also just as easily be out at the moment, shopping or on recon or something!
… Pfft. Zim. Shopping. Pffft!
And... Come on! The Base was just there! All that technology, just sitting there, taunting me, things from the show that I'd always longed to see... My fingers twitched as I unconsciously took a step forward.
I mean... I was kinda a Tech-nut... Not that I was very good with things like html codes and stuff – though I could figure out devices pretty quickly and solve a few minor problems with TV's and phones and stuff, though I tended to infect every computer I touched with a virus of some sort – but it was all very fascinating to me! Cool.
And, well... When I wasn't over-thinking things – in other words, blatantly ignoring my good ol' brain – I was pretty compulsive...
…
Oh dear God.
I've become Dib.
… I don't know how to feel about that...
… But... I... Well, I really shouldn't, of course, but... A quick peek through the window couldn't hurt anyone, could it? And, if Zim spotted me or something and freaked, I could probably be halfway down the street before he managed to get off of his lawn... I could run fast when I wanted to... Plus Zim was kinda a spazz, so he might trip... Heh.
My fingers twitched a bit again and I gulped as I slowly trotted towards the white picket fence, tugging at my baggy hoodie sleeves a little. I didn't hear anything different other than my own breathing quickening slightly and the background noise that came with living in a rural area – and the humming buzz of Zim's Base wasn't changing in pitch, volume, or speed... That was a good sign... Maybe...
I reached the gap in the fence and paused, blinking and staring at the gnomes peevishly. I didn't exactly trust them to be predictable... Sometimes they were on, sometimes they were off, and I didn't exactly have Dib-like reflexes!
How did they even function and track an intruder anyway? Heat-tracker? Motion sensors? Something else? What set them off, anyway? HOW did they get set off anyway?
I, impulsively, threw the little squeaky pig on to the lawn and jumped back.
It landed on the sidewalk, bounced a few times with accompanying squeaks, then rolled to a stop into the grass.
Nothing happened after that. The gnomes stayed still, traffic – off somewhere that I couldn't see at the moment – continued, and a dog barked.
I blinked, then glared at the lawn gnomes, raising my nose slightly. "You don't fool me." I hissed. "I know you know that I know that you know that I'm here... You're just being clever aren't you? Waiting for me to step into the lawn so you can shoot me... Clever..." I blinked, realizing I was talking to myself – sorta – and blushed, sighing.
I really needed to stop doing that.
This universe already had a crazy, paranoid, paranormal enthusiast and it did NOT need an even nuttier, more dangerous one.
In yet another impulsive move, I took off one of my shoes and tossed it at one of the gnomes. It hit one bulbous eye with a 'clank!' and I ducked with a squeak, covering my head and preparing for death or at least a mild singeing.
…
After crouching like an idiot with my hands over my head with nothing happening for at LEAST a minute, I straightened, and looked around. Everything... APPEARED normal... Hmm...
So, I shrugged, and marched onto the lawn, throwing caution to the wind, maybe even stomping on it a bit, grinding my heel into it's nose.
…
Well, I didn't get shot as soon as I entered the lawn, that was good.
I retrieved my shoe, tugging it on as I hopped down the path to the pig on one leg (I probably looked like an idiot). As soon as my shoe was on properly, I dropped my foot and grabbed the pig. I stared at it a moment, squeaked it, then tucked it into a pocket and walked the rest of the way up to the front stoop of Zim's house as if nothing was happening.
I stepped up onto the front stoop then stopped for a moment in front of the door. My brain seemed to suddenly wake up, asking me just WHAT I was doing, WHY I was doing it, and IF I knew that I was insane yet.
And it asked all of this in a very annoying voice, just to irk me all the more. JERK.
But... This was kinda a bad idea... Who KNEW what could happen?! Maybe I should just count my lucky stars that I hadn't been caught yet and make a run for it? Yeah, that was a good idea! Shoulda done that in the first place! WHY was I so STUPID?!
I started to take a step back, biting my lower lip, and then the door flew open.
I squeaked, leaping back, and managed to fall – tripping – off of the stoop and on to my butt... Again. I closed my eyes for a second, hissing because I'd landed on my tail bone (OW!), and then my eyes quickly snapped open.
I felt panic start to automatically rise up in me... At least, until I spotted just WHO had opened the door.
"Hello!" Gir greeted, dressed in his doggy suit. He giggled, trotting out of the house and up to me. He crawled up onto my bent knees and sat there in one fluid movement, grinning down at me as he perched – seemingly perfectly naturally – on my knees. "Hello!" He repeated, and waved, just in case I didn't get it.
Just in case.
I felt my panic crash and wash away and I let out a nervous giggle, brushing some hair out of my face as the adrenaline died down. "Uh, hiya Gir..." I said, blushing in embarrassment a little, yet still sighing in relief as I sent him a wave. Just Gir. Just the crazy robot. Nothing to worry about, yet.
"HELLO!" Gir said loudly once more, making certain that I had gotten it, and then he giggled. "What are yooouuuu doin' here, Cassy-Cas? Yooooouuuu come over to PLAY?" Gir asked, giving me a sweet look. Darn his cuteness... It would be the end of me, I knew it.
"Uh, sorta..." I said. I grabbed him under his 'armpits' and stood up, still holding him. He wiggled and squeaked in my grip and I bit my lip to stifle an 'aw'. I laughed a little instead. "You're too cute, it's not even fair." I muttered sourly, setting him down on the front stoop. I looked at him a moment as he blinked up at me, making squeaking noises. "Uhm, well I'd better get going..." I said awkwardly after a minute, taking a step back.
Gir gave me a suddenly very disappointed look, freezing me in my tracks. "Cassy-Cas is going already?" He asked, looking at me with big eyes.
I felt my heart clench up. HE WAS TOO BLOODY CUTE AND IT WASN'T EXACTLY FAIR! DANG IT ALL TO HECK!
"Uh, yeah...?" I started to say slowly. I yelped as the little green 'dog' suddenly grabbed my hand, dragging me into the house via the still open door – dang he was strong for a little guy!
"But you came over so now you have to PLAY!" Gir argued, his own logic apparently flawless in his own mind as I tugged at my arm uselessly. The door closed automatically behind me as I was dragged in to the colder-than-I'd-expected house and, thinking that enough to keep me here, Gir let go. He turned around to grin up at me. "Let's play with the COLOR STICKS, CASSY!" Gir shrieked, clapping his hands.
I flinched, then shushed him, rubbing at my wrist a little as I scowled. Gir's grip was soft, thanks to the 'puppy paw' but he was still metal underneath all the felt, and OWCH was it hard.
Gir giggled and I sent him a sour, panicked look. "Gir, SHUSH!" I hissed, looking around frantically, as if expecting Zim to appear and suddenly gut me with a spoon... An alien spoon, but still a spoon. Yet another reason to not like the things. "I'm not exactly supposed to be here!"
Gir just blinked at me before grinning. "LET'S PLAY WITH THE COLOR STICKS, NOW!" He repeated at a shout, waving his arms around in the air a little.
"No, Gir! Let's play the quiet game!" I hissed desperately, making 'calm down' sort of hand motions at him. "You know how to play that, right? You sit here, quietly, and I escape out the window, yeah?" I offered, jabbing a thumb at the near-by window.
Gir blinked at me for a few seconds and, foolishly, I hoped that he'd gotten it... I'd actually started to relax, and then he let out an ear-piercing giggle and pointed right at me. "YOU'RE FUNNY!" He shouted, squealing and clapping his 'paws'. Oh my God! Didn't he ever shut up?!
… Wait, I know the answer to that.
NO!
"Gir, please, SHUSH!" I said desperately, waving my hands at him again. I suddenly froze at the weird, new hum accompanied by a clanking that filled my ears. That sounded close... Like it was coming from the kitchen... And it sounded pretty dang familiar...
Oh,crud.
And then someone started yelling.
"GIR! I thought I told you to be QUIET?!" A voice shouted.
I watched in horror as, across from me in the kitchen, a pair of antennae, and then a green face and red-uniform clad body, emerged from the comically (or rather, creepily) placed toilet. Red eyes suddenly widened as they spotted me just standing in the middle of the living room like a deer in the headlights, and antennae rose, twitching frantically.
It was Zim, undisguised...
It was Zim, and I was in his house, standing in the middle of his living room.
It was Zim.
…
Shoot.
"But I'm playin' wit CASSY-CAS, Master!" Gir complained pointing at me, unnecessarily at this point, as Zim stared at me in shock and, presumably, horror.
I blinked, frozen in my own shock and horror – and fear, of course, couldn't go a day without THAT stuff, apparently – and took a step back. "Oh, crud." I squeaked, then I bolted, heart racing as I held back a nervous laugh.
I was weird that way.
I tended to laugh when scared... And especially when I was terrified.
Laughing right now wouldn't be altogether appropriate at the moment, though, so I shut myself up and bit my lip.
"COMPUTER! INTRUDER ALERT!" I heard Zim scream behind me, panicked. It was accompanied by a crash that I thought safe to assume was him falling out of the toilet and onto his face (heh). There was a nearly automatic metallic clanking from above and a hissing that I didn't dare turn my head around or pause to discover the source of, and I reached the door.
Yes, yes, yes!
I managed to get my shaking hands on the doorknob and twist it slightly. I really thought that I was going to make it for a moment – at least I thought it a little bit – as the door cracked open a fraction. I really thought so. I even managed a smile as I thought of all the yelling that Zim would be aiming at me. I almost started to laugh.
And then something collided with my temple and I was sent flying forward. My forehead hit the doorknob and I made a choking noise twisting around as I fell. My back slammed into the door, closing it, and I sank to the ground, just barely able to hear Gir's laughter as everything blurred.
I woke up with a gasp suddenly, and my eyes flew open, only to snap shut. I hissed in pain. Oh GOD, my head felt as thought someone was beating on it repeatedly with a wooden spoon! And that bright light shining in my eyes wasn't helping! Stupid light! STUPID! EVERYTHING!
… Wait a minute... Someone WAS beating on my head with a wooden spoon! What the H?! Seriously?!
… Have I mentioned before that I do not like spoons?
My eyes snapped open again, and I ignored the pounding in my scull as I looked up.
I was tied down to some sort of tilted metal table, arms and legs pinned to my sides by metal cables, and as far as I could see, I was in some sort of experimentation room with empty glowing tubes surrounding me on all sides. The lighting was terrible, too, everything was dark while only 'my' table and the tubes were lit up.
Over-dramatic, much? One would think that just being tied down to a metal table would be enough to freak someone out, but nooooo, the lighting had to be all spooky too!
Gah, villans... They were too nerdy for their own good.
Surprisingly – or rather, unsurprisingly – Gir, out of disguise, was sitting just above my head, beating it lightly with a wooden spoon. Well... Now he was beating my forehead, but still...
"Good morning!" Gir squeaked, grinning at me, and I squinted one eye shut as he continued beating me on the head, cyan eyes squinted nearly shut in his joy.
"Ow. Ow. Could you please not do that? Ow." I asked quietly, flinching. Gir only blinked at me, giggled, then started to beat one of my EARS with it, causing a slight clacking sound as he beat my earring too and also making me feel half deaf.
… Well... That was KIND of better...
Not really though... No, not at all, actually.
But wait, I was starting to panic, better get back to that.
My heart started racing as I looked around again. Dang it, dang it, dang it! I wiggled, trying to see if I could unpin my arms from my sides, to no avail, then lifted my head slightly and impulsively slammed it back down on the metal table as hard as I could. It didn't help me in any conceivable way of course – in fact, it made my headache worse – but I was doing it as a small form of self-punishment.
I started muttering under my breath, glaring at the ceiling.
This was all MY fault, of course! I just HAD to go and be stupid, didn't I? I just HAD to see what I could get away with. I'm such a NUB!
Dang it.
Dang it, dang it, dang it.
"I'm an idiot..." I muttered, glaring up at nothing in particular. I wanted to punch myself. Of course, I couldn't, seeing as I was PINNED TO A TABLE!
That's when someone – someone whom I already knew the identity of – chuckled in amusement, tone cold. "Yes you are, Dirt-Child, yes you are..."
Though my heart started racing again and I could feel my pulse in my temples – not that I couldn't already, thanks to Gir and whatever had hit me in the head in the first place, ow – I couldn't help but raise my head and give a sarcastic grin to the green being that stalked out of the shadows, it's own, much more evil, grin on it's face.
"Hello, Cas-ey." The undisguised Zim hissed, the lighting making him look a LOT more sinister than he actually was, I noticed.
"Hello Z-im." I said, imitating his voice and pronunciation as he walked up to the table to leer over me. "How long did it take you to get the lighting just right, anyway? Looks REALLY nice and sinister."
Yes.
Sarcasm.
Brilliant, brilliant sarcasm.
Because THAT always helps in a situation such as THIS.
NUB ALERT. NUUUUUBBB ALERT. HEY! SOMEONE! DETAIN ME!
OH, WAIT, I ALREADY AM DETAINED!
DANG IT ALL.
Zim grinned. "You really think so? Thanks! I spent – wait a minute." Zim cut himself off and glared angrily at me as I snickered a little. He scowled. "You think you can fool ME!? YOU with your, eh, twisty words!" He pointed at me suddenly. "WORD TWISTER!"
I blinked at him as he jabbed his finger at my face a few times. "O... Kay." I frowned. "Get that finger out of my face before I bite it." I continued, eye twitching slightly. Not to be mean, but I didn't exactly like the rubbery smell coming off of that thing... Or the fact that it was so close to my face.
I didn't like things... Touching me.
Zim laughed; cackled really, and his finger left my line of sight as he folded his hands behind his back. "You're hardly in a place to be making threats, human." Zim said, turning around and stalking out of my line of sight.
I lifted my head, craning my neck to watch him as he made his way over to a hovering sort of table thing with weird devices shewn on it. Meanwhile, Gir started beating the TOP of my head...
"Yeaaah... Well could you put me in a position where I AM?" I gave him a winning smile as he glanced at me over his shoulder, raising an 'eyebrow' and an antennae. I let out a sigh. "Yeah... That was lame..." I admitted, shrugging as much as I could in my position.
Zim blinked at me before he just shook his head and started rummaging around all the weird devices on the floating table, muttering to himself about stupid humans. "Seeing as you've discovered what I really am, Cas-ey, I'm afraid that I'll have to be wiping your brain-meats clean..." He spoke up.
I couldn't see the grin on his face but I could darn well hear it! And that just made my pulse rush even faster. It wasn't good when Zim got smug. Either he was actually proving to be a danger, or he was being exceptionally stupid about something...
"Buuuuut I already knew you were an alien! Even before Gir dragged me in here!" I argued, watching as he lifted certain devices up and eyed them, grinning. I gulped watching as he shrugged. Maybe that hadn't helped...
… Why WOULD it have helped in the first place?
… I should have tried to sleep more... I was stupid when I was tired...
Well, I was stupid in general, but now I was more stupid...
Foo.
"Yes, that is another reason I have to wipe your pitiful human memory." He spun around, grinning and holding up a large needle. It wasn't attached to a vial or anything, oh no, it was just a huge, freaking needle...
I hated needles.
"I'll have to punish Gir later, of course, but anyway, the Sasha-worm will be next after you've become a mindless zombie slave, but YOU will have the honor of being my very FIRST human test subject, Cas-ey!" He started advancing towards the table, grinning maliciously and I squirmed, panicking. "Feel honored that I did not simply dispose of you!"
Nope. This couldn't happen! Nope, nope, nope! I did NOT want that huge NEEDLE to go into – I assumed – my FLIPPING BRAIN. NO THANK YOU! That was off, freaking, limits.
"Uhm..." I started to say, mind racing to figure out some sort of plan or clever comment that could get me out of this mess. I opened and closed my mouth, preparing to... Well, I don't really know what I was going to do, argue? Scream? only to jump – as well as I could, given my restrained state – as a sudden and very loud 'BOOM!' echoed throughout the base, causing it to shake.
Zim let out a cry of surprise that quickly turned into anger as he glared upwards and my eyes widened. His glare easily – pretty much automatically, if you were being honest – switched to Gir as some dust and dirt floated down from the ceiling.
"GIR!" He snapped, clenching his fists so tightly that I wondered if he was going to break the needle he still held in one hand and stab himself by accident. Sadly, he didn't.
Darn.
That would have been a wonderful distraction.
"I thought I told you NOT to put that stinky human can in the pitiful heating device?!" Zim continued, sounding quite snappish.
As far as I could tell, that meant 'oven' and 'can of beans', or some other canned item or cooking device.
Gir relented his hitting of my face – which he had not even paused in doing when I was talking to Zim, crazy nub – and blinked at Zim. "I was makin' CORN!" He shouted, and started beating my head again. Oh, so it had been corn... Okaaay... As good as anything, I guess... Corn was nice.
Ignoring my quiet 'ow'-ing, Zim let out a growl and stalked back over to the floating table. He slammed the needle down on it with a clang and sent a glare at Gir. "Watch the human, Gir. I have to go make sure nothing is too horribly DAMAGED because of you!" He started muttering sourly to himself about 'incompetent slaves' and walked over to a near-by bare spot on the wall, where a seamless door suddenly slid open, revealing a small elevator shaft. He entered it, glaring at the floor with his fists clenched, and then the door closed.
I stayed as still as I could, listening to the mild hum coming from the elevator as it traveled upwards, and then I let out a loud sigh and slumped against the table, head falling back against it as I closed my eyes.
Good. He was gone... That meant I was a bit more calm now, without him 'breathing down my neck' so to speak... I could try and come up with a plan now.
The headache wasn't helping me at all, though...
Gir suddenly stopped beating my head and squealed. I opened my eyes just as he landed on my stomach, causing a loud 'OOF!' to escape me as he squished my internal organs like jello. He sat down and blinked for a moment. Then...
"I'm watchin' yoooouuuuuuu..." He said, giving me a 'creepy' look that was actually more cute than I'm sure he was trying to pull off. He stuck his tongue out and started to poke my nose with the thin end of the wooden spoon, giggling and nodding his head.
"Please stop." I asked, eye twitching again. Why did everything feel the need to poke, prod and TOUCH my FACE?
I DID NOT FIND THAT AMUSING, UNIVERSE. OKAY? Okay.
Gir blinked at me, then grinned. "OKAY!" He squealed. I flinched a little at his loudness and watched with a raised eyebrow as he threw the wooden spoon away with a little 'Nye!'. He looked down at me expectantly as it clattered against the ground somewhere off to my left, as if expecting praise, or maybe some chiding.
I blinked at him slowly, getting an idea. Wondering if it would work – and figuring that it had a 50/50 chance of doing so, seeing as this was Gir – I gave a bit of a lopsided smile. "Uh, hey... Could you let me out of this thing, please?" I asked a little sheepishly. Please work, please work...
Gir looked at me, blinked, and then his eyes were suddenly red. "Prisoner is not authorized to leave it's confines. You will stay were you are!" He said in his 'Duty Mode' voice, making me flinch.
Honestly, he was a little scary when he 'Went Red', and I gulped. "Pretty please? I'll, uh..." I recalled something suddenly and grinned. "I'll give you a piggy!" I said. Oh my God, I was SO freaking lucky. Oh. My. Freaking. God...
Gir, after a seemingly infinate second, let out a squeal, eyes fading back to cyan. "Piggy?! Where? Where's da piggy?!" He asked, looking around and jumping up and down slightly.
Ignoring the fact that he might be puncturing my liver – it sure as heck felt like it – I grinned – as much as I could in my state – at him. "Nuh-uh. No piggy till you let me goooo..." I said leadingly, praying that it would work.
Gir blinked down at me, looking like he was thinking, if only slightly. Eventually, he nodded. "Okaaaay... But you have ta promise to play with me, too!" He said. I blinked, about to open my mouth and answer, when he gripped my cheeks and started to shake my head. "You have to prooommiisssseeee!" He droned, shaking my head back and forth and causing my lips to press together, making 'fish-lips' as I stared at him, eyes wide in shock.
Ow.
I blinked at him before shaking my head, freeing it from his grip (dang his hands were cold!). "Fine! I'll play with you when I can, okay? Is that good enough?" I said quickly, heart starting to race with the thrill of being let go and the fear of being caught. I didn't really wanna be all that too specific in my promise, seeing as this was, well, GIR, and he was, technically, insane. He could take it any way, though, so I was basically doomed no matter WHAT I promised.
Oh well.
Gir blinked before giggling – again – and nodding. "Yes!" He said, and jumped off of me. I heard a clang as he hit the floor and then metallic footsteps running away somewhere off to my left. After that, it was silent, and I felt the first tickling of dread, thinking that, maybe, Gir had either lied (which didn't really seem likely, this was GIR), or had instantly forgotten what he was supposed to be doing (which seemed far more likely), and had wandered off to do other things.
I was about to call out after him – secretly hoping that my voice wouldn't waver – when there was a sudden clank and the two metal clamps keeping me pinned to the table swung upwards with creaks and squeals, hurting my ears a little.
I sat up quickly, grinning, only to groan and hold at my head. Bad idea, bad idea.
My head still felt as though Gir was beating it with a metal spoon...
Thhaaankksss, Gir...
I muttered to myself about being stupid and perhaps twisting Zim's antennae a bit before I escaped as punishment for all of this (even though it was mostly my own fault). I swung my legs over the edge of the table, eyes closed. Dang, what'd he hit me with?
There was a metallic 'fwomp!' sort of sound and I opened my eyes. Gir had sat down next to me, for some reason having put back on his dog suit, leaving the hood down. He gave me a look, tipping his head, and then suddenly held out his hands – err... Paws.
"Piggy?" He asked, opening and closing his 'paws' a little and giving me 'baby robot eyes'. His paws squeaked a bit. (why was that, anyway? Was the inside of the suit rubbery? Did it rub against his metal 'skin' and squeak? WHY had I suddenly gone into Dib-mode again, anyway? Geeze, brain, ON TASK, please.)
I felt my anger melt – most of it at least – and I couldn't help but grin.
"Child." I muttered to myself, and pulled out the rubber pig from before, dropping it in Gir's hands. Immediately, he squealed and hugged it to his face, babbling about being so happy that 'Britney had come back' as the pig squeaked pitifully. I just shook my head, smiling, and looked around a bit, waiting for my headache to go away, and perhaps my legs to wake up, seeing as they'd fallen asleep.
Gir was such a child... But still, that didn't mean that he wasn't creepy. Sure, he was being cute now, but he was actually kinda a creepy little bugger...
Bah, I'd enjoy the cuteness while it lasted... It was nice, sweet.
Gir started making airplane noises and waved the pig around like it was a plane. I smiled faintly before I just shook my head and, as gently as I could, I slid off the table.
I stumbled as I landed, my legs giving out a slight pang that made the bottoms of my feet prickle. My head pounded a little, the back of my eyes feeling like they were being tapped on by finger-tips and I scowled, grumbling to myself. "How long was I out, anyway?" I wondered aloud, looking over at Gir.
The robot just blinked at me before laughing and going back to his little game.
"Well, hopefully not long enough for a concussion..." I mumbled, looking around. "If you're unconscious for more than – what was it? – twenty to thirty minutes or so, I think, you can get head damage, you know." I looked at Gir again, and saw that he had lain down on his back, sticking out his tongue as he continued to make airplane noises, waving the pig around. I sighed, rubbing at my temples. "How exactly is this different than simply talking to myself?" I asked.
It's not. It's just a little more stupid than usual, seeing as it's Gir.
"Yes, thank you for that." I muttered before spinning around. "Okay!" I said, mustering as cheerful a voice as I could. Gir looked up, somehow finding enough mental ability to understand that I was addressing him. "Gir, honey, how do I get out of here?" I asked slowly.
Gir blinked at me a few times, giggling dying down, before he simply pointed at the spot of bare wall where Zim had disappeared. "Master when that-a-way."
As if on cue, there was a sudden angry shriek from somewhere above me. I flinched, shoulders hunching. That would be Zim. From the sound of it, the damage was bad.
I had to hurry, Zim might not clean the kitchen up himself and just come down here right away to scold Gir... And then see me 'escaping'. And he was angry anyway... I REALLY didn't want to deal with THAT.
I calmed myself down and managed a sigh. To be honest, this wasn't the worst Gir could get, and I knew that. "No, no, no, like... A DIFFERENT way." I explained quickly, sending a skittish glance upwards before returning my gaze to Gir. "I'm, ah, playing hide-and-seek with Zim right now, I gotta go a way that he won't SEE me." Ugh, my headache was getting wooorrrsseee...
"OOOooohhhh..." Gir said, nodding sagely. "What's that mean?"
I groaned. "Is there another way out of here? Another lift, maybe?" I tried clarifying.
Gir blinked before he nodded and pointed to his left (my right) at an even thinner spot of bare wall. "Sometimes Master uses THAT wall, slidey... Thing..." He said, seeming to get a little confused in the middle of the sentence.
I grinned, hearing a nervous giggle escape me. "Yes, Gir! Brilliant!" I rushed over to the wall, placing my hands against it. "Now, how do I open it...?" I started patting it in random spots, frowning.
Seeming to think it a game, Gir laughed and jumped off of the table thing and skipped over to my side, starting to pat the wall too.
"What we do-in?" He sang and I shushed him, ignoring his blank look. I patted the wall, moving to roughly doorknob height. Come on, come ooonnn!
I was starting to panic – more than I already was – when my hand rested on a patch of metal that felt a little cooler than the rest. It was a little to my right and, surprise surprise, doorknob height. There was a sudden, not too positive sounding beep, and I felt my heart skip a beat.
"Hand-print not recognized." A droning, somewhat – well, pretty much, actually – male voice said. "Too bad." It added.
I groaned, recognizing the voice of the Computer. "What?! Come oonn, dang it!" I snapped, stomping my foot. I looked down at Gir, who was now patting the floor, and impulsively grabbed his arm and pressed his hand into the wall, ignoring his gleeful squeal and the fact that this was completely illogical.
"Hand-print recognized. Lucky guess." The Computer said and a door suddenly appeared in the wall, sliding open.
Oh.
I gawked, dragging Gir into the small, rounded elevator with me without much thought, still holding his hand. "Seriously? SERIOUSLY? You'll recognize the FELT PAW of a ROBOT in disguise – which holds almost NO DNA – but not a human hand? GOD." I shook my head, frowning and almost completely ignoring Gir as he started swinging from my arm.
"Look, I didn't program the elevators, female." The Computer snapped at me. The elevator lurched as it started ascending and I rolled my eyes, keeping my balance.
"Whatever..." I muttered, head pounding again. The Computer didn't respond and I wondered in the back of my mind if I could have annoyed it enough yet to make it want to kill me.
Of course, I was proven wrong when I looked up after a moment and saw a thin circle of light fast approaching. I blinked, and I was suddenly emerging from the 'toilet' in Zim's 'kitchen', which was splattered with bits of corn.
"Ew." I muttered, ignoring Gir as he squealed and dived into a thick pile of the stuff. I blinked suddenly. "Wait, how come I got up here so fast but it took Zim a couple of minutes?" I asked, climbing out of the 'toilet' (EW!) and sending a suspicious look around. "And where IS Zim anyway?"
The Computer made an odd huffing sound that reminded me of shrugging. "I like to mess with him, sometimes." It admitted. "And Master's traveling down to the 'Cut Stuff Up' room as we speak, you missed him by a couple of seconds, actually."
I blinked, feeling an odd rush in the pit of my stomach and another bang in my head. "Oh, well, thanks for that, I guess." I mumbled, blinking
The Computer made a scoffing noise as Gir rolled around in the corn. "Don't thank me, I didn't have anything to do with that. You were just 'lucky' as you humans say." He paused. "But you're welcome, I suppose." It's voice was almost smug.
"Oh..." I murmured, gripping my head with one hand. "Nice." My tone was slightly sarcastic because, honestly, my head was REALLY starting to hurt and that little tid-bit of information wasn't exactly comforting.
I stumbled across the kitchen, ignoring the mashed up and gross corn clotting on to the bottom of my shoes, and into the living room. Man, I was really starting to get dizzy... What was I even supposed to do?
I swore under my breath. I couldn't think, right now, dang it. My HEAD. GAH, it hurt! This was horrible!
I groaned, and stumbled over to the couch. I leaned against it a moment, one hand on it's arm, the other on my head. This was a really bad idea...
… Wait a minute.
I didn't care.
Huh.
I think I might just have suffered a bit of head damage.
Hm.
Deciding that I didn't give a rat's butt if it was the most stupid idea in the history of ideas – especially my ideas, the ones notorious for being stupid – I crawled onto the couch, to the far end of it, and sat down. I tried to ignore Gir's high-pitched squealing and slouched, pressing my head into the back cushion. Ugh, this couch smelled like mold... Eww...
After a moment, Computer spoke up again. "You know, Zim's gonna be pretty mad when he sees that you've escaped..." It said.
"Mm-hmm..." I mumbled, draping my one arm across my forehead while I rubbed a lump on the back of my head with the other.
"He's gonna be even more ticked when he sees you on the couch-thing."
"Gah, yeah..." I agreed, nodding. "True."
"... Are all humans this stupid?" The Computer asked, seeming genuinely curious. He was actually kinda... Normal sounding. For an alien computer.
"Mh... No... Some are more stupid... Not many..." I mumbled. "Say, you got any aspirin?"
"... No?"
"Gah, useless..." I muttered, frowning.
"GYAAAAAAAAA!? WHAT IS THIS?! WHAT IS THIS?!" A voice suddenly screamed, making me flinch, and I imagined that the house – maybe even the world – shook. Meh, it might have just been my head pounding away.
"Sounds like Zim's found you missing." Computer mused, voice slightly coy.
"Mh-hmm." I muttered. I couldn't really muster a lot of 'care' over the subject at the moment, my head just hurt too much.
In retrospect, I was kinda being an idiot. To anyone else at the moment, I was probably being THE Idiot. The one idiot that all other idiots were compared to. I was at a level of idiocy that none could hope to match.
… Then again, my head really hurt.
"He's probably going to kill you, you know." Computer said helpfully.
"Yep." I muttered, ignoring the sounds of panicked screaming coming from below. What was even going on at this point? Well, if I cracked my eye open, I could see Gir... Swimming around in the corn... Weird... Maybe I'd been drugged?
… Hey, maybe I should call Sasha? Yeah... Call for help, that seemed vaguely normal, and helpful... Vaguely coherent, really.
I sat up a little, reaching into my pocket. I pulled out my phone, blinking a little. Now that I had a somewhat clear goal, my head was clearing, though my vision was a little funky. I wasn't even going to THINK about my balance at this point, best to just call Sash.
I navigated to contacts and pressed Sasha's number. I sat up straight as panic started to flood back, bringing reason and thought with it. But that was kinda good, right? You were supposed to think, and concentrate, and NOT fall asleep if you had a concussion, and that was very possible at this point...
Gah, I need to get myself together... I thought as the dial tone started.
Sasha blinked, eyes widening, and she stuck her head out of the kitchen, face splattered with paint and cheeks stuffed with the last bites of a candy bar. She swallowed it as she rushed to her phone, which she'd left on the coffee table, trying to ignore the banging and focus on the ringing.
"Heeeellooooo?" She asked, coughing on her candy bar as she answered her phone.
"Sasha? Holy crow you actually picked up!" The person let out a nervous giggle mixed with a sigh.
"Caaaaaseey! Heey! What's up?" Sasha asked, grinning a little as she sat on the couch arm.
"What's up? Well, nothing, ONLY I WAS JUST CAPTURED BY ZIM AND NOW I'VE GOT A FREAKING CONCUSSION OR SOMETHING AND CAN'T THINK AND I'M SITTING IN HIS LIVING ROOM AND I NEED HELP, ASAP!" Casey shrieked, and Sasha held the phone away from her ear a little, blinking.
"Oh..." She grinned. "Cool!"
"COOL? COOL?! I'm calling from Zim's base to ask you for help and you think it's COOL? What-" Casey suddenly cut herself off. "...Uh, hey, what's that banging?" She asked, pausing a little, like she was blinking. "And, err... Shouting? What's gong on? Are you alright?" Instantly, the anger was gone, replaced with concern.
Sasha glanced over her shoulder and at the door, where the banging was coming from, accompanied by an incoherent shouting. "Oh, that's Dib."
"... Dib?!"
"Yeah, you know him! The big headed, pointy haired kid!" Sasha said, grinning as she placed her feet on the couch cushions, staring at the door. It shook slightly in it's frame.
"MY HEAD'S NOT BIG!"
Casey made an 'uhh' sort of noise. "Mh, Sash? What's going on?" She asked slowly, repeating her earlier statement.
Sasha examined her fingernails lazily as Dib suddenly appeared in the window, banging on the pane and holding up a camera as he ranted. "Uh, well, he showed up a while ago, knocking at the door, so I opened the door to ask 'what's up?', you know? But he was all like 'MUA HA HA HA! I'VE FOUND YOUR BASE YOU ALIEN, DEMON SPAWN THING! NOW I shall stalk you FOREVEEERRR! AH, HA HA HA!'"
"... Actual words?" Casey asked dryly.
Sasha shrugged. "Mh, more or less." She mumbled, getting off of the couch and walking over to the window slowly, ignoring Dib's shouts. "So anyway, I was all like 'DORK!', and he was all like, 'I AM NOT A DORK, DEMON!', and I was all, 'Yeah-HUH you are! You've got the glasses and everything' so he said, 'Well you do too!' and I didn't have a good answer for that so I was like 'whatever' and ranted about how he was a stalker for a minute then he interrupted me and screamed about 'Ex-POSE-ing' me, err, us, so I just shut the door in his face and he didn't go away so I shouted at him that you'd come and kick his butt or that I'd eat him, and he was all 'but you're friend isn't here! And I've got maaaggiicc chaarrmsss! You can't eat me!' and I REALLY don't feel like eating anyone today, ya know? So I just kinda have been painting my walls and letting him rant for a while..."
There was dead silence on the other end of the line and Sasha stood at the window, blinking and ignoring Dib as he shouted at her.
"Err, Cas, you there?" She asked.
"... Yes. I'm here."
"... Uh, you okay?" Sasha asked, grasping the curtains lightly.
"... To be perfectly honest, I think I've got brain damage, but I'm pretty sure you're not gonna be able to help me at the moment and that your statement has made my mind all the worse."
Sasha shrugged, shutting the curtains and ignoring Dib's loud 'Hey!'. "Well, no. I'm pretty sure that if I go outside Dib'll attack me, or put some sort of voodoo curse on me... I don't need the extra voodoo, Cas."
Casey heaved a sigh and Sasha made her way to the other window, where Dib had reappeared, shouting again, but now about 'what was the deal with the curtains!?'. "Guh. Okay... But the good news is that your rantings gotten me thinking again, so I'm not gonna pass out."
"Well that's good." Sasha said, closing the other curtains and ignoring Dib's even louder 'HEY!'. "Oooh! Wait. Is Gir there?"
"Uh huh..." Cas said. "He's uh, playing in corn at the moment."
"Awww... Lucky." Sasha muttered, kicking at the floor. "Well, how're you gonna get out? Are you trapped somewhere?"
"No, I'm actually just sitting on the couch... My head really hurts, you know."
"Oh... Well, that's kinda stupid." Sasha said, and the banging suddenly restarted.
"Isn't it? Anyway, I think I just heard Zim screaming, I'm gonna have to go. If I don't get back in, like eight hours, I'm probably dead. Bye!"
"I'll make sure Zim doesn't eat your body or something, then!" Sasha said. "Bye!"
"Oh yes, that's comforting." Casey muttered before hanging up. Sasha closed her phone, shoving it in her pocket. She glanced at the door a moment before she just laughed and went back into the kitchen. Cas would be fine. Sure, she'd sounded kinda out of it, but she was clever... And good at confusing people, especially when she herself was confused.
Yeah, she'd be fine... Hopefully...
I sighed and hung up on Sasha. Well, I definitely had a concussion, at the least a mild one. Dang. Or maybe I was just spacy from the head trauma? Bah, whatever, my mind was just cloudy. I didn't like that one bit, but I was gonna have to deal with it.
I listened to Zim's yelling – he was yelling at himself, I think, talking aloud, only yelling, that sort of stuff – as it got louder. I stuffed my phone into my pocket just as the 'trash can' opened and Zim hopped out, still yelling, only now it was directed at Gir, who just stared at him stupidly.
"Gir! GIR! The test subject has escaped! HOW could you let this happen?! I specifically told you to WATCH HER! What about that didn't you ge – EHAAAAHEH?!" His yelling at Gir turned into a scream of surprise as he spotted me just sitting on the couch. He lept back, one foot landing in a pile of corn – which he ignored – and pointed at me. "COMPUTER! The test subject! She's on our couch! WHAT is the meaning of THIS!? CAPTURE HER!"
"Nah... I don't really feel like it..." The Computer said, then beeped, apparently going off to do something else.
Bloody wonderful Computer. Bless.
"W-What?! But she – you – she... You DARE to disobey ME?! Your MASTER?!" Zim screeched, stomping his foot. Child.
I groaned, leaning forward and clutching at my head. "Can you even comprehend the concept of QUIET?" I snapped.
Apparently, Zim didn't hear me.
"FINE! GIR! GET THE EARTH FEMALE!" Zim shouted, marching into the kitchen doorway. He pointed at me, scowling. Lots of shouting today, apparently.
Gir peeked out of a pile of mushy corn, blinked, then gave a "Nu-uh!" And ducked back into it.
Zim gawked at him a moment as I snickered, and then he growled. "FINE! I shall capture her!" He started marching towards me, an angry scowl on his face. I watched him until he was right in front of me. I raised an eyebrow as he halted, placing his hands on his hips and giving me a look. Is simply sent him a confused look back.
"What?"
Zim nodded towards the kitchen. "Go on, you are at my mercy! You obviously quake in fear of me, for you have not left for fear of punishment! Best to get back down there before you suffer my HIDEOUS WRATH!" He seemed to do a full body sort of twitch and I couldn't help but snort.
Wow. Someone was full to the brim... Of HIMSELF!
Hurray for lame jokes.
Har Har.
"Uh, no." I said, sarcasm rising as I ignored his shocked look. "I mainly have a horrible headache, no REAL quaking." That was kinda a lie. I WAS kinda frightened, but at this point, my headache was making me more annoyed than scared, which wasn't exactly smart.
But at this point you should have realized that I am not a very smart person.
Zim blinked. "Eh-uh, but what other reason could you possibly have for not escaping? The door is right there." He pointed at it, then suddenly added, voice morphing into a slightly panicked, slightly full of himself tone. "It MUST be because of my AMAZING Computer, yes?!" He crossed his arms again, raising his chin. I didn't think that he was aware of the panic, though. Nah, he was too full of himself for that. Dork.
I wanted to answer right away with a sarcastic 'no', but, you know, I think I had more to say... Yeah... I actually DID have a reason for staying, I just hadn't realized it. Stupid damaged brain. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
"No, actually." I said, sitting up a bit, arms propping me up as I let my head sink into my shoulders a little, a 'lazy' pose of mine. Ergh, I felt itchy now, what was with that? "I kinda wanted to talk to you."
Zim's antennae twitched and he blinked at me, shocked. "Eh?"
"Yeah, shocking, I want to actually TALK with you, I know." I said, rolling my eyes, only to stop. It made me dizzy... "I actually just wanted to make it clear that Sasha and I aren't against you."
"EH?"
I smirked a little. "Yeah. Contrary to what you may believe, not all humans are going to end up being mindless alien-killing/hunting-zombies in your presence." At Zim's even more confused look, I continued. "What I'm TRYING to say, is that Sash and I aren't going to hunt you or try to hurt you or something, and we're not going to try to expose you. We don't really care WHAT you are, or about what you do, and we'd actually appreciate it a LOT if you wouldn't KIDNAP us for experiments. Seriously, that has to stop before it gets too serious, and more annoying than it has already proven to be."
Zim blinked. "Soo... You WANT me to invade your planet?" He asked slowly, seeming perplexed.
"Well, no. No one WANT'S that. We simply – unlike Dib – don't care." I didn't say everything, of course, like how I didn't think that he'd even be able to take over our planet (well, MAYBE he could... I just didn't have a lot of faith in that, he was kinda a spazz). "So don't go panicking over us, okay?" My voice was a little kinder now, a little more coaxing now. I WANTED him to freaking RELAX around us for Pete's sake!
"B-But the Sasha-beast! She took off my wig! In the SKOOL!" Zim argued, waving his arms around. "The SKOOL!" He repeated.
I stood up, wobbling a little before regaining my balance. "Yeah, but only DIB was there! He already knows that you're an alien, so noting really HAPPENED that could have affected you in an ill way. Besides, Sash's always pulling crud like that." I argued, waving a hand a little non-nonchalantly. "It's one of the downsides that comes with having an insane friend..."
Zim narrowed his eyes at me. "Why should I trust you, Case-y-human?" Zim asked slowly. "What if you are in lead with the Dib?!" He took a half step forward, eyes narrowed.
"It's 'in league', Zim," I corrected him, then blinked. "I think. And anyways, if you haven't noticed yet, Dib doesn't exactly trust us enough for 'us' to actually form some sort of plan against you." I said, crossing my arms.
Zim growled, poking my forehead suddenly, looking very suspicious of me. "So you are saying that you are on MY side?" He raised an 'eyebrow' a little, smirking almost cruelly.
I rolled my eyes, pushing away his claw and ignoring his growling at my action. "NO, I'm saying that Sash and I aren't going to get involved with any of your schemes, or Dib's schemes, or your fights, we're just gonna do our own thing, and not bother you, for the most part." I said, tone a little annoyed from the poking. I didn't like to be TOUCHED. What about that did no one UNDERSTAND! And it wasn't helping that I was under a lot of stress!
Zim glared at me. "What do you want from me, then? Some sort of promise? A contract?" He snorted, amused. "Well you're not getting one! Zim would ne-"
"No." I said, interrupting him and ignoring his 'stink-eye'. I was really annoying him today, wasn't I? "I'm just letting you know. I don't want you to be confused or something, and I don't exactly want to deal with you shrieking at me about plotting with 'the Dib'. I'm perfectly fine with you being an alien, so's Sash. We're not freaked out by it and we're not gonna really bug you. I simply wanted to state the facts to you. Now, are you gonna let me out of your 'house' or am I gonna have to fight or something? 'Cause I've got a SERIOUS headache and I REALLY need to get home and go lay down or something..." I rubbed at my temples, scowling.
Zim glared at me, and seemed to consider me a moment, study me, before he growled. "Fine, Case-y. I will let you go, but know this," he moved forward, shoving his face into mine and I took a step back, blinking. "If you try and stop me, I'll..." He blinked, suddenly – and a bit awkwardly seeing as he was doing his whole' evil speech' thing – trailed off. "I'll, uh... Ehh..." He stuttered.
"Feed my brains to your robot?" I offered, sarcastic.
We glanced at Gir, who was now sucking on the leg of a chair, and Zim suddenly grinned. "YES! EXACTLY!" He shouted, laughing. Wow, I hadn't expected him to take that.
… Wait, did I just create a PARADOX?
… Awesomesause.
"Wonderful." I muttered, sighing. "So... I'm going to... Go now, okay?" I half asked, feeling awkward as I pointed a thumb behind me at the door, starting to back away.
Zim blinked at me. "Eh... Okay...?" He started. Gir suddenly squealed, and we both flinched as the little, corn covered robot came careening into the living room. He tackled my legs, and I stumbled back a few steps, making an 'ick' face as I felt mushed up corn get kneaded into my knees as Gir nuzzled them.
"BYEEEE, Cassy!" Gir said, squeezing my legs to the point that I SWORE that I could hear a snap or two. "Come bye and play with me again, okkaaaayyy?!"
"Gir!" Zim snapped, and Gir let go of me, hopping in front of Zim and saluting, though he still giggled. "Do NOT hug the female! She is dirty!"
"OOOIIIII!" I snapped, drawing out the word in an offended tone as I tended to do, causing Zim's antennae to flit back and his eyes to widen slightly as he looked at me. I scowled at him, brushing the corn off of my knees. "RUDE."
"... Eh?"
I stared at Zim's somewhat clueless face, decided that I probably DID smell – if only just a little bit – to him, and sighed. "Oh, never mind..." I walked to the door, ignoring Gir as he waved cluelessly at me, and managed an at least half-cheery smile. "Goodbye, Zim! See you on Monday!" I said in a slightly more cheerful voice, and left the 'house'.
I walked down the sidewalk, not really paying attention to the low sounding chastising Zim was directing towards Gir for 'hugging the filthy enemy' et-cetera. Nub.
It was a little more light out, and my watch told me that it was around nine-thirty, so I hadn't been gone that long. That was nice. And hey, it was a bit warmer, too! Sweet.
The gnomes didn't fire at me as I walked past them, but I had the sneaking suspicion that they were watching me. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up and a shudder crawl down my spine. They were creepy, and I had no idea if they were each there own 'program' so to speak, or if they were all actually just the Computer and he was just trying to mess with me. Jerk.
I relaxed slightly as I reached the main sidewalk and left Zim's 'property'. I frowned as I walked away, now focusing on my ever-growing problems.
Shoving aside the fact that I had a horrible headache that may or may not be the result of a concussion, Sasha had told me that DIB was bugging her or something. Like he was stalking around the house like some sort of hyena or something.
… Odd analogy, I admit, but accurate.
So there was that to deal with. I also had to get groceries, and had to go to work, and then there would undoubtedly be homework from Skool – something I really wasn't looking forward to, seeing as I had just gotten out of actual School – and then I had to get school supplies, like calculators and things, and I also had to get Dib to calm down and figure out a 'safe' way to act around Zim so that he didn't freak. AND I had to get Sasha to behave!
I could feel the stress mounting and building behind my emotional dam and it was about to burst. I didn't need this. I knew, I knew that I wouldn't be able to handle this very 'healthily', no. It was all grating on my nerves and-
I froze in my walking, and my gaze snapped over to my right arm, where my left hand had already crawled up my arm and under my sleeve and started to scratch. I ripped my hand away with a gasp, then scowled, biting my lip in a small form of self-punishment. NO. NO. NO.
I was not going to do that. Not now. Not after I'd gotten better, if only slightly.
I scowled, kicking at my feet angrily and sending a few stones flying. I continued on my way, in a considerably worse mood.
By the time I got back 'home', as it was starting to become, my headache was fading a little, but that wasn't what was surprising. What was surprising was that Dib was sitting on the front stoop, his camera set down next to him. He had one elbow on his knee as his hand held up his head and his other hand was lazily tracing the camera lens besides him, looking a little lost and incredibly lonely.
I felt a pang of pity pierce my veil of anger and stress, and managed a sad smile. "Hello, Dib." I greeted as I made my way down the front walk. Dib's head shot up and he stared at me for a split second, eyes wide. He seemed to be in shock for a second, and then he jumped up, grinning wickedly.
Oops, there goes some of the pity.
"You! Ha! I found out where you LIVE, CASEY! What NOW?" He taunted, grabbing his camera as he trotted up to me as I continued my steady walk towards him. "Now I'm gonna get ALL kinds of proof on you two DEMONS, and then I'll be able to send it into Mysterious Mysteries and then I'll be famous, and you'll be in some kind of government lab with scientists and paranormal experts and they'll be experimenting on you and what's her face, and I'll be experimenting on you, too! What do you think about that, huh? Huh?! HUH?!" Throughout his whole rant Dib had been getting closer and closer to me and now he was staring at me from only a little ways away, panting and grinning as I stopped to stare at him.
His rant was, honestly, really creepy, and I could probably guess that, in a few years, that if he ever reflected on it, he would realize that and feel that familiar rush of heat in his cheeks and the clenching of his stomach as embarrassment washed over him.
But, alas, it was all the dreaming and scheming of a twelve-year-old. Could you honestly blame him?
I blinked slowly at him. "I think that I've got a major headache and that you should go home, Dib." I said quietly. I didn't want to fight him, or yell at him, or rant to him about ANYTHING, relationship improving or otherwise. I was too tired and too sad and upset and stressed and I just wanted to scream and rip my hair out and sit down with a good book or write a good bit of story and forget that reality existed for a while. Or sleep. Sleeping was good.
Dib just stared at me. "What...?" He asked slowly, blinking. "But..." He waved his camera slightly as if that excused him and provided a valid reason as to keep me here.
I sighed, feeling a little sorry for him again, and grabbed the camera out of his hands.
"HEY!" He shouted, only to stare at me as I held up the camera in front of my face and snapped a photo, flinching a little at the flash. I shoved it back into his hands. I hadn't bothered to smile, and I'm sure that if I had looked at the photo I would have wanted to take a different one because of how ugly I was, but I simply didn't have the energy right now.
"There. You got a picture, happy birthday." I muttered, then stalked past him, opening the door and entering the house, locking it behind me, feet dragging across the still dusty floor.
I REALLY needed a nap...
Ignoring Dib's somewhat stuttery ranting that drifted through the door, I stalked past the kitchen, where Sash was drinking a soda. I waved at her, stopping in the doorway.
"Hey." I greeted.
Sasha was wearing her pajamas, still, but she was now covered with red, black, gray, white, what-have-you colors of paint. She blinked at me, before grinning and rushing over to me. "Casey! You're alive! Cool." She said, before sipping from her soda. "What happened?"
I sighed. "Uh, well, I explained to Zim that we aren't against him or anything, and that we were doing our 'own thing' and he actually let me go rather willingly." I gave her a tired but serious look. "Now, that means that you are to behave." I snapped, and Sasha gave me a rather startled look at my tone and expression. "That means that you are to be nice to BOTH of them. Sure, you can have a favorite – Zim, right? – but you are NOT to take SIDES!" I don't know why I was suddenly so loud. I wasn't angry with her or anything, I just felt loud. "I don't want you aiding one in the destruction of the other! Sure, here and there, you can blow some crud up – though I'd prefer if you didn't – but I don't want you aiding or hindering too much! I want it to be kept even!"
Sasha stared at me as I panted slightly. "Okay, GEEZE. Gosh, I KNEW that all already!" She crossed her arms. "Why are YOU so moody?"
I just shook my head. "I don't really know. Sorry. I kinda have a headache, too... I'm gonna go lay down for a bit, m'kay?" I said, backing away.
"Sure, okay! I'll just be painting my room with some music playing to drown out Dib." Insert appropriate pause for listening to Dib's rant here, please. "So, see you later, I guess..." She smiled awkwardly.
I smiled back before I left the kitchen and entered the hall and then my room, sighing.
I made a mental note to add 'aspirin' to my shopping list before I collapsed into my bed with a huff, hoping to fight off my headache.
Yes, this was very fun, wasn't it?
Yes, well wasn't this interesting!? Hmmm? Well, Review! Tell me what you thought! I hope you liked it!
Now, I'm off to watch Doctor Who! Allons-y! :)
BY THE WAY! I've uploaded a poll! I'd really appreciate it if you'd all check it out!