Wake up Kirchoff, Kirchoff heard Valen say. According to the smooth, chitinous cocoon he was surrounded in, Kirchoff concluded that Valen must still be wrapped around him, and therefore it wasn't time to wake up yet.

Wake up you bonehead, Valen chuckled, bemused.

"Hnngh… Err…" He mumbled incoherently. At sometime during the night Valen had put his blankets over him, and now he pulled them up over his head and round his ears, trying to block out Valen's voice.

Kirchoff, you do know that I'm talking to you in your head right? As in, not using your ears.

He grumbled and pulled the blankets tighter over his head. Valen was silent for a moment, then a horrifying shriek pierced his eardrums. He jolted upright, his heart pounding and his ears ringing.

"Damnit, what was that for?" He grumbled.

I wanted to see if your ears were still working, Valen said. You know, since the rest of your brain doesn't appear to be functioning right now.

"Well it's nice to know that I have an alarm clock for a roommate." Now feeling wide awake, Kirchoff stood up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Valen also stood and stretched, arching his back like a cat.

"So why did you wake me up so early?" He asked, scratching the back of Valen's neck.

Because I got bored of watching you sleep.

"Wait," Kirchoff turned to Valen and raised his eyebrows. "You were watching me sleep?"

Well what else was I supposed to do while you were using me as a pillow? Valen asked, defensively. I sleep a lot less than you, and I needed something to do.

He laughed and gave Valen one last scratch on the neck. "Don't worry about it, it's fine. Wanna go see if Ursula dropped off your books yet?"

It turns out that Dr. Nigel had done a lot more than drop off some books. She had apparently made some 'small' additions to the list, because when they went to open the cargo door they used as an airlock, they found a pile of boxes, crates, and backpacks marked with various different labels such as books, but also cooking supplies, food, clothes, several tents, a first aid kit, a music player with speakers. Several of the boxes were unmarked, but they supposed that they would have plenty of time to sort through all of the boxes they had just received.

Kirchoff went over to the box marked 'FOOD' and flipped the lid open. It was filled to the brim with a large variety of cans, boxes, plastic bags, and water bottles. Kirchoff grabbed one of the water bottles and unceremoniously chugged it down. Then he grabbed a second one and offered it to Valen.

And what exactly do you expect me to do with that? He asked sarcastically.

"I don't know," Kirchoff shrugged. "I thought you might be thirsty."

I have a whole river to drink from back at our camp. He rolled his eyes. Or at least Kirchoff assumed he did. Besides, that's not nearly enough water for me.

"Fair enough," he said as he twisted the cap off and drained that water bottle too. When he was done he turned to Valen, who had flipped one of the boxes open and was looking at the contents.

"What's in that one?" Kirchoff asked him.

More books, lots of them. Valen reached inside the box and gently removed a paperback book from the case. The title of the novel was Marquis of Mars II: The Recolonizing.

Oh sweet baby Jesus no! Kirchoff thought in horror. Valen tilted his head as he felt the sheer terror rolling off of him, then started laughing.

"I am not reading you that book!" He stated.

And why not? Valen asked bemusedly.

"I… uh…" He desperately tried to think of any excuse he could think of. "I… I haven't even finished reading the first book to you!"

Then you'll just have to read me both of them, Valen smirked.

"Fuck," He muttered under his breath. "Fine, but not until after we get all of this stuff back to camp."

That sounds like a fair deal to me. How are we going to move all of this?

"I thought that you were going to carry it all," Kirchoff said with a big grin on his face.

Why do I have to be the pack mule?

"Because you've got the biggest muscles," he said flatly. "That and I'm under strict orders from my new doctor to not strain myself for a while." Kirchoff shouldered his much smaller backpack and took off back towards their campsite.

Valen hissed in annoyance, but walked over to the book crate and lifted it with very little effort and carried it off behind him.

"Dr. Nigel sure has a cruel sense of humor," Kirchoff muttered to himself as Valen found a chess set in one of the boxes.

It had taken most of the day to take all of the supplies back to the clearing, and by the end both of them were tired, irritable and surrounded on all sides by miscellaneous survival gear. They had taken a brief break to eat and recover, and now they were busy rummaging through their new things in the slowly dimming artificial sunlight.

He stood up from the box they were currently going through and his back shrieked in protest.

"Oh god," he groaned. Despite doing his best to follow the doctor's orders, he was pretty sure that he pulled a muscle.

You know that Dr. Nigel never let you hear the end of that? Valen asked him, rather smugly.

"Yeah, yeah," he said dismissively and stretched out his back before leaning forwards again and looked back in the crate.

He pulled out another unmarked box and pulled off the lid. Inside was a single playing board, a set of metal playing pieces, and a large collection of brightly colored fake money and plastic houses. Kirchoff quickly shut the box.

What's in that one? Valen asked curiously.

"A terrible instrument of destruction."

It looks like a board game to me, he sidled over and peered over his shoulder at the closed box in his hands.

"No, really, take my word for it. If we ever want to stay friends, we are never going to play this game. It's been renowned for over a century as the ultimate destroyer of families and friendships." Which of course meant that Valen had convinced Kirchoff into playing Monopoly less than ten minutes later.

"You can really be so childish at times you know," Kirchoff told him as he set up the board and pieces on top of a crate. "Haven't you ever heard of the benefits of delayed gratification?"

I would agree with you, He snarked, but my claws say otherwise.

"You make a convincing argument," he said, rolling his eyes. "I feel sooo intimidated." The truth was he really wanted to play Monopoly, because he was really, really good at it and he was still a little sore from Valen whooping his ass at chess. "Do you want me to read you the rules or teach you as we go along."

Could you please read the rules to me, he asked innocently. I'd rather know what I'm getting myself into.

Kirchoff quickly read the rule manual to Valen, who asked him to reread several parts of it in order to clarify some details. In no time they were playing the game. Kirchoff rolled the dice first, and moved the little race car forward several spaces onto the first railroad station. He smiled and paid the fee to buy the property. The game was off to a good start.

And so the game went. In the beginning, Valen looked like he was winning. He snapped a good spread of properties, including the utility properties in several trips around the board. Kirchoff was a bit more selective with his purchases, managing to buy two of the railroads and several pairs of properties. Then the game started shifting in his favor. In two consecutive trips he bought all 4 properties around the Go square and started to put up hotels on all of them. Valen, on the other hand, had no complete sets of properties and was having a tough time buying more since he spent all of his money early on. What he hoped would be his biggest money makers, the utility properties, turned out to be a terrible investment, since Kirchoff didn't even land on them once. Then he had landed on the boardwalk for the first time, forcing him to fork over most of his money. And in a stroke of luck, good for him, bad for Valen, he had landed on it again, and this time he had to mortgage most of his properties to pay him. By this point Valen was seething with rage, but that wasn't the best part for Kirchoff.

How did I land on your boardwalk again?! Valen said in astonishment. That's the third time in a row!

"Bad luck buddy," Kirchoff said as he rubbed his palms in a cheesy display of greed. "Pay up."

Valen did a quick tally of his remaining funds. I can't.

"Well I guess that means... " He was cut off by Valen swiping the board game off the table, sending the money scattering over the grass and ripping the board in two pieces.

"...I win," Kirchoff finished. The anger and frustration Valen felt was practically palpable.

It's a stupid game anyways, Valen pouted.

A smirk made its way across his face. "Well someone's a sore loser."

Am not. It's just a stupid game. Kirchoff felt like this was an ideal opportunity to make some excellent verbal jabs, but he refrained. Instead he got up and wrapped his arms around Valen. "Yeah, I agree. It is a pretty dumb game."

Although if it weren't for a certain someone buying half the board I might have had a chance at winning, he said pointedly

"I'm your dreams big guy, I won through sheer skill."

If by skill you mean incredible luck, then yes, I am utterly floored by your boundless skill, Valen snarked.

"There's the sassy little Xenomorph I know," Kirchoff cooed derisively. "Much better than you being a big whiny baby."

I'm not whiny.

"Oh yes you are!" Kirchoff said vehemently. "You can't deny that you got all mopey when you lost or you couldn't have another bedtime story." He shook his head. "How can you be an alpha predator with that kind of attitude?"

I'm used to getting what I want. Not many people tend to argue with an alpha predator.

"Fair point," he agreed. "Still, you could be less of a mope about it."

I could, could I? If Valen had eyebrows, Kirchoff was sure he would be raising them.

"Uh huh!"

Well how's this for mopey! Out of nowhere Valen whirled around and tackled him to the ground. He attempted to grab his arms and pin them over his head, but he somehow wriggled out of Valen's ironclad grip and clambered out from under him, crawling backwards on the ground trying to put some distance between him and Valen. However, Valen, being a Xenomorph, quickly leaped forwards again and pinned him to the ground this time, laying his whole weight on his chest. Kirchoff's arms were pinned on the ground next to him underneath Valen's powerful hands, his legs kicking helplessly at empty air. He struggled and writhed as hard as he could, but he couldn't break free.

Valen was laughing his head off. Kirchoff meanwhile was stuck underneath him writhing like a worm.

Eventually Kirchoff gave up on his attempt to wriggle free and put on a pouty face. His laughter died down and they lay there in silence, their faces only inches apart. Kirchoff's gaze pointed straight up at him, his eyes smoldering. Now was the opportune time to make a comment at his expense, but unusually, he didn't. This didn't go unnoticed by Kirchoff, who raised his eyebrows. Valen could tell that he had half expected it.

Maybe I'm getting too predictable, he thought. I've got to mix things up a bit. So instead of making an incredibly witty and sardonic comment, he kept his mouth shut. That threw Kirchoff off guard.

"What, no smartass remark?" He huffed.

You want me to insult you? He asked smugly.

"What? N-no," He stammered. "I just thought you would have done it by now."

I've decided to take a break from insulting you for once. I'll be nice.

"Nice enough to let me up?" Kirchoff asked hopefully.

Not that nice, he laughed. Besides, you make such a good pillow.

To emphasize just how good of a pillow he was, and because he rather enjoyed being in contact with Kirchoff for any amount of time, he nuzzled his head into his chest and purred loudly. This made Kirchoff's voice vibrate when he shouted, "Cut that out! You're going to give me a headache!"

But you're so soft and warm, he explained, and purred harder.

"Valen," He pleaded, his voice sounded like he was speaking through a fan. "Stop, please!"

Oh fine you big wuss. He stopped purring. He slid down a bit so his head was lying on Kirchoff's chest and released his arms. He was still purring a little, but not enough to make Kirchoff uncomfortable.

"Stop that," Kirchoff told him.

Stop what? he asked in mock ignorance.

"Stop looking adorable!" Kirchoff said. "You're not supposed to be adorable!"

I'm sorry, he chuckled, but I can't turn it off once it's on.

That made him laugh. "Damn you, you cuddle monster."

You wouldn't have it any other way.

"Yeah, I can't say I would," he laughed back, wrapping his arms around his head in a hug.

Kirchoff didn't seem particularly eager to get out from under him anymore, and Valen was perfectly happy with that arrangement. Unfortunately, they were interrupted by a loud chiming sound, accompanied by a faint buzzing noise. Valen ignored it. Kirchoff didn't.

"Is that a ringtone?" Kirchoff asked, as much to himself as to him. "Did Ursula send us a phone?"

No, he replied. The chiming sound continued, even louder now.

"I'm pretty sure that's a ringtone."

No it isn't.

"Valen, I think that a call from Dr. Nigel is pretty important"

Fine, Valen stood reluctantly and let the semi-squished Kirchoff get to his feet. He brushed as much grass as he could off his now green tinged clothes and searched through one of the backpacks until he found a small pink smartphone, similar to the tablet Kirchoff used to communicate with Nigel when he couldn't talk. Only this one was much smaller and it was chiming and vibrating.

"Hello Kirchoff" Dr. Nigel said. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything important."

"Not really, you just interrupted me being smothered to death by an overly affectionate alien," he replied.

Dr. Nigel laughed. "I hope that you're feeling better"

"I'm feeling much better, thanks for asking." A sarcastic comment rose up about how he would have been feeling a lot better if he hadn't been tortured, but he let it die. As much as he would have liked to, he knew that he couldn't rake Dr. Nigel over the coals forever.

"How about Valen?" she asked. "Can he hear me? I don't want to leave him out of the loop."

"He can read my mind Doc, I'm pretty sure he's already listening in."

No I'm not, Valen said in his best innocent voice.

"Good," she said. "Listen, I made a few additions to that list you gave me."

"Yeah, I noticed," he muttered. "My back hurts from helping carry all of those damned boxes"

"You do know that you're on strict orders to be resting right?" she said, sounding very peeved.

"I know," Kirchoff rubbed at the back of his neck, his cheeks flushing a little in shame. "I just didn't want to make Valen do all of the work."

You do realize that I'm significantly stronger and in much better condition than you right? Valen snarked.

Hey, you were the one that was complaining that you were a packmule!

Valen snorted, but didn't say anything.

"Regardless," Dr. Nigel continued, "If you don't start taking your recovery seriously, I'm going to get Valen to hold you down and make you relax."

Kirchoff gulped and glanced at Valen, who turned his head and grinned at him. "Got it Doc, I'll relax as hard as I can."

She laughed, "Good. Let me know if you think of anything that you need. Oh, and keep this phone on you at all times, it's the easiest way for me to stay in contact and keep tabs on you."

"Got it, thanks Doc."

"You're welcome Kirchoff, have a good night. I'll call you again tomorrow to discuss what we're going to do going forward."

"Talk to you later," he said and hung up. He stood staring at the phone for a minute, wondering what else she wanted to talk about. His thoughts were interrupted when Valen nudged his arm. He stroked Valen along his head and asked, "What do you want to do now?"

Didn't you say something about a bedtime story? Kirchoff felt his blood run cold and Valen laughed.