Page 10 of My Alien Angel
Fin laughs. “Okay, okay. Just give me a second.” Disappearing into her room for a moment, Fin returns with a larger version of her handheld device. “It’s old and the battery is shit, but it should last a few hours. Just keep it on the charger when you’re not using it. Let me install the app.”
I make space for her on the couch and watch as she competently taps on the screen. “Here,” she says after a minute, pointing at a tiny drawing of some brown, furry creature. The way the creature displays its teeth is menacing, though I assumeit might mean it’s smiling. “This starts the learning app. Just tap it with your finger.”
She hands me the device and watches as I poke the toothy creature with my finger. The screen changes, displaying more animals and some writing in what I assume is the application’s menu. It’s all remarkably similar to applications I have on my own datapad, except with different writing and images.
“It’s an app for pre-schoolers,” Fin explains. “I’ve heard my co-workers talk about how it helped their kids learn the alphabet and spelling and all that. There’s an underlying story you might find a little silly since it’s for five-year-olds, but it should give you the basics if you really want to learn.”
“Yes. Want to learn. Is good.” It’s better than good. It’s brilliant. “Thank you, Fin. Many thank you.”
“Ah, don’t mention it,” she replies, her cheeks turning pink again. “I mean, people are supposed to help each other, aren’t they? It’s what makes us human.”
It won’t make me into a human but I agree with the sentiment. “Yes. Help each other.” If only I could do something to help Fin in return for her generosity.
“Okay, good, um. Maybe leave the tablet for after dinner. The pizza should be here soon. I’ll just tidy up a bit so the place isn’t such a mess. Sorry about that.”
I look around the room again, still not seeing any mess. In order to not intrude on Fin’s privacy, I didn’t study the many objects on the shelves, but nothing about them strikes me as particularly messy. Most of them look like toys or figurines of strange creatures and oddly dressed people. There are models of buildings, too, and an array of spaceships, though none of them are models I’m familiar with.
Setting the datapad aside for now, I wander over to one of the shelves, hoping Fin won’t mind me looking closer. She has these items on display, so they probably aren’t too personal. A clusterof the figurines catches my attention and I grin as I observe them. They are the same kind of monster Fin was dressed as. There’s a whole group of them, most holding primitive weapons like spears or knives, though one is cradling a baby creature in their arms. It’s cute, even if their razor-sharp teeth are quite disturbing.
“Oh, you found the murlocs,” Fin chuckles, joining me in front of the shelf. “They’re monsters from a video game, but I always found them adorable. A weird choice for a cosplay outfit, I know, but that’s me. Infinity Young, the weird girl.”
I don’t like the way she speaks about herself but it’s not my place to lecture her. “Infinity?” I ask, a little confused by the translation my nodes offer.
“Yeah. Talk about weird names. My parents are crazy and they decided I needed to have some of their craziness inflicted on me as well. Fortunately, no one really calls me by my full name. Most folks are happy to just call me Fin.”
Infinity. Fin. It makes sense. I quite like her full name, but I can also understand the desire to be called by something else. After all, my name hasn’t always been Omni. As I contemplate sharing that with Fin, her device makes a chiming sound. “Oh, the pizza is here! Give me a minute. I’ll run down and get it.”
As she rushes away, I turn back to the items on the shelves, then to several pieces of paper scattered on the desk below. They’re drawings in various stages of completion. Some are just sketches, some are complex drawings in black and white, some are even colored. They seem to display the same characters—a red-haired human female and some sort of monster with many tentacles. In some of the drawings, they are fighting, or maybe arguing, given the bubbles of text coming out of their mouths. Then I pick up a drawing that has my mouth dropping open. The monster and the human woman are no longer fighting, thoughthe monster is putting its tentacles to good use. Between the female’s legs.
Chapter 9
Fin
Isthereanythingmoreembarrassing than finding a stranger browsing through your hand-drawn hentai collection? Even finding my sex toys would be less devastating. At least those are mostly normal. Well, except for that one tentacle dildo. But this? Freezing in the doorway, I wish for the floor to open up and swallow me. It doesn’t, of course, because whoever is in charge of my destiny is a cruel jerk. Breaking out of my stupor, I nearly drop the boxes of pizza as I rush to tear the papers from Omni’s hands.
“Nope. That’s private. Don’t look at that,” I utter, my face so hot it feels like I’m about to combust in flames.
To his credit, Omni immediately drops the drawings and steps away. “Many sorry,” he says in that adorable way of his. “Many, many sorry.”
“It’s okay. It’s my fault anyway, I left it out.” I’d been working on the shading before leaving for the con and since I didn’t expect visitors, I’d left the drawings scattered across my desk. That’s a mistake I will not be repeating. Keeping my head down, because I simply cannot meet Omni’s eyes right now, I shove the pizza at him. “Here, grab this. I’ll just put these away. If you could forget you ever saw them, that would be great.”
Taking the boxes from my hands, Omni brings them over to the tiny table in the kitchenette. I use the opportunity to gather everything inappropriate from the desk and bring it to my room. He won’t be going in there. Will he? No, absolutely not. He’s sleeping on the couch. It won’t be comfortable, especially since something tells me he will refuse to take off his wings even for sleeping, but I’m not inviting him into my bed. Nope. Damn Caleb for putting inappropriate thoughts in my head.
As I leave the bedroom, cheeks still burning with utter embarrassment, Omni comes into view. He’s bent over the table, curiously examining the pizza box as if he’s never seen one in his life. His weirdness isn’t what catches my eye, though. His back is. His bare back and the wings that seemingly grow straight out of it. How? How the hell does that work? There are no straps or harnesses anywhere and it’s not like he has the massive wings glued to his skin. I need to figure out what the trick is because it looks so incredibly realistic. This is, like, next-next level costume design.
Remembering Caleb’s less outrageous demand, I pick up my phone. “Omni?” At the sound of his name, he turns to smile at me. Returning the smile, I hold my phone up. “May I takea picture of your wings? My friends are really curious about them.”
Omni’s smile becomes a little strained, but he nods. “Yes.”
Seeing his hesitance, I quickly put the phone down. “No, that’s okay. I can see you’re uncomfortable with it, so I won’t do it.” He probably only agreed because he’s worried I’d kick him out if he didn’t. “Let’s just eat the pizza.”
His relief confirms that I made the right decision. “Sorry,” he says with a sigh. “Complicated.”
I snort. “Yeah, that’s one way to put it. Did they say that word on TV?”
“Yes,” Omni nods seriously. “Complicated puzzle solve tribe food.”
Taking a moment to decipher the meaning, I pull out two plates from the cupboard. “Ah, they were supposed to solve the puzzle and food was the reward. Did they succeed?” I haven’t watched the show in a while, but I remember the basics.
