Relaxing at home (Open to Nexus people)

[hellomajortom]

It had been a crazy few weeks. Learning about a place with so many aliens, reuniting with his wife, and finding a house. It was a lot, nevermind his son being the usual tornado of chaos. The house they had eventually settled on was human built but the style had given his wife a jolt of nostalgia. He hadn't been to Anthea, but he could only imagine this architecture was similar to her home. It was a beautiful house, small, minimalist, and warm with all the sunlight. Right now thin bluish curtains were drawn on most of the windows, another thing his wife had insisted on. He cared little about it though now that they were in place he could appreciate the beauty. Tom imagined at one time Anthea must have been beautiful with its open air houses and sheer colored curtains.

He turned his mind away from Anthea as he sat on the porch swing reading. The past of his wife's people always felt hopeless and depressing. Instead he smiled to himself. His son had been here earlier, high on more than drugs. The stream of Anthean had been welcome to hear as Ziggy spoke to his mother. Truth was they were both talking too fast and high pitched for Tom to keep up from across the room. He got the gist though from human culture. His son had someone or several someones with how his son was, what kind of someone in a place like this Tom could only guess but the signs were there.

That had been a few hours ago. The two of them had left, giddy like school girls, for the plaza and shopping. Tom had been invited but he had so little time to relax during the recent NASA projects that he was going to take his time to do nothing. What was the use of retiring, semi-retiring, if you didn't enjoy it. He took a moment to look at the cats laying on the porch at his feet. There were six now that his wife brought in from wherever she had found them. Most of them looked Earthly though one, one Tom was sure hadn't hailed from an Earth. Still he barely gave it a passing thought.

With one of the cats now settling in his lap on the porch swing, Tom went back to reading and listening to the sounds of people occasionally walking by.


[More images of the house here]

Comments

[somekindofspaceuncle]

"No, I just- it's nothing, really."

He shouldn't have come.

"Ziggy told me about you. He said that-"

Shi-- Hiroki hesitates again.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come here. Please, excuse me."

He leans down to pets the cats.

[hellomajortom]

The nervousness suddenly makes sense when he mentions Ziggy. There's only one reason he can imagine for a boy showing up looking for a father and be this nervous. Ziggy might not be a she usually but the femininity is there, Tom imagines, enough to trigger the social norms, or even other culture's norms. Just because this person looks human certainly doesn't mean they are.

"I don't mind." Tom approaches watching the cats all collect around this young man. "You're one of my son's friends?"

He thought that was a good question to guage what reason had prompted Ziggy to send one of his friends here.

[somekindofspaceuncle]

The young man nods.

"Ziggy saved me", he adds, after a moment.

[hellomajortom]

"Well, he does that sometimes." Tom wasn't surprised to hear it. Though he'd not heard this particular thing, Ziggy did have a big enough heart for someone to say this.
"Do you want to come sit?"

He's not empathic but he has enough understanding of behavior to see the nervous energy is still there. "I'm Tom Jones, Ziggy's father. Who are you?"

[somekindofspaceuncle]

"No wonder," he says, with a grin spreading. He's beginning to feel more comfortable with the other man. He reminds him a bit of Commander Holt, just, the air of his.

"I'm Shiro," he introduces himself, without thinking.

No, wait a tick. Something's not quite right. Oh!

"I mean, my name's Hiroki. I'm a bit, er, new."

This is so embarassing. Any hour he expects to suddenly just vanish out of existence, maybe it'd be pretty great if it happened right about now. However, that's not happening.

[hellomajortom]

Tom motions for the other man to come up and join him on the porch. He doesn't even blink at the confused name. His son was a rockstar, stage names were common enough.

"So. How do you know Ziggy?" He asks, curious about the situation. Tom has met plenty of Ziggy's friends but none have ever come to find him.

[somekindofspaceuncle]

"You could say I know him a bit longer than I know myself."

So what if the joke makes no sense, most likely? Shiro--- no, Hiroki-- can explain later.

"Ah, we've met in Nexus. Ziggy's music is beautiful, so I stopped to listen."

[hellomajortom]

"That sounds typical." Tom returns to his seat on the porch swing. There's a space beside him on the swing and two other chairs on the porch. The cats are following close behind.

"So, what can I do for you, Hiroki?" He's friendly and has the same openness as Ziggy, though the Anthean blood exaggerated it in his son.

[somekindofspaceuncle]

"What? No, sir, I only wished to meet you, at least once. Nobody knows if I'll exist tomorrow. So, if I act too quickly, that's why."

"Outside Nexus, I'm probably not inside my own body anymore. That I am here, that, that's just this reality, Nexus, being all weird. I apologise."

[hellomajortom]

"Ziggy's friends don't usually come to my house to find me." He's concerned for this young man and briefly worries this might be the effects of a bad drug trip, though the last part changes his perspective.


"You're one of the people here that's died in your own world?" He asks it gently. There've been others he'd met with the same fate that seemed more well adjusted. This could be a more recent discovery though.

[somekindofspaceuncle]

Don't usually...? oh!

"Truth is, I'm in love with..."

Him? Her?

"With Ziggy."

There.

"Hm, I doubt I really exist there, anymore. Probably. At least..."

Well, let's not overcomplicate it. If he's not... then he's dead, yes. Here, he's not dead, if he can talk like this. Over there, he is dead.

"In short - yes, I died. I'm almost certain."

[hellomajortom]

"oh..." Tom's brow raises not because this boy is in love with his son but because the tone sounds very serious. "I don't mind that you've come to talk."

He's still not sure why this boy is here but then this is new. People don't just show up on his porch declaring they love his son, though he hears people in interviews and things scream about it enough.

"I don't know what it's like to know you're dead, or at least thought of as dead, somewhere else. It's hard to deal with."

[somekindofspaceuncle]

"Thank you. I know I'm being a bother, please forgive me."

He. Actively. Doesn't bow, not sure of culture, but, the thpught is there.

Hard to..

"No, it's not so bad. No one will miss me, in the least. They won't mourn me, they have no reason to do so. And that's... good."

[hellomajortom]

"Not at all." Tom shrugs. "Ziggy's friends used to come around a lot before he moved out on his own."

Moved out wasn't really the word, constant touring was more accurate. The next words though, Tom knew them well. He had them not long ago.

"I understand what that feels like. I've never been dead but I came back to an Earth that thought I was."

[somekindofspaceuncle]

"I see."

[hellomajortom]

"You're not very talkative." Tom comments but doesn't harass. Instead he turns his attention to petting one of the cats and giving the young man space.

[somekindofspaceuncle]

Oh.

He's not quite sure if he should deny.

Cats! Shi--- Hiroki beckons another cat over. Hey, gotta check if mystical lion Quintessence's leftovers work on kitties, huh? Fine. Bad joke.

[hellomajortom]

He lets some silence pass and then interjects. "You're the one staying with my son?"

He's curious and the cats all piling up on Hiroki say that they recognize him, through whatever connection it was his wife seemed to have with cats.

[somekindofspaceuncle]

"I am. I have no home, I never had one; he's invited me."

[hellomajortom]

"I can't say I've ever heard him invite anyone to stay, but I'm glad he has company."

Tom watches Hiroki for a moment and the smiles wide. "I can use the help looking after him. It's exhausting for one person."

[somekindofspaceuncle]

"I'll protect him. Whatever it takes."

He's determined already. And besides, at least now his 'existence', such as it is, can have some meaning again.

He grins. Look, he's not going to mope if he has a purpose in this reality.

Geez, when did he turn into a Slav? But, nevermind all that.

[hellomajortom]

"Watching out for someone is more than protection." Tom informs Hiroki. "I'm sure you mean well but I don't want you going into this blind."

[somekindofspaceuncle]

Right. That's true.

"I'll be there for him. And... you needn't tell me anything, sir. If Ziggy wants me to know anything, he'll tell me."

[hellomajortom]

"I wasn't thinking personal matters, that is for the two of you to discuss if you want." Tom acknowledges. "Ziggy is another species; he's not even human or Anthean. He's something all his own."

[somekindofspaceuncle]

"Mhm."

"Ziggy's told me that. And that he's neither a man nor a woman, not quite."

"But of course he's one of a kind, unlike me."

He doesn't want to say this, but this, he feels, he must. To be fair.

"I'm just an evil clone of one astronaut. I know it sounds like a B movie. But unfortunately, it's true."