Scott started to get dressed. The plan for today was relatively simple. He had a friend to meet up, an old childhood friend called Dennis. Dennis was… a nice guy. They had been friends for a long time and were almost as close as brothers could be though his family were not really that close to his parents so they didn’t get to go to the wedding - something that Scott realised might have saddened his friend. Still, they worked well together ofren studying for their exams or just playing video games. As time had gone on though, Scott found himself more able himself- but tried to help his friend out with the trickier stuff.
Then there was his uncle…
Scott put on his white shirt and jeans feeling a bit.. sad when he thought of him. Scott had fond memories of him too, when he used to live in that house. After they had moved into this bigger house, his uncle moved into his father’s old house moving as a chain. It was a good arrangement really as a lot of his old stuff was kept there too. Scott’s uncle Richard was… not happy with the marrage to Lalaxi. He insisted that the ‘aliens’ were not right to marry that their intentions were still yet to be proved. He was cautious and protective of his family, but that tended to leave him isolated.
Scott wondered if his father visited his brother any more. Their relationship was strained… still… scott knew his uncle loved him dearly. He always sent nice clothes to him or a gift. Perhaps compensating for the fact that he had no family or children of his own… often he wondered why…
Scott suspected Richard just didn’t trust anyone outside the family.
Finally he was dressed. He decided to pay his uncle a short visit first, then his friend Dennis.. they might play an old video game together, maybe do some homework.. order a pizza… he was feeling surprisingly energetic today.
Scott really juts wanted to get away from that weird conversation with his new step-mother. That was just.. weird. Maybe it was those weird alien things that sometimes came up. He didn’t it though. His new mother was actually pretty cool, and the way his new extended family floated about with such ease was.. quite relaxing to watch.
Finally he started to open the front door when a voice called out.
“Oh, are you going out Scott?” Lalaxi tilted her head, her knees raised up slightly as as had rushed forward and stopped in that odd motion she employed.
“Yeah, I wanted to see how uncle Richard is doing.”
“Oh- ah, yes.” she seemed to almost stop and her body grew heavy at that- enough so that her feet touched the ground. “Oh I get it- you want to make sure he’s still part of the family.” Lalaxi beamed. “I’m so proud of you for thinking of this!”
Scott looked blankly at that. “I- guess? It’s just what humans do. I’m sure Richard will come to accept you eventually.” He didn’t know why his uncle was so.. difficult about it. It wasn’t like he was a racist- was it? He was just.. worried a lot for his brother.
Lalaxi looked very amused. She knew how close he was to her new child. “If he loves you so much, he will have to love me too eventually,” she smiled. “That is part of this whole process. I think it is a good idea. Though I hope you’ll be back by dinner.”
“Thanks, see you later mom.”
Richard rubbed his somewhat harsh dusky brown beard. He was looking at old newspaper clippings examining each before putting them into some kind of folder. There were a vast number of books.. papers…
The bell rang and he paused. “Hm...” he put away a few of his papers quickly. His house had become a bit of a mess of late.
“Uncle Richard?” The voice called out from outside. “It’s me.”
At that voice Richard smiled, a touch of warmth on his cold skin. “Ah, Scott!” Richard gestured him inside opening the door. “Come in- sorry about the mess...” He glanced around sheepishly.
Scott looked inside his house- the house he had grown up in when he was younger, when he and Dennis were neighbours. They used to come here a lot and play video games. That was almost six years ago or so. He looked back to Richard and the various sheets of newspapers. He didn’t hide that he was worried about him. “You’re… still looking up conspiracy theories? Why are you going through paper.. most of this stuff is archived you know.” A lot of people had strange hobbies but this was just very untidy.
Richard frowned and folded up a newspaper. “I’m sure you know the answer to that Scott, if you think about it carefully...” he sighed a bit. There was no computer here.. Richard didn’t even seem to own a mobile phone. He had only the basics. He glanced vaguely around the area. “I.. don’t trust them. A computer can change what data has been put into it. Think about it, they have visited our world in the past- of this I am sure. One doesn’t simply decide to come to a new planet on a whim.”
“They said they had been receiving our signals since Radio was around.”
“Aye, that they have and its plausable…” he gestured to his moutain of information and files. “When a potential ‘enemy’ has access to higher technology then you do… technology that might as well be magic.. you can no longer trust that technology to work for you, especially when you are seeking information. I can only trust what has been sculpted by human hands. They could maniplate videos, the internet, databases.. erase their entire presence. I’m actually being optimistic and hoping they can’t alter books or human perception.” He shuddered slightly. Though if they had that kind of skill, they might as well have been conqured.
Scott rolled his eyes. “They have been peaceful so far. They seem nice- you should give Lalaxi a chance!”
Richard rised a brow at the mention of his brother’s new wife. “I honestly will never understand why my brother has put such a risk on the family but.. it’s his choice. He’s the one with the family, not me.” He paused a moment. “Look- I appeciate the visit but I’m fine. Why don’t you go see Dennis? I thnk I saw him walking by.”
Scott groaned. His uncle was trying to divert the topic but he really wanted to confront it. “I just.. don’t think you should be so sucpicious of them. Lalaxi and her daughters- my new sisters- your -new- nieces are all very nice!”
Richard seemed to take a bit of a shock at that. He didn’t really see them as.. family. They were different.. perhaps too different for him. David was his little brother and he was always worried about his antics but this one- marrying an alien with weird abilities to fly about.. it terrified him. Could he ever cross that bridge… he honestly didn’t know. He just felt like he had to guard… something. Protect his family, the Earth.. make sure knowledge is not being manipulated. Unearth the truth of their visitation.. and expose it. What if they were rather.. advanced humans though?
Scott seemed to realise that his uncle did seem to get shaken when he described his new sisters as his new nieces.
“.. what are their names?” Richard asked quietly.
Scott gasped. Had his uncle not been given any details of them? “Well- Zomu- she’s the oldest.. you saw her in the wedding picture right?”
“i’ve... not actually used the internet in a while- not seen any pictures or.. anything. Not since the wedding.”
“Well- Layka- she has green hair.. she’s the youngest.”
Richard muttered something. “… I.. don’t know. I never.. had nieces- bah, I’m too sentimental.” he shook his head.
“I’ll get some photos printed for you. Why didn’t you go to the wedding?”
“I was.. ill at the time,” Richard muttered. “Maybe I was.. ill with worry. Just- let me be. I have my own life and things to worry about. When it comes to aliens.. I feel I can trust very little. I can’t even trust my own brother any more.”
Scott sighed. “Well- at lest try to keep an open mind.”
“Yeah.. I’ll try” he guessed he should but.. he was always warry. He looked at Scott curious a moment. “So what’s the deal with the pink..” he asked.
“Pink?” Scott asked. “What do you mean?”
“Your hair. Is this part of some weird alien ritual thing?”
Scott looked blankly and touched his hair. He didn’t feel anything different but.. something about the roots of his hair felt smoother then he would have thought. Almost like silk. “Uh- can I use your bathroom?”
“’still your house Scott you don’t need to ask.”
Scott ran to the bathroom. Weird.. he had flecks of strange pink hair. Not that many of them, but it was enough to be noticable. It was as if someone had started dying his roots. He pulled the hair apart to have a look at it. Feeling it he started tugging on one and gave it a pluck to examine it. “ow!”
That .. hurt a touch more then he would have expected it. The hair strand seemed to be half his blonde colour at the top, but the bottom quarter of it was all pink. Then he felt an odd tingle on his forehead.
Feeling it, he found- well- a single strand of hair, that was much longer then the others. It seemed to originate exacctly where he had plucked it! This particular hairstrand was completely pink now and even had a slight odd curl to it that didn’t quite match with the rest of his normal hair. He decided to pull it back, nesetling it against the more normal strands.
“W-What’s going on!”
Richard frowned. Maybe.. maybe he was being a bit too… harsh. There were girls he could be a good uncle too- he enjoyed spoiling his nephew Scott.. maybe he could make the other kids happy too? Though he still just wasn’t sure.
“Bah, they wouldn’t appreiate anything I could provide anyway.” Human technology was limited. Even if he bought them clothes they wouldn’t wear them- he wasn’t aware of any of the aliens that took to wearing human clothing. They had weird taste in food, they could travel -anywhere- they wanted.. money meant nothing to them. Honestly what was the point in even -thinking- he could be a meaninful part of this extended family.
The only thing that interested them was human culture.. so.. maybe just a book now and then? He could probably get one or two- if they had a sufficient grasp of the language to enjoy it. Then again they have probably heard every story possible.. it would all just be token meaningless gestures.
Scott suddenly apperaed looking a bit distressed. “I um- I should be going home soon.”
Richard tilted his head. “Hm? What about seeing Dennis? He knows you’re in the area with your car out there- don’t you think it would be a bit rude to come here and not see him?”
“I- It’s just-” he grimaced. “Dennis and I were friends when we were younger. Times have changed, we’re.. doing our own things now.”
Richard shrugged. “Well.. it’s up to you but I think he would like seeing you. You know his interest in the aliens...”
