In Search of Home

Chapter 24

"That looks gross, dude," Viktor told him, wrapping the blanket around him tighter as Vok'Rul spoke meaninglessly to him as he stepped past. The alien had taken out another brick of food that looked more unappealing than the first. He seemed to like this one better, though. "Like really, don't you have real food? You're like, President Jesus here or something-"

He was interrupted by a throat clearing in the entryway to the kitchen. Viktor jumped out of his skin. He nearly broke his neck whipping it around to see a well-dressed alien, almost the same shade as Vok'Rul. They even shared his eyes. They didn't have a tail, though. They also looked pretty mean, with hardly any expression on their face. Viktor wondered if they were related.

Vok'Rul seemed delighted to see them, exclaiming a 'rohsh!' and walking over to embrace them. Viktor watched the exchange carefully, huddled on the ground and pulling his blanket around him to draw less attention to himself. The other alien spoke briskly, patting Vok'Rul on the back with much less enthusiasm. Their voice was light, quite like Pink's and Lilac's. Maybe this alien was Vok'Rul's sister?

Vok'Rul stepped back, tilting his head a bit in question. He said some words, to which the other alien responded with a shake of her head. She brandished a piece of paper from behind her back, waving it in front of Vok'Rul's face. Viktor craned his neck to get a look. It looked like a newspaper. There were large symbols over a picture in the middle of the page. Viktor squinted, his view obscured even more as Vok'Rul hurriedly took it out of her hands hastily, loudly speaking in distaste.

Viktor stood up, drawing the other's attention. She scrutinized him shrewdly. Viktor narrowed his eyes, stepping to the left so that he was obscured by Vok'Rul's body. She said something, pointing to him in a dismissive gesture.

Vok'Rul turned, offering Viktor a strained smile. The hand holding the newspaper dropped to his side, which let Viktor get a better look from across the kitchen. It was a picture of Vok'Rul hurriedly running into the vet's clinic with a lump in his arms. Taken at night, the photo wasn't the best quality, but Viktor could tell that the lump was him. Vok'Rul was obviously upset by this revelation. Viktor wondered why.

"Rul," the alien said, dropping the first half of Vok'Rul's name. She said something else, pointing at Viktor and gesturing with her other hand. Whatever she said must have irked Vok'Rul, because his mood became frosty. He snapped at her, shaking his head and gesturing at Viktor as well.

"I am right here," he grumbled out loud, moving to cross his arms and getting stopped by the blanket around him. He struggled to get it off him. Somehow, it had wrapped around his cast in a way that made it difficult to unwind it with just one arm. "God damn it," he swore, tugging at the blanket and pulling uselessly at the edges. He heard footsteps approaching him, assuming it was Vok'Rul coming to assist him. He also heard Vok'Rul's voice, sharp and loud in the still air, pretty far from him.

Viktor looked up in alarm as the other alien reached down to help untangle him from the blanket. All Viktor could see, however, was a large unknown hand coming at his face. He scuttled back in alarm as quickly as he could, yelling out a sharp 'hey!' as he did so. His heart was nearly beating out of his chest in fright. 

The alien took a step back, frowning at him. She spoke softly, crouching down and slowly extending her hand out. Viktor watched her warily, but now that she wasn't looming over him, it wasn't as terrifying. If she hadn't been so obviously related to Vok'Rul, he doubted he'd even let her near. 

"I can do it myself, thank you," he said snippily, trying to calm his breathing enough to untangle himself. The alien shrugged, saw that she wouldn't be able to get any closer to him, and stood back up, turning her attention back to Vok'Rul. The taller alien looked irritated.