The Sun was beating down on the boys as they tracked back to Rae's home. Even still, Rae had his hoodie pulled up over his ears, as was his habit in public. Though it was hot, the hood was helping Rae steal small peeks at his stoic new friends. He thought it rude to stare but he couldn't help but be excited. Rae was not used to the company of boys his own age, everyone except Abigail had hated him since Elementary School, so the concept of friends was as foreign to him as the idea of Aliens living in his shed.
More than anything Rae found himself glancing at Dasnir. The Prince had that vacant expressionless look on his face again. His eyes had a strange tiredness to them. Even still, Rae thought they had an other-worldly beauty about them.
"I've really never seen eyes that color, they are so light blue with a tint of grey; they almost look like shiny silver coins. I wonder if that is an Asgeeri feature? Actually probably not Fulbrik's eyes are caramel-brown." Rae thought, as he glanced between the two from his peripheral vision.
It had been somewhat awkward, silent, and tense between them on the way back home. Neither of the Alien boys had said anything since they left Velma's. "Did I say something offensive?" Rae's ears laid down as he began to worry about losing the new friends he had just met.
Soon after, they arrived home. Rae closed the door to the Shed behind him and turned to see the Prince making himself at home on the bed, looking out the small window on the side wall. Dasnir's arms were folded and he appeared to be lost deep in thought.
Fulbrik, on the other hand, seemed to be preoccupied with the bracer device on his arm. He had refused to take it off when they were buying clothes even though Rae said it was suspicious looking. This was the primary reason Rae decided to buy them both hoodies: in order to hide Fulbrik's bracer. Rae had bought them other clothes he thought were appropriate, but he loved hoodies since he usually wore one himself, so he couldn't resist. The other reason, though, is that Rae thought the awkward Aliens were a bit cute being dressed in such normal looking clothing.
"How am I going to be able to help these guys? I don't even know what they need, and it's hard to get anything out of them. But, at least they don't look nearly as intimidating now." Rae thought, as he unpacked their original clothing from his backpack.
He hid the apparel in the compartment below the bed. Then he looked over at his work styling his friends.
"The big bar in the middle and the hood are lemon-yellow, it really contrasts Dasnir's eyes so well, and I love the black color on the rest, it matches his hair. Fuly's is simpler but I think the swamp-green goes well with his chocolate-brown hair and eyes; it was a hassle finding one that fit him, though." Rae smiled proudly, something he did not often do. "Who knew I could color match so well?"
Rae noticed that Fulbrik's arm was glowing again; the display he had seen before was popping up around it. More of the strange symbols were floating around his lower arm similar to a hologram. Fulbrik seemed to be moving them with his fingers. And after several seconds of this, his expression became rather grim looking, at least compared to his normal stoicism; it appeared that he had discovered something he wished he had not.
"Is that their language? Come to think of it, how can they even speak Romases?"
(Romases is the counterpart to modern English on Terra-Romas, being that it is the most universal language. i.e. It descended from Latin on Terra much in the same way Romance Languages, like French, had on Earth.)
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"Young Master, I still can not get a signal through; though, I will keep trying..." Fulbrik said, and then hesitated. "There is also no sign from any of the Guard, Your Highness. I fear they have likely all perished in the explosion."
"They knew the risks, and they died in battle; it is an honorable death, Fulbrik." Dasnir said coldly, still looking up at the sky through the window. He did not even turn to look at his Guardian.
"We should hold a ritual in their honor, Your Highness..." Fulbrik said pensively, with a frown on his face.
"We don't have their bodies, and we can not afford to be seen, you know this. I don't want to hear anymore about it, Guardian." The Prince scoffed, and put his hands behind his head to recline.
Fulbrik had a pained grimace on his face as Dasnir called him 'Guardian'. He knew his Master was annoyed because the Prince only referred to him in that way when he was irritated.
"I did warn you that this was too dangerous, Young Master... But I am sorry this happened. If only I had prepared your Guard more thoroughly, I would not be the only one with you right now; I have failed you... forgive me." Fulbrik said solemnly. He clenched his fist and bowed at the waist with a sense of deep regret.
"Stop it. Stand up. And I told you to drop this." Dasnir looked back, through the corner of his eye, at his Guardian without moving an inch. The smaller Alien boy let out a strange guttural sound like an animal snarling. This exchange was either intimidating to the Guardian, as Rae could see him slightly shaking, or there was some other feeling being conveyed between the two; though, the cat-eared observer could not quite put his finger on the exact nature of this tension.
Somehow, Rae sensed a thick tensile torrent of primal emotion between the two Asgeeri boys, seemingly spurred on by nothing that should warrant it. That atmosphere which filled the entire room was very unexpected; as up until that point, neither of them had shown such outward fervor about anything, other than slitting Rae's throat, of course.
"There it is..." Rae thought. "That's the look he had when I pulled him out... Wait does he have fangs?!" Rae noticed just then that the Prince's upper lip had curled into the corner of his mouth and had revealed rather large canines, like one would expect to see in the mouth of a wolf.
"Hey! You're being a real jerk right now! Can't you see he's worried about your situation?" Rae snapped, without thinking.
Dasnir's angry gaze shifted to Rae immediately, and the enraged animal flew off the bed and pushed the cat to the ground. He had raised his fist, so as to pummel Rae in the face.
"You insolent... How dare you speak to me this way?!" The Prince barked at the shaken cat. He swung his fist down towards the pinned boy, like a gavel passing judgement, but then...
Dasnir saw the look of fear in Rae's eyes; there was a strange pause with the Prince's fist just above Rae's half-turned quivering head, and the gavel stopped just before rendering the sentence. The Warrior's aggressive instinct seemingly vanished instantaneously; his gaze softened, ever so slightly, as he peered down at the defenseless smaller boy, like there was something there only he could see. He exhaled slowly and closed his eyes, concentrating. After a small pause, he lowered his fist and released Rae who was still trembling. The Prince's demeanor relaxed; and though there was no longer anger, there remained a frigid, stern, affection-less authority radiating off of him.
"You do not know the ways of the Asgeeri. It is disrespectful to speak to me this way. Do not do it again or I will strike you." Dasnir said, as he rose off the smaller boy. He sat back down and looked back out the window.
Rae had a small tear running down his cheek. Though Dasnir had kept their bargain and had not hit him, it felt as if he had killed him instead, or at least severely wounded their new friendship.
"What the hell is wrong with you?! I just fed you and bought you clothes you shit-head. And I saved your life! You're a real asshole, you know! I thought we were going to be friends." The Prince did not respond, more like he could not even hear the heart-crushing protestations. And so receiving an unacceptably callous level of non-response, Rae leapt up and ran from the shed where he had sheltered the Prince, and angrily slammed the door.