Jaxon

Mine

     It had been about an hour since Hace left and Jap was sitting on the couch looking over the paperwork for the new product his company was going to start selling soon. Jap was one of their best salesmen, and he prided himself on that. He was very extroverted and even if he wasn't as smart as his brother, he was able to retain enough information to be dangerous.

     He took a long sip of hot koofee when he heard what sounded like someone whispering. He set down his cup and looked around. Twitch had fallen asleep on the couch next to him and he didn't have the tv on. Where was the sound coming from? He set down the papers and listened. It was soft crying now?

     "HACE!" The voice cried out.

     "Ardent!" He suddenly remembered.

     Jap jumped to his feet and scared Twitch awake. He gave a quick apology as he ran into the bedroom. Ardent was wide awake and looked terrified. His eyes were puffy, and he was trembling. As soon as he saw Jap his arms shot up towards him.

     "Jap! Up! Thirsty." He said between tears.

     Jap picked him up and carried him into the kitchen. He got a sippy cup out of the bag of stuff Hace left and fixed him a drink of water with electrolytes the way Hace had shown him. Jaxon practically ripped the cup out of his hand and started gulping it down.

     The giant alien had jumped up so quickly that it shook the couch and woke Ryan from a troubled sleep. He was having another nightmare. Who was he kidding, his life was a nightmare. Some parts worse than others.

     Jap had run towards where Jaxon was sleeping. Ryan heard crying and hoped that everything was ok. He kinda liked Jaxon. He was the only human who had ever been nice to him. He felt bad for Jaxon's situation. He couldn't imagine relying completely on these aliens to take care of him. It was bad enough they were forcing him to drink from a bottle, but if they had to carry him around too? Ryan would die from the stress.

     Jap came back into the room with Jaxon and went into the kitchen. After going through a bag and getting a strange looking cup out, he filled it with water and mixed in some kind of powder. Ryan wondered what the red stuff was, but it must be safe if Jaxon started to drink it.

     "Jaxon?" Ryan slowly got off the couch and walked up to them. He stayed just far enough away that Jap couldn't reach down and pet him. He didn't like being touched, but he also wasn't sure what Jap would do if he didn't allow him to pet him. He was in constant fear of what they could do to him.

     "Jaxon... are you ok?" He asked with a quiet voice.

     Jaxon took another gulp of water and looked down at Ryan with a small smile.

     "I'm ok. I was just really thirsty. I think the medication dries me out." Ryan could hear in his voice that Jaxon was trying to be brave.

     "Why were you crying?" Ryan went right to the point.

     "I just..." Jaxon looked away for a moment and tightened his grip around his cup. "I had a bad dream... or a bad memory. I'm not really sure which."

     Jap had set up Jaxon's pillow on the couch next to where he had a few piles of papers. He set him in it and pet the top of his head before sitting down next to him. Jap picked up the papers and seemed to be carefully reading them.

     Ryan had followed them to the couch too. He stayed down on the floor and sat down looking up at Jap. He seemed to be studying him.

     "How are you doing?" Jaxon asked.

     Ryan turned his attention to Jaxon. His eyes didn't look as empty as they had a few days ago. His skin wasn't as deathly pale either.

     "I'm ok. Just trying to... to understand everything." He looked back at Jap.

     Jaxon was a bit confused. Why is he watching Jap like that? He just... sat there. Not moving. The things they bought him sat untouched in a pile. Even Jaxon had looked at a few items when Hace gave him toys. The plushies were sitting untouched as well.

     "Mine's a fox." Jaxon was trying to get Ryan's attention. Ryan seemed scared and needed a distraction. "Which one do you like?"

     Ryan looked at Jaxon again and gave a confused look. Jaxon pointed at the two plushies on the top of the toy pile. Ryan looked at the pile and acted like it was the first time he'd seen it. His eyes started to grow as he slowly got up and walked over to it.

     Jap looked up for a moment and watched Ryan make his way to the pile. He set down his papers and had a slight smile come across his face. Ryan went to reach for the brown bear on the top, when he saw Jap looking at him. He quickly pulled his hands back and returned to his spot on the floor by the couch. Jap sighed and leaned down to pet the top of his head. Ryan flinched, but he let Jap pet him.

     "You don't have to let them pet you if you don't like it." Jaxon said when he saw how much pain Ryan was in trying not to run away.

     "W-what do you mean?" Ryan was shaking a little. He had tears attacking the sides of his eyes.

     Ryan didn't want to get punished for doing something he wasn't supposed to do. He had no idea how to act around these aliens. He didn't know what he was allowed to touch, he didn't know what they expected of him. He couldn't understand them, so there was no way they could give him rules like his last house had done.

     "I see how badly you flinch and tense up under his touch." Jaxon said with a sad voice. "You don't have to stand there and take it. Just walk away."

     "But... but... I thought you said we're their pets. Won't they get mad if we do something wrong?" Ryan was slightly confused. One owner was just like another weren't they?

     "My friend Ash yells at his alien. You could probably get away with murder and they would just think it was cute. They buy you all kinds of stuff so your life can be easier." Jaxon knew that this was what Ryan needed to hear. He obviously had had a hard life. Even if Jaxon didn't believe in his own words, he wanted to try and help this guy. That was what they were going to end up doing when they got to Earth Beta, help the people there. So how was this any different? Like he'd thought before, just a slight change in the mission... but with the same goal in mind.

     "Those... those things are for me?" Ryan looked back at the pile. "I... I... can touch them?"

     "I don't think there's much in here that they won't let you touch. Want to see mine?" Jaxon added with a smirk. Somehow, he felt better talking to Ryan about this stuff then he had talking to Ash.

     "S-sure." Ryan stuttered out.