Unbecoming Humans

Chapter 2

"Aria!"

Aria woke with a start as a meaty fist pounded on her bedroom door.

"Aria, get up!"

She groaned and rolled out of bed, her feet tangling in the covers and nearly dragging her to the floor. She recovered and stumbled to the door. Opening it, she was greeted by Nyan's square, shadowed jaw clenched dangerously at her eye level.

"What," she whined at him.

"Don't 'what' me. You mess with our Rotar computer again and I'll make your life hell."

"Too late." Aria rolled her eyes and started to shut the door.

"Don't-" he caught the door with a grunt, "you dare shut the door on me. You think you can strut around this place like no one else matters, but you're not better than the rest of us, far from it. If you're going to lead people some day, you're going to learn some respect."

"Like you have room to talk? Pounding at my door before the sun is even up. Get out of here with your self-righteousness. I'm going back to bed."

"Like hell you are. The Provo wants to speak with you before breakfast."

"All the more reason to go back to bed." She started to turn away again.

"Aria!"

She huffed.

"You can go yourself, or I can make you."

Aria turned to size up Nyan, weighing her odds against him. The Rotar were genetically altered, too. He was half a foot taller than she was, and probably weighed twice as much. It was too early in the morning.

"Fine. Can I get dressed first, at least?"

Nyan grunted. "You'd better be there."

Aria closed the door on him and changed out of her pajamas. She was barely cognizant as she traversed the halls of Eden's living quarters. When a hand reached out from one of the doors to grab her arm as she passed, she yipped.

"Yeesh. Calm down. It's just me." Corrin stepped fully into the doorway, holding her hands up in apology.

"Oh. Corrin. What is this, Rotar-gang-up-on-Aria day? Are you here to yell at me about something, too?"

"What? No. I'm here to bust you out. Come with me to the village?"

"I have to-"

"Get lectured by the Provo? Sounds thrilling. Okay then, have fun!" Corrin started to walk away.

"Haha. Very funny. I'm coming with you."

"See? Was that so hard?"

"She's going to kill me, or Nyan is going to kill me, or both. Both seems most likely."

"Forget to think about the consequences of your actions, did you?"

"What consequences? What could they possibly do to me that is worse than locking me away in this mind-numbing place and performing experimental genetic alteration on me."

"On us."

"What?"

"They've performed experiments on everyone in this building, not just on you, Aria. You're not alone. I don't understand why you insist on pushing everyone away."

"People suck," Aria stated matter-of-factly. "If I push everyone away, then why are you still here?"

"I just love your sunny disposition and your warm heart," Corinn sing-songed. 

Aria stayed silent.

"Okay, fine. You're right. I just need you to help me beat the Predoc at Hex."

"Uhuh. There it is."