"You shouldn't have to!" I burst out. "Stand up for yourselves. Fight back."
Jimin grinned a little, but there was no humor in his eyes. "If we fought back, we'd get arrested in a heartbeat."
"What—" I shook my head. "That's so unfair."
"The world's not fair, partner." Jimin stretched a little. "Are you sure you want to stay with a... creature like me?"
I glared at him. "Don't call yourself a 'creature'. You're a being just like us, living, breathing, and feeling. And yes, I'm sure I want to stay with you."
A genuine grin was now tugging across his lips. "Even if I bring in more cockroaches?"
I gazed at him levelly. "I have superglue."
He threw back his head and laughed. Bubbly and sweet. I found myself smiling a little at the sound. It was kind of nice to see him so light-hearted even after ugly words having just been thrown at him.
His laughter was cut off as he abruptly morphed into the familiar silver parrot-looking bird and back into human once again.
"Why do you do that?" I asked.
"Hm? You mean this?" He morphed once more into a bird and dove straight at me.
I yelped and my oil covered feet slipped out from under me. I fell splat onto the ground.
The bird landed in front of me and turned back into Jimin. He leaned over me, smirking.
"Yes," I said flatly, gazing up at him. "I mean that."
"Earth's gravity pull is slightly stronger here than what our bodies are made for. The morphing helps ease the stress that builds up on our bodies from the heavier gravity."
I'd never learned that Outworlder information in school.
"The chemical reactions involved in our shapeshifting helps relieve the stress," continued Jimin. "The average Outworlder morphs up to eight times a day. However, for Exclusive classifications like myself, we tend to feel the strain of Earth's gravity pull more than others and might morph at least twenty times a day to ease our tension."
My eyes widened. I recalled the confusion I'd felt at the 'Classification: Exclusive' on his official papers. "What does it mean if you're classified as 'exclusive'?"
Mild surprise flickered across Jimin's face. "You don't know what that means?"
I shook my head.
"Interesting," he murmured. He straightened up and began carefully walking away, slipping a couple times nevertheless. "Well. I suppose that's for me to know and for you to find out. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going up to shower in the now cockroach free bathroom."
"Wait!"
Jimin paused and glanced over his shoulder.
I felt faintly irritated at his sudden elusiveness to what his classification meant. Nevertheless I was curious, "What happens if you don't morph? If you just let Earth's gravity pull build in your bodies?"
He pursed his lips. "Simple. The stress becomes too hard on our hearts. We die."
