The Starseed Experiment

Chapter Three

Julia walked down a street in downtown Portland, on her way to her band's studio. She was a twenty-five year old slender, black clad woman. Her band mates, being all men, reveled in having a strong, attractive woman in their midst, enjoying their inside joke that she was akin to Vampirella, an alien vampire. She didn't mind the nickname, having always been drawn to vampires and the dark side aspects of pyromania and Egyptian gods and goddesses. It wasn't a far-fetched nickname either, considering she had an ethereal and vampiric luminescence about her. She had no recollection of being Querra, so she never once thought she might be of alien decent, but she always felt different in some way.

She was hurrying along quickly, yet not too fast, when she suddenly heard a voice calling out to her.

"Hey pretty lady. Would you like a bracelet?"

The voice was flirtatious yet pleasant, a hint of mirth within the tone, and she stopped in her tracks, looking around her. Spinning around, she saw him, a clearly homeless man sitting on the street corner, dressed in colorful robes, a turban upon his head and a makeshift staff beside him. Where she saw some strange man, he saw a woman in her prime.

"Sorry, excuse me?" she asked, smiling, although she wasn't exactly sure why. Perhaps to be polite, but something about the man was attractive, alluring. And that's when his charm showed through in a returned smile.

"Would you like a bracelet?" He held up a leather braided bracelet, "I sell them here on this corner every day, but you can have it for free -if you agree to take me to a movie tonight." He grinned and there was a bit of mischievousness in his eyes.

She looked at him incredulously, finding it a bit forward and strange that a clearly homeless man would ask such a thing of her. She didn't know what came over her, a strange sense of giddiness from the abundant charisma the man had, and she found herself grinning back with a bashful chuckle, "Alright, yeah. I'll come back around 5? If you'll be here."

He nodded, "I'll be here, beautiful. May I ask your name?" He reached up and took her hand, tying the bracelet onto her wrist.

She bent over a bit to make it easier, "Julia. What's yours?"

"Asthan." He looked up after tying the bracelet, smiling. "There you go." He then had the nerve to kiss her hand.

She blushed. It was odd, but he was surprisingly handsome, and not as dirty as one might expect. She couldn't believe she agreed to see a movie with him but he seemed nice enough, despite how risky it was. He could rob her, or worse. But somehow, for some reason, she trusted him already. She looked at her new bracelet and smiled, "Thank you. It's beautiful. You braid them yourself?"

"I do."

It was then that she took her leave, feeling nervous about the plan she made with him. It didn't take long for her to get to her destination, the recording studio that she rented with her bandmates. On that particular day they were rehearsing a cover of a song very dear to her heart. It took only about an hour so she decided to go straight back to the mysterious man on the street corner. He was right there waiting for her and his expression brightened when he saw her. He'd been waiting anxiously and excitedly for her return, finding himself lucky that such a gorgeous woman agreed to spend time with him. He'd never been much of a flirt, but he did enjoy taking people by surprise with his charisma, something he'd always had at full capacity. He stood and picked up his things, smiling big.

"Look at you," he said, looking her up and down, taking in her boots, her tight pants, the long, grungy shirt, her long black hair, "It's good to see you back. Part of me thought you might not show," he admitted.

She smiled back, stopping before him, "Well, I always do what I say I will. You're seeing a movie, no turning back." It was cheeky, as she chose to flirt in her own way. They stood in silence for a moment as she looked at him with his backpack and his staff, trying not to smirk at how strange he looked, passing it off as bashful. "So..." she started, "Clearly I don't have a car, do you mind walking?"

He chuckled, "That's all I do."

She put an embarrassed hand to her forehead, chuckling a bit herself, "Right." She looked across the street and gestured toward the crosswalk, "This way? I think there's a theater on 5th."

He nodded, "Lead the way, beautiful."

They crossed the street and started up a bit of conversation, Asthan asking what she was up to earlier. She responded by telling him about her band Street Talk and how they were getting ready to play at Star Theater. He was impressed, saying he'd like to see them play, then she asked the question, what kind of name was 'Asthan'?

"God gave it to me," he said flat out and it shocked her for a split second, how straightforward and odd it was. Julia didn't believe in god, having revolted from the concept after growing up with heavily religious parents, but she kept her mouth shut, not wanting to offend him, though it did make her uncomfortable. It was clear that he saw himself as someone biblical now that she thought about it, with his staff and the robes and garments he wore, his long beard. But somehow it didn't turn her off like she would have thought before meeting him. She wondered why he thought god himself had given him that name, and she wondered if that was even his real name. But it didn't matter at the moment.

She took out a cigarette then and lit it, feeling nervous and taking a long drag; without warning Asthan ripped it from her mouth and threw it on the ground. "Those will kill you, don't smoke anymore" he said sternly. She couldn't believe he just did that, it had been so rude and it immediately made her angry. To think someone had the gall to do that. She crossed her arms and continued on her way, looking at the ground, upset. They walked in silence until they reached the theater, and like a gentleman Asthan held the door open for her. She passed through, trying to stay a good distance from him, feeling uncertain now, but she honestly didn't want the evening to go sour.

They saw the only movie that was playing, an indie that neither of them had heard about. Knowing nothing about it made it special and exciting, especially for Asthan who hadn't seen a movie in what he could only think was a year, as he couldn't keep track of how long he'd been homeless. The movie opened with a couple meeting on a street corner and it shocked both of them.

Asthan leaned into Julia, "This is so weird," he whispered, sounding just as surprised as she was. All she did was nod with an astonished expression.

"Duality," Asthan whispered. And that's when she learned about synchronicity, a phenomena where situations line up in a day; something happens, or you hear about something you haven't heard of in a long time, and it comes up again later that day. Asthan explained it all to her right then, saying their meeting must have been meant to be. And unknown to either of them, it was, as Asthan was Asthirko and their being together was preordained. It was the reason Julia felt such a strong pull toward him, despite him not being someone she would normally go for.

She allowed him to go to her place after the movie was over where things got heated, and a year later a baby was born.