Avrashi

Chapter 2: A Chance Meeting

In front of me, on the ground, sat a creature, unlike any I had ever seen before. It had no skin, instead having light green scales covering most of its body, except for its belly, where its scales were more cream-colored. It had slits for a nose, no ears, at least, not human ones. Its eyes were green, and had vertical pupils, like a snake’s. It didn’t have any hair either, instead having a rainbow variety of feathers. There were some on its shoulders and arms, more on its head, straight out like hair. And there were also many in a ring around its neck, kind of like a jester’s neck frills. I stood perfectly still, frozen in shock, my eyes bugged out. Whatever it was, it didn’t seem to have noticed me yet. Uncertain what to do, and still quite surprised at this discovery, I just sort of, started tiptoeing backward, trying to escape the situation. Suddenly, the creature began shaking, and let out a loud noise, like someone laughing as they hacked up their guts, the same I’d heard coming into the alleyway. It lowered its head into its clawed hands and continued making the loud noise. I paused my retreat, that noise, the gestures, it was almost like. . .crying? A thought passed through my head: Wait, is this. . .one of the aliens? I mean, we figured out they were reptilian, so this thing would certainly fit the bill. Suddenly, the creature let out a loud snarl, and bared its teeth- it appeared to have noticed me -I jumped in shock, as the creature scooted itself into a corner, and glared at me. I paused for a moment, then turned to look at the creature.
“You’re one of them aren’t you? The Kishreshi?” I said.
The thing continued glaring but slowly nodded in reply.
I gasped, it was one of them. I. . .I guess I get to meet one after all. I took a deep breath and looked at the thing, raising a foot, as if to step forwards.
“Do you mind if I come a little closer?”
The creature did not respond, simply continuing to glare. I frowned, and let out a deep sigh, before plodding forward. As I came near the creature, it seemed to freeze up for a moment; before suddenly jumping up, and letting out a warning snarl, its feathers suddenly standing on end. I held my hand up, hoping it would understand the gesture.
“I don’t mean any harm, I-I just wanted to get a closer look at you. Okay?”
The creature seemed to get it, for it soon relaxed its posture, and sat back down. Carefully, I sat down next to it and shifted to face the thing.
“C-can you speak English?” I asked.
The creature hesitated for a moment, before replying, “Yes.” Its voice was husky, sort of like how snakes talked in stories, though it did not linger on the s’s.
I waited for it to continue. It did not. After a moment, the creature scooted to the side, away from me, before putting its head down, and resuming the odd noise. I looked over at it, its face contorting in its hands.
“Are you. . .ok?” I asked, hesitant.
The creature glared at me, giving me an unreadable look, “It was loud and scary, too many people, I didn’t want to be there. So I ran away.”
I looked down at the floor, uncertain what to say. It- no, they -they were just like me, scared of the crowds, couldn’t take the noise, so ran away, and hid in this alleyway. Something about how I looked at the little alien changed then. Before that, they had just seemed an odd creature- one who could speak, yes -but no different than any other animal in my eyes. But now, now that I saw them vulnerable, crying- though not in the human way -I saw as a person, as an equal. I looked up at the alien.
“Well- if it makes you feel any better, I went there too, and I felt the same way.”
They looked into my eyes again, and after a moment, their gaze. I felt, somehow, that they had just come to the same realization that I had. That I was not an animal, but an equal, a person, just like them.
“. . .A little bit.”
A soft smile grew on my face, not one of my happiness, but the sort of smile you’d give someone at a funeral, to show that you understood their pain. Then again, I doubted that they understood what it meant. Slowly I held out a hand, offering it to the alien. They cocked their head, and looked at my hand, in a gesture that should indicate confusion from any lifeform.
“I don’t know about your people, but when we humans are feeling down, it helps for us to be close with others. Do you want to try that?”
They hesitated a moment, before giving a slow nod, and grabbing my offered hand. I pulled them close to me and wrapped my arm around their back. After a moment, they did the same. We both sat there for a moment, in silence, just taking a second to forget about the world, and loud crowds, and yelling reporters, and all of the things we didn’t like. I took a deep breath, and let it out slowly,
“Well, erm, we should probably introduce ourselves,” I said.
The alien nodded. “Yes, we should. What’s your name?”
I smiled, “Erm, I’m Will. . .I’m a boy.”
The alien nodded sharply. “Good to meet you, Will. My name is Esseshi, I too am a male, beta, to be specific.”
I frowned, beta? I gave a mental shrug, I just wanted to relax right now. But I would have to be sure to ask what that meant later.

Esseshi shifted,
“. . .You’re. . .warm,” he said.
“I. .erm. . .I am?”
He nodded, “I-I’m a little cold, do you mind if I get a little closer?”
I pursed my lips. “Err, I mean, if you, uhh, want to?”
He nodded. “Thank you, Will.”
He scooted to the side until our shoulders were touching, before putting one arm under my left shoulder, and the other around my waist, like he was hugging me. He laid his head on my shoulder, and let out a soft growling noise, almost like a cat’s purr. I blushed a little. Well. . .this is rather intimate for a couple of strangers.

Esseshi was cold, surprisingly so, almost like a corpse. I supposed his people must be cold-blooded, which wouldn’t be surprising, they were reptilians. I placed my hand on his shoulder, he seemed to tense up a little, I jerked my hand back.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Esseshi snarled, but it wasn’t really aggressive, in fact, based on the context, it seemed like a laugh.
“Well, Will, you didn’t know this, so I don’t blame you, but, among my people, you’re not supposed to touch someone’s feathers. At least, not if you’re strangers.”
I grinned. “Well, among my people, this isn’t really the kind of thing two strangers should be doing.”
I gave a little chuckle, “Oh, my bad.” I looked around, suddenly remembering where we were. “I think we should probably get out of this alleyway though.”
Esseshi looked around, as if just now realizing we were in a dirty alley right next to a smelly dumpster. He jumped up,
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
He pulled me up next to him, and held my hand, as we walked out of the little alleyway.

As we walked, I glanced over at Esseshi,
“Are you feeling better now?” I asked.
He glanced back at me and made a happy growl, the kind that sounded almost like a purr. “Yeah, a lot.”
I smiled, “I’m glad I could help.”
Esseshi nodded, and glanced over in the direction of central park, where the others of his kind were waiting. “I should probably head back.”
However, as Esseshi said this, I noticed a shift in his posture. He tensed up, and the ring of feathers around his neck seemed to rise just a bit. His eyes turned down a bit, and he made a small, almost inaudible snarl, but it was soft and muted, like the whimper of a dog. For a moment, I thought it was because he was scared of going back there. However, when I looked into his eyes, and he looked back at me, almost as if pleading for something, I realized something. Yes, he didn’t want to go back into the cacophony of those crowds again. But more than that, he didn’t want to say goodbye to me. I smiled gently, because, if I was honest, I felt the same way. We’d both found a person, someone who understood us, who had helped us feel better when we were down. And neither of us wanted to just leave them behind.

I squeezed Esseshi’s hand.
“Esseshi? You know you don’t have to go yet? Not if you don’t want to.” I gave him a look, that I hoped he understood to be sincere. “Your people don’t need you back right  now. Do they? We could head back to where I live for a while. I mean, it’d be pretty hard to explain to Ms. Adams who, and even what you are. But I’m sure we could do it if you want to?”
Esseshi tapped his foot, his claws making a clicking sound,
“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to be an inconvenience.”
I smiled, “You wouldn’t be, not at all.”
Suddenly, all of the tension seemed to melt away from him, his eyes flicking up again. Esseshi let go of my hand, turning to face me.  He looked into my eyes, and something odd happened then. He smiled back, like a human, it was kind of creepy, with his pointed teeth. But something about how he was trying to express himself in a way I could understand felt. . .rather nice.
“I-I would like that Will. . .I really would.”