Only Human

R&R

"To be honest I expected our first meal in another dimension to at least be a little more high class." Said Amity. "Well I'm sorry I couldn't find a whole lotta places that don't think people with body armor and blood on their clothes aren't suspicious but you gotta work with what you got. Besides I'm not exactly a human ATM." Replied Jacket. "Is no FN Falafel, but is good. I miss falafel." Said Nikolai. "Was that a place you went to in your dimension?" Asked Luz while tearing the cheese off her pizza slice. "Indeed" He replied. "Fredrick and Natasha's Falafel. I used to eat their with wife on special occasions. We'd save up money for weeks on end to eat there, and it was worth it every time." "Wow Nik, I never knew you had a wife back home." Said Dempsey. "We'll try and get this whole universe saving thing done asap." Said Emma. "She must be worried sick!" "Nyet, she is no longer with us unfortunately." Nikolai replied solemnly. "You know she was harboring a baby boy. He would've been around your age had the bombs not taken her." "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry." Emma said in an apologetic tone. An awkward silence quickly fell upon the room, with only the sounds of chewing and the light wind outside being audible. Not wanting this silence to last, Marcy asked the Master Chief a question. "Hey big guy, why aren't you eating?" "Spartans don't need to eat as much as normal humans." He replied. "Okay but aren't you hungry?" Marcy asked. "No" He replied. "Well, can you at least take off the helmet?" Asked Anne. "Seriously dude, it's kinda creepy you haven't taken that off yet." "I told you, I need it." The Chief Said. "So if my mom gave you a plate of piping hot chicken skewers fresh of the grill with some of the best fried rice the world has ever seen, you would say no because you need your helmet?" Anne asked. Chief thought about it for a moment. "Maybe" He said. "Okay, now that's just rude." Said Sasha. "Anne's mom is so sweet and caring and you turn down her food because of your stupid helmet?" "You do know I can hear you guys right?" Said Chief's AI. "Well not you, you're kinda cool." Said Sasha. "I didn't say that, it depends if we're safe or not." Said Master Chief. "Well personally I don't care if we're here or in the middle of nowhere, I'd rather eat this than the rations, gum balls, and weird sodas we've been having any day of the week." Dempsey said taking a bite out of his cheese pizza. "I can attest to that statement especially the rations." Said Richthofen. "Especially considering the rations don't always agree with Dempsey's stomach." "Shut up it was one time." Replied Dempsey with food in his mouth. "Anything is better than those putrid drinks." Said Takeo. "Although the blue one is not that bad." "Honestly I'm still getting used to the concept their's food you're supposed to eat with your hand." Said Ray. "I know right?" Replied Norman. "This is the type of thing that would be considered a hazard back at the orphanage." "Yeah" Said Emma. "Back at the orphanage." She said grimly. "Hey don't worry." Said Norman. "We'll find a way back to them." "Plus we got more people on our side now." Assured Ray. "Actually I haven't thought about it until now, but I just realized." Said Emma. "What happens when this is all over?" "Well, once this whole ordeal is over with we go home and move in with our lives." Said Richthofen. "You guys can but what about us? Unless we want to be sold as food, we can't go back." Emma said. "What do you mean sold as food?" Asked Luz. "Is it dangerous back home for you?" "You bet it is." Said Ray. "We stay there it's only a matter of time before we're shipped out and turned into meals. It's why we're alive in the first place." "We won't let that happen." Chief said assuringly. "We still don't have anywhere to go after we save our friends though." Said Norman. "I'll tell you what, I'm not in the mood to discuss living situations right now, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there." Said Jacket. "We're gonna make sure that you guys find a place to stay after all this is over." Said Amity. "I will promise you all this, either we all go home together, or not at all." Said Richthofen. "You know it's funny." Said Anne. "What is?" Asked the doctor. "I've already been home for a little bit, but somehow I miss it more than ever. I remember on like my fourth or fifth night in Amphibia, I was crying my eyes out because I missed everything. My friends, my family, my cat domino. I didn't think I could miss home more than I did then but here I am. Maybe it's because I got a glimpse of what it was like and then I immediately had to leave again." "I feel you kid." Said Dempsey. "All I've wanted to do this whole time is go home, but at this point I'm not even sure what home is anymore. Just that it's not here." "What about you Chief, what's your home?" Asked Dempsey. "A planet called Reach, but it's been so long since I've seen it, I don't remember much about it." Master Chief said. "To be honest I'm not sure if I even want to go home." Chimed Amity. " I mean even though my siblings can be annoying I still love them, and my dad works hard for us." "So why would you not wanna go back?" Asked Norman. "It's my mom." She said. "I've always felt like she wanted me to be something I'm not, and I've always felt guilty that I was me instead. She wanted to me to be all proper and the best, but I felt like I couldn't meet those standards. I think I love her but I'm not sure. Matter of fact it was kinda Luz that made me come to this realization." "Well thanks Amity." Luz said. "But to be honest, I'm kinda scared of going home." "Why's that?" Asked Nikolai. "Well the whole reason I'm here is because I ran away. My mom wanted me to go to a summer camp to get me to calm down I guess. Don't get me wrong I'm glad I made the connections I did in the isles, but I never wanted to make my mom worry! On one hand I'm not sure how I could adjust to life on my earth after living with Eda and king. But on the other hand, I don't want my mom to think that I hate her and this is all her fault. Right now, if I got the chance to say just one thing to her, it would be that it's not her fault, it's on me." The entire table was silent, taking in the information just given to them. "I-I'm sorry, I said too much." She said while wiping tears from her face. "Hey don't worry about, we're all going through something right now, matter of fact I kinda relate to the last thing you said." Marcy said. "It is unwise to bottle up your true feelings. Speaking your mind is good for the soul. You are very brave for being this vulnerable." Said Takeo. "He's right." Said the Chief. "We're a team, whatever comes our way, big or small, we face it together." "Wow thanks guys, that actually means a lot to me. Maybe saving the multiverse won't be so bad after all!" "Yeah I think we're doing pretty alright. Especially when you consider what went down in the sewer." Said Sasha. "I'll admit you are skilled, but your technique leaves quite a bit to be desired." Said Takeo. "What's wrong with duel-wielding?" Asked Sasha. "It is a fierce and aggressive style of fighting, but ultimately reckless, and leaves the user open to alternate forms of attack." He replied. "Well this reckless fighting saved an entire continent, and won me a fight with a robotic overlord." Sasha said arrogantly. "Perhaps, but you still a child, you still have much to learn. I can teach you ways to improve your skills if you like." Said Takeo. "Maybe I will, but your training doesn't take away from the fact I killed the most zombies in the sewer!" Sasha snapped. "Well actually, I belive it is I that racked up the most kills, after all I'm very proficient with smgs." Said Richthofen. "Oh please, I was blasting entire hordes away!" Said Nikolai. "It's not just about quantity, I killed a bunch of meat sacks in some amount of time. Beat that!" Said Dempsey. "Hey let's not forget I got us out of there with the grenade it I threw. I cleared us a path!" Anne chimed. "I wasn't too bad with my crossbow either!" Said Marcy. "I didn't do too bad with my first time using a gun." Said Norman. "I still got more than you." Ray said Snarkily. "No dude I got more than you." Said Norman. "No I did." Said Ray. "No I did!" Shouted Ray. Eventually, almost the entire table devolved into a screaming match about who killed the most zombies and who fought the best. Emma didn't feel right arguing about kill statistics so she looked around the room and noticed something, Jacket was not in his seat. She quickly got out of her chair and went to look for him, leaving the rest of the table to argue about their numbers. Eventually she went out the front door and saw him sitting on the porch with a cigarette in one hand, and a lighter in the other. He put the cigarette in his mouth and bought the lighter to it. He took it out as he exhaled a cloud of smoke. "What are you doing out here?" Asked Emma sitting down beside him. "Just taking a smoke break, got too loud for me in there." He replied. Jacket had his hand with the lit cigarette by Emma, and she mistook this for him giving it to her. She took it from his hand and was about to repeat what he has just did, when he realized his mistake and quickly took it from her. "Oh no no no no no don't do that, it's bad for you." "Then why do you do it?" Emma asked confusingly. "Because it makes me feel good." Jacket said. "Calms the nerves." "But why would people do something for them that's bad just because it makes them feel good?" Emma asked still confused. "To be honest, I don't know." Said Jacket. "That's the weird thing isn't it? People do things that absolutely mess them up in the long run, just they can feel good for a minute or two." "But aren't you one of those people too?" Said Emma. "Maybe I am, but if there's one thing you can learn from me it's this: do as I say not as I do. Don't smoke, don't do drugs, and if you're gonna do something make sure it'll be good for you in the future too. As long as you do that you'll be fine." He said stomping out his cigarette alongside two other piles of ash. He gave Emma a pat and rubbed the top of her head a little bit, disorienting her hair before going back inside. His timing was perfect, as the table had just got done with their argument and their meal. "Well good talk everyone, why don't we all get settled in to our rooms shall we?" Everyone agreed and they got into settling into two rooms. One for the girls and one for the boys. After a while, Richthofen along with the Master Chief and Dempsey were prepared to give them a rundown of would come next. "Alright everybody, gather into the main room, so we can formulate our next move." He got no response. "Hello?" He asked again. They decided to check their separate rooms to see what was going on. When they opened the doors, they saw all the kids fast asleep on their makeshift beds, Nikolai, Takeo, and Jacket had even feel asleep in the boys room alongside Norman and Ray. "Oh this is just ridiculous!" Said Richthofen. "There is so much to do, so much to plan, we can't be sleeping on the job!" "I don't know Doc, these kids have been awake since last night, I say let them rest. Looks like some of the grown ups are a bit tired too." Dempsey said chuckling to himself. "He's right you know." Said Chief's AI. Sleep is a crucial part of human life, matter of fact I suggest you get some too." "We do not need sleep, there will be time for rest when we... Dempsey what the hell are you doing?" Asked Richthofen. "Robots orders, I'm hitting the hay." He said lying down. Richthofen stammered and tried to figure out what to do next, everyone was asleep. "Fine, I'll guess I'll take a quick nap too, but I'm not sharing a room!" He said to Chief's AI. "We got it from here, you get some rest." Said the Chief. Richthofen mumbled to himself and angrily lied down in the couch, where his quick nap would last about twelve hours.