Spaghetti Diplomacy

        “I’m back.” Bradley called out as he opened the door to his house. As he took of his shoes in the hallway, he saw that the living room was darkened. From what he saw, the curtains seemed to have been lowered.

“Amazing!” Zenyr screamed from the living room and Bradley walked over to see what the commotion was about.

“Bradley! What in the world’s name is this?” Zenyr seemed to have sensed his approached and called out and he took a look at the screen.

“Oh.” The movie she was watching was very familiar. It was based off a comic series, produced by a very famous studio.

“You like it?” He asked as he dropped his bag on the floor and walked to the kitchen.

“Well, the technological principles don’t make sense here and there. But the plot is quite interesting. I should take notes.” Zenyr started on it and tapped on her watch and started recording the movie.

Bradley poured himself a cup of water and hydrated his throat and said, “The movie is a legend but doesn’t your world have something on that level?”

“There’s a price to pay for everything. Despite our tech, entertainment in my world is limited. VR does increase the fun factor a little but its nothing like this.” Zenyr waved her hand at the movie.

Bradley did a spit take… or would have if he hadn’t finished his water. “You guys have fully developed virtual reality?” he repeated.

“Yeah. We often use it to run simulations in the lab and analyze certain content.” Zenyr said and had a thought.

‘I remember them saying something about gathering enough materials to conduct a simulation on this planet.’ Rather than saying, it was an order.

“I should probably get started on that.” She mumbled and looked up before shrinking back in surprise.

Bradley looked at her with sparkling eyes and brought his hands together. “You wouldn’t happen to have a VR headset on hand, would you?”

Zenyr’s extra appendages twitched and she understood what he wanted to do.

“I do… but it was partially destroyed.” The technology used to run the virtual reality program was kept in the pod. It was a bit bulky to carry, so she threw it in a corner.

“I see.” The light around Bradley visibly died and he stepped back disappointed.

“But I might be able to fix it.” She added and he brightened up immediately. “But before that, can we talk? About this morning.”

“I almost forgot.” Bradley remembered the important thing he had to do. The only problem was that he had no idea where to seat.

In the living room, there were a total of three chairs. The only thing was that they were arranged perpendicular to one another. The TV was opposite the largest chair which was the one in the center.

‘I’ll have to sit down on one of the adjacent chairs. The only problem is…’ The metal parts that had been disassembled were placed at the foot of the chairs. If he wanted to use them, he would have to shift them out of the way.

‘The next possible choice is the table.’ He glanced at the table and shook his head. It was made of glass so if anything happened, it’d be his head rolling.

‘Or not.’ He thought after recalling his family’s personality. Still, he didn’t want to give them material to use on New Year’s Day.

Zenyr looked at the changing expressions on Bradley’s face and realization dawned on her.

“Here.” She shifted to one end and patted the other side.

“Thank you.” With the choice made for him, he had no reason to hesitate and sat down.

“First, shall we set some ground rules? Like no dismantling stuff if you aren’t an evil god.”

“And no walking in towels only.”

“That was one time!”

“One time’s enough.”

“And no leaving the house without permission.”

“And no getting mad at me when I study stuff.”

“…”

“Okay, just the stuff I buy.”

“You’re not the one throwing it out so…”

“Then I will clean up my own mess. Deal?”

“Deal.”

“…That was fast.” Zenyr muttered and Bradley agreed. From their initial momentum, the both of them thought they were going to have a long conversation and talk for hours.

‘Well, we haven’t lived together long enough for us to find too many faults with each other.’ Bradley stood up and faced his housemate.

“School will be off the day after tomorrow so let’s talk properly then.” Bradley headed to the kitchen after that to make dinner.

….

“I have a question. No need to answer if it’s too rude.” Bradley watched Zenyr eat the spaghetti with such skill that he felt a bit embarrassed.

“Hmm?”

“Does food from Earth agree with you?”

“Erm… not all of us. Part of the reason I was selected was because of my strong immune system. I also had to go through a lot of tests.”

“Second question. You said you were an envoy, right? Why aren’t you doing… envoy stuff? Like seeing the world’s leaders or something.” Bradley was very nervous as he asked this question but it had been bugging him for a while.

Zenyr paused and looked at him with a smile. “I say envoy but the first part of my work is basically spy stuff. I need to ascertain you human’s true nature and report back. After that is when the true stuff starts. And I will have to eliminate anyone who stands in my way.”

Zenyr waved the fork like a weapon and Bradley tensed up a bit until he realized she was joking.

“My turn. Can I ask some questions?” Zenyr paused her eating and looked at him.

Bradley nodded and she popped her first one. “What exactly motivated you to listen to the ramblings of a random stranger who just happened to be from another planet?”

Bradley sank into his thougths as he himself did not have a clear answer to it. After thinking for a while, he raised his head and replied.

“Because I was curious.”

“Huh?”

“Maybe for you guys, meeting with people from other worlds may be common. But for us, the most we can ever brag we’ve gone is the moon. I was curious what life outside ours was like.” He finished in a single go and rehydrated.

“And add to the fact that you technically forced me and I was scared for my life to that.” Zenyr thought his reply would have been perfect if he hadn’t added this part.

“You shouldn’t have added the last part.” She decided to tell him.

Bradley laughed and probably for the first time, Zenyr detected a happiness so pure that the input from her feelers stunned her.

“Perhaps I shouldn’t have.” Bradley closed his lips and looked at the frozen Zenyr and asked curiously, “What happened?”

Like a spell was broken, Zenyr vibrated and shook her head before hanging it. “N-Nothing!” she spat out but since he couldn’t see her face, he wasn’t sure it wasn’t nothing. Still, he decided not to pry.

“Nice to meet you, roommate.” He said and Zenyr nodded her head and replied, “You too.”