X-COM: Friendship Unknown

It was snowing outside. It wasn’t snowing gently either. That much could be sure from the single small window over the “kitchen” sink. It was supposed to be daytime. Yet it was a dark gray, probably due to the blizzard outside.

The one room apartment wasn’t lit well, a pair of computer screens lit the room from a desk. At which sat a young man. Like most of the populace, he had a unique skin and hair combination. Purple skin, shaggy, long red hair. And he was hard at work, even in the middle of sudden winter weather keeping him home.

He wasn’t called Command Line for nothing. He was good at figuring out where the problems were in new games, and most indie companies asked him to give their games at least a few hours of his time. He was currently working on a new card-based game to see if there were any exploits. Nothing was immediately obvious, but he had yet to try every combination of abilities.

There was a shifting on the futon against the wall. It had yet to be shifted into a couch, thanks to the bed’s occupant. Underneath a pile of blankets was a mound of tan-scaled coils. A scaled hand slowly popped out of the blankets and tugged a form from them. A snake-like head, complete with a cobra-like hood, emerged from the pile and blinked a pair of emerald-green, slit-pupiled eyes slowly. A sleek feminine torso in a thick wooly grey sweater “stood up” on the futon.

Zossi blinked sleepily and looked over at Command. “Commander, is too cold.” She said with a slight lengthening of her s’s. “Can we afford small heater yet?”

“Let me just dip into debug mode and see if there’s anything they missed,” Command Line said, humming softly. “The adventures that are there work properly, now I just need to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. I have a few ideas about what breaks things...need to test them.” He shifted a little in his seat, to only take up one side of it. “You’re welcome to come over and steal some body heat,” he offered.

The Viper shifted, slowly uncoiling herself from the bed. There was a thump against the floor as her tail hit it. She slithered over somewhat slowly. “How can owner afford conditioner but not afford heating for cold times?” Zossi asked, slowly draping herself over Command’s back, her tail coiling around the base of the chair as she did. “Then again, is cheap apartment.”

There was a loud slam from down below. Moments later there was a knock at the front door. “Is everything okay?! I heard a thud!”

“Was me. Is unlocked. Come in.” Zossi called out sleepily.

The door opened and a girl’s head peeked in. Her hair was a deep green, and her face was a few shades lighter. Her cheeks bore a few dark green freckles. Her deep brown eyes squinted into the apartment. “You two always keep it so dark in here. Trying to save on rent or something? Anyway, that was you Zos?”

“Yes Wallflower.” Zossi, lazilly looked at the girl. “Can’t exactly step down from bed.”

“Right. Right. Sorry I worry so much. It’s just cold and reptiles don’t do well in the cold.” Wallflower Blush said with a nod.

“I know,” Command nodded, blue eyes glancing over to the woman at the door. “I plan to run out and get a heater for her in a bit,” he explained. “We weren’t expecting this snow for a few more days, so it’s an unpleasant surprise for us as well. And the reason we keep the lights off is, I’m a gamer, and she sees by heat anyways.”

“Is true, and scent.” Zossi nodded.

“That can’t be good for your eyes.” Wallflower deadpanned. “Good to know you’re doing okay. Zos, try not to go out in this if you can help it. Meanwhile, I am going to make sure Floor and the other girls are doing okay.”

“Thanks Wallflower.” Zossi yawned as the girl shut the door. “She seem high strung.”

“Well, she cares, even if the landlord doesn’t,” Command pointed out. “By the way, already planning on writing a strongly worded letter to the landlord, which will ‘magically’ leak out to the city and placement boards, about how cheap landlords are threatening Vipers by not offering heating during winter. I’ll probably have to include a receipt for a costly heater in the e-mail, but I think we can get rid of the jerk with this.”

“Do humans normally treat immigrants like this?” Zossi asked, wrapping her arms around his chest in a hug as she slowly nuzzled his cheek.

“Not normally, but the good ones in power act to prune the tree of the sickly branches when it’s pointed out to them,” Command replied. One of his hands reached up and pet the Viper’s head as he explained. “Plus, if we make an example out of him, the rest will fall into line very fast. The placement board’s got a lot of power, and I’m sure an investigation into where all the money he’s getting for housing you is going if not into seeing your needs are met will be very enlightening.”

“Wasn’t he paid more to house me? Wait… weren’t you?” She blinked, her nose wrinkling a bit. “Wait, that was spent on rent and food…”

“You would not believe how magically the rent seemed to increase the moment I got accepted to be your sponsor,” Command mused. “Fortunately, I’m paranoid and save receipts and transaction information like candy. Open and shut case.”

“Commander’s smart.” Zossi nodded, resting her head on his shoulder. “Now if snow would stop that would make the day better.”

“Aaaaand I think I found one combination that absolutely would break this game,” Command nodded. “And it’s actually doable in normal gameplay as well. Gonna write down the details in an email, shoot it at the devs, let them figure out why it works.” His fingers tapped away at his keyboard. “In the meanwhile,” he pulled up a browser with one hand on the other screen and began scrolling through Agency approved heaters for your Viper roommate. “Pick one of these and I’ll go pick it up from the store.”

“Is good broken like goat, or bad broken like Fallout?” She asked, squinting at the computer screens.

“Well it starts out good, but the thing is, it’s repeatable, an infinite loop, so it becomes bad,” Command explained. “So eventually you’d reach integer overflow and the game would crash.”

“Ah.” Zossi hummed. “This one, is small but last forever.” She tapped the screen with a finger.

“Ah, good, not too expensive for me, but enough to cause outrage when I put it with all the other evidence,” Command smiled. “In the meantime, I’ll go warm up a few heat sinks in the microwave and leave you my workout shirt for when I’m gone.” He looked down, then back up. “Once you let me,” he amended.

She grumbled but let him go and tugged herself away, almost begrudgingly uncoiling herself from around his legs too. She slithered over to the bed and flopped onto it. She started pawing at the blankets to start her new blanket nest.

A thrill ran up her spine suddenly, like lightning directly to her brain. Something had grabbed her tail and was teasing it. Turning, she saw Command toying with her tailtip with one hand while the other finished off his email.

“H-hey. Not fair.” She pouted. “You know the tip is sensitive.”

“Sorry love, can’t resist teasing you before I head out into the snow,” Command apologized. He rubbed the tip a few more times, before eventually letting her pull it out of his hand. “Okay,” he said, finally done with his email. He pulled a t-shirt off the back of a chair and tossed it towards the Viper, before standing up and heading to the closet. “Enjoy that while I prep myself for the harsh outside,” he told his roommate. “I’ll pop a few heat-absorbers into the microwave and toss them in before I go as well.”

She grabbed it and hugged it close. “Thank you Commander.” It still smelled like him from when he wore it working out earlier today. “You smell good.”

“So you say,” Command noted aloud. He pulled a thick looking jacket out of the closet and left the room, letting light in through the open door. He was gone for a few minutes, letting Zossi build her nest and put the shirt in a place where she’d be sure to smell it and him. By the time the male returned, the only bits visible of the Viper were her tail-tip.

“Got your heat-sinks,” he said aloud, dumping them on the nest. They weren’t anything fancy, just tube socks that had been filled with beans and other such hard, heat-absorbing objects, before being sewn back up. But they made for excellent snake warmers when a warm body wasn’t around, once they were microwaved for a minute or so. “I’ll be back in an hour, if you need these warmed up again, recruit Wallflower, I’m sure she’d be eager to help.”

“Mmm’kay.” Came the response as the heat-sinks got sucked into the blanket pile.

“See you in a bit,” Command patted at the pile, where he thought her head was, before heading out into the cold to obtain heating for Zossi.

“Is Zossi okay?” A pale tan girl with greasy black hair asked as she sat in her somewhat messy apartment. The girl sat in a beanbag chair as she wore a t shirt and boxer shorts. Her gray eyes blinked at Wallflower.

“She’s fine.” Wallflower nodded. She was kind of happy that the room wasn’t well lit, she knew how messy Floor could be. “How are you holding up, Floor?”

Floor Bored shrugged. “I’ve got my anime and my ramen, I’m perfectly fine.”

She didn’t look fine, but who was Wallflower to judge.

“Alrighty, so I was just checking to make sure you were okay, what with the blizzard.” Wallflower smiled and made for the door.

“What blizzard?” Floor blinked.

Wallflower sighed and left the girl.

“We’re all good. Everything’s fine.” Adagio virtually slammed her door in Wallflowers face.

“Okay then.” Wallflower blinked.

“Zossi, you doing okay?” Wallflower asked, peeking her head in.

“M’fine.” Came the sleepy voice from the pile on top of the futon.

“Okay, just making sure.” Wallflower replied. “You warm enough?”

“Hot socks ran out.” Came a response.

“Awww, want me to warm them up again?” Wallflower asked, stepping in and shutting the door behind her.

“Yes please.” Said the pile.

A pair of heat sinks slowly emerged from the pile and rolled to the bed, which Wallflower picked up and walked over to stick in the small microwave.

“It’ll be a minute.” Wallflower turned towards the pile.

A pair of green eyes now looked out of a small hole in the pile.

“Bluh!” Wallflower jumped. “Don’t do that!”

Zossi’s head popped out of the hole. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. You just surprised me.” Wallflower sighed as the microwave beeped. She retrieved the now very warm heat sinks and plopped them onto the bed. A hand emerged and sucked them back into the pile one by one.

Wallflower then sat next to the pile. “Want me to keep you company?”

Zossi’s head shifted and flopped onto Wallflower’s lap. Wallflower instinctively started petting her head like she was a dog. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

It was another half-hour before Command Line managed to show up again, and what announced his presence was the slamming of the apartment door as he barged his way in. There were several thumping noises as he bounced off of walls with the box he’d procured, but eventually he opened the door to his own room and managed to get the box down on the floor. He panted for a moment before standing up straight and looking at the bed.

Zossi was snoozing quite happily, her head in Wallflower’s lap. Wallflower, in turn, blinked sleepily as she sat up. “Sorry.” She yawned. “I got taken hostage.”

“Worse than a whole herd of cats, I tell you,” Command joked. “Hopefully, though, this’ll keep us safe during the bad winter weather.” He fiddled with the top of the box, eventually managing to get it open, and started to slide out a styrofoam-encased heater from the box.

There was a muffled thump noise as a manual that had to have taken up the bottom eighth of the box also slid out when he upturned it. The noise it made showed where all the weight had gone.

“Why’s that so big?” Wallflower blinked at the manual.

“Combination of trying to print it in as many languages as possible and include as many legal disclaimers as possible,” Command blithely answered. “‘Do not operate while your Viper is drunk,’ sort of thing. Oh, and also included are plenty of ‘not liable if you operate this and a Viper moves in’ sorts of disclaimers.” He found a free outlet near the bed, snaked the cord towards it, and plugged the space heater in. “Let’s go...medium to start with,” he mused, turning the dial halfway to maximum output.

“Probably a good idea, it is a small room, not counting the bathroom.” Wallflower nodded.

Zossi shifted and yawned. “Oh, hallo Commander.” She lifted her head. “Sorry Wallflower.”

“It’s fine.” Wallflower shrugged. “I’m used to things like that at this point.”

“Moreso than any of our neighbors are at least,” Command noted. “I notice they’ve tampered down their visits early in the morning.” Early morning Zossi was cuddly, especially after a cold night.

“Well Floor was worried, I think. I can never really tell.” Wallflower shrugged as Zossi sat up. The small heater had definitely started to live up to its name and was making the room much warmer. Clearly there was a reason it was Viper-approved.

“Oh, that’s nice…” Zossi sighed.

“Finally. Might have to get one of my own unless something happens to the landlord.” Wallflower giggled as she got up and headed for the door. “And I think I’ll leave you two alone for now, lemme know if you two need anything.”

“Will do,” Command Line noted, smiling at the girl until she left the room. Then he went over to his computer and began putting together the email to ruin their landlord. Several documents were opened, details were copied, rage flowed from his fingers through the keyboard. Eventually, the masterpiece was ready. Now the only things he had left to do were to send it to his landlord as an official complaint...then, without the scumbag noticing, send it also to the placement agency and the company in charge of the landlord. Maybe even the local newspaper. The only bad part of this would be the fact that Command wouldn’t be able to see the reactions personally.

“Zossi, love, want to come over and give my work a look before I send it?” Command asked out loud. “It is about you, after all.”

Zossi got up. This time she crawled out of bed instead of falling out of it. She righted herself, slithered over, and once again, draped herself over Command’s shoulders. “Mmmm…” She hummed looking it over. “Looks good to me.”

“Aaaand...sent,” Command smirked, pushing the button. And with that one press, at least half a dozen people would be seeing the situation his snake-friend had been put into. He gently turned the chair around so that he was facing the bed, letting Zossi drape herself over his front. “Hello love,” he whispered, hugging her close.

“Hallo human.” She booped his nose with her forked tongue.

“I got my work done and got you a heater,” Command mused. “What now?”

“Cuddles with Commander?” She tilted her head to the side.

“Sure, bed or couch?” the human asked.

“Couch.” Zossi stuck her tongue out. Supporting her upper body, Command let his snakefriend coil around him as he got up from the chair and made the bed look neater. Then he folded it back into the couch form it spent some time as and laid himself down on it.

All, without breaking contact with Zossi.

Zossi hummed happily, just hugging her human. She loved physical contact. Though that might’ve been more an aspect of her species.

“Cuddle-slut,” Command accused her, petting her hood with a hand.

“Shameless cuddle-slut.” She nodded into his shoulder.

“What would the rest of your species think if they knew you were so easily tamed by body heat and physical contact?” Command mused.

“Unsurprised.” She hummed in response.

“Heh,” Command chuckled. “What, did you all pick out humans based on which liked to cuddle most?”

“Fate or dumb luck. Either way, I’m happy that I’m with you.” She nuzzled his cheek.

“And I’m happy that you’re here too,” Command agreed, stroking along her coils with his hands. “So...did you want to do anything while we laid here, or are you more into the cuddling aspect of it? I could put a movie on…”

“Cuddles and a movie sounds great.” She nodded happily. “Netflix? Or some other service?”

“Nah, I’ve got most of the movies I want already saved to an online account,” Command replied. He reached for, found, and turned on the TV with a remote. “I just switch inputs like so...and bam.” A vast array of movie titles were laid before the pair as the human scrolled through the list. “Cheaper than keeping all that plastic lying around, for sure,” he quipped. “Pick something and I’ll probably have it.”

“Avatar. It’s so pretty.” Zossi said, grinning. With a push of a button, the old movie began playing on the screen.

“...Really puts it into perspective, all these ideas we had about aliens before we met you,” Command mused as they were introduced to the cast all over again.

“Who knows? There could be a planet like Pandora out there?” She mused, staring at the vibrant colors.

“Anything’s possible, I suppose,” Command agreed. “Once we work out FTL we’ll be able to go together.”

Zossi nuzzled his cheek and nestled her head into the crook of his neck.

“I can’t wait.”