INGUS:

Rodhan pounces majestically through the air, arms and legs spread out, the moment almost happening in slow motion. He bears his ferocious fangs and his eyes tell the complete story. They're bloodshot, out to eliminate swiftly and take me out in a matter of moments. His claws extend from his front two paws, sharp and evil, like daggers. He lands on my face. He digs his claws deep into the sides of my head. I stand up from the couch and I try to pull him off of me, but it’s to no avail. He meows and hisses as I flail around. He takes me to the ground. “Ms!” I yell. I shake my head rapidly left and right and his meows only get louder the more violently I shake. “MS!”

MS.2000: 

I hurry out of the bedroom and I see Ingus rolling around intensely like he caught fire. “Rodhan!” Rodhan runs away as I get closer, only returning to me to rub himself in between my legs as he purrs. “Go to your room, you’re grounded!” I yell. Ingus lays flat on the ground, his face mushed. “I am so sorry! He’s never had a stranger here before.”

INGUS:

I lean on her bathroom sink. Ms.2000 runs in from the kitchen with some kind of spray. She bends over into the cabinets below me and pulls out cotton balls, and some bandages. She sprays the cotton ball with the chemical. “Here, put this on both sides.” I put the cotton ball on one side of my face. A sharp sting makes me twinge. “It’ll only sting for a second. It’ll clean it out so you won’t get cat scratch fever.” “What?” “You know, the infection.” “INFECTION?” She laughs. “You’ll be fine, I promise.” 

The pain goes away just as quickly as it arrived. She sprays another cotton ball and puts it on the other gaping wound. I look up at her face. Although her black mask is covering the majority of her face still, the light delicately places itself gently upon her, illuminating it softly. I stare into her brown eyes, and I’m lost in their splendor. I’m taken to a world where pain is inconsequential, and I forget that suffering is even something someone can feel.

She stares back into mine but quickly looks away and begins to open the bandages. The room is silent again, her not speaking, neither am I. This time though a weird sensation tickles my heart. A flutter dances in my stomach. Oh how I wish to see what’s under that mask. She pulls the plastic off of the bandages and places them on my wounds one by one. She asks me to come into the living room once more so she can make it up to me.

I sit on the couch and Rodhan stares at me in the shadows. Everytime I turn my head around to face the hallway, I’m met with his psychotic gaze. Ms.2000 opens the fridge and I hear glass jingle as she does so. “So, are you an egg kind of man, Ingus?” “I’ve never had eggs before, Ms,” I say. She turns aruond and looks at me from the kitchen. I can see her over the counter. “That’s a lie, there’s no way.” “No I really haven’t, I don’t eat too much.” She claps with a sense of glee. “I’m about to put you on.” 

In no time we both sit on the couch with two plates and scrambled eggs on each one. “I make them special,” she says. She scootches closer to me, then points at the cheese on top. “The key is to eat them with cheese; the more the better.” She takes a bite of hers. I pick up my fork and decide to take a bite.

MS.2000:

He takes a bite through his hesitancy. He chews curiously and swallows as if he were trying to swallow a rock made of the world's toughest sandpaper. He slowly turns to me, his eyes watering. “It's good.” “Ingus, you don't have to lie, I don't care if you don't like it.” His voice becomes squeaky. “Nope, it's good.” I've never been one to get offended if someone doesn't like my cooking. I playfully tease him. “Well, what kind of foods do you like then?” He looks at me, then looks around as if he were telling a secret even the government doesn't know. “Honestly?” He gets excited. “The best food ever is a can of peanuts but filled up with soda. You stir them around and then eat it like cereal.” Eugh. I laugh, “That sounds disgusting.”

INGUS:

“Well, champ I guess we just don't like the same foods.” She picks up the remote and turns on the TV. It flickers to life and a show selling furniture plays to us. “TV’s different here, huh?” She asks. I stare at the screen. She flips through a variety of channels, the images flashing, each telling a mini story. News, movies, shows about selling art, shows about ballroom dancing, shows about rich families, cartoons, etc. She visibly sees my excitement for the media unlike anything I've seen. “They're still playing all of that violent stuff? I remember when Headhunter 78 came out,” she says. “My roommate Frank just watched Headhunter 9000 the other day. I'm not a fan of that kind of stuff. I can't believe you guys have TV like this out here.”

“Don't be fooled, Ingus. It's just as mindless as what they play over in Numena. The only channels I like are the Jazz channel and this one.” “This one plays movies and sometimes I'll just sit here all day watching them; I never said I was perfect.” She flips to the channel and it comes back from the commercials. Wait, this is, this is Till Death Do Us Part! “I know this one!” I say jumping up. She smiles at my zeal. “You know this one, huh?” “Yeah I just watched it, it's what made me come here! I wanted to look for what they had.” “I love this movie,” she says. “I've always wanted it on some kind of physical media. I used to watch it back in Numena as a teenager.” Lightbulb. 

MS.2000:

He spins around, his face is lit up. “I have it. On VHS! I can totally bring it to you.” He sits down on the couch, looking directly into my eyes. “I’ll bring it and you can keep it!” “Oh no, it’s ok, Ingus, I can’t take that from you.” He insists. “I’ll come back, with peanuts and some soda. That way I can pay you back for the eggs. Deal?” I suppose I’m not a hard sell. There’s something, at the very least, pure about him. Maybe it's the stuff with Francine, maybe I'm just lonely, but I agree. “Ok, deal, you can come back whenever you get the chance. You can bring it to me at Euphorika, I'll be there like usual.”

We watch the movie and every few minutes I look at him. I hadn't noticed his face is actually somewhat handsome. It's handsome in an unconventional kind of way if that makes sense. His face looks so heavy because of his bushy eyebrows but underneath the forest of eyebrows, his eyes are like little buttons. They look like he took them from a stuffed animal. I guess that just leans into the fact that he's more innocent than his appearance would make him out to be. I'll tell you what, he's really hooked on this. It reminds me of when I watched it as a teenager. I remember I had asked my parents to rent it from a video store called VideoGrove which was in the same building as a Thai food place. I ended up watching the movie so much that I panicked crying to my mom that I would ruin it. 

I ended up renting it so much the store just told me to have it. When I finally was a teenager the movie impacted me more than I care to admit. It shaped my idea of love. I wanted so badly to have someone tell me that they loved me like I actually meant something. I wanted to hear that my existence was the reason someone was alive. I wanted to hear that my beauty was timeless, I wanted to feel that my beauty was eternal. I can tell you that whatever I thought this movie was about, doesn’t exist. If Ingus feels the same way I do, he has a harsh reality that’s going to hit him. “This is my favorite part!” He says. “I love this dialogue too.” It's the part where David finally confesses his love to Dianne. 

The movie ends and Ingus silently stares, with a single tear streaming down his face. My heart opens for a moment, almost believing the spark in the movie is alive inside of Ingus, but that can’t be true. He’s only blinded like I was, like all women were with these movies. The thing is, true love doesn’t exist, and you end up realizing that the you with hopes, dreams, and intelligence is not valued by the world. You realize that you have to settle, anything else will only cause you pain. I look at the time and realize I have to go to sleep. I gotta kick this guy out. Honestly, just sitting here with him was nice though. He made me forget that real life was the world I inhabit, even if it was just because of the movie. At the very least, the effort he’s putting in to remain calm and sit through getting assaulted by my cat/my quietness is admirable. It’s kind of charming in a way.