Ikky blinked at me, and laughed a little. “I mean yeah, I guess you can call him that. He does wear red. That one was the one who gave me the weird philosophical answer and, when I tried to pry further? He just changed the subject and, to make matters worse? I asked a few others and I think HE got to them too, since they all said the same thing, just in a different way!” He threw his hands in the air and sat on one of my bar stools, folding his arms in annoyance. “No one tells me nothing!”

“Maybe they had a reason? Like the reason why he couldn’t ‘turn’ back was a mental thing? Things like that can happen in this world too… Well, not the transforming thing… But things like that.”

“Perhaps….”

He still looked rather peed off, so I tried to change the subject.

“So, how many are there of you? Like… Of your kind.”

“My kind?” He looked up, and unfolded his arms. “Well, yes….” He started to count with his fingers. “I have my uncles, grandpa, him, the other one, her, her too, and him as well.”

“Were the ones that you just counted family members of yours? You said ‘uncles’ and ‘grandpa’.”

“Ah, I suppose I did… Oh just to say, I doubt that they're in this world. Our kind don’t really ‘travel’ outside our own place much.”

“But at least three of you had.”

Ikky laughed at that. “I guess we have. For me, this is my first time in a different world. My brother? He rarely came home..” He trailed off slightly as he said that, looking rather sad about it. “But the man you refer to as ‘the man in red’? Well, he's notorious for visiting different dimensions.”

“Dimensions?” 

“Oh! I mean like there are many worlds out there, running parallel to each other. But they all have their quirks, like one could have really giant squids, or even talking horses, some even had magic. It could be quite endless with the possibilities, and I liked to watch these worlds grow. But, heh, I could only watch from afar, I wasn’t allowed to visit any of these worlds…”

“But you’re visiting one now though.”

“Well…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Technically I escaped. I thought I would be found out and get carted back, but no. Nothing. Still here.”

“Perhaps your higher ups saw how much fun you’re having and let you stay?”

“I think I will go with that.” He turned to face me and gave me a gentle smile.

In turn, I smiled back, those turquoise eyes of his were most definitely the same shade as the ‘birds’ one eye. I guess, since they weren’t human, twins were different in their culture? Can I even call it that? But his shade of brown was actually quite striking, I felt that it fitted him quite nicely. 

Ding Dong

As I was staring at him, the doorbell rang.

“Expecting someone?” Ikky asked me.

“Not really…” I turned around but, just as I was about to leave, I turned back to look at the man in my kitchen. “Wait here.”

As I left the kitchen, I headed straight for the door. I could’ve looked through the peephole, but I didn’t, and swung the door open. On the other side of the threshold was someone I knew quite well.

“Good morning!”

Arlo greeted me with a warm greeting, but now I was wondering why he was here. Since, from my line of sight? I noticed that Junie wasn't here, and he never visited without her in tow.

“Not bothering you, am I?” He asked me when I didn’t say ‘morning’ back.

“Oh! No, you’re not. I was just surprised to see that you’re here.”

“Ah…” He shifted awkwardly on his feet. “If I had to be honest? I have no idea why I am, but it’s the weekend, so why not?”

Well, that is weird, Arlo had never been that spontaneous, most of the time when we did anything together? Junie was with us, and she was the one that dragged him around.

“Oh? I recognise you.”

The voice came from behind me, and my skin crawled… Did I not tell him to stay where he was? I still haven’t come up with an excuse as to why he was in my house yet.

“Do you already have someone here?” Arlo questioned me, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, yeah. You’re… Are you a loo. Hi, are you a loo!”

Arlo twitched at that sentence and, coming up by my side, was the one I specifically told to stay in the kitchen. Ichthys, acting like he has no care in the world.

“Why is this weirdo in your house?” Arlo thumb pointed to the moron next to me.

“Oh, him?” I tried to play it off. “He was just dropping something off, he just so happens to be leaving now.” I started to push Ikky out the door, and Arlo stepped aside.

“Hey, wait, what?” Ikky protested as I pushed him out.

I gestured to Arlo to come in and he complied and I then waved my hand to Ikky, who was looking rather baffled.  “Thank you for dropping that thing off!” As I closed the door, I mouthed the word ‘Sorry’ to the man outside, and closed the door.

“He was dropping something off?” Arlo questioned me when the door was closed.

“Huh?” I whipped around. “Oh, yeah. I dropped my bag, and he was kind enough to drop it off for me.”

“Huh… Hmmm….” Arlo looked at me with a tilted head. Why, oh why does he have to be curious now. “I guess that was nice of him.” He looked away from me and I let out a sigh of relief. “By the way, is there something different?”

“Eh?” I looked at him. “Whatever do you mean?”

“I dunno, just saying that the smell is different.”

Smell? I couldn’t smell anything that seemed to be different, and I don’t remember using a candle recently.

“Maybe it’s just me.” He shakes his head and turns back to me. “Oh! That reminds me! I do have this for you…” He pulled a folded piece of paper out from his baggy shirt pocket and handed it to me. 

“What’s this?” I asked whilst opening it up, and I could see Arlo’s handwriting.

“I forgot to add it to the notes that Junie gave you. I didn’t realise until it was too late, but it’s better late than never, huh?”

“Ah, thank you.” I turned around to place it on the cabinet by the door, which is usually where I store my keys, spare umbrellas and, occasionally, my bag. But, as I was doing that, there was a loud thud coming from upstairs.

“What was that?” Arlo asked.

I turned back around and shrugged but, for some reason, Arlo was curious and started to walk towards my staircase and make his way up there. Something must’ve fallen or… It then dawned on me that a certain someone could be trying to get in again. That was even harder to explain, and I didn’t want Arlo calling the police on him, so I ran after Arlo. That man walked quicker than me, and he reached the doorway to my bedroom before I could and I peered around him to see what he was looking at.

There, in my room, a pile of books was on the floor and I could just make out a tiny leg poking out. Was that… Was that seriously the bird?

“Oh, what have you gone and done now?” I muttered as I slipped past Arlo and approached the books.

As I was kneeling in front of the pile of books, I started to move them. After a few books, I found the cause of the thud. There, as clear as day, was a little dark body which was half squished under the weight of the books. Shaking my head, I pulled him out from under them and, as I held him in my hand, I saw that he looked pretty dazed.

“Is that perhaps the bird you said about?” Arlo asked as he knelt down beside me.

“Yeah, he is.”

“Well, it looks like he got into a right mess.” He picked up a nearby book. “It looks like he landed on your pile of books and then they fell on top of him.”

“Looks that way…” I turned my attention to the bird again. “What am I going to do with you?”

“From here, he looks to be fine. Probably had the wind kicked out of him.”

If he really did land on the books and they fell on him? It reminded me of when he kept slipping in the bathtub. Wait, bathtub? Isn’t this bird actually a man?

“Hey, don’t drop him!”

“Eh??”

My grip on the bird loosened, and Arlo moved his hand to grab the bird from the underside, but he missed and cupped my hand instead.

“You were letting him slip, you don’t want to give him another concussion.”

“Oh…” I looked down and reaffirmed my grip, and Arlo moved his own hand.

“He’s a rather scruffy fellow.”

“I guess you would be too, if you had a pile of books land on you.” I laughed.

“Oh…” His attention was firmly on the bird again. “He seems to be awake now.” He moved his finger and was about to pat him on the head, but the bird in my hands tried to instantly bite his finger, causing Arlo to yank his hand back. “Feisty fellow…” He mumbled as he was eyeing up his finger.

“Hey, you…” I brought the bird up to my face, but I noticed that he was still glaring at Arlo. “You be nice to my friend.”

“If he’s willing to bite me, he’s fine.”

I nervously laughed as I stood up to place the bird on the pile of books, who was still glaring intently at Arlo.

“I get the feeling that your bird doesn't like me very much…” Arlo pointed out as he stood up.

“Well, I mean that parrot didn’t either.” I pointed out a previous weird encounter that Arlo had with a bird, when we went to the zoo a few months back. “Oh, and that flamingo too.”

“Eh…” He made a face. “Don’t remind me. The aviary kind must be out for me.” He half joked. “But I’m going back downstairs, so you check him…” He pointed towards the bird. “Over. I’ll meet you in a few minutes.”

I nodded as he turned on his heel and left the room, when he had closed the door and I heard his footsteps on the stairs, I turned to look at the bird, with my hands on my hips.

“Be nice!”

The bird looked up at me and, with an unbothered tone, answered me. “I’ll do no such thing.”

Shaking my head, I turned around to gather the rest of the books up, as I was picking them up, I noticed that the bird was watching me and I asked him about it.

“So how did you get into this mess anyway?”

“Miss.. Judged… It…” He grumbled.

“You really aren’t graceful, are you?” 

I saw the bird give me the evil eye and fluff up his feathers. Apparently I hit a nerve. Shaking my head again, I turned my attention to the pile of books again but, in that moment, my nose caught a strong whiff of vanilla and, as I looked up, I noticed that the ‘bird’ was no longer a bird, and that he was also standing over me, in his humanoid form. It surprised me and I gasped, falling backwards from my kneeling position and I saw his eyes roll.

“Get used to it already…”

“You are so much more manageable as a bird…” I mumbled out loud. “Wait, go back to being a bird! He’ll see you!”

He knelt in front of me and he narrowed his eyes. “Who is he?”

“You mean Arlo? He’s my friend.”

Again, his eyes narrowed even more. “No, I said WHO is he?”

What is he on about? I said who he is, there is nothing more to it. Does he want to know his birthday or something?

“Nevermind…” He shook his head in annoyance and stood up. He then moved towards my bed and sat on it. I noticed that he seemed to be deep in thought about something.

“So…” I continued to pick my books up. “You can change into a bird…”

“Pretty much….” He answered flatly. “But I'm not limited to just a bird, I just find birds more manageable.”

“But…” I looked at him and I saw that he was staring off in no direction in particular. “It’s the same type of bird each time…”

“I haven’t really noticed…”

With that answer, I wonder if he knew that he looked like a sparrow sized crow. Wait, with my limited knowledge of animals, I was aware of a weird fact. Wasn’t the name of the collective group of particular birds like ravens and crows called ‘Corvus’? I wonder if that just happens to be a coincidence.

“So, your name is Corvus?”

“Yes.” 

Well… At least it was an answer. But he answered it in a way that made it hard to think of a comeback. This man, as I looked at him, still staring off in no particular direction, was just a little hard to talk to. But, there was something.

“Were you trying to read one of my books?” I stood up with a few in my arms, and that made him look towards me.

“Reading is a pastime of mine, so I was wondering if any of those….” He pointed towards the books in my arms. “I haven’t read.” 

“Oh? Were there any?”

“I don’t know… I can’t read things when they are on me.”

I wanted to laugh, but he said it so seriously I just couldn’t. I guess that if he reads, he must be book smart? However, that did remind me about last night, and when I was doing my work.

“Thank you, by the way.” 

“For what?” He looked at me quizzically.

“For last night.”

“And you’ve lost me…”

“With my work, I’ve now deduced that you were helping me with it.”

I watched him as he titled his head and looked towards my desk then back again. “Well, obviously…” He folded his arms. “The answer was very wrong, and it bugged me. Your dumb self wouldn’t have realised that it was wrong without my intervention.”

And there he goes with the rudeness. Rolling my eyes at him, I placed the books that I had picked up on my desk. I’ll deal with them later, I can’t keep Arlo waiting for long. I wasn’t going to tell him that I was leaving the room and, just as I was about to open the door, something grabbed my arm and pulled me back. My face landed into a rather broad chest, and my face was forced upwards. That rude man was looking at me, and I glared at him.

“Did you want a reward then?”

“Hell no!” I squirrelled away from his grip, which was oddly easy. I then realised that he wasn’t holding onto me that tightly. “I’m not a floozy!”

“Obviously…” He shrugged. “You’re not really a prize, plus you’re a bit boring.”

“Excuse… Me?” I really wanted to smack him again, I had to say to myself that he was definitely nicer as a bird. When he becomes humanoid, he becomes a right dick. An arrogant arsehole is the right choice of words that I should use. “Then….” I raised myself a little higher. “If I’m so boring, why are you still here?”

I studied his face for anything, but he must have one hell of a poker face, since he just gave nothing away. 

“Something to pass the time, I guess?” He waved a hand at me and turned around and sat at my desk, picking up one of the books that I just put there. “Romeo and Juliet.” He waved it at me. “What’s this?”

I put on my most sarcastic voice that I could muster. “Well, obviously it’s a book.”

“Heh…” Somehow, that amused him. “Obviously. But what type?”

“A lover's tragedy.”

Somehow, that made him react. For the briefest of moments, he looked sad, but he shielded his face when he opened the book. “I see…” His voice didn’t give away what his face was just showing but, as I stared at him, he lowered the book for a moment. “I thought you were going to go and see your boyfriend? So what's keeping you?”

“He’s NOT my boyfriend!”

“Mmmhmm…” He raised the book even more and leaned back on the chair. Damn his condescending attitude really ticks me off.

Clicking my tongue, I left the room, leaving that arrogant arsehole to his own devices. The man downstairs was much better company than that guy. Man, just thinking about him ticks me off, I really do want to wipe that smirk off his face. Screaming internally, I slapped my cheeks and headed downstairs, now feeling like I could face Arlo.