Alastair inspected the visor Cyan had given him. Why did he need this to watch TV?
The boy sat up. He might as well put it on to see why.
'Coco, are you okay? Did you need something?' Honey asked.
He smiled at his puppy. "Yeah, I'm okay."
Alastair put the visor on with both arms, which caused him to wince.
Honey whimpered. 'Did you hurt your owie?'
"I'll be okay."
He really shouldn't have moved his injured arm like he did.
Alastair blinked. He should have asked Cyan how to turn on the TV.
Honey stood up when he slid the visor off. 'What's wrong, Coco?'
"Nothing." He stroked her back. "I just need Cyan to teach me how to turn on the TV."
The boy swung his legs off the side of his bed before picking up his sling off the nightstand and putting it on.
Honey hung her tail between her legs. 'Coco, you should rest your owie. Didn't it just get mad?'
"I need to get out of this house before I explode."
Alastair didn't know what came over him. He had to run. He couldn't get that satisfaction in his room.
'The humans want you in the house.'
He put his mask on. "Girls love dress shopping. Cyan and Maggie should be gone for a while. I'm sure we'll get back before they do."
Honey groaned. 'Then I'm coming too. The humans will worry if you hurt yourself again.'
Alastair grabbed a bottle of juice out of the fridge on his way out.
Ame appeared in front of Alastair before he got off the porch. "Where are you going?"
"I need out. Honey is coming, too."
"Where do you want to go?" Ame asked.
"Not sure yet. Maybe the park?"
Ame sighed. "Let me at least grab you a jacket. It's too cold to not have one."
'The human is right, Coco.'
"Do you want to crawl into my jacket then?"
'No. You stay warm, though. You don't want your owie to get mad.'
Alastair took his sling off.
Ame furrowed her eyebrows before holding the jacket up, so Alastair could put it on.
"Since I'm already here, let me work on your wrist."
"Okay."
Ame gently cradled his wrist. Her hands gave off a more concentrated violet glow than last time.
Alastair wiggled his fingers as he stared at his wrist.
"Don't overdo it." Ame smiled. "Let me see your terminal."
Alastair blinked before holding it up to her.
"I figured I should give you a little pocket money in case you want buy a snack and drink."
"Thank you."
"Call me if you need anything, okay?"
Ame then disappeared.
Alastair shut the door behind him.
Honey groaned. 'I could have shut the door, Coco.'
Alastair ran his hand across her back. "I'm fine. I still have one good arm."
'Still...'
Alastair clenched his fist. He would explode if he didn't get moving soon.
'Come on, Honey. Let's go.'
'I'm staying next to you.'
Alastair stumbled when he tried to run. His sling and the weight of the cast threw him off balance.
'It's going to hurt a lot if you fall on your owie.'
"I know..." Alastair sighed. "Let me know if you get tired. You can cuddle up in my coat."
'I'll be okay. You don't need to worry about me.'
Alastair just kept walking after that. He would walk and walk until he couldn't anymore. It was the thing that could satisfy him right now.
Before he knew it, he was outside of the residential area. He blinked and stopped at that point.
He had seen cars all the time on Earth. He didn't like to ride in them, but still. This was his first time seeing one on Nachima, but the cars themselves didn't look that different. The shocking thing was that no one seemed to be driving them.
How could these people do it? Alastair didn't think he could ride in one.
Alastair kept walking. He didn't want to look at the cars more than he had to.
'Coco, are you cold?'
"No, I'm okay."
Alastair hadn't been paying attention to the cold. His constant movement had helped keep him warm.
"Let's keep going, Honey."
'Are you sure?'
"Yeah. Come on. Let's go."
Soon after that, they got into a shopping center with a nearby convenience store.
Alastair frowned. He didn't know if he could bring Honey into the store, but he couldn't just leave her by herself.
The boy unzipped his coat most of the way down before getting on his knee. "Get in my coat."
'Coco...'
"Get in my coat."
Honey crawled into Alastair's coat before he zipped it back up.
Alastair then ventured into the store. It would be nice to get out of the cold, even if only for a few minutes.
Alastair still had his juice bottle, so he didn't need a drink. Maybe he should buy water for Honey, though?
She would probably appreciate cold water. He could grab it after he got his snack.
Maybe he shouldn't buy chocolate. It would be really bad if Honey got into it.
Did he want chips or gummy candy?
A woman in a green apron approached Alastair. "Did you need help looking for anything?"
Alastair shook his head. He didn't want to bother her. He just needed to make up his mind.
"You have a very cute puppy." She held out her hand for Honey to smell. "What's its name?"
"Her name is Honey."
Honey gently licked the woman's hand.
"A sweet name for a sweet puppy."
The lady then got back to work.
Alastair grabbed a bag of gummy bears. He wanted to have something he could suck on.
It was a little difficult for Alastair to hold both of them with one hand but he still got to the counter.
A boy of similar age to Noah was sitting on a stool at the front counter. "Hi, mister! Were you able to find everything you were looking for?"
Alastair nodded.
"Your puppy is cute. Can I pet it?"
Honey nudged the boy's hand with her nose.
'I want the human puppy to pet me.'
"Honey loves getting petted," Alastair said.
The boy's big, green eyes sparkled. "Her fur is so soft!"
The woman in the green apron came back. "Graham, you shouldn't pet other people's doggies without their permission."
Alastair's words lagged as he said them. "It's okay. He asked... first. She wanted... pets."
"Alright." The woman smiled at Alastair. "I'm Jamie. What's your name?"
"Collin."
She scanned his snacks. "Were you able to find everything?"
Alastair nodded.
The little boy opened a brown basket. "For you. For letting me pet your puppy. My Nana made them."
The chocolate chip cookie looked so good. No way was he going to tell a kid no.
"Thank you."
The man from before pecked Jamie on the cheek. "Gotta go. See you at dinner."
The grandma squeezed the little boy's shoulders. "Make sure you help your mommy, okay?"
"Of course, I will, Nana!"
The pair then left.
Boy was Alastair glad the scary man didn't recognize him. He better get out before someone else did...
He just wanted to go back to his room and cuddle up with his puppy in bed. No one could hurt or scare him if he was there.