My ears twitch slightly, disturbed by the air conditioning's slight current, and I crack an eye open, drowsy and bored as ever. I lie curled up on her couch, a pillow in my arms, slightly beneath me; I rub my face against it, adjusting my position and shutting my eyes again. The room is pleasantly warm, and the cushions beneath me have absorbed my body heat to create an even warmer and more comfortable climate. Letting out a quiet purr, I ponder how long Rouge will take. She's been gone quite a while... Nervousness flutters within me. I wish I had some way to contact her. After what I saw earlier, I'm more than a little worried. Shifting restlessly, I cross my feet; earlier, out of courtesy and in an attempt to keep the couch clean, I had removed my shoes and socks. Gently scratching the top of my left foot with the claws on my right foot, I yawn sleepily, twisting to stretch my neck. I hum to myself, my lip twitching slightly of its own accord. I really must be tired... Though, after all of that fighting, it makes sense. I shiver involuntarily, remembering what I did. I still can't believe I did that. A shudder runs up my spine, and I shake my head, tears brewing at the corner of my eyes again. Why did I have to kill them? What came over me? With a soft whine, I bury my face even more in the pillow, practically suffocating myself. Why? Why did I destroy them? They were such an integral part of my past... and now... they're gone forever. Because of me. A heavy weight of despair seems to press down on me, crushing me into the sofa. I've lost so much in my life--why do I always seem to keep destroying what little I have left? Is there something wrong with me? My eyes open involuntarily, and I roll onto my back, letting go of the pillow. Gazing up at the ceiling, I squint as the light above me glares down harshly into my corneas. Whatever... It's not like I deserve the nice things I have anyways. Shielding my eyes with my hand, I adjust position, bending one knee and stretching the other out. I wish I had something to distract me. I hate my mind.

To my surprise, I hear the sound of keys turning in the door lock; my ears fly upward, eyes widening, and I abruptly sit bolt upright, delight flashing in my chest. Finally! The door creaks open, and in a flash I stand a few feet away from it. "Ah! Shadow!" A startled Rouge yips, bristling slightly. She blushes in embarrassment as her fur flattens, relaxing; crossing her arms, she gives me a playful smirk. "What, were you waiting at the door for me like a puppy?"

"Only for the past 2 milliseconds," I answer, blinking innocently. She giggles, throwing her coat over the hanging-post and depositing a bag on a tall, slender cabinet-like piece of furniture by the door.

"Such a long time, however did you manage?" The ivory bat quips sarcastically, shaking off her elegant boots.

I suddenly place one hand over my heart, tossing my head back in an over-dramatic expression of despair. "Oh, it was such a trial," I gasp comedically, placing the back of my free hand on my forehead, "I almost thought I wouldn't make it!"

Genuine laughter shakes Rouge as she shoves me gently, and I find myself chuckling too as I drop the act, moving the hand on my forehead to cover my mouth. I know laughter puts such an ugly look on my face, and I'd hate to ruin the moment. "Drama queen," she says in an accusatory tone, giving me one last swat as she brushes past me. "What've you been up to while I was gone, anyways? I mean, the building's still intact, so clearly you did something right."

I bite my lip nervously, remembering all my dark thoughts. "Ah, nothing," I reply evenly, following her with a fake smirk stapled to my face. "Nothing at all...How did the paperwork go?"

"Caught up on all my late work," she answers cheerfully, sounding relieved; she moves from the kitchen to the living room, scooting the pillow I'd been laying on top of. Snagging a remote from the table before the sofa, she presses a button and a soft, happy chiming noise issues from the television. I pace after her evenly, coming to a stop behind her as she's seated on the couch. "And I've even got extra time to goof off, how nice!" Tipping my head to one side, I prick my ears, looking intently at the TV. I hadn't noticed before, but there's a peculiar machine as well as a few handheld devices placed on the small cabinet system beneath it; a small green light shines from one side of the object. What's that? The screen flares to life, revealing what looks like a menu. Rouge twists her head to look at me, smiling pleasantly. "Would you be a dear and go grab one of those controllers for me?" I blink down at her, then nod, vanishing to reappear in front of the TV. I pick up one of the odd hand-held things and toss it back to her; she catches it easily and grins at me. "Thanks, doll," she purrs flirtatiously, and I avert my gaze, slightly peeved by her behavior.

"Don't call me that," I snort flatly, walking over to the couch and still not looking at her.

"Why?" She giggles, pressing a few buttons on the device she caught. "Does it embarrass you?" Her tone suggests that if I say yes, she'll never stop calling me that, and I cringe inwardly.

"Frankly," I snap, feeling my face heat up, "it's annoying." Flopping down beside her, I growl, grimacing at her. She raises an eyebrow, bemused, and I find myself bristling in irritation.

"Y'know, if you make that face too often, it'll get stuck that way." She teases, reclining into the couch's cushions. I roll my eyes, not deigning to respond; turning my attention back to the TV, I watch curiously as an intriguing array of images flashes across it to dark, ominous music. Are those... Gregorian chants? The slideshow stops at what appears to be a view of a curved object floating in space, with a planet hanging behind it. The word "HALO" in large letters takes up a decent portion of the screen; below it, a list of words reading "CAMPAIGN• MULTIPLAYER• SETTINGS• GAME DEMOS" in slightly transparent font appears. The word "CAMPAIGN" is a lighter color, and opaque. Rouge presses a button on the controller, and the word flashes as the screen fades to black.

"What is this?" I ask, turning to her, both confused and interested.

She shoots me a surprised glance, then smiles a bit sadly. "I guess Robotnik didn't have video games, did he?"

"Video games?" I frown, trying to think. "No, I've not heard of that before."

"Well, let me explain," she begins, sitting up straight. I wilt a bit, thinking, oh, great, she's gonna lecture now... I just wanted a simple answer. The half-a-paragraph type of answer Scourge would give. "Video games are processes run by machines such as my PlayStation that are used to entertain people! It's a human invention, meant to pass the time when you're not working. There's a lot of different types of video games--some, like this one, are run from compact disks, others from small chip-like--" she pauses for a second, scrunching her face up into an adorably confused expression as she searches for the right phrase, "--ummm, 'data holders' I guess, called SD-Cards or some variation of the like. Some are even run without any sort of data-holding device, merely streamed to you via the internet." My ivory partner passes her controller from hand to hand as she speaks, looking down at it attentively. "The one I'm playing right now is called Halo, and it's what we call a First-Person Shooter. Most games have a storyline to them, to make them more enjoyable, and those where you play out a character's life are called Role-Playing Games, or RPGs for short. They're apparently quite popular in Japan."

"That's fascinating," I cut in, hoping to reel her back to reality before she can launch off into telling me about Japan's video game 'culture' or something. "Can I watch you play?"

"Sure!" She grins, hitting another button on the controller. The dark music stops, much to my relief, and I watch as a rich world unfolds on the screen. "Right now, I'm going through a Flood-infested planet to find Captain Keyes--I think I'm close to the end of the game."

I furrow my brows in bewilderment. "What?"

My snowy friend laughs. "It's part of the story. The Flood are a parasitic alien race who infest any and all sentient beings--the main character is a soldier who's sent to rescue a guy named Captain Keyes who got trapped in a building on this planet."

Still puzzled, I watch her stomp through some dense forests; it almost looks like a swamp. After a few minutes, she shoves aside a couple bushes to reveal some rather horrific creatures. The graphics aren't the greatest quality, but the monsters still look disgustingly abhorrent--they appear to be normal humans, mutated and ruined beyond repair. "Eugh, what are those?!"

"The Flood," she answers calmly as her character shoots straight through the vile thing's head.

"Dear Jesus." I blink at the screen with wide eyes as I recline, throwing my arms over the back of the couch and crossing my legs.

Rouge laughs, "Yeah, they're pretty disturbing. Every time one of those little squid-like creatures you see hopping around--" she pauses to point at the screen to indicate which monster she refers to, "--latches onto something else living, they like fuse their DNA or something with their victim."

I shiver. "And this is a game? This is the kind of thing humans come up with for entertainment?" Aghast, I turn away. Sickening! That's just disturbing!

"Yep! It's creepy and weird, but it's also a pretty good stress reliever." She starts mashing the buttons as the gameplay intensifies. "A lot of people find it relaxing to let out their frustration on killin' stuff in games." I glance back at her, raising a skeptical eyebrow, and she flicks her eyes back over to me too. "You should try it sometime--you seem pretty stressed quite often."

I don't answer immediately; instead, I just watch her determinedly smash buttons, eyes glued to the screen again. There's a sort of disgusting hunger in her eyes, a deep desire to maim and kill; nauseated, I growl and avert my eyes, flattening my ears. "No thank you," I mutter. I've already felt blood dripping off my hands in my lifetime... And to think, these people glorify, in the fictional, the very thing they hate me for, in reality. What a backwards world.

For a while, I sit in silence as Rouge plays her morbid game; the sunlight has waned and faded into the pitch-blackness of night. As the hours drag on, I feel my eyelids begin to droop, gaining weight every minute, and every now and then I find my chin grazing my white chest fur. For short spans of time, I realize, I'm falling asleep--I don't have any knowledge of what's going on in her game anymore. To my embarrassment, every time I doze off, I end up with my mouth wide open and drooling on my chest fluff. After the third time I wake up to that disgusting and embarrassing 'surprise,' I shift position to deliberately make myself uncomfortable. My ivory companion notices my movement and pauses her game. "You tired?" She asks in a deliberately cutesy tone, and I quirk a brow at her; she's looking at me with her eyes half-lidded, in a mildly disturbing expression.

"Somewhat," I reply vaguely, and she grins at me. For some reason, her expression unnerves me, though less so than the game does. Her pose, too, is peculiar, and looks mildly unpleasant--like she's going to throw her back out sitting in such a manner.

"You can always just sleep here on the couch for a bit, use my lap as a pillow..." Winking at me, she lifts her shoulders as her eyes gleam like sapphires. "...If you know what I mean."

Confusion flickers in my eyes, but then an understanding flashes through me and my stomach lurches. "Wh--No way!" Anger blazes in me suddenly. "Why do you always say things like that?!" Before I can stop myself, I blurt out what I've been thinking ever since I met her. "It's creepy and weird! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Stunned at my own impertinence, I reel back a bit, biting my lip as her posture droops and her eyes widen--she looks shocked and hurt. Crap.

She hesitates, mouth hanging open. "I-I..." Awkward now, the ivory bat blushes as she lowers her head. With a quiet snarl, more directed at myself than her, I twist, turning my back to her; a tense silence follows with the game's music playing softly in the background. Eventually, she breaks the stand-off. "I'm sorry, Shadow." She mutters. "I didn't realize I was making you so uncomfortable." I glance over my shoulder at her, but don't answer right away, my ears still pressed flat against my head with my fur bristling. She looks upset. "Really, I'm sorry--" sudden energy seizes her and she leans over to grab my arm and force me to face her. I let out a startled cry, fur fluffing itself again as she shouts, "Please forgive me!" What the--Why are you shouting?

"R-Relax," I stammer, flustered, "Enough with all the yelling..." Pulling out of her grasp, I feel my face heating up again; looking away, I scowl into the corner. "Just don't do it again, sheesh." Clearing my throat, I cross my arms as she pulls her arm back; an uncomfortable pause follows as she still doesn't resume the game, just sits there watching me.

"Er," she clears her throat, and my ears twitch; I turn back to her, curious, and she haltingly says, "I, uh, wasn't joking when I said you could lie down, though--just the second part was a joke." Bright crimson blush tinges her cheeks, and a flicker of amusement stirs within me.

"Hmph," I snort, "you're just not gonna give it up, are you?" Side-eyeing her teasingly, I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smirking.

"Wh--No--I mean--I'm serious!" Irritated, she bristles too, and I quirk an eyebrow at her, stifling a chuckle. Oh, how the tables turn... "L-Listen, you--!" I cut her off by uncrossing my arms and promptly flopping down on the couch next to her, resting my head on her left leg; I lie on my back, my spines cushioning my head, and I fold my hands together, resting them on my chest fluff.

"You talk too much," I tease softly as she looks down at me, surprise etched on her face. For a few seconds, she seems a bit frozen, but her face melts into a warm smile and she giggles a bit awkwardly. She's so odd, I think to myself, saying those peculiar things, but getting all flustered when I act this way--you know, the way she usually does. But sometimes it might be nice to make her squirm a bit. Relaxing slightly, she shifts to be more comfortable, and as I look up into her glimmering blue eyes I find myself wondering if she's as much a stranger to kindness as I am.

For quite a while, the two of us remain in relatively the same position; after the first hour, I roll onto my side to avoid getting a crick in my neck. She rests one elbow on my chest, the other on the arm of the sofa. Slowly, I begin to drift off, fading in and out of consciousness as she finishes whatever level she's playing.