Redux Vol1 Ch5: More Visitors...

Jack closed his eyes and leaned forward, taking in a deep breath, glancing over he caught Jessika staring at him yet again. This had been going on all morning and every time he would glance her way she would look away quickly, like she thought he wouldn't see. Shaking his head he went back to work placing the packages back on the shelves and facing them. Five more minutes passed and he found he could not take it anymore, there was a hungry look in her eyes, and just from the atmosphere he could tell that Jean had told her about what she had seen in his apartment. Not that that was much of a surprise, they were sisters after all.

With a large sigh he put down the package of cereal that he had been about to put on the shelf and turned to look at Jessika, who at this moment was pretending to be very interested in the coffee creamer that she had just put up, she fiddled with it three separate times before nodding to herself, like she was proud of where she had decided to place it. "Alright, what did she say?" he asked, in exasperation.

"What? What do you mean?" she feigned ignorance, still not looking at him, but he could see her chest rise and fall in quick short breaths, it was only slightly creepy...

"Alright, I was going to talk, but if you're going to be like that…" he started, turning away, but before he had even placed another box on the shelf he was almost bowled over by the woman as she rushed over to his side. Slowly he turned his head to look at her and raised a single eyebrow, but she didn't notice, she simply leaned in closer like a starved animal who was just in front of food, and yet it was out of reach.

"Don't be like that! Spill the beans! Who was it! Why didn't you lock the door?" she lowered her head and looked into his eyes, "Was it good?" She whispered, there was a slight sort of smile on her lips, Jack closed his eyes and sighed, it was part in agitation, part in relief that he had dodged a bullet. At one point in time he had asked Jessika out, back in the early years of middle school, and she had shot him down, seeing the type of character he had developed all these years later he was glad, having her as a good friend was rough enough, as a girlfriend...

Shaking his head at the disturbing image that created in his head Jack started answering her questions in the order she had asked them. "That was Hisra, my fiancé, in the excitement I forgot to lock the door, and hell yes, it was godly." He laughed.

"You're engaged?!" she yelled, her voice echoing off the high metal ceilings, and several of the customers that were further down the isles stopped what they were doing to look at the pair of employees.

"Shhh, not so loud, but yes, I am engaged." Jack held out his hands in a placating manner, attempting to calm her. She just raised an eyebrow at him, and then started to look him over top to bottom with a discerning eye. He could almost see the gears turning in her head and quickly she came to some sort of conclusion.

"So, when is the baby due?" she asked, hands on her hips, giving Jack a mean glare that seemed to cut through him. Jack practically dropped the box of cereal he had been holding, fumbling it he caught it before it could hit the ground, and holding it a little to tight he turned and looked up at Jessika.

"Whaaa- I it's not like that, Hisra is not pregnant!" Jack hissed, though apparently not quite enough seeing as once again they gained the attention of the passing by customers. He lowered his voice and leaned in a little closer. "Hisra is not pregnant, in fact your sister walked in on us doing it for the first time." He growled a little. "Now Hisra is pissed because of the interruptions, and I'm pretty sure she thinks I am seeing Jean or something," Jack let out a sigh "Hisra can be really clingy, and jealous." and that was putting it lightly all things considered.

"She's not pregnant? Well then how did you manage to land it with as my sister describes it 'The most beautiful woman she has ever seen.' Honestly, you do realize that my sister has been trying to catch you for the past three years now right?" Jack stopped what he was doing and looked over at Jessika checking if she was being honest, or just messing with him.

Jack hung his head in a slightly apologetic manner. "Well, I thought so myself, but after a year of it not going anywhere, and her getting angry or flustered anytime I made a move I just assumed I was interpreting the situation wrong." he shrugged, he had been open to the possibility but anytime he had gotten closer to her and done anything that was a little more than friendly she had pushed him away. Once she had stopped talking to him altogether and started ignoring and avoiding him after he had tried to kiss her one night. That had been when he had stopped, seeing as he didn't want to ruin what they had by persuing something she clearly didn't want.

"She got mad or flustered when you made a move? Honestly that girl, I swear, you're all she talks about, I had no idea I had to teach her the basics of catching a man… looks like we have a lot of work to do there."

"JESSIKA! JACK! WHAT IS GOING ON WE HAVE HAD MULTIPLE COMPLAINTS ABOUT TWO EMPLOYEES YELLING OVER HERE! GET BACK TO WORK!" The manager rounded the corner, only to find the two of them on separate ends of the aisle, both putting the items up with practiced ease, looking to all the world like they had been there the entire time. Jack looked up from the package in his hand and looked over at the manager.

"I'm sorry sir, what was that?" he asked, a blank look on his face.

"I- Well- That is-" the manager stammered, his cheeks going a little red "Just make sure you get your work done you two." He said, flustered as he turned around and left the isles.

"Honestly Jack, you lie so well I am starting to doubt what you told me before." Jessika looked over at Jack, the gaze lasted almost five seconds before the two of them doubled over laughing.

***

"But Jack I don't want to kill him!" Hisra's eyes started to water up as she looked over at Jack with big pleading eyes. "What if he has a family?"

Jack just laughed at her, and patted her on the head, he knew she wasn't a dog, but something about those puppy dog eyes just made him want to do this "First of all, this is just a videogame, so he is not real, he is just something we created that looks like it is real." He held up a second finger to emphasize the next point. "Secondly he is an alien, one of a group hell-bent on destroying your entire civilization, look there, he just killed another one of your marines." Jack, Hisra and Hethuk were sitting on the couch, and Jack was trying to teach Hisra how to play games, actually the teaching part didn't take but a few moments, seeing as she was able to grasp the controls in no time flat, the issue was getting her to actually get into the game, or perhaps it was more apt to say she was getting into it to much. He felt bad about leaving her alone in the apartment with nothing to do while he was at work every day. Though looking back at it now, perhaps he should have picked some games that were less violent.

"WHA-" Hisra screamed as the large alien charged at her, and her character died, his armored corpse rag-dolling away in a rather hilarious way.

"Hmm, this is an interesting method of training" Hethuk stared intently at the screen, leaning forward he rubbed his chin. Jack looked at him, the man was much less intimidating now that he had removed the armor, which was something that had taken some convincing to get him to do, it was easier to convince Hisra, all he had to do was ask her if she wanted to wear some of his clothes and within seconds she was wearing a pair of jeans too big for her and a shirt that practically went down to her knees. Now that he could see Hethuk he had to admit the Trilska were very much like human beings, He had black hair and solid black eyes that seemed to reflect everything in them in a sort of disconcerting way, but despite that the five o'clock shadow on his chin and the color of his skin was very human, aside from the long thick tail and the eyes he could have easily passed as a very fit man in his mid-forties, though a little on the short side, seeing as he clocked in at five foot six or so "You said these are widespread and even children play them correct?" he asked Jack.

"Well yes they are widespread,"

"How much of your population plays these?" he was still staring at the screen intently as he leaned forward.

"I don't know the percentage off the top of my head, but a large amount of the people in our society play games." Jack said, unsure of the direction of this conversation.

"Ahh- no- I Just Want To Talk!" Hisra screamed as an alien brutally smashed her just respawned character into the ground with a large hammer, once again causing it to be flung away with flailing limbs.

"Teaching about war, but removing the danger and the guilt, this would allow a population to have soldiers that were used to the horrors of war and would not break in such a situation." He looked over at Jack, "These games are a really smart way of training future soldiers mentally, I really respect the military strategist that came up with this idea, start them out young, so that when they are older they can adapt to the battlefield."

"No, No this is just meant for-" Jack was going to explain it was just for fun, but before he could a loud beeping noise started. "What is that?" he asked.

"Ah good there here." Hethuk stated simply, looking at a wrist-mounted device and smiling, a small holographic projection showed above his wrist displaying something in a language Jack couldn't read.

"Daddy, who is here?" Hisra asked, her tail wrapping around Jack's leg as she narrowed her eyes at her father, she simply forgot the game entirely, not noticing as she died once again, she was to focused on pulling Jack closer and staring her father down.

"Why, your sisters of course, they just couldn't wait to see you after I told them the news!" Her father announced proudly.

"IDIOT!" she yelled, lobbing the controller into his head, "NOW HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET ALONE TIME WITH JACK!" she started to cry, and cling onto Jack's chest as her father rolled around on the floor, holding his head and cursing in pain.

Jack laughed and scratched his cheek. "So you have sisters huh?"