Shout my name! (Part 5)
Walking up to his apartment, Scott suddenly remembered how messy it was before his 'accident'. The key turned, a click from inside let him know it was unlocked, along with the ease of which it turned, yet he hesitated. Fear, unease, these were the emotions that had put a stop to his stride.
"Is it your arm?" A woman from behind him asked. Scott had been released from the hospital after some further poking and prodding from the doctors, but otherwise was cleared; he didn't even need a cast, and was only prescribed a light amount of painkillers. Neat! Except his family had been called during the weeks he was unconscious, and the one who had come to look over him is his sister, Alexis Mason.
Scott liked living alone because that meant he could live how he wanted. As an artist he had several materials laying out in the open, purely for anatomical reference of course, but anybody else might misunderstand. Then there were materials you just didn't misunderstand.
"N-no, it's nothing." He muttered glumly. A cold sweat began to make its way down his back. Upon entering, he noted with some alarm that his apartment had been decluttered. However, to his eyes it was now messier than ever. His stencil kit, coloring tools, graphite tips, and most of everything had been moved. This was going to take awhile to fix.
Alexis cleared her throat, making sure she had Scott's attention, then continued. "Normally, hospitals call family and next of kin. Since you don't have any 'nexts', Mom and Dad got the call, then me."
Scott slowly turned with a gulp, his spirit had been caught in his throat, and he could send no reply.
"Doctors said they wanted me to make sure you didn't fall apart after leaving the hospital." She closed the door, then locked it behind her.
"And?" Scott didn't like where this was going.
"And, since Mom and Dad can't make it, I flew over." Alexis gestured to herself needlessly, and continued to talk while pacing about. "And, considering my own circumstances, I was thinking about moving anyways."
"So, hurry and move.. on.." Scott smiled a wide, obviously insincere smile, and motioned to the door.
"Well, you know, starting your own clinic. Property values, clientele location, medicine rights, not to mention having to manage your own living expenses. It adds up!" Alexis then turned towards him with an equally fake smile, it was full of flowery cuteness that brought their parents low every time, not to mention the poor boys back in school. "Come on, help your big sis!"
Not one part of it sounded like a question, she had already planned to stay. At any rate she was family. Could he really say no? As if she could visibly see his willpower decrease, she switched her smile out. "Thank you!"
Scott sighed as he collapsed into a chair, without a fight, he had been utterly defeated.
'Damn that woman, she's so used to getting what she wants from Dad and Mom!' Scott shouted inside his mind.
"I'll be back okay, stay safe!" Alexis cheerfully said. Just as quickly as she had beaten Scott, she left, leaving him alone in his suddenly spacious apartment. Well, not quite alone. He still had some things he needed to ask. With some reluctance, he brought his fist closer to his face, an awkward pose to be sure, but important.
"Starheart, was it? Now that we have some time, tell me more about 'us'?"
"... Scott Mason, thou art my partner. Thou need only thine will-" The Starheart started to respond, before it was abruptly interrupted.
"Hey, shut, we did that already. Skip to telling me what you are."
"Then I shall reintroduce myself. I am the Starheart. I speak, work, and empower thou through this medium of thine choice. A ring. I am a gathering of unfathomable, cosmic, energy from the furthest reaches of the cosmos. My kind live in a nebula, ordinarily merely watching the universe around us. Due to reasons outside of my control I have been living on Earth." Starheart said calmly, as if merely reading a textbook description.
Scott nodded with wide eyes, clearly impressed. "Ah, only through the ring? So you're not actually inside me, no chest bursting?"
"No, although I am lending my power to slowly heal thine body, I am not physically inside thou." The Starheart continued on while Scott began to examine the ring closely.
"Unless thou were to swallow the ring, then I shall be.""Don't worry about that." Scott insisted, making a gesture of waving it off with his other hand. "Alright, next question, how old are you?" He asked earnestly, looking directly into the 'lantern' emblem in his ring, as if making eye-contact.
"Is that important?" The Starheart seemed to be at least a little surprised.
"It is, since we'll be working together from now on." Scott nodded eagerly. After a moment of consideration the Starheart continued on.
"Hmm. I spent around three thousand years in space. I landed on Earth around two thousand years ago.""Whoa, you're totally older than me! Mister Starheart, you must have tons of fighting advice!"
"I.. would not say that.""Oh, super humble! Also, isn't this a little, conspicuous?" Scott gestured to his ring finger with his other hand. Even though he said that, he also felt a tiny ring was innocuous, maybe he could just wing it?
"Indeed? Thou could choose to hide it."Scott pondered it for a moment, spending the next minute silently tapping his finger on his chin. "Hiding, that's right, I have to change that getup. Now then, where are my pencils..." For Scott, the path of hero was only just starting. Right now, his top concern was making a new age costume. Whatever he had put on earlier would have to stay in the past.