When Haneul and Ha-Rin next awoke, two crimson eyes with grey pupils glared at them. The alien crouched before them with a predatorial arch to its body. A clawed hand raised to strike while the other clutched at the shoulder where the injured wing had been bandaged and splinted to its body. Fangs flashed in the dim light of dawn. But it was enough to halo around the creature and remind them of its inhuman form. Ha-Rin held her breath, body rigid; Haneul slowly scooted in front of her, hands raised to show he was neither armed nor meant any harm. The being eyed him silently with cold calculation. 

He swallowed thickly, trying to figure out how to approach. “Hey, we won’t hurt you.”

The creature growled.

A thickening lump swelled at the back of Haneul’s throat. Maybe Ha-Rin was right and this thing would attack him. Shimmering fluttered through the air as the alien flared the wings that were not bound to its body, stretching them out as it snarled. 

Well that wasn’t good. Haneul bit the inside of his cheek and panicked. In a moment like this he would be half inclined to flirt his way out, but if this thing didn’t even understand that they weren’t here to hurt it then how would it know the extent of his charm? There was a good solid second of fear before a hand grabbed the back of his head and shoved his face to the floor. He yelped in outrage, before his friend’s voice hissed beside his ear.

“It was intimidated by you holding your arms up,” Ha-Rin snapped. “It flared out its wings. It thought you were making yourself bigger so it did the same thing. Stay down.”

Quiet hung heavily over them as their hearts pounded in their ears. It was uncomfortable, but both of them knelt, bowing in front of the creature. Until it moved. Haneul wanted to scream as its nose pushed up against the crook of his neck and sniffed. Goosebumps dotted his flesh as he stiffened but stayed still. Wings buffeted against his head and shoulder as the cold nose made its way along the curve of skin not covered by his button down. He hadn’t imagined it being one of those nights. However, after a moment of snuffing, the quiet returned and the presence disappeared. Deciding it was worth the potential mauling, he sat up slowly, relaxing back on his heels.

The alien sat in front of him, almost lounging. Its elbow rested on its thigh, the knee too high for resting its arm there to be comfortable. All the same, it eyed him with a curiosity that was still equally caustic and cautious. 

“Hi,” Haneul breathed, unsure if it was exactly safe or not. 

Beside him, Ha-Rin also sat back, her eyes wide as she observed.

It gave him a lifted brow, as if not sure what to make of the sound.

Haneul gave a little wave, and much to his surprise—after the creature looked him up and down—it returned the gesture. He couldn’t help the excited glance he gave to Ha-Rin, smiling widely as if to say “Look! This thing is not going to eat us alive and rip us to shreds. It waved back!” The deflated and pained look that she gave him was probably well deserved. Turning back around, he found the creature staring at him before its lips quirked upward and revealed an achingly bright fanged smile. That sobered him up quickly and he warily glanced at its sharp teeth—he couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be a genuine smile or something cruel and leering.

They didn’t move and neither did it. 

There was this unspoken game of “Simon Says”, all of them mimicking each other in an unmoving statuesque sort of way. 

The first to break away was actually Haneul. He figured he needed to get Ha-Rin away from the creature and he wanted to get an actual feel for if this thing was going to eat them or not. So, bit by bit, he inched up to his feet, eying his guest as he stood to his full height. Unlike last time, the creature seemed unperturbed by this and instead copied his movements, standing on its stilted legs and following him around, maybe too much like how a duckling would follow a duck. Haneul tried not to snort in amusement. 

Venturing to the kitchen, he fished out leftovers that his chef had provided the previous day. It was a simple meal of salmon on a bed of greens, but there were five packages already cooked and ready to be warmed. He wasn’t sure how human or how bird-like it was, but he figured that even some birds ate fish in the same way that people did. Not to mention that the greens would be a safe tell on whether or not the creature was a herbivore or carnivore...or hopefully both. 

He prepared enough food for the three of them before setting the table. It was unnerving to have something so bizarre  stare over his shoulder the entire time. But he sat down as calmly as he could and patted at the spot next to him. The creature’s wings ruffled and its lips curled back over its fangs as it winced with a soft gasp. The feathery limbs shuffled cautiously against its back and its boots clacked against the kitchen tile as it precariously made its way over to the table. It sat delicately at the chair Haneul indicated to. He watched with a bit of child-like wonder as the creature gave a judgmental sniff at the food. Its  eyes widened and it picked up the utensils set beside it with practiced ease. It picked at both the salmon and the salad, eating a hearty forkful with tedious chewing. Haneul glanced back at Ha-Rin with a triumphant grin and she gave him a withering stare instead. He gestured with his chin to her plate. She watched him for a moment before rolling her eyes and carefully making her way over to the empty seat as well. 

The three of them ate breakfast-dinner together in some odd and silent companionship. And it went undisturbed until the creature set down its fork and stared at Haneul expectantly, tray empty. Glancing at the platter and then back at still-wide crimson eyes, he slowly reached for it and grabbed it once he assured his hand wouldn’t be bitten off.

He returned with a freshly warmed tray. The creature, again to his surprise, nodded and began to eat again. Ha-Rin glanced up at him and he returned again with a proud smirk.

Baby steps.

After the second platter, the creature did not seem hungry, and it instead reclined back with a flutter of its eyelashes. Its brow wrinkled a bit with discomfort but it seemed perfectly pleased with itself to just rest in the chair. Ha-Rin and Haneul worked around it, gathering up their trays and throwing them away in the waste bin. 

Opening the refrigerator door, Haneul whispered, “Can you take the eggs and the frozen chicken with you?”

“Oh my god.” She pressed her fingers to her temple but relented. “What now?”

“Go home. It’s almost six in the morning.” He passed her the food, which she clumsily gathered into her arms, out of sight from the sight of the creature. 

She cast it a tired look. “What about...that? It’s peaceful now I think because it’s injured. But how do we know it won’t attack?”

“Maybe because it knows it can trust us?” He guessed, scratching at his chin. “Clearly it’s very sentient. It seems to have figured that we won’t pose much harm to it...or can’t pose any harm to it at all.”

Humming, she found that she couldn’t quite argue with that. “Look, I just don’t want to be the one to help your security chief scrape what’s left of your body off of the floor.”

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t come to that,” he said with one of his dashing smiles.

Ha-Rin glowered at him. 

“I’ve got Charles in the other room, and you know I keep a weapon on me at all times.” An unregistered firearm that was most definitely not kept at the police station as it should. Very shady, very illegal. But the number of attempts on his life by trying to gain footing over his father was too much for him. When he was younger, it had been all too often for his taste or for the police to keep up with. It’s also one of the only few times that he’s abused his money. He wasn’t proud of it. But as a young kid and even into his early teenage years—he’d been kidnapped, drugged, and ganged up on too frequently for him to stand idle. “I’m not going down without a fight.”

After a deep exhale, Ha-Rin nodded and allowed him to lead her to the door. He told Chief Seong to escort her to her vehicle and then closed the door once both people were gone. He took a shaking breath to realize that his guest was now staring quite intently at him. He had nothing to offer other than a shrug, and proceeded to inspect his couch where Ha-Rin had left her materials. An extensive list had been left beside them; he’d always known her to be the methodical type. She had highlighted where she’d left her sedatives, although he doubted it was enough to do anything to the creature. But she left behind spare bandages and sutures with detailed instructions in the event that the stitches tore and she could not get there in time. He was grateful to her. Again.

Barking from the room he’d locked Charles in came suddenly, and he jolted to his feet before the alien’s wings could pull back and send it forward. He blocked the door to the room before giving a pleading look to the creature. It stood in front of him now with its teeth bared and its eyes glaring like daggers.

“Please, give me a second to calm him down—he won’t hurt you…” he didn’t add yet because he felt it probably wasn’t necessary to let the creature know. “Please.”

It was an intense exchange of gazes that hopefully conveyed his desperation. Charles was a dear companion to him and was probably far more human than most of the people he frequented on a daily basis. After what seemed like forever, the creature finally relented and nodded.

Opening the door to the spare room, Haneul slowly brought out Charles. The german shepherd was quivering, his dark eyes frantic as it barked furiously at the creature before it. Doing his best to keep the dog still, Haneul wrapped a sturdy arm around the dog’s neck and other around the torso. Every now and then, the dog whined from being kept in the same spot—but Haneul soothed Charles. Each bark seemed to set the alien more and more on edge, however it did not budge. 

For what seemed like hours, they stayed like that—Charles finally quieted into a series of quivering whines and growls. Haneul unwrapped himself from the dog and reached out a weak grasp towards the creature. It stared at his hand and then back at the dog before tentatively resting its grasp in his. 

It was an odd sensation, holding its hand. It had a warm and gentle grip, as if it were afraid of nicking him with its claws. So, as equally gentle as he could, he guided the hand to Charles’ snout.

The dog gave a few wary sniffs before licking tentatively. A disgusted wince swept through the alien but it otherwise remained still. After a while, the dog's tail began to thump against the ground as it began to more enthusiastically sniff the hand of the creature.

A sort of recognition passed along the creature’s face and it soon enough seemed comfortable enough to even pet between the shepherd’s ears. Charles was in much better spirits after the encounter and returned to the spare room where he promptly flopped onto the floor for a nap. 

Haneul was both relieved and mortified—there went his guard dog. 

“He won’t hurt you,” He finally piped up after a moment, feeling something was needed but not sure what. 

The alien looked at him oddly.

“Charles, he won’t hurt you.”

There was quiet for just a little bit before the creature echoed back, “Charles.”

Its voice was deep and almost-baritone, and it warbled at the back of the throat with hesitancy. If Haneul had been sitting in a chair, he would have fallen right out. 

“That’s right. That’s Charles and…” He pointed to himself. “I’m Haneul. My name is Haneul.”

The creature pointed to him. “Haneul.”

“Yes!”

The creature pointed to itself. “Hrafn.”