From that day on, I occasionally spotted those mysterious and adorable creatures, the “Eye Pods.” Those little guys (they appeared genderless, but I decided to call them that anyway) truly were harmless by all accounts, and allowed to freely roam the research site on a daily basis. From what I gathered, the on-site personnel treated them along the lines of stray cats. I myself would pet them whenever I came across them.
For the record, these little buddies didn’t require food or sleep. They didn’t even leave droppings! Not only were they free of all the headaches involved with feeding a pet and taking it out on walks, they were friggin’ adorable.
I guess they didn’t have breaks despite moving at pretty fast speeds, for sometimes they would crash into walls and flip over… After helping them back up and having fun holding them, they eventually took a liking to me.
The Eye Pods were constantly trailing behind me as of late. It wasn’t like they were underfoot, and many of my days were filled with nothing to do, so I often spent my time playing with them. For instance, I would use a rubber ball to play fetch, like if they were puppies or something (For the record, they would trip and tumble over the ball. They never got so much as a scratch, so evidently they were super tough). That was how they came to enrich my life as some sort of beloved pet…
Then one day, these guys actually came into my room. Always tagging along at my heels, they simply rolled right in. It didn’t seem right to kick them out, and there was still time before bed, so I decided to play with them.
There was a rope laying around, so we played tug-of-war. I tied a loop at one end of the rope, wrapped it around one of the Eye Pods, and began the endless game of tug-of-war. It was so much fun feeling it resist my tugs and pull at me in turn, that I got totally immersed in the game and lost track of time. It was just an innocent game.
For the record, this was around when Iris offered to let me have half of the room as my own personal space. She brought in a bunch of stuff, like a bed for me to sleep on along with a locker to store my personal possessions. Interior decoration didn’t mean anything to me, so we kept the wallpaper and carpet as they were.
It felt as if I’d upgraded from freeloader to roommate. I still felt it wasn’t right for a mature young man to sleep in the same room as a mature young woman, but apparently I was viewed as nothing more than an accessory to Iris. We even received official orders to coexist in the same room for observation purposes.
Honestly, the idea of living alone in a foreign country I didn’t know anything about made me uneasy. Iris didn’t show any indication she minded my being here, so I accepted her kind offer and complied with the arrangement. We had the occasional, minor mishap that were inevitable in co-ed life, but overall, Iris and I got along just fine as roommates. At least, we did until this day.
“..….”
Iris didn’t come back until late that evening. She occasionally had late days like this. Unlike how I was regarded as little better than a guinea pig, she operated as a researcher (Elements of her job were top secret, so she couldn’t tell me about it. I didn’t know any of the details concerning what she did.). It left her working like a beaver.
Unusual for the typically bubbly and chipper Iris, a raincloud was hanging over her head this day. I wondered if she made a mistake at work, or if something bad happened. Growing concerned, I called out to her after she silently entered the room. I welcomed her back… And then I asked what happened. Was she feeling okay? Did something happen?
“Yes, there is a somewhat…sticky situation,” Iris said, her face slightly softening with relief upon seeing me, only to darken with a frown. “What the heck? What do you think you’re doing?”
I honestly told her how I was playing with the Eye Pods.
“Please don’t let those things in our room… You do realize that just because they’re Object Class: Safe doesn’t mean they aren’t SCP objects, right?” Pressing a finger against her forehead, Iris spat with disgust, “Jeez, don’t tell me you’re wanting to keep them here!” The thought never occurred to me, but it sounded like a wonderful idea. So I basically asked if we could keep them. At this point in time, I was pretty infatuated with the fun and adorable Eye Pods. They bonded to me as quickly as if they were cats, begging for attention in the most adorable of ways. The idea of a future that featured them constantly scooting about our room sounded pretty exciting to me.
“Forget it,” Iris said, arms crossed, a baleful expression on her face. “As the owner of this room, I won’t allow it. Go dump them outside,” she said bluntly. So harsh! It was like she was scolding a little kid.
Growing a little bent out of shape, I brought up a variety of points in hopes to win her over. There were mental benefits to having them in our room. We already made the rule that I could do whatever I wanted in my half of the room. And not to mention, humans had the right to pursue happiness…
“When I say, ‘No,’ I mean it,” Iris said adamantly, refusing to budge.
Ultimately she resorted to force. Marching straight toward me, she snatched up the Eye Pod I was playing tug-of-war with in both arms. Then she roughly tore the rope off the little guy, made a beeline for the door, swung it open, and literally dropped it out into the corridor. Quickly slamming the door shut, she snatched up the other Eye Pod that tried to flee from her when it sensed danger and dumped it outside in much the same manner.
She quickly shut and locked the door, effectively kicking them out. Upset by how outrageously unfair she was acting, I gave Iris a piece of my mind. I felt grateful toward Iris, yes, and she generally treated me nice up till this point. I respected—even loved—this straightforward and kindhearted girl as a person, but the heavy-handed approach she took ticked me off.
“No matter what you say, this is the way it is,” Iris insisted, refusing to hear reason. Not bothering to change into her pajamas, she flopped onto her bed. “This discussion is over. I’m going to bed and you should go to sleep soon yourself,” she snapped.
Grabbing the remote by her pillow, Iris turned the lights off and refused to say another word. Outside our room came the sad sound of the Eye Pods continually bonking against our door as if to say they didn’t understand why they were kicked out.