Surprisingly, Morty didn't seem to take the man's comment as an insult. He instead grinned, scratching the back of his head. Most of the Awkeetee males looked and acted a little bit feminine. Gender roles were not established at birth--in fact, gender roles were seen as terrible things. They were considered, by popular opinion, as unnecessary restrictions. So in a way, Awkeetee children were raised in an androgynous manner most of the time.

Morty wasn't proud of being male, but he didn't desire to be female, either. Insults about him looking like the opposite sex seemed rather funny to him.

He stood behind Remy awkwardly, and perhaps a bit shyly, when he introduced him.

Remy thought that Morty seemed to be taking the insult rather well and He smiled at his friend. The artist turned back to the old man at the window, “Well, thank you for the mail…I’ll be back in a few days for the mail again.”

He walked back out to the truck and turned to Morty. “You did really good with that older man inside the post office. You’ll find that the people around here are not very politically correct.” The artist unlocked the truck and put the mail in the car. “Morty I think we’ll walk around the square if you don’t mind.”

"Politically what, now?" Morty blinked, puzzled. "Oh, I certainly don't mind! I want to sightsee, you see. Everything is so interesting here." As he walked with Remy, he continued to gaze around like he'd never seen a small town before. When he walked, as well, he would often wiggle excitedly and bring his hands up to his face like he was excited.

It was endearing and adorable, but it attracted stares from other townspeople--the ones that weren't already staring because of his hair, eyes, and looks. He didn't seem to mind.

“Politically correct, um its when people use certain words so they won’t offend others. Like because I prefer men, the politically correct way would be to call me a homosexual instead of a fag.” Remy felt he was failing in trying to explain such a complex subject. He much preferred to watch his friend as they explored the little town. Morty’s actions reminded him of a young child at an amusement park or on Christmas morning. Remy couldn’t help but smile. Morty’s enthusiasm was infectious.

Remy walked with his hands in his pockets, watching Morty flitter to a fro. The artist about lost it when Morty’s hands started popping up to his face in surprise, He is so adorable! They walked over the square and Remy pulled out his camera to take a few pictures of the Norman Rockwellian country store. He focused his camera and snapped the photo. He then turned to take one of Morty when the redhead finally stood still for a moment.

After snapping the picture Remy flicked on his LCD screen to review the picture. It was then that he noticed a kind of unearthly glow around Morty. The camera had picked up something. At first Remy just assumed it was a hardware error, but after taking some more photographs of Morty and other people, he could see that the glow was only present around Morty, What the hell?

"Ooohhh..."

Morty had heard of the first term--commonplace back home--but the second term was one the Akweetee did not use. In general, the Akweetee were a kind, peaceful race. There was little conflict between them except for the usual drama-filled fights of youth and the slight issue of crime. People tended to want to be polite and loving towards other people on his planet. He knew that humans were not like that--they fought all the time and disagreed about everything.

Though the Akweetee were peaceful, the many different tribes in different locations across the planet believed and sometimes behaved in different manners. When they would get together, though, it would always be a peaceful and respectful meeting. He knew humans were not like that. Humans, it seemed, tended to be naturally unkind in some cases and overly sensitive.

Morty didn't notice the camera when Remy took his first picture. After two more pictures he finally took notice of the little flashing box and had to stop and stare at it, looking puzzled. Oh...camera? Cameras looked a little different back home...

“Morty..um have you ever had problems with your picture being taken before?” Remy asked his friend. He flipped the camera around to show the photo to his friend.

Morty studied the camera's screen and the picture on it very closely, his red eyes shimmering with thought. ...He was glowing? Morty had to check himself to make sure he wasn't actually glowing before he returned his eyes to the screen, puzzled. Were...Earthling cameras different from the ones the Akweetee used back home?

"No, actually...why am I glowing on there?" he asked point-blank, tilting his head slightly. "Bizarre..."

“You have that right Mis Ami,” Remy muttered studying his camera. The blond couldn’t find anything wrong with the hardware of the machine, it must be a problem with the software. “The only time I have ever seen something like this was when I was still in college. My professor said that this can sometimes be caused by really powerful transmitters…”

Remy laughed at the thought of it! How could his little friend have a high powered transmitter? “But that is ridiculous…I bet there is something wrong with my chip from when I moved from Ne’ ‘rleans. So Morty where to next?”

Morty faltered when Remy mentioned high-powered transmitters...but when the human didn't seem to be showing any more signs of suspicion, he calmed down. So...his identity was still safe? He supposed that, in reality, it wasn't a big deal if his identity was compromised to one human, as long as that human promised to keep his kind a secret.

He doubted a human like that even existed...who wouldn't want to share such a discovery with the rest of their world?

"...Perhaps we should be heading back, now?" he suggested, curiously. They had been out exploring for quite a while, now...lunchtime was starting to approach.

Remy turned and looked at his friend – wait when did I start thinking of him as a friend? – and could see him deep in thought. What is he hiding? The artist was startled out of his own thoughts by Morty’s question.

“Alright are you sure that there was nothing else you needed from the stores here?”

"No, nothing at all. I'm sure..."

Morty knew he would have to sneak back to his ship sometime soon. He would have to try it while Remy was asleep...that much he knew. He couldn't risk having the human follow him. He didn't want his identity compromised, especially not to a human he didn't fully trust yet...

That would not go over well. At least, he didn't think it would. He couldn't trust a human who found out about his species not to tell others...

“Alrigh’ t’en…letz get back home.” Remy jumped back into the truck and turned the ignition. The red pickup rumbled to life and the artist guided the steel beast back to the farm house. The ride was silent and every once in a while he would look over at his passenger.

Morty was sure an odd duck to Remy; with his white marble skin and the bright orange hair so uncharacteristic of a homeless person. The blonde could tell that the red head had lied to him, but Remy didn’t want to push him. He knew that everybody had their own baggage to carry, and most didn’t wanna talk about it.

Morty was quite the whole way back, as well. He was too deep in thought--and too engrossed in studying the landscape passing by as they drove, to notice that Remy's eyes were on him for at least half the trip. He was hoping that his cover stories still stood strong with the other male...

But he was aware that he couldn't get too close and reveal too much to him. The truth would eventually force itself out, then, and that was something Morty didn't want...

No human would ever accept him, knowing what he really was.

Remy pulled onto the dirt road leading up to the house. He parked near the back then switched off the pickup. Hopping out of the truck he went and unlocked the door. He looked back at his friend…

“Morty are you alright you seem kinda nervous….do you need me to help you with anything?” He wanted to make the red head feel safe and wanted. Remy couldn’t imagine how hard it was living on the street even if it had only been fore two weeks.

Morty shifted slightly where he was. "...I'm all right," he replied, finally. "Actually, I'm just sort of tired. Is there anywhere I could rest for a while...?"

...And lock the door...and sneak out to his ship...and grab a few things he would need to make better observations about the human world. He hadn't wanted to carry much on him, in order to complete the homeless look. But now that he was settled, he would need to get his things.

Remy smiled at Morty’s simple request, “Yea, just head back to the room that you got dressed in this morning. You can sleep in the bed there. I’ll make us up something to eat while you go lay down.”

The blonde went to the kitchen and left his guest to himself. Remy set about cooking up something for lunch and maybe getting a head start on dinner. ‘Morty seemed to like my French toast…maybe I’ll make some gumbo for dinner.’ His thought drifted back to his guest and Remy found himself standing before an open fridge for more than a few seconds. ‘Merde why can’t I get that man off my mind for two seconds.’

He shut the refrigerator’s door and sat on the couch. Suddenly he was hit with how tired he actually was and decided to shut his eyes for a few minutes.

"Thank you very much..."

Morty took his time trying to find that particular room. He did end up getting lost, but he quickly found his way, locating the room in no time. He only peeked inside of it, making sure it was empty, before he silently closed the door. He crept back through the house and paused in the living room, where he saw Remy resting on the couch. His eyes were closed. Was he sleeping?

Morty waved a hand rapidly, but silently, from where he was...getting no reaction, he immediately assumed the other male was asleep. He quietly made his way through the living room and exited out the front door, intending to head back towards the forest to his ship.

Remy heard the door close and looked up just as Morty was exiting. He quickly stood up and followed. ‘Where is he headed off to?’ The blonde was extremely curious. He hoped that if he followed Motry he could get a few straight answers out of him and besides the orange hair was easy to follow…

Morty made his way through the thick brush behind the house. He stopped a few times to check if he was being followed. But he didn't see anyone, and he still thought Remy was asleep...so, he continued onward. He stopped in the middle of a rather large clearing--it was a meadow, of sorts. He raised his hand up into the air and spread his fingers apart...and he said something in a peculiar, foreign language.

Something made a beeping noise. Suddenly, the cloaking device on his ship fizzed away. His ship was not UFO-like in the least. As humans often speculated, it was not in a saucer-like shape. In fact, it resembled a tear drop in shape--a sideways tear drop.

Remy stood back in the bush and watched as every few seconds Morty would check to see if someone was following. ‘He is definitely hiding something!’ The artist followed silently behind the red head until they reached the clearing.

Remy nearly swallowed his tongue as Morty de-cloaked his ship. MON DIEU! It was beautiful…it was a space ship. The blonde stood dumb founded, mouth slack and open in awe…he had never really believed that such creatures could exist, but there it was a bonafied spaceship sitting right in front of him. That meant…Morty was an alien…mon dieu!!

The blonde started walking into clearing so mesmerized by the spectacle be fore him that he didn’t stop until he was a few feet from the craft and Morty. “Morty…”

"...Eeeeep!"

Morty flipped around, startled by the sound of someone else's voice. ...Oh no. It was the human who had so kindly taken him in...the one he'd been trying so hard to hide his identity from all this time...gah! All his hard work had gone to waste...

He backed away, towards the ship. There was a frightened, sad look in his eyes...as if he thought Remy was going to try to attack him now that he knew what he was. Depending on Remy's reaction, there were just a few things he could do at the moment...

Remy could see the look of fear in Morty’s eyes, then he saw the sadness in those maroon pools. He stepped back just a bit an looked Morty in the eye. “Morty…so you are an alien…from outer space?”

He turned to look back at the ship…Remy knew that if Morty was hostile he probably would have hurt him already. “Morty I’m not going to hurt you, I…I just wanted to see if you were alright Mes ami.” The blonde found himself starting to be overwhelmed by the situation and he sat on the ground tring to gather his wits about him…

“Morty…you are truly amazing.”

Alien. Morty, in fact, found that term a little odd. But he supposed it was fitting, considering he was on a planet that wasn't his own...that would make him the 'alien' in the situation, wouldn't it?

Once he was sure he wasn't in danger, Morty slowly relaxed from his defensive, startled position and stood a little straighter, from where he was. Well, now that his cover was blown it was probably best to be diplomatic about the situation.

"...I am, as you say it, an 'alien,'" he began, slowly. "I hail from the planet Meridian, in the Andromeda Galaxy. My kind are called Akweetee. I came here to study your kind...to try and blend in, and gather information. We know little about your people."

Remy listened to his friend…he had gone from the nervous to amazed to frightened to….”Oh my god…”

Every alien invasion movie that the artist had ever seen flashed before his eyes. Was Morty going to destroy or…god forbid...take over the world. “You’re not going to hurt us are you?”

Morty blinked, that all-business side of him rapidly vanishing and changing into his usual, ultra-curious demeanor. "...Why would I do that?" he asked, puzzled. "I just said I came here to learn more about your kind. What, do you think all other intelligent species go around killing everything on other planets?" he added, a bit miffed.

He knew how many humans thought of 'aliens.'