Work Text:
Milo Murphy
5521 Druid Drive, Danville, Jefferson County, United States, Earth
Hi Milo! I hope you got back home alright.
This is Orgaluth, btw. Do you say btw on earth? If you don’t, it stands for ‘by the way’. Who has time to write out the whole sentence, right? Well me I guess, because I just did.
It’s kinda been crazy here. I don’t really know what to do now my life’s gone back to normal- I can’t forget what happened, I can’t keep thinking about it. And most people are nice, but some people still look at me funny. I nearly caused the end of the world- our world, I guess, your one would’ve been fine- and that’s hard to forget.
Anyway, how are you? How are things on earth? Are your friends dating now? They seemed cute.
Best wishes,
Orgaluth
P.S: if you wanna write to me, the return address is on the envelope. Just put that on your letter and stick it in the postbox, and it should get to me.
Milo laughs, startled. His dad peers over his shoulder. “Who’s that from?”
“Orgaluth. The alien who I told you about.” Milo says brightly. “She wrote to me! Somehow. I don’t even remember telling her my address… but I guess her mom knew, given she was trying to abduct me. Apparently she came in one time, but I was sick so I didn’t notice.”
“I see.” His dad says, putting an arm around him. His family is somewhat protective of him from the aliens, after they abducted him. But aliens aside, they are still Murphys, so they roll with the punches and roll with the alien abductions. By now, his dad has stopped poking his head into his bedroom in the middle of the night to check that he is still there. “Well, I suppose you can be penpals.”
“Penpals?”
“It’s when you’re friends with someone and write letters to them.” His dad explains. “I had a penpal when I was in school, because she was too scared to ever be around me in person.”
“Oh!” Milo says. “I’ve never written a letter! I thought everyone just did emails now. Aside from the insurance people, they send a lot of letters.” He gestures at the towering stack of insurance letters sitting on the table.
“That they do.” His dad laughs. “Well, people don’t write letters much anymore. But maybe aliens don’t have computers?”
“Oh, they definitely do. Maybe you can’t get a connection to an earth computer from an Octalian one?” Milo wonders. “Well, I’ll write back to her! Having a penpal sounds fun, and I really like Orgaluth! It’s nice to talk to someone else who has something like Murphy’s Law.”
So later that day, he finds some (mostly) un ripped paper and sits down at his desk.
Orgaluth
2215 Astro Avenue, Marshburgh, Octalia
Hi Orgaluth! We got home safely, took a while though! It got pretty dangerous, but everything worked out well.
I hope you feel better soon. It’s not your fault, remember! Accidents aren’t your fault, they’re just accidents. And sometimes people are just scared of us, but that’s ok.
Things are good here! We’ve settled back into school and stuff. Melissa and Zack asked each other out, it was very cute. They’re such disasters. Now I get to tease them, and not the other way around.
Tell your mom I said hi! Tell Loab and Khone too.
Yours sincerely (dad said I should write that),
Milo
Orgaluth smiles as she moves back into the house, with an armful of letters for her mom. She sits down at the kitchen table, rereading the letter. “Milo says hi.” She reports.
“Milo? The boy who saved us?” Her mom asks. Orgaluth nods. “How on Octalia did he send you a letter?”
“Same way I sent one to him.”
“How on Octalia did you send one to him?”
Orgaluth shrugged. “Wrote his address. I guess the postie figured it out.”
Her mom chuckles. “You really are amazing, Luthy. Well, tell Milo that I said hi.” She says. “And perhaps you should tell him to give his parents my apologies for…”
“Kidnapping their son?” Orgaluth says dryly.
“Abducting.”
“That’s not any better, mom.” Orgaluth laughs. “Ok, I’ll tell him.”
“It’ll be nice for you two to be penpals.” Her mom continues.
“What’s a penpal?” Orgaluth blinks.
“It’s when you have a friend who you write letters to. I had one back in high school, my best friend who moved districts.” She explains. “But obviously, kids don’t write letters anymore.”
“I wrote a letter.” Orgaluth points out. “Because space-mail didn’t work.”
She goes to school. Being back to normal school feels weird, after everything that happened. Her friends are protective of her, and most people are nice. But that doesn’t stop the little comments, and the endless staring. People always looking at her.
She doesn’t like it. She’s just a teenager! She just wants to be normal, maybe even a bit cool. She doesn’t want to be known as ‘the girl who nearly ended the world’, that’s lame! And… and horrifying. No wonder people stare.
But she tries not to think about that.
On the way home from school, she passes by the dock. “Hey Loab, Khone!” She calls out.
“Hi Orgaluth!”
“Hi Orgaluth!”
She plops down in their station, making herself at home. Her mom’s subordinates do feel like her family. They’re both so nice to her. And while her mom doesn’t like to admit it, she knows that she likes them a lot too. “Milo says hi.”
“The human kid?” Loab asks.
She nods. “Thanks for suggesting the letter thing! It got to him, and he was able to write back to me. So mom says that we can be penpals now.”
“Well that’s nice.” Khone says. “It’ll be good for you to talk to someone who’s weird like you!”
“Khone!” Loab elbows him. “He doesn’t mean weird, Orgaluth. He just means…”
“Weird, I know.” Orgaluth laughs awkwardly. Dangerous. “I get it. See you guys later.”
“What, you don’t want cake?” Loab holds up a plate with a few slices of purple cake on it, waggling it temptingly. “I made it for the breakroom, but I have some left.”
“Fineee.” Orgaluth takes a slice. “Thanks guys. See you later!
Milo Murphy
5521 Druid Drive, Danville, Jefferson County, United States, Earth
I’m so glad that you got my letter! I’m not sure how the postie managed it, but it worked!
Loab and Khone say hi. Mom says hi too, and she wants to apologise for to your parents for abducting you.
Tell Melissa and Zack congratulations from me, then! But hey, I saw the way you talked about that girl, you’re just as much of a disaster as they are ;)
I know none of what happened is my fault, but I still feel awful. If mom hadn’t abducted you, everyone would’ve died. Just because I exist. I still feel so nervous about that- how do you cope with it?
Sorry for being moody,
Orgaluth
“Orgaluth says that her mom says sorry.” Milo reports. “For abducting me.”
“Oh.” Brigette doesn’t look entirely like she knows how to respond. “That’s… nice of her?”
Milo rereads the letter, his face heating. Ok, he mentioned Amanda briefly, when he was telling Orgaluth about his life. But was he really that obvious about it? He likes to think he is pretty low key about his feelings for Amanda… ok, he isn’t. He really isn’t.
Orgaluth
2215 Astro Avenue, Marshburgh, Octalia
Hi Orgaluth! Sorry it took me a while to respond, had a crazy week. There were a bunch of cows everywhere, then the cows had wings, then we went on a school trip and got lost in the woods with our gym coach, who went a little nuts. I’m actually writing from a hospital bed, but the doctors say that my leg is gonna be absolutely fine.
And hey, I’m not a disaster!
I get it. It sucks when the people around you blame you for something that you can’t control. I cope with it because I have mom and dad and Sara, and Melissa and Zack. Maybe you should talk to your mom about this? Or your friends at school.
Fire alarm’s ringing, gotta go,
Milo
Orgaluth smiles. “Milo’s also in the hospital.” She says.
Her mom laughs. “Why does that not surprise me?” She says dryly.
Orgaluth scans through the letter again, giggling at his protests about his girlfriend. Then she tenses as she reads the rest of the letter. She hesitates.
Then she takes a deep breath. Milo is such a bright, optimistic, clever kid. His advice has to worth something.
“Mom?” She says quietly, unable to quite make eye contact. “Can we talk about something?”
Milo Murphy
5521 Druid Drive, Danville, Jefferson County, United States, Earth
Hi Milo!
I just got out of hospital. Stretched tentacle. I hope your hospital is still standing?
You totally are a disaster. I bet you’re blushing right now, aren’t you? Hah. Got you.
I talked to mom, like you said. And yeah, it helped. She didn’t realise how much the whole Sphere thing was still affecting me. I feel a bit better now, and we’re working on it. So thanks <3 you really are the best.
Love ya,
Orgaluth
Milo’s face has indeed gone a very tomato like shade, his cheeks feeling warm. He can’t help but giggle, even in his embarrassment.
Reading the rest of the letter, he smiles widely. He hopes that Orgaluth can continue feeling better. He really likes her, and he can’t imagine how awful he would feel if Murphy’s Law had nearly destroyed earth.
He pulls out his notebook and begins writing another letter.
Orgaluth
2215 Astro Avenue, Marshburgh, Octalia
Hi Orgaluth!
The hospital is mostly still standing, we’re helping the rebuild the Murphy Suite. Don’t worry, this happens a lot.
Fine, you got me. You’re the worst (love you)
I’m glad you’re feeling better. It’s like my dad always says: a burden shared is a burden less likely to cause permanent back injury! And
“Milo!”
He looks up, his eyes widening at the scene in front of him. “Oh dear.” He says brightly, shrugging on his backpack. “Come on, guys!”
He pockets his letter for now. He can tell Orgaluth all about his adventure later.