~The Afternoon After the Dream~

“You want me to teach you sign language,” Kittpey says, her eyes boring holes in mine.

“Yes.”

“Because you want to better yourself and broaden your horizons by learning a new language,” she says, eyes narrowing. You’re beginning to think you should have thought that one through a little longer. Extreme eagerness hadn’t allowed for such extravagance, but still, you regret it.

“Yes?” you say, wilting slightly under her gaze.

“Would you like to try again with a better lie?” She tilts her head to the side, taking long, slow, condescending blinks at you.

When you started talking to Kittpey a few minutes ago, you were just asking her if she knew how you could go about learning some sign language. Like if there were classes or a tutor around or something. Turns out she has literally been taking classes to learn that exact language, and it also turns out that she is quite irritated with you, her friend, for not remembering this detail of her life. Even if you have a pretty good excuse — being a completely separate person who hasn’t known her for very long — you can’t exactly use it, and you feel bad about the situation no matter how little control you have over it.

“Um…” You wrack your brain, but what can you possibly say? Why would Ruem want to learn another language, let alone sign language? As far as you can tell from your time spent with her… she wouldn’t. Maybe you should just go for broke and tell the truth? “There’s this girl in my dreams and neither of us can verbally talk to one another, but she knows how to sign, but I don’t know how to sign, so I can’t understand her. And I want to understand her!”

Kittpey blinks at you, faster this time, her eyebrows scrunching further. “That was a much worse lie. Is that from one of your comics?”

“No.”

She shrugs and shakes her head, “Okay, whatever Ruem, keep your secrets. I guess I can teach you a little, but I don’t think I’m very good at teaching, and I don’t have a ton of spare time.” Crossing her arms and raising a brow, she says, “Is there anything in particular you’d like to know?”

There sure is!! “Yes!” Thinking about it for a moment, you try to mimic what the girl in your dream did. You touch your chin, palm flat, then trail your hand outward.

“Oh, that’s simple,” Kittpey says, with a short laugh. The slight scratchiness in her breathy, accented voice is always music to your ears, but that short, sweet laugh? It’s transcendent. “It means ‘thank you.’ The response is easy too, you can just do the same thing back.”

Throwing your arms around your friend’s neck, you squeeze her tight. “Thank you!!” She smells like flowers. Which ones? You’ve never been a flower girl. Or guy. You’re a guy. But if you had to describe the smell further, you’d say soft, warm, refreshing. As always, Kittpey stands there rigid as a board at first, before gradually softening and tentatively putting her arms around you.

When you pull away, her green face is flushed, and she’s having a hard time maintaining eye contact. “Why are you like this now? In public of all places…” she mutters, curling a finger in her straight hair.

“Sorry, should I not be?” You don’t want to make her uncomfortable… she’s just really nice to hug. And friends hug each other, right? Well maybe not guy friends, usually? More of a side-hug thing with most guys you knew, if that. But girls hug all the time, don’t they? You’re just playing the part.

“I didn’t say that…” She sighs, then stamps her foot. “Ugh, this had better not be a long con, Ruem, I’ll really kick your ass this time if it is,” Kittpey says, going from bashful to menacing in the span of a few seconds. Though you usually aren’t a huge fan of threats, this one isn’t bothering you so much. For one, you know you’re being genuine — or as genuine as you can be while lying to a woman about your identity. But for two… something about the idea of a woman kicking your ass is…

“I swear it’s not,” you say, pushing the previous thoughts from your mind.

Rolling her eyes, Kittpey starts to walk away, “I wish I could believe that anymore… But damn it, girl, you make me want to try.” You heart does a little flip. Probably the power of friendship or something. “I’ve got to get to class, though. Probably won’t have time to teach you anything tonight. Tomorrow, maybe?”

“Sounds like a plan!” you say, grinning wide.

~Two Days Later~

The girl of your dreams finally notices you after what feels like at least half an hour of waiting, floating and watching. She’s been so busy lately, and she hasn’t seemed happy about it for even a moment. Except for when she notices you, of course.

Giving a little wave, you wait for her to wave back, then eagerly start signing at her. Kittpey taught you how to sign the Idrestian alphabet yesterday, which was fortunately easy despite the difference compared to English. Though the reason for your ease with Idrestian languages is still a mystery to both you and Umeso, your glasses-wearing friend has suggested that it may have something to do with you processing things using Ruem’s brain. You’re not sure how that works, since it’s not like you understand magic the way Ruem does, but you’re thankful for whatever it is that’s happening.

Regardless, you sign the letters of your name — Biat — at the dream girl, pausing and then repeating two more times just in case the distance is making it difficult for her. Though you considered using Ruem’s name, you realized that you have no idea what it is that dream girl sees when she looks at you, since you can’t see yourself. Even if you do look like Ruem, does this girl know her? You decide to gamble on her not knowing — you think she might not actually be Idrestian anyway, what with her dark brown skin color and her lack of normal Idrestian characteristics such as horns.

The girl’s face lights up, and you realize that you’re suddenly much closer to her than you have ever been before. You can more clearly make her face out now, and it’s beaming at you. It’s a long face, with a wide nose and thick eyebrows. Her plump lips draw your eyes, but you try not to let them linger. She’s one of the prettiest women you’ve ever seen in either of your lives. You wish she could look directly at you without making the dream end, but then again, if her eyes didn’t destroy you, that bright smile facing directly toward you might do it instead.

Still beaming, the girl starts signing something new, and you realize quickly that she is also signing letters. Is she going to tell you her name!? You dearly hope so. The magic Umeso has taught you doesn’t seem to work in your dreams, so you haven’t been able to use Identify on her. Watching intently, you take in each of the many letters that her hands form, add them together and…

Elleminie. Her name is Elleminie.

~The Next Day~

“So, those videogame things. Tell me more,” Ruem says, sitting on Umeso’s shoulder.

The three of you are resting after an hour of Umeso’s tutoring; you think Umeso might actually be unconscious right now. ‘Resting my eyes,’ they’d said. But they’d been kind enough to rest a hand on your arm, for Ruem’s convenience. You might have appreciated the silence, but at least Ruem’s conversation starter is appealing.

“Well, okay. Where to start. Videogames are a whole industry, a medium even, so they can be a lot of different things,” you say, more to yourself than to Ruem.

Though you can’t see pupils, you can always feel when Ruem is rolling her eyes at you. “I mean, how do they even work, dumbass? Like how do you control moving comics in real time? Sounds like magic, and you said your world doesn’t have that.”

It’s beginning to feel like Ruem listens more than you give her credit for. She’s just more selective about it than you’d like. You spend the next twenty minutes trying to explain what videogames even are, which you realize at the start requires describing what movies are, and it’s just a whole thing. During this, Umeso starts lightly snoring, confirming once more to you that ‘resting my eyes’ is always just code for ‘taking a nap if I can get away with it.’

“So like, in some videogames there are whole swarms of creepy demon guys that you get to obliterate one by one with an ‘apparently not magic’ gun thingamajig? And you don’t have to feel bad about it because they’re all fake?” Ruem says, practically yelling in excitement.

A glance at Umeso confirms that Ruem’s loud voice has not affected them in the slightest. “Well yeah, but again, there’s all sorts of videogames. There’s ones that tell deep, meaningful stories mostly using unmoving pictures and words, ones that simulate farming, ones that—”

“Yeah but I care about the one that sounds like my Demon Destroyer comics, so shut up about the lame-ass games?”

Rolling your eyes, you stifle a chuckle, mostly to avoid encouraging her. “So you want to hear more about Doom, then.”

“Yes. Doom and only Doom!!” she says, practically bouncing on Umeso’s shoulder. And still her antics don’t wake your sleeping friend.

With a sigh, you say, “Is there a particular aspect? The history of the franchise, the lore, the—”

“Descriptions of the gory killing, obviously!!” she shouts, glaring. Then, a little less aggressive but no less enthusiastic, she adds, “Also any cool one liners.”

You have a strange desire to pet the little dark ball that is Ruem, but you’re sure she’d hate it. Still, a nicer urge than kicking her, at least. “Of course. I don't think Doomguy has a lot of those, but anyway, with the cacodemons…”

~The Next Day~

It only takes Elleminie a minute or so to notice you this time. She’s sitting in her tiny bed and wallowing, as far as you can tell. She looks tired, ragged even, and despite the smile that appears on her face once she notices you, she’s clearly unhappy.

Moments after realizing you’re there, she starts signing. She signs a lot, and she signs it fast, and you start to wonder if she is going to stop at any point. She doesn’t, at least not for a while, and unfortunately you have not managed to learn enough to keep up with pretty much any of it. When she finally allows you a moment, you flick a finger up and shake your head from side to side, indicating you don’t understand.

She seems frustrated, but apologizes. With a few slow movements, she indicates that things are complicated, and that she has had a long, bad day.

“Sorry, wish I could help,” you sign back.

She smiles. “Appreciate it.”

~That Evening~

As Radestro’s tongue leaves your mouth and the man himself gives you some breathing room, you focus on your face. It is vitally important that it does not convey the deep level of disgust you are currently feeling, and that it instead conveys that you enjoyed what just happened and that everything is fine and normal and that everyone is happy. You’re pretty sure you pull it off.

“You’re less vigorous than usual, my dear.”

Damn, maybe not.

“Sorry… I might still be under the weather?”

“Under… weather?” he says, cocking his head.

Is that not a phrase on Idestra? “It means sick.”

The confusion on Radestro’s face morphs into delight. “Does it now? Delightful! Did you come up with it yourself?”

…Well, if it doesn’t exist here, why not take the credit? “I sure did!”

Ruem’s boyfriend laughs, and you can feel the deep rumble of it vibrating in his chest. The two of you are still far too close to one another, and you’d been doing a good job of ignoring it up to now. No, Biat, school your expression, school it!!

“Are you still feeling unwell?” His eyebrow is cocked, perhaps in concern? You have a hard time reading this man, despite or maybe because of how over-the-top he often acts.

“Think so, actually, now that you mention it.” Just like with your revulsion, you force the “sorry” that naturally comes to your mind down. Ruem wouldn’t say it.

He’s definitely irritated now, no mistaking that. “Wonderful. I thought it strange that you warned me the other day.”

As his eyes wander and the conversation peters out, you worry that things will take a turn back to the physical, which is something you cannot allow. “So, we’ve talked a lot about me…”

“As usual.”

“But what have you been up to lately?”

Though he looks a little surprised, the grin spreading across his face makes it clear he’s taken the bait. “Oh, well, the usual! A bit of swashbuckling here, a bit of item acquisition there…” You’re not sure what you expected, but it wasn’t either of those two things. Before you can figure out how to ask for clarification without giving the ‘not-Ruem’ game away, Radestro continues. “Not as much of the former as I’d like, though, I must say. My sword’s been feeling remarkably lonely lately… almost as much as I have, in your absence.”

Ignoring the waggling eyebrows, you say, jokingly, “Not enough people to stab?”

“There never are. But especially lately. Haven’t seen the bandits at all this past week.” The bandits? Usually it’s Umeso filling your head with questions.

“Well I hope you see them soon?”

He sighs. “As do I.”

~Five Days Later~

There’s a lot of shouting going on, though you can’t hear any of it. Ellemenie is arguing, emphatically, with someone that you can’t see, waggling her arms around, her mouth opening wide as she speaks. It’s strange, you’ve been under the impression that Ellemenie is rather soft spoken, but that might just be because you’ve literally never heard her voice. Still, even when she’s signed aggressively at you, it’s felt like if she were speaking, she’d be whispering. But she is definitely not whispering right now.

After a few minutes, the conversation comes to a sudden end when Ellemenie’s face jerks to the side, as though… Shock washes over you, quickly followed by rage. Someone hit her. For a moment, you wish you could see whoever did it, if only so you could fantasize about kicking their ass. But Ellemenie… She just stands there, hand to her cheek, probably listening as whatever jerk did that to her talks. Finally, you sense that the person is gone. It’s just you and Ellemenie, alone again.

It still takes her a while to see you. When she does, she’s clearly surprised. She looks to the side, then back near you, and since the two of you are literally, physically closer than you used to be, you can see a strained smile on her face.

“Sorry,” you sign.

“Thank you,” she signs back, before launching into a stream of signs, her movements jerky and sharp. You try to keep up, but once again you can’t understand most of what she’s trying to tell you. The sense you get is that she’s venting, even if you can’t understand the particulars. Unfortunately, partway through she glances at you a little too head-on, and you melt into consciousness.

~Three Days Later~

As one of the multiple classes that you and Umeso share comes to an end, the two of you join a throng of students leaving the classroom. Making your way down the hall together, you lean in toward them and say, “So, I probably failed that test. Not that I feel too bad, being from a different world and all. Ruem probably won’t appreciate it, though.”

“I imagine not,” they say, looking straight ahead. “She is not here right now, though, if that is what you are trying to determine.”

This isn’t the first time Ruem has apparently ditched Umeso during classtime. You’ve wondered aloud where it is she runs off to, but Umeso claims that Ruem has never bothered to say. Maybe she goes and watches Radestro or something.

Walking in silence a few more moments, you say, “I’ll bet you did great, though, right? Given how intelligent you are.”

Far from preening like they usually do when complimented — a trait you have quickly grown fond of — they instead look… uncomfortable. “What do you intend to eat for lunch today?”

Completely dodging the question? Interesting. “Probably a sandwich.” A beat. “Do you… not think you did well?”

They turn their head away. “Must I answer that question?”

“You mustn’t, if you really don’t want to. I’m just… surprised, I guess. You’re so smart.”

They grimace. “Being ‘smart’ and being a good test taker are not the same thing. I have… always struggled with the latter.”

Oh. Yeah, you had a friend like that, back in high school. The two of you didn’t keep up when you went to college. “Right, I get it. Sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed.”

“You would hardly be the first. Most of the professors clearly think little of me, given the grades I make.” After a heavy sigh, a faint smile, more in the eyes than the mouth, appears on their face. “Professor Spakle is the only one who seems to understand, at least on some level. Their accommodations are much appreciated.” So that’s why they mention Professor Spakle so often. Or part of the reason, at least.

“Well I’m glad at least one person is willing to give you the help you need.” You put a hand on their shoulder and smile. “There’s probably not much I can do, since you’re the one who’s been teaching me and all, but let me know if I can help, okay?”

They nod their head, but also avert their eyes. “Thank you.” Letting your hand fall away, the two of you walk in companionable silence for a few more minutes. Then, they turn to you with a look of determination. Have they thought of something you can do to help? They put a hand on your shoulder. “I think I will eat a salad.”

~Two Days Later~

For the last few days, whenever you dream Ellemenie has either been busy the whole time or asleep. You’ve been wondering if you should try to pick a better time for your afternoon naps or something, though you don’t exactly have many windows of opportunity, given how often you’re involved with Umeso, Ruem, Kittpey, or Radestro.

But perhaps you needn’t worry, because this time Ellemenie is anxiously pacing back and forth, alone, and she notices you within seconds. Once she does, her eyes go unnervingly wide, and she starts frantically making a sign you’re unfamiliar with. She keeps one hand flat toward the ground, while with the other she extends a single finger. Then she places that finger between the middle and index finger of the flat hand before quickly flicking it out and away from her. Maybe she wants you to go somewhere?? Or hurry to do something? You commit the sign to memory, but before you can sign anything back, she stares directly at you. Though her eyes are beautiful as always, there is unmistakable terror within them, and it twists your stomach in knots as you are jettisoned from the dreaming world.

~~~

Leaping out of bed, you scramble to get dressed and then vault out your room door. Kittpey, you’ve got to find Kittpey. Those red eyes are burned into your soul, sparking a panic within you that is eating you alive. You have to figure out what Ellemenie was trying to say and you have to figure it out immediately, even if it requires making a fool of yourself.

To that end, after checking Kittpey’s room (which is only a few doors down from your own) and exiting your dorm building, you start yelling your friend’s name at the top of your lungs. This earns you many incredulous and irritated stares, but you ignore them. Time is of the essence, you’re sure of it.

Passing by another building, you notice someone rushing down the path toward you. Someone with bright blonde hair. As she approaches she shouts, “I’m here, stop fucking yelling!!”

Breathing ragged, you wheeze out, “Sorry!! Important! It’s — I’ve got to ask!”

“Shut up for a second and let yourself breathe,” she says, grabbing your arm. She pulls you off the path and away from the staring eyes, over toward the wall that separates the school from the town. The two of you stop in the shadows, and Kittpey glares daggers. “What in the world is wrong with you?”

“A sign! I need to ask you what it means!!”

“Really, that’s what this is about!? Why the fu—” You press a finger to her lips — which are really soft, wow — and she stops talking, staring at your retreating digit. She can’t seem to decide what she wants to be angry about now.

Taking advantage of her confusion, you start imitating the sign Ellemenie was making. “This. What does this mean?” Her eyes narrow, and she barely glances at your hand. Her mouth opens to yell at you some more, but you speak first. “Kittpey, please!! I’m terrified! Please tell me what this means!!”

Clamping her mouth shut, she rolls her eyes and looks down at your hands. For a moment she just keeps glaring, but then confusion takes over, with a hint of worry.

“It means ‘run away,’” she says softly. “Who—”

A deep, rumbling shout shakes the air around you, rising in pitch until it becomes an ear-splitting shriek. You both slap hands over your ears, wincing from the painful ringing in your eardrums. In this disoriented state, you almost miss a second rumble, growing closer, more like multiple things pounding into the ground in quick succession than the earlier roar. Kittpey pulls you against her with one arm, her eyes skittering around wildly.

“Ruem, what is—”

Three meters away from where you both stand, the wall explodes.