Finding Humanity: The Assorted Adventures of Two Supernatural Entities

Two Beings with Two Voices

When Felix woke up, it was still dark, that pressing-in, spanning-out, darkness. But it was less. The fabric beneath em was rough but cushioned, eir weight making it sink in a bit. It was different from the thick grass from before, still wet with dew and cold. Ey whimpered and curled around themselves tighter, willing emself back to eir true home.

"Yeah, no, Suzie, I don't think the landlord is going to like this."

"Daria, please." The voices were enunciated and sharper, cutting through to Felix far more clearer and quicker than in the Otherspace. "The poor dog- the- they- whatever. I had to get Kila off work to help them!"

I think that's what I am. A dog. Ey had chosen their form so long ago, ey're not fully sure what it had originally been. Eir head pulses with dull pain, eir limbs screech in soreness, torn muscle, tingles, foreign languages that Felix has yet to decipher.

"Suzie! You got Kila? Oh goddammit, now I'll never hear the end of it!"

"This isn't about Kila! This is about them!"

"I know, but- oh, shit, are they awake?"

Maybe they paused to look at em, maybe they paused to conjure someth- they can't. I can't. Not here. Not anymore. Then that means they are looking at him. Maybe they are one being with two voices, or one being with two heads, or perhaps two separate beings, or perhaps there were more that had just stayed silent. Whatever the case, Felix kept eir eyes screwed shut, blocking out the unnatural darkness until beautiful spots of colour appeared in their vision a trace of home, something ey were familiar with.

"Okay, um, turn on the lights!" A click. A flood. Warmth. Sweet warmth. Ey open their eyes.

Two figures. Two separate voices, then. Eir eyes are hungry for the light, they drink it in and waste no time adjusting. One is a tall, lanky feline, white with ginger speckles and— Felix squints— eir eyes hurt to look at the dark-coloured splotches on their body. The other one is equally an eyesore. A shoddy fox, fur long and a deep russet, the few strips of white doing nothing for Felix's poor eyes.

"Where am I?"

The fox narrows their eyes. "I-I'm sorry?"

"Where?" Ey repeat again. But neither seem to understand.

"I need to get back, you don't understand, please."

"Suzie-"

"Daria-"

"I can't understand-"

"- a word the dog's saying."

The two look at each other. A sentence had finally formed between a two about the stranger in their home.

"Uhm, me neither..." Suzie sighs. "I hope it's just the pain, this will be a lot more difficult if they can't speak English..."

"Hey," the fox turns back to em, "can you understand me?"

Felix sits up even when eir limbs scream at em to stop, and ey nod.

"Okay, good, they understand us at least. That's good, right, Daria?" The feline comments, hope alight in her voice, attempting to console her friend.

Felix flinches when 'Daria' takes a step closer. "What's your name?"

Felix clears eir throat, concentrating on eir voice.

"F-Felix."

Suzie frowns. She turns to Daria. "Weird accent."

Daria hums in agreement. "Their bones were-"

"dislocated." Suzie finishes Daria's sentence, bypassing whatever bloc in their psyche that prevented them from helping Felix. "So you had to-?"

"Pop them back into place, yes. And all the bruises-"

"-I saw were accounted for. And they seem fine now," Suzie doesn't wait for Daria's turn. "I think because of the-" she frowns as her head weighs heavier on her shoulders. "f-fast treatment-" she begins swaying. "and... and Kila, that, there's n-no..." Flashes of soulstuff. "organ..." A seam between universes. "dam...damage..." Atoms against her skin and walking on black matter. "I-I need to go, where's the Tylenol?"

"It's... in the cabinet. Suzie, you okay?"

Suzie grunts noncommittally and stumbles to the cabinets in the kitchen.

"You're strange." Daria comments, turning back to Felix. "We can't even talk abou-" his voice halts. "Whatever. You want something to eat?"

Felix stares blankly.

Daria huffs. "Whatever. I'm making waffles."

Felix nods, confused. Ey may as well be polite to these beings.

Ey watch as Suzie takes a stout, cylindrical container and open it. She pops two tiny circles into her mouth. Daria opens a door on a large metal appliance and takes out four light brown, grad-marked circles and puts them into a smaller white box with slits at the top. He pulls down a black lever and the circles disappear inside the white box.

Ey watch their every movement, fascinated by the stability, by its realness, how the light and shadows makes their fur look different sometimes, how their eyes seem so used to the dark, horrid conditions. I think they are used to this light. It's all they've known. 

"Here, man." Daria places a white, concave... thing on eir lap. In it are the light brown circles from before, now softer and radiating heat. Ey look up at Daria, who is waiting expectantly. "Uhm." ey point at the things in their lap. "Eat?"

Daria frowns. "Y-yeah. It's food. Have you never had waffles before?"

Felix's eyes flick to Suzie for help. She has the 'waffles' in her mouth, jaws moving up and down. Watching her closely, Felix copies her.

Soft crisp pastry, the scent fills eir nose, teeth tearing through it like its nothing, brain releasing pleasant chemicals and making Felix swallow and enjoy the fullness ey get from it.

The second waffle is devoured in a heartbeat.

"Wow," Daria huffs. "Somebody's hungry. I should fix up dinner to eat, now, huh?"

Felix only registers 'to eat', excited, ey look up at Daria and nod excitedly. Ey wonder what 'fix up dinner' waffles taste like.