Veridis Quo

Chapter 26 - Play Date

The day had finally come. Or should it be night? Since it took place well into the late evening, past a child's ideal bedtime.

Exiting the main building, I suppressed a shiver, the cool air of the sunless sky only affecting my furless self. Although the season has irrefutably changed into spring and was a month and some away from summer, I had no resistance against low temperatures beyond the clothes on my back.

I could have brought a jacket with me, in my backpack, but it'd take a third of the space and add weight. In other words, I was too lazy to plan ahead before the practical.

Rolling my shoulders, I welcomed the feral cold in spite of my body's reaction. Likely a result of living in an island in the northern hemisphere, the clutches of winter were persistent, the contrast between the zenith of our gaseous ball of plasma, which had a zero point zero repeating with a one at the end percent chance of discombobulating a fart, and either dawn or dusk were a sizable ten degrees celsius. The world called it something else, I simply kept to runes of my era.

It wouldn't be long until the end of the year, I noted, not the first nor the last.

Travelling along the curved path, I stuck my hands in my pockets, the suspenders tightly holding up my pants a pinkie above the waist. I'd gotten so used to the wear it was like a second skin, the slightly faded colors a result of the frequent abuse and wash.

I breathed the air, my lungs feigning a stab. It was just that cold without the grace of the sun, also, the proximity to the sea wasn't balling in my court.

Living within walking distance, I yearned for a day at the beach, building sand castles and diving into the waters, spying on the exotic fish- which would count as stalking considering all fish were sentient.

I wondered how that came to be. Was it the radiation dose on the day of our fiery demise? Evolution making a fool of god or vice-versa. Why would land animals mutate to a humanoid form while sea life gained speech, as barbaric as it was, and retained the exact form their ancestors possessed?

Either I wasn't gone for as long as I believed or...

„Of course," I mused, half a minute away from the male herbivore residence, „water..."

It was a shield for marine life, preserving them throughout the ages. That left a problem though; the tongue. What triggered the specific mutation into sentience? I wasn't knowledgeable enough to answer that and I didn't care beyond the tip of the iceberg.

Concluding my curiosities, I entered the lobby, greeting the housemother with a curt nod. Then, I finished at my room, making sure to lock it before preparing for the night.

It was a special night.

Not for me, I wouldn't lift a finger even if their lives depended on it. A little radical, but whatever.

Tonight... was the night of the play, the name still slipping between the folds of my brain.

After emptying my bag and sorting its volume with tomorrow's classes, I stripped myself to my birthday suit and went for a quick shower. Cold water was good for the soul blah blah blah, I didn't want to catch a cold, so hot water it was.

It was difficult to resist temptation, but I successfully cleansed my body in ten minutes, the mirror above the sink fogged and blurry.

Stepping out of the shower, I dried myself off on a laid tower, droplets of warm water slowly soaking below.

I hummed, a hairstyle for the occasion in mind.

While my hair was still wet, I slicked back all of it. The ends fell to the top of my shoulders, and on realistic inspection, I wasn't confident in my looks.