Forest of Imagination

The Observatory

"Tell me AGAIN why we're trudging through snow in another planet?" Ryan grumbled, kicking at the snow and hugging his furry coat closer to his body. He looked so cute with a snowflake in his tawny curls...!

Why am I involved in so much love drama when I have something more important on my mind? "Because we're due in two days, Ry," I replied, when it struck me: Ry! Talk about cute nicknames!

"Ry? Okay, fine, whatever. I'll accept that. But since you've avoided this question for, I dunno, FOREVER, what are we due for again?" Katie asked, talking with her hands in exasperation.

"Can't tell you. Let's just check into the ho - omigosh, what do they call it in United TM again? Verids? Yeah, let's check into that, and THEN do something so I can be by myself," I said.

Very explanatory, Melody. Seriously, you have been acting really weird since that note, you know.

Stop it, subconscious! It was an urgent and fake note that I had to follow because I was being blackmailed.

Did you ever think you could blackmail them back?

Nope, nor will I ever think that.

But I'm your subconscious! So actually, you thought that and I just let you know that you thought that.

Well, definitely in a pleasant way. Yikes, do you need to go to the bathroom? Don't do it in my brain!

Um, well...okay. Tootles!

Finally. Peace at long last.

Or not so long.

"Our verid has an observatory on top! Complete with a telescope!" Ryan squealed like a girl (not that that was a bad thing, of course), looking at our verid's brochure. I looked at him strangely, and I could swear a blush was creeping up his cheeks.

"Um, well, I kinda have this hobby...related to, um, astronomy?" Ryan stuttered, which didn't bother me. What really confused me was that, how did Ryan like astronomy and yet live in the sea almost all his life?

"But you live in the ocean," I replied blankly.

"Sometimes I come out on land, usually at daytime. But once, I got the timing wrong and it was nighttime, and I looked up and saw the stars and full moon and even a super small red dot in the sky that I never did see again," Ryan rambled sadly. "Mars, was what Everett called it."

"It's a Lander subject. You know, astronomy. Under the sea, you shouldn't learn that. Also, DID YOU SAY FULL MOON?" Katie burst out, and I burst out laughing. Katie was such a werewolf.

Actually, she is a werewolf, literally.

Aw, your bathroom break is over? Sad.

I know, right?

I hate my subconscious. 

"Well, at least you can change at will, right?" I asked. Katie nodded, but then shook her head.

"If I change purposely or accidentally at a full moon, I'll stay one until the next full moon with no control over my powers or even my body. Like Harry Potter's Remus Lupin, except for an entire full-moon time span," Katie explained, then took a breath. That was a lot to say.

"Anyway, back to our verid having an astronomy thingy, Ryan, you'll have another room near the top. Katie, you're my new roommate. Woo," I said without any enthusiasm. Rooming with Katie is...difficult.

"Woo," Katie repeated, with the same amount of enthusiasm (or even less, if that was possible).

"And here we are," I pointed to a fancy ho - verid right on the corner ten feet away from us. As if a line was separating the two weather types, there was snow on our side, the lonely and cold side, yet on the other side is was full of laughter, good cheer, and stars. So it was nighttime, luckily for Ryan.