Oblivion

F I V E

Monday, 30 September, 2019

Zyre

"So...you and Drax are actually identical twins?" I asked, looking between the Drax and his sister Aera, "I'm confused."

Drax just smirked wickedly at that, "Yep. Care to guess how?"

"Not really..." I replied, running a hand through my blonde hair.

Aera just cast a side glance towards her brother, an amused smile on her face.

"Well, I'm biologically female," Drax said, studying my face carefully.

"Oh..." I murmured, "You're trans, then? I used to have a friend who was genderfluid. They were pretty cool."

Drax looked relieved and started beaming at me, "That's reassuring. You just never know what people will think -- sure, everyone excepted the fact that sexuality can be different, but with gender, it's a whole different story."

"We've come so far -- to the point where we almost perfected immortality -- yet, so many people still refuse to believe that gender is a spectrum," I said, shaking my head.

"It's absolutely ridiculous," Drax agreed with me, crossing his arms and frowning.

"See, Si gets it!" Area exclaimed, grabbing her brother by the shoulders and shaking him a bit violently.

"Aera!" he shouted at her, causing the girl to promptly let go of him.

"Sorry."

"Wait...what did you call me?" I questioned.

"Si," she answered in a loud, energetic voice, "You know instead of just 'Zyre' or 'Zy'. I like Si much better anyway."

I heard a sharp intake of breath from someone in the room, and suddenly, Nyco had bolted out of the room so fast that he nearly looked like a blur.

I just blinked in shock after him, "What was that about?"

Drax and Aera shrugged before the boy said, "I dunno...seemed kinda upset about something. That or he really had to use the bathroom."

"I think I'll go check on him..." I said quietly before going after Nyco.

As soon as I exited the room, I saw Nyco sitting on the carpeted floor and slumped against the concrete walls with his head buried in between his knees that were nearly brought up to his chest, arms wrapped tightly around his legs to keep them in place, and from what I could see of it, his face seemed paler than usual.

I frowned and took a seat next to him, close enough that our arms were barely brushing against each other, "Hey, Nyco? You okay?"

The brunette barely looked up at me before trying to bury his face even further between his knees.

"I'll take that as a no," I said, leaning slightly into the boy's side while I let us sit silently.

After a few minutes of just sitting there, Nyco shifted a bit until his head was resting atop his knees, looking at me with a saddened look, "Can you just leave for a bit? I don't really want anyone to see me like this..."

"Well, great job sitting in the middle of a hallway that leads to the lounge and one of the two bathrooms in this building," I said sarcastically before sighing, "And besides, I don't want you to be sad for too long."

He smiled weakly at me, "Thanks for that. I guess I kinda freaked out back there."

I smiled sweetly, "That's an understatement...you left that room so fast I almost didn't know who it was."

He chuckled lightly at that, "You're pretty good at cheering people up, you know...or at least me, anyway. It's kinda strange how similar you are to--"

"Sylus?" I asked.

Nyco just nodded in response, the sad look returning, "I used to call him that all the time -- Si, I mean. It's ridiculous how much I miss him."

"It's not ridiculous," I told him, "From what I've heard, Sylus seemed pretty important to you."

"Yeah," he agreed, "he was. You have no idea how important he was to me."

"He's probably as important to you as I am flirty," I joked, nudging Nyco in the side.

The boy chuckled, "That might be true, though, you haven't been too flirty lately."

"All the cute boys seem to be taken and don't encourage me enough to continue with it," I said with a shrug, "If it isn't any fun then I probably won't flirt."

"What do mean by 'probably'?" Nyco asked with an amused smirk.

"I'll only continue flirting with someone if they indulge me or I find them attractive enough to actually be worth it," I replied.

I noticed a strange look in Nyco's eyes before he said, "Well, what about me?"

"Hmm?" I hummed, "You are attractive, dear, but don't flatter yourself."

We both laughed at that.