Harper (NaNoWriMo 2014)

Chapter 10: Eru'Deru'Dey

“What is that?” Cirrus asked through mouthfuls of food, pointing at the red lego helicopter next to Harper’s plate. 

They were eating on the floor, cushions for seats, a square fringed blanket acting both as table and table cloth. Harper couldn’t help but wonder if this was how Asian people ate, and spent much of the meal imagining Mr. Hong in his apartment, eating on the floor. 

The food actually wasn’t that bad. Spicy, with lots of meat, and grains that tasted like rice, but also didn’t taste like rice. And hot. Steaming hot. Cirrus and Agile horked down their meals almost immediately, but Harper had to wait a good ten minutes for the smoke to cool down, and even then he still burned his entire mouth, tongue included. 

Still. It wasn’t bad. And Harper was hungry. The best way to describe the food was that it looked a lot like curry. The flavors were just a little different…sharper. Rougher. Despite the spiciness and heat, he ate a lot. And drank a lot. He didn’t think he’d ever needed this much water to wash down a meal in his life. 

Harper lifted the small toy, eyebrows raised, as if asking “this?”

Cirrus nodded affirmatively. 

He swallowed. “It’s a helicopter,” he said, giving the propeller a spin, “Made it out of some of your legos.” He reached over to hand her the creation. 

She took it with one hand, examining it as she stabbed into her food again. That was one convenient thing. They used forks and knives and spoons here. 

“You made this?” she asked, shoveling a large forkful into her mouth. “How?” Multicolored grains popped out of her mouth as she spoke. Table manners, apparently, hadn’t quite transcended the portals. 

“Your legos,” he said. Finished eating, he stood up and retrieved one of her mason jars of legos. “See?” he said, shaking it a little before unscrewing the lid. He poured a few of the small bricks into his palm and placed the jar next to him. “These things? You can make shit with them.” He started assembling them, clicking them into place as Cirrus watched with wide eyes, chewing. Agile looked considerably less interested, but Harper could see those black eyes watching his fingers. The dragon was in a younger, shorter form than before, but it was still older and taller than when Harper had initially seen him. Wiry, with the same length of hair and pale skin. Just more facial bone structure. Looking around 17 years. 

“Need a couple more of these,” he said, pulling out a few more bricks. After snapping them on, he held up his new creation. “And there! We have ourselves a wonderful car!”

It was more of a minivan than anything, with wheels that didn’t even have rubber, but Harper figured it would still impress the kid. He held it out to her and she put down her fork to take it. After examining it, turning it over, she pushed it along the floor, and a smile lit up on her face when it rolled along accordingly. 

“So you’re supposed to make things with those little things?” she asked, reaching a hand out, fingers stretching and closing in a grabby motion.

Harper handed her the jar, assuming that was what she wanted, and nodded. He watched with amusement as she held up two pieces, no doubt trying to figure out how exactly they went together. When they snapped together, she smiled again. “Hah! So that’s how you do it!” she exclaimed, and started to stack more on top of each other.

After watching her make a series of stairs, Harper finally asked, gesturing roundly at her place, “How did you get all this shit, anyways? It just fall through or whatever? Or do they sell this shit here?”

“Mostly it’s stuff that falls through,” Cirrus said, “We live near a lot of different portals, some stationary, some that move around. Typically, everyday I walk around and check to see if anything fell through. And if I like it, I keep it. Though, I usually bring everything in anyways. Just sell what I don’t want.”