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Scarlet

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After a long sigh, Amy begins her story. “When I was in high school, I was kidnapped walking home from school. The kidnappers took me to some laboratory. They did… all kinds of things to me. Eventually something went very wrong and everything exploded and ripped apart. When I woke up I was inside a worn down building.” A maid brings a plate of food and places it in front of the girl. “I was starving. Tired too, even though I just woke up. Eventually I fumbled my way outside.”

She sighs. “That’s when I realized I couldn’t be on Earth anymore. I saw the base of one of those massive floating crystals, the ones with buildings attached to them. The pointed bottom was very close to where I had woken up.” Her story pauses so she can pick at her food for a moment. “I scrounged for food, sometimes begged. Tried to get work, but didn’t find any. I'm glad I understood the language at least.” She glances at me. “Then I, uh… I got taken. I was used in the… typical way a captured woman is in the slums, until some geezer bought me. I was passed around a bunch after that, until I got a chance to escape.” Her face is flat now, her eyes dim. “The guy who was… using me… passed out in the middle of things, probably drank too much.” She glances at Tara, then at me. I nod, not too worried about Tara being exposed to the idea of violence, she did slaughter all those mimics. “After I snapped his neck I jumped off the balcony, it was only the second floor. Then I booked it for the woods.”

Father’s eyes go wide. “There was a house in the woods?”

Amy nods. “Is that so weird?” She glances between me and Father.

“Yes it is, I’m not sure what it’s like where you come from, but people do not build outside of towns. Especially not in forests.” Father says. Amy looks confused, so Father explains a bit more. “The giant crystal you saw protects everyone inside from monsters. Outside the barrier is totally unsafe. Monsters can sense people who are not inside and will hone in on them the moment they’re hungry enough.”

Amy nods in understanding. “Well… Where I come from, Earth, doesn’t have crystals like that. It doesn’t have monsters, either, so I didn’t realize something was off about the house.” She drinks some of the wine being offered by a maid. “After that I passed out in the woods. Woke up inside the sack that you probably found me in.”

I mull over all the hardships the woman has been through. Father looks at me, probably expecting my coming request. “Father, could we hire Miss Amy as my assistant? She has a last name so it should be okay.” I ask.

Father sighs before waving the question off. “Fine, you’d do it anyway if I say no.” He puts his hands together in front of him. “That is, if Miss Amy wants to.” Amy looks at Father with her mouth open before slowly looking at me.

“Is he kidding? I’ve been forced into letting people violate me for the last… I don’t even know how long. Of course I want the job!” She beams. “I’ll do anything you need, Scarlet!” She puts her hand flat above her eyes in some kind of salute.

I’m happy seeing life slowly return to her eyes, the shell of a person I brought into the hall earlier was too sad to bear.

“Amy, could you tell me what an elf is?” I ask casually.

Amy tilts her head at my question. “Oh, uh, an elf was a race in my old world… Well, it was a fictional race, as far as I know.” She rubs the back of her head, causing her frizzy red hair to move around.

I make eye contact with Father. “Well, these elves don’t exist here, but my younger sister is one.”

Amy looks lost. “I don’t understand, if they don’t exist how is your sister one? Wouldn’t her mother be one, too?” Her questions make sense, but my family doesn’t.

“Since you’ll be my assistant, and you seem to have had a similar experience, I’ll explain. We woke up in the middle of the nearby forest with no memories. Father adopted us so we could have a home.” I shoot Father a warm smile. He looks away, blushing a bit. “My younger sister, Luna, her race is elf on her status, but no one has any idea what that is, or what an elf even looks like.”

Amy’s face scrunches up. “Scarlet, how do you not know what an elf looks like if your sister is one?” She asks. Father snorts into his glass.

“Well, Luna is completely invisible, at all times.” I say flatly.

The woman’s mouth drops open. “Well, that’d do it. Elves in my world were not invisible, even temporarily.” She pops a vegetable into her mouth. “Wait, doesn’t that mean she’s probably from Earth?”

She’s on the same lead that I’m following. “It depends, do you know what a dryad is?”

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Amy spins in the center of the bedroom, her eyes taking in everything excitedly. “Wow! This room is like half the size of my apartment! Well, the one back home. On Earth.” She finishes her spin, facing me. “You really gonna give me this whole room?” Her eyes twinkle in joy, and a hint of greed.

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I nod with a laugh. “Yes, yes. It’s all yours.” She squeals in excitement before jumping into the bed with a whoomph. The blankets shift as her head pokes out of the settling comforter.

“Would you like to stay and chat with me, Scarlet?” Her eyes are glowing in happiness, her face showing the most emotion since she’s arrived. A grin spreads over my face as I nod. “Yaaaay!”

I get myself comfortable in an armchair as the woman squirms in the bed. Eventually she ends up on her stomach, facing me. Her relaxed and careless nature makes her oddly endearing.

“So…” She scratches her head. “What should we talk about?” Her face stretches into a wide grin. “This is like a sleepover!” She giggles to herself.

I think her question over. “Well, what about this world? You’ve been here a while but you seem to know nearly nothing about it.”

She nods slowly.

I spend a few hours telling her everything I know. Townhearts, dungeons, magic, the system, the church, my family, just absolutely everything. I warn her of our switching, and how to handle Wight. She says she wants to get her status checked, and get a class. “To help you more!” is her reason. Her explosively bubbly personality makes me laugh deep into the night. It’s amazing she’s still so vibrant after all she’s been through. Eventually the two of us doze off, her in bed and I in the armchair.

I’m happy to have found a new friend.

】〓〓〓〓【

Amy

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For the first time in months, I had a pleasant dream. It was somewhat scary, but it ended happily. It’s a bit depressing that I had to dream up a friend to talk to. I’ll take it though, anything to beat the loneliness.

I open my eyes, expecting the dark fabric of the bag. Mr. Bag isn’t there to greet me though, Ms. Chandelier is. That can’t be right. I sit up to get my bearings. I’m in a huge bedroom, a huge fancy bedroom. There’s even a balcony!

Wait… this is the room from the dream. Was that all real? Even the dragon child? Wow, I think I preferred it being a dream. Why won’t these blankets let go of me? I’m not interested in marriage yet, you fabric leech! Eventually I tumble out of my bed onto the floor, without the emotionally dependent cloth.

Scarlet is gone, the chair where she was empty. That’s good, falling asleep in a chair can really hurt your neck. Especially with how tall she is. Mmmm… tall women… Anyway, I’m alone, time to get dressed!

I help myself to the dresser, she said the room was mine. There’s only dresses, very bright, very flowery dresses. My skin crawls thinking of wearing more clothes that leave me vulnerable. Never again. I dig deeper into the dresser, eventually moving to the nearby wardrobe.

The kindly wardrobe rewards my efforts. A very nice pair of pants with a matching shirt. It’s still all frilly, but that should help me get away with not wearing a dress. I throw on the clothes, which are weirdly my size, and get ready to leave.

My skin almost goes into orbit when the door to my room randomly slams open. As I attempt to reattach the fleeing flesh the dragon girl wanders in. She’s weirdly sniffing around, like she’s some kind of dog.

My nearly reapplied organ once again flees as someone groans from the armchair. Tara’s face splits into a smirk. “I got you! I knew you were in here!” I glance around for who she’s talking about.

This time I just let my skin travel to space, there’s no chance it’s getting back on.

A whisper flows through the room. “How do you always find me?” The almost dust-like voice comes from the chair Scarlet had been sitting in.

Tara thwacks her flat chest proudly. “You smell!”

I can’t help it, this is so stupid. Cackles pour out of me, like some sort of… liquid being spilled, I guess. Wait! That means she was in here when I was changing? I feel my ears start to burn.

Another person walks into my room without permission. This one is attractive, so I’ll let it slide. He’s a wiry but strong-looking guy with pitch black hair. He’s wearing a handsome uniform that has plates attached to it. A massive battle axe glares at me from his back.

None of that is what stands out to me about him, well, besides him being hot. What really stands out is that he looks clearly Asian. Well, probably not Asian, unless he’s also from Earth. Which isn’t totally out of the ballpark. He stands out because almost everyone I’ve met since waking up has dark skin. Maybe white people never popped up here, or maybe they’re off somewhere else. But I’ve been dragged around quite a bit. Who knows. The important thing is his looks. Wait, no, it's that he’s a knight. A knight who just waltzed in here.

“Lady Luna, are you going to go with Lady Kezmark to the Church of the Eight?” His tone is totally dead, so is his face. Is he a statue? Do they have living statues here? He looks flesh and blood, but what do I know?

Luna moans angrily from within my armchair. “No, I want to train, not babysit some stray.” Wow, rude? What is she, fifteen? I’ll be a better person, an adult.

“You wanna go, little missy?” Aww damn, that’s not right. My incorrect words make Luna snort.

“Right, I’m not going to fight someone who looks like she hasn’t eaten in four years.” Her tone cuts deep. But only because of how malnourished I am, if I had been healthy that insult would be barely skin deep.

“Give me six months and I’ll kick your ass, rich girl!” Man my mouth really is just trying to get me killed, is it even listening to me? Luna laughs at that, a sound not unlike a desk fan.

The girl’s tone is excited, but still a whisper. “You’re on, lady, six months.”

Tara’s head slowly turns and follows nothing as it leaves the room. “Stop looking at me, little girl! You’re giving me away!” Man, maybe she is fifteen. Her tone just now sounded just like the middle schoolers at home.

The dragonchild chases after the ghost, leaving me alone with Mr. Handsome. I wonder if he’s single, and likes women. “Lady Kezmark, I’ll take you to the church if you’re okay with it.” I nod, I don’t care what he asked, but my answer is yes.