Compared to meeting Mrs Wu at the shopping centre, visiting Jenn and Chris at their place caused a different level of anxiety. Meeting Mrs Wu outside of the usual setting had been a little unsettling, and I wasn’t a fan of crowds in the first place, adding another point of worry. On the other hand, there would be no crowd at Chris’ place, there’d likely only be him, Jenn and me. Which made me wonder if I would manage to hold a polite conversation with real people in a social setting, without alienating them.

Maybe after dealing with the life-like natives of Mundus, I could translate that skill into the ability to hold a conversation, similar to the way I could talk to Olivia. I wasn’t incredibly close to her, and there were only limited obligations between us, so it might be the closest comparison. Which just left the question of what to talk about open. With Olivia, our conversations were mostly about the current situation and environment, or magic and the divine workings of the Gods. Neither was a suitable topic for dinner conversation but on the other hand, talking about the weather was just so terribly… insipid.

After a quick search on the Internet, I found suggestions to talk about shared interests or characteristics, but that didn’t really help much. Considering interests, I had little idea what Jenn was interested in and while I had known Chris very well in the past, it had been years since we talked in-depth. Back then, his interests had focused on Craft of War and information technology and later, after Amaranthine had taken off, he had gained an interest in finance. That interest had slowly transformed into his current career, something we somewhat shared. He was mostly providing financial advice, while my own job focused on the numbers, the small minutiae that needed to be taken care of. The hundreds of thousands of numbers that had to remain in balance, or someone, somewhere would be seriously upset. After all, those numbers represented their money.

There was some intersection, but he worked with people, I worked with numbers. And that idea completely ignored Jenn, leaving her out would be terribly inconsiderate. But what did I share with her? What did I even know about her, other than that she was pregnant and married to Chris?

Maybe that was something to do before Chris got home, get to know her, at least to the point that we could make conversation.

Letting out a sigh, I did another check on the ingredients, making sure that I had everything I needed before heading out. Luckily, it was reasonably good weather, with only a bit of snow on the ground and little wind, making it not too miserable.

As I waited for the bus, I idly considered whether to buy a car at some point, but I didn’t need one. Living in the city, I could either walk or take public transport anywhere I needed to go, making a car a useless money-sink but sometimes they were useful.

After a wonderfully boring time on the bus and a short walk, I arrived in suburbia, where white picket fences ruled and every house appeared to be a cardboard cutout of the one next to it. Even I, who enjoyed regularity and order, was taken aback by the nightmare of conformity around me, a world where everything looked the same. There was nothing individual, even the few hedges and the lawns appeared to be made with the same template.

A shudder ran down my spine and I began wondering if I had wandered into a nightmarish hellscape and would soon be hunted by the pod-people with the intent of turning me into one of theirs. Looking around, I felt almost a little dizzy at the uniformity, focusing on the street signs to find the right place.

The realisation that my former friend was one of the pod-people, completely assimilated into their collective, was a harsh shock. Their house looked just like the one next door, with only the most minor alterations. In the past, I had thought that such uniformity was a goal worth striving for, a world where I could be at ease that nothing stood out, nothing to be counted or considered. But seeing it now, I felt anxious, my mind starting to doubt my senses, hyper-focusing on those few, minute details, those little signs of personality.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Taking a deep breath, I rang the doorbell, waiting for a minute until I was buzzed in.

“Samantha, hi.” Jenn greeted me, a friendly smile on her face.

“Hello, Jenn. It’s so good to see you.” I replied, subtly studying my host. Compared to the last time I had seen her, she had expanded, going from slightly pregnant to a sizable bump. A part of me was a little taken aback, the belly didn’t fit with the rest of her body, giving me the impression that it was an alien object, tacked onto a human frame, but I quickly pushed down that eery sensation, hoping that nothing showed on my face.

Given that the door wasn’t slammed in my face, I had a bit of confidence that my thought hadn’t been visible on my face.

“Why don’t you come in? Chris sent me a message that he’ll be a little late.” she invited me. Inside, the home was well set up, comfortable with a surprising amount of personality compared to the outside. Following Jenn, we moved into the living room, where she sat down on the sofa, letting out a sigh.

“Please, have a seat.” she invited me, pointing towards an easy chair.

“Thanks.” I sat down, smiling awkwardly as I tried to come up with something to say. Luckily, while I was feeling incredibly awkward, Jenn seemed to have no problem, easily drawing me into a conversation about my shared past with Chris. It sounded as if she hadn’t heard too much about it and soon, I was telling her a lot of the stupid and ridiculous things we had done during our school days. Back then, Chris had been the leader of our merry band of nerds, happily getting us into and out of trouble.

“I’m sorry, I was sworn to secrecy regarding the video incident.” I shook my head, realising that I had already shared too much. The incident that had occurred when we had managed to tap into the school’s surveillance system and record an explicit scene between the vice-principal and one of the teachers was best forgotten, the images having scarred my eyes and brain enough at the time. There were things no teenager was meant to see, and watching one of your favourite teachers ploughing the strict disciplinarian that was our vice-principal was one of them. Just thinking of it made a shiver run down my spine, even without considering the aftermath.

“Mhm, I guess.” she grinned, an air of disappointment around me. “Well, if you can’t tell me about Chris’ time at school, why don’t you tell me a bit about Samantha?” she asked, her eyes brimming with curiosity. With her focus changed, she started to gently prod and probe, getting me to talk about myself. Some of the things she managed to pull out of me made me blush brightly, especially when I let my difficulty to comprehend emotions slip. That I had needed to learn something as basic as why people smiled, or what the sensations within myself meant, made me feel… defective.

“So, you have never been in love?” she asked, before blushing herself, shaking her head, “No, you don’t need to answer that. I’m sorry that I asked such a personal question.”

I felt my own face heat up and closed my eyes for a moment. There was that small, tiny spark within me, a memory of another world, where strong arms and a gentle smell enveloped me, held me close and protected me. Letting the air flow slowly out of my nose, I gave Jenn a gentle smile.

“How does one know love?” I asked, knowing that there was no answer, “If she holds me close, I feel safe. If I smell her scent, I feel whole. If she touches me, I feel alive.” I shook my head, still blushing brightly.

“Tell me, is that love?” I repeated my question and now, Jenn was blushing just as brightly as I.

“It certainly sounds like it.” she nodded, before taking a glance at her watch.

“Oh, dear, I’m afraid Chris will be home soon. I’m so grateful that you offered to prepare dinner,” she added, sounding a little uncomfortable with the idea of the guest preparing dinner.

“I offered and really, I can’t make you cook, can I?” I smiled at her, before continuing, “Just like I would stand and give up my seat on the bus if a pregnant lady needs it, I’ll help. And it lets me re-connect with Chris, my mother always told me that I need to put in the effort to maintain friendships, that I can’t just pull back into my shell.” my smile turned a little sad, as I remembered my mother and her ceaseless efforts to help me navigate the weird, incomprehensible world of humans, the complexity of society and the myriad niceties that allowed thousands of humans to live in cities without them all killing one another. Not that it always worked, but society worked, more or less.

“Anyway, Chris has been a friend for years and while we have lost sight of each other for some time, I want to make the effort to reconnect. If I get to add you to my tally of friends, I’d consider that a bonus.” I nodded, stressing to myself that I had the correct reasoning.

I had dinner to prepare.