He opened his eyes lazily and his gaze met a dull steel ceiling, as far as he could tell. He raised his right hand from beneath his blanket and pinched his nose closing his eyes tightly. His hand then moved unhurried to his forehead before opening his eyes and blinking rapidly. His hand still on his forehead he turned his head slowly taking in the room he was in, it was not very large but still bigger than his apartment bedroom. The style and structure was Minimalistic aside from the obvious metallic structure of it popping out here and there. There was no window, the lighting was artificial , the source inlaid along the intersection of the roof and wall. Currently it was dim though, it helped his recently awakened eyes. He could make out the almost plastic or ceramic looking door to his far right facing his bed, it was not like any door he'd seen before. Some distance towards him but closer to the first was an opening probably leading to the washroom was his first assumption.
He slowly got up from his bed and sat there for about thirty seconds taking in more of the room before standing up. Immediately the dim lights got brighter disturbing his eyes slightly. He still felt the exhaustion in his muscles but not as severe as before, this time it was more like he had had an extensive gym session the previous day. 'Water I need water' Ian thought to himself his thirst reaching a threshold. He walked towards the opening he'd assumed led to the washroom and he had not been wrong. A familiar setting met his eyes, a mirror and sink. The sink and tap were however weirdly shaped. He took the container holding what he assumed were toothbrush and paste, he could not care much for them right now, and brought it beneath the weirdly shaped tap. He did not need to do anything other than that before water filled his tiny cup container. He drank greedily the first drink, well closer to a shot than drink.
Going for his second drink is when he glanced at the mirror, at that moment the tiny cup container dropped from his grasp. What had met his vision was a reflection not of his face but that of a complete stranger. In the reflection he had pale blonde almost whitish medium sized ear length locks, that was the first thing he noticed. His skin was really light brown, two or three shades from being 'white'. His eyes were almond shaped looking feminine, a small nose, small but full lips and a regular boyish jaw and overall face and head structure.
His wet right hand grabbed one of his locks before tracing across his face slowly, eventually his index finger rested on his lower lip. He stood there frozen for what could have been two minutes, he had not heard 'his' door 'open' and the figure standing across it at the opening of 'his' washroom studying him.
"Ehem! Nai ... " Ian had someone clear their throat. He turned his head from the mirror quickly to see an auburn haired woman standing there, a smile playing on her face. She glanced at the mirror for only a second then back to him and With a funny accent she said, "yer a pretty boy but don't be too obsessed with ya self, girls don't like that you know"
"No, that's not- " Ian was about to defend or explain himself but he lost his train of thought, 'Nai again, the old man also called me that ... it's weird it's basically my name backwards, maybe this means they know me more than I had thought. Is it a nickname? it would be a dumb one, maybe just a play on my name. I mean it does not sound cooler or better, or is it his name? the me in the mirror. I'm not stupid, whatever happened and since then is far from normal and especially this. That reflection is obviously not me and so far these strangers I have met have a friendly air to them like I'm supposed to know them, maybe it's not me but 'him'. Understanding that does not solve anything, does not explain anything. Maybe it's a dream? No it feels too real to be one, but is that enough to assume it's not? If it is I should eventually wake up! Yes if I go with that conclusion it should all be over soon ... but it does not feel right, think, think! I can't for too long that woman is still here, should I respond? the silence is getting awkward. What should I say though? Tell her, them, the truth? No they'd probably not believe me or send me to a psych, but maybe that would be good, yes if I get admitted my family should be notified-'
"Oi!" the woman exclaimed dragging Ian, well Nai from his thoughts. "Yer okay? none of that usual corky response, or did dying make yer humble?" She said with a chuckle, scanning the face of the dumbfounded Nai she continued, "Come on, been asleep sixteen hours and from the looks of it yer hungry and thirsty, lucky there's no need to wait long it's supper time" just as she finished speaking she turned and signed Nai to follow her.
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Ian stood there even after the woman had left his vision to the supposed hallway, this was only for a moment though. After another glance at 'his' appearance in the mirror he quickly went after the woman. She had not walked far, the hallway was not too wide, it was a more aggressively metallic looking structure than 'his' room was. Wide enough for two people to walk side by side, Ian however walked slightly behind the woman.
"Like the view or something?" the woman teased again. Ian did not respond still in his thoughts. The woman sighed before continuing, "I do not like this new you, better not be permanent ... yer not fun at all" this got Ian's attention, 'Of course they'll notice my unusual behavior, the longer the more weird and noticeable it will get. That, however, should not lead them to any conclusion if I decide to not spill the beans, I really need to make a decision on how to go about that, this whole thing. How to act though? I do not even know your names, I cannot keep quiet if I am to be helped' Ian was in his thoughts before replying, “No, I just need some time dying's no joke you know"
She turned to look at him her brows still creased, "About that you'll need to explain yourself to everyone, you cost as hell you know. Yer lucky Yhon's the one that found 'ya, Merim's probably planning to ditch you here and you especially need to explain yourself to April she has a thing for you you know, I don't get it though you're puny and no abilities"
They walked for a while before entering a wide room, had a circular table with twelve seats all around it. Three seats were already taken, another muscular huge man was setting food and plates on the table. On one of the seats Ian recognized the old man who had 'saved' him from the river, now he got an even clearer view of his appearance. He had black hair with whites to the edges of his ears, blue eyes and a very manly face with the wrinkles of age over it, 'Yhon?' Ian assumed, he remembered hearing it from the device on the man's wrist. He was reclining in his seat arms crossed behind his head staring at Nai and the auburn haired woman as they walked in, "Finally awake boy!" he said in a loud full voice a grin on his face exposing his surprisingly good teeth. "Come, seat next to me unless you want to seat with that there beast" he said the grin not disappearing from his face.
Ian glanced over from Yhon to the woman but she did not respond, only walked unhurriedly to the man standing above him. It was quiet for a while before , bam! a fist landed on the man's face. He had not even moved to protect himself. He fell from his reclining posture, the woman took his seat and looked back over at Nai, "Oi! add that to the list of things girls don't like," the man taking the other seat across from where Yhon previously sat chuckled and said, "aggressiveness? Yhon was flirting I think"
"No, Yhon, they just don't like him. look he's nearly two hundred and never married"
Ian did not miss that but just like everything else he was waiting for an opportune moment to voice them out. "Oi! what you waiting for, you heard him come sit next him, well me now" the other two men and the one almost done setting the food all gave him short glances. Ian did not want to be too awkward, so he went slowly and politely sat next to the woman. Everyone else in the room gave his other short glances before laughing out loud, the other man seating to the right of the auburn haired woman was the first to break his laughing and said, "ayy Nai, not going to wine about that seat and the one for you're little girlfriend today? or you finally grew up and have you're eyes on Janta here?"
Janta still laughing grabbed Ian by the shoulder, “If this is true I'll give you one night to impress me, If you can't I'm sorry but it won't work between us" they all continued laughing until it subsided.
Eventually more and more people walked in to fill in the seats, at a seat that was unique from the rest and almost high raised a woman with sharp features and an immiscible air of authority sat. It was contradictory with her appearance she looked younger than Janta but older than Ian, well both the ‘actual' him and the 'him' he was currently. Her short wavy hair was actually the same color as Nai's, her eyes almost the same shape only thinner, small pink lips held tight, pale skin almost looking cold to the touch and a defined feminine build. Pretty, by all standards this random thought was the first that ran through Ian's mind when he first saw her. He was seating on the seat right next to her right. The woman, looked to be maybe at most twenty five, studied Nai's face for a moment before sighing and turning away from him waiting for the seats to be filled.
That moment and the sharp gaze had felt intense for some reason, like it cut through him and could read his mind, 'does she know?' he thought to himself.
The last one to walk in was a girl, she looked about sixteen or seventeen like the 'current' Ian. A remnant unrecognizable instinctual feeling clutched at Ian's chest when he saw her walk in.'What was that?' Ian sighed inwardly. She scanned Ian for a moment then Janta before looking for an empty seat. Janta looked between her and Ian a smile playing on her face.
The girl had raven black wavy hair, light skin almost but not as pale as the other woman that had left a deep impression on Ian. Her eyes were complimented by very dark eye lashes, a small nose and lips an oval feminine face. Just like the other girl she was very pretty and very much so. In fact this had become a point of notice to Ian, everyone here was attractive for whatever reason even the aged looking Yhon. With the girl sat all seats were taken and warm food was ready to be dug into.