For the second day in a row, Sam woke up not feeling as bad as he thought he ought to have been. It wasn’t just the quality of the sleep and lack of difficulty falling asleep. No, those were already more than three days old and already well on their way to becoming the norm, as far as his lack of appreciation for the good things in life was concerned. It was the fact that his body was in a pretty good state despite his horrid treatment of it. Not feeling bad didn’t stop him from groaning as he got up to silence the alarm, though. Even the best night’s sleep in the world won’t make you want to get out of bed.
The completion of his much diminished morning hygiene duties still left him with plenty of time until his appointment with Sarah. Which was just as well because it forced him to acquiesce to his newly evolved habit of meditating twice a day (three times actually, if you counted yesterday’s body-scan meditation, which Sam would only do when that’d fit into his agenda). Two minutes to seven found him waiting outside Sarah’s building for her, staring grumpily into the copy-paste sky of yesterday morning.
“Still angry at the sky?” Sarah asked him with a smile once she came down.
“I think I’m developing a quixotic obsession. But I can’t say for sure cause I haven’t actually read the book. You don’t think I’m crazy right?” he asked her while making googly eyes.
“Not any more than usual,” she assured him with a clap on his back. “C’mon, let’s get going.”
“Hey!” Sam exclaimed as he began following her. “I’m not the one that was only one minute early.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
Sam considered her words. “Huh, I guess you’re right. Must’ve been my persecution complex or something along those lines. What’s it called when you always think people are always critical of you?” Sarah shook her head to indicate her boorish nature and obviously lacking knowledge. “So anything I should know about these mysterious friends of yours? Their likes, dislikes, what they’re looking for in a comic relief character?”
“I’ll introduce you when you guys meet. What’s the big hurry?”
“Fine, have it your way. Let’s just find something else to talk about in order to pass the walk more pleasantly.”
“Or… we can simply walk in silence, enjoying the scenery and better appreciating our morning.” Surprisingly, Sam didn’t have it in him to respond to Sarah’s suggestion with the dismissiveness and mockery it deserved. Nor did he embark upon an imitation of Donkey from Shrek, although that did pain him a little. Instead, he took Sarah’s words to heart, and half a minute later, when his mind grew restless, he abandoned the mindfulness for a bit of inward contemplation.
His thoughts mostly centered around Web-Web’s lack of appearance yesterday evening, and thus Sam still being unsure about his future as a spearfighter. But that flame of anxiety quickly petered out once he arrived at his same conclusion from yesterday. Unlike with sex; only no meant no. So until he heard that “no” from his AI neighbor, telling him that he was going in the wrong direction, Sam would keep going like a frat boy with the very drunk girl he picked up.
He closed his eyes and vigorously shook his head, prompting Sarah to ask him, “What’s up?”
“Nothing. Just thought about a very disturbing analogy.”
“OK.” Sarah laughed. “I guess that if I ever want to hurt you, I just need to keep you silent for a couple of minutes.”
“Yeah, you wish. It’s not being silent that I have a problem with, although empirical evidence of for that conclusion may be lacking. It’s me being alone with my thoughts that’s the real enemy. I tell you, five more minutes and you would have had me bawling on the ground like a little kid when he gets the wrong toy with his happy meal.”
“It’s lucky for the both of us that we avoided that particular scene then. Even better, you can rejoice, for we have finally made it.” She spread her hands wide, gesturing towards the same gym they had just vacated less than twelve hours ago.
“I don’t think that this is the closest gym to our dorms…” Sam made the accusation in his voice evident.
“It’s halfway there for the both of them and us. We always meet here when we work out, so I’ve gotten into the habit of going here anyway.”
“They better be worth the five extra minutes we had to walk to get here.” Sarah laughed as she opened the door. Once inside, she quickly turned towards two people who were standing alone near the entrance and started walking towards them. The both of them were wearing exercise clothes and clearly recognized Sarah, so Sam made the educated guess that they must be some of her fans.
“Sam,” she said once the two duos met, “these are the people that forced you to walk all the way here. Felix Polaris and Yvessa Smith. You guys, this is Sam Anders. Remember that you promised me to be nice.”
“I don’t recall making any such promises,” Sam said, making sure to ruin his already low chances for a good first impression. His plan appeared to have failed, unfortunately, because Felix laughed and presented his hand for Sam to shake.
“Pleasure to meet you, Sam,” he said. “Sarah told us a lot about you already. And she had us promise to be nice to you no matter what you said today.” Sam shook his hand, not tempted in the slightest to see how far he could go in testing their courtesy. Yvessa spoke up next, and Sam was thrown off completely when he realized he had no idea what she was saying.
“Yvessa…” Sarah said with exasperation. “I told you that Sam doesn’t have a translator yet. You need to speak English or he won’t understand anything you’re saying.”
Yvessa grimaced but still capitulated to Sarah’s demands because Sam easily understood her next words (although it should be said that the accent proved a little challenging). “Fine,” Yvessa said. “My bad. It’s nice to meet you, Sam. What I was saying before is that Sarah shouldn’t be coddling you so much.”
“I disagree,” Sam said. “In my view, I’m not being coddled enough.” Next to him, Sarah sighed. “So are you guys the Twins or what?”
Felix gave a short laugh and Yvessa squinted her eyes at him. “Who told you that nickname?” she demanded, before switching to stare accusingly at Sarah.
“I swear I didn’t,” Sarah said.
Which only caused Sam to point at her and say, “Sarah did. OK, OK.” Sam laughed once Sarah’s eyes turned on him with a frown. “She really didn’t. It was Dan Ritter. He said something about being in charge of special cases, or problem students, as I already decided to term us. He told me that besides me, he also helped students like Sarah or ‘the Twins.’ And using simple logic, I deduced that you might be said duo, what with Sarah obviously not having many friends. Ow!” He rubbed his arm where Sarah pinched him. “Also, Dan mentioned Felix by name. Amazing that I managed to remember it really… So, I’m guessing that you are the famous siblings.”
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“We’re not really twins,” Felix said.
“This is still your fault.” Yvessa was glaring at Sarah.
“I didn’t tell him about you guys,” Sarah said.
“What do you mean, you aren’t twins?” Sam asked.
“We aren’t related to each other at all.” Yvessa’s exasperated tone signified that this wasn’t the first bout of explaining she had to give. “But someone.” She gestured towards Sarah. “Thought that it would be funny to call as twins simply because we were born on the same day. We weren’t even born in the same world!” Felix nodded along helplessly.
“I didn’t intend for it to spiral out of control. If anyone is to blame, it’s Dan,” Sarah said.
“If you hadn’t come up with that stupid nickname, then he wouldn’t have been able to propagate it,” Yvessa said. Sam was appreciative of her ability to keep speaking in English despite her state of mind.
Sam clapped Sarah on her shoulders. “Damn, making up a derogatory nickname for someone. Didn’t know you had it in you, Ms. Khan. Makes me like you even more.”
“You’re not helping Sam—”
“Wasn’t trying to.”
“And it’s not derogatory. In the first place, the only reason why the nickname spread as it did wasn’t because you were born on the same day, but because you’re both incredibly talented and people are jealous of you.”
“Envious,” Sam and Felix corrected her at the same time. From the looks Sarah gave them, she didn’t appreciate the correction. Or maybe she is simply unaware of the difference between the two due to not having the Simpsons explain it to her.
“Nevertheless,” Sarah said, “I once again apologize for coming up with that name.”
“That asshole, Dan…” Yvessa changed the target of her anger. “He still keeps using it. As if we weren’t stuck together all the time already before that.”
“Oh no, guys…” Sam said, “you can’t be together. Incest is wrong.” When no one seemed to appreciate the joke, he decided to double down. “Look, I just don’t get what’s so bad about the nickname. It’s only going to make for a good joke in the case you guys ever end up as a couple, if you aren’t already one. Think of the roleplay applications!”
“I’m gay,” Felix intoned.
“That stupid Dan!” Sam pivoted.
“Can we all just take a breath and leave this topic behind us?” Sarah once again acted the grownup. “Sam, just make sure not to call Yvessa and Felix the—by that nickname.”
“Will do.” Sam nodded.
“I actually don’t really mind it,” Felix confessed, only to be set upon by Yvessa’s dagger-like eyes. “But clearly I am wrong.”
Yvessa gathered herself and seemed to regain her calm demeanor, with which she had acted before Sam’s faux pas. Turing to Sam, she did an honest to god curtsy, and said, “I apologize for that outburst of mine Sam, when we only just met. But that stupid nickname is one of the things for which I have truly no patience.”
“It’s alright. Wouldn’t have brought it up if I knew how you felt about it. What did you mean, though, by saying that you’re now stuck together if you guys aren’t actually a couple? If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”
“It’s fine.” Yvessa waved her hand, and Felix nodded in agreement. “Like Sarah said, both Felix and I are incredibly talented, especially for Terrans. Are you alright?” she asked once she saw Sam’s contorted face.
“Yeah. It’s just that I’m not used to people being so sure of themselves like that. No offense intended.”
Yvessa burrowed her brows in confusion. “But surely, as a Thread-Weaver, you yourself should be counted much more talented than Fenix and I. Or even Sarah.”
“What Yvessa meant,” Sarah said, “is that both she and Felix have empirically shown themselves to be worth special attention paid to them by the academy. Same way you have by being a Thread-Weaver. As such, they have been a grouped together rather frequently, but at the same time, apart from the rest of their peers.”
“OK, now, I get that.” Sam nodded. “They’re very special when compared to most of us puny Terrans and due to that, they’re a little bit ostracized, not necessarily on purpose even. And because they are the same age, and everyone’s paying them so much attention, they’re often grouped together as a unit. This trend has only intensified once you made up that awful awful nickname for the both of them. Is that it, or did I miss anything?”
“You got it,” Sarah said through gritted teeth.
“Yeah, so what I didn’t get is your,” Sam turned to Yvessa, “equating of me and you. Cause I sure as fuck didn’t do anything to make me special while I’m assuming that you did. I mean the whole Thread-Weaver business? That’s pure brute luck baby, I didn’t do anything to deserve it.”
“Even so,” Felix said, “from the perspective of the academy or the Terran military. You are much more valuable than any one of us currently is. Unless you prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you’re completely incompetent, you are still guaranteed to become a Ruler in the future.”
“Calm down Felix,” Yvessa said. “It’s not like the three of us aren’t guaranteed to become Rulers in the future. It might take us time after we hit level 10, but there isn’t any reason we won’t be able to do it.”
“How can you be sure of that? What if we end up like Dan, stuck at level 10 forever?”
Yvessa rolled her eyes at him. “I’ve told you a hundred times already. Dan told you a hundred times already. Dan’s problem is unique to him. We don’t need to worry about not becoming Rulers if we can reach level 10.”
“Besides,” Sarah said, “don’t you think that you might be taking out your insecurities on someone who doesn’t deserve it at all?” She pointed towards Sam, but he didn’t see anyone behind him. Weird.
Felix deflated all of a sudden and gave Sam an apologetic look. “Sorry about that, mate. Didn’t mean anything by it.”
“It’s fine. You are worried about the future. I can understand that sort of anxiety pretty well.”
“Nah, it’s not just that. I mean, it is that, but Yvessa’s right, worrying about not being able to become a Ruler in a couple of years is pretty stupid. But it’s also just me being an asshole. I can get very competitive, and I was feeling that you looking down on yourself is almost like you looking down on me, because at the end of the day, you are currently a more valuable asset than anyone else at the academy.”
“Did you just straight up admit one of your character flaws?” Sam asked.
Felix rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I guess. I mean, it’s not like it’s a secret or anything. Everyone who knows me for more than a couple of hours notices that about me. Ever since I was six years old and didn’t want to talk with my cousin anymore cause she beat me at a video game.”
“Still, that’s not something you’re supposed to do, you know? That’s called bad character presentation. You can’t just blurt out your characteristics like it’s a TV tropes page. You got to let the viewer make their own conclusion. ‘Show, don’t tell,’ is the popular mantra.”
“Wouldn’t it make more sense for me to tell you about myself if we are going to be friends?”
“Maybe so. But it’s just not very realistic to straight up admit one of your flaws to a guy you’ve just met.”
“You’ve done nothing but that since we met,” Sarah said.
“That’s different.”
“How so?”
“I make it funny.”
“I can make it funny as well,” Felix said.
“No you can’t,” Sam told him. “There’s only enough space for one funny guy in this group dynamic.”
“So the position’s empty, then?” Felix smirked.
But before Sam could retort, Sarah asked with a smile, “How much space is there for a funny woman?”
“Ha ha,” Sam said. “That a great joke, well done. You know very well that women don’t have a sense of humor.” She looked pleased with herself for successfully goading him.
Felix clapped his hands together. “I think we’ve spent enough time dawdling here already. Let’s go, shall we?” He didn’t wait for their response and started making his way deeper into the building. Yvessa seemed content to follow him, and Sam heard her mumble something in her alien tongue.
“I think that went well.” Sam turned to Sarah, who just gave him an encouraging smile in response. “Did you happen to hear what Yvessa said just now? Was it about me? Was it something bad?”
“Very bad.”
“I knew it. She doesn’t like. This is your fault, you know. This is what happens when I act like myself.”
Sarah laughed. “Relax, she just complained about how long we’ve been standing there talking. You’re making a great first impression. Don’t worry about it.”
“Gee… thanks mom! I can’t wait to tell grandpa about this at lunch!” He lunged ahead but still wasn’t able to avoid Sarah’s wrathful palm.