Instead of the weird but familiar lab dorm festooned with neon colors and historical statues, Chase emerged into the dreamscape surrounded by downright sober greens and browns. The walls of his dorm room had been replaced with evenly-spaced tree trunks, and a low-hanging canopy made up most of the ceiling, bare hints of stars and the moon peeking through gaps in the leaves. A carpet of thick, lush grass made Chase want nothing more than to take his shoes off, so of course he promptly did. It was peaceful and calming and wildly understated for what he’d come to expect from Echo’s aesthetics.
“Hey Echo? Dig the new style, you’re really getting the hang of having a single theme at a time. Hope it doesn’t feel too constraining for you.”
“It is a nice change of pace. Like stretching a muscle you do not use very much.” Echo’s voice this time had heavy overtones of Ellie, and Chase couldn’t help but tease them a little over it.
“They grow up so fast - just yesterday you sounded just like me! Now you’ve been seduced away by the lure of proper diction. My heart breaks, and I weep tears of unfathomable sadness.”
The forest clearing seemed to briefly rotate, which was disorienting, but Chase took for Echo rolling their eyes. “You’ll just have to get over my expanded pool of influences. It’s your fault I know them, after all.”
Chase smiled. “At least you’re using contractions, always seemed a bit odd to me that Ellie never does.”
“They’re like saying two words at once and still being understood, it’s great! More like what I’m used to.”
“We’ve gotta see about teaching you German sometime, then. They just smash words together constantly. Future goals, though. Right now, we’re in a bit of a tight spot. I take it you were watching earlier?”
“Yes, you were probably right. There’s only a short time before Bright will notice something is off, even less if they’re expanding outwards like the frustrated one thinks.”
“Frustrated one? You mean Kayla?”
“Is it a bad description?”
“Feels kinda personal is all. Might be another of those cultural differences between us.”
“Kayla, then. She is afraid that because the others are taking supplies from further areas that they will be expanding to fill that space as well and subsuming everything and everyone in their way. She is afraid that she won’t be able to do anything to stop them, and she is frustrated and angry at herself for that lack of capability.”
Chase blinked. “You know, I really wasn’t expecting a psychoanalysis of one of my friends out of this conversation, but I guess that kind of thing is pretty easy for you to see, huh?”
“Yes. Jess is -”
“Woah!” Chase interrupted. “Echo. I know you have good intentions, but for humans, part of life is dealing with not knowing exactly what everyone around you is thinking and feeling. You only get that kind of insight with people you’re really close to, and even then it’s not perfect. Navigating that bit of mystery is a crucial part of being human.”
There was a pointed pause and a scent of old books wafted through the air as Echo considered this statement. Then a brief pulse of green light came from the canopy that Chase took to mean agreement, or at least acceptance. “Humans are strange.” Echo followed up.
Chase laughed. “We really are, aren’t we? But so are you, my incorporeal friend.”
Chase was hit with the brief and utterly bizarre sensation of hearing a sweet and tangy raspberry vinaigrette while tasting the high tweet of a referee’s whistle. The impression he was left with from the incongruous senses was one of hesitation and embarrassment.
“Are you… blushing?” Chase asked incredulously.
“I don’t want to be!” Echo replied indignantly as the last of the phantom sensations faded. “I’ve been spending too much time looking at humans, I’m starting to pick up on your reactions.”
“Hey.” Chase said gently, trying to calm Echo down. “Is that such a bad thing? You said you’re not like the rest of your species and don’t want to be. Is it so bad to be a little more like us if it makes you feel better?”
Echo paused to consider this, and Chase reflected that in their first conversation, Echo wouldn’t have said they spent too much time doing anything or paused for anything other than Chase’s benefit. He wondered just how much the couple days they’d been bonded had influenced Echo’s development, or if it had seemed like a lot longer from Echo’s perspective and that’s why they were so different each time Chase came into the dreamscape. Either way, he had one burning question he had to ask.
“Echo… you don’t have to answer, but what were you so embarrassed about?”
The raspberry vinaigrette was back for a moment, and Echo’s voice was much more halting than Chase was used to hearing from their sound-alike, Ellie. “Are we… friends?”
Chase let out an explosive sigh that turned into a laugh as a wide smile took up residence on his face. “Of course we are, Echo. I’d be honored to be your friend.”
A brief puff of cinnamon that Chase took to mean excitement or happiness danced across his tongue. “Then you are my first friend!”
Chase had to do a little victory dance out of the pure positivity that seemed to suffuse the entire dreamscape at Echo’s innocent proclamation. It was a balm to the soul, knowing that even while worrying about Bright and the rest of their band of parasites, there could still be moments for simple joy. Of course, that thought brought Chase back to reality and probably gave Echo emotional whiplash from the abrupt change.
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“Thanks, Echo. I needed that reminder that things aren’t so bad. But we are in a bit of trouble on our end of things. Half of us have an excuse to get to where we need to be, but the other three are stuck sneaking in and I don’t want to leave anyone vulnerable to getting snatched by one of Bright’s others. You said you’d been hiding from them, and I wonder if you could hide us from their senses somehow. It’s just too bad there’s only one picture frame to act as a link.” Chase sighed. “It would be a lot easier if we each had something small and inconspicuous, or if we could somehow disguise ourselves, or - what’s so funny?”
Echo had been slowly ramping up a tickling warmth from Chase’s feet to his chest as he spoke, and finally the giggling spirit responded. “Who said there can only be one?”
-=-
A nondescript man in a lab coat emerged from a dorm room and was promptly ignored by the five students sitting on couches around a coffee table. As perfectly bland men are wont to do, he began high-stepping and attempting some form of jig that vaguely resembled spastic tap dancing. The students paid him no mind, waiting for Chase to get back from his communion with Echo as the man waved his hands in front of their faces and laughed. Only when he dramatically clapped his hands and shouted did the group finally focus on him.
“Echo, this is perfect!” The man now recognizable as Chase screamed, and the other five students reared back in shock. Only the face was different now, Chase’s grinning visage replacing the bland everyman, but the more they focused the more they remembered the strange behavior of a man who couldn’t possibly have come through an internal door.
“What the hell?” Tom summed up the shock succinctly, and Chase immediately tossed him something that he caught on reflex. Opening his palm revealed a thin ring, little more than a golden band. He looked up at Chase’s expectant eyes and drawled. “Sorry, you’re not my type. Points for pizazz, though.”
Chase sputtered, and Kayla barked a laugh at his expense. “Just put the damn thing on or ask me what all the hype is about, already.” Tom shrugged and slipped the ring onto his finger, somehow instantly becoming less vibrant and interesting as he did.
“What the hell?” A fairly boring man repeated, looking at his hands. “What did this thing do to me?” It wasn’t a very interesting question, so no one jumped to answer immediately. Only when those hands smacked the coffee table hard did Tom draw the room’s attention again, suddenly more interesting than he’d been mere moments before.
“Woah, that is trippy to see in action!” Chase exulted before Tom interrupted him with a pointed, accusatory finger and a single-word ultimatum.
“Explain.”
“Okay, right, got a little carried away there. So, I was lamenting to Echo that there was only one picture frame they could channel power through, and completely forgot that Echo is a non corporeal entity who has a much easier time existing in multiple places and doing multiple things at once than we would. So, we decided to splurge on presents for everyone, presents with fun disguise effects!” From his pants pocket, Chase pulled a hair clip, two earrings, and a pen. “They’re not perfect, but they can basically make you look and seem like just another face in the crowd unless you do something really attention-getting. Echo and I thought they would keep us from attracting the attention of any parasites or hosts as long as we don’t take too many risks.”
Miles’s jaw had nearly hit the floor halfway through Chase’s explanation, and Tom was looking at the ring on his finger in pure wonder. Kayla immediately reached out and grabbed an earring, turning to Chase for confirmation.
“Just one works?” At Chase’s answering nod, she set about switching her current piercing for the disguise generator. Miles was next to take the plunge, grabbing the pen, but not before turning to Chase questioningly.
“Where’s yours? And how was all that dancing and waving not attention-getting?”
“Fair question! Mine’s got a bit more juice than the others since I’m Echo’s BFF.” Chase reached down into his pocket and pulled out a small golden pocket watch on a chain. “It’s at least a little bit linked to the size of the object, so theoretically yours is the next most powerful. Don’t rely on that, though. It definitely wouldn’t hold up to the routine I was doing earlier.”
“Was that kind of demonstration truly necessary?” Ellie asked wearily, taking the remaining earring.
Chase shrugged. “You would have asked for it after if I didn’t lead with it, so I figured this was just an efficient use of time. Now everyone’s seen just what the perceptual filter does and how it works.”
Ellie cocked her head to the side. “We know how it works?”
“Well, kinda? Echo’s getting better, but they’re still not great at explaining things in a way humans can parse. Basically it smoothes out the edges of how you’re perceived, both physically and socially. Like, I’m focusing on being perceived as someone who belongs in the central labs, so it gave me this snazzy lab coat. And you experienced how it makes someone easy to overlook if they’re wearing it, which is apparently a big deal for the parasites. It’s like a signal that the useful bits have already been extracted or that someone else has claimed them and is refining conformity.”
Ellie gave a slow nod. “So wearing this will mark us as uninteresting to both human and parasite perception. But how should Tom, Miles, and myself navigate using it? We were all directly invited to join the central labs, it would be suspicious if three extremely boring people were to show up in our stead.”
“Ah, yeah.” Chase rubbed the back of his head. “There was no perfect solution, and as long as Echo’s paying attention you shouldn’t stand out too much. Er, blend in too much? Whatever. You’ll mostly appear as normal with the filtering just applying to parasite senses so none of you three get kidnapped and implanted.”
Miles shuddered. “And I for one am extremely grateful. I’ll take doing experiments over being one any day.”
“Well…” Chase said, drawing the word out.
“Chase.”
“Terms and conditions may apply?”
“Chase!”
“Okay, okay!” He held up his hands in surrender. “When you’re wearing these, Echo can kind of see your emotions and surface-level thoughts. They’re trying to learn about humans and apparently I’m just not enough on my own anymore.”
“Glad Echo knows to get better role models in their life.” Jess snarked as she took up the hairclip, fitting it above her left ear and momentarily becoming just another part of the background before she loudly clapped her hands.
Chase mimed grabbing his heart with both hands dramatically as her words belatedly registered. “Madam! You wound me!”
“Damn, I thought for sure that would be a kill shot.”
“Don’t listen to her, Echo. You don’t need that kind of negativity in your life.”
“No fighting in front of the kid!”
“Well maybe if someone was paying their child support I wouldn’t be so stressed!”
Tom turned to Kayla as the playful bickering continued. “Do you feel awkward watching this?”
She nodded. “Let’s just go, let them get it out of their system.”
The rest of the group slowly backed away as Chase and Jess continued their battle for custody of a noncorporeal alien entity.