Solaria

That was the best shower I had ever had, cleansing my body and soul from a pig's lifetime of mud. It took a long time, but I wasn't in a rush. Well, Lunario was waiting outside for a long time, as I only had a single shower in my house. Was it faster for him to just go to his home and take a bath there? Absolutely. I knew that before I agreed to let him go here and no, it's not petty to let the dirt seep a bit more into his bones, he deserves it for pulling me in. When I was done with my bath, I went around just to take out of his reach any chokable objects, so when I was 90% sure he wouldn't die if left alone for 20 minutes, I put on some new clothes and left the shower. Opening the door, I face him sitting at the same position he was when I left almost as he didn't move a muscle.

“I may need some help to move.” said the statue, barely moving his mouth, as all the mud seemed to have dried his futures in place. I sigh and proceed to crack pieces of dirt off his joints to give him more movement. “Wow, you really are strong for a woman,” the dead man said. I took a deep breath, thinking ‘if I hold back enough, I may not have to hide a body’. I gave a little smile to him, then slapped the back of his head with a bit more strength than I was intending. How kind was I that I didn't punch him in the gut? The bonk in the head must have surprised him, as he jumped out of the chair, throwing dried mud everywhere. Huh, so all this time he could move and was just being a bit of a baby.

“Now that you can move, go take a shower so you may stop putting so much soil on my floor that trees start growing here.” I said and he flew to the bathroom immediately. I went to get a broom and mop to clean all this mess, along with the path to the front door we highlighted with water. I used a cloth to dry the floor before it messed up the wooden floor, and as I was about to twist the cloth over a trash portal, I saw it drip. That got me an idea.

I stretched it over the trash, sticking it in place with some pegs, I then formed a time bubble and sped it up a little bit. Pushing in a controlled and sustainable manner, I turned to face away from it. I had a hunch that I didn't need to look at it to keep it going and it seems it's true. It was definitely harder to do this without any visual aid but my sense of time was definitely separate from my vision, so I started going further from it. That made it way harder than not seeing it. I had to walk slowly, because most of my concentration was being used up on pushing it. When I got to the trail, I had to stop pushing and just focus on maintaining the bubble, as I just sloshed the cloth until I felt it sufficiently wet, then I got back to place it next to the other one.

I never heard what happens if you stick your hand in there. I know that slow time bubbles are fine, as most people stocked up food in those and you had to get it out, and sticking your hand in makes it feel a bit numb. So I go to place the cloth in, expecting a similar result and so stick my hand in. “Ouch” I say, since as soon as I put a finger in I feel hyper aware of it. I reflexively take my finger out, scanning for any damage done but don't notice anything. ‘Slow bubbles make it numb, of course speed makes it super sensitive.’ I thought now, if only it had come to mind earlier. I grit my teeth and try to push through it, since it isn't that bad, probably because I did so little pushing as of yet. I maybe could change the bubbles shape so that it doesn't catch my finger, as I knew it was possible, but had no idea where to start to do something like that.

I keep doing that, pushing the piece of time ever so slightly forwards, while mopping the floor and bringing it back to dry. I had 6 strips of cloth, so when I used the final one I went to grab the first one, the hypersensitivity was far from pleasant, but it was still tolerable. The first one was drier than it should if it was just hanging there, which made me jump with joy. ‘I finally found utility for my magic! Why has nobody thought of this before?’

And unfortunately I realize why, because it is the most impractical way to do this ever. Instead of having to rotate between 6 cloths, feeling your hands burn and wasting all this mana you could just twist one and most of the water goes down the drain. How is it fair that some people can bring people from death's door, others can go to the other side of the world in a step and here I am, happy I can dry things faster. The world is just super unfair. I still kept pushing it nonetheless.

Solaria

“Solaria! I think I have a problem!” Was the scream that broke my stupor. I was focusing so much on cleaning while casting my brain took a second to understand what that scream meant. ‘He choked on that soap, I knew it was too colorful to let him have it’ was my first thought. Okay, my brain may have took more than a second to get going, as I finally realized that a choking man would not be screaming. “What's the problem?” I shouted back, going to the door to open in case it was needed.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“I only have muddy clothes, I can't change” he screamed back. Oh no, I again had too much power in my hands. “We have a similar build, I think I can spare some clothes for you,” and I could get some bland pants and shirts. I had a lot of those and some had to fit, but I knew when I got to my wardrobe my hand would land on a dress. ‘Or maybe he will be cuter in a skirt? Or maybe…’ my devilish mind started to spiral, until I heard the locks. “Fuck!” I said, louder and more invested than I was anticipating.

“What?!” he says, panic filling up his voice, “What's happening?”. “Nothing, Auvrey is here, they can fix your clothes for you.” I say, defeat flooding my voice.

Auvrey

You know, it is hard to communicate in secret about a shadow cabal and dealing with the idea your parents were killed, all that and when you get home, there is mud and water everywhere, especially in your sister, which made it especially amusing. “And you said you already had a shower” I say as I try to pull all the remaining dirt out of the shirt, only then she looks at herself and acts surprised. How do you not realize when you get this level of filthy? “I was cleaning the house, but got distracted casting, and I guess it was harder than I thought to focus on both, tehe” she shrugs in a cute way, like a kid getting caught stealing cookies, or it would be cute if it wasn't a grown woman covered in water and dirt.

“I finished here, can I go in?” I ask, sidestepping whatever game Solaria was planning. “Sure, my eyes are closed” Lunario responds. Wait, wasn't I supposed to close my eyes since he was the one naked? I looked at Solaria doing a face I was starting to read as ‘Don’t think too much about it’, a face that in all our years together never was needed until now. Well, I will take that advice. “Coming in.” I say before entering, putting the clothes on the sink and going back. Wait, did she just have a peek? Huh, I was sure she swung the other way, though I never really asked I guess. That conversation could wait though.

Solaria

Auvrey seated beside me and swapped to a serious face. ‘Ah, right, so now she wants to address whatever strange code she was talking about the other day, but unless the talk was ten seconds I don’t know why now, since Lunario can’t take that long to change clothes. “So…” “How was your day today?” she interrupted me, with again the ‘let’s talk later when alone’ face, which was triggering my ‘eyes looking at me’ creepy feeling, what was going on? She wouldn’t make all this drama just to amuse herself and after so much time I could tell if she was joking around, this being one of the most serious modes I had ever seen her do. So let’s play along with it.

“Well, I had the world's most boring class ever, with a math professor with the sole mission of making us sleep. Lunario was for sure trying for best in class” I tested, seeing how she would react. I see in her eyes that she is thinking about something, even with her giggling and nodding along, so it seemed it wasn’t the route she wanted… unless, yeah, I see something clicking in place in her head. “How I wished I could have seen it.” and something of that phrase feels off, like she is imitating someone else, how could it be? As I try to think who it could be, I see her deflating. Wait, I need time.

“So the rest of my day was the same… sameness I guess, until we fell into mud and the rest you know, how about you?” I spoke, as I needed time to think, and it seemed important to pretend to have a normal conversation. She starts talking about her day, probably realizing what I was trying to do, with a regular cadence that let me nod and hum at the right times with no need to pay attention. So why was that phrase like that, I would assume she was referencing someone, but as I tried to think she got disappointed. That means it is something I would get instantly, but what a weird sentence could mean if not talking about other people. If not anyone else wasn’t the answer, who was? And it clicked.

She was misquoting herself. She would phrase it as ‘I wish I was there to see it’ not just to ‘wish to see’. She is artistically minded and loves to experience things first hand, not just seeing for the sake of seeing. But why the change, isn't it implied that you had to be there to see?

‘Unless it is the eyes’ the thought comes to mind. The horrible sensation that followed me, it couldn't be just a coincidence to have a feeling of someone seeing you with your sister acting like we are always watched. “Sorry to interrupt, but I just want to check something” I say, hopefully making it clear I probably caught what she was trying to say, “Lunario, are you going to leave the shower today?” I then shout. And it seemed in a world with eyes always seeing you, he truly always was a beacon of stability, as he responds:

“Oh, so I can open my eyes already?” as he confirms my suspicion and I cannot help but wonder, how long would he stay there if I didn’t call him? I was curious about it, but not enough to win over my desire to take a bath to clean what I can only assume was every bit of water and dirt from the floor I managed to stack on myself.