[October 22, 2042]

Dinner was a loud, chaotic affair — yet seemed to pass in relative comfort, as if all at the table were used to the antics and habits of everyone else at the table. Sirius sat silently, watching it all, feeling both included and separated.

Aina complained — as she seemed deigned to — about a lot of things: the look of the food, how long it had taken to prepare, the type of cheese used in the recipe not being “fancy enough”, but ultimately she ended up cleaning her plate, and with a napkin pressed against her lips, softly added, “Well, peasant, I suppose it really wasn’t all that bad.”

Ellie ate aggressively and gladly. She seemed to inhale the food that was placed before her, but to Sirius it somehow never seemed gluttonous, even as she stood up to fetch a third helping of the meal. Rather, she seemed to eat with joy — like it was a rare and precious gift, and if she did not take full advantage of it when she could, she would regret it for the rest of her life.

Bridget and Cal ate slowly and carefully. They were seated next to one another at the far end of the table, like they were the mother and father of a strange, idiosyncratic family. Sirius would have smiled to himself at this amusing image, but he found himself distracted by how little Cal was eating the food he himself had prepared. He nibbled at the quesadilla, drank some water, ignored Aina’s complaints and admonished Ellie when she began to push her chair out in order to get a fourth helping. By the end of the meal, he had taken maybe two bites from his food.

It’s warm here, thought Sirius. Sitting around a table, having a meal together. When was the last time I did something like this? I’m always getting delivery in my dorm room or eating on the go. And back home, I never did this with my family. Eating together, talking together, cooking and cleaning together — it’s not so bad.

Finally, as they always seemed to, Sirius found his eyes subtly watching the last and most quiet tenant of Otter House. Ram was seated on the chair closest to the door, head lowered so that her huge crown of curly blond hair covered part of her face as she ate her food. She only spoke when spoken to and seemed perpetually anxious, her blue eyes looking around the room, at the corners and window, as if expecting the appearance of some threat.

Once, Sirius had tried talking with her. He had searched his brain for a topic of discussion, and then, trying to smile pleasantly, he addressed her. “Hey, you’re Ram, right?” He said this as if he wasn’t entirely sure of her name. “You’re in the Computer Science program, aren’t you? I’ve got a friend who does that too. Is it interesting?”

She had fixed him with her wide-eyed stare, the blueness of her eyes resembling a wide clear sky, and then nodded silently, before returning to her meal. Clearly, she had absolutely no interest in anything he would say, and that made him feel a little hollow in his stomach despite the meal he had just eaten.

After dinner, the sun had already set, and so Cal wasted no time cleaning dishes and wiping crumbs, assisted by Bridget. When Sirius stood up to clear and wash his own plate, Cal shot him a cold stare and said, “Don’t you dare. You’re a guest. Let me handle it, I’ll only be a few minutes.”

Sirius nodded silently and sat back down in his chair. Bridget smiled at him knowingly as she took his plate. “He gets a little antsy about food, as I said.” She whispered in his ear. “Let him tire himself out.”

Once the dishes had been cleaned and tables wiped and the chairs straightened, Cal went to go fetch the movie (apparently Otter Manor still has a super-old-fashioned DVD player), herding Sirius, Aina, and Bridget into the living room on the other end of the first floor. Ellie had retired upstairs, claiming to have homework she couldn’t procrastinate any longer on, and Ram had vanished without a word or trace.

When Cal came back down, he was accompanied by a thin, pale girl that Sirius hadn’t seen before; wearing a pure white sundress and walking over the carpet with bare feet. She had short black hair styled like a messy pixie-cut, where the ends of the hair seemed to stick up in the air as being pulled by electricity, and wide baby-blue eyes that blinked at Sirius inquisitively.

She took a long look at Sirius, blushed heavily, and then stepped behind Cal in a way that suggested she was attempting to be subtle, her dress shifting around her legs.

Cal frowned and turned his head to look at the new girl. “What are you doing? Introduce yourself.”

The girl stuck her chin upward to glare at him. “I’m shy, okay?!” She hissed. “You should have given me more of a heads-up!”

“Since when? You’ve been talking my ear off all week and now you decide to be timid?”

She gripped his sleeve insistently. “You know I’m bad with new people!”

Cal shook his head, and then with his hands pantomiming in a presenting fashion, framed the new girl with the extension of his arms. “Sirius, this is Mel, my roommate that I’ve told you so much about.”

Then he faced Mel and repeated the same motion in reverse. “Mel, this is Sirius, my friend from university.”

Startled, Mel looked at Cal and then at Sirius, her wide blue looking him over top to bottom. “You’re real?” She said softly. “I assumed he made you up to trick me into thinking that he was well-adjusted and charismatic in social settings.”

Behind, out of direct eye-sight in the living room, Aina let out a loud snort, to which Bridget’s hushed voice could be heard saying: “My lady, please be polite!”

Sirius laughed, unable to hide his amusement at Mel’s preformative behavior, which was clearly cloaked in genuine affection. “I’m real, all right. Nice to meet you, Mel.” He wiped the corner of his eye. “Cal tells me you’re also really into old low-budget horror movies.”

Mel’s eyes lit up and she took an uncertain step closer. “Oh? You claim to be a fellow aficionado?”

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Sirius grinned, delighted to showcase his knowledge, to which Cal and his other friends at the university were completely sick of him talking about. “Try me. I know them all, from Murder Murder Hotel to The Revenge of the Witch of the Summer Creek.”

Cal mouthed the titles to himself, a confused expression on his face.

“Aha! So you’re no pushover then!” Mel took another step forward, her bare toes pointed towards Sirius. “Then I’m sure you can tell me your opinion of V! The Return of Terror!”

Sirius raised an eyebrow. “A cult-classic camp masterpiece, of course.”

“Ohoho!” Mel did a little twirl that fluttered the hem of her dress before pointing a decisive finger at her sparring partner. “And what of Frankenzirkel: Bad Babes of Blood?”

“Not Dostobovosky’s best work, but an important entry to his filmography that tackles through its subtext his relationship to his mother, communism, and ultimately: Jesus Christ.”

“Hoho! And what’s your take on the newest Canada Werewolves movie?”

“Pretty shit, to be honest.”

Mel stared into Sirius’ eyes, nodded slowly as if she had received some sage piece of wisdom, and then turned back towards Cal. “See Cal, it’s like I’ve always told you, you’re sorely lacking in this important regard. You ought to try to be more like my good friend Sirius, here.”

“And once again,” said Cal, brushing some lint from his shoulder. “It all circles back to criticizing me. Come on, we should start the movie, it’ll be late by the time it’s over, and Sirius still needs to walk back to the dorm.”

The moon was bright tonight — a white disc in a dark lake. Sirius gently exhaled, and sweet-smelling smoke rose into the black sky, translucent and coiling like the body of a snake. He had stepped out into the cold air to take a few puffs of his e-cigarette, which he had been craving all afternoon. There was currently an intermission to Go Go Ghoul Squad! (composed of fifteen minutes of an entirely black and soundless screen, which Mel had assured him was entirely in line with the thematic intention of the film) and so Sirius had taken the opportunity to step outside. He had wanted to take a hit or two, for sure, but he had always wanted to get some fresh air and reflect upon the things he had seen and learned. He didn’t know what he was expecting out of Otter Manor, and the tall tales Cal had told him about the place certainly didn’t help, but he found he was coming out of the experience with an entirely different impression than he had expected.

A thin line of golden light hit underneath the portico as the front door opened, and the click of heavy boots stepped onto the concrete. Then a voice came. “Oh! I’m sorry, did I interrupt you?”

Sirius lowered his gaze and met Bridget’s brown eyes. “Absolutely not, Ms. Bridget. Come join me.”

He had started calling Bridget ‘Ms. Bridget’ over the course of the day without even intending to, subconsciously emulating how Cal addressed the young woman. He had no idea what she had done to earn the respect of his self-serious friend, but somehow he did not doubt that she deserved it. Besides, she had repeatedly called him ‘Mr. Sirius’, so it only seemed right to return the strangely formal modes of address.

“Thank you.” Bridget bowed her head slightly, and stepped out further, closing the door to Otter Manor gently behind her. “I hope you’ve been enjoying your visit? I know we can be… a lot.”

“I am.” Sirius carefully fixed his ponytail, which was coming a little loose. “I really am. Everything is chill, you know? Kinda weird, but chill. You’re all good girls, I can tell.”

He let out a small sigh. “To be honest, part of the reason I came up here was to check on him. I mean, I like Cal, you know, but he’s distant and says all sorts of weird stuff about ghosts and princesses-” (Here, it was hard to tell, but Sirius thought he saw Bridget flinch for a moment.) “-and I know he’s joking but it’s really hard to understand his sense of humor. He’s always such a stick in the mud typically. Oh, I like that about him, but still…”

Sirius trailed off, losing track of his words under Bridget’s gaze. She had undone a few of the buttons of her uniform to expose her bare neck to the cold air, bringing attention to her large chest. “Well!” He said, quickly. “I suppose I feel comforted. I was worried that I was his only friend, but he seems to be in good hands.”

He nodded in the direction of Bridget. “You certainly keep him in line.”

Bridget smiled, not denying his words. Then her brown eyes looked at the cigarette Sirius held in his hand. “Is that a cigar?”

“Cigarette, yeah. Do you smoke?”

Bridget pursed her lips and grasped her hands together low by her hips. “I used to… a few years ago.” She brushed a strand of hair behind her ears. “My mother eventually made me stop. It wasn’t… erm, it wasn’t proper in her eyes for a young lady like me to engage in that sort of activity.”

Sirius clicked his tongue in sympathy. “Damn, that’s a shame, though maybe she was just worried about your health. Your mom sounds pretty old-fashioned.”

“...Somewhat, yes. That’s a good way of putting it.”

He watched her eyes. “Do you want a hit?” he said, offering the cigarette.

Bridget stared at him with surprise, but then furrowed her eyes. “Honestly…” She toothily grinned, as if she were a little girl hiding a secret. “I really would. Just once.”

“Go crazy.” He handed her the slim tube. “It’s strawberry.”

“Strawberry? How unusual.” Bridget held the e-cigarette gingerly, as if she had never seen anything like it before. “Back home, we didn’t have anything resembling this.”

She put it to her mouth and instantly coughed. “Oh dear, it’s…” Another cough, and she smiled cutely in embarrassment. “You were not joking, Mr. Sirius. That’s certainly strawberry.”

Sirius smiled as well, and accepted the cigarette back from her, which she held outward from her body like it was a dangerous tool. “You good?” he said.

“Yes, I’m alright.” Bridget wiped her mouth. “Out of practice, I suspect. Oh, my mother would really be horrified if she saw me now. She would kill me. Really… properly kill me.”

She giggled softly, straightening back up to her considerable height. Then suddenly, a worried look came over her face. “If it isn’t any issue, I would appreciate it if you don’t tell this to Mr. Cal, Mr. Sirius. Or my lady- that is to say, not Aina either.”

“No problem. Though personally, you being open and non-judgmental about this sort of stuff makes me like you more.” Sirius shrugged. “I thought you were a little overly formal, but you’re pretty laid-back and cool, Ms. Bridget. I can see why Cal likes you.”

She bashfully rubbed her gloved hands on her strong thighs. “You’re exaggerating, Mr. Sirius.”

Sirius shrugged a second time. “No, I really don’t think I am.” He stuffed the cigarette back into his pocket, as sweet vapor danced upward through the air. “Shall we go back inside and finish the movie? I want to see if the shy guy is able to confess his feelings to the ghoul that ate his roommate.”