A young teenaged girl with pale blue hair was peering into the refrigerator intently. She was wearing a long, shimmering, silver dress. Certain parts of the dress hugged her almost like a second skin and that left Owen in awe.
Violet turned around, marveling at the shade of her skin again. Much earlier that morning, she and Dalla had decided to keep their original hair color; in fact, the only characterization of their appearance that they had changed was the shade of their skin. Dalla was lying asleep with his head down on the kitchen table. She then smiled in her brother's direction warmly.
That was when she saw Owen.
He was dressed in very little. He was wearing a pair of cut-off shorts and a shirt that resembled the white nightshirts that he had given them for use the night before, except with the sleeves deleted? Violet shook her head and exhaled through her nose roughly.
"Violet?" Owen inquired softly. "Is that you?"
Violet gave the brunette teenager a lopsided grin. "'Tis I." She began searching the cabinets for glasses. She was going to wake Dalla again as soon as she could. He was still a little off on the linguistics, the lazy yanok. "It's something that our race adapted a couple of gens back. We can alter our appearance to the naked eye."
Owen emitted a querying sound, notifying Violet that he didn't understand the words that were coming out of her mouth very well.
"Well, it's like sending a projection. The eye takes in an image and sees it as is. A projection just alters what your eyes see-or rather how your mind perceives it." Violet turned victoriously, two glasses in her hands. "Understand?" she inquired, sauntering to the kitchen table soundlessly.
"I think so." Owen gathered the information in his head with an exhalation of breath. "So, you're saying that your projection alters how I see what you look like and I'm not seeing the 'true you', per se."
"Exactly." Violet sounded happy. She turned, a large carton of apple juice in her hand, and held it out to him. "Juice?"
Dalla stepped into the school reluctantly, his sister beside him. He saw dozens of people that were definitely not Purplishes and immediately turned on his heel. {I don't want to go.}
Violet gripped his shoulders in her hands, smiling a pleasant apology at Travis and the other onlookers. {You have to.}
{Why?}
{'Cause I said so.} Violet steered her brother back into the one-story building that Owen had referred to as a high school. Of course, Dalla was nervous, but Violet herself rather thought she was going to have fun.
Dalla harrumphed slightly and frowned at his sister. {Why do I have to do what you say?}
Violet smiled at her brother condescendingly. {Because I am your elder-}
{Only by two quadrogueps,} Dalla interjected.
Violet continued without missing a beat. {And if you don't do whatever I say, there will be chaos. Do you want chaos?}
Dalla shook his head sullenly and thinned his lips in a definite sulk.
"Children, this way," Travis said, directing his "newly adopted children."
"Oh, thank you, Travis," Violet said, turning in the direction that her "adoptive father" was heading.
Again, Dalla attempted to escape. Violet let go of his shoulder but caught him at the elbow. In turn, Dalla scowled at his sister.
"Come, brother dearest. We wouldn't want to keep the principal waiting." Violet then smiled and cocked her head at the dozens of humans. "And I'd rather not make a scene."
"Oh, fine," snapped Dalla, keeping the resident scowl upon his face.
"Yes, I thought that would be your reaction. Come," Violet instructed, releasing her brother. Dalla smiled and prepared to flee. "And if you run, I can't be responsible for what I do."
Dalla's shoulders slumped as he followed his sister. {Chop-chop,} she chimed into his head. Thus, he sufficiently quickened his shuffle. She responded with an exasperated sigh into the Purplish's head.
Violet followed Travis into principal's office-Isn't that what he called it? -sure that Dalla was right behind her. After they entered, Violet collapsed gracefully into a nearby chair. I miss my loufa chair, the female Purplish thought, remembering a large, round chair that resembled a bean-bag chair but was softer and felt very much like sitting on a cloud.
Dalla sat next to her in the last hard, straight-backed chair, wishing much to the same. He squirmed and then bestowed upon the bald man behind the desk in front of them a nervous smile.
Violet smiled up at the principal pleasantly. He was quite short-about 5'6", she estimated. His head was also completely absent of hair. But he looked pleasant enough with his dark blazer with a strange emblem on the front and a quite friendly smile upon his face. Violet felt a strange feeling overcome her, causing her smile to become a painful grimace.
Travis was the one that introduced them. "Principal Halliburt, this is Viola and Dallas Ilo. They are my new foster children. And they wish to have similar schedules."
Principal Halliburt-such as was his name-scowled slightly, casting his feelings about. Violet cringed internally but was brave against the tumultuous feelings. "I suppose that can be arranged."
"Why couldn't it be?" Dalla snapped in response. {Oops. I didn't mean to say that out loud.}
Principal Halliburt stood, bringing himself to his full height. But it wasn't his height that scared them-both Violet and Dalla were a head taller than the principal-but the intimidating energy that he emitted. Violet managed to not outwardly cringe, but she heard her brother's whimper very well.
A petite brunette walked up from out of the room. She touched the principal's shoulder. "Uncle Harris, I'm here for the tour."
The principal whipped his head in the brunette's direction with an audible snap. "No need," he spat.
"Uncle Harris, your blood pressure," the small brunette warned with a cluck of her tongue.
"Sydni," the principal growled warningly.
"Principal Halliburt," Violet began, standing slowly and gracefully. The man's head whipped back in her direction with that same annoying snap. Violet grimaced automatically. "I'm sure we can work something out."
"Like what?" he growled. Violet cringed almost incomprehensibly. She needed to shift this conversation in a more positive direction.
Violet steepled her hands, a smile upon her face. "A compromise," she told him softly.
"Compromise?" the principal spat, purging out the word like an unwanted something.
Sydni smiled at Violet. "My name is Sydni Smith. My uncle doesn't compromise often," she informed the alien.
Violet smiled wickedly at the principal, though to the others her smile was almost shy and nervous. "Maybe it's time for a change."
Harris Halliburt squinted at the female of the obvious twins. For the first time, he noticed their eyes. Their eyes were completely silver orbs, if you discounted the lavender, pupil-like pools in the center. In fact, Halliburt noticed, everything about them seemed almost alien except for their skin, which also seemed almost unnatural. This discovery inadvertently forced the stout man back into his pleather chair.
Violet's eyes widened. She was surprised at how easily the man obeyed the request.
{Something seems wrong here,} Dalla told his sister with a thought-whisper.
{Ya think?} There was a mental sigh then. {I think I did the eye thing again. I swear, I didn't mean to.}
{You never do,} Dalla assured her with a physical smirk in her direction. She gave him a warm smile in return.
Violet then switched back over to Persuasive Mode. "Now, I've got an idea," she told the principal softly.
Halliburt was straining to gain the upper hand. This had never happened before-a future pupil had never gotten the upper hand against him. The principal had a sneaking feeling that it had something to do with her eyes. "Continue," he instructed in an almost even voice. Almost.
Violet leaned down to be at eyelevel with the sitting principal. "Well, you could give us the same schedule. Then you could send Dallas to class while I go on the miniature tour with Sydni. That a good enough compromise?" She smirked at the stout man.
Violet smirked internally as Principal Halliburt hurried to do just that.
Fifteen minutes later, Violet, Dalla, Travis, and Sydni erupted from the principal's office. Travis headed directly for the exit, leaving for work with a small smile over his shoulder at Violet and Dalla. Sydni waited against a nearby wall for "Viola" and "Dallas" to separate.
{Promise me you won't be in the least bit chaotic. This planet is not as lenient as Talus,} Violet commanded of her brother, gazing deep into his lavender-and-silver eyes. {Please.}
{I promise,} Dalla replied in an uninterested thought-voice, obviously not meaning it in the least bit.
A disappointed expression passed over Violet's face, making her lavender pupils widen sorrowfully. {Dalla}
{Okay, I really promise. I won't be disruptive until you come,} Dalla added with a smirk in the end.
Violet slapped the Purplish along the right side of his head with a soft smile. "Go on," she told him exasperatedly, pointing down the long hall to his next class.
He smirked wryly, rubbing his head gently, and made his way down the hall swiftly.
As Violet walked back over to Sydni, the brunette smiled at her. "So, Viola, what was that all about?"
As they walked down the hall, Violet shrugged her shoulders. "I guess you would say it's inexplicable. You know, we're twins."
Sydni laughed then. "Ohh," she replied in comprehension.
Dalla stepped into his assigned classroom timidly, for once wishing that he hadn't said what he did. He stood there, just beside the doorway, waiting for the professor to notice his presence.
The professor-a tall redhead of a woman, her hair pulled back into a tight bun at the base of her neck-squinted at Dalla. "Who are you?" she queried with a hard, cold voice.
Dalla held out the paper that Halliburt had told him to give to his teacher with a shaky hand. "H-here," he whimpered in a slighted voice.
The woman-Mrs. Gillian, Dalla remembered from his schedule-glanced over the paper quickly. "Dallas Ilo, huh? Where is your sister, Viola?" With the latter inquiry, the teacher looked up to gaze at Dalla with absolute scrutiny.
Spending so much time as the smallest ball of light that was also a part of his twin sister-such as in the way that twins are only parts of each other-Dalla had grown extremely coward-like. "She's with Sydni Smith." Dalla smirked, slipping into his Rebellion Mode. "On the Grand Tour."
"And I take you got on Halliburt's bad side," Mrs. Gillian suggested with the smallest of smiles.
Dalla brought one hand up to his chest, gasping in mock-surprise. "Exactly. And"-a pause. What was Violet's alias again? Oh, yeah-"Viola saved my hide, as always."
Mrs. Gillian smiled just a bit more widely at Dalla. "Dallas, I like you. Take a seat. We're working on quadratics today."
That's when it clicked-Dalla was in a mathematics class. Oh, happy day!
Dalla then slid into an empty seat that was directly behind Owen Michaels. Owen smiled at the alien slightly and began to speak when he was interrupted.
"Owen, no talking in class." Mrs. Gillian's clipped comment was accented sharply by a snap of her pointer rod. "Dallas needs to catch up."
Dallas raised his hand lazily. Mrs. Gillian gave him a slight nod, signaling him to continue. "Really, it's no"
" Problem," Violet told Sydni with a slight sniffle. "I need to talk about it."
"You mean, they really died. Ooh, harsh. What I meant to say was" Sydni trailed off, a grimace disgracing her face.
"It seems so sudden." Violet nodded. Sydni was handing Violet a silky tissue-one of the waves that they'd gotten called it a handkerchief. Violet wrung it in her hands, blotting at her eyes every so often. "It was, to tell you the truth. Two hours before, they were telling me to be careful while I drove. Then, there was a big explosion. I barely escaped with my brother's hide and mine intact."
"Harsh," Sydni whispered softly.
"I so agree," Violet replied.
They shared a companionable silence for a few moments as they walked down a long row of lockers. They stopped in front of a locker marked with the number 17. Sydni handed Violet a small scrap of paper with three different numbers on it. It took Violet a long moment to realize that she had to put these numbers into that little combination lock.
Opened, the locker was so empty. Desolate. So lonely. It fits, the Purplish thought, sinking bit by little bit further into her depression.
Walking out of his math class, Dalla felt a little down. It was like there was this big giant hole in him that wouldn't heal. Someone tapped him on the shoulder suddenly, making him jump, separating him from his depression for a moment.
It was Owen.
"Dalla? Are you okay?"
Dalla sighed, smiling at the Caucasian boy slightly. "Yes. I am fine. I think something may be wrong with Violet, though. I wish I had time to see what's happening."
"Well" Owen considered for a moment. "What do you have next period?"
Dalla's currently human forehead wrinkled unpleasantly. "Let me see." He opened the cover of his folder and retrieved the paper with his schedule. "AP Computers," he answered slowly, deliberately.
Owen smiled a small grin. "Go find Violet and bring her back with you. I tell Mr. Medina you'll be a little tardy."
Dalla smiled a little. "Thanks, Owen," he replied in awe. Then he turned on his heel and headed toward the one place he figured his sister was likely to go.
The library.
The library.
Violet had always known that Earth's library were filled with lots of arcane volumes, not quite evolved to vidcubes. She knew, and she liked it. On Talus, books were converted to vidcubes and there was absolutely no physicality in reading them. They continuously scanned your mind to find your place, so that you wouldn't have the burden of clicking a button on the touch-sensitive screen. She'd always hated that.
She sighed, looking over at Sydni. The human girl couldn't know any of this, so she smiled wistfully.
"Something wrong?" Sydni inquired of Violet.
"Not really. Just wondering why there are so many books," Violet replied with a smile.
"Oh, I know." Sydni smiled, her eyes focused on a distant place. "Mr. Rygel-our librarian-won't allow Uncle Halliburt to convert them to vidcubes. Most of them are Rygel's books anyway."
"Sydni, are you going to patrol tonight?" a male voice inquired softly as he walked into the room. He saw Violet and began to sputter. "What I meant was-I mean- Oh, I give up," the librarian exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air.
Violet smiled a small lopsided smile, studying the librarian for a moment. He was wearing a pair of dark grey khakis and a crisp, white dress shirt, the cuffs of the shirts folded back to mid-forearm. His mouth was pulled into an annoyed expression. Violet would have giggled if she weren't as far as she was into her own depression.
Rygel cocked an eyebrow at the silent girl. "What are you looking at?" Then the library double-doors opened.
"Violet, are you in here?" a teenaged boy's voice called out.
{Dalla, there are people in here,} Violet hissed into her brother's mind.
{I apologize,} Dalla answered a bit quickly. {Are you okay?}
{We have company, Dalla dearest.}
{Fine.}
" 'Violet'?" Sydni echoed curiously, glancing warily between Violet, Dalla, and Rygel.
"Nickname?" Violet suggested softly.
"Unlikely," the librarian intoned suddenly. He walked up to her, and the Purplish's eyes grew wide and watery-though "watery" was not much of a change. "I think you are not what you seem."
"You-you don't know w-what you're talking about," Violet opposed the old man, her lower lip trembling slightly.
"There was an explosion in space last night, just out of our atmosphere. One being was monitored breaking through the breaches of the Governments' securities in the atmosphere," Rygel said, turning to Sydni.
"In space?" Sydni asked, looking to Violet as she caught the librarian's meaning.
A choked laugh broke out of Violet's mouth and she crumpled to the floor, weeping and muttering phrases in Talusese.