A/N: well actually, there's not much of anything to say lol. If anyone is confused about how the Aufera family works, you can PM me, or wait till I explain it in the story. =]
"So then Mei finished fixing him up, and here we are."
The residents of the farm were seated around the kitchen table. The sun was starting to rise outside, and the other farm workers were either going home or in the guest house. The four had taken their case to the head of the farm, Medusa.
She stood before the over contemplatively, before opening it, and pulling out a tray full of cheese sandwiches.
"And he said he was a juggalo?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Well... We can't exactly tell the authorities then, can we?"
She set the tray on the counter, and began divying up the sandwiches, when one began to float. The sandwich then proceeded to smash into a wall before falling to the floor.
An annoyed squeak sounded from the doorway, where Lufia had just picked up Ramses from the floor. Lufia was the family lusus, the kangaroo had taken care of most of the Auferas as grubs, and now she was taking care of yet another grub in addition to two biological joeys.
The little goldblood Ramses was quite the handful, as his psiionic powers were already well grounded.
Lufia gingerly placed the giggling grub in her pouch, smiled, and hopped back to the living room.
After the small distraction, the discussion continued.
"I would say," Medusa said in between bites of sandwich, "that the best course of action would be to get our friend here back to health and mental stability and try to get a straight story out of him. Then, once we know all the facts, we can proceed. In the mean time, we read up on... Uh, anything that might be useful? Eh, I'll get a list going or something."
The family agreed to this,and after dinner they headed off to their bedtime activities.
There weren't very many bedrooms in the farmhouse, so it sometimes felt like a dormitory, but the Aufera family wouldn't trade it for the world.
Lufia and the younglings slept in the small blue bedroom facing the front of the house, Medusa and Meioxi slept together in the big bedroom, and Nairuu, Freyah and Mkenzi slept in the attic, which was finished and divided into three bedrooms and a bathroom.
"So, some day, huh?" Nairuu said absentmindedly to Freyah as she left the bathroom.
"I suppose. I deal with some pretty weird stuff in my day to day. This is up there, though."
Nei smiled incredulously at her short companion.
"You're an alchemist. How weird is your job that a hobo in a subterranean refrigerator isn't the most odd thing?"
"My dear, we live in a world where four different dominant species have been thrown unceremoniously together by 12 legendary figures with a vague promise to come back at some point in the future. Strange relics from before some massive cataclysm litter or planet's surface, leaving us clues of what our world was like in it's last life. An old man in a refrigerator isn't unreasonable."
Nai shrugged, making the 'not bad' face.
"Aight, see you in the evening, then?"
"Agreed."
The sisters hugged before heading to their rooms.
The day passed without incident, and an uneventful yet excited night seemed to drag on infinetly. Finally it was dawn again, and Mei said that Bug would probably wake up soon. They had lasagna for dinner. No surprises.
The medbay was never very quiet, with the occasional beep, the rustling of fabric and paper, and the muted chatter. Even at 5 o'clock at day there were a few patients still awake. Bug had slept deeply through it all, dreaming of being a kid again, sitting in a tall purple tree surrounded by colorful lizards, talking to a little girl. When he finally roused, he immediately wanted to go back to sleep. No point in waking out of beauty to find yourself back in a box.
He opened his eyes drearily, but then shot up, remembering the events of the previous day. After a small bout of dizziness from sitting up too fast, he looked around. A dull teal curtain surrounded him on all sides, desaturated, unintrusive pattern decorating it. The ceiling was a truly boring shade of off white, functional but as interesting as a pebble in a diamond mine. A rather unremarkable room. But to him, it was more beautiful than the moonset, because he could see it
He lifted the edge of the curtain, to see another curtain across a small isle. This one was open a bit, to see a carapacian child sleeping soundly within. In the hallway outside the isle, he could see forty or fifty similar inclosures, most of which with closed curtains. On the far wall, a wide doorway revealed a hallway. The window in the hallway had a blackout curtain which had gotten caught on something, leaving a patch of brilliant sunlight on the ground. Someone walked past it without even flinching in the light. The person then stopped, turned around and fixed the curtain. Their hands entered the light several times, yet they remained perfectly intact. The person had horns, so they were almost definitely a troll. A Daywalker? Working aboveground, just in a hospital? That seemed ludicrous.
Unable to go back to sleep, Bug tried to get up, finding that while he could successfully stand and walk, he was very shaky. Oh well, the only way to remedy that was practice. Moving around the small bed, he realized there was some sort of medicinal drip fastened in his arm. He removed it before exiting the curtained area. The room was very wide with a low roof, with large windows spaced regularly throughout. All the windows were covered, but light still shone through the corners. He walked warily towards the hallway that the Daywalker had been in a minute ago, not sure what to expect. He had to duck to get through the doorway, but the hall ceiling was more than tall enough. To the right was a potted plant and door with a sign above it. It said 'bathroom' in english, alternia, and one other language he didn't recognize.
To the left, the hallway opened up into a corner room, adorned with a desk, a few chairs, and vending machine. A salamander had fallen asleep in one of the chairs, and a human sat behind the desk, playing solitaire.
He stepped hesitantly into the room, not sure what to expect.
The man at the desk looked up.
"Can I help you?"
"... Not rightly sure."
Frowning a little, the man said,
"Are you looking for something? Someone?"
Bug deliberated.
"Are Nairuu or Freyah around anyplace?"
"I'm... Not perfectly sure who the first person is, but Freyah I know. She's probably asleep, but if it's important, I'm sure she'll listen. Leave this building and head for the big white farmhouse. On the side that faces the road, there's a stairway to a screened in porch. Knock on the door.
Until the sun sets, that's you're best bet."
"... Well thank you. I... I'll be heading there now, I guess. Oh, uh, and..."
The man smiled kindly.
"Continue down this hallway past the left turn. Door's on your right. Can't miss it."
"Thank ya again."
Bug began his slow procession down the hallway. By the door stood the troll from before, looking at a phone.
He had only ever met one other Daywalker, so he wondered if he say something, indtruduce himself.
But then the other troll looked up, and stared unappreciativly at Bug with distinctly amber eyes. A bronze blood.
"Yo buddy, you lost is something?" They said.
"You're not a jadeblood..."
"What's it to you?"
"Yet... The sun does not harm you?"
"The heck did you grow up? Alternus? Nobody burns in the sun, moron."
Confused, Bug smiled apologetically and exited the building.
It was a clear, beautiful day in mid autumn, where the sun was beginning to set earlier and the leaves were tinged brilliant shades.
And the light from the first few sunset rays danced over ancient troll, so that for a few minutes, all he thought of was standing in the sunlight forever and ever.