A/N: Happy holidays, everybody! It is Christmas Eve eve and I am unbelievably excited. If you haven't already, go check out the Christmas Vent Buddies oneshot I published a couple days ago; it's called Santa Claus Is Sus and features Red and yellow celebrating Christmas together.
It took both Red and Yellow quite a while to stop their giggles. They were in no rush to calm down, but it was starting to hurt. Red was especially surprised about this; they didn't know that laughter pains were a thing until now. Actually, have i ever actually laughed at all before this? They we're increasingly horrified to realize that they couldn't remember ever laughing, at least, not like this.
"W-wow…" Yellow breathed from where she was doubled over on the bed next to them. "That was… a-an experience." "Yeah…" Red agreed. They slipped their phone back into their pocket; out of sight, out of mind. mostly. That's when out of nowhere, a thought occurred to them.
It was one of those random thoughts that they would wonder about as they lay in bed at night, trying to go to sleep. A question that they'd never be able to get an answer to, or so they thought. now there was a human crewmate right here, and she almost definitely wouldn't mind answering it.
They turned towards Yellow. "Hey. This is a little random, but do you mind if I ask you something?"
"Not at all~" Red wasn't sure if their friend was legitimately this happy or she was trying to shove what she had seen deep within her mind, but decided it wouldn't be good to press for now.
"So um, I've been wondering… is Yellow your actual name? Because if it is… then it's quite the coincidence that you get the yellow suit. That all of you actually, get the same colored suit as your names."
"Bahahaaahaahaa!" Yellow bursts into laughter again, barely controlling herself, and Red suddenly feels super embarrassed. "Oh, s-sorry, I'm not laughing at you, promise. I just… I'm surprised this hasn't come up before. Wait, are you asking this because your real name is Red?"
"Not… exactly," Red mumbles. If they weren't red already, and if they had the same colored blood as humans, then they would most definitely be red now.
"To answer your question, our names aren't actually Yellow, White, Purple and stuff, we just call each other that most of the time to make things simpler, or maybe it's just a tradition or something? Honestly I'm not quite sure why we do it, but it's iconic by now so we can't just stop." She adjusts herself on the bed, and Red can just see that she has a slight blush dusting her cheeks. "But uh, ever since I was six or so, I started insisting that everyone called me Yellow. I've always wanted to work for MIRA, explore space and wear the yellow suit. Not just because it's my favorite color, it is… but also…" her face saddens, and she murmurs, barely above a whisper. "It was my mom's color."
"Did… something happen to her?" Red wasn't sure why they were asking this. By Yellow's expression and tone, it was obvious that that was the case.
She nods. "She passed away on the job, the day after she gave birth to me. They didn't want her to come back so soon, but there was an important task that only she knew how to do, so she left me on Earth with my uncle and went back up there. Only an hour after they went into space… they found her… dead in the med bay." Yellow froze in indecision. She appeared to not want to divulge the rest of the story, and Red was about to tell her she didn't need to, when she spoke again. It was so quiet that, had they not been an alien with highly sensitive hearing, they probably would not have been able to hear it. "Her head was gone."
Red couldn't help it, they flinched. Badly. Because they knew, without a doubt, exactly how Yellow's mom was killed. They were sure of it, because there was no other thing they could think of to decapitate a crewmate, except for a member of their own people.
Red's reaction brought Yellow abruptly out of her musings, and she turned sharply to face them. "What is it? Are you okay?"
How can she stand to be around me at all? AFter… They felt themselves shutter as a realization hit them full force. Wait, she didn't know what an impostor was until now… she doesn't know… "I-I'm sorry…"
"Why are you apologizing? You didn't do anything—wait wait wait!" Yellow slapped her forehead, a fire appearing in her eyes. "Mom-Mom was murdered! I can't—I can't believe I didn't realize it by now! I mean i wasn't supposed to know the details, everyone was just telling us it was a freak accident but… how do you get accidentally beheaded? That makes no sense! I mean we weren't supposed to know about the beheading, I snooped in an office during the night during my training because I wanted to know more about Mom, I learned more about her but not the way I wanted—Red! Please, don't tell anybody that… I…" she trails off. she's hyperventilating now, the oxygen tank on her back activated, detecting the higher rate of oxygen required.
Red wasn't sure what to do. Eventually they just went with their gut instinct, placing a hand on their friend's trembling shoulder. She leans into it much to their private relief, attempting to slow down her breathing. "Sorry about that," She mumbles. "It's just… this has been quite the eventful day off, hasn't it? I browse a social media platform that puts the deep web to shame, and learn that my mom was killed by my best friend's people. What a trip. I know I should probably investigate this further, but honestly? I'm way too emotionally spent for that right now, so let's get back on track. You wanted to know my name, right?"
"Uh, s-sure," Red says, reeling from the emotional whiplash. Yellow might be done for now, but Red was just getting started. When they got the chance, they would open up IPostor and see if they could figure out more about Yellow's mother's death. It was the least they could do.
Yellow smiles wistfully. "It's Aurelia, Aurie for short. My full name is Aurelia Dawn."
"Aurelia," They say the name out loud, tasting the flavor of each syllable. "Aurelia Dawn. That's… a really beautiful name." Frankly it was the most beautiful name they've ever heard, but they weren't sure if they should say that. It sounded too corny out loud.
"Thanks." Yellow (Aurelia?) says with a smile, and slight blush. "So uh, do you like have a real name too?"
Red hesitates. "I… do, but… it's—we don't really use our names, we just go by our colors, so we're used to doing that on missions. Besides, my name… it's not pretty like yours is, and… I don't really like it that much. But if you really want to know…"
"Oh, yes!" Yellow squeals excitedly (they'll still call her that for the most part.) "Tell me your weird alien name!"
"O-okay, but don't say I didn't warn you." They take a deep breath, preparing to speak in their native tongue for the first time in so long. They hoped they wouldn't be too rusty, not that it matttered. It'd sound just as bad either way. "My name is U3Vzc3kgTWNNb29ndXM=."
"What?" Yellow blurted out without thinking, instantly regretting it when Red's face darkened, presumably with embarrassment. "Sorry, I just… I don't think I can pronounce that."
"I told you it was an ugly sounding language," they groan, and Yellow feels a pang of sympathy wash through her. "Hey, it's okay. I'm sure I could learn to say it, hold on … Uv3… jdv=… SmVsbHkgc3Vja2luZyBtb3Jvbg==!"
Red stares, blank-faced, at her for what seems like an eternity. Then out of nowhere, they burst out into hysterical laughter.
"W-what did I say? What—what did I…"
"Ahahahaha! I—I c-could—could translate that but… b-but I wo—won't. It's not very nice."
Yellow feels her eyes widening. "Oh no! did I, like, cuss you out or something/ I'm so sorry!"
Red just laughs harder. They only stop when there's a tentative knock on their bedroom door.
"Come in!" Yellow says, eager for the distraction.
blue walks in, looking nervous. "I-is everything okay in here? I heard… some very strange noises so I got a bit concerned."
"It's all good~" Yellow singsongs as Red stops looking amused and starts looking mortified. "Red was just telling me their name in their native language."
"Okaaaaaay…" Blue begins backing away slowly, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. "I'll catch you guys later then, I guess."
"that right there is why I don't like my name so much," Red says frustratedly when Blue has left. "Because of things like that."
"Well if you hate that name so much, why not just choose another one?" Yellow can't help but ask.
Red frowns, either this had never crossed their mind before, or they weren't allowed in their old society. "I wouldn't know where to start."
Yellow thought about this, and then her heart fluttered in excitement when she remembered something she had brought but left in storage. "Hold on a sec, I'll be right back "
Yellow returned minutes later, slightly out of breath. She was holding a large book under her arm, which she handed over to Red. There was an illustration of a cartoonish spaceship on the cover leaving a trail of rainbows in its wake, with equally colored letters forming the title. "Colorful Baby Names For Mommy's little Astronaut?" They read out loud.
Yellow nods excitedly. "Mmm-hmm! MIRA's thing with the colored suits got so popular that they teamed up with this company, Forte Inc, I think it was, to write a book with color-based names in it. It's where my mom found my name! Look!" She sits next to them on the bed and opens up the book, flipping to the yellow section and pointing to a particular entry. "There it is right there, see?"
Aurelia (F): The feminine form of the Roman surname Aurelius. It was derived from the Latin word aureus, meaning 'golden' and also the name of a gold coin used as currency in the Roman Empire.*
"wow," Red breathed. They couldn't help it, they could hardly believe just how much thought went into human names. It wasn't just about how they sounded, but they had meanings as well.
"I was thinking that you could look through the red names and see if you found anything that you'd like to be called." Yellow said, flipping to the pages in question. "Since you use they/them pronouns, you'll probably wanna pick a name with an (n) next to it. It stands for neutral, and the (m) and (f) stand for male and female. Course, you don't have to do that, you could pick whatever name you like."
Red nods and begins scanning the pages. "Gender's a little different for us," they explain. "Since we can shift whatever set of reproductive organs we want, it's not as rigid for us. most of the time we only shift into them when we want to use them, it's more practical that way. For the most part, the majority of impostors are… well I guess 'non-binary' would be the best word to describe it. Like how male and female are the defaults for you, non-binary and they/them is the default for us. But of course, there are some who identify as male and female, some who are fluid, and others. Since humans do that too, it's not an issue."
"Huh." Yellow says thoughtfully as she absorbs this new information. "so… even though you're non-binary, you're also actually cisgender? Identifying with the gender you were assigned at birth," She clarifies at her friends confused look.
"I guess so," They say, though they're not nearly as fascinated by this revelation as Yellow seems to be.
"I'm cis too," she says, leaning back against the headboard. Her oxygen tank gets wedged against the pillow but she doesn't seem to care. "I wish I could get rid of my girlparts when I'm not using them."
Red's about to ask why, but decides to focus on looking through the names for now. they decide to do as Yellow suggested and focus on the names with the n in parenthesis next to them. They didn't think they should be overly picky since their former name (was it really so easy to call it that?) was so horrible, but it felt weird to them, calling themself a name that was too masculine or feminine. They supposed they truly were non-binary.
They looked through the names for a long while, full of indecision. The name Carmen reminded them of something, but they weren't sure what it was. And Rory was a nice name, but it wasn't quite there.
Then they saw it. Rowen. Well it had multiple spellings, but they liked that one the best.
"do you like that one?" Red jumps. they'd almost forgotten that Yellow was there, peering over their shoulder at the book. they nod.
"Rowen," She says out loud, testing the name similarly to how they had done hers a while ago. "I think it's some kind of tree? But it does also mean red…"
They didn't know if they were just imagining things, but when Yellow said the name out loud, they swore they got chills. They particularly enjoyed the soft sounds of it; it was a big contrast to the hard grating sounds of their old name. "Rowen…" They say it themself, feeling it in their mouth. "Rowen."
"Is that it?" Yellow asks, voice filled with something, done right? Surprise?
"I think… yes. My name… my name is Rowen."
Yellow… Aurelia smiles. "I definitely can pronounce that."
Aurie and Rowen have had a very eventful, but good day off.