Woo! New update! Yay!
TW: co-hosting, being co-conscious
Chapter 22- Who's There? (?, Anna, Astra)
Waking up was weird. Usually, the bed was bigger and a lot warmer. But it was whatever. Stepping out of bed, though, was a trip. Was everything taller? And what happened to all of the decorations? Whose room was this anyway?
"Oh hey, you're new."
Who said that? There wasn't anyone else in the room, was there?
"Oh, I get it. You aren't quite with what's going on here yet. That's cool, I'll help you. My name is Anna and I'm one of the people you'll be living with. Do you have a name?"
"I dunno, do I?" Now that it was brought up, there wasn't a definitive answer.
"Strange. Whatever. So, this is normal when you leave the castle. I saw you for like a second. You look pretty cool with your hair spiky and bright like fire. I'll call you Blaise."
Blaise? That was an interesting name. Why not stick with it? At least until a better name was thought of. "Ok, uh, Anna, so what's up? I know why I'm here but I didn't know there was more than one of you guys.."
"Oh, you are with it. Good, so much explanation avoided. Yeah, you're so not alone. So, what brought you here?"
"I don't really know." A brief pause while clothes were put on. "Are you doing this?"
"Oh, yeah. We can't stay in pajamas all day. Sucks but that's life. Anyway, we have to go to school. How old are you?" Anna dressed herself, went to the bathroom and did her hair. She brushed her teeth and walked out, stretching.
"I'm 17, how about you?"
"Wow, you're old. I'm only 13."
Diane tilted her head, listening to Anna and this new persona talk. "Hey Anna, who ya talking to?"
"Oh, it's this new person I named Blaise. I only know that Blaise is 17 so far."
"Hey, what's up?" Blaise waved to Diane.
"Nice to meet you Blaise. Is it alright if that's what we call you?"
"Sure, why not?" Blaise shrugged. "I don't mind."
"Kind of awkward question here," Diane rubbed her head, "But are you a boy or a girl?"
"A bit of both, I guess. I feel comfortable with both genders."
"Oooooh! Neat! Gender fluid! That's so cool!" Anna giggled.
"I guess?" Blaise went into the kitchen and began looking for breakfast. "So what is there to eat around here? I was here only once and I don't remember much."
Diane got up from the couch and walked in. "I'll make something. Do you like waffles, Blaise?"
"Hell yeah! With a crap ton of butter and syrup!"
"That's so many calories though! I'm gonna get so fat!"
Diane shook her head lightly as Blaise and Anna talked about waffles, food, body weight and body types. So, this new person was genderfluid Blaise. So what gender was Blaise now? Diane felt incredibly awkward not knowing the right pronoun to use. "So Blaise, what pronouns should I address you with?"
"Today I feel like a guy so he and him if you would," Blaise replied, putting his knees up on the edge of the table and leaning the chair back.
"Alright. If you ever want me to change the pronoun, just let me know, okay? I want you to feel welcome and comfortable here."
"I appreciate it," he smiled. "Hey Anna, you still here or there or whatever?"
"Yep! Right here! Just gotta take my medicine. Let me slip into control for a minute here…" Anna took control and fronted, getting up to get her medicine. "So what's up?"
"I was wondering, how many others are there?"
Anna took a big drink and downed her pills. "Well, I'm not too sure I'm allowed to say so I'll just say that you'll have to meet them on your own."
"I guess that's cool. So fill me in on some stuff here guys. I'm obviously not in the 17 year old body I'm used to. What's the technical details here?"
Diane smiled as she laid down a plate of waffles in front of Blaise and Anna. "Well, the girl whose body you're in is named Elsa, she's 13, in high school, and doesn't socialize at all. That's where Anna comes in. Anna is the social butterfly Elsa wishes to be. I'm not sure what part you play yet. I just met you. Though would you mind writing down some stuff about yourself for the psychiatrist Elsa sees? Her name is Dina and she had helped us all immensely."
"Yeah, no problem. Let me just scarf this down really quick. I am starving!" Blaise picked up the fork and knife and began eating. Now and then he had to stop to argue with Anna over the benefits of eating and why puking it back up was harmful to a body. When he was done eating, Blaise took the pen and paper from Diane and wrote down some basics about himself. He slid it to Diane. "Hope that's enough. I'm not too good at this kind of thing."
"Whatever you're comfortable with sharing is enough for me." Diane replied as she read over the paper. Anna had named him Blaise, he was 17, American, 5'6", no weight was given, he was genderfluid, enjoyed sports and musicals, and was a bit muscular. That was plenty for Diane to work with. "Do you want me to get you some clothes for when you're a guy?"
"Maybe a bit later. For now, I'll be fine in whatever Elsa has to wear. It won't bother me much. The only issue I have right now is sight. Everything is fuzzy and distant."
Diane tilted her head, confused. Was it possible for alters to have different eye sight? She'd have to ask Dina. "Hm, maybe a visit to the optometrist would help with that. For now, see if you can sit closer to the front of the class. I'll see what all our vision insurance covers."
"I appreciate it. Oh, should I call you Mom or what?"
Diane shrugged. "That's really up to you. A few of the others see me as their mom and others don't. So If you want to call me Mom, it's your call."
"I think I will," Blaise leaned back in the chair again. "It'd just make things easier, ya know? So, is there anything else I need to know about before I live Elsa's life?"
Diane weighed out whether or not she should tell Blaise about Elsa's powers. "Well, there is one thing. See, I'm a direct descendant of Elsa Swan. Her powers skipped me and Elsa inherited them. So, if you could keep them under control, if possible, that'd be great. There's only one person I know of so far who can control her snow. The other, well, she's dead from how dangerous she was." Diane caught herself rambling. "Anyway, Elsa's snow reacts to her emotions. If Elsa does ever wake up, try and help her stay calm, okay?"
"You got it, Mom!" Blaise nodded.
Kiri paced back and forth, staring at Elsa on her bed. "Come on, Snowflake, wake up! I'm sorry I snapped at what's her name and caused all this. We're all so badly worried about you. Please wake up!" She sat by the edge of the bed and leaned her head against the mattress. "God, I was so stupid to let my temper take control. Why do I have to be the persecutor? I take and do the bad things. That doesn't make me a bad person, does it?" She looked to Elsa, another wave of guilt hitting her. "Yeah, it does…" She sighed heavily and rustled her hair.
"Don't beat yourself up, Kiri. The past is the past," Astra stood on the door way, arms crossed. "Guilting yourself will do nothing to help her come back to us."
"Gah, don't say it like that! It makes it sound like she's dead or something…" Kiri frowned. "How's Arcana doing?"
"She's fine now. I managed to calm her and reassure the poor girl that her nightmares aren't coming true. The poor girl has been through so much thanks to Nassiri."
"I'm just glad the bitch is dead," Kiri mumbled.
"Indeed. I'm going to check on Anna. She left with that new person. I don't know a thing about who they are yet. I just hope they mean well." Astra quickly turned on her heel and left for the real world. Astra was getting more and more used to the free fall gravity slam that was being co-conscious. "Hey Anna, how is everything going?"
Anna blinked and laughed, not expecting Nia to interrupt them. "Hey Nia. Things are good. You interrupted a fashion talk with me and Blaise."
"Blaise? Is that who the new person is?"
"Ask him yourself. Nia, this is Blaise. Blaise, this is Nia." Anna made introduction gestures though to a normal person it just looked like Elsa was waving her arms back and forth.
"Hey, Nia! Guess you're one of the others, huh?" Blaise nodded. "That's cool. So, what do you do for our little system?"
Blaise was rather blunt. "Well, I'd say I'm the caretaker and organizer. The sort of go to between some of us. So uh, since I don't know much about you, tell me some stuff I guess?"
"Well, I'm gender fluid, going by he and him pronouns right now. Anna named me Blaise because of my bright orange hair and I like sports and musicals. I don't know what my job is in our world yet. I just sort of, popped up."
Nia nodded, making all of them nod. "I see. Would you mind introducing yourself to Elsa on paper and camera? We all write journal entries to her and make video diaries so she knows where time goes and what happens."
"Yeah, no problem." He got up and let Anna guide him back to Elsa's room, showing him where the camera was. "Ooh, neat camera. Okay, let's get this thing going." He laid on the bed and turned the view finder to him. "Where's the on button? Oh there it is. Uh, it is recording? Hi Elsa. I'm new here. My name is Blaise and I just want to help you. I'm not quite sure what my job is in helping you yet but I'm sure I'll figure it out soon enough. It's, what, Wednesday the 10th or something. It's early in the morning and things are good. You've eaten and bathed and what not. I promise Anna did the bathing and not me in case that creeps you out. So yeah, that's it. Peace!" He turned off the camera and set it down. "I am not good at that but oh well." He saw the desk with the journal and quickly wrote an entry.
'August 10th, 6:43 a.m.
Hey Squirt! The name's Blaise. I just made a video diary to you. Not sure what else I'm supposed do for you but I'll do what I can. Stay safe kid!
~Blaise.'
He packed up Elsa's back pack with the camera and journal, made sure he looked good and got himself ready for school.
'Don't cause trouble like someone else already has, okay?'
'I'll be fine, Nia. Diane told me how Elsa acts and I'm gonna stick to that.'
'Ok, thanks. Anna, help him out. Stick with him today in case he needs help knowing where to go and locker info and all that.'
"Can do! Let's go Blaise! I'll be your invisible tour guide of the school today!"
Blaise just smiled as he walked out of the house to Diane's car.
Between work and rewriting my novel, I barely have time to do anything anymore. But I thank all of you for your patience with me. I promise this will all be worth it soon. As always, thank you for reading/faving/following! See you in the next chapter!