General Content Rating: 18+
Story
Content Warnings: Heavy Swearing, Blood and Gore, Death, Racism, Sexism,
Ableism, Homophobia, Transphobia, Exorsexism, Child Abuse, Underage
Shenanigans (Drinking, Smoking, etc.), Suicide
Current Chapter Content Warnings: Heavy Swearing
Viewer Discretion is Advised
#15: The Aftermath
Despite the
cold wind that blew against her skirt, Noriko prevailed through the chilly, yet
sunny weather that greeted her this morning.
Inside the
group’s tent, Brian laid peacefully asleep, his arm protectively wrapped around
Aden’s waist. Aden was all curled up and smiling in his slumber, subconsciously
scratching the nape of the napping tiger cub who was now named ‘Blanco,’
according to Aden’s will.
The red-head
desperately wanted to keep Blanco; not as a pet as Brian and Noriko first
speculated, but as a friend.
Aden’s wish,
although fervently denied by Noriko, Brian, Elric, Alva, Dr. Elfrida, Captain Gonzalo,
and pretty much everyone in the camp, was eventually given when Aden persisted
enough and gave his puppy dog eye to the masses. Most gave in on the spot.
Captain Gonzalo tried to reason with Aden,
bringing up the resources, responsibilities, and dangers of caring for the
tiger, but Aden was persistent. “He very nice! He do not need much eating like
me!” Eventually Captain Gonzalo gave In, although it was obvious his willing
defeat was only temporary. He would try to convince Aden about it again some
other time. There were more pressing things to worry about…
…Like having
Noriko and the three others’ names cleared.
It was very
well stated to Brian and Noriko once again, just before they went to sleep that
night, that they were in a rough spot with most of the camp’s civilians in the
aftermath of the havoc. Elric, Alva, Dr. Elfrida, a handful of others, and
Gonzalo were on their side in the matter. Most others blamed the ‘strangers,’
as Noriko and her companions were called, for the mess that occurred.
“We’re
gonna get kicked out?!” Brian shrieked at the time. They weren’t
responsible for what happened! How could most of the camp think it’s their
fault?!
“Kicking the
four of you out is the least of our wishes!” Captain Gonzalo hurriedly explained.
“But it is going to be difficult to assure the rest of the camp of your
trustworthiness after what happened. There’s going to be a big meeting by the
end of this month. We have monthly gatherings where we discuss big changes and
vote on specific topics…and I’m afraid the majority might vote to kick you all
out.”
“Then what can
we possibly do to assure them we mean no harm?” Noriko prompted with worry.
This wasn’t good news to her ears in the slightest.
“Make an
announcement some time beforehand; perhaps the day after tomorrow.” Captain Gonzalo
suggested. “Present your innocence of what just occurred and try to sell your
skills and work ethic to the camp; the best you can do after that is be
friendly and help out as much as possible.”
Noriko and Brian
slept on that advice. While Brian crashed within a minute or so, Noriko was
wide awake most of the night. She barely slept much, and her thoughts
constantly wandered. Worries and plans that were jumbled and messy from sleep
deprivation occupied most of her mind.
So here Noriko
was early in the morning, taking a slow, relaxing walk through the empty camp
roads. Her destination was the nearby river, which she hoped to sit by and
drown out her thoughts with the sound of the rushing water.
Arriving at her
destination, Noriko didn’t expect to see Dr. Elfrida rinsing out a handful of
washcloths in the river.
“You’re up
rather early?” Dr. Elfrida sighed out, pausing her work. Her disinterested tone
and the bags under her eyes communicated to Noriko that she wasn’t in the best
mood. “Couldn’t sleep?”
“…No.” Noriko
answered hesitantly, seating herself down on the dewy, rough grass. “Not after
what happened last night.”
“Figured.” Dr.
Elfrida shrugged, massaging her aching shoulders and resuming her
cloth-washing. “There are two types of people in this world. Those who sleep
like a log after a crisis and those who are as awake as an owl. You appear to
be of the latter.”
“And you?”
Noriko questioned, noting Dr. Elfrida’s shaking hands as she rinsed the blood
of the wounded out of the cloths. “Did you get any sleep?”
“…Even if I
had the time to sleep last night, I wouldn’t have slept a wink.” Dr. Elfrida
answered with exhaustion. She continued to rinse cloth after cloth; and Noriko
watched on with pity.
Eventually
Noriko couldn’t take it anymore, and she cautiously stood up from the ground so
as not to trip and fall. She kicked her shoes off, tied her skirt to her knees,
and waded into the river. “Hey, I can help if you want.” She offered, extending
her hand to the doctor.
Dr. Elfrida
took a good look at Noriko, and then focused her attention on the human girl’s
missing arm. “I don’t think you can, considering your…current state.”
The minute
Noriko realized what Dr. Elfrida was implying, she clutched onto the stub of
her arm and bit her lip, embarrassment flushing her face. How could she have
forgotten?! “I-I-“
But Dr. Elfrida
continued before Noriko could put another word in. “There is something else you
could do for me however.” Dr. Elfrida prompted, extending her towel covered arm
to Noriko. “Carry these dry towels to my main tent please. You know where it is
right?”
“Yes? I
believe so.” Noriko answered as Dr. Elfrida placed a handful of dry towels over
her one arm. Dr. Elfrida smiled at the news, and as Noriko set off to
accomplish her task, she waved the non-elf away.
Noriko’s tights were cold and moist from
the river, but she would endure the discomfort for the time being. Upon finding
Dr. Elfrida’s tent, Noriko noted the new, significantly larger tent behind it.
The flaps were marked with the same medical symbol, and with a quick peak,
Noriko surveyed the wounded that rested and moaned inside.
She was quick to leave this new tent
alone, and instead entered the tent she was supposed to drop off the towels at.
Upon entry, Noriko surveyed the cleanliness of the dining table and the crowded
shelves filled with all kinds of herbs and medical knick-knacks.
And then Noriko caught, with the corner of
her eye, an alter in the center of the tent. On this alter laid Diantha.
The girl was as still as a mouse; her
chest rising steadily. Noriko took a few moments of her time to watch Diantha
rest peacefully before carefully folding the towels in her arms one by one, and
setting them on the nearby counters. It was no easy feat with only one arm.
There were so
many things now that were significantly more difficult to do, due to Noriko’s
missing arm. She hadn’t really processed it until just recently, and it had
been bringing her down. She felt…powerless sometimes.
Staring at a
nearby mirror, Noriko observed, for the first time, her own reflection. Her
hair was short, straight, and brown. Her eyes were narrowed and cat-like. She was
definitely of some sort of Asian ethnicity…likely Japanese based on her name, as
Diantha had suggested.
But after that
basic observation, Noriko paid special attention to her shirt collar. She felt
like there was something that was supposed to be there. She just couldn’t put
her finger on it…at least, until she glanced at the strands of cloth wrapped
around her wrist.
They weren’t
strands of cloth. They were ties.
What were they
doing wrapped around her hand?
…Noriko didn’t
bother searching her head for answer. She knew she wouldn’t find one, not yet
at least.
Instinctually,
Noriko looked for a calendar of some sort. She was grateful when she found one
on the counter, and sighed in relief when her fears of the calendar system of
this world being drastically different from Earth’s was mostly baseless.
Moka, Tuka, Weka, Thuka, Firka, Saka, and Suka. The obvious counterparts of
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. There were
only three weeks instead of the usual four, and eight months instead of 12; known
as Nocemus, Jaburas, Feyas, Maprus, Munes, Jugastus, Atebes, and Secobis. But Noriko
wasn’t focused on that.
Today was Weka,
the third day of the first month Nocembus in the year 600 PK. PK stood for Priyavidai
Kaneer, whatever that meant.
Noriko, without a second thought, pulled
loose the green tie wrapped around her wrist with her teeth. It took a lot of
struggling, but she managed to tie it into a sloppy, yet somewhat sturdy bow
around her neck.
It was only
after Noriko did this that she remembered why she did so. In Thailand, there
was a superstition that assigned a lucky color to each day of the week. Yellow
for Monday, pink for Tuesday, green for Wednesday, orange for Thursday, blue
for Friday, purple for Saturday, and red for Sunday.
For some
reason, following this superstition gave Noriko a sense of control over her
situation. A small smile formed on her face as she stared at herself in the
mirror.
Perhaps today wasn’t going to be as much
of a drag as she originally thought…
“Vulcan that
purse cost me $500!”
Needless to say,
Noriko was startled nearly to death at the sudden exclamation from behind. She
twisted her head to the side to find the person that hollered those words.
…And saw
Diantha; wide awake, and sitting abnormally upright while gasping for breath.
“D…Diantha?!”
Noriko exclaimed; gaining the distressed blonde’s attention.
“N-Noriko?!” Diantha seemed equally as
surprised to see Noriko.
The two gawked
at each other in shock. The tension was almost suffocating, but Diantha finally
relieved it when her gaze trailed downwards and focused on Noriko’s new bow.
“…Oh hun, the way you tied that.” She winced out.
Noriko
clutched onto her bow, flushing with embarrassment. “It was difficult putting
it on with only one hand. This was the best I could do.”
“Well come
over here! Let me fix it for you!” Diantha urged with a friendly smile,
beckoning Noriko to come closer. Noriko, after a moment of hesitance, heeded
Diantha’s call and watched the blonde fix her bow tie.
“There! Much
better wouldn’t you agree?” Diantha hummed out upon finishing her work, turning
Noriko towards the mirror.
The one-armed girl’s bow was much more
presentable. Noriko was thoroughly impressed! “Yes. Much better. Thank you.”
“That’s what galfriends
are for!” Diantha lilted out with a gleefully smile, and then clapped her hands
together; that same smile morphing into a more serious frown. “So…mind filling
me in on where I am and the rest of the jazz?”
Noriko told
Diantha the basics. Needless to say Diantha had opinions aplenty.
“Okay so you all followed what you thought
was a DnD cosplayer into their roleplay camp, only to discover that the four of
us landed in a new world straight out of a fantasy adventure novel.” Diantha
scoffed at this information at first in disbelief; rolling her eyes. “To add even
more bullshit onto this overly magical sundae; this Alva gal thinks we might be
vessels of some ancient nearly forgotten gods?! Yeah right! And my favorite
color is grey!”
“It makes a
lot of sense Diantha. Trust me!” Noriko countered. “It explains our powers. It
explains why we woke up where we woke up. It-“
“Then why are
we here?!” Diantha urged Noriko for an answer; it was a question swirling in
all four of the teenager’s heads. “And what are we supposed to do to go back
home?! More importantly what’s with the whole amnesia thing?!”
Noriko
remained silent. She had no answers, so she really had nothing to say.
Diantha let
out tired sigh after a moment of silence, and massaged her temples. “Listen,
I’ve apparently been asleep all this time so it’s hard for me to process all
this. What you’ve just told me sounds like something straight out of a
teenager’s creative writing assignment. How am I…what am I supposed to
do with all this?”
“Speculate?”
Noriko hesitantly suggested.
Diantha let out an exaggerated moan of
boredom, and laid back down on the alter. “But that’s boooooooring! …Wow,
this alter is cold.”
“What were you
shouting about when you woke up?” Noriko finally asked. That strange sentence
Diantha hollered out upon waking up had been floating in her mind since she
first heard it.
“Oh? I was
dreaming about my dog Vulcan. He’s a gorgeous silver poodle, but he can be such
an asshole. He tore up this $500 dollar purse I bought in Canada…once…”
“Diantha?”
Noriko called out to the suddenly silent blonde. The way they trailed off
worried her…and…wait a minute!
Diantha
quickly sat up on the alter again, her eyes wide with a sudden realization.
“I remember
things.”
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