Getting to the house took some time. Having no car and the inability to walk without pain will do that. But I managed, for Meeyo.
And the house is definitely something else. There is no way that it's not a community house.
Four floors of decent size from what I can tell from the outside, with a sizable front yard, possibly backyard as well. And well made from what I could tell.
Looking over at Talia, I raise an eyebrow as she notices me looking at her. She smiles and raises her hands to sign.
“Yes, it is a community house. I have rented the bottom floor so that you will not have to deal with the stairs. And our other housemates should be nice. In fact, I heard that the ones on the second floor know sign language”
Ah. She could tell what I was thinking without me having to ask. Good. I don't think my hands could be legible right now.
Meeyo grabs my hand and with the energy that only a kid could have, she drags me gently but quickly to the door.
“Let's go explore! She yells.
I let a smile spread across my face, even as the pain of exhaustion creeps through me.
The sound of a child’s excited yell startles Moon out of his concentrated work trance and he raises his head in confusion, looking at his brother, Sun, as he did. Sun has already stood up from the couch, looking instead at the window, where the yell came from.
“That isn't a child we have met,” Sun says quietly, the materials making up his face stretch into an even wider smile than before.
“How delightful” Sun adds.
“We were told that a group of three would be moving in below us. That could be them,” Moon says as he gets up, his head only a foot away from the roof. Being nearly nine feet tall does that.
In two strides, Sun reaches the window and leans down to look out, searching for the newcomers, the child especially.
He finds one of them. A young woman who appears to be laughing happily at something a little closer to the house. Too close to see from behind the window.
Opening the window, Sun leans out looking down first. He sees me with Meeyo. His eyes linger on Meeyo, a spark of joy at her excitement joining the many others he keeps inside; then they move to look at who the child is dragging along with, and a spark of curiosity comes to life.
So many scars… even without seeing all of my skin, he could tell by the way I moved, and could see the ones peeking out of my shirt sleeves.
Something compels me to look up at that moment.
Our eyes meet, and everything inside me stops.
The right eye is a rich yellow, one that brings sunflowers to mind, and the left eye is a light blue, that makes me think of the sky. But they don’t feel the same.
Blinking, I realize that the one with those eyes isn’t human. No. They are an animatronic. One designed to have a head that resembles the sun.
Sun waves at us, and retreats back into the house, closing it as he does.
“Moon. Let’s go say hi to them, shall we?” Sun says, voice oddly quiet.
Moon tilts his head, his nightcap’s bell ringing softly, eyes narrowing at the strange manner his sibling is acting.
Almost like they are hunting.
“Of course, Sun,” Moon says in response.
Meeyo continues to drag me towards the front door, stopping more often than not to take a closer look at the flowers covering the front yard.
Talia starts to approach us, her eyes intent on me, most likely noticing the change in my behavior. However small it is.
Shaking my head, I slowly crouched down by Meeyo, tapping her shoulder as steadily as I could.
“Yes, Eavir?” She asks without looking up.
Recognizing the request, she looks up at me.
“ I do not think I can explore all of the front yard, how about we go on inside so that I have more ability to rest while you continue exploring?”
Meeyo’s eyes widen, and she takes my trembling hands in her own, the guilt obvious.
“Sorry, I forgot for a moment. We can go inside,”.
The smile returns, and I take my hand and I place it on her head, ruffling it slightly.
“It's fine, Meeyo. Eavir simply wants you to be able to enjoy yourself while they are still able to be with you as well. It is understandable why you were excited,” Talia says as she reaches them.
Meeyo looks from me to Talia.
I nod to confirm what Talia said.
Meeyo brightens and softly tugs me towards the door, making sure not to go too fast or get distracted by the flowers.
Talia trots over to the door before we could get to it and opens it, letting us in first.
The interior decorating of the first floor is simple. The walls are painted in eggshell white, with accents of dark grey, the furniture also matching that grey color. There is carpet. Fluffy light grey carpet; cleaning that is not going to be a quick chore.
It appears that the living room is quite large, connecting to the kitchen that doubles as a dining room, and multiple doors that must lead to the bedrooms and the bathroom. As well as some stairs that lead up to the other floors. There is also a set of glass doors that seems to lead out into a patio. Is that a pool?
The small excited shriek of Meeyo seeing the large TV snaps my attention away from the back door, and instead towards her.
She's never seen a screen that big, has she?
Already excitedly talking about the amount of shows that she could watch on it, Meeyo runs over to the screen, leaving me with Talia.
Leaving me the only one of us two that can be seen from the stairs.
The feeling of being watched skitters across my spine, causing me to look towards the stairs.
Two nine foot tall figures make their silent way down the stairs, one of them staring intently at me. The Sun animatronic, with what appears to be a Moon themed animatronic by their side. Sun and Moon. They reach the bottom of the stairs and the sun themed one waves excitedly at us.
“Hello new roommates! We saw you outside and thought it would be polite to introduce ourselves, we do hope that you had a good trip over here?” The Sun themed one says in a bright and cheery tone, catching Talia’s attention as the Moon themed one turns their stare to me instead of Meeyo.
The same blue as the Sun in one eye, but the other is a darker blue that reminds me of the deep ocean.
“My name is Sun and this is my brother Moon, we are animatronics that managed to escape the conflicts of the main cities”
My attention snaps away from their eyes and instead I look down at the floor, the image of the decimated cities and lives of so many at the hands of those foolish people flashing through my mind. And of that person.
“You will learn to regret fighting for those robots, even if I have to see it in your dying eyes”
“ I’m Talia, my daughter over by the TV is Meeyo, and our friend over- Hey, is everything okay?”
I jerk my head upward, broken from my trance.
Talia stands in front of me, Meeyo beside her, both of their faces are concerned.
Moon and Sun are both staring at me, both concerned, but also curious.
Shaking my head, I shakily sign.
“Is there a room that I can rest in?”
“That room there should have a bed and blankets for you to use,” Moon says in response, a long finger pointing at the closest door to the stairs.
They can read sign language, even with it being badly signed.
“Let me help you,” Meeyo says, taking one of my hands in hers.
Talia nods and nudges us.
“I’ll take care of introductions, go rest,” she says.
Meeyo leads me past the two brothers, both not taking their eyes off of me, and I them.
Why are their eyes different from everyone else?
