Day 6: Curious
(For these last two entries I got pretty stuck on ideas when initially planning out what I would do for this challenge. But thinking on it now, although at the moment it felt like settling, now I kinda like the double feature of exploring Anirain's relationships. Both his main relationships are extremely nuanced and interesting and this would be a great place to explore this. This entry is probably gonna be a bit weaker than tomorrow's but consider it a preview before the heavy hitter.)
Naomi had been pacing around the room for a while, or whatever the equivalent of pacing is when you don’t have legs. She knew Ani was coming eventually but eventually was tricky considering what she knew he tends to go through on the daily. Who knows what kinds of things could be delaying him? Giant mutated ants? Negotiations with dolphins? Whatever the hell that Warp Cart thing gets up to? Her mind raced with possibilities before she heard a popping sound from her right.
Right in the middle of the table she had set up was Ani, face(?) down for a second before looking upwards. The bottom half of a dog emerged from his cloak. His tail started wagging. “Hi Naomi!”
Naomi let out a breath as she waved back. “Hi Ani.”
Ani picked himself up as the dog body went back into him. “Sorry about the delay, we were trying to find an isolated spot after our show but Delacacus the hive mind was being really pushy about doing an encore.” 1000 possibilities and somehow he keeps finding new ways to surprise her. She shook her head as Ani sat himself down on the table.
“So what did you want to talk about exactly?” His cloak head fell down to resemble a raised eyebrow. Naomi pushed down a chuckle at how cute he looked.
She put her hands on the table and looked him right in the eyes(?). “Look, if we’re going to commit to this more seriously now, I feel like we should be more open to each other.”
She opens her palms and gestures towards Ani. “So tell me how.”
“How what?” Ani’s head tilted.
Naomi grabs Ani and shakes him a little. “HOW ARE YOU EVEN ALIVE?” She tried to ignore how soft his fabric felt in her hands.
Ani collects himself and attempts to respond before getting cut off. “I’ve only taken the one biology class back in high school but even with just that I know you violate basically every fundamental law of life! Is it just an interdimensional thing?????”
Ani wriggles a sleeve out of her grasp. “Not a surprising conversation to start with I guess. First thing before I explain, do you have magic in this dimension?”
Naomi put a hand up to think as Ani draped himself across her other hand. He made himself comfy in her grasp as she looked back down at him. “Yes, but from my research we've been in an age of low magic usage since the Industrial Revolution. Still doesn’t mean we don’t use magic. I mean I’m going to do my magical artifact handling training soon and that requires learning some magic.”
Ani held a sleeve up as he explained, “Well there you go, it's all magic courtesy of A.R.T. Blu probably just stole an animal trainer vest from somewhere and then the Tailor just wove the rest of the fabric, or at least I presume so,” He laughed a bit, ”Although now I regret not asking for further details on my creation.”
Naomi lifts Ani up to her eye level, “A.R.T.?”
Ani perks up as he flies out of her grasp. “Oh shoot, we’ve never told you about A.R.T.?” “No?”
Two chimpanzee arms emerge from Ani’s sleeves to help him gesture. “So A.R.T. is the god that creates all of us Artians and brings us to life, usually through animating stolen things from other dimensions. We can usually talk to claw pretty casually. In fact, I’m quite well acquainted with one of ant’s alters, Therios. Dino’s the one that brings me all the animals I care for. Although eon’s been asleep for a long time and can’t seem to be woken up normally, probably because of all the stuff going on back home. Is that a good explanation?”
Naomi takes a second to process all this information. “Wait, what was with all the pronoun switching?”
He waves off Naomi. “Oh, it's just a thing. No one can physically refer to A.R.T. with the same pronoun twice. It’s not even just an us thing, we found out it works with non-Artians too.”
“Huh…” Things get stranger and stranger. Naomi had never really considered following a religion or praying to a deity, yet here was her paramour casually asserting his friendship to the very deity that created him.
“Do you have any gods that you know of?” Ani asked.
“Not…really? Nothing confirmed anyways. Not like, what you have I guess.” Naomi shrugged.
“Probably for the better. The few times we have run into gods their attitudes have been a mixed bag.” He let out a heavy sigh. “I wonder if therapy could fix Twilyvel and Corlaron.” He thought about it for a second. “Probably not.”
“I swear you have an endless amount of things you need to tell me regarding your past ventures.” Naomi deadpanned.
“Well, I definitely could! But in order to do so, there’s something I want from you!” He uses a lizard arm to boop Naomi’s snout.
She smiled at his touch. “What would you want from me?”
Ani then stretched his arms out. “Tell me about your world! I wanna know about how things work here. How Monsteriums like you coexist with people, how your society is, or best of all, all the history stuff you’ve been studying.”
If Naomi could blush her face would be redder than an ochre pigmented pottery shard. “You- want to hear about my history studies?” “Of course I do! The little bits I’ve gotten from your references sound so intriguing! Plus I just love reading in general.”
He floated down to her hand and a bear paw emerged from his sleeve ready for a hand shake. “How about a deal? I will tell you one of my stories and you tell me something from your studies or any other related information.”
Naomi didn’t even have to think before shaking his hand. “Of course!” Then she stopped for a second before grabbing Ani and pulling him into a hug. He felt like a warm handkerchief flat against her chest. She let him go as Ani floated back.
“I- I’m glad we could talk.” He shook his head before looking down at his sleeve. It was emitting small white spots that floated upwards.
“Looks like they’re calling me back. Hopefully it's just to head out for the next show and not an encore for Delacacus.” He looks back up at Naomi.
“Hope your next show goes okay. I’ll send you some of the research I’ve done for my essay on Monsterium and human relations during the Age of Exploration!” She starts waving goodbye.
“Sounds great!” Ani pulls out a lizard arm to give her a thumbs up before vanishing in a flash of light.
Naomi puts her arm down as she hears a knock at the door behind her. She opens it to see a human with an armful of books at the other end.
“You done? I have an appointment for this study room.”
“Right, I’m done.” Naomi slithered out the door and decided to head towards the library to find something good to send to Ani. At least, until she heard the human scream behind her. She went back and opened the door to see the human screaming and pointing who had appeared once again on the table.
Ani had to yell to be heard above the screaming, “I FORGOT TO SAY I LOVE YOU!” Naomi smiled as she closed the door again as Ani disappeared again.
