Project: TheirWorld - Chapter 042 - Part 2

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To The Next Adventure

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TheirWorld

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“Excuse me!” Dassah muttered as she squeezed onto the monorail last minute again. Would it kill you to leave the apartment a few minutes earlier? She asked herself as she made her way to her usual spot near the door. She had woken up so early that she should have been able to get out of her apartment without issue.

“Hey,” a raspy voice next to her made her jump. She looked up to see the tall, white and purple garule arching over her. Dassah shrunk back against the door, and did a little jump as it put out its clawed hand. Looking around quickly to see if there was anyone else it could possibly be talking about, she looked at what it was holding out to her. In the hand with dulled claws was a familiar smartwatch.

“Huh?” Checking her wrist, she realized that it was hers. Guilt creeping through her body, she swallowed an looked at the garule’s face. It didn’t look upset. Her eyes falling to its claws, she hesitated before lifting it out gently. “T-Thank you,” she murmured, cursing herself for her cowardice as she looked out the window.

“... It looks like the strap adjuster failed,” it said with a hesitant tone. “You should probably take it to get repaired before something happens. You work at Da'Viare U., right?”

Dassah looked up at it, surprised that it was still talking to her after how she had reacted. “Um. Yeah,” she said, fidgeting with her fingers. “I’ve actually seen you around, haven’t I? You… You usually get off at the same stop.”

It nodded and told her, “There is an ETS outpost over by the student center. They can probably fix it for free.”

“Oh,” she answered, slightly disappointed at the creature’s bluntness. “Thank you…”

It said nothing more as it started reading a book.

Dassah squirmed, rubbing the straps of her purse. Every now and again she glanced at the garule standing next to her. It stood out. A lot. Even on the train filled with other bizarre creatures. Though its expression seemed calm, its eyes were a bright, alert orange color, and the pattern of its scales was quite beautiful; from the back, a shining purple blending with swirls into a smooth, milky white. It had purple and white feathers running across its head and shoulders that had strips of black, adding to the noticeable exoticness of its appearance.

She may not have known much about garuli, but she had never seen anything that looked like this one. There were garuli with colored scales and feathers, but they were usually short; around her height. This ones was not much shorter than Bahena, who was easily seven feet tall - but those at that height were almost exclusively earth-toned. Is it a race thing, perhaps? She wondered, looking around the car for other garuli to compare it to.

Her eyes fell on the little garule child, holding its chicken doll. Smiling a little, she watched as the little one poked at the doll’s face and and threw it in the air. This time, the dark grey scaled child was with a short garule that was maybe Dassah’s height, with navy blue scales striped with bright orange - a color scheme echoed in the feathers on its head.

“Stop that,” Dassah heard it tell the child in a warm, soft voice. “Your mother will be mad if you lose it again.”

“I won’t!” the happy sounding child answered, clutching the chicken and shaking her head.

“Come sit.”

“But Papa, play!” the little one giggled at its father - who sighed in response. The garule child looked over its shoulder, catching Dassah’s eyes. Though her expression was uncertain, it seemed it decided that Dassah was safe, and waved at her with a broad, toothy grin. Though her emotions were complicated, Dassah smiled back at her with a small wave.

“The next stop is: Bris Community Center, Bris Community Center. Please get off here for the Bris Community Center and the Bris 4 Hex-block. At this block, you can transfer to the Blue Hex line. Thank you for using the Enclave Monorail System. The next stop is Bris Park,” came the pleasant voice of the monorail speaker into Dassah’s ear implants. The garule parent and child made their way to the door by Dassah and waited for the monorail to stop.

As they left, however, the little one dropped its doll - again - in the rush of people flooding on and off. Dassah sighed as she listened to the child’s screeching and stepped onto the platform to pick it up. Gotta graduate in real life too, Das. At least it’s just a kid.

“Uushi!” The girl chirped happily as Dassah handed it to her.

“Thank you, miss,” the father bowed to her as he leaned over to pick the child up. “Oria, thank the lady.”

“Thank you, lady!” it said with a wave.

“Sorry,” the father said, giving a tired bow of his head before looking behind her. “Ah - the monorail - do you need to get back on? The Sutak is holding the door…”

“Huh?” Dassah turned, fully expecting that the monorail would have left already - but the white and purple garule was holding the door with its tail, looking at her expectantly while receiving glares from the people around it. “Thanks!” she shouted back at the father as she ran into the car.

Behind her, the little one screeched, “Thanks Sutak lady!”

“Oria! You can’t -” Dassah heard the father scolding as the doors closed. I guess purple over here is a female, Dassah smiled and continued to wave at the little girl. Least now I don’t need to be awkward and ask. Regardless of the apparent lecture, the little dinosaur was just waving happily.

With the train moving again, Dassah turned and bowed slightly to the purple and white garule. “Thanks for holding the door for me,” she said.

“Mmm,” was the only reply she got and she kept reading her book.

After a moment, Dassah’s curiosity got to her. “What does ‘Sutak’ mean?” she asked. The garule’s feathers stood on end as it gave her a funny look.

“You… Don’t know much about garuli, do you?” she asked her, tilting her head to get a better look at her.

“N-Not really…” she stuttered. “I mean… the word wasn’t translated, so I just thought I’d ask…”

The garule sighed through her nose. “There is no easy way to translate it into your language.” It dawned on Dassah that this garule, like Bahena, was speaking English without a translator, though her accent was much thicker and her deep, gravelly voice sounded a bit like a very well trained parrot.

“Oh,” Dassah said in both acknowledgement and wonder. “Then…”

“It’s not something that can be explained in a few minutes,” the garule told her - though she went on at some length: “If I have to give an answer of any sort, then it can mean ‘different one’ or even ‘impure one’ - but these are highly controversial translations as as it fails to capture the biological or cultural context considering the-ahhh…” The garule looked at Dassah’s face and stopped. After clearing her throat, she said, “Simply, it’s not a word you should use without understanding its meaning. I highly recommend that you do your own research into the subject - or better yet, take a class from someone reputable. Not Professor Jhavd - he’s an idiot.”

“I-I see,” Dassah went, hoping that her distress wasn’t as obvious as she felt it was.

The purple and white garule grimaced, and seemed about to say something when the monorail announced: “The next stop is: The Da’Vaire University of Language, Cultural, and Social Sciences, Da’Vaire University of Language, Cultural, and Social Sciences. Please get off here for the Da’Vaire University of Language, Cultural, and Social Sciences hex block. At this block, you can transfer to the Darten Exchange Line. That you for using the Enclave Monorail System. The next stop is the Io 1 Hex-Block.”

“You were going to say something?” Dassah asked, but the garule woman shook her head.

“Nevermind. Don’t miss the stop again.”

Dassah blushed and pushed her hair behind her heat. Well, she then thought to herself. I guess if I am going to make a total ass out of myself in front of someone, it may as well be someone I don’t care about.

The train came to a stop, and the doors opened. She exchanged one last look with the purple and white garule before they both got off at the station.

“Um, thanks again,” she found the courage to say before she went off. “Um. See you!”

The garule looked her over again before muttering, “...weird girl,” in her own language and walked away.

“Well,” Dassah muttered to herself. “At least she didn’t kill you.”

She had a long day ahead of her, and she already felt as if she had accomplished something. For the next six hours, she would be just Dassah Graydon - English Literature and Language Assistant Professor and student of Intergalactic studies.

After that though, Dassah grinned.

After that, she would turn into Guin Grey, and start a legend all her own.