7: Delusions Are Normal

"Eir?" Struan asks. "Eir! You're alive! Thank goodness!"

He's putting on the act quite well.

Thank goodness… Or thank badness…? I have someone sufficiently normal with me to deal with these sensitive things, and by that I mean Struan talking to Eir. I cherish her, but I don't want my playful attitude to throw her off or clue her in, nor do I want to lie to her.

"I was looking all over for you! I'm so glad you're alive! Though… I suppose it was good that I didn't find you," Eir says.

Her waist-long blonde hair gently sways in the bone-chilling breeze. Her light blue coat matches her bright blue eyes, and the color just looks good on her in general. She really does look like someone who could be called the Lightbringer, that is, if people knew she was just a high school girl.

Eir's usual color palette of blue and white is almost the opposite of my red and black one, along with her usual choice of casual clothes contrasting with my more formal and elegant ones. Moreover, my wavy brown hair is about twice as long as hers, as it reaches past my knees in female form, but is short, blonde, and slicked back as a male.

Looking at our usual appearances, I guess all of us have long hair — even Struan with his black, borderline curly hair going down to his shoulders; although, his is more out of shyness than anything else… and a few too many bad haircut attempts done by yours truly. Meanwhile, Struan kinda just wears whatever I get, a.k.a steal, for him, which is a mixed bag on any given day. Though, it usually trends towards dressy red and black tones, since that's what catches my eye.

"Where is Amaryllis?" Eir asks.

Struan sighs in response. "It's a long story… Can we stay at your house for a bit?"

"...Sure." Eir looks at the ground and closes her eyes, as if reliving the memories and sights of before. "It's a bit sudden, but I'm sure my parents would understand with what happened today…"

Struan gathers up our scattered bags, the load heavier now with the water. Eir eyes the dripping bags and suppresses her questions, no doubt ready to grill Struan at her house.

"What are you doing here, anyways?" Struan asks as we head to her light blue sports car parked along the street. I hop along after, but I can't exactly keep up.

"HRONK!"

Struan walks faster after hearing me, but Eir notices and looks back and forth between penguin me and Struan.

"Uhh… are you gonna take the penguin? Do I… Should I grab it?" She asks, the many questions written on her face; some of them, no doubt being 'where did you and why do you have a penguin?' yet she doesn't ask.

Aww, she's such an angel. I stare up at her with appreciative, googly eyes once I catch up.

Struan stops, looks at her, then nods.

She leans down and reaches towards me, but I hop away and screech. From the corner of my eye, I see Struan look defeated. Of course, there was no way I was going to make this easy. After a few minutes of this, a voice pierces through my fun.

[AMA! Stop messing around and let's go! These bags feel gross and cold!] Struan telepathically scolds me again. Oho, he's growing more and more feisty. What, is this twice today already?

[Kaaaay…]

Eir unlocks her car with a beep and plops me in the backseat with the bags. She looks at the wet bags, clearly concerned about her expensive car, but doesn't say anything — she looks a bit too worn out from the events of the day to care about something so trivial by comparison.

Hmm… Maybe I should snag myself a fancy ride like this sometime.

Struan sits in the front with her, while I have a ball hopping all over the back seats as she drives. Eir checks on me with her rearview mirror, but doesn't do much else.

After I get tired, awkward, silent tension fills the air — very uncharacteristic of us — intermittently punctured with me bouncing around again. Granted, I'm usually the one talking, but what am I supposed to say? I know how much the things I do weigh on Eir's mind… and Struan's… yet I keep doing them anyways.

Struan makes an awkward attempt to talk to Eir, but he is obviously uncomfortable as well. After all, he's complicit in the destruction — he was the one who put the bombs that I made where I told him to, and he is keeping our identity secret.

Eir fiddles with some nobs, turning on the radio. Each channel after the last is talking about the events at our school or our most recent livestream. Her knuckles turn white as she tightly grips the wheel. Eventually, she can't take it anymore and slams her fist on the side of the wheel and turns off the radio altogether.

I quietly watch and somberly think. Can we really stay friends? Maybe it's just a case of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer? Though, Eir is a friend… for now.

… No — I need to focus on my goal more than anything else. It may look like senseless violence, and as unbelievable as it may seem — I do have a reason for it all. But it is not yet the right time for anyone to know.

In silence, she pulls into her gated neighborhood, driving to the largest house at the end of the cul de sac. The house, made of pale yellow bricks, stands bright against the backdrop of oncoming gray. An icy fountain and colorful holiday lights adorn the front yard.

[Ama?] Struan grabs my attention.

[Yeah?] I reply.

[Why don't you ever target fancy houses like this? I'd like to try living in one someday.]

[I could… but last I checked, you want to minimize killing as much as possible, right?]

Struan pauses to think for a moment. [... That's right… but what does that have to do with bougie houses?]

[Depending on how glamorous you want to live, many of them probably have staff for all the landscaping and housekeeping and all that… Eh, I guess we can always terrorize them into submission — take one of the staff and set an example with them.]

[Forget I asked. Seriously, please don't.]

I shrug as best as I can in my penguin form. Turns out, by shaking their heads, rockhopper penguins can wiggle their bushy eyebrows… Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle.

[Stop that!]

[Party pooper.] I glare at Struan with my beady, red eyes.

Now inside the house, Eir guides Struan to his room while hugging me in her arms, pointing out the kitchen and bathrooms along the way.

"I don't think I've ever seen you without Ama, Struan. Where is she?" Eir asks, helping Struan settle in and putting me on the floor of the bedroom.

However, Struan is now too distracted with trying to keep up with my antics, and after catching me, trying to keep me from squirming out of his arms.

Eir patiently waits for him to get a handle on me while looking at Struan.

Forced to change tactics, I wiggle my eyebrows at Eir while staring her down.

"What… is it doing? Is it okay?" Eir asks, concern seeping through her voice. I must be acting quite unnatural for a penguin. Who woulda figured?

[Ama, if you don't stop, I'm taking it as I can tell her you're the penguin.]

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle… AGGRESSIVE EYEBROW WIGGLE.

[... Taking that as a yes…]

"She's fine… Eir, meet Ama. Ama, meet Eir," Struan says slowly.

"Did you… name the penguin after Amaryllis?" Eir asks.

"No? The penguin is Amaryllis." Struan replies, somewhat concerned with her response.

Eir sighs and asks, "did Amaryllis rub off on you so that you're now pulling her jokes?"

"NO! This grubby thing" — Struan grabs me by my flippers and hoists me into the air — "is Ama!"

"HRONK!?"

"Be gentle with the penguin! You're hurting it!" Eir shouts, and snatches me out of his hands.

"Ama! Eir doesn't believe me! Turn back already!" Struan says, reaching for me, but Eir moves me out of his grasp. She looks at him with pity mixed with dismay.

"Struan… I know this morning was stressful… but did something happen to Amaryllis?" Eir asks.

"No! Ama is just fine! You're holding her right now!" Struan says.

"Oh… Struan… I'm so, so sorry!" Eir says, putting me on the floor and embracing him. "Some people cope with delusions… It's a completely normal response."

"Stop! She is literally right! There!" Struan tries to escape her grasp, but he can't without using his abilities.

"I know… Ama was our close friend… you don't need to replace her with a penguin… I'm here for you…" Eir says, starting to sob, slightly relaxing her grip in her tears, but still not enough for Struan to achieve freedom.

"AMA! I swear to all the chaos you stand for, turn back right now!" Struan shouts, struggling in her arms.

"Hronk?"

"Turn back before I find out what penguin stew tastes like!"

"HRONK!!"

"Okay! You asked for it!" Struan wiggles his way out and lunges for me.

"HROONK! HRRONK!" I flap and dodge, then dive under the bed, his fingers just grazing my feet. Meanwhile, Eir screams at Struan to stop and pulls him away from the bed.

Well, enough is enough, I guess… So I carefully turn back human, making sure I have enough space under this bed as my body grows.

"Speaking of which… have you ever thought about how there are so many animals we aren't eating?" I ask, sprawled underneath the bed. I peek my head out and rest it on my folded arms.

"No," Struan responds — curtly.

"Like… there are so many squirrels—"

"NO."

"All the little birdies—"

"NO!"

"Although each one probably could only be a single meatball at most… Without the feathers, they're even smaller, ya know?"

"..."

Hmm. Struan — he looks like he is crying internally… Maybe I should give him a break for today?

"Also… uh… I didn't shift my clothes to match my size and shape when I fell… soooo… Eir? A little help here, please?" I plead.