1.3. Genders

After washing the sleep from my face, I came back into my room and started typing down pieces of information about the novel. Until a point I stopped. All ideas were drained, everything I knew about Avner can be contained within 1000 words.

It's not a lot.

[With the legislation of carbon credits, paper prices have soared since the past year. Do you want the statistics, master?]

With digital being the norm, the print industry has fallen into a dip. But it wasn't like hard copy books stopped existing altogether.

I have no idea how this information is important, but if Avner programmed Randell to say stuff like this, I won't complain. Intermittent trivia about this world might prove useful.

Let's organize the facts together.

One, Avner is a demon who is supposed to be cursed. Gladly, Novelle did something to stop that from happening. The Avner in the original novel is a quiet person. And there is this elf by the name Pe'ur who tries to talk to him every time even though they're in separate classes.

Pe'ur is an angel who, together with Avner, tries to resolve this angel-demon war. I remembered doing the concept art for Pe'ur, so I should be able to recognize hir. Provided that hirs face resembles the anime character I drew.

It's as if I entered a live action version of the series. The only issue being that this isn't a variety show.

[Based on the data I've collected thus far, I have a question.]

"What?"

[Do you have a crush on hir?]

"Don't you know these are just names? I could write Buttercup Sandman and you could've asked me the same question, right?"

[An AI outsmarted by master, it has been determined that there is something wrong with master. Should Randell seek help from one, Daymond Cross, two, Narie Hill, or three, Alien Wought.]

I dropped the AR pen, and saw it disperse into particles. Daymond Cross is my father, Narie Hill is my mother and Aline Wought is my..

Right. I can't believe I forgot a very crucial cultural difference this world has to my own.

[NYAN. NYAN. NYAN. NYAN. NYAN. NYAN.]

"Stop alarm."

[BEEP. Good morning master~]

The ringtone ended with a girlish greeting.

"Nm? Big bro?"

I took in a breath of air.

"Morning.. Lia.."

I heard hir yawn.

"Turn on the lights already.."

At hirs words, the lights came on. I steadied my mind and turned around.

As ridiculous as it sounds, this is the new reality of the world I'm going to have to get used to.

Loose dress and short pants, auburn bed hair burned into two symmetrical twirls in the front. Rubbing hirs drowsy amber coloured eyes, xe looked up at me.

"Is there anything on my face?" hir asked, pointing at hirself. Hirs pointy ears bounced a little.

"No. Nothing."

"Oh. Then, morning."

"Morning Lia."

What a normal human on Earth would consider an elf– is in the universe of <Cookie Cult>, the third gender.

Yes. Novelle wrote a world with 3 sexes.

And Lia Cross..

Xe is my etler.

===

Suffice to say, with the inclusion of 3 genders, Novelle had to come up with new words. Fortunately, I had Avner's memories so calling my etler using the proper pronouns feels like a normal thing. Just that, deep down in my mind, I couldn't help but think that this is weird.

Here's a draft list of the different pronouns:

He = She = Xe

Him = Her = Hir

His = Her = Hirs

Brother = Sister = Etler

Bro = Sis = Et

Male = Female = Elf

Father = Mother = Aether

Dad = Mom = Aei

Grandpa = Grandma = Grandoa

Son = Daughter = Irul

I'm sure there are many other words which I forgot to include. Some didn't have a third variation. Like uncle and auntie. There's no special term for elves. Anyways, this wasn't a priority at the moment, so you'll have to make do with it for now.

Elves, you could also say, came in two kinds: a more feminine disposition, or the other, a more masculine disposition. Lia was the former.

I haven't really sunk in with Avner's memories, but what I know for sure is that Avner isn't a calm person to begin with. So why is it that I feel so chill about this whole ordeal of being sent into some unknown world?

"Your exams are coming up, are you prepared?" My mother, Narie poked at me.

"No. I haven't."

There was silence in the dining room.

I tried to recall. This reaction was to be expected, I think? Though I may not know how Avner managed to get into highschool with his grades, what I know is that Avner is a crap student. The mid term is next week.

Two more days until Friday. After the weekends, D-day.

I can only hope that the subjects to be tested on are ones I'm familiar with. Based on Avner's knowledge, I'll probably do fine for most except ICT. I'm not good with coding. I have no choice but to sacrifice that.

How did Avner come to a decision to become an NFT collected without even knowing an inkling about code?

"You have to study alright," Aline Wought, my aether said. Returning to hirs seat after taking hirs bowl of rice, hir poured me a bowl of soup.

My father, Daymond, said nothing. But I could tell by his expression that he was slightly ticked off.

How nostalgic. It's been a while since I experienced family tension. Staying in a dorm with Novelle working all day on new stories beats being with family.

You could even say I have no lingering attachments towards my parents in my previous life.

"What? You think you're so smart are you?" my mother jeered.

"No. I'm not smart."

I picked up the spoon.

"You think this house feeds parasites?"

I stopped just as I was about to put the food in my mouth.

How long has it been since I've heard those words? I hate this.

"Avner, you have to study really hard from now on. You should aim for a pass at least," my aether tried to placate my mother by using me as a scapegoat.

"Getting a pass isn't not enough. He has to get at least all Bs if he is to enter the science classes."

Aether looked at me with a gaze full of concern. My mother, on the other hand, looked like she wanted to rip me to shreds.

"Alright."

"You better keep your word. There's no next time."

Only then did I take my first mouth of food since coming over to this world. It's a home cooked meal I'm not familiar with. It suits Avner, but I think it's pretty weird.

I tasted the soup. The kombu and miso is good.

"This tastes good."

My compliment was met by silence. Whoops, it seems my past life habit reared its ugly head.

"Eat," my father voiced.

I turned to Lia, my etler who was holding hirs spoon. It was trembling.

"What? You think it's so easy to cook?"

"No.. it's not.."

"No, no, no. Only know how to say no. You never listen, how many times have I told you to not be so scared? I feel like I'm talking to the wall every time," my mother griped.

She stood up.

"Honey, where are you going?"

"I'm full," she gave me a look, "Don't call me to cook next time."

And promptly left. A conflicted look on both my father and aether's face.

"Aline."

"I know dear.. I'll go talk to her after this."

"Thank you."

We resumed breakfast in silence.

It wasn't really silent. Lia's silent sobs could be heard ringing beside me.