Two nerds, One Moondance

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As the seabed exchanged the salty brine for oceanic air, waves of silk greeted the crystal clear shores. In the late hours of night a group of four became a duo of two. One had the misfortune of a dirtied top, the other, having obtained the wrong order, was feeling extraordinarily buzzed.


“At the end of the day we can endure much more than we think we can. But whatever is in my drink has caused me to question whether or not I am supposed to see the sand shifting beneath my feet,” she said, “when I haven’t been moving much at all. This is almost philosophical, you see, and I can’t help but describe myself as feeling lighter.”


She elevated right off the sandy ground with a fleeting giggle.


“Weightless, even.” She half-whispered, as the jinni humorously crossed her legs and saw the world with an extensively skewed vision. Defying gravity was rather commonplace for her, so she did not panic.


Upside down and in the air, Karimah felt her blouse crumple over her head and that was the moment to ponder if the festivities ended without her knowing. Stupidly, like a puppy swaddled in a mountain of blankets, the magical girl wiggled out of her shirt and watched as it descended from her fingers.


She stretched comfortably in the air, her silvery hair following the slightest turn of her head whilst she pondered over the missing presence of her beer-stained friend. “Where did you go?” she asked innocently, doing a playful twist that was slow and tranquil. The bubbly jinni fancied herself an aerialist, and it showed as she laughed into her hands.


“I may not be from your world, but am I so scary that you should feel so inclined to disappear? Please do not hurt me. I do not mean to invade your planet, I come in peace.” It was very clear she wasn’t being mindful of what she let loose from her lips.


“The last time I revealed my otherworldly roots, I endangered my friend needlessly.” She paused her rambling and went off on a strange tangent. “I do hope Luchta can forgive me for my clumsy approach. I should not have made it known.” Karimah was extremely talkative, bombarding Isla with more information than was proper, but she had the notion that nothing could touch her. “He has quite a noble heart.”


Her fall was like watching a series of silk ribbons plummet from the heavens.


Minus the graceful beauty that often accompanied such a compelling display.


Karimah hit the sand face first and then the rest of her body followed after, and as everything was done so gingerly and so foolishly, the impact was painless yet uncomfortable. “That was a terrible landing.” She admitted, her voice muffled.

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Of all the joys in all the worlds, of every recipe for every drink, of every beach under a night sky, Isla didn’t know what wild combination led to Karimah’s current state but it was unforgettable from start to finish. It must have been a few months back she had made her new Vycon account, after having struggled to remember her login details for the one she had before, but as soon as she did boy was it a treat. Not in the usual way she found herself tilting her phone screen when checking the news feed, but instead cause she saw the startled expression of terror and no modern understanding which caused Karimah’s fat to be as blank and stiff as a child’s drawing… She knew she had to meet this girl, if nothing else than to simply check the adorable lack of understanding technology wasn’t an act.

It was not, she was clueless, in fact the more the two of them had spent together that day it had began to make Isla more aware that not only was her internet friend magical, she was otherworldly! Well, she already kind of was but that wasn’t something she was gonna comment on too much. They had ran into each other earlier along with a couple others but they had long since split ways, now just leaving the ashen haired girl and her silver haired cloud friend. Isla did wonder the first time whether or not that was a thing, like an air spirit or cloud deity perhaps, after all she treated gravity more as an optional inconvenience than a matter of fact, something which would have turned Isla’s whole world upside down if she had such an ability.

Climbing up buildings, running along rooftops, fighting monsters, all of her physical skills she had trained over years to get where she was today, but simply imagining for one moment that she could fly changed the dynamics of everything within a heartbeat. Where was the thrill after all in leaping across a gap between two roofs if you knew you could never fall, or slaying a stampeding monster when you knew you didn’t have to time your leap perfect to avoid their horns. Such action packed, violent considerations in Isla’s wonder were utterly absent on the features of Karimah though, she was peaceful without being dull and that was the best kind of company for a party.

Isla wasn’t able to watch the most recent floating endeavours of her drinking partner as she spiralled and glided on air like it was nothing, she was art personified but there were more pressing matters for the girl who had drunk enough by that hour she could swear the glowing paint on her skin was moving slightly. “Why they make this so shit?” She questioned in confusion under her breath, trying to understand how to re attach the zip of the hooded jumper in her hands, on the back was some design in commemoration for that years moondance though it was only pitiably the branding which made her want it, mostly it was so to ward of the chill. Earlier in the day when she had a drink spilled over her chest she barely seemed to care, even when it turned a good portion of her white crop top see through and revealed the sports bra underneath she barely thought twice about it, but then came the breeze.

With the sunset beyond the horizon soon followed the gentle winds which seemed to treat clothing like they did not exist, causing the athletic girl to shiver and tense as if somehow her abs would deflect the cold, much to her dissatisfaction they did not though. “I am here, but yes you are scary. Terrifying, you are dread made manifest, feel the power you goddess of spontaneous popcorn.” It was merely a moment or so after this that Isla remembered to use her tongue and try pick the last piece of said popcorn from her teeth, it having been stuck there for a few hours now.

Giving up she simply threw the oversized zip up over her shoulders like a cape, letting it hang over her back as she fumbled trying to get her arms into the selves multiple times, but her eyes eventually rising to witness her friend dangling upside down. “Who is Luchta?” She asked simply, eventually reaching down to retrieve the bottle being clenched between her knees for safe keeping once her second arm was through the jumper. Walking over slowly only to sit cross legged on the sand not far from her new friend. “I do not know Luchta, far as i know, they are dick. But if they are noble hearted like you say, then noble hearts surely recognise other noble hearts, no?” Her logic was simple, good people could see the goodness in others. Karimah was as gentle and good as she could think of so therefore, no reason to not forgive.

“Besides i…” Whatever she was going to say seemed to slip her mind the moment Karimah made her descent, the floating girl losing her place in the heavens as she came crashing down into a face full of sand. Isla’s eyes widened for a moment in tipsy panic, looking left and right awkwardly to try and figure out what to do with the bottle in her hands. Eventually though he decided that time was of the essence, so she mad the elegant call to put the top of the bottle inside her mouth and use her lips to keep it in place as she leaned forward, both hands now are to firmly lift Karimah’s shoulders from the floor and get her face free of the sand. Her left hand retrieved the bottle once she could see her, taking in a sudden breath as she shook her arm. "That was very terrible landing, but you lived so it is not that terrible.” She realised with a dorkish giggle at her friend's mishap.

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“You are comical. Dread manifest! Goddess of Spontaneous Popcorn. I could never tire of your creativity. Do you like reading?” Karimah giggled, brushing off the sand from her face.

The bottle hanging off the lips of her friend made her stare. She was an incredulous mixture of amused and bemused. She looked a tad goofy herself.

“Isla, you silly girl! That cannot be good for your teeth. Let me help you, please.” She did not make it in time, for she lacked the nimble hands that her bright-haired friend had. Isla had already beaten her to its removal by the time Karimah could move anything aside.

“Right you are.” She laughed with her, in full agreement. She was made aware of the subtle chill in the air and scooted closer to the girl with easy trust and amicability.

“Do you mind if I ask,” she knew it was never her business to pry, “what it is you are cursing at?”

A quick amendment to her claim.

“Ah, well, you aren’t now. But you were before. I am embarrassed to admit that I was not paying much attention to your cry of distress. I-is there anything I can do for you?”

A delayed reaction, but she addressed this too and circled back to it after acknowledging her. “Could be a what? Oh, dear, you are very colorful with your words. Now, I — I was very fortunate to learn how such a gentleman could be so far from a—di—c—de…degenerate. But you have flattered me,” Karimah might have had a hard time uttering the common word, but she really was charmed to perceive the kindness in her statement, “by imparting your wisdom. It is cleverly discreet.”

Karimah nodded simply. “Noble-hearted Isla, where is your family? They must be just as lovely as you are.” She recognized, if Isla was human at all, that on such nights most people would want to be in the company of their loved ones.

Without thinking, she started drawing a clumsy stick figure in the sand and tried her hardest to make Isla look more like herself.

The only issue with her attempt was — Isla did not have a massive head, her eyes were not supposed to dangle in different directions, and her lips were certainly fuller than a thin line.

She knew she was no artist. But did she seem to blend in more? She believed she was acting human by referencing the unfamiliar as though they were.

When she spoke of family, she was curious as to why Isla came alone. Family was a beautiful word where one meant many, a harmonious unit that would support  each other through the good times and the bad.

It was a meaning that brought Karimah an imagined comfort. What a profound concept. “Are they celebrating elsewhere?” she added.

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At Karimah’s observation of Isla being rather silly with the bottle, she simply grinned and offered a shrug. Clearly thinking there were far more likely ways for her to lose a couple in her day to day life than simply using them as improvised bottle holders. Throughout the remainder of Karimah’s catching up on Isla’s ramblings she didn’t speak, instead simply sitting and waiting in silent enjoyment of the other’s company. Her accent not one she was used to but it was beautiful in it’s rhythm, and when the other girl shuffled closer she didn’t object. Rather taking it as an opportunity to think it was rather fitting how the silver light of the moon shimmered across the silver hairs of Karimah’s head.

“You worry yourself too much about what you can do for me, you are putting up with me is not that enough?” She asked playfully, lightly punching the Otherworlder’s shoulder as she chuckled under her breath. “But i am glad this Luchta is not a degen...degenerate, what are friends for if not acceptance in the face of assholes?” A genuine question though one that likely gave away why Isla herself had more old friends than current friends, most people weren’t as ready to take on confrontation with literal and verbal fists as she was.

But as much as she had been smiling, as much as she had been appreciating the aesthetics of her friend, Isla’s lip almost froze as she came to answer Karimah’s final question. Well, her two final questions, relating to her family. It was not exactly a sensitive topic as she loved her dads, but it always felt rather odd thinking back to them anytime she was off the island. It was like she was discussing a dream or a comic book, trying to convey to others what may or may not have been taking place a world away. That’s how it felt, that Isla herself was an otherworldly too just because she had lived her whole live on an Island so stacked with concrete, steel and technology that most only speculated and gossiped on what life was really like on the mainland. Her dads new what it was really like though, they had lived through their journeys and survived, a future she could only hope she managed to achieve also.

“Oh, erm… probably not.” She answered rather bluntly and awkwardly at first, nodding along as she swallowed down a thought about how she hadn’t actually contacted them all day. “Well Nikolai, my dad, is not much for like… Parties, or dancing, well he pretends to not be anyway.” She said the more honest observation at the end in an exaggerated whisper as if he may be listening in, a playful smirk widening her smile as she swayed back and forth before taking a sip from her mostly empty bottle. “Arthur though… my other dad, he is likely watching some cheesy movie while commenting on how he would do it’s soundtrack so much better!” He did love pretending he should get into such things as if he was not more of a… folk bard in practice himself.

“What about y…” She began before her eyes widened, features sinking into concern as she realised her drunken mouth had potentially just stopped itself from hitting a soft spot with the one isolated from her homeland. “I, so sorry. For a moment i forgot you’re… Do you want to wear my hoodie?” She asked, returning the bottle to her teeth as she fumbled to remove her arms from the sleeves as if to change the topic by removing the feeling of cold from her new friend.

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