Entry: ??

The fourth GameCube was almost repaired. Remi had worked on and off on it for a couple of months, but the more he visualized its completion, the more he wanted to work on it. A cycle of fixation overcame him, in which he’d need to see his project to the end regardless of rest, or if it would even work. Polly came into his room, finding him concentrated, tinkering with a screwdriver and a bunch of carefully separated screws. Naturally, she worried about him, and when she worried, she’d make tea instead of coffee.

“So… how’s that one going?” She looked over Remi’s shoulder, placing the warm cup on the side of the desk without any loose parts. He seemed to be suddenly taken out of a trance, only noticing Polly’s presence when she spoke.

“I have a good feeling about this one.” he took a step back and looked at the GameCube, as if to analyze it from another perspective. “Actually, I think I might need to get another laser. I wanted to see if I could calibrate this one, but it seems it’s heavily used, buying another one would be a lot more convenient.” It was still rather early in the afternoon, so the pair decided to give a visit to the local flea market.

They gathered their backpacks and got ready to leave the small apartment. Polly was already out the door when Remi stopped her.

“Just a second.” He raised his hand to fix up his hair, and as he did, the shiny white curls of the young man were dyed black, the horns with their intricate cyan pattern disappeared, and his bright mismatched irises were replaced by a pair of typical brown eyes.

A normal human being, on a normal human body.

Remi wasn’t completely sure the store they were going to had the piece, but they walked over there anyways, occasionally redirecting Polly. Every time this happened, she found it funny how both of the Mesarthims have a better sense of where everything is, despite them living on Earth for a little more than a year.

“What’s the laser for exactly?” Polly asked, trying to catch up to Remi’s pace.

“It’s the part that reads the discs.” He explained. “But for communication, I’ll need to do some other modifications.” Remi walked quickly, making Polly fall behind every so often.

Slightly annoyed at this, she ran past Remi, in an attempt to arrive at the street’s corner first. She suddenly turned towards him with a winning smile, not realizing she was on the very edge of the sidewalk.

“WATCH OUT!” Polly felt a tug on her arm and the harsh wind from a truck passing at full speed in front of her. After the forceful step back, she looked at the stoplight. It was still red. “Polly, please be careful. Jesus fucking Christ… Are you okay?” She looked up at Remi and was met with a terrified expression. He let go of his grasp carefully, as if to not hurt her.

Oh, it’s Remiel. Polly thought to herself.

Visibly nothing had changed on the young man, any stranger would say it was the same person. But it wasn’t. Polly learned how to identify between Remi and Remiel pretty early on; if it was their secondary form, the horns’ glow would’ve changed from cyan to green or vice versa. In their current human façade, only the personalities switched.

“Yeah, I’m sorry.”
“You’re like a mole, I swear.” Remiel giggled, he seemed to cheer up almost immediately. “If you think you’ll get lost you can always hold my hand.” He said, trying to force a smug smile and holding out his hand like a gentleman.

Polly didn’t think twice about it and high-fived him. He faked being disappointed about it, but their laughs told another story.

“Anyways, we’re going to the video game store, right? It’s this way. What does the fucker need this time?” He asked, referring to Remi. Remiel guided Polly through the city until they arrived, not missing a single opportunity to joke about her lack of direction. “Skill issue.” he said out loud. Multiple times.

The serious look in his eyes from before had entirely vanished.

Before entering, it was decided that Remi should be in front, he’s the best at negotiating after all. Remiel might cuss at the shopkeeper on accident if it turns out the part they needed is too expensive. They switched again; curiously, there was always a brief pause between them, like the vessel was left completely vacant for a split second. Sometimes a headache would follow, which was annoying for whoever was taking control.

Remi entered the store while Polly looked around the stands outside, technology wasn’t her forte and she wasn’t very interested in the specific functionalities of a console, even when its purpose wasn’t to play video games. Remi had told her before that Earth’s technology was serviceable enough to customize a communication device; that way he could finally get in contact with someone in the Council of the Stars, and return home… wherever his home was. Polly didn’t fully understand how something as old as a GameCube could help him with that, but then again, he’s a magic ram that came from space.

Remi came out of the store with a slight frown. “They don’t have the part, but they told me I could get it from another place; but in other news…” his face transformed into a proud, mischievous grin “Got ourselves a discount for the next time we shop here.”

“What did you tell them?” Polly asked, slightly concerned but curious. 

“I just played my cards right.” he said, pleased with himself. Sometimes Polly was convinced he just tells the shopkeeper what he wants to hear.

They made their way back to the apartment; with the same gesture, Remi changed back the body to their usual self. On days like these, in which Polly didn’t have any Uni activities or responsibilities to take care of, she would spend the whole day with the Mesarthims. Playing video games, doing chores, having lunch or dinner together. Even staying in silence in the same room, enjoying each other’s company, had become routine for them. A comfortable routine, disrupted only by the challenges of a newly adult life.

Remi went straight back to working on the GameCube, regardless of the availability of the part he was looking for. Knowing him, there are still other things that he can perfect. Polly sat on his bed, taking out a book she’d been meaning to finish. It became one of those silent afternoons.

Until the lights in the bedroom went out.

The pair were confused for a second; blackouts weren’t exactly common where they lived, but they occasionally happened because of repairs on the electrical system.

“You remembered to pay for the electricity, right?” Polly asked. She looked in Remi’s direction, seeing a slight nod illuminated with his phone’s flashlight. “Alright, I’m gonna check if it’s only here or if the neighbors are also affected.”

She went to the front yard, and indeed, the whole street was incredibly darkened; inside the apartment, she wasn’t aware it was so late into the evening. A few neighbors we’re also getting out of their houses to check the same thing, and promptly went back inside.

 

Polly looked up to the sky for a moment. She tried to find the moon, before realizing it wasn’t there that night. She directed her sight at the stars. When she was young, her father taught her how to identify where Mars and Jupiter were, as well as the name of some constellations. In the perfectly clear night sky, she could see Centaurus, Virgo, and that one that looked like a cross. If you look at them long enough, you’d see that some of the stars have different colors.

She wondered whether the Mesarthim star was still in the sky if she were to look at it next March…

Polly didn’t hear Remi approaching her until he was a couple of steps behind her.

“So, what was it?” he asked.

“The whole block got affected. I’m not sure why it happened though, we might hear it on the news or something.” Polly replied while still looking up.

“Remi, I had a question I thought about recently… how is it that Stars have the same name as the stars humans have discovered? One of them must’ve come first, right?” Remi thought for a moment before giving his answer.

“Those are the names we chose for ourselves.” He paused briefly, or maybe he hesitated “The inhabitants of Earth know them because this information is written in your DNA. As creators, we made sure you would eventually name us the same by leaving traces of our data in you. You can look at it as some sort of "artist’s signature" in a painting.”

“Sounds a little hard to comprehend.” Polly made a nervous laugh. After some silence, she gathered her courage to ask something she wouldn’t like the answer to. “After you’re done with the GameCube... what’s next?”

“If I get in contact with The Council of the Stars, I would start the process of getting everything ready to travel back.” He thought for a second. “I might be making some progress on this one, but statistically speaking, there’s the chance that it won’t work fully work, like the previous ones. At this rate I’m expecting to go back in about… one to two Earth years.”

“I see…” She finally averted her gaze from the sky.

“Don’t worry” A different tone of voice came from Remi’s mouth; his head lightened up a soft green glow. Remiel looked at Polly with a warm smile.

“There’s still a lot of time left, don’t you think?”

Image credits: Panasonic Jp.