After closing up for the night, some of the Food Souls start chilling in the living room while the rest of us go to sleep early. I decide to do the same; I'm not really interested in tonight's gossip. It was pretty exhausting dealing with the shock of realizing that I'm in the past and having to go through the discussion of the Fallen Angels' attacks. Also, shortly before going to bed, Master Attendant Samson asks, "Hey, Danny, do you know exactly when will this Boston encounter happen?" I shrug and shake my head, gesturing with a body talk that reads Nope, I have no clue when will that happen. I'm from the future and from another universe; it doesn't mean that I'm a psychic. I can't just predict the future, even as a dragon. Wait, can I? I mean I'm not human anymore, so maybe I can try someday? Pssht, naaaahhhhh. That's the most ridiculous thing since to think about besides trying to understand how do the large-titted waifoods can walk around without getting back pain. (Maybe they do, but are just really good at hiding it?) Setting that aside, I head up to the attic and go to sleep. This was a real doozy day. Probably most absurd one yet considering the amount of meta comments during the lack of chaos in the restaurant.
Morning comes by and I witness a group of humans – Samson, Akira, Ichi, and the pink-haired woman named Olivia – discussing a few things. A familiar Food Soul is there, too, but not one that belongs to Samson. It's a female Food Soul with a light gown with a few brown spots here and there and a lavender cape. She has light brown hair that stretches all the way down to her ankles, much like some of the other Food Souls living here. She has a giant metal spoon as her weapon, like a big fancy staff, like Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie's staff, but lengthier and shaped like a spoon. There's also these brown things with white spots in the centers, like flat Twinkies or perhaps ladyfingers of some sort. I know right off the bat who this Food Soul is: Tiramisu. She's a Super Rare Support Soul. Interestingly, her eye color is rather inconsistent in the game, so sometimes you'll see her with brown eyes, and sometimes you'll see her with green eyes. I've wondered back in Texas when I first found out about this in 2019 if there's a Tiramisu out there with heterochromatic eyes. Like the Tofu brothers, except with green and brown eyes. Her height is said to be 172 centimeters, so about five feet and eight inches. For some reason, the game read that her personality trait is "Caring Cure," so my guess they meant that she is super caring, and she has a strong healing magic. I peer through the STAFF ONLY door leading to the front of the house and begin eavesdropping on them.
"What do you think?" Ichi asks with a confident smile. "Am I amazing?"
"Mr. Ichi, you're amazing!~" Rice answers gleefully.
"To have such a delighted expression after completing a mission," Samson adds, "you really are a rare find."
Akira smiles. "You deserve to brag a bit. You did well." Ichi chuckles, "Hahah, you're too polite!~" Rice asks, "Mr. Ichi, does this mean you've already passed the trial?" The pink-haired woman remarks, "I can't say much about the trial. The important thing to focus on is Master Attendant. If the squad lacks a reliable partner, it will be pretty laughable." I let out a quiet, amused huff of air." Samson says, "In that case, hosting a whole unit would be out of the question." Olivia rolls her eyes. "For the sake of this team, we need to do a little bit of work." She pulls out a list from who the hell knows where. Kinda like how the Food Souls here can grab their weapons from seemingly nowhere. It's nothing fancy or anything, but I'm assuming that hammerspaces exist in this world. I bet that would explain why it's possible to get small items in and out of existence, like my glitches. Except, throughout the whole time I've been here, I'm the only one who can acquire stuff from said hammerspace in the form of glitching. For everybody else, it's usually from a pocket or the item just simply appears from nowhere into the person's hands. Much like the really old Looney Tunes cartoons I used to watch all the time when I was a toddler. It also kinda reminds me of a quote from a book I read back in Chisholm High School called Scythe, but I don't remember much from it.
Samson asks, "What's this?" Olivia answers matter-of-factly, "Building materials." Ichi asks nervously, "Building materials? What are those for? You're not going to bring them and renovate the restaurant? Hahaha…!" Olivia nods, "Correct, they're to remodel this restaurant?" Samson asks in a seemingly dumbfounded tone, "I just opened this restaurant for a few days and you want me to renovate it again?" The woman from the Skeleton Guild of Chefs answers with a more serious look, "Let me put it this way, it's being retrofitted to meet the requirements of the Attendants. The places we'll be setting out for are ever-changing. If you don't alter the restaurant to accommodate for these places, it won't last long!" She's got a good point; I mean take a look at shows like Kitchen Nightmares and Restaurant: Impossible. Unless you keep the décor (and the menu) up to date with the times, you won't last long, like, at all. Samson, processing this bombardment of information, asks, "Eh? Uh, is that … how it is?" Jesus Christ, how is a guy with good leadership and decent restaurant ownership skills not know about this kind of stuff? Olivia adds on, "Also~ While you're out, I'll be having some ingredients and other goods transferred here. If we don't expand your little Glorywest Grill, how will I fit everything inside?" I dunno, I think in response to her obviously rhetorical question, maybe your hammerspace can help with that? Samson looks at Olivia with a bewildered look. "Ingredients and Goods? Really? Akira asks, "D'you think she's lying?" He stammers, "N-no, no, no! I believe you, Olivia! Let's set out right now!" Tiramisu adds, "Master Attendant Samson, I'll look after you!"
I dreadfully recognize the clacking of high heels walking from behind me. I wince as I droop my shoulders, tail and wings as I turn around. Busted~ I think. Forcefully turning my cringe into a shit-eating grin (though a bit unsuccessfully), I look at Spicy Gluten in the eyes as she give me a sly look in her eyes. She asks with a curious tone so sweet its giving me a toothache from hearing it, "Are you eavesdropping again? My, my, don't you know it's rude to listen to other people's conversations?~" I roll my eyes – I can't believe I have to deal with this whore again. I sigh as I remark sarcastically, "Ah, when will I learn, Principal of the Thing? Now, if you'll excuse me, I got some stowing away to do somehow." The STAFF ONLY door opens, and Samson steps into the living room. He asks with a surprised look, "How long have you been standing there?" Spicy remarks bluntly, "About a minute. Your pet, on the other hand, is the one eavesdropping on you." I shoot a glare at Spicy as I utter nonchalantly, "Guilty as charged." Samson responds, "She's not a pet, and you know it. Now, I'm going out to discuss some business with a few people from the Chef's Guild. I trust that you and the others will be on your best behavior and make sure Danny RPG stays out of trouble." Spicy picks me up with a smile. "Don't worry, Master Attendant, I'll make sure nothing bad happens to any of us. I mean, look at her~" Huh? She puts me into a really tight hug, and I'm uncomfortably being smothered by her chest. I resist the urge to gag. She continues, "It's been a few days, and we're getting along just fine. Isn't that right, sweetie?~" Ugh, now I really feel sick. Still, I don't want to be in worse trouble than I already have, so I force a quick smile, give a double thumbs-up, and nod frantically as I scream internally. I honestly don't know what's worse; the spicy scent she has of what I assume is actual spicy gluten, or that I'm being crushed to death by a dominatrix's hug. Either way, I'm forced to figuratively kiss ass so I stop being troublesome for now. Considering the language barrier and my cat-sized dragon form, I internally give myself a big ol' facepalm when I remind myself that I haven't told anyone here that I'm sixteen years old. (Except for the Food Souls and Master Attendant during Chapter 14. Sadly, Spicy wasn't one of those Food Souls.) Welp, at least I can tell that even though Spicy is being super sarcastic about this, at least the interaction was platonic and she's only doing this to idiomatically pull my leg and feed off of my misery. Spicy Gluten, you sick bitch.
Shortly before Tiramisu, Rice, Akira, and the humans leave, Samson gives instruction to Black Tea and Milk that they are in charge of this place. Brownie and Coffee volunteer to assist in the women's unimaginably painstaking duties of babysitting us while managing Glorywest Grill. Needing a break from Spicy's unforgettable clutches, I decide to head up to my room to take a nap. After two weeks of wacky fantasy shit, I figure this would be a good time to lay on my back in my pet bed, and forget that I'm in a giant, fish-shaped anime planet that revolves around two suns for at least a few hours.
Twenty minutes of sleeping, I begin to dream. I recall having an interest in lucid dreaming and teaching myself how to control my dreams when I was 13. I gradually lost interest as the years passed, but once in a while, I would record my dreams and learn from them as a way of identifying what's real and what's not. I would do simple tricks to realize what a dream is while asleep, such as counting my fingers or pinching my nose and breathe from it. I eventually stopped doing reality checks and recording my dreams around the start of 2020 out of inconsistency, forgetfulness, and just simply lack of interest. Right from the start, I never cared about weird shit, like third eyes and astral projection and other stuff like that. In fact, when I first heard about lucid dreaming, I never saw as that at all. It was simply the brain doing subconscious things, and just being aware of it. So, really, it's more of a scientific and/or psychological thing than anything. Being someone who is interested in learning so much about psychology and the human brain, this was something of interest as dreams are still being understood and studied, like with Sigmund Freud and his famous theories. I vaguely remember that one of the classes I planned to sign up for in my junior year of high school at Panthera senior high was Psychology AP. As someone interested in psychology, I knew it's be a nice bonus to get into a class like this, even with COVID-19 wreaking havoc, and Donald Trump making the situation worse because he's, well, Donald Trump.
As I begin to dream, I start to see the world in my mind form around me. It looks like the attic, but with the colors faded and muted. I feel strangely aware that things aren't what they should be, and my mind feels numb, but focused. I push a finger through the palm of my opposing hand. Yeah, it was a dream, and the odd part is that I figured this out much quicker than ever before. And, I feel more conscious about it. Another thing that made me realize quickly that it's a dream is that my hands are human, and I no longer see a black and crimson snout in front of me. Strangely, I don't feel my wings and tail anymore, and I'm wearing casual but conservative clothes, even my glasses. I don't think this is a normal dream, but it's definitely not a nightmare. Besides, the feelings I'm experiencing in this dream are very benign, with little to no fear in me. I decide to get up and look around. Everything is like the attic up here, but when I look out the three small windows, instead of seeing the different parts of Gloriville I normally see, there's nothing at all. It's like a void or something out there rather than Gloriville. I stare at the window in wonder, letting my thoughts come and go as they please.
This void, it's like those scenes in Stranger Things when the girl named Eleven uses her mind powers to explore said void and be able to see things like the people she's reaching out to and eventually finding the monster. Even though there's no source of light anywhere, she and the things she's reaching out to are seen, like there's a light source shining on them. However, even with the nonexistent light source, the colors of these characters are desaturated in a tone of cool colors, much like what you'd expect in horror scenes involving laboratories or hospitals when there's an experiment that's happening and/or has gone wrong.
I decide to turn around and walk to the door. It doesn't open; the knob won't even turn, like it's just a decoration on the wall or something. Even when I focus my mind into trying to open the door, nothing happens. I then look out one of the windows. I unhook the little things that keep the window locked and lift it open. It's surprisingly easy and light. Using my strength I carefully step out and dip my toe into the cold floor of the void, and shift to outside of the attic. I then gently close the window, so that it doesn't fall from its weight and possibly shatter the glass. I take a couple careful steps out into a the void and look back to see a block that is a piece of the restaurant from outside. I've never seen the outside of the restaurant before, so I wonder if that's what a portion of it looks like. There's nothing here even a few steps, not even a sound other than my footsteps and my own breathing. I close my eyes, and reach out to something out there – something random, obviously, as I don't know what to expect. I sense something. Something like … a human, except it's not exactly human? Doesn't feel very threatening, but I could sense something faintly foreboding from it, like some kind of power I've never felt before. I open my eyes and decide to follow its source. Something doesn't feel right about it, so I'm walking with caution. As I get closer, I could feel a familiar emotion looming in the air. A feeling of sadness, sorrow, and perhaps loneliness. I know this feeling too well from my high school days, except there's something different from what I know of it. A cheesy feeling making my stomach lurch, and making me have cold sweat. It's like that feeling when you have a crush on someone, except you feel so awkward and depressed that you're too scared to face that feeling. I had a crush on someone in my sophomore year, but it dissipated back into a friendship with this someone I knew. However, there's a major difference with this; whoever this person is that I'm sensing, has much stronger feelings of love, and perhaps a feeling that makes your heart twist and break you down. As someone with no real experience other than a temporary crush (and, pitifully, having a mod in my Windows 7 computer that turns Doki Doki Literature Club! into a dating simulator with Monika), I haven't had a feeling like this, and it's definitely not my feelings either. But, my guess is that this is some sort of heartbreak, and whoever this person is must be having a really bad breakup. As I get closer, this colorful mist appears materializes into a humanoid figure. I can hear them now … they're crying. The humanoid appears to be feminine, including her voice, and she's sitting in a fancy, colorful bed with her back arched and her head hung low. She's feeling really sad, like she's having a very nasty depressive episode.
There's something strange about this person. She doesn't appear human, but acts and feels that way, like the monsters from Undertale. I wonder if she's an OC of some sort. Like the ones for Food Fantasy, except she's meant for Undertale. The monster's physical appearance is very slim and tall, with emerald green eyes. Her long, golden-orange hair covers her right eye as the bottom half of it ravels her left leg. The right half of her body is colored white with her right leg wearing a teal platform boot. The other half is hot pink with her left leg wearing a platform sandal. Her finger nails are painted a variety of colors alternating between shades of pink, orange, yellow, green, and blue. This person wears turquoise beaded bracelets, in addition to her left wrist having two bracelets unlike her opposite wrist; an earring on her left ear, a head ornament all around her forehead, and three thin green chokers on her neck. Her outfit is a black chest-less leotard with a teal breast cover on the right, and a chartreuse breast cover on the left. Despite the thin body, her hands are rather big, her legs are really long, and her head is reminiscent of a fantasy-themed doll, like the ones in the videos of the YouTuber Dollightful. This is the most peculiar-looking monster I've seen. She seems human, but she's not. Almost like an abstract hybrid of some sort. Or maybe she's not a hybrid at all, and she's just meant to look like that. Either way, I walk around the bed with caution, observing every little thing about this humanoid monster sitting on her bed. Peering from her side, I stretch my arm out and gently wave my hand in front of her face. Huh. Like I'm not even here. Taking a deep breath, I double tap her shoulder. She turns to me in shock, and I flinch from being startled. Her eyes dart around, like she's looking for something, presumably the person who tapped her shoulder. I look at the end of the bed, and I see that a small bin and a cross between a desk and an étagère by the bed has materialized. On the furniture is a bonsai tree, some paints, a small stack of sketchbooks, a tissue box and a large mirror with lights around the frame. I decide to walk around and find a conveniently-placed chair a couple feet away from what I'm guessing is the woman's bedroom (despite the lack of what defines a bedroom). I take the chair and set it behind the mirror. Surprisingly, the backside of the mirror shows the actual room rather than just the bed, the étagère desk, and the woman herself, though the mirror shows holographic view of it. My hand curls into a loose fist, and I hesitantly knock on the mirror. She heard my knocks. The room seems be very colorful, with vibrant patterns that deems it modern abstract art. I guess it explains a bit about the monster…? I knock on the glass again. This time, the woman approaches me. She sits in a chair by the desk as she sniffles and wipes her tears with a tissue. "Uhh," I start, quickly noticing that my voice is human and in English like when I was in Texas, "hello?" The woman seems shocked by this, and her expression changes into a serious one. She closes her eyes and places her white hand into the looking glass. I light shines from her hand, and it spreads to the rest of the mirror before fading out. I can see her with better clarity now. Unsure of what to say, I utter a friendly, "Hello. Um, who are you?" The woman asks, "Who are you? This mirror isn't meant to show anything other than the reflection of this place." I answer, "Well, um, I'm Danny RPG, and I was taking a nap this morning, and then I ended up here in this weird Stranger Things void. I figured I was dreaming, except I can hear you and me just fine as though I'm awake. Everything else, though, feels like an actual dream – I mean, look at this." I push my finger through my other hand again, which did the same result of phasing through my hand as before. I bluntly ask, "You don't look like the other monsters I've seen from the Underground. So, who are you?" Her head tilts in confusion as I asked, almost like she has no idea what I'm talking about. After a small pause, she replies, "Eve." I comment, "That's a nice name." I quickly notice the small gap between her front teeth. Kinda like mine when I was human.
"Thank you," she responds. "You don't look like other people. Your skin tone is light, but not very colorful and your hands are rather small."
"And your skin is oversaturated in color, and your hands are big. Yeah, I figured you'd say that. You're not like the people where I come from either. So, let's keep it at that, alright?"
"Agreed."
"If it's alright, tell me what's bothering you. I'm not great with helping in general, but I try."
"You heard my cries?"
I nod.
"Well, I was having a really bad dream, and it got me thinking about some things. The sea and the earth are meant for each other. But then, fire came along, and" – her voice starts cracking – "I don't understand why the sea chose fire over earth; they don't even mix. And yet, the bond is so strong – could it be they share a mutual bond over hate?"
"Honestly, I don't know. But, my guess was that you were the earth in this metaphor you're saying, and you were to close to the sea, whoever they were. And I reckon fire would be, like, the third person in this metaphor. Were you saying that you got dumped by this 'sea' over 'fire', and the part about the two not mixing refers to how they're polar opposites in personality even though they get along really well?"
"In way, that is correct."
"I'm sorry for that to happen."
"It's okay – you had nothing to do with it. There's nothing that could have been done to fix it anyway. I just happen to bring it up."
"Hm. Well, I hope things get better soon."
"Thank you. I feel a little better that you were able to understand my metaphor. Normally, it goes in over people's heads. Like, the pedestrian girl that is the fire. How old are you, by the way?"
"Sixteen. ¿Y tú?"
"Twenty-six. You're much younger than I thought you would be. I never thought I would be understood by a teenager."
"And I never thought I'd be understood by someone again. I've been feeling so terribly alone ever since I ended up in … that place. Not the void, just so you know. Some other place."
"What would that place be?"
"A world far from my own. An anime fantasy world where food is personified as these spirits called Food Souls. I don't know how I got there, but I got into an endless situation where no one understands what I say even though I understand them. It felt awkward at times, but I'm getting more and more used to it. What world are you from?"
"A world called Earth. I come from a place on Earth where energy can be harnessed in so many different ways, to the point it changes us physically, but we're still humans at heart. It's most common in the vast city I live in called Vinyl City."
"Funny, I came from Earth. And now, I've become a cat-sized dragon with a connection to different worlds, one of which is the anime one I currently live in."
"Would this mean that the human entity in front me that I am speaking to, was this how you looked like before becoming a dragon?"
"I suppose so; it's been about two weeks, so my memory of how I looked like is not as good, but I'm still not used to looking into a mirror and see a dragon face instead of my human face."
"Well, despite your strange appearance, you don't look very bad at all. A little overweight, but still not bad."
"Yeah, I let myself go since the pandemic in my Earth happened, but it's not like I'm giving up. Not anymore. I've only been confined indoors during my two weeks in the anime world, but I'm determined to see it from outside of my friends' restaurant one day."
"I wish you good luck for that. By the way, Danny, right?
I nod.
"I noticed you have a bit of an accent, and you spoke a bit of Spanish. Assuming your Earth is relatively similar to mine, what country are you from?"
"The States, but my parents grew up in Costa Rica."
"Really? That's quite interesting. The United States and Costa Rica exist here too."
"Nice. It's nice to finally talk to someone who can get the pop culture references I say without having me to explain it."
"Well, not exactly. I remember you saying something about 'stranger things' in regards to the void you're in. What would those things be?"
"Ah, whoops, must've spoken too soon. Well, in my Earth, we have a streaming website called 'Netflix'. It used to be a site where you can rent DVDs, but that was at least half a decade ago. Anyway, in Netflix, there's a TV show exclusive to the site called Stranger Things. It's basically a show that even though it's somewhat new, it took place in the 80's, which I'm not sure if you get that part."
"I do. The 80's were a thing here."
"So, in this show, there are these kids in middle school who play a tabletop role-playing game called Dungeons & Dragons until one of them gets mysteriously kidnapped by this evil monster. At the same time, a girl with psychic mind powers escapes from this secret lab and takes refuge in the home of the missing child's brother after being found by the kids. It's a really fun sci-fi horror series. I'm not sure if it exists in your world – probably not – but that's the basic premise of Stranger Things without spoiling it or getting into too much detail."
"Danny?" a muffled male voice asks from who-knows-where. It becomes louder and clearer. "Danny, wake up!"
My eyes fly open as I see Sandwich sitting beside me and my bed. He looks about the size of a giant, and then I realize that I'm back into a dragon, and I'm back into the waking world. It'd be weird to refer to this as the real world, but after everything that's happened, I might as well get used to that. Sandwich comments, "Are you alright? That must've been a heck of a dream." So, I was right. It was indeed a dream, but I remember it so well and so vividly like I was awake in a sense except I wasn't. Still, it doesn't explain why the Stranger Things void, or why a woman from Earth looks nothing like the people from Earth, but is instead from an alternate Earth. I might be well rested, but I need a coffee. And lunch. I'm hungry, and I could tell from the sun that is visible through one of the windows that it's midday, so no point in saying mentioning breakfast. Unless, of course, we're thinking of brunch.
Ba-dum, tsss!
That narrated sound effect was from me, but I didn't say it aloud, or else Sandwich would get confused, and I'd have to explain everything. What was that woman's name again? Oh, yeah, Eve. She seemed nice. If games such as Undertale and Food Fantasy exist in a way as different planets from different universes (or somehow the same universe), then chances are that Eve is from another game. The problem is, I don't know which game was that. Was it a new one? Since time works weird (I was from 2020, and I get transported into 550), would it be this game that Eve comes from was released after 2020? Or maybe a point in time when it's still 2020, but I'm already gone? If I have access to the Internet … it really won't make any difference now that I think about it.
"Helloooo!~ Tierra to Danny! You're spacing out again," Sandwich calls out. I immediately shift my attention to the Food Soul. He adds, "I think you need something to eat – you've been asleep for hours, and you won't stop getting distracted." I chuckle as I take my notepad out of my Inventory. {Yeah,} I write, I'm hungry. {And I could use some coffee. Let's go get some lunch!}