"Hey, dude." I turn my attention to the next Reaper in front of me, a surfer looking boy this time. Why do all these Reapers look so young? Banks and Aster were the only ones so far who looked like adults to be honest. It was weird. I would have to ask about it later.
"I'm Dylan." I shake his outstretched hand and am pleased when he squeezes it firmly.
Dyan is under six feet, with tanned skin and long fluffy blonde hair. He's wearing what looks like a bathrobe and has brown sandals on his feet. His eyes are pretty normal, bright yellow. Until he blinks that is. Then I realize his eyelids are on the side, so he looks kind of like a fish when he blinks.
What was the point in giving us all these weirdly unique eyes?
"How are you feeling?" He asks, backing away a little and crossing his arms. My eyes land on his hands for a second, which I notice are totally metal. He notices me looking and holds them up.
"I saved someone from the motor of a boat. It ended up pulling me in instead and breaking my neck and hands. Aster gave me new ones though." He grins at Aster, who is still hovering behind me.
"You do good work, don't you?" I turn around to look at him, swatting at York when I do. He's picking at my hair. Yes, I get it. I need a haircut.
"I try." I feel good at how happy he looks to be appreciated. He really did a good job. I felt fine, and even though I never actually passed out, he did a really efficient job with the surgery. I can't believe how fast they all did what they did.
"So, what are we doing out here?" I ask, turning to look around a little. They shrug.
"We were just kind of waiting for you to wake up, I guess."
"Oh." I scratch the back of my neck. "Well. What are we going to do now?" I raise a brow at their blank faces. "What do you normally do when you get a new Reaper?" I prod.
"Oh!" York jumps off me then. "Do you remember when we ate all that food when you became a Reaper, Dylan?" He stalks over to Dylan.
"Yeah, that was a good way to start my new life, I'd say. And it was the last time I had an actual meal for the next three years after, I remember that too."
"Why so long?" I ask. Would I be so busy I had no time to eat?
He laughs a little. "When you don't actually get hungry, you kinda forget about eating sometimes. It's not like we have to, so unless I come across something really cool, I usually don't partake." I guess that made sense.
"Well. I guess I should make the most out of tonight then." I say, nodding firmly.
Because tomorrow, I will start my training to be a real Reaper.
"Just keep it longer in the front, so it hangs down kind of, you know? And the sides real short."
"You could just buzz cut it all off."
"What about a taper fade, and slick it back?"
"Ew, no. I am not slicking anyone's hair back."
I was sitting in one of the stone chairs, my new designated one, apparently.
Jaskier is standing behind me, on a chair himself so he can reach the top of my head. Now even when I'm sitting, I'm fucking giant. I felt kind of awkward in my new body. I had never thought I would have to learn how to use my parts properly again.
I tense a little when I feel Jaskier's fingers fluffing my hair up.
I can't lie, I'm not a big fan of being touched.
I'm not sure my parents have ever actually hugged me. Which sounds crazy, but the more I strain to remember, I can't think of a single time my mom wrapped me in her arms and made me feel safe and warm.
I've never had an actual girlfriend either, and the male friends I have are all just coworkers I don't hate.
All in all, I don't have a lot of experience getting hugged and being climbed on and poked. I was doing my best to not react every time someone brushed up against me, because again, I want nothing more than to get along with these guys.
But I couldn't help myself.
"What do you think?" I feel a finger poke me in the cheek, and I glance up as much as I can to try and see Jaskier, who has now folded his arms on top of my head and is laying on them. Glad someone is comfortable, I guess.
I shrug.
"I like Aster's idea." I nod my head towards the man himself, who is holding one of his bone thin arms out and letting York swing on it like a monkey bar.
"Really?" Aster's face lights up. I have once again shocked him.
"Yeah. Longer in the front, clean up the sides." I nod, shooting Aster an awkward thumbs up and a half smile. It makes him laugh for some reason.
"Sounds good to me." Jaskier moves off me, and I let out a small breath.
"Are Ivan and Vito back yet?" York asks as he swings off Aster's arm one last time and lands on the ground in a crouching position. "And what about Dylan? I'm starving."
"No, but they should be soon." I glance at Banks. He's sitting at the table, his chair facing the group of people chattering in front of him. He had a glass he was sipping from next to him, and I wondered what it was. His cheeks were red, and he had a permanent smile on his face. Was he drunk? I thought we couldn't do that anymore.
I watched him as Jaskier started spraying my hair with water and moving it around. I hope he knew what he was doing. If he was the one who did Nico's hair, I would be fine.
"Banks." I call to him. His eyes drift to me, and he grins.
"How can I help you, young man?" I furrow my brow. He was definitely acting weird.
"What are you drinking?" He grins again, and everyone gets quiet, watching our interaction.
"Do you want a taste?" He asks, standing up and grabbing his large cup. It was made of dark blue plastic, so I had no hints about what it could be through color.
"I really just want to know what it is." I mutter as he approaches.
"Banks maybe you shouldn't-" Aster starts, but York quickly jumps up on him again and slaps his hand over his mouth.
"Come on, it'll be fun to see." I hear him mutter. I definitely wouldn't have been able to hear him like this before. Even while I was talking, my ears were picking up on tiny sounds; my hair falling to the floor as Jaskier cut it, York every time he made a whiney dissatisfied noise under his breath, or Nico playing with something metal in his pocket the entire time he's been here so far.
"I wish you'd tell me what it is." I say one last time as Banks holds the cup to my face. I try to look at it, but he's got it tilted in a way I can't really see. It smells sweet though.
"Just drink some." He tilts the cup more and I learn forward a little. Jaskier sighs but stops cutting for a second.
"If this interferes with what I'm doing I'm going to be upset." Jaskier grumbles.
I take a small sip, letting it linger on my taste buds.
It was thick, almost syrupy, and kind of tasted like melted honey and sugar. It was very sweet.
"What is this?" I ask when Banks moves the cup away.
"It's you!" He exclaims.