I take one more deep breath and stand back up. I’m still afraid, but I ... think I got something out of my system. I hope.

>there's a lot of glass between you two
>He can't do anything to you through a glass wall.
>If there were any way it could break or damage the glass, it would have done so already.
I have to assume that’s true. I can’t worry about it otherwise.

>Your job is to interact with him so you have to interact with him
>So swallow your fear. Introduce yourself.
>Just talk to him. Would you want to be locked up in a room like that with nobody to talk to?
I walk back up to the glass. If I act like I’m confident I might actually be a little bit confident. Right? That’s how I get through job interviews...

I can see his eyes widen a little bit. I try as hard as I can to not think about how big they are. He’s ... a person. If I think about him as a person, I might ... I think I can keep myself together.

“I’m ... okay. I think. I’m not going to leave.”

“... y-you can understand me?” He’s surprised. So am I, honestly.

“I’m not really sure how, but yes.”

“Please, I ... I-I haven’t had anyone to talk to since ... I mean ... w-who are you? What are you? Where are we? What’s ...” For a second I’m worried he’s going to be the one to panic now, but he takes a deep breath. Like a person would. What even is this situation.

“Um ... one thing at a time. I’m Kuvusha. You’re ... ?”

“Orro.” He has a name, even. Again, like a person would. I just have to focus on that.

“Well, Orro.” I can’t quite pronounce it the same way he does. “I’m a tridenik, but ... I’m guessing that doesn’t mean anything to you.”

“Not really ...”

“From my perspective you’re some kind of alien. I think. Which I guess means from your perspective I’m some kind of alien.”

“I-I ... I guess?” He seems a little confused. I’m not completely sure why I said that.

“It’s ... um, it’s not important. Um. Anyway. We’re in ... sort of a facility. I guess. I —”

I almost start telling Orro about how I don’t really know where I am or what I’m doing, and how I think I’m here by mistake, but I catch myself. I really don’t need to tell him any of that. I have no idea how I would handle him panicking like I did.

“— um, I’m supposed to study you.”

“Study ... ?” He seems like he’s processing that for a bit, and doesn’t say anything else in response for a while.

This is probably as good of a time as any to think about what else I want to tell him, and what I want to ask him. I don’t know how long the adrenaline will last ...

——

Quest thread can be found here. If you want to participate you should post suggestions over there. Art is by  ourhero.