Private Finished Lusting to Belong

"No, you're okay. I feel strongly about this stuff too. I think it's good. If we weren't... uh... confident? Confidence makes conversations not boring and arguments fun." A nervous laughter came out of Rei. Not because he found anything he or Amber said funny, but it made the situation feel less tense for him.

Noticing the shift in subject, Rei followed along, not wanting to push a topic that made things tense. "I've seen Phaedra and Dalia's glamours. I think it's confusing. I don't know why they want a human body, but... I guess I'm the same. After all, he used glamour to replace his cephalopod legs with "human" legs. Walking was a struggle at first, but he had more room to move around and the weird looks he got decreased. It was just more convenient, even if it made him feel weird about his values.

"Anyways, I think coming over would be fun. You and Chloe are easy to talk to." Both were nice, but Amber was closer to Rei in age and had less authority, other than being the daughter of the DSU leader. "I could bring my consoles and games, so we could talk and play. If you don't like games, I have books too. You know, so we aren't just talking about my problems. That's not fair to you."

Rei nodded at Amber's explanation. He related more to Dalia's reason. Shoes were convenient, and having only two legs made going through doorways easier. The added benefit of not being made fun of or looked at weirdly helped as well. It was weird how despite living on an island full of inhuman-looking people, he could still hear people whispering jokes about his appearance and catch them giving him weird glances. That did not matter now. Amber's smile made him smile back. He was told his smiles made him look threatening and snarky, but he knew that was only because of how his eyebrows naturally arched upwards. Rei saw no need to fix his face, though he hoped that Amber did not take his smile for aggression.

Rei watched as Amber went to check the time. This conversation was going so well. Better than most of the others he had here. He hoped that it would not end soon. "I can go. I don't want to make you late. I'll teach you how to play video games when I visit, and you can teach me how to play board games."

Rei tried not to show how excited he was to visit Amber. Her house had to be huge to fit all of her family and their spider bodies. Living in a large house with full of family sounded nice. Back home, it was only him and his mom Ita, and even she was barely present when he was around. He never minded it, but having a lot of siblings and parents to go to would have been nice too.

Now he needed to start setting up what games they should play. Something that would fit Amber's personality was the most important thing. She was the smart type, so a strategy game felt like the best fit, mainly because she mentioned board games. "The weekend then. I'll tell my mom too, and I'll get us something fun to play. Uh, wait, let me get my number." He fumbled in his bag, nearly dropping it in the process, before pulling out a piece of paper and pen to quickly write his phone number on. "Here. Text me, and 'll save your number. Anyways, it was nice talking to you too. Bye, Amber!" Soon after, he gave Amber a quick wave, then began walking back home.