53 Getting Ready

"Are you both sure you want to come with?"

They vehemently agree at the same time. That made Lera happy. Knowing that they wanted to explore with her. "Good. Over this past week, I've been looking around my home. I wanted to find out more, so let's start with your rooms."

Lera points to two doors next to the kitchen.

"You made us rooms?" Ayanni asked.

"Nope! You will be making your own rooms. Enter those rooms and imagine whatever you want. It can be a big as or as small as you want." Lera gave both of them a little push. "Don't forget any amenities and take your time. Once you come back out, I will have a gift for you two."

"Thank you Lera!" Paroppe cheered a bit, before turning towards Ayanni. "My room is going to be better than yours."

"Oh yea? We'll see then, who has the best room?"

"You're going down!"

---

A couple hours later both of them come out of their rooms.

"So you guys are done?"

"Yea and my room is the best!" Paroppe grabbed Ayanni's arm and dragged him and Lera into her room.

It was big, had a lot of colors on the wall. The walls were a gigantic painting of Suul at night from the top of that hill. She had a big fluffy bed with a bunch of cushions that looked just like one from her room at her home. The entire floor was soft white carpet. There was a desk and chair. A small couch just the size of Paroppe. There were two doors, both open. One was a walk in closet and the other was the bathroom. The tub was more like a hot tub.

'Hot tub?'

Lera was confused by the term she used, but it did fit the big ceramic, half Paroppe, waist deep tub. A few candles around for the fragrance and light. The main room's lighting had a somber red glow around the room from her nightstand.

"It looks amazing!" Lera exclaims to her friend.

"I know it does. What do you think, Ayanni?"

"I forgot all about a closet, but yea this place is amazing."

"Let's go see yours."

"Alright then."

Lera just followed the two of them as they left Paroppe's room and went into Ayanni's.

Contrasting with the dark grey… everything in the main area of the void room, Ayanni's room was white and bright. It hurt, but looking around it was more efficient. It had a similar design to that of the lab where her costumes were located.

'Lab?'

It was a similar feeling that it described what that place was and yet, she didn't know why. A little frustrating, but she should get her answers soon.

There were a few additional rooms off to the side, but the main room just had a bed, night stand, drawers, and a few cabinets. It was very much more functional than aesthetic like Paroppe's room. One of the other rooms was an exact copy of the lab, without the costumes, but there were more things around. The next room they looked in had a big swimming pool. The next was the bathroom, more functional than Paroppe's again. The last door had a bed of grass, a tree, the light and sky that was similar to their home planet.

"This place is huge. I didn't think of any of that." Paroppe said while waving at the pool and where the tree was located.

"I wanted to test the limits and well… It was just so cool."

"Lera can we redo our rooms?"

"If she can redo her room, can I too?"

"Yea of course. Why don't you both work together this time and then when you're ready meet me back in the main area."

They nodded and Lera left Ayanni's room and went back to make some dinner for the both of them. She doubted that they had anything to eat since coming here and a big welcoming feast sounded like an amazing idea.

---

Lera turned around to see Paroppe and Ayanni walk out. They looked to be completely drained and exhausted. Lera just smiled and led them over to the counter top, with the stools, and had them sit down. She grabbed a big cooked slab of meat, potatoes and veggies, out of the oven and sat it in front of them.

"Eat. You're both going to need the energy tomorrow. I do know that it's hard to keep track of time, but you can use your tech pads for that."

"Thank you for the food Lera." Paroppe said between a deep breath.

"That was so cool. Creating my own room from scratch, thanks for the closet idea."

"No problem."

Ayanni turned from the food to Lera. "Thank you for letting us do that."

"Well everyone needs a place to sleep." She gestures to the living room area. "I have my own little abode right here."

"Abode?"

"I thought it was a cool word to use. Don't look at me like that Paroppe."

They all shared a big chuckle.

---

"Before you go to bed here is a small bag for the both of you. You can store any item in here, no limits on space, the items won't deteriorate like food, and you can use it as a normal bag as well. So when we travel, you can bring back anything you want and store it in your rooms."

"This will be useful." Ayanni looked it over.

"Now get some rest."

They said good night to each other before going back into their rooms. Lera went over to the couch and lied down. She picked up the controller and started playing a role playing game that she had restarted. She loaded up a new save. Lera wanted to play the game for fun, but when she restarted it, the familiarity was uncanny. She knew, the moment a part of the game happened, what was going to happen, but not before. Like some form of déjà vu. Another term that was foreign, but the right one.

---

"Alright since you both are awake, let me give you the details of where we will be going. So I looked over everything in here," Lera gestured to the void room, "and I started investigating the pc over here. Oh pc is a personal computer. I found out the reason why I had a note on it. [Do not touch!] Of course I touched it. Past me was a bit silly."

They both chuckled at that.

"Anyway, look at this."

There was some type of app, program… 'There it was again…' Some program that showed the universe. The one they were currently in. There was a side angle to their home planet.

"That planet is the one where you are from. If I zoom in we can see Suul and all it's glory."

"Whoa!"

"Seeing it like this is amazing. There's my house next to the castle."

"And mine too!"

They both reached their hands out to touch the screen.

"Don't touch the screen with your dirty fingers."

"Sorry." Paroppe stepped back, but she was still curious.

"Why not?"

"I don't know why, but I just know you're not supposed to touch the screen. Sorry about that."

"It's fine Lera." Paroppe wrapped her arms around Lera while she was sitting in her chair.

"Well, look at this list here. These are all the different universes."

One of them was labeled [Big Sci-fi Battles], another was labeled [Cosmic Horrors - Don't Go, Scary].

"Right now we are in [Medieval Fantasy]"

"Interesting…" Ayanni cupped his chin.

"So, I had looked through them and I found this one." Lera pointed to [Modern - Like Home]. "I saw that and clicked on it. I found another list, it showed a 'save-point' where I might find answers." She pointed to the next list and one of the lines had [Earth Like - Home Planet]. "I think that is my home or at least a copy of what my home used to be. I wanted to go there first to find out more about myself. We needed a place to start, and I thought that would be the best place to do it. What do you two think?"

"I want to go." Ayanni quickly said.

"Yea, you want to learn more about yourself and I do too. There are so many things we can all learn there."

"I'm happy you both said that. So I looked it up a bit to find out more about it. The big thing is the planet only has humans." Lera looks towards Ayanni. "So how do you want to handle it?"

"Just humans… that means you were probably human. Sorry, getting off topic. I'm proud to be an elf and I don't want to change that."

"Alright, we can probably pass you off as a cosplayer or just someone with longer ears."

"Cosplayer?" Ayanni and Paroppe both asked.

"When I was looking up ideas to solve that problem, I found out about them. Essentially like the costumes, people wear them to show their love for different characters in books, anime or anything that is popular at the time. Don't worry about what I'm talking about yet, but that is an idea."

"Actually that sounds fun to dress up." Ayanni turned towards Paroppe. "I feel like I'm infiltrating some country ready to steal all their knowledge." He had a huge grin on his face.

"Remember to control yourself."

Ayanni deflated a little, but he was still smiling.

"Okay, I sent a few designs to your tech pad. When you click one, the outfit will appear before you." Lera looked at Paroppe. "Since he is going in costume, you will too. I sent the same list to you. It doesn't matter what costume you pick, anything really, just have fun."

"What about you?" Paroppe asked with some worry.

"I'm going to hold myself back. These powers are amazing and since I'm going to my home planet… I want to make sure I can hold back my emotions. I'm going to be a ghost essentially. You will be able to talk and see me, but no one else in that world will be able to. If I can prevent myself from acting out and controlling myself, I will be more sure of myself. So please don't ask me for anything. Only ask me to let you come back here, then that can be the end of our journey there."

"Are you sure Lera?" Ayanni asked Lera. As it was something that he was aware that she wanted to work on, he was ready to help, but they would lose some convenience.

"I am." Lera spun back around to look at the monitor… 'hmmm'… and then she spun back around with one last tidbit. "I forgot. There is another document that will explain the world a bit more, so you can be informed about it and where you will be staying. Just a quick reminder, no weapons."

They nodded and set off to their different rooms while Lera got everything ready herself. She wanted to find a place that was having a convention… and then find an apartment around there that they could stay in. In that last text document she explained to them that all their money was going to be converted to this new world for them. Lera was aware that they needed money in this society and others in general. Those bags she gave them would automate the currency exchange. It would allow them to earn money for their home and spend what they have to live. Since she doesn't know how long they want to stay, she rented an apartment, using her money from Suul, to get them a month there. She was aware that they wanted to be back home in less than two months for the Light Festival, so at least they had time to spend.

---

Paroppe and Ayanni come out a bit later. Ayanni is dressed in a suit-like vest, with black rimmed glasses. Paroppe next to him is wearing a similar vest, but instead of glasses, she has an eye patch over her right eye. There is a rapier at her side.

"Do people really wear this stuff? I prefer something easier to move in and much heavier." Ayanni keeps moving his shoulders back and forth, getting used to the vest.

"It's just a costume. Though I have to say these vests really suit us."

"You think so, I guess you're right. This was a great idea Paroppe. Is that a rapier?"

"Yea, but since the information Lera sent us said no weapons or magic…" She banged on the weapon with her fist. "It's fake, not even real metal."

"At least you guys didn't have any problems with the language. Being able to understand any language is going to be important."

"Thank you again Lera."

Ayanni just nodded and Lera spoke up with a small nod herself. "Are you both ready?"

"I am, but are you sure you don't want to… be with us?"

"I'll be next to you the whole time, but I want to limit what I do. Otherwise I… might not be in control."

"Seriously Lera… Alright, well make sure to take care of ourselves."

"Lera, are you sure tech pads will be fine. I know the information said that cell phones were the equivalent of tech pads, but would they still work?"

"I made sure they do. If you want to message someone on that world, just follow those directions I sent you."

"Alright, ready for Nerd-Con?"

"Why not!"