[Audun's POV]
It seems like the boy finally decided to trust me.
Walking out of a blotch of shadow, the black haired boy approached my house with a bit of reluctance.
His own shadow, the one that had trailed me, flowed back to his feet as it reanchored itself to him.
Walking inside my abode, he approached the center of the house, where I was currently tending to the stew I'd made.
Sitting down a few feet away from me, he shot me a questioning look.
"Do you invite every sleeper you come across for dinner, or am I a special exception?"
Finding it hard to formulate a response, the words unable to free themselves from my throat, I opted not to respond, simply ladling generous helpings of the abomination stew into two bowls.
Getting up, I handed one to him, along with a spoon I had just recently carved out of nightmare creature bones, and I sat down across from him.
I tried my best to maintain eye contact, but even that was a considerable challenge.
After spending a full year in the Dream Realm, I hadn't dealt with my flaw at all, the only company I've had for the past year being nightmare creatures that weren't necessarily known for their communication skills.
In order to keep any semblance of composure, I had my trait on full blast, [One who Stood at the Peak] waging war against the crippling social anxiety that plagued my body.
Everything felt contradictory.
I wanted to talk, yet I couldn't.
I was feeling anxious, my emotions turbulent, but my face was a mask of eerie emotionless.
I was lonely, yet I wanted to run away from the first human being I'd seen in a year.
It was confusing, to say the least.
An awkward silence descended upon the house, neither of us bothering to voice any thoughts or concerns.
The boy before me was staring at the bowl in his hands warily, like he was considering the possibility of the bowl being poisoned.
I hadn't touched my bowl either, something that only seemed to stoke the flames of his suspicion.
Like trying to convince a stray dog to eat, I slowly spooned some of the stew and brought it to my mouth, swallowing audibly.
I promptly got up and walked out of the house, giving him a bit of space, so the boy would hopefully feel more comfortable eating.
Although it felt more like an escape than consideration for his feelings.
There had to be some way I could talk to him, right?
I could go with the age-old approach of written dialogue, simply writing down what I wanted to say on something and presenting it to him.
That felt a little rustic, though.
I thought a bit more.
Maybe I had a memory that would be helpful in this situation?
Standing outside the house, I studied my runes, browsing through my vast catalogue of memories.
I had amassed a plentiful supply of armor and weapons, but after careful inspection, I was lacking in the utility and charm department.
The only charm I had received was the band I had gotten from killing the Iron Spider Matriarch, though I did have a few utility memories.
Reading their descriptions carefully, there was one memory that seemed like it'd do the job.
***
Memory Name: [Thought Quill]
Memory Rank: Awakened
Memory Tier: 1
Type: Tool
Memory Description: [A curious feather that seems to move in accordance with a being's thoughts.]
***
I'm pretty sure I got this memory while beating the bricks off a nightmare creature that resembled a hawk.
Its meat tasted pretty iffy, and I had gotten accustomed to just ignoring any kill messages from the spell, so I hadn't registered this curious memory at all.
If I really could control it with my mind, I might be able to engage in written dialogue in real time, effectively eliminating my prior concerns about the rustic nature of written discourse.
Pulling the [Thought Quill] from deep within my soul in a flurry of white sparks, I was presented with a blood-red feather with a metal nibbed tip.
I didn't have any ink, and I wasn't about to jump in the Black Sea and wrestle a giant octopus for writing supplies; fortunately, however, ink wouldn't be an issue.
As the quill started to float beside me, I manifested a minute amount of aura on its metal tip, purple lines tracing the air as the quill began to move.
It took an extreme amount of aura control to maintain the lines; sword seekers still needed a conduit to funnel their aura through, you see, but I could manage a bit of external aura control, definitely not enough to form full-blown paragraphs, but enough to confidently form a sentence or two if needed.
If a sword seeker in my previous world were told that someone was using external aura control to write, they would've coughed up blood out of sheer anger.
External aura control was one of the hallmarks of a transcendent, and yet here I was attempting to use it to communicate with a short, frail-looking kid.
Sighing, I walked back into the house with the quill following closely.
The boy, who had just finished his bowl, looked up as I entered the room.
Approaching him, I concentrated a bit, a faint purple glow coalescing around the metal tip of the [Thought Quill].
Here goes nothing...
Sitting down across from the boy, anxiety gnawing at my stomach, I tried once more to engage in a conversation with him.
The Quill danced in the air, its metal-nibbed tip forming gleaming purple letters as it continued to move.
In the next moment, three glowing purple words hovered next to me:
What's your name?
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[Sunny's POV]
After the Blondie left, I was alone in the house with nothing but the stew in my bowl to keep me company.
Feeling more at ease, I began to cautiously eat the stew while pondering my next course of action, to which I might add was quite delicious.
My priority before was simply to stay alive, and if I stick with the Blondie, I don't think that'd be much of a challenge.
But if I wanted to get out of the dream realm, I need to be more proactive.
There had to be a gate somewhere out there, and if I wanted to return to the waking world, I needed to find it.
A part of me was tempted to just stay here and leech off of my current benefactor, but there was still a chance that he could betray me.
Was I being paranoid?
Yes, undoubtedly, but there was no harm in being safe.
My thoughts spiraled as I sat in the brick house.
'They could've poisoned the stew and I wouldn't have even known. Maybe that's why they left the house, to go spit out whatever poison they consumed while trying to convince me that the stew was safe!'
I quickly abandoned that irrational line of thought.
From what I had seen of the carcasses of the abominations outside, and the fact that this person had managed to build a house nearby a death zone, they were probably quite competent in combat.
If they really wanted to, I don't doubt that they'd be able to beat me in a straight fight, although that's assuming I fight fair.
Snickering insidiously to myself, I continued along my train of thought, before the sound of footsteps caught my attention.
Walking inside, followed by what looked like a feather, the Blondie sat across from me, making eye contact.
Their face was a mask of expressionlessness, but their eyes held a hint of nervousness.
Taking a deep breath, the feather behind them started to glow with purple light.
As the feather began to move, purple lines hovered in the air in front of me, forming three words, a question.
What's your name?
Slightly taken aback, I responded, compelled by my flaw.
"Sunless, though you can call me Sunny if you want."
The Blondie's face lit up, a beaming smile gracing their once emotionless face.
"What's yours?" I asked in response.
Still smiling, the feather behind them danced in the air once more, drawing more letters.
Audun
Audun, huh?
The name sounded male, but with a face like that it was hard to tell.
Better nip in this in the bud so I don't do something stupid later.
"Sorry, but are you a guy or a girl…?"
At my question, Audun sighed in what I assumed was exasperation as the feather danced in the air once more.
Boy
Inwardly I was slightly disappointed, but I didn't let it show.
"And, uh, why are you communicating using a flying quill?"
The feather glided through the air, forming a single word.
Flaw
So it's related to his flaw, huh?
I asked another question.
"So how long have you been living here?"
Audun seemed to think for a moment, briefly pausing, before the quill started moving once more.
About a year
The implications took me a second to fully register.
A whole year and he still hasn't found a way out yet?
While I was still in thought, the quill moved again.
When did you get here, Sunny?
"Earlier today, just before you found me."
With a smile, the feather behind him continued to move, writing out more words in glowing purple.
You enjoying it so far?
I was taken aback, after all, what was there to really enjoy about the dream realm.
Thinking back to my experiences so far, I responded.
"I was dropped directly into that Black Sea, right in the middle of a battle between a giant octopus and a shark abomination, so I'm not sure if enjoyable is the word I'd use to describe my first trip into the dream realm."
Though the light in his eyes dimmed a bit, the feather behind him continued to dance in the air, creating more and more words.
I was dropped near the Hollow Mountains if that makes you feel any better.
Damnation
"I guess we were both pretty unlucky, huh?"
My words elicited a slight chuckle from the both of us.
While I could still see the nervousness in his eyes, Audun appeared to be more at ease than before, and I wasn't much different.
The quill continued to move, and I continued to talk.
We continued our conversation as the sun rose, the time flying past as was got more comfortable "talking" with one another.
Before long, I had gotten quite tired, my body desperately crying for rest.
Noticing my fatigue, Audun handed me a blanket made of what looked like animal pelts.
Closing my eyes, I was quickly embraced by sleep.
My first day in the dream realm had gone significantly better than I had originally thought, well, if we exclude the black sea part.
I thought the dream realm would've been far more grim, but I was met with a hearty bowl of stew, a stupidly beautiful companion, and a relatively safe shelter.
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad afterall.
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(A/N: The ending was a little bit rushed, but I ended up contracting a massive case of writers block and couldn't figure out how to end the convo.
The interaction feels a tiny bit artificial to me, but I'm hoping I'll improve as time goes on.
This is the new longest chapter I've posted so far, approaching the 2000 word mark, and I'm pretty happy with my work so far.
Honestly, I've had a lot of fun writing this fic so far, and I hope you guys have enjoyed reading it.
As I'm posting this chapter, it's an ungodly hour where I live, so I'm gonna keep the Authors note a bit short.
Thank you guys for the support, drop a review if you haven't, donate some power stones to my cause, and I'll see you guys later!)