Tales From The Kronos

Remiel joined Sepide and Neige to eat at the cafeteria. She couldn't eat anything due to her robotic body but still enjoyed the time spent with other people. Neige had been asking her diverse questions for a while now, trying to understand how she functioned exactly.

"So can you talk other languages?"

"I am sadly limited in that domain. I can only speak and understand Emely's language but I am still equipped with a translator which allows me to communicate."

"Technology is impressive, years of training and lessons rendered unnecessary thanks to it. It's quite scary, my home world barely had technologies."

"Oh, is that why you struggle with your phone Neige?" Sepide asked with curiosity "I always noticed how you seemed lost while using it."

"Yeah, I don't understand all this new stuff Emely is giving us. You were practically born with it but for me, it's harder than learning a new language. It reminds me of when Silva used her mp3 player in front of me."

"Mp3 player?" Sedide thought about every moment she had with Silva but was unable to find anything that could be an 'mp3 player' despite her best efforts. Seeing her struggle, Remiel decided to intervene.

"The mp3 player is a device used to listen to music and other audio. This was created in the year 1997 of Emely's world."

"1997!? That sounds so futuristic! But... Why do they use these? We can use our phones for that."

"It's because you don't know the struggle we had. I remember that Silva said I was a dinosaur for using a walkman."

Sepide looked at Remiel to wait for her explanation but to her surprise, even she seemed lost.

"It seems I lack knowledge, what is a walkman?"

"I thought you knew everything?"

"I only know as far as my creator's knowledge. I have not learned much since my creation."

"I suppose I'll need to show it to Emely later too then." Neige took a box bigger than his phone and put it on the table. He opened it and took the tape inside, showing it to his friends "I found it in Silva's world, apparently it was very old in her world."

Sepide took the tape with interest, looking at it from every angle.

"Is this where the songs are?"

"Yeah, this one has ten different songs. It's a bit annoying to rewind it every time but it's fun."

"Rewind it?"

Sepide and Remiel stared at Neige with confusion, visibly surprising him.

"Don't tell me you don't know what a tape is..."

"I know what they are, they're in old movies."

Neige let out a sigh and took a pen from his pocket along with the tape. He placed the pen in one of the holes and spun the tape around it until it was fully rewinded.

"Now it's at the beginning, once all the songs are done you do it again. Well, most walkmans have a rewind button, but mine doesn't work."

"You have a thing that is older than any of us and it doesn't even work, why do you use it?"

"I don't understand new technology, I don't even know how Silva put songs in her mp3 player."

"That is a lot of data. I will need to share it with my creator."

"I'm surprised she doesn't know. Her world was similar to Silva's, so I thought she'd have something similar."

"I think it's because it's too old for her..." Answered Sepide while looking at the device on the table. Neige wrote calculus on a piece of paper before giving his solution.

"Come on, it's just fifty years old in her world, it's not that much."

"Fifty years seems like a lot. By the way, I always wondered why the worlds we went in had different technology and years, are we traveling through time?"

"No, time travel is impossible. Apparently, the anomaly can but I have no idea if it's actually true. It's just that worlds evolve at a different rate and weren't even created at the same time. Some are thousands of years old while some are only a few hundred."

"Emely did explain those to me." Remiel took a short moment staring at the void before continuing "She created a scale to give a year to every world based on her own."

"She did that? Why didn't she tell us?"

"She deemed it not precise enough but I still have the list in my memories, would you want me to share that information?"

Sepide nodded her head with energy, visibly curious.

"I want to know how different these ages are. But how do you calculate that?"

"It is a mix of the technology used as well as the information she could gather. Her world reached 2060 when its end came. Silva's world ended in 2039."

Sepide thought for a moment, confused about the dates.

"So Emely is way younger than Silva?"

"Silva is 20 and Emely 21, their worlds just existed at a different time."

Sepide reflected on Neige's explanation for a moment, still not sure if she understood the concept.

"It's a bit hard to understand, what years would they be at now?"

"Silva's world would be at 2043 while Emely's would be at 2062."

"So they are at a different time... At the same time?"

Neige chuckled at Sepide's confusion before explaining further.

"You can just imagine that Emely's world was created 19 years after Silva's."

"Oh, I think I understand now! What year would the world we're here right now be?"

Remiel thought for a moment before shaking her head with a puzzled expression.

"I do not have enough data to know. I do know that Neige's world ended in 1510."

"1510?" Sepide stared at Neige with a look of disbelief on her face "You're so old!"

"I'm only 25... It's just my world that's not advanced."

"That's why you use old people's stuff."

"I'm not old, I'm just not caught up on technology."

"25 is old too."

"Since when are you like that? I think Silva rubbed too much on you..."

Neige let out an amused sigh, glad to see Sepide come out more and more of her shell.

"The only person I rub is Emely!"

The group turned around to see Silva, helped by Emely next to her. They sat at the same table as the three friends, Silva was visibly exhausted just by walking here.

"It hurts to walk... It hurt less when the bullet hit me."

"Silva, Emely, you are awake. I have many things to share with you." Remiel seemed overjoyed to share everything she learned by was interrupted by Silva before she could say anything.

"Can you tell us later? I wanted to tell something to Neige."

Neige thought about the different things that Silva could ask her. She seemed very serious about it and looked at the others before responding.

"You should all go get us coffee while we talk."

Emely looked a bit disappointed but accepted without complaints. Remiel and Sepide quickly followed her, leaving the two friends alone.

They both stayed silent under the heavy pressure of the room. After taking a deep breath, Silva finally explained why she wanted to be alone with Neige.

"Neige... I slept on Emely's lap."

"I... err... What?"

"I know, right!? That's crazy!"

Neige was disappointed but relieved that it didn't seem serious. Silva on the other hand acted like it was the end of the world.

"Like, I was face against her! That's so embarrassing!"

"You're embarrassed because you were close to her private part or something? I'm not sure I understand."

"Oh my God, I didn't even think about it! That's even worse! Will she think I'm a creepy pervert?"

"I think she would have thought that when you made sexual jokes... Not sleeping on her lap. But I'm glad to see that you're taking your time and are happy together. I was a bit scared you'd make her uncomfortable by saying or doing weird things."

"But I am doing weird things! What kind of person does that!? It hasn't been that long that we're close together."

"You know each other for two years, I think it's alright. All the feelings you had for each other are revealing themselves. And also, it's really not that big of a deal."

"Are you sure?" Silva asked, visibly concerned "I'm scared that she starts hating me for being a creep."

"Four months ago, you said that Emely's boobs didn't have enough milk to make a yogurt. If she really thought you were a creep, she wouldn't have tried to get closer to you... I'm actually starting to think that it's part of what she loves about you."

"So, you think it's alright?"

"Of course it is. Why don't you ask her?"

"I did! She said it's cute."

"See? It's alright, trust her."

Silva stayed silent, her blind eyes staring at the table for a moment.

"You're right... She looks happy when we hang out together now. It kinda makes me feel bad for being so mean to her."

Silva suddenly snapped her fingers and smiled like she had a great idea and hurried to share it with Neige.

"Do you remember this world we went in where it was a calm and tranquil forest? I was thinking of bringing Emely there."

"That's not a bad idea, it was pretty relaxing. I don't remember what was the code, it was a year ago after all, but I can ask the leader."

"Thanks! And also... Could you come with us?"

"Me? I'm not sure I want to come with you two on your date."

"Even if it was my kink?" Silva tried to appear innocent but her grin revealed her true thoughts.

"Especially if it's your kink..."

"It's not for that anyway. It's just that I'm not in a state to take care of any danger, I don't want anything bad to happen. I know it was a peaceful world but it's to make sure. And besides, we would technically not break the three-person rule."

Neige stared at her friend, she seemed so happy at the idea of bringing Emely there that he didn't have the heart to refuse.

"Alright, I'll make sure you two can have a great time when do you want to go?"

"In an hour?"

"No."

Silva grumbled a bit before giving another offer.

"Tomorrow morning?"

"You really want to spend time with her, huh?"

Silva energetically nodded her head, bringing a smile to Neige.

"Alright, I'll prepare everything for tomorrow morning."

"Thanks! You're the best!"

Silva took Neige in her arms, glad to have her supportive friend with her. Neige felt a bit weird about intruding on their date but knew he'd find a way to stay discreet.