literature

The Family She Never Had -Gift-

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Literature Text

"Don't worry, Hisspan-- I've already checked the area.  It's free of traps.  Go ahead."

For whatever reason, Wolfen Down seemed to have good luck when it came to stumbling upon ancient temples containing valuable undiscovered relics.  Just recently he'd stumbled upon a shrine housing a special mirror that supposedly acted as a window into alternate dimensions.  Although he hadn't peered into it himself, when he'd told his wife Hisspan about it she'd asked to try it out.

So here they were now.  Hisspan had asked in advance to look into the mirror alone, so Wolfen waited by the entrance as the cobra began to cross the room.  The journey was a slow one, mainly because of anticipation, but also because Hisspan wanted to avoid setting off any traps on the off chance her husband had overlooked them.

Thankfully, the trip to the mirror went without incident.  Hisspan climbed a short flight of stairs leading to the actual shrine.  The mirror was full-length, with a golden frame decorated by jewels of different colors; as far as she could tell, there was no way of removing the mirror from the shrine without breaking something.

Wondering what sort of alternate dimension she'd be able to see through the mirror glass, Hisspan glanced at it, but could see only a gray fog through it.  Experimentally she reached out and touched the mirror, but nothing changed.  Then she ran her hand over to the mirror frame, and happened to touch one of the jewels set into it.

The mirror flashed.

Hisspan flinched, then looked again.  The image displayed in the mirror was now crystal clear; it looked like another version of the shrine she was at.  But nobody was there.  Not discouraged, the cobra decided to touch the other jewels in sequence.  Each jewel caused the mirror to flash again and again, the effect being tantamount to changing channels on a TV set, but the results were always the same: empty shrine, nobody to talk to.

Except for one.

The cobra had to double back to the jewel she'd previously touched when she saw a face in the mirror.  The face, it turned out, belonged to a bright pink female cobra dressed in red and green.  Hisspan was about to greet her, but the other cobra spoke first.

"Hissy?  What are you doing here?  I didn't think you were the type..."

"Wait, you know me?  I've never seen your face before..."

"What are you talking about?  I'm your younger sister, Rose!"

"But I've never had any sisters... okay, I think we owe each other an explanation."

The two traded stories.  Apparently, on Rose's side of the mirror, Hisspan's mother had never become infertile, and as a result had managed to give birth to eleven(!) sons and daughters, of which Rose was the second-oldest.  Hisspan's heart filled with joy as Rose described to her the family she'd never had.

Among Rose's siblings were Felix, matchmaker extraordinaire... Vinnie, a stand-up comic in the making... Gale, who'd gotten into the art of dance... Josh, a budding screenwriter... Roxy, who was studying medicine... Chrysanthemum, who had a knack for looking after and entertaining children... Clyde, self-proclaimed tour guide for the Valley...

"...and then there's me, of course," Rose finished.  "I'm something of an adventurer, always heading out to get into trouble and make new discoveries."

Hisspan nodded.  "Sounds like quite the sitcom.  What about me?  What's your version of me like?"

Rose's expression suddenly soured.  "I was hoping you wouldn't ask..."

"You can tell me, Rose."

"On my side of the mirror, you're... really antisocial.  You hate being spoken to, and I've seen you get up and move away when someone addressed you.  You spend most of your time in the library, reading one book or another.  You're quite a contrast from the rest of the family, and you're never with us; it's easy to forget you exist."

Hisspan shook her head.  "I can barely imagine myself like that; my version of me is about as social as social can get.  How'd I get that way?"

"Search me.  Maybe having such a large family used up all your social stamina."

"Yeah, that's probably it."

The conversation paused there for a moment as both cobras struggled to think of another thing to say.

"One more thing I want to ask," Hisspan finally said.  "Does your version of me have a fondness for fur?"

"Fur?"

"As long as I can remember, I've loved the texture of fur.  Soft, fluffy fur... oh, I can imagine it now... it's heaven to my fingers..."

Rose had the sense to cut in before Hisspan got carried away.  "To answer your question.  I've never asked you directly about fur, not that I'd get an answer if I did, but you've always got this fluffy little wolf plushie with you that you never let out of your possession.  I actually don't know where you got it from or why, but just having it in your hands calms you down.  So I guess it wouldn't surprise me if you had a thing for fur."

Hisspan laughed.  "I guess some things don't change even between dimensions."

"Well, it was nice talking to you, but I think it's time I went.  I'm glad I got to meet a version of you that was open to conversation; it feels like you've filled a hole in my life."

"I could say the same thing about meeting the sister I never had.  Bye, Rose."

"Bye, Hissy."

Rose and Hisspan wove goodbye, then turned and walked away from their respective versions of the dimensional mirror.

Wolfen looked up as Hisspan finally returned from the mirror room.  The wolf noted a subtle new spring in the cobra's step.

"So how'd it go, Hissy?  Did the mirror show you what you were hoping it would?"

"Yes, Wolfen.  I'd say it did."
A slightly belated birthday gift for lizardman22.  Like the last one, this gift story stems from an idea I'd had gathering dust on the shelf for a while.

Rose is actually a relic of an old concept 22 was playing with long ago.  One of the other siblings is a reference to something else 22 drew a while back; all I'm saying is it was a contest entry.

Hisspan, etc. © :iconlizardman22:
© 2017 - 2024 sonicinterface
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lizardman22's avatar
Thank you mate and nicely done.
I do remember Rose and Josh. It's interesting to Hisspan's reaction to having 'family'. Cool to see how you thought out her 'other' self's personality. You're right in that she puts so much love and attention into others since she's an only child, so it's plausible her alt self might be antisocial with so many family members