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An online friend
As they grew, Nutik and Nunvael became indistinguishable from one another. Not even their parents could tell them apart. So they had always worn nametags, although that led to other mischief, it helped slightly to clear their names up. There wasn�t really a purpose to figuring out who was who. They had the same writing, the same way of sitting, the same accent and way of pronouncing things. They got the same grades on everything even when they were on opposite sides of the room and didn�t talk with each other. When they colored they used the same colors.
All this made them impossible to tell apart. So, as they went from fourth grade into fifth, the teachers gave up trying to distinguish between them and just gave the papers back to whatever one they thought had done it. That year they got rid of their nametags as well. They continued to wear the same clothes at the same time, though.
The doctors couldn�t figure out who was who either, so there was just one file under the heading �Nutik and Nunvael� in the office. What happened to one generally happened to the other. Both were the same exact height, even down to centimeters, both weighed the same, and both had the same general statement of health, �perfect physical condition�.
It was in the first year of high school that they met the first person who wasn�t annoyed at them for being completely identical. She was older than them by two days, but she was small, only four feet five inches tall, while they were six feet three and a half inches tall. While they lived in the suburbs, she lived out in the country. They had something in common, though, several things, really. She was a writer while they were musicians of a sort, both making things up at random. All three of them had aliases online and all three role-played those aliases. A friendship was struck on the first day. Soon after they started sharing their skills and knowledge, both sides teaching the other.
They were escape artists, able to get out of anything, while she was an expert at fighting skills. They taught her to scale walls and pick locks while she taught them a way to fight with, and without, weapons.
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He woke up just as he heard his brother getting out of bed and walking over to his own. Soon he feels his brother grab hold of him and roll him out of bed, landing him with a thump on the floor.
�Hey, quit that Noon. I was awake!� he grumbles.
He reaches out and grabs Nunvael�s leg and yanks it out from under him, rolling to one side as he does so that he doesn�t get landed on. He smiles at the thump Nunvael makes as he hits the floor.
Looking over at Nunvael, he watches him get up and quickly back out of reach. Nunvael then opens the drawer that holds their clothes in it.
�So, what do you want to wear today, Nutik?� Nunvael asks.
�Oh, I dunno. Pick whatever you want.� He replies, still laying on the floor.
The next thing he knows, he has faded jeans and a dark blue shirt on his head. Muttering to himself, he throws them on the bed then gets up and starts getting dressed, just to get a grayish jacket with a dragon on the back thrown onto his head again.
�Will you stop that?� he asks, laughter in his voice.
�You do it to me all the time,� Nunvael answers.
Nutik finishes putting on his clothes then follows Nunvael down the steps. The sun was up, true, but it was barely six AM and most people would still be asleep at this time. The only reason that they were awake was to eat breakfast with their mother, their only living parent since they were two years old. He personally didn�t much believe the story about a car accident killing his father, but you never know, it might be true.
He pulls out another chair from around the table, sitting down in a relaxed position that perfectly mirrors Nunvael�s position, even though he never looked at him. People thought that they imitated each other on purpose just to drive everyone else insane, but they didn�t. All they did was act normally, which meant that they were identical in every way, as unlikely as that would seem.
Their mom smiles as she brings them each a plate of pancakes and scrambled eggs. They got their black hair, amber colored skin, and tall height from her. Apparently they had gotten their royal blue eyes from their father.
Nutik starts wolfing his down as soon as he gets it, aware that their mom didn�t have much time left until she had to leave.
They finish their breakfast at the same time then walk over to her and hug her. Nunvael breaks away to pick up the backpacks. Nutik reaches out a hand and catches his backpack without thinking. He lets their mother go then slings his backpack over his left shoulder. Smiling slightly, he follows his brother out the door then closes it, hearing it click as it locks.
He watches as Nunvael looks down at Cairin and absently pets him. Kairen rather forcibly climbs up his leg and settles down on his shoulder. Smiling, Nutik reaches a hand up and pets Kairen, the identical brother to Cairin.
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School was boring that day, just like usual. Especially since Tamia was so out of it because of the ewes lambing so she slept through almost every class. No one yelled at her, though. They had all seen what she had to help with, her mother�s flock of sheep was huge and Tamia had to wake up at all hours of the night to make sure that everything was well with the sheep.
They got through their tests easily, and the rest of the day was a piece of cake, really. They had to help Tamia through the day, though, but that wasn�t too hard, they had the same classes as her, and she was so small and light that they could easily carry her.
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They were talking in the empty back room when the window flipped open and Tamia dived in. Nutik examines her stance closely as she spins in a crouch and draws that dagger of hers. It wasn�t too bad, especially for someone who had to resort to sleeping at school in order to get enough sleep. She did look more awake than usual, though.
�So nice of you to drop in,� Nunvael remarks.
Nutik continues to watch Tamia as she rises and sheathes her dagger, trying to find any weakness in her stance. Amazingly, there was almost none.
�How�s it going, you two?� she asks as her mean cat jumps through the window and sits down next to her feet.
�Just fine, little sis,� Nunvael answers with a grin.
Nutik looks down as Kairen and Cairin walk in, Kairen settling down right beside his feet in an almost Sphinx like position while Cairin sits down beside Nunvael�s feet in a statuesque position.
Suddenly he feels the room shiver and he looks around, puzzlement on his face. He feels it start to shiver again and then�
He narrows his eyes then shoves himself up to his feet quickly, looking around for danger, but also glancing over at Nunvael to make sure that he�s ok. He smiles slightly when he sees Nunvael doing the same to him, but he quickly goes back to watching for danger. He and Nunvael had a system between themselves. Nunvael would take care of what needed doing while he would watch for danger.
�Where is this?� he hears Nunvael ask.
There�s a slight pause, almost as if Tamia is trying to decide what to say, then she answers, �I don�t know.�
Nutik bends down and picks Kairen up, stroking him as he continues to examine the area. He frees up his right hand as he spots what almost looks like a city in the distance, �We should go over there, it looks like there�s a city there.�
He sees Nunvael start off towards the speck and falls in beside him, still watching the land carefully.
He hadn�t much experience with trees this thick, but he had still estimated the time it took about right. When they reached a clear area near what indeed was a city, if a strange looking one, Tamia�s breathed, �Dragons,� caused him to look up� and realize that he should have been doing that in the first place.
He reached one conclusion, that this wasn�t Earth, the moment he saw the graceful creatures flying in a V formation with what looked like men on their backs. An impossibility if they had truly still be on Earth, unless some messed up scientist had genetically engineered these creatures, but to what purpose?
He hears Nunvael�s comment as if from a slight distance, �Now I�m really wondering what this place is.�
Nutik bolts towards the strange city, remarking as he does, �Well come on. We won�t find out by standing here.�
He feels Nunvael catch up with him as he runs towards the buildings. Both of them stop at the same time in front of a man. He grins amusedly, he and his brother must look quite a sight, like mirror images keeping pace with one another.
�Who are you two?� the man asks.
�I�m Nunvael and he is Nutik,� Nunvael remarks with a smile, �Where is this place?�
�This,� the man answers, �is Cy Dragonstake. There�s a clutch of eggs on the sands if you wish to stand.�
Nutik thinks for just a second, then a very amused light comes to his eyes. A dragon would be wonderful to have, but it would be a very amusing day if somehow he and his brother got identical dragons, although that was probably hoping for too much.
Nunvael nods, �That sounds great, we will.�
Nutik feels Nunvael turn his head towards Tamia as she catches up with them, �And this is��
�Leiris,� she says, cutting him off.
�Nice to meet you,� the man remarks.
Nunvael turns to her, saying, �This is Cy Dragonstake, Leir. They have a clutch of eggs on the sands as well. Nutik and I have already agreed to stand, do you want to as well?�
She thinks for a bit then shakes her head, "I want to spend a bit of time thinking some things over before I try."
He shrugs slightly, just like with her using her internet name instead of her real one, you could never tell with Tamia.