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Today, Trix had invited Garth over to meet one of his friends, a woman named Dolce. Or, rather, he had invited him to the front of the shop to meet one of his friends, since Garth was already over at Trix’s shop/house all of the time. He lived there, but he liked to stay in his bedroom most of the time. Now, Trix was forcing him out. He insisted that it would be good for him, and Garth couldn’t deny that.
“Wake up, Garth!” The cat in question screeched, scratching at Garth’s bedroom door. Well, the guest bedroom door.
He was actually already up, but he had been having a good dream and he didn’t wake up especially well-rested, so he was in no mood to be actually getting up yet. Unfortunately, that meant he would have to get up now. Physically.
Garth groaned, pulling a pillow over his eyes. “I’m up, Trix. Stop yowling.”
“I do not yowl!” Trix yowled in what a reader would probably call ‘irony’.
Garth sighed and rolled out of bed, shedding his pajamas, lacing up his dayclothes and tugging on his boots. His limbs moved through the world like molasses, and his mind wasn’t much quicker. “I’m coming.”
He opened the door and Trix jumped up, forcing Garth to catch him in his arms. His mind was forced to move faster and he was very awake by the time Trix had landed square in his outstretched arms. Adrenaline coursed through his veins and his heart rate pumped in his ears. Trix was very safe here, if he fell he would land on his feet, but the idea of his best friend being in danger brought back unpleasant memories. He blinked them away.
“Trix! Warn me next time.” Garth yelped, taking a couple of seconds to adjust Trix in his arms so he wouldn’t fall, which proved to be of no use because Trix jumped down himself seconds later. His heart swelled in annoyance and affection.
“Sorry, sorry.” He scratched the back of his head coyly. “Just making sure you were really awake!”
The affection won him over. Garth smiled and ruffled the fur on Trix’s head. “Yeah, come on, buddy. Let’s go meet your friend.”
Trix smiled, tiny fangs glinting. “Woohoo! Dolce’s already here, waiting in the front room.”
Garth blinked. “What? Already?”
“I think she was anxious about being late and turned up really early.” Trix shrugged. “No matter! Everyone is ready now.”
He scampered away and opened the door from the living hall to the front room of the store with a very Trix-like flourish.
As soon as Garth ducked into the room and his eyes met Dolce’s, he knew they were one and the same.
He could tell because of the life in her eyes. She didn’t have it in the happy way that Trix has life in his eyes, but in the other way. The way that Garth does. He and Dolce both carry the lives of everyone they have lost in their own eyes.
“Dolce, meet Garth! And Garth, meet Dolce!” Trix yapped, waving his jazz hands excitedly.
The same recognition that Garth had felt glinted in Dolce’s own eye.
She was sitting in a chair that wasn’t usually in this room with her hands folded across her lap. She looked distinguished, and it gave her an air of seniority despite the fact that he would be not much younger than her.
“Nice to meet you, Garth. Trix has told me a lot about you.” Dolce greeted with a polite bow and tone of voice. She had woolly white hair and horns like a ram that wrapped around her ears. Or where her ears would be underneath her hair. Her eyes, that he had spent so much time observing, were onyx black. She looked otherworldly, but he didn’t know if she was more aasimar or tiefling.
“It’s good to meet you, too.” Garth said, offering out his hand like Trix had instructed him.
Dolce shook it gently, smiling softly but awkwardly. Sheepishly, even.
“How did you and Trix meet?” Garth asked, sitting down on the chair across from Dolce. ‘Small talk’ is what Trix called it.
Dolce laughed a little, and then covered her mouth with a blush. “Sorry, I don’t mean to laugh at you. I just find it amusing that Trix has told me everything about you, yet you don’t know how we even met.”
Trix laughed awkwardly. “Heh, it never came up.”
“Well, Trix and I stumbled upon each other by simple happenstance.” Dolce said, nodding as she spoke in what was probably self-soothing, if Garth had to guess. “We were both in h-hard times in our lives, and he took me in to help me. That was years ago, and we’ve been friends since.”
Garth furrowed his brow. A hard time in Trix’s life? “How many years ago was this?”
Trix spoke up. “It was, uh, just after you went missing, Gar.”
Garth’s jaw clenched uncomfortably. He forced himself to nod. “R-right.”
Dolce looked away, a blush on her cheeks. She wasn’t any more comfortable with trauma and vulnerability than Garth was. Another way in which their spirits were kindred.
Trix patted him on the back, urging him to continue the conversation. “So, uh, you must’ve been older than Trix when you met—”
Trix thumped him on the back especially hard then, and Garth caught that familiar awkward expression on Dolce’s face. She was blushing, but she looked amused.
“You don’t talk about a lady’s age, Garth!” Trix hissed in his ear.
Dolce waved an amiable hand. “No, no, it’s alright. I was 18 when I met a 14-year-old Trix. An odd pairing, but I’m sure you know how he befriends odd people.”
Garth nodded with a relieved laugh. “Yeah. He doesn’t really make friends, he more so adopts them.”
Dolce grinned.
“I knew you two would hit it off!” Trix yipped, clapping.
Garth and Dolce looked at Trix and then back at each other. Yeah, a kindred spirit.