A Dog Father Cannot Beget a Dragon Son

In the [Prelude] (3)

Fei Chuan expected to jump into the next world upon completion, but instead found himself stalled in the Eternal Sands. The system-comet circled slowly around him, as if it were waiting. Observing.

Figuring that it needed a little jumpstart, Fei Chuan informed it that he was ready to start the next world.

"Now hold on a minute, why are you in such a rush?" came the reply. Not in the mechanical voice the system always affected while in [Their] space, but devastatingly familiar dulcet tones.

Fei Chuan couldn't help relaxing a bit. "Sebastian."

"Hey babe," purred the voice, and Fei Chuan could hear the smug smile in it. The corners of his lips twitched upwards in response. "Found in a small gap in security, think I can hang around for about fifteen minutes, tops."

Fei Chuan felt the urge to touch him, to feel flesh and muscles underneath his fingers. The other party was currently a swirling streak of light though, so he held back. "We can't catch up in the next world?"

"Not for this conversation," the voice said laughingly. Suddenly, the teasing edge was gone when it continued. "I think it's time to talk about us."

"Us?" Fei Chuan echoed, feeling a little incredulous. He wondered if this was really the best time, but then he remembered the cold war in the last world. Despite having been around each other for thousands upon thousands of years, and actively engaging in a relationship for about a century, there were still topics that could not be breached between them.

Like events of their original world, for one. Fei Chuan's former occupation and the system's original identity, for another.

"Speak then," Fei Chuan decided. If he was going to pursue this relationship, especially if this was projected to last several centuries more, then he was laying everything on the table. "You have ten minutes. I'll answer any questions you have."

The comet stalled, as if in surprise. "Huh, that was easy," the voice muttered quietly. Fei Chuan had the impression he wasn't supposed to have heard that. "Then why don't we begin with introductions? There's nothing I don't know about you," the tone tipped very briefly into something salacious, but recovered as if nothing happened, "but it's probably better for you to tell me yourself."

Fei Chuan shrugged. "I don't remember what year I was born in, or what date of what month. My parents' surname was Fei, meaning to spend. Chuan, for the river by the hospital I was born in. I had an older sister and upon my death, a nephew named Su Li. No other living relatives."

"Did the Andersons remind you of your family?"

He frowned, instinctively. He couldn't help but think back to that dream, so brutally clear despite the hazy qualities of dreams. "...Not anymore than the other worlds where I had a niece or nephew."

The comet continued to circle him without so much as a hitch. "Past relationships?"

"If you're asking about STDs, I don't think that applies in our situation," Fei Chuan noted dryly. "Several, I think, men and women. I don't really remember. You?"

The comet stayed silent for a while. "There were five. Four women and one man. This is from their records on you. I'm specifically barred from accessing my own records, but I think I was similar. More men than women though."

"It shows," Fei Chuan told him frankly.

A half-hearted chuckle. "Does it now. What about your occupation?"

Ah, so they were finally addressing the elephant in the room.

"I never intended to join the National Guard," Fei Chuan admitted, slowly. "I graduated with a degree in Biochemistry, and was recruited into a reputable laboratory run by the government. At that time, the President was launching a 'War on Terror' in reaction to several violent protests by dissenters of the new surveillance policy."