“Let’s head to your room,” Jeff says, “I’d like to see some of those comics, and maybe we could have some fun playing a video, or…,” he trails off, giving Dennis a certain look.
Dennis grins, understanding what Jeff is referring to, “sounds good to me,” he says, “I’d need to get changed and have a quick shower though”.
Jeff chuckles, “that’s not a problem,” he says. As the two teens start heading towards the stairs that lead up to the bedrooms, Jeff turns to Dennis’s parents and siblings, “it’s been a pleasure to meet you all”.
Dennis’s mother smiles, “same,” she says.
“You seem to be a cool guy,” Len and Ben say at once.
Jeff chuckles, “typical identical twins,” he says, “always talking as if their mouths are connected! Let me guess, you guys probably often end the other’s sentence?”
Len and Ben rub the back of their heads, grinning, “sometimes…,” Len says.
“… we do,” Ben then says.
Everyone laughs, “let’s go, Jeff,” Dennis then says, leading Jeff up the stairs, when they reach the top of the stairs, Jeff notices a door to his right with a sign that says, “King’s and Queen’s Private Quarter! NO TRESSPASSING!”, a door to his left has a sign that says, “Len’s Tiger Den! Keep Out!”, then there are two doors right in front of Jeff, the one on the right of Len’s room has a sign that says, “Ben’s Lizard Cave! Dont Enter, Unless You Want To Be Eaten!”, the second door has a sign that says, “Dennis’s Fox Hole! Get Lost, Or Else…!”, the last door on the floor, has a sign that says, “Watering Hole!”
Jeff can’t help but smirk as he reads the signs, “you and your folks sure are a fun bunch,” he says.
Dennis grins, “yeah, we are kind of… weird,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck, “anyway, let me get myself clean and changed into clean clothes. Why don’t you head into my “fox hole”, you can have a look through my comics, or choose a game to play”.
Jeff nods, “sounds good,” he says, opening the door to Dennis’s room and slips inside, while Dennis heads towards the “watering hole”. As he enters Dennis’s room, Jeff’s eyes widen at the size of it, “this is twice as big as my room,” he gasps, “then again, this house is larger than our home,” he then mumbles to himself, starting to look around.
Walking through Dennis’s room, Jeff can’t help but notice all the photos of Dennis, posing next to horses at every age, grinning wide. Jeff smiles, “he sure loves horses,” he says to himself, Jeff then spots Dennis’s comic collection in a shelve, grabbing a random comic, Jeff examines the cover.
The cover of the comic has the title “Polaris! A World Of Magic!”
“Hmm… never heard of this comic before,” Jeff mumbles, and with his curiosity awakened, he flips open the first page, which has no images, just a text, which turns out to be an introduction to the world “Polaris”.
Jeff begins to read the introduction, learning that “Polaris” is an earth-sized planet, and that its occupants are a mixture of humans and anthropomorphic animals, that the majority of the occupants have magical powers, but some don’t, or have less powerful magic than the majority. He also learns, that the occupants of Polaris are divided into groups known as “predators” and “prey”. “Predators” being humans and anthros who have strong and powerful magic, while the weaker occupants are considered “prey”. Jeff’s eyes widen when he reads that the “predators” tend to seek out weaker people to “claim” them by transforming them into anything “useful”, either temporary or permanent.
Jeff sits down on a bean bag, intrigued and curious, flipping to the next page as he continues to read. The next page begins by introducing a city named “Xion”, which is the main focus of the comic series, it is the largest city on the planet. The city has a train station, a permanent carnival, a large zoo, a large beach, schools, and even an academy which is focused on teaching children with magical abilities to grow and control their powers, to teach them their strengths and weaknesses, and even find their unique abilities.
“I see you found the first volume of my favorite comic series,” Dennis voice suddenly is heard.
Jeff, who had been so focused on the comic, lets out a yelp of surprise, even falling off of the bean bag, landing with an “oof” on the floor, “seriously, Dennis,” Jeff whines, getting to his feet, while Dennis laughs, “can’t you at least give me a warning?”
Dennis grins, “sorry,” he says, the teen is now wearing a white t-shirt, blue jeans, white socks and some blue slippers, “so, what do you think of “Polaris” so far?”
“I haven’t read much, just the intro,” Jeff says, “but I must say, it sounds absolutely interesting. I’m surprised I never heard of it before”.
Dennis nods, “it’s not that known, which is pretty sad, it’s such an amazing story and series,” he says.
Jeff smiles, “I think I found the next comic series I’ll defiantly will begin collecting,” he says.
Dennis smiles back, “I promise, you won’t regret it,” he says, “so, what would you like to do? Read some more of the comics, play a video game, or… have some fun with our… apps?”
Jeff thinks for a while, he then grins when he stares down at the comic, still in his hands, then at Dennis.
Dennis tilts his head, “what are you thinking, Jeff?”
“I just got the craziest idea,” Jeff says, “what if we extract one or two characters from the comic?”
Dennis’s eyes widen, “are you crazy,” he asks, “who knows what will happen! What if they turn out to be “predators”? I don’t want to end up as a chair or someone’s snack!”
Jeff chuckles, “you worry to much, Dennis,” he says, “come on, it’ll be fun!”
Dennis hesitates, “okay… I guess it could be fun,” he then says.
Jeff grins, “sweet, how about each of us chooses a character he likes best?”
“Sounds good, I do have one character in mind who I find really cool, though I am unsure if he is a “prey” or “predator”!”
“Who cares,” Jeff says, lying the comic on the floor as both teens sit across each other on separate bean bags, “if we notice anything suspicious, we can always send them back to where they came from with our apps!”
Dennis shrugs, “that’ll work,” he simply says, though still has still looks extremely nervous.
Jeff smiles, “relax, Dennis,” he says, “nothing bad will happen!”
Dennis sighs and rolls his eyes, he then chuckles, “you really are the calmness and most relaxed person I have ever met!”
Jeff grins, “he… I get that told a lot,” he says, shrugging, “I just think there is nothing to worry about, no matter what”.
Dennis shakes his head, “anyway, let’s do this before I change my mind”.