Chapter Nine

Iana wakes up and..?

Iana groaned, and sat up in her bed. The world spun, and her head connected with her pillow once more. She groggily scrubbed her eyes, observing her surroundings. It was different from the room she was given before. It was smaller, and it smelled like the sea.

..........
The door was thrown open, and a worried Vane walked in, accompanied by Mike, and Merlane.
Iana stared at the family, and the three shifted uncomfortably.
She cleared her throat.
The family of three watched her, anxious for what was to come.
“S-or-ei,” she forced out, her throat was dusty, and a feeling of sadness came over her as she waited for the professor to lay his hate towards her in the open.
“Ah, it’s alright, Iana. I should have realized to be more careful, especially since you haven’t talked to another human, much less exposed to the society these past two years. But I am surprised you managed to adapt to life here so quickly,” Mike smiled gently.

That was a surprising reaction, but she didn’t allow her face to show it, rather, she was too tired to. She tilted her head, and thought back to what made her think to open up to these people. She blamed the food and surprises in the Dome that caused her to break down her wall.

She then cast a worried look to Vane, wondering how that man, Jaben, was doing.

Vane seemed to understand. “Don’t worry, Jaben can’t get you. He’s been dealt with...” His voice trailed off.

“Well, Iana, I’m sorry to tell you, but we are on a submarine to Atlantis Dyo,” Mike said, almost apologetically.

Well, that did it. Iana literally jumped out of bed, startling the Saners. The world spun for a second, but when she recovered, she bewilderedly stared at the professor.

“W-wha-wh-what?!” She sputtered, gripping her hands to avoid pinching somebody’s cheeks.

Mike threw both hands to chest level, “I’m sorry, but you had to be removed from the vicinity because of the incident. Which wasn’t too bad, because we were planning to leave antarctica round now anyway.”   

She stared at him in shock. “Th-th-the-then why didn’t you throw me outside?!”

Mike seemed to be taken back. “Well, that wouldn’t be very nice, would it?”

Vane sighed, then sat down on a chair backwards, and tucked his chin in his arms, which rested the outer frame of the chair. He spun for a little bit, then faced Iana. “Alright. What do you want to know?”

Iana took a deep breath then sat down with her head in her hands. For a second, no one said anything.

“Atlantis Dyo?”

“It was a secret project until a year ago. It’s an underwater city, basically. It took around 20 years of research to pull it off.”

“What day is it?”

“April 2nd.”

“What are you going to do with me?”

“Well, that depends on you, mostly. But what we were thinking, is that you come live with us for a while, and we’ll help you adapt yourself to the environment.”

“Oh...” She didn’t have an objection to that. It was either go back to cold antarctica, where she could die any moment, or live with the Saners and eat good food.

“Well,” Mike said, standing up. “I’ll let you kiddies talk and frolic among yourselves-while I analyze the data.”

Merlane lifted an eyebrow. “Kiddies?”

Vane shifted in the chair, and looked at his father. “Frolic?”

Mike sighed. “It’s not use to use words like this these days. Such a waste.”  He then walked out the room, the door closed softly behind him.

“Well, anymore questions, Iana?” Merlane asked, leaning against the wall.

Iana smiled wearily. Merlane and Vane seemed to get along better than before. “Can you guys give me a tour around this place?” She asked.

“Sure,” Merlane and Vane both said at once, causing them both to mock glare at each other.

Vane swung his foot to one side to the other to get off the chair, while Merlane walked up to the door, and held it for Iana to walk out, Vane following close behind. Merlane softly closed the door behind them, then glanced at Iana.

“Oh my. As a girl, I can’t believe I let you out of your room before you changed into something else!” Merlane stared at what Iana was wearing.

Iana looked down, inspecting her few articles of clothing. She was wearing an old black shirt that had a demonic smile, and short short dark gray yoga pants, and had nothing covering feet.

She looked back up to meet Merlane’s eyes.

Vane chuckled, “those clothes, believe it or not, are from Merlane’s closet.”

Merlane turned red, then yanked Iana back into the room they came out of, slamming the door in Vanes face.

“Stay out, Vane!” She hollered.

Vane muttered something intangible.

Merlane marched Iana over to the bed. “Sit.”

Iana sat.

Merlane then started to rummage around in the closet, pulling out some clothes, then dumping them on the bed.

“Hands up”

Iana put her hands up.

Like a mother, Merlane yanked Iana’s shirt off her head, and threw her the bra. Iana took it, then clasped it on. Merlane then handed her a white v-neck t-shirt, that had a black stitched outline of a flower on the left hip.
Iana put it on.
“Well, I’m not going to stick by and help you put on your pants, so while you do that, I’ll find you some make-up.”
Iana put on the black pants, struggling to pull it all the way up. When she did manage to put it on, she choked “what are these pants?!”
Merlane turned around, tubes in hand. “Skinny jeans.”
Merlane walked over to Iana, then pulled up the chair Vane was sitting in earlier in order to sit in front of her.
“Wait, Merlane. I-I don’t wear makeup...”
Her jaw dropped. Merlane couldn’t believe her ears. “You don’t?! Well, I want to put makeup on you anyway, so bear with me.”
She took out what Iana assumed was the eyeliner, and started to apply it to her face. Iana had to grip her knees to stop her from lashing out in a frenzy. It hurt! Why do girls do this to themselves?!
After one eye was done, Iana let out a little sigh. Merlane, hearing this, chuckled. “I have to do the other eye too, you know.” With that, she resumed putting eyeliner on Iana.
When she was satisfied with her work, Merlane put the eyeliner down, then picked up the mascara. She carefully applied it to Iana’s eyelashes, her mouth slightly parted.
She then, with a large grin, picked up a platter containing eyeshadows of many colors. Mixing silver, shades of gray, and black, she attacked Iana’s face mercilessly with makeup.
Few minutes later of this kind of treatment, Merlane was finally finished, then handed Iana a mirror to admire her work.
Iana was surprised. The person in the mirror did not look like her at all! Long lashes, sexy blue eyes (created by the silver eyeliner), and the coloring of the eyelids...
“Lookin’ good, as I say so myself. C’mon. No need for Vane to wait longer than he needs to.”
“Alright.” Iana hesitated. “M-Merlane?”
“Yeah?” She looked back.
“Thanks.”
Merlane smiled. “No problem.”
Then she threw open the door, and walked out, Iana trailing from behind.

Author's Note

Yay! it's been, like, forever!!!
I was going to add more, and skip some parts, but then decided not to.
Tell me what you think~
By the way, if you want an idea of how Iana sorta (sorta. really.) looks like black rock shooter~

Reviews

[Sylvana]

Merlane marched me over to the bed. “Sit."
You changed the point of you right there.
Oh my goodness, no. I'm so happy you put up the next chapter. xD I can't wait to see what happens next~