w6 afterparty

[partymagician]

Now that they have all weathered that storm, it's time to do some recuperating! After storing some of the fruit (likely with Shizuku's help), Fai has decided to cut all of it up and lay it out in a neat little array on a table in the cafeteria. He liked the coffee and tea station last week, so he decides to set another one up for this week too. Fai has also set out some bread, butter, and a toaster—hopefully there's an outlet nearby—for people to make themselves some toast! They could all use a nice little (late) breakfast after all of that.

And if anyone wants to bring some of that crab and fish they caught? Well, the more the merrier!

Then, Fai sends out a quick text for everyone to come enjoy some fruit and coffee in the cafeteria.

Comments

[magicam]

[First order of business after returning was, obviously, showering. And bullying Idia into the shower. And making sure that both of their sunburn got some lotion put on them so they would fade faster and hurt less (after the initial day or so... ow...).

After that, though? He's actually leaving the shut-in life they've been living the past week to see what everyone else is doing with all the leftovers. The fruit is still a little on the too-sweet side for him, but the fish and crab is easy enough to throw together simply with some spices to make an actual decent meal, no matter how much his legs are screaming at him to just sit down and whine at someone else to cook for him.

(That might happen if he ends up wanting more later...)

After sinking into a chair, though-]

They totally could have given us this task earlier... We were running out of fresh food...

Closed to Idia:

[Later later, after the little afterparty started settling down, and after they've gone back to their room, the thought occurs to him that they should probably move the bed-barricade from in front of the door this week. They can still forgo the open-door policy if Idia wants, but... No one was going to come murder them, probably.

But with it there, there was an excuse to--

Hm...

So Idia might come back from wherever to see Cater has shoved the desks to the side of the room the bed originally came from and is now actually pushing the beds together. Might as well make a bigger bed, right...?]

[ignihidden]

[A week of being a shut-in was nothing for Idia. If anything, it was his default state! Still, he's also thinking about how they got away relatively scot-free today. No one had held the last week against them, at least out-loud. He even saw people who contributed a lot less than him getting by fine (thanks Miach). So, maybe he'd agree to a few hours a week of open door.]

[Once he's eaten and spent some time with a few of the people he cares about, he's back to the room and-]

... eh?

[this is like coming back and seeing that your fling is looking at wedding pamphlets]

[magicam]

[It was hard! It was way hard! And when no one had tried to murder them during the task, that was permission to let up on being a shut-in. It's fine. They're fine.

He isn't expecting Idia to come back mid-bedquest, but... he shouldn't be all that surprised. It's just his luck.]

...Eh?

[Yeah, no explanation.]

[ignihidden]

... Eh.

[they're communicating]

[Idia shuffles into the room, closing the door behind him. He's looking over the new layout of the room and trying to figure out if this has any sort of hidden, coded meaning he's supposed to understand. I mean, it can't be the blunt meaning of "we are going to keep cuddling until we get sent home," can it?]

[magicam]

[Totally a new language.

But with Idia closing the door, Cater resumes shoving the beds up against each other until they're flush and just sort of. Flops back against both.

He's tired and sore from the day, okay, give him a second.

...Also he's totally not going to confirm that that blunt meaning is exactly what this is without actually being asked directly. That's embarrassing.

As if doing this isn't.]

[ignihidden]

[They had that agreement, that was technically only for one Saturday but had held for every Saturday since, at least the night after they would just do whatever it took to feel better. For Cater, that was being cuddled and, well, he was a big brother, he couldn't help it. Now, this last week, they'd been sharing a bed for the entire week.]

[Idia was sure that it wouldn't stick, especially considering the nightmares they'd been plagued with. It was totally a bad omen, right?]

[... apparently not.]

How did you even have the energy to move furniture... I had to move one bucket of sea water and it feels like my arms are going to fall off...

[magicam]

[The agreement for one Saturday became every Saturday, became all last week, even - especially - with the nightmares, and now...

Well, now it wouldn't feel right not sharing the shitty little dorm bed until they went home, and it might even take some getting used to sleeping alone again once they were home. Not going to contend with that one until they had to, though, if he had anything to say about it, and...

Well, Idia doesn't seem to be protesting!]

Cay had to run through the forest to keep from being buried alive with Shizu-chan... His legs are totally jelly now, this was the last of his energy...

[ignihidden]

[It wasn't the worst thing in the world. Having another person in bed was nerve-wracking but not inherently unpleasant. Not to mention, their sleeping hours were slightly off so it wasn't like he was always spending a full eight hours pressed against someone.]

[Would it be... something he missed? He doesn't know, yet.]

... w- wait, something that dangerous happened to you?!

[The rare case where "M'lady Shizuku" doesn't come first.]

[magicam]

[It's... actually surprising that "M'lady Shizuku" didn't come first, to the point where he sits up to look at Idia properly, see if he's feeling okay (through the sunburn).

But, nope, still Idia.]

Yeah, we were getting fruit, and then there was that spooky void coming for us, but before we really had to deal with that, the mudslide came and we ran for it...!

[Sigh!!]

You had to deal with those big scary crabs, though, right?

[ignihidden]

[Idia's shoulders jump in a little "eep" at the dead-on-the-bed Cater actually pushing himself back up. Wh- what. What did he do.]

... um, well. If the EXP were divided by the number of times we hit the enemy...

[He counts a bit on his fingers.]

M'lord Fai did 95% of it.

[He hung back by where he was putting up the water systems and cheered him on. Some might call it "hiding."]

[magicam]

[He acted like he was more important in the Idol-otaku's head than an actual Idol! It was weird! And would probably make him blush if his cheeks weren't already sunburnt!

...So. Zombie instead.]

Well, that's like... Not that surprising, but it had to have been way scary, too, right?

[Even if Idia was hiding. Technically.]

[ignihidden]

[If Idia were questioned he might shove his foot directly into his mouth and say something like: w- well, we're pain-linked, so-!]

... y- yeah, I mean, if I tried to do anything I probably would have, l-like, tripped and made things more dangerous.

[the best thing he could have done was stay out of the way]

B- But a crab can be distracted by another person... a mudslide...

[magicam]

[How could Idia shove his foot in there if Cater's foot made it there first? (Threatening.)]

Uwa... and if you tripped, then Cay might have tripped, too... Scary...

[So it was definitely for the best that things worked out the way they did, yep.]

[ignihidden]

[Oh, god, right! The lack of direct pain didn't even make him realize that they could have had a double-painality there. Cater's panic must have gotten wrapped up with his own.]

... we did what we needed to...

[Which is what they said last week, too.]

... are we keeping the same sides?

[of the new bed-squared]

[magicam]

[...Pretty telling that they can't even really register each other's panic as separate from their own anymore. That's... fine. Probably. Nothing to worry about there.]

Right...!

[...Last week was different. Or something.]

Eeh... sure...? Though we'll probably both end up on one side, right...? At least now we won't have legs hanging off...

[ignihidden]

[When Idia feels a new, sudden sensation of panic he just assumes someone is talking about him. It's taken a while to even suggest to himself that it could be Cater panicking unless they're separated and he's specifically trying to keep a metaphorical ear out for any of Cater's pain in his heart.]

... I guess, yeah...

[does this look like a man who's ever shared a bed]

[(with anyone but ortho when he was eight)]

... M'lady Shizuku said... aloe was good for sunburn... did the stuff you used have aloe in it?...

[meandering over to check things in the bathroom, one more afflication then passing out time]