networkinthenight | action and text; @bacura

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action and text; @bacura

[It's late on the seventh when Masaomi wakes up on a church pew. At first, he can't bring himself to do anything other than stare at his hands. Slowly he raises them above his head, takes in the palms, flips them over, hesitantly touches the backs, slides his fingers down his own arms.

He's whole.

Suddenly, he digs his nails in. It hurts, and he pulls back, leaving harsh red marks. Masaomi sits up then, still staring like he can't believe his own senses.

He's not crying. You're crying.]

[It's not until the eighth that he sends out another text. No ominous snapshots this time.]

Didn't cut it as a carny.

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[Ha. Haha. The school. That's where he first saw the parade. It is the last place he wants to be right now.]

..........How about anywhere else?

The invincible

I'm asking a question there the question mark is hard to type

[That almost gets a chuckle out of him.]

See ya there.

[There's not much to do on the Invincible apart from practice the ocarina and cook, and Duster has already started frying a few slabs of bacon when Masaomi approaches the entrance.]

[He slinks down the stairs like his body is too heavy to handle, but just before the last step, he stops, lifts head to get a good whiff.]

...bacon?

[His pace picks up a tad as he slides over to Duster and the stove.]

Real bacon?

[Duster leans onto his right leg even more, allowing Masaomi to get in closer to the stove.]

It seemed real when I took it from the pantry...

[He looks down at the sizzling meat.]

They have fake bacon here?

You seen any pigs around?

[Blond brows rise pointedly.

Everyone who had partaken in that feast all those months ago had become comatose for two damn weeks, and pretty much every spirit in Beacon has a hilarious misunderstanding of what counts as edible ingredients. Masaomi has had trouble trusting any food he hasn't seen come off the boat for a very, very long time now.]

[Masaomi says “pigs” and Duster first thinks of the Pigmask soldiers. No, he’s not a cannibal. He hopes he’ll never accidentally be one.]

...It’s from the ship. I never really thought of where the food comes from but...

[Was it real bacon?]

Maybe pigs come through the portal?

I'd rather they just send over the pre-packaged version.

[Slaughtering... anything? Not great for his appetite right now. His nose scrunches at the thought.]

Don't think anything can come through while it's still breathing anyway.

They'd die if they came over, right? It's less stressful than the usual way. [He lived in a farming community. Killing animals for food was the way of life.] But this smells like bacon. So it should be bacon.

[Masaomi decides not to comment on the relative stresses of dying via mysterious sci-fi portal to hell. Bacon is a much easier to digest subject.

He pulls back a few steps, graciously returning some of Duster's personal space.]

Bacon sounds awesome.

Yeah. It does.

[He slides the hardened and lumpy slabs around the pan, then flips them over with a wooden spatula.]

We might have some cornmeal in the pantry. Can you check and prepare some water?

[Masaomi is far from home in a kitchen, least of all someone else's. Still, he starts rummaging through the pantry as instructed. Well, as soon as he finds the pantry itself anyway. It's a good few minutes before he slams an opened box of cornmeal down on the nearest counter.]

I don't have to boil the water or something, do I?

Probably, just to make sure it's clean.

[The river in Tazmily was fine just the way it was, but he never tried to risk it here, with so many ways to kill him.]

Just two cups, then lower the heat and pour in the cornmeal.

[It takes him another few minutes to find a pot and a measuring cup, but soon enough he's pouring out water and heating up another section of the stove.]

Just remember: it's not my fault if this tastes awful.

[No response. Duster will have brought this upon himself.

He sets this set of back aside and grabs to extra eggs while Masaomi prepares the rest of the meal. They'll need all this protein for the hard night.]

I'm thinking of shoveling up some of the snow later today. Feel like helping?

Nope.

[The answer slides out of his mouth as easy as air. He'll come anyway though. His body is craving the exercise, and he has no motivation to do anything else more enjoyable instead.

As if to illustrate this fact, he reaches for the cornmeal again and peers into the box, clearly bored while waiting for the water to boil.]

Maybe I'll watch.

[Duster cracks the eggs onto the frying pan, watching them fry on one side in silence. He idly pokes around them while they solidify. After a few minutes, he slides a spatula underneath and flips those eggs over.]

Over easy's good.

[The sound and smell of the bubbling oil is the same as the eggs he cooked in his house. If he closes his eyes, Duster can imagine he's in the old wood house, in front of the stove, preparing his breakfast at a time when the other families were getting ready for bed.]

[Masaomi pays more attention to what Duster's doing than to his own designated tasks, spacing out to the iconic smell of eggs and bacon. It's not until the eggs are nearly done that he catches sight of the boiling water in his peripheral vision, and in his race to pour the cornmeal, he almost forgets to lower the heat. He does manage to get everything done, albeit not in the right order.

Hey, he's better at this than the spirits at least.]

Uh... What exactly am I making here?

[Important information he's going to need in order to continue.]

This is starting to look like a full course breakfast.

[Duster takes his oil-stained wooden spoon to stir the cornmeal until it doesn't look like it's going to burn.]

Yeah...I think I might've gone overboard.

[One egg onto each plate.]

I figured it's better to eat a lot in case we have an emergency. [Wait. Don't remind him of the parade.] Like if something washes up or people need help building something.

[Eating a lot is not something Masaomi is keen on doing in theory, but the smell of bacon is still strong in his nostrils. He wants to eat something at least. Not even Duster's little slip up can change his mind on that.

He backs away so that Duster can do his thing, finds a bar stool to plop down on. Then he decides it's time to stop dancing around the elephant in the room.]

Or someone dies, right?

[He snorts. It's not amused.]

I'm not gonna scream at you if you dare to mention my screw up, you know. Not this time anyway.

Why would I-

[Right. Maybe Masaomi is used to people screaming at him. It never made sense to Duster to treat someone badly for a mistake, but even he never questioned why it happened to him.]

We didn't know what the forest parade really did. It's not your fault that they went after you.

[Masaomi is less used to getting screamed at as he is to getting punched. He's actually referring to when he shouted at Duster for trying to be helpful when the lantern malfunctions first appeared. The poor guy had backed off immediately then. Masaomi assumes he's being handled with kid gloves after that mess, and that doesn't sit well with him. He just wants to assure Duster that he's not going to throw a tantrum.

He's not that pathetic.]

Wow... [He shakes his head in disbelief.] When you say it like that, I almost sound like a martyr.

That does make it sound more impressive, doesn't it?

[Now that he's finished with the protein, he turns off his burner and leans back against the counter.]

At least you're back. That's what's more important.

[He's genuinely relieved that death by Parade isn't permanent. Three years ago, Tazmily had lost 2 people in one day, and that was enough for Duster to think over how he would have greeted them had they shown up after their deaths. Maybe it would be like these, chatting like nothing had happened. Maybe it should be more comforting.]

You sure you don't want anything else to eat?

[It's anything but impressive. It's terrifying and disgusting, and maybe he is too. He'd been the one to join with the parade, and he'd been the one to end his own life. Maybe the reason they didn't know what the parade did is because the parade doesn't have to do anything at all.

Masaomi slumps over the counter. If he keeps thinking like this, he's going to lose his appetite altogether. Then what would Duster think?]

Dude, let me take it easy. [He forces a chuckle.] One fried bird fetus at a time, okay?

action and text; @bacura

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