"it does," she agrees quietly.

she sleeps soundly, most of the time. dreams are stringent things that flit away as soon as she opens her eyes. nightmares don't plague her. once you've seen the body an empty corpus, fed its limbs to your monsters, not much scares you. 

except for the unknown. that frightens her. 

"no, i haven't. anyway, take whatever you need. i brought supplies for two just in case." always prepared.

eventually the flames die down and she manages to fall into a listless sleep. 

DANE FAIRCHILD

☉

"nah, you're fine," she says and yawns. a shifting of her shoulders and she turns her head back to stare up at the crystalline ceiling, watching the way the waning firelight casts shadows across them. 

"couldn't sleep."

a pause. 

"you ever see anything like this before?"

DANE FAIRCHILD

☉

cassie's the lightest sleeper there is. the curled nap is just posturing. and most of the time, that's enough for sylvie to drift off and place her trust in her, but she's used to subterfuge, a war-torn region, and dealing with the aftermath of bloodshed. 

the fantastical? not so much. 

so she lay awake, trying and failing to count sheep. after a time, when she does manage to start dozing, she comes to from his moving. her head tilts. 

"you need something?" she asks. mostly eaten sandwich in his hands, it can't be food. "water? got some over there."

DANE FAIRCHILD

☉

she doesn't mind at all and gives him a parting nod, leaving her alone with cassie. with a sigh, she raises her arms over her head and stretches. her espeon grumbles at the movement, but nestles in closer regardless.

she watches the fire for some time and wakes cassie every once in a while so she can do a psychic perimeter sweep. 

longer nights than this have come and gone, but she wouldn't lie and say she's not tired by the time dane comes back outside.

"no movement," she says mildly. she looks past him at the chrome building and decides it isn't worth making cassie cross with her, so she tucks her arms behind her head and lays right onto her back. 

DANE FAIRCHILD

☉

somehow she gets roped into gruntwork. at first, she'd come all the way down here to clean up some of the fallen after a few skirmishes. when she'd gotten the call, she'd balked, gone silent, and then got over herself. 

when duty calls, she answers. 

so now she's here, holed up next to a research station that's been cleared of the dead, left behind with another grunt of her station to walk over the dreary place. cassie curls up in her lap and a warm campfire separates trainer and pokemon from their companion. 

"yeah, works for me," she says with a shrug, carmine eyes sliding away from him and to the crystalline cavern surrounding them. 

DANE FAIRCHILD

☉

cassie scrambles primly out of the way from aaron's lumbering footsteps and leaps nimbly on the couch where it's safe. her tail flicks crossly; royal purple eyes follow him as he moves about the kitchen. 

sylvie tugs the oven mitts off and tosses them on the counter. with the lechonk roast out of the oven and let to rest, the smell of herbs hanging pleasantly in the air, she can give full attention to her younger siblings. 

"i'm sure he's learned he needs to drain the pasta water out now," she says and lifts up the foil on the bowl. kraft mac and cheese had become kraft mac and cheese soup on more than one occasion. "mm, smells good, aaron."

red eyes glitter with amusement and as she yanks her brother in for a hug, she mouths, be nice, to her sister. 

Rory Faust aaron faust

☉

she's had the past few days off, which has been a welcome reprieve, but now she's already found herself stir-crazy. and when she finds herself stir-crazy, she makes irrational decisions. like inviting her siblings over for dinner. 

their bickering is incessant and adorable. she'll drink a few glasses of some of the bordeaux she picked up earlier (which is certainly not sweet enough for aaron's childish tastes. she has apple juice in the fridge for him) to help her better enjoy the night.

cassie purrs from her spot on the bar stool and lazily sits up, blinking away sleep. sylvie glances over and says, "let them in please." the espeon gives a biiiiiig stretch and harloomphs as she hits the ground. 

the door opens with a flick of her whiskers and she sits, looking up blankly at rory, before she trots back off to where she came from. 

"just taking the roast out," sylvie calls. "aaron with you?"

Rory Faust aaron faust

☉