Advent Noion

7

she enters the helm of the spirit-house, looking outside rose-colored windows at the stony tunnel ahead, barely lit from strands of helix dangling above.

curiously, she watches lepfnanbol work, "lepa, what's your job?"

he turns around, poking the bottle tucked beneath her arm, "ya're drinkin it!"

confused at first, and then smiling, "brew? oh, you're a brewer!"

he faces forward, bent over the table examing an unscrolled map, "ya bet."

she asks, looking down at the map, "what's this for?"

he coughs, and flattens the map out some more with his hands, "kah, just plannin our course. tis been a while since i've been out here."

she nods her head, agreeing, "interesting, can i help?"

silence.

the map, a curled sheet of symbols, old notes, lines, concentric circles, and apparent doodles, maintains his attention, leaving none for her, so she climbs downstairs to look for him.

in the kitchen, she finds him, "lepa seems busy, how about you, jfion?"

elbow-deep in a stack of dirty dishes, he tries ignoring her, but she drones on, "jfion... jfiiiiooo-"

upset, he throws down the sponge and plate he was just using, and turns to face her "what!"

she grins, "lepa seems busy, so i-"

he whines, "i'm even busier than him-"

splashing water around, "look at this, you two actually filled the bathtub."

she laughs, "ha, someone's grumpy today"

"if you cleaned your dishes, i wouldn't be so grumpy!"

she sighs, "well, hurry up and clean-"

drinking a swig of brew, she leans against the wall, "i want to take a bath soon."

-

he nods, looking down at the foamy water up to his waist, "it is pretty nice."

she leans harder against his back, teasing him, "see? i told you! who needs dishes when we've got this?"

he glances at the messy pile of dishes dumped onto the floor, "i still have to do them after this, but-"

she interrupts, splashing water backward onto his head, "but nothing, this is paradise!"

-

she stands in the kitchen, staring down at her feet, frowning, "hey, jfion! come here for a second."

he calls back from the adjoining room, "what is it? i'm busy organizing all of the bookshelves-"

she interrups him, "you deserve a break, jfion. come here!"

he enters the kitchen, confused at the colored blobs laid out across the table, "uh, what are those?"

excited, she hands him two yellow blobs, "foot massagers! here, put your feet in these."

he briefly examines the balls, smiling, "really? my feet do hurt..."

she ushers him along, "go on, try them on."

~squish~

he steps into both of the jelly blobs, "oohhhh! that does feel good."

~squish~

after a while, he looks back to her, "how do i take them off?"

she looks away, grinning, "eh?"

he senses mischief, "how did you remove yours?"

she glances down at the blobs still attached to her feet, "oh, you know..."

he squishes his way beind the counter to look at hers, "let me see-"

silence.

he stares at the blobs on her feet, "you couldn't remove yours, could you?"

she sighs, shrugging his disappoint off, "no, but i tried everything i could think of."

he leans forward onto the counter, lying down, defeated, "ah! why trick me? why include me with your mistakes!"

she pats him on the back, "we'll, looks like we'll just have to suffer through this together, jfion."

~squish~

he turns to leave, "like hell! i'll just ask lepfna for-"

she grabs his arm, holding him back, "no! i mean... we shouldn't bother him, right?"

he ponders the thought, "you're right... we're basically annoying guests at this point."

she sighs, "whew, let's just come up with some plan on our own."

-

lepfnanbol knocks from the other side of the restroom door, "miss nisida, ya seen my missin flebabs?"

she looks down at him with a confused face, "eh! fle-whats?"

~squish~

he quietly moans, "ugh, it's not coming-"

she whispers back, "try harder!"

lepfnanbol scratches his beard, "my flebabs, ya see, four are missin."

she answers nevously, "eh, no... can't say i have, lepa!"

lepfnanbol laughs, "ha. i see, and have ya found that jfion guy yet?"

she looks at him, holding onto her foot, tugging with all his might, "oh, he's uh..."

~squish~

he loudly whispers to her, "he said my name? did he just-"

she shushes him, "shhh! i mean, oh, jfion? no, haven't seen him!"

lepfnanbol coughs, "kah! i'll just leave ya two alone now."

he whispers, "what did he say?"

she grunts, pulling her foot out of the flebab, "ugghhh, who cares! harder!"

-

within the library, reclining on couches, their bloody feet propped over the center table, they gulp down lepfnanbol's latest brew.

she smacks her lips, "mm! tasty brew."

he closes his eyes, "i love this batch..."

lepfnanbol enters the room, laughing at the pair, "ha, ya two look right at home!"

he continues drinking, smiling up at lepfnanbol.

lepfnanbol stops for a moment, noticing their feet, "interestin red feet ya have there, picked up some fungus mayhap?"

he panics, his face turning pale, "fungus! no, we-"

she interrupts him, exhaling a long trail of smoke, "we cleaned the dishes with our feet."

lepfnanbol spits out a mouthful of brew, holding his cup away with disgust, "blehhh! ya what now!"

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aan