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Shelby is getting used to her Origin, but that doesn’t mean that sunset doesn’t catch her off guard sometimes. She loses track of time a little too easily – one moment she’s outside picking flowers, and seemingly the next, the moon is out and she’s freezing cold.
She checks the map on her communicator to find the nearest waystone, which she realizes is next to Katherine’s house. Before she reaches it, though, she hears a tapping sound from above her.
She looks up and sees Katherine’s smiling face peering through the star-shaped bedroom window. Katherine mouths for her to wait, then turns around and runs down the stairs.
She appears at the door a moment later. “Hey! Wanna come inside? It’s getting cold out.”
Shelby smiles. “I’d love that.”
“Cool! Come on in.” Katherine leads Shelby inside.
To no one’s surprise, Katherine's house is incredibly cozy. The bottom floor is mostly empty, which she seems embarrassed about. “I want to decorate one room for each life eventually. But hopefully that means it’s gonna be empty for a while.”
“All good!” Shelby smiles. “I don't mind.”
“Are you hungry?” Katherine suddenly remembers to ask. “I've still got a couple servings of pasta on my stove in case you want dinner. Oh, and I can make hot cocoa!”
“That would be awesome,” Shelby says. “I need to start learning how to cook here. I love cooking, but I don't know any of the recipes.”
“It's pretty easy once you get started!” Katherine says. “All right. I’ll grab some bottles for the cocoa, and can you grab some bowls for the pasta?”
“Sure!” Shelby says, and the two of them reach for the cupboard at the same time. Shelby's right hand bumps against Katherine's left, and she notices something she hasn’t paid attention to before. There's a white ring around Katherine's left middle finger, shaped like a white cat curled up asleep. It's small and matches Katherine's outfit perfectly, and Shelby debates whether to write it off as a coincidence. It's no secret to anyone that Shelby is asexual, but no one on the server has ever talked to her about being aspec themselves before. Katherine's made one-off references to her being queer in the past, but she’s never mentioned exactly how.
Shelby almost asks, but she doesn’t.
Katherine speaks again before Shelby can ask, anyway. “Right, I put the milk bottles in the left cabinet. I'm still getting used to this house.”
“Oh, same,” Shelby laughs, shaking off any lingering questions for the moment. “I can't ever keep track of where I put anything, even when I've lived somewhere for ages. I've got the bowls, though.” She puts two bowls down on the counter.
Katherine quickly finds the milk and brews up two bottles of hot cocoa while Shelby ladles two servings of spaghetti and meatballs into the bowls. Both of them eat their warm pasta quickly. Shelby's eyes widen in surprise when she’s finished her food — there’s a strange, warm feeling in her chest that she hasn’t felt after eating anything else before. “That's... really comforting. Did you cast a spell on me, Katherine?” she jokes.
“Nope! That's just what these recipes do. They have some kind of comforting effect. Even if you weren’t all the way full, you’d start healing again. And if either of us had any negative potion effects, the cocoa would get rid of one of them.”
“Oh, that’s cool! I definitely have to learn to cook now.” Shelby clinks her cocoa bottle against Katherine's, and they both drink their cocoa together. The cocoa is warm and sweet, and it makes them both feel cozy — and makes Shelby very sleepy. “Oh, right, the sun went down. I forgot about that.”
“Yeah, we should probably sleep soon. There will be no death on my watch!” Katherine says with a grin that almost makes Shelby forget they’ve both nearly died multiple times already.
They both climb the ladder to Katherine's bedroom. The moment Shelby steps into it, a wave of calm immediately washes over her — just as quickly as the cold awareness of the dark, but a much nicer sensation. There's an aquarium and a jar of floating lights, and the room is filled with colorful things. It's so perfectly Katherine-ish that Shelby can’t help but smile.
Katherine wanders into the corner and faces away from Shelby. “Okay, don’t look at me, I'm gonna change into pajamas.”
“Don’t look at me either,” Shelby says, taking a spare t-shirt and soft shorts out of her bag.
“This is nice. Kind of like a sleepover,'' Katherine says as she turns back. Shelby turns around and giggles. Katherine's pajamas somehow perfectly match her everyday style. They’re fuzzy, pink, and covered in a sheep pattern. Shelby's shirt is light blue with allays on it, and her shorts have a cloud pattern on them. “Oh, you look so cute!” Shelby says at the same time as Katherine says, “I love your pajamas!”
Shelby lays out her yellow sleeping bag on Katherine's carpet, right in a patch of moonlight peeking in through the window. She yawns. “Okay, I need to sleep.” She curls up in the cozy sleeping bag and closes her eyes. “Night, Katherine...” She’s fast asleep before she can say another word.
Katherine smiles. The fairy jars and nightlights scattered around her room cast a soft glow to keep monsters at bay, but the room is still peacefully dark. As she climbs into her own bed, she can’t help but take a long look at Shelby. Shelby's sunshine-yellow hair is scattered around her face messily, and the sunlight glow around her is slightly dimmed and has a bluer tone. Her sunlight has a night mode. That’s amazing, Katherine thinks to herself as she gazes affectionately at her sleeping friend. Even Shelby's star-shaped white freckles glow brighter in the dark, as if she’s a personification of the whole sky all at once. She's beautiful.
Shelby makes a soft “hmm” sound and mutters something quietly in her sleep, and Katherine can’t help but giggle. “Good night, sunshine,” she whispers.
Her last thought before falling asleep is that she should wake up at sunrise. Maybe she can surprise Shelby with breakfast.