vivarium | The sleepless night [Open]

By the evening of day 69, when things were at least reasonably under control, Heiji was pretty tired. And while he did want to just fall asleep on the nearest flat surface, wasn't this the perfect opportunity to actually enjoy what they could while Zero still didn't have full control of the warehouse?

Answer: Yes.

A: Gutting a fish, setting up campfire stuff
The last time he'd been allowed into the maze with Hershel, they'd both regretted the lost opportunity. A whole fish tank room full of fish, most of them the kind that were actually supposed to be eaten rather than looked at. And they were going to die soon, anyway, right? Without power.

So technically just leaving them would be terribly wasteful and tl;dr Heiji was carrying a giant floppy wet salmon in both arms over to the river where he was going to (in theory) gut it and scale it and cook it because you know what, he wanted some actual food.

B: Campfire dinner
After a great deal of effort and setup, the smell of cooking salmon began wafting over the garden; once it was near to done, Heiji would start contacting people over the bracelets to tell them what was up and to bring any food or supplies they wanted if they'd found any. Who knows, maybe someone'd find some vegetables they could cook or something.

C: Reading mystery novels/textbooks/language guides
After dinner was over, Heiji was just going to set down with a stack of books and start reading some mystery novels, maybe offer to read something he'd found in the library with someone. HE MISSED READING OKAY, it was his life.

D: Music room
And of course now that the music room was temporarily open, Heiji was looking everywhere for Snake to hopefully listen to some piano playing for real. ...Although he wasn't above trying it out for himself, as well as the other instruments. Or maybe just shredding some cloth in here for bandages.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Well, first rule of thumb is not to nick chips off people's plates." Cutting edge etiquette learning, right here. "Would you say you need to blend in to strange places often? Another set of strange adventures, I imagine." Not as strange as motorcycle chases at least.

Hershel laid the fish out neatly for Heiji to skewer when the sticks were ready, brushing his hands of scales and such. "Regardless, good manners are universal." Stuff him in a locker, seriously.

Heiji looked like he was resisting this rule. "Hershel, you need to live a little. Nothing wrong with a little nicking!"

Words to live by, man. You'd better watch your plate once there was something on it other than gruel. "Well, when tailing criminals, you gotta blend into the crowd, right? And even normal people need to go to fancy dinner parties once in a while."

Heiji skewered the first of the fish. He was pretty good at it, too, so apparently he'd done this before.

Last time he heard things like that people fell down ravines, Heiji. Clearly this is life and death. "That's uncouth, Heiji." He said with an amused tone. "Very improper, living such a way. No side dishes would be safe."

"Ah, I see, sounds adventurous. You might be spotted if you mix up your spoons you know." Hershel paused. "I'm not entirely sure how Japan does formal dinners, really. I imagine they're more sensible than the English with all the extra bits and baubles."

With enough fish taken care of, Heiji flicked his lighter on and applied it to the little bits of crumpled paper at the center of the campfire, and began coaxing it to grow larger.

"Didn't know British folks took their chips so seriously," said Heiji. There was just a hint of mischievousness there, not planning on taking Hershel's fries the next time they had the opportunity, certainly not.

"Well, you do have some wealthy types that like to do the whole western-style mansion thing. Maids, a butler named Sebastian. You know."

Sebastian...

"We're a very serious people you know. Quite dour on occasion." Hershel said primly, and the effect was ruined because he totally cracked into a smile when he was done. Clearly blissfully unaware of the danger Heiji would pose to his chips. "As you can see from the assortment of Englishmen we have here." Maryjanes, a mareep and Alfendi. Yup.

Ah, so their butlers occasionally offer paranormal type contracts. Hm. "Really? I wouldn't have expected that. I suppose there would be some good to learning the proper etiquette of that type of house after all." Don't go fighting demons, Heiji.

"Y'know, I speakin' of food, I wonder how Alfendi ever got to his height. He don't really seem like the type to eat his vegetables." How much could you really grow on pizza and takeout...

Look this has nothing to do with Kuroshitsuji or whatever Hershel, butlers in Japan are always named Sebastian or maybe Tanaka-san, it's a rule. A RULE.

"He doesn't, does he?" Hershel mused. No, that didn't seem much like Alfendi at all. "Maybe his parents made him for long enough that he actually got some nutrients. I suppose we won't know until he gets more memories back- and shares, since he isn't always keen on doing so."

Japan is a properly mysterious place... "Though look at Clive, he seems the type to eat properly. Genetics are fickle."

But that would mean Alfendi had at some point had parents, as opposed to being sprung from the abyssal depths, oozing pizza-smelling slime. That's silly, Hershel.

"I keep tellin' Sasuke he needs to eat properly, or he won't get taller. He ain't seem to care too much, though. I mean, how's he going to reach things? At least he's tall enough to get on rides..."

That's weird AU other Hershel you're talking about, he's the abyssal, pizza smelling slime depths. I can't really argue that though.

And have a light frown. "He does eat rather peckishly, doesn't he?" Uh oh, he's starting to hone in on Sasuke's bad eating habits. Have strength, Sasuke. "I suppose it's rather difficult to eat properly here, though. I'm not sure any amount of gruel is going to help much." He smiled a bit. "I don't know how you stomach it as well as you do."

"Hey, I don't like it," said Heiji. "But you gotta eat if you want to do any real thinking." And of course, there was no telling when your cafeteria privileges would be taken away, apparently.

"He just don't have much of an appetite in general, I guess. But he's so small... even if he's only thirteen or so, that's still no excuse not to eat properly!"

"Oh I agree, as difficult as it is, sometimes." Hershel answered, bemused. "With all the growing and running around you do you certainly need it more than most here."

"Do you think he's thirteen? He looks like he could be it, I always took him for fifteen though." He frowned, glancing to the side. "Thirteen or fifteen... too bloody young for all this. The way he acts you'd think he was at least a decade older." And he breaks out of that thought process, offering a sheepish smile. "Well... regardless I agree. He needs to keep his strength up, we all do."

"Fifteen?!" Heiji's reaction was immediate. "If he's fifteen, we gotta stage some kinda intervention! Look how shrimpy he is; I bet it's 'cause all his energy goes to healing those ninjuries of his!"

They had to do something about this Hershel. They had to.

"Well, he could still have a growth spurt..." Poor Sasuke, his poor ninjured heart. "We could always encourage him to eat a little more, I suppose. It'd certainly do him some good."

And maybe let Heiji rest easy that Sasuke would not be shrimpy for the rest of time.

The sleepless night [Open]

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