Chapter 110: Downtime

"They're not getting up…" 

The living room area had slowly and gradually over the course of long hours spent dawdling away in downtime became an organized mess of pillows, blankets, hands, legs, and feet. 

A bizarre conglomerate of five, hunkering down in their own little piece of the land that they claimed for themselves. It was a process done rather wordlessly and with little complications, we all just essentially wandered into a spot and voila, take some pillows and blankets from the empty rooms upstairs to rest on and you're now a proud owner of the squishy bean bag laying adjacent to a sleeping Elf.

Least, that's where I decided to bunker myself at, everybody else was relatively in arm's reach - Adalia quietly sat beside me on the large silk rug carpeting the floor, Ria and Ash remained just as we have left them… seeing them again like that… was like… it made everything else feel just a little bit grimmer, I suppose.

Amanda, to everyone else's surprise, decided to not abandon this sinking mythical ship just yet, draping her wooly coat, and her wooly everything else at the coathangers in the entrance hallway. 

I asked why and all she had to say for herself was, "I'm kinda curious." which was good enough for me, I suppose. 

No one else showed any qualms about her staying, so Amanda, tucked from neck to toe, in a long-fitted tracksuit that she was hiding underneath all that wool and fur, cooped herself to an empty spot directly across from my own, hands wrapped around knees, heavy eyelids staring blankly, her voice sounding out once more in a drawling yawn.

"They're still not getting up…"

"Hush..." A finger on her lips, and with eyes firmly clasped shut, Irene at the center of it all, took in a heavy breath. "They will."

"How long… more...?" Adalia suddenly spoke out.

"Not sure yet."

"Two in the morning, now," said Amanda, glancing at her phone.

Irene's brow gave a flicker. "And it was one in the morning an hour ago, in case you aren't aware, that's how time works."

"She's... implying… "

"I know what she's implying," Irene interjected. "My previous answer still stands - I'm not sure."

I jumped in. "Not even a rough estimate, Irene?"

"It's a very delicate process, darling. But I assure you I'm -"

"Too… slow…" Adalia muttered.

" - doing my best…" Irene finished, her lips forming into a thin line. "Adalia, I know you're worried about your sister, but I'll have you know now, distracting me isn't going to get the job done quicker. In fact, it does quite the opposite actually, so you can either keep playing twenty questions or you can keep quiet - I'll let you decide which of the two you'd rather do."

There were a pair of swirling red vapor exuding from her palms outstretched on either side of her. Those little puffs of crimson smoke threaded lightly in the open air, forming a hazy slithering trail that snaked its way into the sealed lips of both Ria and Ash.

Those spooky succubus powers of hers wafted about for a lengthy three hours now. They first took form thick and murky, but over the course of the night, they seem to gradually thin and whittle, fast forward to the present, and all that was left of the thick and murky were narrow strands of red smoke, merely a feeble flicker of what it once was.

Now I wasn't exactly an expert when it came to these sort of things, it ain't my place to question how things are actually supposed to be work, but I do know a struggle when I see one - and Irene was definitely struggling, no two ways about it.

It's no wonder Adalia was acting tense, no wonder Amanda kept raising a brow… 

I'm sure everybody else was asking themselves the same question as I.

Can she really do it?

There was no indication whatsoever that any headway had been made, all there was and still is, in fact, was a continuously thinning stream of red that provided only a flimsy assurance that something was indeed happening. 

Even if it did feel as if nothing really was…

"Need a drink…" Amanda stood up, pocketing her phone and stretching her limbs. "Got a feeling it's gonna be a long night."

Irene gave no response whatsoever, nary a sign of acknowledgment in the blankness of her expression, almost as if deep within a trance herself, both body and mind as still as a pond below a sky without rain, a day without a rough breeze… complete and absolute serenity.

Then I offered to go along with Amanda.

Bye-bye serenity.

Irene fluttered her eyes open and wide, responding, acknowledging, throwing warning glances at Amanda and me like we're about to commit a serious crime.

I didn't know making coffee was illegal.

"You, darling… I trust, okay?" She said, smiling a smile so deceptively sweet, then on the total opposite side of the spectrum, Amanda instead received a contemptuous glare. "You not so much, understood?"

Amanda in a moment of peak wisdom, decided it best to simply nod away in wholehearted compliance to appease the glowering succubus before her. 

"Understood…" She said, giving a reassuring smile as she backed away slowly into the kitchen. "Just need a drink. Won't touch him."

Irene returned a smile back to her words of assurance. "I only take latte by the way."

"Chocolate… milk…" Adalia softly whispered.

"On it," I said, following after Amanda's less-than-gracious departure. 

Playing caffeine bartender at two in the morning to a bunch of sleep-deprived girls didn't come close to the weirdest thing I've done all night. Hell, compared to the hotel, grinding coffee beans and pouring milk was like child's play at this point.

Amanda had her elbows pillared atop the kitchen countertop, hands rubbing furiously against a weary face, her voice croaking sonorously beneath her palms, as she turned 'round to my coffee-stirring self.

"Control your girlfriend. Please."

Took a small sip of an expresso I made, looking over my mug at the strands of stress poking out of Amanda's long blonde hair. Such a stark contrast to the elegantly dressed woman standing out my front porch the other day, so well-mannered, very soft-spoken… right now, with the tracksuit, with the baggy eyes, with the disheveled locks of hair, and the gravelly voice, she was almost like a completely different person.

Can hardly blame her, I suppose.

I lowered the mug and smacked my lips. "I'm open to suggestions."

"Is she always like that?" 

"Not… until about a week ago, give or take… trust me, I'm as baffled as you are."

"I just… I don't know how you manage. It's all just very - wow - you know? You live with a vampire for chrissakes! How do you sleep at night?"

I gave a faint chuckle. "Not as good as those two over there, I assure you."

Hearing Amanda desperately trying to comprehend it all made for a very empathetic sight. Staring at her was like staring at a mirror to the past, it seemed like so long ago now where I was just as lost and confused as she was right then.

Welcome to my world. Hope you enjoy your stay.

If I'm honest, I'd say it felt kinda nice… a little comforting too, to know that there was someone out there I could share in the absurdity of it all. A window back into the mundane and normal that I've grown so far away from.

Sharing was caring, after all.

"Want a sip?" I asked.

Amanda glanced down at the hazelly goodness I had clutched in my hands, the swirling steamy aroma permeating from it wrinkling her nose and perking up her sullen eyes.

Could see that she was seriously tempted to accept the offer, but something kept her back, a fleeting look sideways had her shaking her head at me and raising her arms.

"Mmm, I don't think your girlfriend would er - take kindly to the notion that I got served a drink first before her."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Okay, maybe she's not your girlfriend, but you are definitely her boyfriend. So uh… let's not cause a scandal here, shall we?"

"Over a small cup of espresso?" I rolled my eyes, parting my lips open for another sip. "Hardly a forbidden romance, don't you think? You sure? Last chance." 

Don't mean to brag here, but if there's anything I'm ever proud of, it'd be the fact that I can make a mean cup of coffee. Years of stress-drinking has honed these puny hands to coffee-molding heights that can put even the most esteem coffee outlets to shame.

Ria could vouch for me if she was actually conscious, damn bird keeps gulping my cups every time I leave one unattended for even a second.

Just a single whiff alone is capable of tempting you harder than any succubus in her underwear.

Case in point - I barely had it up to my lips before Amanda came swiping it away from my hands and downing it whole like it was the sweet nectar from the Gods.

Barely even a second later, she was slamming the mug at the countertop, taking a reinvigorated gasp, as her face eased away from tension. Now she was looking like her former self again.

"This never happened, okay?" She whispered, pointing a finger, and eyeing me with a sort of shameless satisfaction to her gaze. "Now please make me another."

I took back the mug, eyeing her back with some scrutiny. "Mmm, not so sure, seems kinda scandalous, I have a girlfriend, you know?"

"Oh, shut up."