And We're Gonna Pull Through [Bendytimed to After System Shock]

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

It's probably a solid two weeks before Christmas is due, assuming that their Thanksgiving dinner was on schedule which, given the nature of the ship, it presumably wasn't. But the robot attack was terrifying and disheartening and exhausting, and Howard wants a holiday, so according to him, it's Christmas. A nice, relaxing break from things trying to kill them.

Aside from this strand of Christmas lights doing its damnedest to strangle him, that is. Howard's managed to get it around his neck, and if it weren't for the fact that finding light strands is hard enough on Stacy, would be cutting it off with scissors.

He's still a bit beat-up, bandages around his head and his knees and one looping around his torso, under his shirt, but thanks to the healers and medical technology on Stacy he's not in much pain. His foot being in a brace is the worst of it.

He's managed to salvage an old plastic tree from a run-down building. A few packets of hot cocoa from the Warehouse sit on the table. Flossy Raptor is downstairs and dressed in a Santa hat and bizarrely, a feather boa in a shade of green too lime-ish to be Christmassy. A clunky-looking dog-sized gift for Zouichi is by the couch, wrapped in tin foil and newsprint, and another is on the table for Karis, although it's unwrapped. No one else quite makes Howard's list this year.

He pulls his way out of the tangle of lights. Christmas numero dos sans his family. Christmas numero uno on Stacy. He finds he's less okay with the former than he was last year, but more okay with the latter than he'd presumed.

Anyone who walks into the kitchen of the Susono Inn will be greeted by the rare and unusual sound of Howard humming. Go Tell It On the Mountain, actually. He even sings the section of the first verse that he vaguely remembers under his breath.

"Go tell it on the mountain, up over the hills and everywhere, go tell it on the mountain, tell them something, I don't care."

Comments

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I'm going to find those someday, I swear." And you will rue the day when he does, Cedric. "And you're only saying that because you just missed my birthday."

[theboywhodied]

"No way," Cedric taunts. "I'm as good at hiding as I am at finding. It won't be where you expect, or what you expect."

He doesn't actually have the tapes, but this game is all in good fun. He sobers when he hears that last statement, though.

"I'm sorry. I should've paid more attention! Oh, we do even more fun things on birthdays."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Don't think I'm not good at finding things." He taps his nose.

"You didn't actually miss it. It's a little before Christmas but since we can't keep track on here anyway, who cares? It just doesn't feel like it's time for sixteen yet." He gets a bit of a nervous look on his face, thinking about that. Thinking about his last birthday, choosing to stay in the FAYZ. "Birthdays are kind of weird where I'm from."

[theboywhodied]

"You found your nose. Good work!" Cedric teases. Hey, teasing can be fun, he's starting to realise.

"How are they weird?" He knows Howard likely won't answer him outright, but he's hoping for a little clue.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard grins. He likes that Cedric's teasing. Teasing is a sign of affection, as long as it doesn't go too far. Thin-skinned as Howard is, Cedric hasn't crossed that line yet.

"When you turn fifteen, you get to choose if you want to leave. And no one's made it to sixteen yet, so we don't know what happens then."

[theboywhodied]

"So...you won't feel that you're sixteen until you've made it through?"

Given the state of their worlds, that sounds like an awfully long time. "You don't have to wait that long. I'll show you when the time's right," he promises.

Not that he ever guarantees the time will be right.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I'm just worried I might be carrying around some FAYZ weirdness and get tempted to leave again when I turn sixteen. I don't think it'd be a problem for you." He starts water in a kettle on the stove. "I don't know if I'd stay, honestly."

It goes without saying that he chose to stay last time. It's also written on his face that he thinks that was a mistake.

[theboywhodied]

"Do you know what would happen if you leave?" Cedric asks gently. It's rare that Howard talks to him this much. He's probably pushing it too far, actually, so he's preparing a backup plan:

Ice cream. He is prepared to fling the ice cream around.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard pauses, before finally saying. "No. We don't know. You just get tempted to disappear and if you do..." He makes a gesture with his hand. "Poof. Maybe you die, maybe you get out, we really never figured it out."

He chooses to pour the hot water in the mug Cedric gave him and a spare. "Hot cocoa?"

[theboywhodied]

Cedric bows his head. Oh, that sort of thing. "Well. There's a while, at least."

And they don't talk about it any further. That's what Howard wants, right? He's gone about as far as they probably can today.

"Sure!" Cedric sounds quite happy to be offered hot cocoa. "Is the pie defrosting, or should I help that along?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Four months, probably. I'll finally get a summer birthday."

He stirs in the cocoa with a fork and passes it to Cedric. "Using your magic in Zouichi's in?" He puts a finger to his lips. "I won't tell."

[theboywhodied]

"That's fun. Are you swimming? Mine's always in the autumn, it's a little inconvenient."

He thinks about starting a magical fire, then thinks better of it. "On second thought, I'd better not risk it," Cedric shakes his head. "Do we have matches? I know how to defrost, at least."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Waugh waugh, autumn birthday. At least people remember yours. Mine always gets absorbed by the Christmas holiday." He makes a big motion with his arms like an amoeba sucking something up. "Except last year, obviously, since there wasn't much Christmas. So this one has to be double good."

Howard nods. He brings matches from a cabinet out, along with the still-cold pie. "Show me. Seriously, I won't tell."

[theboywhodied]

"Yeah, that would be more annoying, wouldn't it." Cedric gives up and sympathizes, though he does laugh at the arm gesture. Cute.

Cedric gets to work immediately on the pie, setting up a compromise solution. He'll strike a match entirely by hand and set the fire in a small container, he's figured out that much. But he plops his bag on the table and temporarily transfigures it into a heating rack perfectly sized for the pie, positioning it above the fire. There's even a little handle for rotating.

"There. I'll just twist this around every few minutes."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard grins. "That is so cool, you know. Just...really cool."

He bites his lip. "Most of the powers we saw back home were pretty ugly. Or people used them to get control and threaten people. So this is...different. And nice."

[theboywhodied]

Cedric can't help but smile. "It's not always like this, but most wizards don't want to cause trouble. It's just a different way we've lived."

He rotates the pie for the first time, checking on its progress. Outer shell starting to thaw---good.

"Next shore leave I'll buy some more things," Cedric promises. "I'd love to make a shepherds' pie, or some roasted chicken and corn. I couldn't smuggle much from the competition, just a hat and the useless pills."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Yeah. I get that. It's just, you know, kind of a surprise when people who got a lot of power don't use it to push others around. Like, I'd expect the wizards to make normal hu- make Muggles slaves or something."

He guzzles down his hot chocolate, not really tasting it. It burns.

"That all sounds good, I guess. I don't really taste things anymore, you know?" He tilts his head. "Pills? What kind?"

[theboywhodied]

"It took a lot of work to make things stable. We agreed that secrecy was best for all of us, so the worlds of wizards and Muggles are completely separate. Most of the conflict we see is with our own kind on either side. The ones who've learned the Dark Arts pursue them, are shunned, and gather enough support to attack."

Cedric sees that the pie is getting closer. Perfect.

"Diet pills," Cedric wrinkles his nose. "I don't really need them. Something loaded with crushed herbs. Wizards have potions for that sort of thing, but I've never looked into those either."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"But why not take over? I mean, way back in the first place, before secrecy? I mean, obviously I'm not suggesting it, it just..." It doesn't make sense to Howard that people wouldn't make the worst of a situation. Wouldn't do the greedy, evil thing. "I just don't get it."

Howard bites his lip and glances at the pie. "If you don't mind giving them to me, they could be useful someday. Could be handy if we're ever in need of appetite suppressants." Or to jack up the metabolism of someone competitor in starving times.

[theboywhodied]

"We thought it'd be more trouble than it was worth. Most of us, anyway. Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters tried that, though. They controlled Muggles with magic, killed them for fun. Any wizard who was likely to be a traitor was treated the same way---the most hated were the Muggle-borns, wizards with Muggle families who would object to this. It was an awful time. And right after I died, the war started up again."

Cedric fishes the pills out of his pocket and passes them over. "I'll be glad if anything useful came from that competition at all."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Wouldn't they have done the most damage by going public to the Muggles? I mean, then you'd be fighting a war on both sides, trying to manage PR while fighting off the evil guys. Or is Voldemort just dumb?"

Howard tucks them into his pocket. "If I use them, I'll be sure to send you a thank you note in the Christmas card I didn't get you."

[theboywhodied]

"That's the thing. Muggles are extremely reluctant to believe that magic exists. It's taught to them from birth that it's not real, so they'll rationalise what they saw any way they can. Ghosts, holograms, government conspiracies, car crashes...but certainly not magic. They almost got away with murder in broad daylight."

Go figure. Cedric sneakily grows the flame, speeding up the process just slightly.

"Cards would be a waste up here anyway. Food's more useful. Speaking of---I'd brown the crust, but Zouichi would definitely notice."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Get enough murders in one place, though..." He shakes his head. He doesn't know why he's fixating on this. He winces a bit and runs his hand over his forehead. Since the concussion he's been having killer headaches.

"Food's always more useful. Number one rule of being in a survival zone - everything revolves around food, always." He points at Cedric; he's trying to impress a point. It may save Cedric's life some day. "And don't worry, we can pack away this pie before he even gets back."

Honestly, Howard bets he could inhale the whole pie in under five minutes.

[theboywhodied]

"Yeah. Not that it matters now. We're all in the same boat."

Cedric really is getting hungry, though. The more the pie thaws, the more delicious it smells. He smiles conspiratorially and flicks his wand, heating the top more evenly. It's perfectly browned.

"And water, of course," he chimes in. "We're safe for now."

No telling when that will end again, though.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Water's usually not such a big thing, since there's like, bodies of water around. People know how to utilize those more than they know how to like, raise crops or slaughter cows or whatever." He looks out the window. "I mean, if Stacy stopped feeding us tomorrow, we'd be running straight into storage for food. But we'd still have the river for fresh water. Does that make sense?"

He wants to believe they're safe for now. He really does. He wants to believe that someday, maybe, he'll be capable of believing such things at all. But now he just looks sad.

"For now." He doesn't believe that either.