I woke up in total dark. It was still dark out? Must've not slept long.. I heard a few noises coming from the kitchen, getting up to investigate. I rubbed my tired eyes, noticing the light in the kitchen was on.
Swiss. I knew this would be a problem. The poor ghoul seemed genuinely tired but unable to sleep.
"Swiss.." I whispered, the ghoul turning to me. His eyes were red. Looks like he didn't even fall asleep tonight..
"Flare— sorry I woke you" he said, almost embarrassed.
"It's fine.. I understand you can't sleep" I said, hugging him. He almost fell to the floor from just my 'comforting touch' as he would call it. "You shouldn't be this tired.." I thought out loud.
"The ritual really drained me" he sighed.
"You can come sleep in my bed y'know" I slightly chuckled.
"I wanted to but I didn't want to scare you" he yawned.
"The only people who would've possibly been scared, were Cumulus and Cirrus" I responded. "Did you not drink one of my energy drinks?" I asked, looking over at the sink.
"I tried water?" He weakly smiled "heard it can get you to sleep"
"Alright, you are going to bed now" I said, dragging him to me, Cumulus and Cirrus' room.
I laid down on my bed, pressing myself against the wall so Swiss could comfortably lay. Of course I knew he would somehow end up pressed against my body for warmth, but it's the thought that counts. Swiss set his head on the mattress since he couldn't really fit his head on my pillow. I had wrapped my pointed tail around his waist to secure the fact he wouldn't fall off.
"Flare?" I heard Swiss whisper. I hummed in acknowledgement, closing my eyes. "Thanks for always being so nice to me" he said, moving a bit closer into my warmth.
"You don't need to thank me for that" I whispered back, lowering my head to rest near his neck. "It's my duty as your best friend after all"
His strong arms wrapped around me protectively as if I was the one who was going to fall off of the bed with one turn. I knew this meant he would fall asleep shortly after, me of course following close behind. And surely enough we fell asleep after maybe a minute or two..
>><<
..I woke up, noticing Swiss hadn't gotten up yet, well nobody in the current room had gotten up. Nor were they even awake. I got up, looking out of the window next to my bed.
We were still on the highway, cars and trucks passing by us. I slipped out of bed quite literally, making my way to the kitchen. I was planning on making breakfast since I knew breakfast at the hotel was probably ass compared to my 'home' cooking. That sounds pretty egotistical but it's true!
I laughed at my thoughts, looking through the cupboards for something to make and or fry. I didn't want something over the top since I had gone 'all out' last night. It didn't seem like we had the components for pancakes, but we did have eggs. Some simple scrambled eggs seemed quite nice and it wasn't really something I was known for, since I barely made it like ever.
Alright time to get to work!
The clock showed '6:45AM', perfect time for some breakfast! Of course I didn't know if everyone was okay with scrambled eggs. But if they weren't, the bus driver was an option.
Anyways I washed my hands in the sink, quickly drying them off after. I was really using the fact this bus had clean water to my advantage huh?
Starting off by preheating a pan to medium-low heat, I grabbed a few eggs, cracking them open into a largo bowl. I added the needed herbs to make a mean egg, the amount being chosen from my gut feeling. I whisked the crap out of those eggs 'til none of the egg whites were separated from the yolks. Once that was finished I put 1/5 of a stick of butter in the pan, waiting for it to melt before pouring the eggs in.
I gently stirred the eggs, making sure they wouldn't end up looking tortured by lowering the heat every so often. My main problem with scrambled eggs was always the fact that it had to be cooked all the way through to be properly consumed, even for us ghouls. That was less of a me problem though and more of a them problem in the current situation.
"Scrambled eggs at... 6:57 in the morning?" I heard a now not so tired voice ask.
"You finally woke up" I chuckled, still stirring the eggs.
"Well you did leave me in your bed alone so.." he chuckled.
"So you're blaming me for waking you up?" I asked, turning off the heat but continuing to stir until the fire fully died down, placing a glass lid on.
"Exactly" he laughed, sitting down at one of the tables, staring at me.
"You gonna eat toast?" I asked, buttering up some slices of bread. Swiss nodded, resting his chin in his palm. "Still a bit tired I presume? But your abandonment issues cat behaviour just doesn't stop?" I chuckled at the last part.
"Absolutely" he yawned, now laying his head on his folded arms on the table.
I laughed at that, placing the first two slices of break in a hot pan. While that happened, I got two plates, placing both on the table Swiss was sat at. I went back over to the toast, flipping it over to reveal its beautiful now bronze colour. I waited for a minute or less, taking one of the plates off of the table. I placed the toast on it, adding some egg to the side. I placed this infront of Swiss, who was now sat up straight.
"Thank you for the food once again Flare!" He smiled, looking around for something. I placed the butter infront of him as well since that was probably what he was looking for.
Now it was time to make my toast. It wasn't such a hard thing to do so maybe 3 minutes at max would be used in total. I placed my pieces of bread in the hot pan, quickly leaving the kitchen.
I ran upstairs to Copia, finding almost everyone else and then him. I asked Copia if he wanted breakfast, quickly running back downstairs to make sure I didn't burn my toast.
I arrived back in the kitchen, flipping my bread, perfect. It didn't burn! I waited another minute, placing the toast on a plate right after.
"You know you don't have to make Copia any food right?" Swiss laughed, placing his already empty plate in the sink.
"He's earned it" I laughed, making another batch of toast.
"Yeah but that doesn't mean you need to act like his mom" He responded, leaning on one of the cupboards.
"Well I'm only doing it for Copia" I said, flipping the pieces of now toasted bread.
I saw Swiss roll his eyes out of the corner of my eye "he's grown, he can do it himself yknow"
"You're also grown" I chuckled, plating the food.
"You're too kind Flare" I heard a tired Italian voice say "can't say the same about Swiss" he laughed, taking his plate from my hands.
Swiss rolled his eyes once more, going upstairs to annoy the others most definitely. "So How was your night Copia?" I asked, eating my food stood near the sink.
"It was exciting to say the least" he laughed, taking a bite of toast.
"Good to know" I said.
"About yesterday.. what was that issue of yours?" He asked.
"Some guy tried to rob me or something and I accidentally knocked him out" I explained, laughing at the last part. "And I didn't want to run into him again" I shrugged.
"Ah. Good thing he didn't come to the tour bus! He would've died for sure!" Copia joked, of course it was true but it was a joke nonetheless.
I nodded, grabbing one of my energy drinks from the fridge. "I'm going to go check on the boys" I said, grabbing one of Dewdrop's as well.
I walked up the stairs, hearing a lot of commotion. I'm guessing I was right on what Swiss went to do upstairs. I fully got up the stairs, the commotion stopping the second they caught a glimpse of me. Swiss practically scrambled behind me, giving Dewdrop and Aether a death-glare.
"What did you two do?" I chuckled, looking at Swiss.
"What didn't those two do?!" Swiss shouted, the two guitarists laughing to themselves.
"We just wanted to play a little game" Dewdrop smiled mischievously.
I looked over at Mountain, who was sat with a book in his hand. "Dewdrop convinced Swiss to play fight but FairPlay doesn't exist when it comes to Dewdrop and Aether wouldn't help Swiss up" Mountain quickly explained.
"And you didn't help either?" I said, sitting down on what I assumed was Swiss' bed by its strong scent of cologne that he barely even used. "How does your bed even smell like this?" I asked.
"I have no clue" Swiss shrugged.
"So were you going to give that to me or??" Dewdrop asked, looking at his energy drink in my hand.
"Well I don't know if you've earned it after what you did to Swiss" I said, staring at it in my hand.
Dewdrop pouted, looking over at Mountain, who just shrugged. "No fair! Swiss practically started it!" He protested.
"I know" I chuckled, throwing the drink at Dewdrop. "Couldn't be mad at any of you" I laughed, placing my drink on the floor, falling back on Swiss' bed.
"For complaining about how much Swiss' bed smelled, you're quite literally laying in it now" Rain chuckled, looking up from his book.
"Who said she was complaining?" Swiss chuckled. "She quite enjoys my smell in small amounts" he followed up, taking my drink from the floor.
"It's such an enjoyable smell" I laughed, sitting up straight, taking my energy drink from Swiss' "you want some or??" I asked.
Swiss shook his head "You are insane yknow" he chuckled.
I shrugged, chugging the entire can. "I'm just bored" I rolled my eyes.
"Flare Ghuleh everyone" Swiss laughed.
"Awe thanks mister Swiss Ghoul" I responded, looking over at Dewdrop. "If you're not going to drink it, put it back in the fridge" I told him.
"I'm going to drink it" he quickly responded as if I was going to drink it if he didn't.
I slightly giggled, getting up from Swiss' bed. "Well I'm going back downstairs" I stretched.
"Why not stay a bit longer?" Swiss asked, obviously not wanting to be left alone with Dewdrop.
"Yeah! You should stay!" Aether smiled.
"Fine but I'll need my book" I spoke from almost the second to last step on the stairs. "By the way there's some scrambled eggs in the kitchen!"
I quickly opened the door to the room where Cumulus and Cirrus were still sleeping in, quickly taking Night Owl and a new book named 'Ivy.' with me back upstairs. The book I was going to read after Night Owl was actually suggested to me by Water so it was obviously going to be a romantic one.
"Books?" I heard Mountain ask from where him and Rain were reading.
"Night Owl and Ivy" I responded, sitting on the floor by the two.
"Thought you didn't like romance?" Rain asked.
"I don't but it's only acceptable when it's recommended by one of my 'brothers" I laughed, opening Night Owl where I left off.
"Water specifically since he's the only one who reads romance" Swiss snickered from his bed.
I finished Night Owl, taking Ivy into my hands now. I turned the book so the back was visible, reading what stood on the back.
"She wants them dead but ends up falling in love with them. Her past catches up to her soon enough and she disappears into the darkness.."
"Wait so our hotel is connected to the place we're performing at tonight?" Rain asked, looking up from his book.
"Exactly!" I heard Copia say from his bed. "Also Flare, what did you think of Night Owl?" he asked.
"It was quite horrible if I'm honest" I said, looking over at Copia.
"So I wasn't the only one!" He responded "it just felt so wrong right?"
"Yup! It didn't feel like a F. V. book!" I said, Mountain and Rain agreeing.
"Absolutely!" He laughed.
"Alright book worms, isn't there anything fun to do other than read?" Dewdrop groaned, clearly tired of watching us talk books.
I placed my books on Mountain's bed, getting up from the floor. "What were you going to suggest anyways?" I laughed, placing a hand on my hip.
"Don't kill him" Mountain chuckled, sliding my books closer to the wall so they wouldn't fall.
"Well I would love some fighting or just I don't know anything but watching you four talk about books!" He responded, slightly nervous from Mountain's words to me.
"Play fighting you say?" I asked, hearing Swiss quickly sit up on his bed.
"Dew you're so dead" Swiss chuckled.
Dewdrop shot Swiss an 'I know' look, looking back at me. "No not necessarily—" he said, cutting himself off because I was now stood closer to him. "Just not book talk"
"Are you scared?" I asked the smallest ghoul.
"Why would I be?" He nervously chuckled.
"Well because I'm a bit taller than you and also a bit stronger" I said, leaning down to make direct eye contact.
"A bit stronger?" I heard Rain laugh.
"Shush I'm not as strong as Mountain so it counts" I laughed at the ghoul. "So you up for a little play fighting?" I asked.
"Well I— I am quite tired! Ask Aether!" Dewdrop obviously lied, hiding behind Aether.
"I mean she's not THAT tall" he shrugged. "But I haven't really 'fought' in a while"
"Perfect!" I smiled.
"You do realize she's a fire ghuleh right?" Swiss chuckled "and that she'll have you on the ground in a blink right?"
"Well— I honestly don't mind" he chuckled.
"I'll go easy on you" I winked at the ghoul. "Since there's barely any room and I don't want to hurt you before a show" I added.
"Considerate of you" he chuckled.
"Well whenever" I said, looking over at Dewdrop, who was now sat on his top bunk. "Wait so who sleeps about Swiss?" I asked.
Aether tried to use my 'distraction' as a chance, landing himself on the floor, arms pinned above his head, and me on top of him. I winked at him, causing him to slightly turn red.
"Well normally Aether but looks like he's at the bottom now" Swiss responded to my question, almost everyone in the room slightly laughing.
"How are you so fast?!" Aether said, shocked at how fast I was.
"Practice" I shrugged, letting go of Aether's hands. "Why do you think Swiss threw so many warnings?"
"She might not be able to beat Mountain but unholy shit" Swiss laughed.
"Well she probably could beat me" Mountain said "she's just making guesses"
"True" I said, looking down at Aether. "You seem comfortable on the floor"
"He's like Copia But with your thighs!" Dewdrop laughed, causing Aether to turn red.
Everyone burst out laughing, leaving Aether embarrassed. "Aeth you can be honest yknow" I chuckled, parting the hair from his face. "Nothing to be ashamed of"
"I for one adore them!" Swiss laughed. "If you ever get the chance lay on her lap and not under it!"
I got up, helping Aether up as well. Aether quickly went to sit next to Dewdrop, Dewdrop teasing him the entire time. I sat on Swiss' bed, leaning on his shoulder.
"I honestly want to be at that hotel already" I groaned.
"You just want to share a room with me" Swiss chuckled.
"Who said she was sharing a room with you?" Dewdrop asked. "For all we know she could be sharing a room with her fellow ghuleh"
"She has to share a room with me" Swiss yawned. "Remember my insomnia that decides it's cured when she is near me?"
"Lucky" Dewdrop mumbled.
"Did you want to share a room with me or something?" I joked, laying my head on Swiss' lap now.
"Maybe" he whispered, Aether being the only one to hear him.
"You're just too comforting!" Aether said, lightly elbowing Dewdrop.
"Well it's not going to be anything special since we're going to be there for like a night" I laughed.
"Plus if you're sharing with me, you better not bring anyone up to our room" I said, pointing at Swiss.
"I wasn't planning to!" He chuckled. "After the show's fine in that green room" he winked.
"I did not need to know that" I chuckled.
"It's true though!" Dewdrop shouted, now sat as the little gremlin he is.
"You're staying in the hotel room after the show huh?" Swiss chuckled.
"I quite literally can't find a nearby forest or park" I groaned. "So I might be a bit grumpy but you're used to it right?" I chuckled, booping Swiss on the nose.
Swiss went silent for a bit. "I never got used to it" he nervously responded, using his fingers to comb through his hair.
"Is Swiss nervous?" Dewdrop asked.
"He sure is" I chuckled. "It's the closest he ever gets to something more than cuddles"
Aether practically died at those words, falling back on Dewdrop's bed, covering his face.
"I feel like Aether is more embarrassed than Swiss right now" Rain laughed from behind his book.
"Swiss is nervous not embarrassed" I corrected the ghoul. "For a ghoul who's been with almost everyone, he's so scared of me"
"Do you just not remember what you did to Mist or???" Swiss said nervously.
"I mean I do" I laughed. "And I could do it again" I stretched, getting up.
"Can you guys maybe not talk about sex while I try to read?" Mountain groaned, flipping the page.
"Say that when you don't participate in those after-show activities" I teased, hearing Aether laugh from behind his hands. "And you start talking when the fact I could hospitalize you doesn't make you a tomato" I directed at Aether but slightly at Swiss.
"Decided to suddenly fire shots?" Swiss chuckled.
"Mountain did it" I shrugged. "I simply don't listen to him when I'm bored"
Mountain rolled his eyes, flipping his page. "I could spoil Ivy to you yknow"
"You wouldn't." I said, giving him a death-glare.
"Then shut up about sex" he threatened.
I rolled my eyes, getting up, grabbing my books from Mountain's bed. "Fine" I said, going downstairs. I noticed Cumulus and Cirrus were sat at one of the tables in the kitchen eating the scrambled eggs I made. "Good morning you two" I smiled.
"Morning darling!" Cirrus waved. "Food is absolutely mouthwatering as always!"
"Thanks! It's nothing special today" I awkwardly laughed. "Anyways I'm going to be in our room" I pointed at the sliding door that lead there.
"Ok see you later!" Cumulus smiled, waving at me.
I walked into our room, flopping onto my bed. Being a fire element of any gender was such a tiring thing. Our 'burning spirit' tired us out so quickly. Dewdrop was so lucky he didn't have that problem.
Normally I didn't have this problem either, but being on the road so much tired me out real quick. I hated it since I would have to sleep instead of literally anything interesting.
I heard knocking on the door. "Come in!" I shouted, the door slowly opening.
"Came here to ask who you'll be sharing rooms with" Copia said, writing on a piece of paper.
"Well Swiss of course" I chuckled.
The cardinal nodded "as expected" he laughed "well have a good rest" he said. "We most likely do arrive in maybe 20 to 30 minutes so don't be all grumpy"
"Thanks" I smiled, Copia leaving the room.
I closed my eyes, focusing on the sound of the bus on the highway and not the sound of the ghouls chattering. When I guess Copia got back upstairs it all went quiet. It was quite peaceful now. I knew I wasn't going to sleep but the peace and quiet was just so enjoyable! I was ecstatic! Peace and quiet was almost a luxury during the early hours so to have it right now was marvellous!
*thump*
There it is again... Not much shouting surprisingly but there was a extra loud and frustrated voice? That was followed by a lot of angry stomps.. Dewdrop. Not like I didn't know that yet by his voice on his own, but seemed like he was upset by something.
In maybe a minute I heard knocking on the door. "FUCK she's asleep isn't she?!" Dewdrop said to himself. I got up, hearing Dew's breath hitch. I opened the door, staring down at Dewdrop, who questioned his next move. "Fuck it" he muttered, pulling me into a hug.
"You— you okay?" I asked, rubbing his back.
"They're fucking making fun of me!" He said, sitting down on my bed.
"With what?" I asked, sitting down next to him.
"My height and that stupid 'women taller than me' thing!" He explained. "It's so annoying"
"They still talk about the taller women thing?" I chuckled, crossing my arms. "But be honest is it true?" I asked with a straight face.
Dewdrop stared at my face, trying to find any sense of joke. "Well— Sort of— but it just doesn't matter!" He carefully said.
"Alright.." I choked back a laugh.
Dewdrop noticed that. "It's not funny!" He yelled.
"I know I know" I raised my hands in defence. "I wasn't laughing at that anyways"
"You weren't?" He tilted his head.
"No of course not!" I patted him on the back. "No shame"
Dewdrop stared into my eyes once again, obviously trying to find even the smallest bit of a lie in them. Of course I had one good poker face, but this was genuine.
"Swiss was right.. you are too nice" Dewdrop said, falling into another one of my hugs.
"Well Swiss isn't wrong whenever it comes to me now is he?" I chuckled, giving Dewdrop a kiss on his forehead.
"He really isn't" he chuckled.
I looked out of the window, noticing we were already in a civilized area. "We might be arriving soon" I said.
Dewdrop hugged me tighter. "Can I just stay in this hug until then?" He asked.
"Of course!" I laughed. "The ghulehs are always here to comfort you"
"Yeah but specifically the fire ghuleh" he mumbled.
"Aww" I smiled, carefully rubbing his back.
Dewdrop was obviously tired. Him out of most of us shouldn't have been, but he was. Even if he was still partially a water ghoul, he made sure to lose all that energy by being who he was. I thought it was adorable since he'd just be knocked out at the end of the day.
I looked down at the ghoul, noticing he had fallen asleep. Adorable.. he was still trying to hold on to me, but his grip couldn't get any stronger in his current state.
I heard a knock at the door, looking over. "Come in" I said.
Aether entered the room. "Sorry if he— oh— he's asleep?" The quintessence ghoul said shocked.
I nodded. "He tired himself out"
"I'm surprised he fell asleep on you like that" Aether chuckled, sitting down next to me and Dewdrop. "I'll take him off of you if you want"
"No it's fine" I chuckled. "I have a feeling moving him now will wake him"
Aether nodded. "I suppose it's better than going back upstairs"
"And also when you go back upstairs, tell whoever was making fun of Dew that they're so dead" I said.
"I sure will" he laughed, getting up to go back upstairs. "See you in a bit" he excused himself, sliding the door closed behind him.
I looked out of the window, thinking about what I was going to do with Dewdrop. Wake him up or carry him? He needed his rest but in all honesty I didn't know if he was ok with me carrying him. I had remembered how he could get being touched, but that was like more than a week ago. Maybe his opinions changed or something? Since he was so ok hugging me, but maybe that was just the tiredness talking to him.
I blinked a bit, noticing we were coming to halt. Alright I'm going to have to make a choice.. uhh.. I'll just carry him and put him down if he wakes up? Why did I even care that much? Just because he was slightly emotional half an hour ago, doesn't mean I need to take care of him or something.
The tour bus had come to a full stop now. I asked Cirrus if she could take my suitcase to Swiss so he could bring it up to our room. Decided on carrying Dewdrop. I got up, mask on, carrying the ghoul bridal style but a bit different, stepping out of the tour bus.
"What he's your baby now?" Swiss chuckled, holding both of our suitcases.
I shot him a death-glare. "You have no right saying that when you guys all were so mean to him"
"Woah! He really is your baby!" Swiss laughed. "He was also being mean to us y'know"
"Yeah but that's to be expected from the youngest ghoul" I said, walking into the hotel
"Oh come on! He's literally like a year or two younger than.." he said, stopping to think.
"Exactly" I said, looking for Aether. "Anyways I need to find Aether"
"How isn't he in trouble?!" Swiss asked.
I shrugged. "Because Aether is sweet most of the time"
"Flare!" I heard from behind me, turning around. "Ohh seems you've got Dewdrop!" Aether smiled, putting on Dew's mask. "There! Now you don't need to hide him" he laughed, referring to how I had his face really close to my chest.
I awkwardly chuckled "so do you know which room you have?" I asked, looking at Dew's now covered face.
"Oh! Why yes of course!" He laughed, walking over to the elevator. "Turns out we'll be sharing rooms in fours!" He said, pressing the elevator button to the 7th floor.
"And??" I asked for him to continue.
"You and Swiss are still roomed together" he laughed. "But you just share a room with me and Dew over here" he answered, arriving at the 7th floor.
I sighed in relief. "Alright and the others? We're with 9 so it can't be perfectly split up"
"Oh! Copia got his own room" Aether shrugged. "Manager said it's something with the fact Copia should be around ghouls when he sleeps?"
"Yikes" I responded, waiting for Aether to open the door.
"Exactly!" He said. "Seems like we chose the wrong person as manager this time around"
"Absolutely" I responded, placing Dewdrop down on a bed.
Dewdrop stirred a bit, trying to hold onto my neck. I looked over at Aether, who just shrugged.
"I have no idea" he said "he normally doesn't do that"
By now Swiss had finally arrived. "You guys just left me down in the lobby!"
Me and Aether giggled. "Should've followed us" I said, trying to get up, being grabbed by Dewdrop again.
"Looks like someone got a taste of the 'comforting touch' and won't let go" Swiss laughed, closing the door behind himself.
"It's quite adorable" I chuckled, taking off my mask.
"The gremlin? Adorable?" Swiss fake gasped. I could see Dewdrop tiredly raise his middle finger to Swiss. "Wow even in his sleep he can be mean" Swiss pointed.
"Well you kind of started it" I laughed.
"And I don't go down without a fight" Dewdrop said, yawning throughout most of it.
I guess he noticed how he was practically holding me hostage, quickly letting go.
"Sorry" he apologized almost embarrassed.
"It's fine" I chuckled. "It was quite adorable"
I got up, walking over to Swiss. "Flare can you not call the gremlin cute?" Swiss chuckled.
"Well I think 'the gremlin' is adorable so deal with it" I booped Swiss on the nose. "AND it has nothing to do with his height before you start on that"
I looked over at Aether. "Dew's adorable right?" I asked.
Aether nodded, earning a glare from Swiss. "Well you two sure don't have any idea what adorable is" Swiss said, checking his phone. "Geez we're going to have either a good night or a bad one"
"A bad one" I sang, flopping onto my bed.
"One to ten?" Swiss asked.
"Hm... oh! A seven for sure!" I slightly laughed.
Swiss groaned. "Those sisters better be good tonight"
"Why did we have to share a room with grumpy Flare out of everyone?!" Dewdrop groaned.
"Oh shush Gremlin! You're not the one who sleeps next to her for a good nights rest" Swiss scoffed.
"My radius of grumpiness is only to the people in the same bed" I giggled.
"Hey! Don't call me gremlin" Dewdrop yelled.
"It's true!" Swiss laughed in response. And that's how the two started bickering again..
I got up, walking to what I assumed was the door to the bathroom. "Is this the bathroom?" I asked, pointing at the door.
"It should be!" Aether said over the two other ghouls's voices.
"Great" I responded, opening my suitcase.
"Are you going to shower?" Aether asked. I simply nodded in response, placing my needed clothing on the floor. "Well— don't take too long!" He got out, Dewdrop immediately turning to me and then Aether with a mischievous smile.
I took my clothes, walking into the bathroom, locking the door behind me. I could hear Dewdrop and Swiss teasing Aether about something but paid it no mind. I got out of my clothing from the other day, folding them neatly. I ran the shower, hearing only the water.
I looked around the bathroom for a shampoo, seeing only their most likely horrible hotel shampoo. I groaned, stepping into the shower.
I let the warm water flow over my ghoulish skin, cleaning my body from any sweat that stuck to me. After that I turned the water off, making sure that the water was set to what wouldn't burn my fellow band mates.
I dried myself off, putting my band clothes on. I got out of the bathroom, buttoning my black button up shirt.
I got up to four buttons before Swiss looked up at me from his bed "No fucking way are you putting on your clothes with wet hair" Swiss got up. "If you guys would excuse us"
"It'll dry" I rolled my eyes, being pushed into the bathroom. "You're not my dad y'know" I chuckled.
"I know but I am not going to watch your clothes get wet" he said, grabbing my towel.
I unbuttoned my partially wet shirt, placing it on the counter with my tank top that I always wore under it. "You act like you know how to care for hair better than anyone else in this room" I said.
"And you act as if you can't catch a cold" he responded, getting the hotel's hair dryer as well.
"You're going to mess up my hair" I gasped.
"I'll comb through it after" he shrugged, turning on the dryer.
I turned to him "promise?"
"Promise" he laughed, drying my hair. "Y'know you really didn't have to take off your tank top"
I rolled my eyes once again. "It isn't better?" I asked, tilting my head back to look at Swiss.
He playfully hit me on the head with the dryer. "Being flirty is my job and ask Aether or Dewdrop for that one"
"Fine" I sighed. "Dewdrop!" I shouted, hearing footsteps stop infront of the half open bathroom door.
"What is it?" He said from behind the door.
I tilted my head a bit "Are you hiding behind the door?" I asked.
"Don't think he's quite used to you without your outfit" Swiss chuckled. "Or without tank top"
"Well anyways! I need your opinion on which is better" I said.
Dewdrop hid behind the door, poking his face into the bathroom "What— is it?" He said.
"Well.. you know how Swiss was mad I was getting my clothes wet right?" I started. "Well I obviously took off my tank top too because it would've gotten wet too but Swiss is telling me I could've kept it on" I quickly explained. "So I said it would've been a horrible idea! But he wants someone else's opinion on it now too"
Dewdrop looked at me and then Swiss. "Well— you're in the right— but you should've dried your hair before putting on any of your clothes" he carefully responded.
Swiss finished drying my hair, putting away the hairdryer. "Well that is correct but it honestly didn't matter if she kept the top on or not" Swiss chuckled.
"Then why make me call over Dewdrop if it didn't matter?" I asked.
Swiss raised an eyebrow, looking me up and down. "Well..." he extended the hell out of that singular word.
"You're so not sleeping tonight" I laughed, quickly putting my tank top back on.
"Worth it" he laughed. "Plus still want me to comb through your hair?"
"Of course I do!" I answered, putting my button up back on.
"Not going to button it?" He asked, leaving the bathroom to find my comb.
I also left the bathroom, turning the light off. "Well..." I mocked Swiss.
"You're going to kill these two y'know" he chuckled, finding the comb.
"You two don't mind that I keep this unbuttoned right?" I asked, turning to the two.
"Well actually— we are going somewhere!" Aether responded, dragging Dewdrop out of the door. "See you two in an hour or less!"
"So?" I turned to Swiss, who lightly hit me on the head with the comb.
"Ten our of ten" he chuckled, both of us sitting down so combing out my hair was easier. "Did you let your hair grow out?" He asked.
"Mhm! Didn't do anything to damage it for a whole two months!" I said proudly.
"Noticeable" he said, making sure my hair had no knots. "So... were you going to cook again tonight?" Swiss smirked.
"Well since we're at a hotel, I don't see why I would" I responded.
"Good point" he shrugged.
I let out a sigh. "At what time do we need to be down in that performance hall or whatever it was?" I asked, Swiss getting up to put away my comb.
"I honestly don't know.." Swiss said in return. "Normally Aether knows, but suddenly he's a hormonal teenager seeing a woman for the first time" he chuckled.
"C'mon it takes a lot of getting used to" I laughed, nudging Swiss slightly. "An almost half naked ghuleh and all"
"Being known around the abbey helped a lot with that" he smirked.
"Yeah sure.. being known" I repeated him.
Swiss stared at me for a bit. "And that's also how I can so easily focus on your beautiful eyes"
"The only person where I don't need to go 'my eyes are up here' to" I laughed.
"Of course." he smiled, staring out of the large window.
"You're so proud of that" I laughed, pointing out his tail which was almost wagging like a dog's if it were possible.
"Well it's something I am proud of" he chuckled. "And I don't really see anything wrong with that"
I giggled at his response, finally buttoning my shirt. "So we going down to the lobby once I'm fully dressed?" I asked, getting to the last button.
"Sure! Aether did say an hour or less" Swiss recalled. "Just get dressed and then we can go"
I nodded, grabbing one of my extra ties from my suitcase. Swiss just sat on his bed, watching me put on the final piece to the outfit, making sure he had the hotel keycard and my bag.
"Ta-da!" I spun around.
"Amazing as always" Swiss clapped. "But aren't you missing something?"
I rolled my eyes, putting on my mask. "Better?"
"Way better" he chuckled, already standing by the door. "Now can we go?"
We walked out of the door, trying not to make eye contact with any humans we came across. Sure we were in our human forms, but we looked far from the people attending the ritual. Our masks were real silver while theirs most definitely weren't. Being spotted would be the worst possible thing.
Me and Swiss got off of the elevator, walking into the lobby of the hotel. We spotted Cirrus and Cumulus, walking over to the two.
"Oh! You smell lovely Flare! Took the chance to shower?" Cumulus laughed.
"Sure did!" I smiled.
"And that new outfit!" Cirrus noticed. "I love how you got fully changed!"
"I even combed her hair! But you can't really see it" Swiss chuckled.
"So has Dewdrop been nice?" Cumulus asked, getting all serious.
"Well of course! He did have an argument with Swiss but meh" I shrugged.
"Oh! Alright" Cumulus said, sharing a look with Cirrus. "Shall we go to the green room then?"
"Sure!" Swiss quickly responded.
We walked down the halls into what seemed like a whole different building, which is practically was but let's not get into that. We arrived at the green room, sitting down on some of the couches.
"You got something on your mind?" Swiss asked, leaning on my shoulder.
"No, it's nothing" I chuckled, checking my phone.
I saw a few messages from a few of the others and surprisingly also Omega? I guess he found his charger after a year or so. I decided to open his text.
>><<
Omega
-Hey sis
-Call me if you wanna chat!
-Free for the whole day
Seen 3:45pm
>><<
I looked around the room for a bit, getting up from my position on the couch. I felt everyone's eyes on me, walking out of the green room into the empty hallway. I pressed the call button next to Omega's name, the phone ringing maybe two times before being picked up.
"Hello?" I heard Omega's voice say through the phone.
"Omega!" I smiled at his voice.
"Sis!" He responded, the sound of Alpha and Water also wanting to get in on the call very obvious in the background. "How's tour?"
"It's going good! Knocked out a mugger the other day" I laughed.
"That's our fire ghuleh!" Alpha yelled loud enough for me to hear properly through the phone.
I laughed "Hi Alpha and Water!" I said, hearing two voices say 'hi' back.
"Well good to know you're doing fine!" Omega said. "You have a sound check in a bit right?" He asked.
"Normally we don't have to do it tonight?" I said, looking out into the hallway. "Something about letting us rest a bit while crew tried out doing soundcheck on their own?"
"You should go help them before they mess it up" the ghoul on the other line chuckled.
"I really should" I realized. "Ok! Uh— call you tonight!" I said. "Say bye to the other two for me! Say hi to Mist for me too!" I quickly spoke.
"Will do! Love you sis!" Omega said, hanging up.
I smiled, walking back into the green room, placing my phone in my bag, leaving once again. I walked down the hall to where the entrance to the stage was.
"Miss Flare you didn't need to come remember?!" One of the crew members gasped.
"It's my duty to help isn't it?" I innocently smiled.
"You're too nice.." they sighed. "We were actually having problems with getting the vocal settings correct"
"Anything I can do to help?" I tilted my head.
"Yes go up there and use the main mic while that sister is on the secondary one" they pointed.
I nodded, not really wanting a sister of sin near the keyboards. I got on stage, hearing her butchered singing, cringing at the sound. I went up to the main mic, singing my main testing tune into it. Once I got the green light that it was fixed, I walked back to where I talked to that one crew member.
"Absolutely stunning miss Flare!" They clapped.
"Do me a favour and clean off my mic by the keyboards before the show" I smiled, walking out of the door.
I got back to the green room, noticing everyone was there now.
"So... a phone call to Omega and then you disappear?" Swiss chuckled.
"None of your business" I smiled, taking my phone out of his hands. "Plus you shouldn't snoop around"
"I told him not to!" Dewdrop laughed.
"I know mister 'I respect women" I teased, sitting down next to him and Swiss.
I took my book from my bag, reading through it a bit. I felt eyes on me, turning around to see Aether also reading the pages I was on. He was stood behind the couch, reading over my shoulder specifically.
"Oh— sorry! That book just seemed quite interesting" he nervously apologized.
"It's fine" I smiled "just tell me when you're done reading the pages"
"Oh alright!" He smiled, looking back at the page he was on.
"Isn't Aether the slowest reader out of all of us?" Swiss asked.
"Yup" I responded, turning to Swiss. "And I'm the fastest!"
"You got that from Water" Swiss chuckled.
"Sure did!" I smiled.
"5 minutes!" We heard from behind the door.
I rolled my eyes, placing my book back in my bag once Aether told me he was done reading the page.
After the show I quickly ran to the green room, hoping I wouldn't run into anyone, grabbing my bag. I was tired and not in the mood to even see a sibling of sin currently. I quickly walked down the hall into the hotel's main lobby. I did bump into a few fans, which didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. I got to our hotel room, flopping onto my bed.
I sat up, wanting to take another shower. I was not going to sleep in these clothes.
I grabbed my own band t-shirt and a few other stuff from my suitcase, walking into the bathroom. I remembered that we hadn't really had dinner yet, taking off my clothes. I had to put them back on once I was done showering..
"I should've gone to the restaurant instead of here" I sighed, standing under the warm water.
I finished, fully drying my hair with the hairdryer, putting my clothes on after. I laughed at that, thinking about how Swiss flipped about my wet hair. I made sure my mask was on and secure, grabbing my bag once more.
I walked out of the hotel room, going down to the restaurant to order some food. I sat down at their largest table, inspecting their menu.
"Hi! How can I help you?" The waitress asked, holding a tiny notepad.
"Oh I'm waiting for my friends! Could I just have nine waters for now?" I requested.
"Absolutely!" The waitress smiled.
The waitress walked away from my table. I checked my phone, seeing a few messages from Swiss.
>><<
Swiss
-Are you going to wait at the
restaurant for us?
-We'll be there in 10
-Just order us all waters please!
Seen 5:57pm
>><<
That text was sent maybe 5 minutes ago. I responded with a quick "already did"
I waiting for a few minutes, the waitress having come back with a large two litre water bottle and nine glasses. She had filled mine, but kept the others empty for obvious reasons.
"Wow you actually waited for us!" I heard someone say from behind me.
"You guys smell like ass" I cringed, taking a sip of my water.
"And you smell like... roses?" Dewdrop sniffed me.
"She obviously took a shower" Swiss laughed, sitting down at the table. "And dried her hair for once"
"No but seriously you guys aren't allowed on any of the beds until you have showered" I said, looking at the menu.
"Wait who's paying?" Copia asked. "I forgot my wallet.."
I rolled my eyes. "Do you guys just forget everything?" I chuckled.
"Don't tell me you're the only one with their wallet" Rain said.
"She is" Swiss chuckled.
"You better know what you want to order" I said, handing my menu to Swiss.
Everyone inspected the menu, placing the sheets of laminated paper back on the table.
"Can I just say that the ghulehs smell the least" I commented, calling the nearest waiter or waitress over.
We all placed our orders, chatting about a few things. After the meal I paid for the food, leaving a generous tip for the waitress who was able to withstand the smell of the ghouls.
"You really shouldn't have given her such a large tip!" Aether said.
"Yeah that's like half of my money gone to a tip!" Dewdrop said.
"Do you not manage your money?" I asked.
"What?" The smallest said, confused.
"Doesn't matter" I shrugged. "Just take a shower next time and I won't need to leave such a large tip"
"We don't really have time for showers" Swiss tried to argue.
"You do. You're just horny" I responded opening our hotel room. "Dewdrop. Shower. Now." I ordered the ghoul, taking my shoes off.
"What about me and Aeth?" Swiss asked, letting go of his human form to reveal his ghoul form.
"I mean you can join him or you can wait on the floor" I responded, taking the clothes I was going to wear to bed from my suitcase once more.
"Are you going to change right now?" Swiss asked.
"Well isn't really anywhere else to change" I shrugged, taking off my mask. "I mean I would've done it in the bathroom but I don't want any of you sitting on any of the beds"
"Well at least wait for Aether to go into the bathroom" Swiss chuckled.
I rolled my eyes "so how's the floor?" I smirked, loosening my tie and taking it off.
"Comforting" he responded.
"Alright..?" I said a bit suspicious of his answer.
I walked over to Swiss' suitcase, taking out all the needed clothing he'd need.
"Aether did Dewdrop bring any casuals?" I turned to the ghoul.
"Barely" he responded.
I nodded, grabbing another shirt from Swiss' suitcase. "Woah! Those are my clothes!" Swiss tried to stop me. I held up the shirt, letting it fold open. "Alright that isn't mine.." he said quite defeated.
It in fact wasn't his shirt, it was one of mine. I had a size bigger than his so it was a bit obvious which was his and which was mine.
"You literally keep almost all of my shirts" I laughed.
After that I gave Dewdrop my shirt I had stolen back from Swiss plus some sweats to wear. Of course they were a bit oversized on him but it was quite adorable. The other two got showered and I got changed. After that it was lights out...