Hello everyone and welcome back to HellFall! I don't like saying stuff in intros as much anymore, as you can probably tell, so we're just going to get right into it.
The next morning I awoke sprawled out across a couch, the sun reflecting off my eyeballs. I blinked a few times, trying to remember where I was. My brain hurt badly, and I started to raise my hand to rub it, but it was stuck. Looking down I saw something on top of me. As my vision cleared I realized that it was a child. As my brain began to function properly again I recognized her as Petunia. She was lying sideways across my gut, my hand stuck under her. My other hand was hanging off the side of the couch, so I raised that one and rubbed my forehead.
Trying to sit up, I found myself too tired to push Petunia off.
She groaned, "Stop moving so much" She mumbled drowsily.
I reached out and shook her shoulder, "I need to get up" I said, bringing my hand up suddenly to rub my aching head.
She swung out her arm lazily in an attempt to smack me, "Don't touch me" she moaned.
Eventually I decided to just roll off the couch, so that's what I did. I hit my shoulder against the hardwood floor, but at least it wasn't my head. Petunia's legs drooped down on the ground, and slowly the rest of her body started to slide as well.
"Landslide!" She called drowsily.
I smiled, pushing myself to my feet and looking down at her. Her chin was placed on the couch cushion, with her body bending backwards until it laid flat on the ground. Reaching down, I did my best to lift her up back onto the couch so that she wouldn't look so uncomfortable.
As I started to walk away she adjusted herself and fell asleep again. I took one last glance at her, then turned and looked around the house. I hadn't gotten a good look at it the night before. The floor was made of dark hardwood, and the walls were white. The door and window frames were light blue, and the couches behind me were yellowish-white and arranged in a curved line around a large television. Behind the couches was a massive window stretching up to the ceiling and along a large portion of the wall.
In front of me was a doorway. Walking inside, I realized that it was the kitchen. All the cabinets were dark brown colored, with white marble countertops and a similar sink and water tap. I was surprised to find how different the two rooms were.
Going to the wood covered refrigerator, I opened it up to look at what was available in terms of food.
"Find anything tasty?" Petunia asked drowsily. I turned, seeing her looking at me from the couch through her barely opened eyes. She was stretching her arms up above her head.
"Not sure" I replied, looking around a bit more. Inside I found several hunks of raw meat, two milk jugs; one labelled 'Hail' and the other labelled 'Anyone'. The one marked 'Hail' was almost empty, and the other was mostly full. "Hail still loves her milk eh?" I asked.
Petunia groaned as she stretched, "Oh yes" she replied.
Looking around a bit more, I found a six pack of purple soda cans labelled 'People like Grapes'.
"You guys still drink PLG?" I asked, using the abbreviation for the drink name.
"Of course." Petunia replied, letting her arms fall loosely onto her head, "That was the stuff back at Beacon"
"The stuff of vending machines" I replied.
"The stuff of legend" Petunia corrected.
I snickered, triggering another headache, this one lighter than the last, and looked around a bit more, "Any alcohol?" I asked.
"It's all in the cooler." Petunia replied, "Haven't you had enough?"
"I have," I replied, "but I was just curious"
"The cooler's only for nights like yesterday." She said, "PLG's just for when we're thirsty but don't want to get hammered"
"Or don't' want to drink water." I added, "Why don't you just have one though? Are you really that bad at holding your liquor?"
Petunia shrugged sarcastically, "Well…" She started.
"Seriously?" I asked, laughing before another headache interrupted me.
"After one I just keep grabbing them." She replied, "It's like an addiction"
"Alcoholic" I said, closing the fridge.
"Hey!" Petunia said, sitting upright on the couch, "Only when I actually drink. I don't have to drink"
I looked over at her, "Ever?" I asked.
"Yes!" She replied.
I smiled, staring at her.
"Okay maybe I need it sometimes" She admitted.
I kept staring at her.
"Often"
"How often?"
"Once a month"
"Liar"
"What will make you believe me?"
"The truth" I replied.
She sighed, then admitted, "Every week"
"Seriously?" I asked, "That's what people around here call an addiction"
"Shut up." Petunia said, "Besides, you clearly can't hold your liquor"
"I can hold it" I replied.
"Prove it" She challenged.
"Well I'm not going to take a drink right now if that's what you want" I said.
"Why not?"
"Because I have a crazy hangover from last night"
She snickered, "Please," She said, "I could keep drinking right now if I wanted to"
"That's because you're addicted"
"Oh shut up!" She called, throwing a pillow from the couch at me. She still hadn't recovered much strength, so the cushion only made it to the doorway to the kitchen.
"Nice throw" I said.
She started laughing. I laughed too.
"What's all the racket in here?" Hail asked, staggering into the living room. Her glasses were crooked on her face, and her hair was messy.
"That's a nice look for you Hail" I commented.
"Oh hush up." She said, "What's going on here?"
"Having a breakfast conversation" I replied.
Hail looked into the kitchen, "Where's the food?" She asked.
"In the fridge" I replied.
"Then how can you be having a conversation over breakfast when there isn't any food?" She asked.
"We're still figuring that out" I replied.
Hail nodded, then reached up and rubbed her head, "Well, you seem like you're in good shape." She said, then pointed to the fridge, "Cook us something good"
"What do you expect me to make?" I asked.
"I don't know." Hail replied, "Remember those really good meals you made over the campfire? Make one of those"
"Those are dinner and lunch meals though," I pointed out, "and they require a campfire. I don't know how to do it with an oven"
Hail fell down onto a couch and stretched out across it, "You'll figure it out" She replied, shutting her eyes and immediately starting to snore.
I looked over at Petunia, "That sure stirs up memories" I said.
"What does?" She asked. "The campfire meals?"
I pointed to Hail, "That noise" I replied.
Petunia looked over, then laughed, "Oh yeah." She replied. "Stay with us and you'll get to hear that all night"
I smiled, "Oh boy" I replied sarcastically.
"So what are you going to make for us today?" She asked.
I shrugged, "I dunno." I replied, "I'll figure it out I guess"
Opening the fridge again, I looked through what was there, and eventually settled on small breakfast sausages, omelets, and milk.
Taking the food outside, I found some logs of wood around the side of the house. I set up a cone shape with the wood, then returned to the house and found some paper and a lighter.
"Did anyone here take up smoking?" I asked Petunia, holding up the lighter.
"No," She replied, "none of us can breathe fire, either, so we've needed that for making one"
"Right" I replied.
"Are you seriously cooking it over a campfire?" She asked.
"That's what Hail asked for, right?" I asked.
I opened the front door and headed outside to the front yard where I had set up the wood. Crumpling up and placing the paper inside the cone, then lighting the paper on fire, I sat down and waited, blowing on the embers occasionally. Eventually a fire blazed up before me, and I started to cook. I had already grabbed a pan, so I was able to cook everything without burning myself.
I flipped the omelets into the air and back onto the pan so that both sides could cook. When I finished I put out the fire, then brought the food back inside and set it all on plates on a small round table in the corner of the kitchen, just next to a window. To top it all off I poured everyone milk, using up the last of Hail's in the process.
Walking out to the doorway to the kitchen, I called to the two people now sleeping on the couches, "Breakfast!"
They both shook awake, startled.
"Don't sneak up on my like that!" Hail complained.
"I didn't" I replied.
"Whatever." Hail said, "What is it?"
"Breakfast" I replied.
She pushed herself off the couch, "'bout time" she mumbled.
Petunia stood slower, walking past me to the kitchen to sit down.
"Where's Steam?" I asked.
"Probably out puking" Hail replied, sitting down in front of a plate of food.
"Why?" I asked.
"Alcohol doesn't agree with his old stomach" She replied.
I sighed, going and sitting down with everyone. Luckily Hail sat down where her glass of milk was.
"I could smell it from here" She said.
"Well you're out as well" I said.
She slammed her utensils down on the table, "Honestly?" She asked, a deathly serious look on her face.
"Yeah" I replied.
"Don't worry about it Hail," Petunia said, "maybe you could try some decent milk for once"
"Oh please," Hail said, "that stuff is an abomination"
"It is not." Petunia replied, "It's delicious"
"Like Keinan Garry?" I asked.
"Exactly like that" Hail laughed.
"Oh shut up." Petunia said, "It's an acquired taste"
"You're the only one who's ever acquired it in this world" Hail said.
Petunia hit her arm lightly.
I laughed, starting to eat my food.
"So how long will Steam be?" I asked.
"Not long." Hail replied, "Once he's washed out the flavor of puke, he'll join us"
"You talk about puke as if it's something tasty." I replied, "Calling it a flavor"
"Oh," Hail started, "you've never heard of a puke soufflé? It's a true delicacy"
"Like Keinan Garry?" I asked.
Petunia punched my arm, "Don't trash talk Garry!" She exclaimed.
"By the way," Hail started, "you had some work to do last night, right?"
I paused as I chewed, "Oh yeah," I replied, "I did. What time is it?"
"Almost midday" Hail replied.
I paused to think, trying to remember when I'd gotten to the tournament yesterday. Just after lunch. "Crap" I said.
"Better act quickly." Hail said, "The tournament's starting up again soon"
"I know" I replied, eating my food faster. Once I finished it up I stood and looked around for my tournament match-ups sheet. Seeing my jacket lying on the ground near the front door, I picked it up, found the paper in one of the pockets, and slipped into the sleeves.
"We aren't fighting today right?" I asked.
"We won't fight for a few more days," Petunia replied, "these beginning matches take forever to finish"
"Okay, thanks." I said, opening the front door, "You don't mind if I come back after?" I asked.
"Of course not!" Petunia replied, "Heck, why don't you just move in with us?"
I paused, then nodded slowly, "Maybe" I replied before heading outside.
Looking around, I realized that something was missing. "Where's my moped?!"
A pretty laid back chapter if you ask me. A lot of the beginning Crimson II chapters are pretty laid back, but the later ones will definitely be more story-focused and interesting than these last few. I felt like this was a goofier chapter than most, but maybe that's just me.
I really haven't been writing this story a whole lot recently, as I am way ahead of how much I've posted here. And as I mentioned last week, I've started another story. I'm planning on posting the first chapter pretty soon actually, on the site called Fictionpress. So if your interested, I'm under the same name on that site. I'll likely inform you next week if I posted it though. (I promise, this isn't an advertisement, its a suggestion)
Also, I don't want to sound ungrateful or angry, but I've been noticing that I haven't been receiving a whole lot of reviews lately. You don't have to leave one, but its certainly a lot more encouraging to receive a notification (in the form of a review) that someone has recently binge-read my story over someone favoriting/following it. Despite binge-reading probably being pretty unhealthy for your eyes, I'm happy to see that people are enjoying this story enough to do that. Again, I don't want to sound ungrateful, because I am very grateful of you guys, but receiving a review is way more exciting and encouraging than a simple favorite or follow.
Anyways, as usual, favorite, follow, review, tell your friends, tell your enemies, or don't if you don't want to, and I'll see you all in the next chapter.