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(no subject)

Date & Time: 26th-29th December
Location: Japan during the late 16th century!
Characters: A whole bunch of people!
Summary: Saving rice, fighting insects!!
Warnings: None yet!

Summer at its height: a middle-sized village on the outskirts of a province in the midst of a famine with almost wilting half-grown rice crops after their river for some reason ran dry.

With taxes to pay and war nearing or already at their borders, the people of the village though friendly are weary and in despair over their future.

For now.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ the tent's too small.

a lump of something fluttering and soft flumps onto totsuka's face just as his victim rolls over, summarily elbowing in the arm -- only half by accident.

tl;dr - cover yourself more with those blankets, you fool, and stop cuddling people in the dark!! ]

[ he jerks awake in surprise, lifting the blankets off his face in confusion, eyes squinting trying to adjust to the darkness at suddenly being woken up ]

...King?

You're in the wrong bed.

[ drowsing-low. ]

[ glances around: the sleeping faces of everyone else, the blanket in his arms, King.

he laughs softly, a ahaha ] I was drawn to your warmth, I guess.

[ saying so, he looks down at the blankets again. ] Want to share?

. . .

[ dryly - ]

Doesn't feel cold enough for that.

[ siiiitting up, straightening the blanket so he holds it by the longer end, gently placing half of it over Suoh's top half and--

just sits there, looking. ]

[ . . . grumpy noiiiiiise. ]

What happened to yours?

Being put to good use.

[ somewhere in this village covering a sick shivering child.

stillll watching though. ]

Not with you.

[ translation: clearly not good enough. ]

No~ope.

[ placing the other half of the blanket over his lap. ]

Don't worry, don't worry, I'll be fine with just this!

Moron. You're not that short.

[ heavy pause. ]

Anymore.

[ chuckling-- ]

My height was average for my age! You were just too big, King! You and Kusanagi-san both.

Nah.

[ thoughtful, almost edgeless. ]

You were just too small to tell.

My smaller self was a very knowledgeable person! Anyway, I'm not that small anymore. Maybe, one day, I'll catch up?

Then you're gonna have to get your own tent.

[ you're taking up far too much of this one as is!! ]

[ but he likes it here ): ]

...I guess I have no choice but to accept the fact that you and Kusanagi-san will always be bigger than I am.

. . . hah. Doesn't mean you're gonna fit.

Don't worry, don't worry! I'll fit right in. It's not that bad right now, right?

[ irritably, he levers himself up onto one elbow to actually look at totsuka in a stretch of resounding silence. ]

You're that cold?

[ there's a pause, almost a falter, surprise visible in widened eyes.

but in the next moment it vanishes, replaced by a smile. ]

Yep! But, I have this blanket now! [ hands under it, raising it ever so slightly. ]

[ with a ssssigh.

he holds out a hand -- the left, as always. ]

[ without thinking, instinctively, reaching for a hand he will never refuse ]

[ abrupt, soundless, red sinks through the tent. too dim to be light, but surging warm as his fingers tighten on totsuka's. he waits, not counting, only looking at totsuka with the blank silence of -- what? nothing really kind. nothing that remembers in its bones how to be human.

and then he lets go.

the light dies, but the rest of it lasts. ]

[ he fights to keep a smile, to hide the guilt that eats him up inside. his other hand, hidden, curls light.

thank you -- he doesn't say that.

hands still in contact, Totsuka smiles, brighter than the warmth he feels now. laughs, teasing in his voice: ]

Guess I don't have an excuse to sleep next to you now, King.

[ no, he's letting go, you can't make him do this sappy handholding thing. he rolls back over. ]

Like excuses were gonna work.