Late Night P2 | Rough Draft | Fin

Unexpected

"I'm so thankful to have everyone together for a while." Kiri expresses.

"It'll be like old times." Lo'ak even spares a partial smirk. "I'll get to spill Max's coffee by mistake and blame it on Spider."

"Hey, not fair. I'm not the one who has to watch my tail."

"And also not the one who has to watch your height." Lo'ak makes a face toward Spider, the two now playfully tussling around as they yank on each others main braid.

Aonung and Rotxo are both unimpressed, sighing and rolling their eyes in an annoyed manner.

"Hey-" Kiri reaches out and smacks the lower part of Aonungs arm to gain his attention. "—at least it's not you for once."

"Anyway-" Da'mik seems to shrug the whole thing off.
"When does Max get here again? He promised he'd bring me a new tablet so I could read my books again."

"It's your fault for trying to take it on your boat." Tuk sticks her tongue out.

"Come on, Tuk! He told me it was water resistant! It was an honest mistake." He tries to defend himself, but it's no use with this many around him.

Lo'ak and Spider have finally given up, and they're rejoining the group just as the conversation switches.

"I just hope whatever Max and Norm have... it gets us somewhere with this." Lia expresses, and she crosses her arms over as she clasps a palm along her upper arm.
Holding herself with a sense of worry.

"What kind of stuff did they say they had before?" Da'mik asks.

"Records of research, logs, building plans, new factory work, employment contracts, staff files-"

It doesn't matter what else she lists beyond that, because Spider has already stopped listening after the mention of staff.
He's worried.

It wouldn't be much longer until they found out he was still alive, and how would that be explained?

His heart sinks to the bottom of his gut as he watches the kids around — laughing and playing around with each other as he falls into a dissociative state.

He's had everything hes ever wanted, finally belonging somewhere.

And yet... it wouldn't last much longer.
There's no way they'd let him stay if they found out what he did, and they were owed knowing before they found out from some other source.

Maybe getting some time alone to think would do him good, clear his mind.

Try to figure out the best way to do this before it was too late.

——————-

"I'm sorry we weren't there, I can't imagine how scary it must have been without us."

"I had the clan, and Max... Lia — it was alright. I know you guys would have been had I waited, but I needed to get it done before I changed my mind again."
He smiles so sweetly before looking off across the hut.
"I'm not like Jake.
He had it the easiest, that's for sure."

"Actually." Jake hesitates to even speak up at first.
"It wasn't all that simple like everyone assumes.—"

And both of you turn to face him now, surprised by the sudden confession.

"—I never told anyone this, but I did try to dig up my old body."

"What? Dig up your old body? How would that even-"

"It was only a few days after." He admits, fiddling with the dagger in his hands.
"I was afraid I made a mistake... thinking about how it would affect our human child, or my own sense of who I was becoming."