Room 201, Monday Morning

[cypher_can_fly]

Owen woke up from what... felt... like a fever dream.

He was still sitting on the ground.

Random observations were still ticking away in the back of head, but they weren't so... all-consuming now.

His wrists hurt. As did his legs.

"... I'm going to be sick," he whispered.

At least there was no one here. He'd be mortified if anyone watched him puke his guts out in this bucket.

[[ door closed, post open ]]

Comments

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina was doing the whole check-up-on-her-friends rounds since Vette wasn't around (she wasn't going to worry about that yet, she wasn't), and had found Wayne and Lana, had texted Prompto (who hadn't texted her back but, like, she was totally not worried about--whatever) and next on her internal list was…

Owen.

"Owen??????????" she called, knocking on the door. "Are you in there???????????"

Checking in on him was easy, since it was on the way back to her room to see if Vette was there yet or if she was, like, going to be left again without notice to babysit Miss Dozy.

[cypher_can_fly]

Her answer came in the form of a strangled and slightly tinny-sounding, "I'm fine!"

[bookbeltof_love]

That... that was not super convincing.

On the other hand, it was still more than she'd gotten from either Vette or Prompto, which was a relief right there.

"Are............. are you sure????????????????" she asked. "Did you, like, want me to get you anything?????????????? Water????????????? Juice????????????????"

[cypher_can_fly]

"I've... got..."

... What did he have?

Argh, nothing.

"Uhhhh."

[bookbeltof_love]

"Right," she said, still mostly just glad he was talking to her—for varying degrees of talking. "I'll be back in a moment, then, with a few things. You stay put, okay???????????????"

Nina didn't think he was going to bolt on her, not with the way he sounded, but… who knew.

She waited a moment longer, then headed into the common room to grab a few things for him.

[cypher_can_fly]

Owen muttered a desperate curse into his bucket and swung it around. He rushed towards a corner of the room and... blanket. Yes.

A blanket to cover up the puke-bucket.

[bookbeltof_love]

Oh, Owen, that was just going to make the blanket smell gross too.

True to her word, Nina wasn't gone very long, and she came back with bottled water, juice, and… a box of animal crackers.

She knocked on the door.

"Are you, like, decent in there???????????"

[cypher_can_fly]

What else was he going to do, empty the bucket out the window?!

"Yeah," he called, voice still weak, "Yeah, I'm decent."

He wiped at his mouth.

[bookbeltof_love]

That would probably make a few squirrels really unhappy with him, but it was still better than ruining a perfectly good blanket!

Nina tried the door and, finding it unlocked (not that a locked door would have stopped her, mind), pushed it open and stepped inside, surveying the room, and Owen.

And… er. Making a bit of a face at the smell.

"You look like rubbish," she said, determinedly cheerful as she wandered over to him, keeping an eye out for whatever reeked like that—vomit was pretty hard to mistake—and offering him the water bottle. "How are you feeling????????????????"

[cypher_can_fly]

"Absolutely fine," Owen said, waving off the question like it was nothing. "It was, er. Last week. That's over."

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina was not particularly tall, so her looming was sort of ridiculous, but she sort of wanted to loom at him anyway.

"That would be more convincing," she said, rather dryly, "if your room didn't smell of vomit."

She offered him the water bottle with a raised eyebrow.

[cypher_can_fly]

Owen pulled a face.

She was still pretty terrifying when looming, strangely enough.

He took the water bottle. "Okay, there might have been a spot of cypher overload, but that's done now too."

[bookbeltof_love]

"And, and you're okay now??????" Nina asked, casting him a searching glance. "Just, overload, and then... nothing???????"

[cypher_can_fly]

"Are you asking if I'm traumatized by the experience of being stuck in my own body all weekend while my skin turned an interesting shade of grey?" Owen wondered.

[bookbeltof_love]

"Well, like, if you want to be direct about it……………."

Nina had been okay with being slightly less direct about it.

"Yes???????????????"

[cypher_can_fly]

Owen pretended to think about it, looking a bit downcast.

Then he scrunched up his nose. "Ah, water under the bridge, I'll get over it," he said, waving it off.

No one repressed quite like Owen Corey, after all.