desertrain | OPEN // OVERFLOW

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HA! Of course! But don't worry, I covered the damages.

[ It's not like he can't afford it... ]

Just got to Pomefiore! Are your pants on?

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What do you mean? Why wouldn't I??

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[ Are we really so sure the world hasn't already descended into chaos? ]

Ohhh I get it...

Do you just want me all to yourself?

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I'll be here!

[ Because he literally cannot get up. :) ]

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There's a new place in town!

[ in this case, place just means a sketchy guy with a ramshackle cart hanging around the alley next to the legit pet store. ]

There were all kinds of exotic pets there! He said he can get us a hippo, Jamil. A hippo!!

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Never?? Silver!! You don't know what you're missing! It's soooo relaxing!

[It had been two weeks and some odd days since the...elephant safety discussion, which was something that Jamil should have forgotten about at this point - they fed peacocks and then changed how the dorm handled the menagerie rotation, adjusted things based upon feedback, and that should have been that.

Jamil had a dream about the...elephant safety discussion. It was a few days after. He woke up in a sweat, saying Kalim's name. Someone asked him what he had dreamed about. He had to lie and spin a story about bugs and nightmares, and Jamil (frustratingly) could tell they hadn't bought it, and he heard whispers of overblot and some stares - some pitying, some angry, some smug. Which was still better than the truth, which was yet another secret between him and Kalim.

And so it went. He'd tried to forget about the...elephant safety discussion. It haunted him. And now it was two weeks (and a few days) later, and he walked into Kalim's room-]

Kalim.

[-and his fingers were twitching as he remembered, of all things, the...elephant safety discussion. Which wasn't the sort of thought he should be thinking of. (If it wasn't so secret, he might be desperate enough to turn to Azul, see if there was some way of removing the memory...but that meant turning to Azul and absolutely fucking not.)

Breathe.]

I thought it was time to bring you your food. [Perfectly normal, nothing to see here.]

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No I was just thinking of a small croissant spread for the dorm (+ a couple friends), but we should TOTALLY have a breakfast party! Thank you!!

Oh this is so exciting! Let's make a list for the catering first and then I'll start setting up a breakfast party playlist!

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Isn't it?

[ This isn't the place for desert blooms or soft things. Maybe back home, where the canals help everything to flourish. But not here. The dorm's climate is too arid, too unforgiving, for soft things like that to survive. Perhaps that's part of why Kalim is so at odds with everything here; too nurturing and forgiving for a place like Night Raven, and yet he remains, because--

Well. He's only ever wanted to be at Jamil's side. Desperate to stay close to him, even when they were children. He only recently realized why that was such a devastating thing.

All told, it's not far from the dorm. Not as far as the oasis, at least, but far enough that they won't be discovered. Carpet drifts to a stop beside the columns, and Kalim hops off, holding out his hand again to assist Jamil. Distractedly so, though; Kalim is gaping up at the moon, a sharp cut of a crescent over the nearby dune. ]

Wow! It's really beautiful here at night. Haha!

[ Then, when he turns to look up at the columns: ]

What do you think this place used to be? It's not on any of the dorm maps. Then again, the oasis isn't either, but--

(( @relentlessbeauty ))

(( @iblisian ))

(( @cursing ))

(( @octaplicitous ))

(( @cursing ))

((@princeofpillows))

I nearly posted this on the wrong character lmf