The next morning I wake up surrounded by warmth.

I'm used to being alone, so I don't even think about it. I don't even register that it's there, or why it would be there.

I don't care enough to roll away or move away from whatever's causing it.

My mind is blank, drifting along the foggy edges of a dream.

...Well, a memory.

That's when it clicks.

My mind wakes up and I realize I'm curled up against something.

No.

Something is curled up against me.

I open my eyes to see Arin, of all people, curled up against my arm, mouth open, drooling in his sleep. It's an odd image to see of the man.

One I really would prefer not to see so up close.

Still, it could be worse.

It'd be far more awkward and probably annoying if it had been Meera wrapped up on me.

Or...

Really any of the others.

Hm.

I glance around. Elara is sitting up near the fire, apparently on watch. Kael sleeps on the edge of the shelter. Meera lays on her back, one arm and one leg splayed out where Elara would have been, with Miss Meowkins laying fully across her face, splayed out as much as possible.

...I'd be afraid that Meera is suffocated and dead from an assassin cat, but while she isn't making any noise, she is visibly breathing.

Although.

I have no clue how she can possibly be doing that through the cat smothering her.

Let alone how shes sleeping through it.

Well.

People can have peculiar sleeping positions.

I learned that the hard way, with that one weird girl in high school who slept standing up in the corner of her bedroom like a vampire in a coffin.

I never actually saw her do that, I didn't just go to people's houses and watch them sleep, but she did bring in paperwork from the doctor to prove she did it.

I try not to judge.

At least the cat has managed to keep Meera quiet enough not to disturb the entire camp in the process of its assault on her face.

If she were snoring, the cat was surely muffling her. In fact, I almost wonder if that is the reason for the cat's behavior in the first place.

But I don't know.

I'm no cat expert.

"Good morning." Elara speaks quietly to me, catching my attention as I ease myself away from the clingy Arin.

I...still don't know what to make of that, so I decide I'm not going to make anything of it at all.

He's weird.

"Morning." I answer back at a similar volume.

There's no need to be loud. The world feels empty and peaceful like this, before the dawn has completely risen. There's nothing to disturb or impede us right now.

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Normally, I'm more of a night owl.

But I - and the rest of us - have probably slept through...

A while.

It might not even be the same dawn we were headed to when we lied down.

There's no way of knowing that, no time keepers except the people who kept watch.

And they probably all were asleep at one point, right?

I don't know. I don't remember anything.

I certainly never kept watch myself - I wouldn't have woken even if they tried. I'm too heavy of a sleeper for such nonsense.

Regardless, even though it's pre-dawn, I do feel rested, considering I slept on the ground with basically just leaves to soften the dirt and rocks beneath me.

"Was...your world truly that different, that you didn't have to make shelters, or make food? Did you use magic?" Elara asks me curiously.

The first time I've heard her question me with actual curiosity.

She must actually believe me, finally.

Even with the gentle voice and light tone, it's jarring to hear it, so I almost forget to reply.

"I mean..." I wave a hand. "You could make food. I just ordered delivery. And if I went out into the wilderness - which I didn't - I'd take an RV."

I don't expect her to understand any of that.

I don't really care.

She probably can figure out what I mean with 'delivery', though. There's definitely delivery fetch quests in this world, so even if food isn't what's usually being delivered - not on such a small scale, anyway - she can at least grasp that.

I assume.

Again though, I don't really care.

She's the one who asked even after I said she wouldn't understand, after all.

"Magic that brings food to you. You're truly...remarkable." She looks in my eyes for a long moment and then clears her throat awkwardly, averting her eyes as she wraps her cloak tighter around herself.

...Why is she stuck on the idea that it's magic?

It's just regular people paid minimum wage to drive food one place to another.

We could definitely do it in this world with no magic.

Though to get it longer distances in time I gues-

...It doesn't matter.

That's way too much thinking just after getting up.

I huff and settle on a log near the fire pit.

It is not the one Elara is on, but it is the next one.

The distance is, perhaps, two inches.

She clears her throat.

"Would you...like some water?"

I accept the canteen of water she holds out to me and take a swig of it.

It's...clean.

And...tastes...clean?

Yeah, I don't have a word for it.

I don't like water.

I'm just thirsty enough to drink it anyway.

So I swallow it down.

And then I go to give it back to her.

She won't take it. "Just drink it."

"But-"

"Drink." She says sternly, then covers her face as she coughs. "P-please...drink."

What am I supposed to do about that.

She seems insistent.

Well.

I do need to stay hydrated. There's no getting around it.

So I settle back a bit and go back to nursing the water.

I watch her out of the corner of my eye.

She keeps peeking at me, blushing over something, and staring at the sky.

Do I.

Have something on my face.

Is that it?

Did I drool in my sleep?

"Master...! Can't you tell?! She's just smitten with your handsome face!"

What.

What the hell?

Why would she-

Oh.

Right.

That...

There's that charm aura thing, right.

I sigh and purse my lips in annoyance.

I'm pretty sure that if I don't find a way to turn at least that one off I will find myself in some really difficult situations sooner, rather than later.

And no.

Not the good kind of difficult.

I'm looking for a challenge, not suicidal.

"W-why the long face, Ryo?" Elara fidgets a little and scoots a tiny bit closer.

...I ignore it.

And her.

It's a struggle, because every part of me wants to acknowledge her. I don't want to be rude or cold, because that's just not how I operate.

But I refuse to play along with this damn charm thing.

I'm not interested in dating games, and if I were, I'd sure as hell not use a charm aura.

The only solution I have is to just.

Ignore and pretend I can't tell when Elara or Meera get all weird about it.

She stares at me for long enough, though, that I can't just stay quiet.

Damn it.

It's just too awkward.

I huff. "...When is breakfast?"

It's a distraction.

A conversation changer.

An obvious one.

But I can't just ignore it forever, either.

Her eyes brighten. "Breakfast?"

I don't know if she's excited because I'm showing interest in eating something she might be cooking, or if it's the simple joy of hearing me ask.

Both.

Probably.

I nod, not wanting to repeat the word.

It's already felt uncomfortable enough to ask it the first time, after all.

I am...

Really not good with communication.

Not to people who aren't words scrolling by on a screen or sprites with pre-written dialog prompts.

It's a flaw of mine. One I've known about for a while and never really saw why it would be a problem for me.

I try my best. I try to sound polite. But...it's not natural. I always end up sounding flat or, worse, bored.

Now I have companions.

Companions who are bizarrely determined to stick with me.

And I just. Don't know how to talk.

Not really.

"You could take that on as a challenge, Master!" System Helper chirps, annoyingly chipper for this early in the morning.

Even if I am awake.

Also -

Stop mocking me.

There are different kinds of challenges. The social one is not one I want. That is a bridge too far. A challenge too much for someone like me.

I just can't.

Elara giggles suddenly and smiles at me without any warning or explanation..

Whatever expression I make in response, apparently, causes her to burst out laughing and wake up everyone in the camp.