Chapter Text
Taph was laying in bed as they usually did when they were bored and had no other thing to do. Taph looked at the ceiling and all the little tiny popcorn bumps on the roof, and their wings twitched from the sounds of birds trilling outside. This was at least a very quiet cabin unlike the main area where every survivor hangs out while taking a break from the rounds, Taph looked over at the window when they heard a loud laugh. It’s not the fact they want to go have fun, it’s that they’re tired and hate being disturbed by sound.
Dusekkar wasn’t sitting very close to the other survivors and mainly watched the fire crackle while the bright light cast shadows behind everyone, and it seemed as if Dusekkar’s brain automatically tuned everyone out and only seemed to pay attention when footsteps cracked the small pebbles littering the ground, and he turned to see Taph standing right behind him. Even with the bright orange and yellow lighting from the fire- their face was still covered by the shadow of their hood.
Taph’s hushed presence behind him made it quite unsettling until they sat down and crossed their legs into a pretzel shape, and settled down. They stared at Dusekkar who remained silent; it’s about the fact that he didn’t expect them to come out especially since they don’t like being out past 9pm. Taph watched and listened as the other survivors talked and the shadows created by the ones around danced with their movements, and created light spots to accommodate for the moving limbs and mouths.
While Taph sat there, Dusekkar still stared in shock at them for actually coming outside; despite the possible reasoning being them sitting inside with the others being loud, he still stayed shocked. Dusekkar tried to listen in on what others were saying but when the wind picked up and the fire slowly went out- everyone scattered to their cabins and the first to be gone when the smoke curled into the air was, Taph. They really hated being around the others during social hour due to them not being able to participate in conversations, and it made them really upset so Dusekkar did find it a reasonable compromise than rather staying outside while everyone talked and giggled about stuff and Taph had to listen but stay quiet.
Taph sat on their bed and stared up at the popcorn ceiling before getting lightheaded and a neck cramp from staying like that for a long moment. They seemed to be tired but not enough to fall asleep- oh how Taph misses their books. Taph ABSOLUTELY hates going back to the main cabin to read and didn’t want to walk over there right now.
Taph sat in their room silently staring at the wall as the shadows from the moonlight slowly shifted and danced from a figure walking by their window, possibly going to their cabin. They didn’t seem surprised when there was a knock on their door. Taph reluctantly got up to go answer their door. The wind make quiet swooshes outside and it seemed- rather soothing?
Never mind that…
As Taph walked down the hall to the door, it seemed as if it stretched on from how tired they were. Taph stumbled over their feet but stood up straight and opened the door, and when they saw Dusekkar they seemed to relax sort of because they hated holding up a stronger personality as an individual in front of the others; when it came to Dusekkar, however, they didn’t have to because he seemed to understand how tired they seemed after a single round because they had to hold up the act.
Taph backed up and tilted their head as Dusekkar stayed saying, ‘Sorry’ over and over because he seemed to think he disturbed them trying to sleep, again. Taph shook their both their hands in front of them in a waving motion, and shook their head quickly trying to get him to stop apologizing and they seemed to be really confused despite not being able to see their face. Their body language showed it. Taph was relieved when Dusekkar stood up fully after seeing their reaction to him apologizing and stretched the back of his hand awkwardly.
Taph sighed when Dusekkar started talking really fast trying to explain himself and they waited still he seemed deep into speaking before shaking him and signing at him to shut up and when Dusekkar realized what they said he turned red like a tomato and hid his face in his sleeves, and Taph stared at him dumbfounded by how weird he’s acting today. Taph pulled down Dusekkar’s arms which made Dusekkar jump from the sudden touch, and Taph’s shoulder shoulders shook slightly because due them not being able to laugh they could only smile and their body mimicked the movement of someone laughing along with the breathing pattern.
Dusekkar looked up at them and took the hint that they were laughing since they didn’t have any vocal cords. They looked like a wobbly puppy when they almost fell from, ‘laughing’.
Taph moved out of the way to invite Dusekkar in and when he walked in and they closed the door, darkness enveloped the entire house due to blackout curtains covering every window since they hated sleeping with light. Taph is a Nighthawk bird which is one of the 3 species of bird that prefer the dark over being in the bright light of daytime. Dusekkar did expect their house to be dark, but not just pitch black no matter the time of day.
Taphs’s room had glow-in-the-dark stars across the popcorn ceiling with the planets and animal constellations which was a shocker from how dark everything else is in the small cabin. Taph signed that they liked stars and tilted their head as if asking if he did like the stars too. Dusekkar nodded and Taph seemed excited and did a happy hop.
Taph looked up at the stars as Dusekkar laid next to them in bed, and they heard him softly snoring but they seemed more focused on the constellations and the popcorned ceiling and ended up falling asleep a quarter of the way from counting the ceiling bumps. Taph surprisingly woke up without a nightmare… nor a dream? Ehh- they aren’t complaining though, at least they don’t have to wake up in sweat and change their outfit again.
Dusekkar wasn’t awake unsurprising to Taph since he did prefer to sleep in rather than staying awake all day from 6am-10pm. Taph got out of bed and went into the main area where every survivor was since they wanted to bring a few books from the living area inside of the big cabin back to their own so they can read when they don’t have the tiredness or boredom to lay in bed after a round. When Taph got back to their Cabin they noticed Dusekkar out of bed which was shocking but they realized how long they took to bring 4 books from a short distance from their cabin to the main cabin, and it was only a 2 minute walk… Max, 2 minutes max. Even then it would probably be shorter then, if you were strong enough not to struggle carrying only 4 books, but then again the books were pretty large.
Dusekkar noticed Taph walking in with books and he didn’t seem to question it since Taph preferred silence while reading, and being in smaller more compact areas like a little hideout in the woods. Taph set the books down on their nightstand and grabbed one to read since the spectre gave them the weekend off from rounds since it was being, ‘nice’ to them. Taph plopped onto their bed and opened the book and Dusekkar left without distrubing them.
Taph fell asleep barely even half-way through the book and they weren’t a snorer but Dusekkar knew they were asleep when he walked by their cabin even with all the windows closed because they usually had a nap during the day. Taph stayed asleep for a good almost hour but woke up from knocking at their door and they mutedly whined because they didn’t have any vocal cords, and opened the door seeing Elliot there made them a little upset since they wanted to go back to sleeping. Elliot went on about how they needed to eat during the day to keep up their energy and it’s as if they wanted to stay awake at all right now, and if they could they’d probably fall asleep standing right now just so Elliot and the others will leave them alone.
When Elliot left they closed the door and when they reached their room they immediately fell asleep on the floor by collapsing, and it may have not been ideal but it was great to them all for energy. Taph did wake up hungry and ate the food that Elliot gave them quickly before covering their face with their mask again. Taph heard knocking again and when they saw Two Time their face lit up under their mask and they immediately dragged Two Time into a hug and they bit Taph’s forearm which was to be expected since they were insanely weird.
Taph was alone Two Time had left a while ago and they were left there with their thoughts, and a much needed recovery from how weird Two Time was acting earlier that day. Two Time had tried to bite them a lot while they were making the two of them tea.
They did expect Two Time to be insane but not to this degree, especially since Two Time didn't talk (which is unusual for them). Taph was cleaning the cups and wiping down the coasters and table; Two Time had spilt a bunch of tea on the table, but not on purpose, and they hadn't even offered to help clean it up!
Two Time wasn't being as calm as they had tried to stay in front of Taph. Dusekkar came over later. Taph, however, hadn't heard the knock on the door because there were still dark cup ring stains because of Two Time forgetting the coasters were there and it was annoying Taph because they were trying really hard to clean off the stains, but then panicked at the knocking causing them to spill a bunch of soap and water on the floor and table.
Taph opened the door and Dusekkar immediately noticed all the spilt liquid and pushed passed Taph and when there were quick footsteps and Taph tried to shake their head to get him away Dusekkar immediately realized what he did and flushed red, completely. Dusekkar started apologizing before speaking, "May I, help clean up the mess on the floor?" Taph stayed still before hesitantly nodded and went to go grab a rag to wipe up the floor and another for the table. They only grabbed two because Taph rarely cleaned the floors and cared more about what they ate off and touched with their hands, rather than something that was stepped on everyday.
Taph walked out and immediately shook Dusekkar by the shoulders and pointed to the shoes that he was still wearing because they had a, 'No shoe policy'. Dusekkar immediately removed his shoes and put them outside the front door because they preferred no shoes even touch inside the house- unless brand new and haven't touched anything but the wrapping.
Taph started wiping up the water and soap mixture on the floor while Dusekkar was scrubbing off the tea stains without any struggle, and Taph seemed sort of upset that they weren't able to do it themself. Dusekkar noticed the way their wings drooped, "You know the reason it didn't come off was because the soap was too watered down." Taph's head wings fluttered and despite no one being able to see their face the wings still covered their face in embarrassment as if they were blushing. It was actually really funny to see such a well put together person become flushed from a simple correction.
Taph went back to their room after wiping up everything on the table and floor, and they had to quickly hand wash the rags before Taph and Dusekkar went to their bedroom. Taph's little Nighthawk tail wagged as Dusekkar helped fix their wing feathers (or it's also considered preening to most). Dusekkar got his thighs slapped by the wagging feathers a lot.
While their wings were being preened, Taph continued reading one of the books they had brought back to their cabin. Taph looked out the window when there was a loud trill from a sparrow. Taph wanted to instinctively trill back but when their body shook slightly from it and made Dusekkar accidentally tugged a feather they fought it back. Dusekkar apologized for the millionth time and Taph slumped their shoulders and tilted their head up as if annoyed but of course no sound came out from their lack of vocal cords.
Dusekkar giggled but went quiet immediately when Taph glared at them in annoyance. Taph sat up straight again and began to read again, and after Dusekkar was finished removing the lose feathers and re-alining the messed up feathers, they fell back pinning Dusekkar down against the mattress without any need to put strength because Dusekkar mainly relied on magic and not using actual physical strength.
Dusekkar's body tensed up when they forced him down against the mattress by just leaning back. His body was crushed between a mattress and very heavy body (Heavy to Dusekkar at least). Taph's shoulders shook in a laughing sort of action, and they rolled off of his lean, and lightweight body. Dusekkar did whine when Taph pinched his forearm, and when they went back to peacefully reading and it went back to being a calm and cozy cabin, Dusekkar sat up and looked at the sun outside (no one actually really has a clock or a way to check the time, they just say what time it is by the suns spot in the sky and they just say whatever hour its closest to), and he guessed that it'd be around 10-11am right now because Two Time comes around 7-8am since Two Time's, 'busy' the rest of the day.
Dusekkar got up silently to leave and go see what the others were doing, despite being more like Taph and wanting to be alone- he still liked being around others because he got bored easily from sitting in silence for so long.
Taph watched from the bed as Dusekkar left, and they wanted him to stay but also understood that he did need to socialize sometimes with others, but they wished he would stay longer than he usually did. Taph made sure the door closed fully and actually locked before they went back to reading, and they realized after almost 2 hours when they finished the book that they needed food but since they couldn't speak, they were too scared to ask Elliot for anything from the kitchen (nobodies allowed in there because Elliot fears that they might blow it up or light it on fire like 007n7, despite Taph walking in on the two doing- THAT).
Dusekkar knocked on the door and unlocked it, he walked in with a plate of food for Taph and handed it to him before leaving the cabin, again. They immediately started eating when handed the plate, and right now didn't care if Dusekkar saw his scarred face.