Wonderer's Wish World 2: Evolutionary Rebirth

White of the Night

Day 12

Time: 10:15 PM

Location: Garage/Mechanics Shop, Rime 12

One moment, Darius' fingers were running through the thick, warm wool on the beasts body, the hair slightly swaying as the thing breathed in and out, and in the next, that hair was inside of his mouth, getting tangled up inside his teeth as he suddenly jerked awake mid yawn.

"Gah!" he cried out, throwing himself away, but it came out as more of a strangled yowl. Ai gave him a sympathetic look.

"Are you..." she paused to yawn herself. "Are you okay?"

Darius answered her with a sigh.

"Hey, be careful with those shears!" Pin called over, stroking the elephine's nose carefully to calm it. "We can't spare the medical supplies."

Darius and Ai only gave a small nod of acknowledgment before turning back to the task it hand. Apparently, shaving the elephine was a slow and methodical task, and right now, Darius, Ai and Molly, who was on the other side of the animal, were anything but methodical.

Ai's hands shook violently as she held the hair away from the animal's body, and her head kept drooping dangerously, making her lower the piece of hair Darius was attempting to cut before she suddenly realized what was happening, and her head snapped back up, making the piece of hair snap back up as well. And Darius, with the scissors and his wavering attention, would always miss, nearly catching Ai with the sharped ends. They then both muttered apologises, and then the process would begin again.

It had been better earlier, when all the mechanics were here. The two groups never spoke, but their reckless abandon and enthusiasm at making as much noise as possible through that thin curtain had been paramount to keeping the rest of them awake. But at some point during the evening, right at nine thirty, the mechanics had picked up their work, put away their tools, and likely left in order to sleep. Now the only thing here that echoed throughout the space was the occasional snap of scissors, and the rare sound of a strand of wool being cut.

Darius had tried, once or twice, to get his radio on and working, but to no avail. He remembered, distantly, how Angelico had mention their radio had stopped working. He hadn't thought anything of it at the time, but now, he suddenly felt the crushing disappointment and hopeless they felt. Out here, in the empty, terrible and depressing place... being unable to hear anyone else's voice was worse that he would have considered.

And then Pin told him to snap out of his existential dread and get back to work, so Darius did. Fighting through the horrible sinking feeling, Darius picked up the shears again and focused on opening them and closing them. Eventually, that terrified feeling faded, but it was only replaced by an exhausted depression.

"Um... Pin?" Molly spoke up meekly. Darius couldn't see her face, but he was sure she was trying to put on a brave face through the exhaustion she must be feeling as well.

Pin hummed in acknowledgement.

Molly seemed to hesitate, before she spat out the rest of it. "Do... Do you think we could take a break? Or maybe pick this up tomorrow? I'm so tired..."

Pin looked around the animal, squinting at her. They had been cutting away at the hair at the elephine's face, arguably the most difficult and dangerous job, and she was doing much better at it then Molly, Ai or Darius were doing at their job.

Pin squinted at them, studying each of them closely. Oddly enough, Darius found himself feeling guilty, like he should be doing batter. But despite that thought, no renewed vigor, or fierce determination came, and he was just as tired as he was before.