The Pause [Adopted Book]

Concealment

Cycle 8459 Notes:

I didn't think I'd be writing another entry in here.  It's been a while since I've had the time.  Yet, here we are.

I left the other notebooks back at the base.  There was no point in bringing them all, especially in the limited space.  Most of my cycles were pretty similar, anyway.  Nothing like this one.

If The First Curse finds us, maybe some steve far off in the future can read about what happened.  It's taken me a while to write everything down, and for once I don't have endless time to do it.  I'm not the only one, either.  It seems like every time I open this, there's something new.

I know Amber thinks he's being subtle when he takes the notebook out to read it, but he keeps adding pictures.  I don't draw that well, nor do I leave the sketches on little sticky notes that fall out every time I open the book.  I don't mind.  It gives him something to do, since he's not allowed to leave the village and paint anymore.

I can feel the time ticking away.

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I knew exactly the moment Amber woke up.

While I slowly got ready, I quietly wished for some coffee.  It's too bad this world didn't have any.  Just as I went down to the half-made kitchen, I heard the metallic ring of Amber's partition opening and shutting.  He had a slightly annoying habit of doing that when he was bored, and I was no longer fifty blocks down from the noise.

"Amber, can you cut it out, please?"  I asked.

"Fiiine!"  he grumbled, zipping out of his room.  He was still in pajamas, and the look on his face told me he wouldn't be changing.

"You'll have plenty to do today."  I assured him.  "We're going to hide the place."  He frowned.  Still sulking, I see.  Maybe some breakfast would cheer him up?  I checked the newly-built pantry.  It was empty.  Of course, we didn't even have an oven yet.  Why would I expect food?  I sighed.  The others would probably give us something to eat.

Amber drifted toward the door, and I followed, trying not to mimic his mood.  He wasn't usually this grumpy, but I knew the move was hard on him.

"Oh!  You're already up!"  Turquoise was contrastingly cheerful.  "Tonic and I decided to do a campfire, since we've got four new people.  I've never done one before, but apparently they're popular at the Red Kingdom."  He grinned, pulling Amber outside and toward the fire.

The smell of food was amazing.  I watched with eager curiosity as Magenta carefully cooked a salmon, staring at it intensely as it went pink.  Purple wore a matching expression, which broke into a true smile as the fish ended up on his plate.

"Careful, it's still-"  Magenta broke off as his friend instantly dug into the meal, burning his tongue.  "-hot."

Once I got my own meal, I understood.  The cooking was delicious.  As I hoped it would, Amber's bad mood seemed to diminish a little.

"Magenta's food is amazing."  Purple bragged, happily devouring his second helping.  "It's something he got from the Violet Steves."

"Which is good, since you have a crazy sweet tooth."  Magenta shot back, his face a little more flushed from the praise.

Amber deflated, and I knew why.  He had been begging to make a batch of Time's cookies for the newcomers, but we didn't have the resources. Or, well, the time.  I shook the thought out of my head.  We could make a batch after we made sure we were safe.