Unsurprisingly, S was already up and at 'em by the time I made my way downstairs. 

"You alright, dude?" Was the first thing S said with a raised eyebrow and his nose twitching as he looked up from his chicken-esque white meat that I couldn't possibly pin to an animal if I tried. "You look all wacked. Also, 'morning."

"'Mornin'." I said. "And, uh, yeah. No. Maybe. I... I have no idea." I said as I sat in front of him. 

"Right." With a look of concern as he tore off another piece of meat, and was a few centimeters from putting it in his mouth before he stopped himself. "Did something happen with that girl? Your sister, I mean." He asked, likely noticing that she wasn't with me and putting 2 and 2 together.

Somehow, that last thing he said made the knot in my chest tighten and constrict me even further. "Probably... I-I don't really know." I said, unable to make 4.

"You don't know?"

"I can't remember." I said, looking at my hands as I questioned my existence. "I thought I just fell asleep, but I woke up and Sis was talking all weird and she had this look on her face and I didn't understand it and my confusion confused her and then she said some weird stuff and I got more confused and then she told me that I did fall asleep but now I don't think that's true and she had this other look on her face and her eyes seemed all wrong and it made me want to cry but I don't know why and I couldn't figure anything out and I couldn't stand it and we got quiet and I left and she didn't and I started crying and I don't know why-"

I stopped, realizing that my breathing had sped up dramatically. Also, my vision was cloudy with tears, I could barely make out the shape of my hands. I took a moment to let myself breathe and wipe the moisture from my eyes.

It was at this point that I looked up at S, who was doing nothing more than looking at me and listening to me talk. Saying nothing, simply listening to me intently as I vomited words out onto the table. All while his breakfast was getting cold. And to think, all he really did was ask if I was alright.

"Got anything else?" S asked after a few seconds of silence. 

Dangit... This friggin guy...

"Nah." I said. "That about covers it."

"Right." S said, looking at me intently, but not quite staring. "What's that like?"

What's that like? That's an odd question... Uh... "I guess... I guess It's..." What is this like? It's confusing, it's exhausting It's even a little infuriating. But more than all that, it's "Scary. Yeah. That's it. I-I wonder if I did something to her. I wonder if I hurt her somehow. I want to hug her and apologize, but I don't know how, why. And that's... Horrifying." 

And he was silent for a while. His eyes were moving and squinting in various ways as if he was deep in thought. 

"Right." He said after a while, going back to his breakfast. "I wouldn't blame you for feeling like that way."

And just like that, he went back to eating.

He didn't wave his hands around or say some magic words that miraculously gave me the advice and the tools to fix everything with Sis and untie the binds around my heart. Yet, somehow, him just being there, doing what he did... I could feel it loosen, even if just a little. 

And when he went right back to gorging on that mystery meat in front of him like a starved animal, I couldn't help but smile.

This friggin guy.

"You didn't hear anything last night, did you?" I asked.

"Nah." S said, talking with food in his mouth. It was a little gross. "I was out for a while, it was wayyyy too loud by the time I got back."

"You went out? Why?"

S shrugged. "Nothin' big. Couldn't sleep."

"In the storm? Isn't that dangerous?"

"Eh, as long as you don't slip or get struck by lightning, it's mostly just a buncha noise and water. It's actually fun kinda running around the empty streets, and lightning looks pretty freakin' cool outside."

"Huh. That actually sounds kinda fun." Maybe I should give that a go at some point. Preferably with earmuffs and an umbrella. And a roof. I know I probably wouldn't get struck by lightning, but... Y'know what, maybe I can just appreciate it from a window.  

"Right, it's pretty sick." S concluded with a burp. "If you've got the balls for it, at least."

With that, I ordered breakfast, a bowl of tomato soup (S was eating something weird so I followed suit) from an exceptionally pale waiter with way too much eyeliner and long bang-y hair (I'm not gonna pretend he didn't rock it, in a sort of zombie-like way, but the sheer amount of the stuff was distracting. He looked like the kinda guy who would like living in a place like this. Good for him.), and S and I ate. I'm not gonna pretend I felt perfect, or even all that good, but it was better. It was pleasant.

After a while, Sis came down the stairs, and sat down next to me without a word. She looked the same as ever, no indication that she particularly cared about anything other than the fishing rod on her side.

Y'know, that's never something I've had to worry about, myself. I never needed the mask. I am the mask. 

I wondered how that might feel. And I wondered if that was anything Sis was worrying about.  

"Morning!" S said, ever the morning person.

"Morning, Sis." I said.

Sis coughed into her sleeve soon after I finished talking. Y'know, I don't think I've ever seen her cough before. 

"Yo." She said.

"Yo indeed." S said with his mouth full.

Those of the food-eating persuasion resumed food-eating. Or, in my case, drinking. With a spoon. Does that count? Do you eat soup?

. . .

"Huh." S said pretty out of the blue, of course with his mouth full. "Right, I just realized, your hair's all messed up, dude."

"Is it?" I said, putting my hand on my head. "Oh, shoot." Guess I just didn't notice earlier, what with all the everything else that was going on this morning. 

"What, were you petting yourself in your sleep?" S joked. "What are you, a cat?"

Sis coughed again as S said that. I hope she's not getting sick. 

"It seems perfectly fine." Sis interjected as soon as she was done. "I wouldn't worry about it." 

S looked like he was about to say something, instead he just chuckled warmly as his nose began to twitch again.

Sis scooted ever so slightly closer to me, gripping her hand on her fishing rod.

Soon enough, Todd entered the inn with a thunderous thud, and we made our way out.

To the cart. 

To the duke's place.

It's only really setting in now how really freakin' freaky this whole thing is. A party at the freakin' duke's place! What the heck are we supposed to do there? Why invite a bunch of kids?

. . .

Of course, I made sure to clean everyone up on the way there.