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It was a hell of a day.

The ladies had a grand adventure chasing down Oscar and accidentally zombies, and the guys nearly got murdered by an eldritch horror. Again.

So now the dudes have to rest because going to the super-dangerous mines when tired is a terrible idea.

They've got a day or two to kill, so this is for what happens while the guys (mostly Malcer because holy fuck dude) are recovering.

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Oscar is very sweet and very stupid, but that's why Malcer looks after him-- then he can be as sweet and stupid as he likes and still be all right. And also carry Malcer's things, which is probably only marginally more convenient than using a normal enchanted bag, since Oscar isn't very good at distinguishing between the things that Malcer asks for. But that's okay, he's cute.

"Going on a year, I think?" The ice cream is too hard from just being in the freezer, so Malcer leaves it on the counter to thaw. "Something like that."

He reaches up and the paw hooks over one of his fingers, and he uses that to gently push the paw back up into his hair. He needs both of his eyes, okay, Oscar. Please don't put your paw in one of them.

"He might not be the most efficient bag, but, well..."

Malcer likes him. Oscar's simple, and not just in the fact that he's dumb as a brick, but in that he's easy to understand, and his affection is a simple and genuine thing. It's nice to have someone that's fond of you with no strings attached.

"Mmm. Sometimes there are more important things than efficiency."

Look at them go, having a surprisingly civil conversation about a dumb but affectionate bag.

"It looks like he's lucky to have you."

And vice versa. It looks like Malcer does possess a single solitary shred of human decency after all, even though it's entirely devoted to a very stupid but very sweet mimic. Nin can actually relate to that. She likes animals better than she likes people, too, usually.

This conversation has been surprisingly civil, but Malcer's also too tired to be properly bitchy and Oscar is a fairly neutral sort of topic. It's not like they're discussing the merits of venturing into the Archive or something.

"Better with me than the alternative, I guess."

Which would've been... being un-made, or however they do it at the Monster Starbucks. It probably wouldn't have been pleasant, so Oscar's much better off hanging around on Malcer's head.

The paw again descends from the dark mass of his hair, reaching down to pap Malcer on the cheek. Then it sort of moves more towards center and gets him on the nose, and then begins a northward migration into eye territory and Malcer really has to stop him.

"Okay, okay, Oscar," he reaches up into his hair, and he has to undo the messy bun to get at the catbag within. "We're not doing this today, it's too early for you to be putting my eye out."

A catbag is extracted from his hair, and he's now just holding him like a baby in the crook of one arm. Oscar looks kind of like if an inkblot had been told vaguely what kind of shape a cat takes, with big green eyes that will light up with eyeshine at the worst possible opportunities.

"The alternative being sent back to the primal essence from whence he was created? Yeah, I'd say so."

See, now, if Malcer could approach all life situations with the same patience and care he uses to approach Oscar, Nin would have zero problems with him. Malcer and Oscar can flash their creepy green eyeshines all goddamn night, it won't make the pair of them any less adorable. There is a teeny, tiny sprout of goodwill taking precarious root in Nin's heart as she watches this heartwarming drama. Maybe, just maybe, the next time Malcer decides to be an insufferable, pompous ass, she'll be able to look back on this moment and find some kind of patience to deal with it.

That's a big maybe, but hey, the fact that everyone in this horrible shitshow of an adventuring party is still somehow alive despite all of the absolute bullshit they've faced over the past few months should be proof enough that miracles do happen. So, we'll just have to wait and see what kind of bullshit the next few days and weeks throws at them.

"...How are you feeling? You were about five-sixths dead when you finally came back." And he still looks five-sixths dead, but since she's actually not trying to antagonize him, she leaves that bit unsaid. He's likely aware.

If all life situations were as sweet and kind to him as Oscar, maybe Malcer would be a kinder person back. But, obviously, that was not the case and Malcer is kind of a prick to everyone except his sweet little catbag.

He digs a little at the slightly-thawed ice cream with the spoon, easier said than done with one hand occupied with Oscar, and slows slightly in his attempts when Nin asks her question. He scrutinizes it, tries to discern if there's a jab behind that otherwise innocuous statement; he and Nin have basically been at each other's throats since day one, after all.

"I'm fine," he replies, despite all visual evidence to the contrary. "I can be ready to leave in the morning, if needs must. When are all of you planning to leave for the mine?"

"Not tomorrow. Or the day after that. Or probably the day after that." It's highly unlikely Larold is going anywhere, so why rush? Especially since 42% of the adventuring party is recovering from having a very large number of collective holes distributed amongst their various persons, it would be really stupid to sally forth before those members were properly recovered. "Larold can wait for a few more days until those of us who didn't nearly eat shit are satisfied that those who nearly did are actually properly recovered and not just putting on a manly man show of Big Man McStrongMan."

Because she knows Gorudak.

"Gorudak's the type, isn't he?"

The type to pretend that he's fine when he isn't and insist that they press on. The kind of person who wants to take on everybody else's burdens, even when he doesn't have to or, worse, shouldn't.

"Stubborn to the core," he continues, taking an experimental whack at the ice cream with his spoon to test its thawedness. Still a little too cold. "I guess it could be an admirable quality, in the right contexts, but mostly it's just frustrating."

Like in the context of how Gorudak should've left the goddamn Archive when Malcer told him to.

"Mm. Agreed."

What do you know, they can agree on something. It looks like Gorudak is also a safe topic. For the moment, anyway.

"To be fair, though, he's spent his whole life taking on other people's burdens. It can't be easy to just unlearn that in the span of a few months." Even the power of Friendship will likely take a while. But at least Gorudak has it, now. For what it's worth. Hopefully none of them die in Larold's Fungeon so they can all continue to help Gorudak learn that it's okay to lean on other people sometimes, too.

The power of Friendship, which somehow this entire crew has been leveraging to surprising effect. It's as though they've decided that they can just befriend their way to victory, and what they can't befriend, they'll just murder.

Malcer's not entirely certain which side of that scale he's on just yet. He thinks it's the befriend side, but they also call him a bitch a lot?

"Well, hopefully he learns before he gets himself killed."

He's still irked by the way Gorudak went back on his promise. He shouldn't be-- expecting people to keep their promises is for chumps-- but Gorudak is... so earnest. He drips sincerity, like he means every single word that comes out of his stupid mouth.

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