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As dusk blurred into night, the other five began to approach the campfire and its single visitor where Ciel almost leapt out of his skin at Deuel's question, fingers scrambling to regain its hold upon his console and struggling to keep his feet beneath him. [color=F6A3BF]"Ah! Yeah, yeah I'm doing great! Must've been the summer heat I guess,"[/color] he quickly twisted the corners of his mouth upwards and let out a small laugh from lungs already strained from the accidental scare. Though, the sloppy facade didn't have to be further covered up as Deuel announced his intentions to hand out gifts to everyone before hurrying to the tent, leaving Ciel to give in to his wavering lack of stability and settling on the sand with a shaky breath.

With Deuel's return and the procession of gift giving that followed, so too did the relief of not being questioned, and surprisingly, the bubbly feeling that tends to accompany being given a gift. [color=F6A3BF]"Woah... thank you,"[/color] Ciel brushed his thumb across the tablet's screen, however, his attention was soon snatched by a fleeting glance of a plush with Deuel's likeness in Niles' hands. Of course. They liked each other like that. People who like each other give gifts to remind the other person of them. It was difficult to discern what they were talking about but from Niles' perpetual apathy, Ciel could only imagine it was about something romantic. Whether or not he had decided intervening for a second time would be inconspicuous quickly became irrelevant as Conner prompted the rest of the group to sit and watch the shooting stars together. At least whatever was going on with the tightening in his chest would be buried under the gentleness of being with friends whilst lights danced across the night sky.

Needless to say, it wasn't.

Ciel didn't even have time to register what was happening until he'd found himself sprawled upon what he could only assume was... grass. The tendrils of light were gone and so was the portal they'd been pulled through; no trace of the beach seemed to be present and the steadying of his equilibrium as he pulled himself up by the bark of a nearby tree did little to provide any extra information as to the specifics of whatever the fuck happened. However, the semantics weren't important. Sitting out in the open in a place none of them seemed to recognise would do more harm than good at the moment. Pale irises lazily trailed along whatever generic shapes and colours he could gather from the blur of their surroundings; no more beach, just flora that Ciel couldn't quite place his finger on the origins of, though, despite the mystique of the situation, figuring a way out seemed like the only logical next step considering their inherent lack of survivalist and combat skills as a couple of boys fresh out of high school.

Deuel, however, beat him to the chase in terms of proposing plans. Moving forward would be too dangerous without knowing what lay ahead whilst staying put would make them vulnerable. No. Exploring and gathering resources before making a final decision would likely keep all of them alive longer. [color=F6A3BF]"Maybe we could look around and try find some edible plants or water before going anywhere? Y'know, so that we're not going out blindly or whatever,"[/color] Ciel piped up. If they were going to die out here, better to die seeing the rest of where the tendrils of light had a vendetta against.