"...Benadryl." I growled in realization, head currently buried futilely in a pillow under the cover of a darkened room.
"I forgot the Benadryl."The walk back to the penthouse rooms had been a completely uneventful one, as far as walks went. A quick brush past some girl roughly my age in a bunny-eared hoodie was actually about the only thing that even happened, and you couldn't count that as an event. We just bumped into each other and said our "excuse me"s before going upon our respective ways. I must have had seen her earlier on the ship, however, because there was a familiarity to her I couldn't exactly place.
Ah, when I was talking to Gratia. That was it, I'd seen her milling about on the deck while we discussed an entire musical genre that I knew nothing about.
Speaking of, Gratia had apparently returned to the balcony after a while. I'd noticed her up there on my way back, headphones back on her head and holding some sort of dessert in her hands. Between that and the lollipops, I could tell that, ironically enough, she had a sweet tooth. Funny thing to learn about a girl as... testy as she was.
Life is funny like that, sometimes. Like how trick of the light and overhearing a loud conversation through slightly thin walls can make you swear you'd just seen a streak of golden hair flash across your vision, and heard a faint ring of laughter in the air to go with it. And looking around for the source for a moment, you found nobody before wondering if you'd lost it.
And with good reason, too.
Sheesh, if I'd started dreaming up girls now, there was no hope for a guy like me. As someone with a keen insight upon those who looked towards escapism, I could say with utmost certainty that doing so would put a man fully upon the slippery slope and go screaming past the point of no return. Thankfully, I was smart enough to recognize what had temporarily fooled my senses before I could get excited. I had more than enough of that for one week, and it was best to keep yourself honest instead of falling into a self-delusion.
If this ship had a ghost, she would be exorcised before she could ruin business, after all. Thank god for having a cool head.
After that near-miss on a bout of temporary insanity, it was just stairs upon stairs until I hit Room 1004.
And I inevitably returned to square one.
With a groan, I sat up in the bed, with half a mind to just admit defeat and turn on the lamp. My immune system, naturally, had gained a significant boost from the activation of my Aura and Semblance, so forgetting Benadryl may not at first glance seem like a terrible mistake.
However.
The antihistamine factor is never what I had taken it for besides a couple of occasions. In accordance with everything that was not the point of the medicine, I used it for one very crucial side effect.
That a couple of them will all but knock a guy dead for hours. Intended as a sleeping aid or otherwise, Benadryl was very, very good at being one. And right now, I could more than use something to push me over the edge.
...Or.
Would it actually work now? With my immune system working beyond full capacity, and my auto-regenerative semblance always in effect, would such side effects as drowsiness even occur? Would that constitute as damage to be repaired, or not?
When you think about it, the drowsiness is caused by the medicine entering your bloodstream, right?
...Would that mean I could down four of them and knock people out with my bloo--
I needed to get off this train of thought, I had no earthly idea where it was going. It'd definitely be contrived if I could remove someone from their consciousness by healing them, though, that was for sure.
And seriously, if it could affect them, then wouldn't that mean it would affect me as well?
...Anyways.
I knew that some things had taken a hit in their efficacy before. I'd given up on ibuprofen, for example, because by the time it had started to work, whatever damage, aches, or pains that I had were already healed up. And for most other things, I hadn't really found a need to take anything. Even allergies, although this year had been fairly light on them all around.
It might have not even been worth packing after all...
"Hrmh."Well, whether it would have been a pointless decision or not.
I was certainly in a conundrum now.
A King-sized Bed.
Vacuan Cotton Sheets.
Down-filled, voluminious pillows.
Personalized thermostat set to a perfect temperature.
None of it being enjoyed as they were supposed to.
And that, if I had to guess, was how I'd found myself sitting on a chair, out on the small balcony behind the room, earbuds in and looking up at the sky again. I'd found myself growing a bad habit of staring off into nothing stead of at least trying to force myself into unconsciousness. I'd found myself thinking that maybe I could lull my stupid brain into a false sense of security, I guess.
And for all of Gratia's contentious points, I'd also found myself realizing I could get behind her tastes in music, no problem.
