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[i]October 21st[/i]
[i]Death City, Nevada[/i]
[i]Joint Leblanc-Schumaker Apartment[/i]
[sub]collab with [@stone][/sub][hr][hr][/center]
Cameron had slept [i]terribly.[/i] Absolutely no rest at all. At 1 AM, Kath had woken him up to complain about the chill in her room. At 2, she’d started baking. It was only at around 3 in the morning, when she had passed out on the sofa, had he been able to properly rest. It didn’t help that the school year was just starting to hit its swing. While Cameron wasn’t stupid, he wasn’t naturally inclined towards learning as Kath was. Each night was a grind of working through the concepts from the day, then revising his notes and organizing them into flashcards, then memorizing them, going to bed, and waking up the next day to start it all again. He barely even had time to catch up on his favorite novels at this point.

Still, it was a small price to pay for the top-class education at the DWMA. Cameron supposed that he could get through his books next weekend, provided that Katherine didn’t take him out to town. 

He got up and opened the shutters. Oh, what a beautiful day it was! Cameron felt the fatigue of the night prior flush through his body and exit through his feet, diffusing through the sunbeams illuminating the room. He could never quite get used to how warm it was in Nevada. Being able to open the windows in October was amazing. Washington would sometimes have snow by this time of year. Nevada, on the other hand, was just starting its autumn peak. He could already see several patches of trees in Death City beginning to color into vibrant hues of red and orange.

The best part of fall, however, was the bigleaf maple that grew next to the joint Leblanc-Schumaker residence. The upper branches grew to the [i]perfect[/i] height right next to Cameron’s window, allowing him to capture some [i]beautiful[/i] shots of birds during the season. Bigleaf maples usually turned a vivid yellow during fall, and this tree was no exception.

Today, however, there was a rather unruly raven perched on the branch right next to Cameron’s window. It was quite large, almost two and a half feet long. Cameron backed away from the window and retrieved his camera from its charging station, then crept slowly towards the raven. While the common raven was native to the state, Cameron couldn’t ever recall seeing one as big as this one. He raised the viewfinder to his eye and framed the shot with the boxy window.

Excellent. Cameron tweaked the dial, setting his camera to high-speed mode by memory. He tensed on the shutter button, then took a rapid burst.

The click of the shutter must have been louder than expected, as the raven took off in a flurry of motion and disappeared into the distance. Cameron stood up straight and stretched. At his height, lowering himself to take photos was starting to put a strain on his back. It was one of his bad habits, always leaning over. Perhaps he could learn to kneel properly. But, it was always so rough on his pants! He didn’t particularly like the scuffed-clothes and ripped jeans look that was starting to take hold over fashion. Why would you buy pre-ripped clothing anyway?

Speaking of clothing, he hadn’t even dressed himself yet. He stripped off his knitted pajamas and changed into something more appropriate - a pair of flat fronts and a nice button up. Schoolbag? Checked and double-checked. One more time, just to be safe.

Katherine was still passed out on the sofa, breathing softly, her blanket left unused on the floor. He picked it up and gently covered her. Was that a new cut on her face? She’d probably picked it up on her run yesterday. He fished into his schoolbag, pulled out a band-aid, and gingerly covered the wound.

Now for breakfast. As he entered the kitchen, his foot slipped on a stray plate on the floor. He only caught himself in the nick of time on the counter, nearly pulling a muscle. Cameron stood up and say the kitchen in absolute disarray. A whisk and ladle lay in a mixing bowl, still unwashed. Small flecks of cookie dough littered the counter. The eggs, flour, and chocolate chips were still out. A finished tray of cookies sat on the counter, the only order in all the chaos. 

He sighed and got to work, fetching an apron and cleaning supplies from the cabinet above the sink. In no time at all, the whole kitchen was sparkling- dishes washed, counters polished, and ingredients stored away.

Breakfast. Cameron set a small flame and retrieved a nonstick pan. He’d have to buy a griddle sometime. They were eating pancakes quite often nowadays. Mix the batter, pour, and flip. Mix, pour, flip. Flip, flip, flip.

He grabbed his camera once the pancakes were finished and snapped a quick picture of the towering stack. Most of it would be going in Katherine’s belly, so he wanted to capture the moment as soon as possible. The pan and mixing bowl went into the sink. He’d wash them later. The apron went back into the cupboard above the sink.

Plates, knives, forks. Syrup. A bit of butter. Oh, he’d forgotten the blueberries in the batter. Cameron made a mental note to make blueberry pancakes sometime later this week. As he set the table and laid the food down, Kath stirred.

[color=B1A597]“Good morning, Kath!”[/color] He said cheerfully as he sat down. In response, Katherine rolled off of the sofa, right onto the floor. She untangled herself from her sheets, making some sort of guttural noise before she dragged herself to her feet. In her cat-patterned pajama shorts and hoodie she’d robbed from Cam (it was his nice one, too), she trudged over to the table and collapsed into her chair.

[color=ADC0EA]“Aw, man!”[/color] she said. She stabbed a pancake with her fork, continuing to talk before she had even started eating. [color=ADC0EA]“These are so good, Cam! Like always.”[/color] She took a bite. Well, she was right. Despite how little she had ended up sleeping, Katherine was chipper as always. It never seemed to matter how much she slept, after a few minutes she would be at full energy.

[color=B1A597]“Glad you like it,”[/color] he said. The pancakes were good, but he was getting a bit tired of them. [color=B1A597]“What do you want for dinner? I might go shopping after lessons today.”[/color]

[color=ADC0EA]“Hmm. I dunno? What do you want?”[/color] Katherine continued to devour her pancakes. They had them a lot but she never really got bored of them. Well, as long as Cam was fine with them too, they’d keep on having pancakes for breakfast. And considering how often he made them, he must have really liked them!

Cameron thought for a moment. What would Kath like? [color=B1A597]“I guess… chicken alfredo? I’ll go out and get some more cheese, noodles, and chicken. We probably want some more milk and eggs too. Need snacks?”[/color]

[color=ADC0EA]“Oh, yeah! That sounds great!”[/color] Katherine finished her plate, quickly dumping it in the sink. [color=ADC0EA]“Uh… snacks… we’re probably fine on those, right? There’s probably a ton in my room somewhere. But don’t go in! If you need some, I’ll get them myself.”[/color]

She all but skipped into the bathroom, rushing to get ready. Since she never had to make breakfast, she always got up late. Usually too late, so it ended up being a rush to get ready. Today was no different. Katherine brushed her hair with inhuman speed, cursing it for always being so messy. Then, she hurried to her room, scaring away the birds on the tree outside. 

It was an absolute mess. There were books strewn all over the floor, clothes piled on top of every piece of furniture and the bin was overflowing - even though it had already been crushed to make way for twice as much trash as it was supposed to hold.

[color=ADC0EA]“I was… supposed to clean up last weekend, wasn’t I?”[/color] Katherine groaned. [color=ADC0EA]“Well, there’s always later.”[/color] She picked up some clothes from her desk, somehow knowing where everything was despite how untidy it was. She clumsily got dressed, neglecting elegance in favour of speed. Minutes later, Katherine burst of her door, messy yet ready.

One look at the clock told her she still had over half an hour before she even had to leave the house. 

[color=B1A597]“Hey, Kath, your band-aid is peeling.”[/color] Cameron pointed at her face. Katherine pressed it back on. It didn’t stick. She rolled her eyes, pulling it off and throwing it in the bin.

[color=ADC0EA]“It’s fine! It’s just a cut. It’s not gonna get infected or whatever.”[/color]

[color=B1A597]“That’s what you said the last two times. Here.”[/color] He fetched another band-aid, a cat pattern this time. [color=B1A597]“Hold still.” [/color]

She batted his hand away. [color=ADC0EA]“I swear, I’m alright. Save them for when I actually need them.”[/color]

Cameron backed off, crestfallen. [color=B1A597]“Oh, alright. Ready to go?”[/color]

[color=ADC0EA]“Huh? There’s still like, half an hour until we have to go. Wanna finish that film?”[/color]

[color=B1A597]“Ah, yeah... sure.”[/color] Cameron turned on the player underneath the TV. [color=B1A597]“I can’t help but think that-”[/color]

It hit him. The clock on the wall was an hour behind. No wonder the sun was already so high in the sky.

[color=B1A597]“Kathkathkathkath we have to GO!”[/color] He jumped up and grabbed his schoolbag. [color=B1A597]“The clock’s wrong!”[/color]

[color=ADC0EA]“Well yeah,”[/color] Katherine said, checking her phone. [color=ADC0EA]“It’s like… a couple minutes off, isn’t it?”[/color]

[color=B1A597]“The hour hand! We’re already twenty minutes behind schedule. We’re going to be late! Oh… I don’t want to face a Shinigami Chop…”[/color]

Katherine pulled out her phone again, this time paying attention to the hour. [color=ADC0EA]“Oh. Oh, god! Cam, come on, we gotta go!”[/color] She shoved past him and through the door, grabbing hold of his sleeve as she did so. [color=ADC0EA]“Come on, go, go, go!”[/color]