[img]https://i.imgur.com/3gCRtbR.jpeg[/img]
[right][code]INTERACTIONS:[/code][@Qia][@Mjolnir]
[url=https://i.imgur.com/iEI7bnV.jpeg]Outfit[/url][/right]

[color=#3b9ae1]“It’s, uh… about to be the new year. First one at camp and all that for me. So… food some other time, maybe? Deal?”[/color]

Idris offered a warm smile in return.  [color=#d87093]“Deal.”[/color] While part of him was happy that he wouldn’t need to go through the whole process of preparing, cooking, eating, and then cleaning all this late at night, he knew that if he weren’t here, he would be doing that anyway back home and opening the shop.  Part of him had wanted to go through those motions to try to ground him in this new reality.  This did not hurt his feelings, and he knew that he was just homesick despite the short time away.  He would cook for Rae one day, and for tonight, that was enough to help.

[color=667c0c]"Yeah, I appreciate the offer, man but I have an angry girlfriend and I haven’t decided if I’m going to risk going back to the party or hide in my cabin.  Don’t stay up too late. Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s training tomorrow."[/color] 

Idris’s right eyebrow twitched violently for half a second at the mention of training.  It wasn’t because he hated the idea of a day of training, or the prospect of learning more about his ability.  He was here, after all, and he was fully prepared to do what he needed to do to ensure his mother had the best retirement gift Idris could give her.  What made him upset, internally at least, was the prospect of doing a full day of training tomorrow morning after waking up only a few hours ago back in Canada.  He knew that there was not going to be a way for him to fall asleep tonight.  Not only was he in a completely different country, in a completely different timezone, but he had also gotten a full night's sleep the night before and thus was completely awake.  Sure.  Idris knew he could down drink, after drink, to force the issue, yet that ran the risk of having a karaoke party in his cabin until the first dawn, and he would rather not show up to the first day drunk or hungover.  Thus, he was not going to go to bed tonight because there was no point in that action.  While it was approaching midnight here, his body felt like it was still early morning back home.  Whatever time training was tomorrow would be like a late afternoon workout, and he should still feel rested, even if his body was out of sync with the time.  [color=#d87093]“I did just wake up a few hours ago, so I should be fine.  Thank you both again, I hope to catch y’all in the morning!”[/color]

[hr]

A few hours had passed since the fireworks went off, and the campground became a battleground of celebration.  The new year had officially started, and Idris felt disconnected from himself.  He had found a clock on the wall earlier, and he turned his head, seeing that it said it was only two in the morning, yet his body felt like it was still the early afternoon back home.  His head leaned back as his eyes scanned the ceiling above him.  Normally, by this time, he would have traded places with his mother at the restaurant, allowing her to solely run the cooking in the back while he handled the register and the coffee machines up front.  It would have been a slow day; it was always slow the days before the holidays, but his mother insisted it was better to be open in case someone in need came in than to close up shop for the day.  Still, the occasional fisherman or trucker would come in, order something, and have Idris make either their famous Chai or a boring coffee and converse for the hour or two they would be inside.  At five, they would bid adieu to the patrons and close up the shop, but not before helping clean every inch of the place down to ensure the restaurant itself was ready to welcome the new year.  At eight, they would arrive back at his mother's house, and the two would work in tandem to create a nice dinner for the two, and then they’d wait for the fireworks show to begin.

Two in the morning here, likely two in the afternoon back home.  His stomach rumbled.

Idris placed a hand over his stomach as he leaned forward off the back of the couch and towards the center of the bedroom.  His eyes darted to the surprisingly stocked shelf filled with books to his left, before they shifted down to the ‘Neuromancer’ book in his hand.  While this cabin had been stocked with everything he could need, there seemed to be a distinct lack of devices that could connect to the outside world.  Thus, whoever had designed this cabin elected to provide him with this old-fashioned form of entertainment.  His stomach growled.  Had he worked up an appetite reading some hard-to-understand fiction?  Idris closed his eyes as he took in a deep breath.  The cabin itself was filled with a faint scent of cedar and something warm and golden.  While he could not place the smell, he did enjoy it all the same.  A decision was made in that moment, and Idris’s eyes shot back open.  They searched for a brief moment before they located their target, a bookmark that was sadly shaped like an arrow, and marked the page with it before he closed it, and placed it down next to him on the couch.  He stood up and stretched, looking at the clock on the wall, which was opposite the bed itself. 

It was two-thirteen in the morning, and it was time for Idris to make an early dinner.