All the appliances that he could see appeared to be silver in color. There was a good bit of space in the kitchen to walk around between the counters, and there was a larger island right before the living room. The island was oblong, with a white counter and a glowing blue base. There was a set of matching blue plush chairs to the right of it, along with a blue highchair.
Where the kitchen ended and the living room began, the gray tile floor cut off to plush gray carpet. The flat white walls went to dark wood paneling with a strip of blue light, lighting the top and bottom of the wall.
The living room was three times the size of the kitchen, with a lot of empty space. The far wall was all window, but thankfully, it was shuttered with blackout curtains. No doubt in place due to the fact that three months of the year the sun didn’t set.
A large TV floated against the wall facing the entrance, a full sized light blue couch opposite it, along with a white marble oblong coffee table, and two silver end tables that had blue orb lamps on top.
The hallway off the kitchen was longish, with two doors to the left leading to an office and a fully decked out nursery, while the two doors to the right led to bedrooms. Severo had taken the first room, while Seri had taken the second. The Nymph had kept Skya in with him though, ignoring the nursery all together. He had dragged the crib from that room to his. But apparently his car seat could also turn into a crib if needed.
Every window in the place had blackout shutters or curtains. And they were all down. Severo had shut them himself. Even though they were on the eighth floor, he couldn’t risk someone seeing Seri.
He has some worries about this location. While, right now, it would remain daylight for a few more months...there was also a period of time here during the year where the sun didn’t rise at all.
He supposed, as long as the lights remained on…and Seri stayed inside, it wouldn’t matter. As it was, the rooms were all lit up, except for one—his bedroom. The rest would just have to remain on, and probably would for the entire time they were there. They had no other choice with how Seri’s trauma was manifesting.
Which brought him to the other thing he’d been worrying about… No darkness for Seri was one thing, but no darkness for Skya… She was a Dweller, like he was, so she needed the shadows just as much as she needed water. She hadn’t gotten sick yet…and that may just be due to her being a Water Nymph too…but how long would that last? Could he convince Seri to let Skya possibly sleep in his room for a few hours of darkness? Maybe during her naps she could? If it was about her being there alone, well, he could take a nap too. Severo was never one to turn down a nap.
Severo sighed on finishing his orange juice. Sitting the glass down, he got up and walked into the hallway. On reaching Seri’s room, he knocked.
When the door started to open a few moments later, Severo happily sang, “Morning!”
Seri stared with squinted eyes, his cyan curls on the right side were partly flattened and sticking up in full disarray.
His brow rose when the Nymph didn’t say anything. “Rough…night?” he asked hesitantly. It was 11am, and they had gotten in after 2am…but…
“No…” Seri said, but nothing more, he just continued to squint up at him.
“Umm… I was wondering if you were up for a little shopping this morning? The apartment is furnished, and I found a few sets of clothes, but not much else. I know Ender said his people could do deliveries, but I figured we might as well try to be as self-sufficient as possible in case we end up cut off from them. Well, that and I figured you’d want to pick out your own clothes…and baby stuff. I did get notified they’d be doing a food delivery in the next thirty minutes, so why don’t you…” He frowned, trailing off when Seri’s expression didn’t seem to be registering any of what he was saying. “Did you…hear any of that?”
Seri blinked a few times. “Yes…”
“Okay…umm, why don’t you shower and get Skya up, and we can head out after the food is dropped off?”
Seri grunted and spun without a word, closing the door with a slam.
“Okay then…” he drawled.
Seri stared blanklyat the green tile in the shower, trying to remember what he was doing.
Getting ready! He was getting ready! Seri frowned. For what, though? He let out a groan. Morning brain was not a functioning brain. They’d let him sleep so late the other day…why was he up so early right now? What time was it? It felt early…and it had been close to three when they’d gotten in…
“Bah!” Skya said happily, patting at the water sliding down the tiled wall.
He glanced down at her. “Why are you a morning person, Skya? Don’t you know daddy doesn’t function this early?”
She giggled and wiggled around in his arms to pat his cheek.
“So much sympathy.”
“DAH!” she squealed.
He snorted. “Let’s get out and get dressed… And try to remember what Severo wanted.”
“Mah,” Skya babbled.
Severo glancedup from the tablet in his hand at the sound of a door opening, followed by soft footsteps. Finally, Seri entered the living room carrying Skya, along with her miraculous baby seat and the baby bag. Seri still looked very squinty… Skya, however, was bright eyed and bushy tailed, and looking around with interest.
“Food arrived. If you show me how to make Skya’s bottle, I can do that and feed her while you get something to eat. I made some cheesy eggs and toast. I didn’t save any bacon, since I know you can’t eat it. After you finish, we can familiarize Skya with our new looks before heading out.”
