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Quite honestly to say that Marn was excited by the vacation spot they chose would not be enough. She knew the spot from her travels, having visited this side of Sangfielle ages ago, and had fond memories of that place. So when the whole group stepped out of a train, and the view spread out like a canvas full of colors she was filled with peace.
“Ah, we’re gonna have an amazing time,” said Duvall, taking a deep breath and standing there like the conqueror of new and amazing places, right in front of the entrance to the train. Marn chuckled, seeing as other people tried to pass Duvall with little to no success.
Pickman didn’t tolerate being stuck in a train though. Pickman simply squeezed through doors that were too small for her, picked up Duvall and put him somewhere where he wasn’t a problem anymore.
In front of them a rich green scenery promised the very needed moment of rest and relaxation. Mountains higher than these at Blackwick were overwhelming the sky with their white peaks. Slightly below deep forests started, but over the forests there was a mist, not so dense to signal problems, but dense enough to easily find where the hot springs were. Even lower was a small village, with only a few houses, and if they looked hard enough they could see the small clearings, where cabins for rent were hidden.
“So, you said you know that place, am I right?” asked Es, standing next to Marn.
“Oh yes! I do, I know the place and I know the shack we’ll be renting.” Marn smiled warmly at Es and Es smiled back.
They waited for a moment longer on the platform, waiting for the whole Blackwick Group to gather. Duvall and Chine quickly started conversing about something, pointing at places visible in distance that they would like to visit, while It was sniffing everything that’s new. Pickman seemed unappealed, but her squinted eyes were focused on the train's conductor, who seemed to be winking at Pickman relentlessly. Hazard picked up a talk they were having with Virtue, which was somewhat surprising to Marn. These two seemed to be so different, yet they vibed with each other so well.
Only Lyke was a bit late, apparently being stuck in the train doing… Something. But he ran out of there before there was any problem, so the whole group soon was ready.
“Well, show the way,” suggested Es when they all were ready and Marn happily did that.
It didn’t take long for them to find their way and settle in. The shack was big but cozy enough, with a big social space downstairs and several rooms upstairs. It was made out of nice pine wood, and decorated with so many doilies, that Marn could easily tell someone’s grandma had a very good hobby. There was also a big kitchen, where small fights about who would be cooking at what times were already starting.
Marn observed as everyone picked out rooms, and started to get cozy, but she herself sat on a couch in the living room, with a big cup of tea she prepared just moments ago. It was so nice to sit and just observe as the group started to figure out how they fit together a little bit more than just coworkers. Pickman sat next to her, slowly sipping from her own cup of tea.
“Ok, I do understand that you want this room specifically for you and Chine, Duvall, but the room you’re trying to take has three beds,” Lyke said so loud from upstairs everyone could hear.
“Can’t you just take the bed and go somewhere else??”
“No! I can’t! I’m not Chine! Have you seen my muscles? No, because I have none!”
“But I can take that bed to another room for you,” chimed in Chine.
“Oh, right, you can do that,” said Lyke, a bit crestfallen.
The bed was moved, and first rooms were decided: Chine with Duvall, Es, Lyke and Hazard in another room, and one room just for Virtue.
“It seems we’ll be sleeping together then,” said Marn to Pickman.
Pickman was quiet for a moment and then murmured something under her breath. Marn took a sip of her tea and slowly, as she realized what she said, her eyes became bigger and bigger.
“I didn’t- It’s not- You know what I meant, obviously?” she said, panicking only a bit.
“Yes, obviously I know what you meant,” answered Pickman.
Yet when Pickman got up from the couch her movements were a little stiff, as she walked to the room which they’ll be sharing.
Marn squeezed the cup hard in her hands. She couldn’t believe how much her mouth didn’t want to work correctly around Pickman. She drank the rest of that tea and got up to prepare dinner for everyone.
That evening everyone was tired after the long journey, so there wasn’t much planned. Well, most of them were tired. Hazard seemed hardly touched by the travel, and was relentlessly playing cards against Virtue and whoever was stupid enough to get between them. Which mostly meant Lyke, but during some rounds also Duvall. Chine was banned from playing after they tried to eat the cards to help Duvall cheat his way into winning, so instead they were reading fairy tales to It.
Es sat by a fireplace, reading peacefully, and Pickman sat on the other side of the fireplace, carving something in wood and tending the fire. Marn found herself too tired to read or do any experiments she planned to do while they were here, so she just sat in front of the fireplace, hot cocoa in hand, and listened to her friends having fun. She missed that for so long, with all the troubles the Blackwick Group had. She knew, she always knew it in her heart, that they could be such good friends with each other, and yet their work kept them in proximity to each other and at bay emotionally all the time. It was tiresome, and she hoped that this time spent in a retreat would allow them to find common grounds none of them knew existed. Or at least that they won’t end up burning this shack to the ground. It would be good, yes, it would be. And as she was dozing off more and more, she half dreamed about how happy she would be if instead of sitting on a chair she would be sitting in Pickman’s arms, happy and cozy in those strong, furry, warm arms…
When she woke up only she and Pickman were still in the living room. The rest went to sleep, or do something that passed for sleeping. But Pickman was still tending the fire. It was small and weak, barely there, almost reduced to embers, but still warm. Marn realized that she was wrapped in a blanket that she didn’t have previously, and felt another type of warmth spreading around her body.
“Thank you,” she said.
Pickman looked at her and shrugged. “It was Es.”
“Oh. But you still tend the fire?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t you want to go to sleep?”
“No.”
“Oh, okay. But I’m going. To sleep, I mean. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
Marn never felt this awkward, and she hoped it was only because the change of surroundings made her fall out of tune with Pickman.
The hot springs were probably the best thing that came out of that trip. Marn loved the hot water and she never quite felt this good. After the first time they went there she felt cleaner than she felt in ages, and yet after the next day she was even cleaner. It was as if the layers of sand and dirt that never came off no matter how much she tried to scrub them, were finally dissolving.
That day she went to hot springs with Pickman, Es and Lyke. Chine took It and Duvall on a hiking trip, Virtue decided that the hot water isn’t best for her skin and went to get a massage, and Hazard fucked off somewhere where no one could find them.
In the big hot pond Pickman found the deepest part of the edge and sat there submerged to her chin. Marn looked wistfully at her from afar, but didn’t make any moves to close the distance. She told herself that the pond would be too deep for her there to sit comfortably.
“Sooo… What’s the deal with you and Pickman?” asked Es as she sat next to Marn.
Marn looked at Es and blinked. The way she blushed at the sight of Es made her think Es could see the red cheeks even under the dense fur on Marn’s face. Es, obviously was naked, with hair pinned up high on her head. But the way water glistened on her skin, and the way she moved… Marn had the pleasure of dating people not so dissimilar to Es, and she reminded Marn of all the possible pleasures of this world, including getting fancy drinks like the one Es was holding.
“The deal is that I don’t know. Usually everything is so simple, but with Pickman everything is so… Weird.”
“Mmm, that’s good. You seem to enjoy the weird and unexpected.”
“I do, but I don’t always know what to do about it.”
“Marn, you’re a scientist, if anyone can figure out what Pickman's deal is, it’s you.”
Marn sighed.
“In any case, I suggest a direct approach to the subject,” added Es.
“Maybe you’re right… I should just talk to her,” said Marn, but did not move even slightest from her spot. “...but not now, I think.”
Es shrugged and drank a bit of her fancy drink.
“Hey guys! What are you talking about?” yelled Lyke, as he swam towards them.
“The possibilities of Pickman’s lovelife,” answered Es.
“Is she even capable of having that?!”
Es made a noncommittal noise and Lyke laughed at that. He continued swimming in the hot spring around them, conversing with Es about everything and nothing, and Marn continued to stare at Pickman. She felt a little better about it all thanks to Es and so she decided: there was nothing else left to do than actually act on her feelings.
There were still a few days before they would have to leave, but somewhere along the way it was decided that they wouldn't be having a big bonfire with storytelling, foods and drinks, no, they would be having TWO bonfires.
When it started to get dark, the wood was already prepared. Chine and Pickman built a big pyre behind the shack while Marn, Lyke and others prepared foods they would fry over the fire. Duvall and Es swapped many ideas for fancy drinks and finally came up with small little recipes for drinks for everyone. Marn did not comment about it, but some of the drinks seemed wildly out of the character for some of them, but hey, maybe she was wrong.
“Hey, Pickman, what would you like to drink?” shouted Duvall through the door at some point.
“Oh, just beer.”
“Got it!” he answered and proceeded to prepare something that clearly wasn’t beer.
When everything was prepared and benches set around the pyre the fire was finally started. Marn really adored how quickly and well Pickman worked with fire, the way her armor worked must have helped to truly internalize everything about it. The pyre ignited so fast and so well, soon the whole area got warm and bright, and first sausages and shashliks were being fried. Duvall somehow got his hands on a music playing machine and so the air soon was filled with nice yet strangely unfamiliar music.
Es gave everyone their glass of drink and sat down next to Virtue. Duvall and Chine had to surprisingly quickly give a lesson to It about the dangers of bonfire and also Not Stealing The Shashliks Please. Marn hummed happily and found a place for herself next to Pickman.
Pickman’s face looked somewhat confused as she studied the drink she was given.
“Well, this is clearly not beer,” she said.
Marn chuckled. Pickman could be so adorable sometimes. “No, Es and Duvall made fancy drinks for everyone. Their own recipes, as they said. They looked very proud of that.”
“Ah.”
“Don’t worry, they did not put poison in them, I watched.”
“Thank you.”
Pickman seemed really uplifted by that exchange, and so finally she lifted the glass and took a sip.
“So? How does it taste?” Marn wanted to know.
“Sweet. But also sour. Entirely unlike beer.”
Marn laughed and somehow after that they fell into a comfortable conversation about different beers and which ones are the best. They catched a flow, a true flow, that Marn suspected they were capable of having, but experiencing it made her feel all nice and fuzzy. Or maybe it was the alcohol. It turned out that what Es and Duvall prepared had a lot of percents in it. But as the night went on, and they drank and ate and sang some songs, and changed conversation partners, and had fun, the whole world seemed like a better place. Like it was possible for them to become something akin to a family that they really, really needed, even if not everyone of them wanted it.
As the night moved along more and more of them went to sleep or simply disappeared inside and never came back. At some point Pickman had to pick up Hazard and take them to their bed after they passed out on the grass. Soon it was only Marn and Pickman who stayed by the bonfire.
Suddenly Pickman turned to Marn and said: “I… Really like you.”
“Aww, I love you too,” answered Marn, still feeling tipsy, teasing Pickman only a little bit.
“I would not call that ‘love’.”
“Oh.”
Awkward silence settled between them. The fire was still crackling merrily, even if the bonfire was a lot smaller now. Marn could hear Duvall snoring inside the hut. She started wondering if she should have followed in his footsteps and went to bed, where she would be sleeping peacefully now, instead of being suddenly sober and a little scared.
“...but I also would not not call it love,” added Pickman, acting like it explained everything.
“Oh. Oh, ok.” Marn frowned, trying to understand Pickman’s point of view. “So… What would you call it?”
“I don’t know.”
“But… Would you kiss me about that feeling?”
“Yes,” said Pickman, with a confidence only she was capable of.
What followed was not the weirdest kiss Marn has ever had, but it for sure was somewhere up there on the list. Marn didn’t know why it was so weird though. Pickman was weird and so the kiss was weird, she assumed, but it’s not like she didn’t like the weirdness. It was a pleasant kind of weird, a weird that she was willing to study and get to know better. A weird that could be brought into being even weirder if they really tried, and that perspective excited Marn.
When their lips finally parted Marn smiled at Pickman.
“Do you want to be my girlfriend, then?”
“Yes. Yes, I suppose I do.”
And Marn almost passed out from the excitement and all the alcohol she had that night. But Pickman’s hands caught her before she slipped from the bench, and held her tightly, even if a little unsure.
“This is the greatest day I had in years,” said Marn, as she snuggled next to Pickman.
Pickman murmured something, and Marn could not understand what it was, but it sounded pleasant. That night she fell asleep on that bench, feeling Pickman’s big hand slowly caressing her head. She could not remember when Pickman carried her to her bed, but she did remember all the nice exciting dreams she had.
The rest of that trip they spent getting to know each other more and more. And also holding hands and kissing, which made Marn feel like she was absolutely right about everything and could not make a bad decision even if she wanted to.
Pickman was a bit weird and a bit awkward about relationships, and as she explained she never had a girlfriend before.
“I am honored to be your first, then,” said Marn, “and I promise this will get easier with time.”
They had a lot to learn about each other but it was nice. Marn liked to learn and so when they got on a train to get back to Blackwick she was already making plans of what else she wanted to learn from Pickman.