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It's already been four months and three heats he's skipped since arriving in this world.
Soleum sighs, siting on the edge of his bed with a suppressant pill bottle in hand.
No... it wouldn't be smart to skip again. His body needed a break.
Soleum sighs putting the bottle back into the bedside table.
Later that day Soleum filled out a heat leave form for the coming week.
.
. (A week later)
.
Soleum feverishly rolls in the nestless bed in discomfort.
He didn't want to make a nest... nests are special.
It's for where you feel the safest.
To Soleum, that place is home.
Soleum protests against his urges for comfort, his pride on the line as if the act was admitting a more permanent stay in this world.
But at some point retaliation passes in the midst of it.
When did he succumb? When did the pillows and blankets get rearranged? He couldn't recall in his haze.
Drifting in and out of consciousness.
He felt delirious and lonely.
Every breathless intake contained the wrongness of a scentless space with only his floral scent existing.
None of his friends or family...
Soleum was getting teary eyed.
No,
He's not going to cry over his comfort pillow absence or his favorite blankets from home missing.
He's not a child that needs the full extend of a nest to manage.
Soleum curls into himself falling back to sleep.
Sometimes waking with the forgetfulness of his celling not belonging to his world's bedroom.
ahaha
...
When he falls for it the 3rd time Soleum trembles till sleep takes him again.
When Soleum awakes again he smells an alpha's comforting scent of a camp fire.
"Braun?" Soleum voice cracks.
The doll remains silent as if it truly was an inanimate object.
In a way the voiceless presence was the most comforting answer.
As if Braun had read his mind. Sensing Soleum did not want company in his misery but didn't want to be truly alone.
Without another word Soleum brings the pink doll into his nest.
Falling asleep with the pink plush in his arms.
Soleum’s resting features looking just a little bit more at eased in his sleep.
꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶๋ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷
Meanwhile at the Tuesday Late Night Show Darkness:
Bright lights shine on stage.
A spotlight luminating each individual stand with a viewing audience and staff without faces behind cameras.
[Now the contestant in the Cardinal mask!]
The alpha contestant beside them confusedly sniffs at the air "huh? Lilies-"
That man's spotlight switches off.
Flames elope him. His mouth is open like a voiceless scream as he rolls on the floor in agony but not a sound is heard as if his section has been muted.
The whole set ignores it.
[How long does it take for a human to drown?] The host cheerfully beams at the lady in the cardinal bird mask.
The rest of the contestants gulp at the other-worldly normalcy to the man dying near them.
They all look at the host who stood alone
But the smell was announcing of another entity.
Something is there...
They all shivered.
In silent agreement they don't acknowledge the omega smell that clings to the host like a invisible ghost was hanging off of him.
[Is it A, one minute? B, two minutes? C, 5 minutes?]
It was hard for contestants to act normal with such an whelming acidic distress smell making their hearts all race in alertness.
"umm err" The lady tries to gather her thoughts; playing it off as weighing her options.
Was the Host being haunted? Did he harm a omega in heat? Just what was happening right now?
Theories ran through all their heads.
Sound effects of a clock ticking appear.
The woman in the cardinal mask shakily breaths with fear which is written off as stage nervousness.
"um it- its N-NONE OF THEM! Drowning- drowning can occur in under a min-minute. 40 seconds for adults and 20 seconds for children!"
[And that is...] The host dramatically reads the card in hand.
A drum roll plays, abruptly stopping.
[Correct!]
The Host turns to the production crew off to the side with a winking emote on his screen.
[Sounds like someone's pay is getting cut!]
The crowd erupts in loud laughter as if it was a light hearted production prank.
The camera turns to the film crew energetically shaking their head and waving arms to a pay cut causing additional laughter.
Sweat soaks the contestant's shirt collar as she laughs along.
The show continues with the onslaught of gruesome questions with frighting indifference to the burnt flesh smell admitting from the corpse on the floor and the ghostly omega smell of an entity they couldn't see but presence so so so close by.
In his sleep Soleum squeezes the doll even closer in his embrace to his heart, trying to cope the emotional aching and heat pains; completely unaware of the second hand stress he was causing the exploration team to feel and added analysation work for the research team later.
The exploration soon comes to an end with only one lost.
꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶๋ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷
The strange heat smell became a routine anomaly in the Tuesday show explorations, appearing on the alpha host every 1-3 months.
If Soleum knew he wasn't only scenting the doll but the host himself with in real time scent shifts he'd wear scent blockers for the rest of his life and work harder to leave this planet.
If Soleum knew there exist a part in the Tuesday Quiz Show manual for when his heats occur he might just become pro darkness and rid the organization of manuals.
Now if he knew that information was include in exploration reports and in the research teams analyzations he will be needing two wish potions and no questions asked...
Meanwhile at a certain squad's break room:
A new recruit flips through pages.
Manual: The Tuesday Quiz Show
-Section 8-
If a omega's heat scent is on the host:
Do not ask about it.
Do not describe it.
Do not acknowledge it.
And under absolutely no circumstance get hard from it.
"ahaha what happen to the poor fool who broke this rule?" laughs the newbie, pointing at the text.
His squad leader licks his dry lips intaking a breath and answers.
.
.
.
Let's just say it became an unspoken rule for Tuesday Quiz Show, exploration members to keep an anti-viagra pill in their pocket for their own peace of mind.