For the first time in a while, he truly just slept. He didn’t think about when to wake up the following day or if he had any plans, he just sank into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Well, not exactly dreamless, more like he didn’t retain any of what he dreamt of.
Osho saw sleep as an escape, in a way.
When he was sleeping, there was no need to think, no need to consider anything. His overly active brain could just rest, and as diligent as he was when he came to waking up, usually anyway, he valued sleep quite a bit for the escape it provided him.
That’s also why he found the notion of needing sleep less and less as you grew stronger to be less appealing than one would expect.
Then just like that, he woke up.
The reason he tends to stare at the ceiling for a few seconds before moving is due to him acting to quell the rain of thoughts that bombard him the instant he wakes up.
Once this was settled, he finally sat up and stretched. A series of satisfying pops sounding out as he made the world aware that he’d awoken from his slumber.
A moment later, he felt a small nudge both through his bond and on his left, causing him to look down with a small smile as he saw Gale waking up on his lap.
’Morning.’ He spoke through their bond and reached down to stroke the bird’s feathers, earning him a satisfied trill as the bird responded sleepily
He kept stroking Gale’s feathers and allowed the bird to wake up fully. Naturally, he could wake up immediately if he wanted to, but there was no danger, so there was no need.
He looked to the side and saw his phone on the small nightstand next to the bed. With a thought, he sent a string of Mana towards the device and pulled it towards himself with a mental tug.
It landed in his hand with no hassle and he smiled. He recalled just how hard that had been to pull off the first time.
He checked the time and was surprised, 11 a.m., it’s been a while since he slept for that long. He must have been more tired than he’d thought.
But to his elation, instead of feeling groggy like how one would normally feel due to sleeping for too long, he felt perfectly refreshed, like his body was perfectly rested in all aspects.
After checking the time, he checked through his messages and didn’t find much different. There were a few good morning messages from Ellie and the other three, but other than that—
Osho’s smile faltered for a brief moment, then he snorted and blocked the number without hesitation before throwing it out of his mind, he’d be dawned if he allowed that to dampen his mood.
Once Gale was fully awake, Osho got out of bed and tapped a point on his jumpsuit. He felt Mana move within it and a moment later, a refreshing sensation of cleanliness washed over him as the suit activated its automatic cleaning feature, with Mana acting to purge any sweat or grime that night had gotten on him the following day and turning it into ambient Mana.
The process fascinated him, but he couldn’t figure out how it worked no matter how he looked. It served as a nice guide to understanding how Mana pathways worked, though.
’What are we gonna do now?’ Gale asked with some enthusiasm as he had taken his position at the side of Osho’s head, casually hovering.
Osho thought for a moment before saying.
’Well, it’s a rest day today so, what do you wanna do?’ Gale seemed to be taken aback and he brought his wing to his beak much like how Osho held his chin whenever he was thinking. When had he learned that..?
’I can do what you do!’ He answered and Osho snickered.
’Not really an answer, but alright.’ Osho thought for a bit before remembering.
’Right, you haven’t done a whole lot of the recreational activities we humans normally do.’ He mused. Actually, when he thought about it, he realized he never did many recreational activities with Gale, if any at all. They usually just ate, trained, and spoke to one another.
’Something to rectify a little, I guess.’ At that moment, his phone buzzed and he saw a notification, or two notifications which he found to be quite convenient.
Ellie made a group chat.
[Ellie: Nah, good morning, by the way.]
[Kurt: So that IS your full name.]
[Samantha: What? Surprised?]
Osho saw everyone talking and decided to speak as well.
[Ellie: Look who finally woke up.]
[Osho: How do you know I just woke up?]
[Ellie: Call it a Girlfriend’s instincts.]
[Kurt, Irene, Samantha: Cringe.]
[Ellie: HEY! (ノ｀△´)ノ]
Osho chuckled at their antics before saying.
[Osho: I was wondering, wouldn’t it be nice if we all went out today?]
The chat was silent for a moment
[Irene: A bit surprising you’re the one who suggested that. And don’t play dumb and ask what that means, you know damn well what I mean.]
[Samantha: Shouldn’t we be training instead?]
[Ellie: I am more than okay with thrashing you lot.]
[Kurt: An outing seems good. Besides, have any of us actually done any actual recreational activities with our beasts outside of just talking to them?]
[Ellie: Well, when you say it like that then having an outing may not be such a bad idea. Besides, we’ve been training nonstop for two months, I think a bit of genuine relaxation before the exam would help ease our minds a bit, you know?]
[Samantha: In that case, an outing doesn’t seem so bad.]
[Irene: Yeah. Sounds good.]
[Ellie: Then we are all in agreement!]
Just like that, they began planning their outing and Osho felt a bit satisfied that his idea was being implemented.
In the end, they decided on doing a series of activities around the Citadel which also included things that helped with Beast bonding.
Not long after, Osho felt a knock on his door.
He went and opened it and saw Mrs Jane standing outside, but to his surprise, she was dressed quite casually. She was wearing a set of overalls and her hair hand been allowed to cascade down her back freely. Her expression also wasn’t as stern as usual, causing the first thought in Osho’s mind to be...
He blinked before saying.
"Good Morning." She nodded.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Good. Is there anything you want to do today?"
"Ellie and the others agreed for us to have an outing today to relax. Especially since none of us have ever done any recreational activities like those with our Beasts before "
"Hm, I see the vision. Alright. But would you mind if I tagged along?" Osho arched a brow, but Mrs Jane elaborated.
"To make sure you’re safe." Osho tilted his head.
"What about Ellie’s shadow guard?"
"Ellie’s guard. Not yours, protecting you is something he’d do only after he made sure Ellie was safe."
"You seem sure that such protection will be necessary."
"No. But it’s better to be safe rather than sorry." Seeing her insistence, Osho could only sigh and nod in agreement.
"Alright, where were you lot gonna meet and at what time?" She asked, seeming relieved that she didn’t have to push to make Osho agree.
Then again, both of them were perfectly aware that if Osho refused, she would have still followed them, she’d just be more subtle about it.
"Anyway, are you gonna make breakfast?" Mrs Jane suddenly asked and Osho didn’t double-take.
"You haven’t eaten? Why not?" She didn’t answer and just stared at him, causing him to sigh.
Osho saw the group of four chatting away on a park bench and waved, causing them to wave back as he got near.
"Not gonna lie, seeing you rock that jumpsuit constantly is pretty funny." Ellie snickered, and Osho stared at her with a deadpan expression.
"I will reduce this thing to ashes before tomorrow."
"Uh, hello Mrs Jane," Kurt said and the other followed suit, and the woman just nodded. "Just act like I’m not here."
She was currently wearing a face mask to avoid attention. But they knew her too well not to be able to tell who she was.
Osho was also aware of Ellie’s shadow guard lurking near a tree, watching.
"Okay, first order of business." Ellie grinned as she pointed at a set of food trucks that sold food both for humans and beasts.
"Food!" Osho blinked, he didn’t remember that part.
"Uh, I made some stuff for us before I got here. So that we wouldn’t need to spend money on fast food." He said while pointing at the decently sized bag in his left hand.
Ellie did a complete 180 and pointed at the bag.
"Okay, first order of business. Food!"