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River laughed as he stuffed snacks into a large potato bag he found in the corner of the room, feeling great.
Maya was going for the top shelves first, throwing down the snacks to Darius who caught all of them with ease.
"It's taken around a century of practice for us to get good at this," he explained when he caught River staring at the two of them in surprise.
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Aspen continued to watch and a few minutes later both Darius and River came out carrying bags of snacks.
"Whoa" she said, spying Maya, who had snacks in her arms. "That's a lot."
"This was just pantry number one," Maya said, grinning widely. "We still got a lot more to go."
"Yeah, but we don't want Mrs. Finch to catch us," Darius said, frowning. "The last time she got us then it took 2 and a half years to refill all of those pantries."
Aspen nodded.
"Maybe we should just stick to the pantry one for tonight." She told them and Janix nodded.
"To avoid being caught." She said in a maternal tone.
Maya gave a dramatic sigh. "Alright, fine. If you insist. Let's go back to our rooms, this bag is getting heavy."
Aspen held her hand out, as did Janix.
"Pay up, or next time, you're on your own." Aspen said, expecting food.
"Yeah, no more protection from outside threats for you." Janix said, crossing her arms.
"You heard them D, give them your food," Maya said as she turned and walked away to her dorm, ignoring her brother's protests.
River handed Janix his entire bag with a grin. "Here you go. Thanks for keeping watch for us."
Aspen smiled at River and placed a quick kiss on his cheek before the boys went off down the hall, to their own room.
Janix dragged the bag in and lit a kerosene lantern, so they could see without turning the light on.
She had her short leather gloves on and started digging through the bag.
"Potato chips, you can have those." She said, throwing the food to Aspen.
Soon, after Janix had split the stash evenly, Aspen had a bag of potato chips, a jar of pickles, doritos, an apple and one singular piece of pre-cooked steak.
"Thanks" Aspen said, storing everything but the potato chips, in the bottom drawer of the desk on her side of the room.
"No problem." Janix said, eating an apple.
aspen ate half the bag of chips before rolling the bag up, and storing it in the bottom drawer as well and laid down, burying herself under the black comforter Janix had given to her, because she thought Aspen would like it.
"Thanks," Darius said as he and River walked back to their room. "Maya never gives up her loot, so I always have to pay up."
"It's all good," River smiled. They walked together in silence for a few moments before River asked a question.
"How come there were snacks from modern times in there? Are you allowed to leave the loop whenever you want?"
"Not whenever we want," Darius replied as they stepped into their room. "Mrs. Finch is the only one who can come and go as she pleases. We can leavs for short periods of time, like a couple of hours, but if we stayed out any longer than that then time would catch up to us and we would die."
"Oh," was all River could say, seeing The Chateau a bit differently now. It seemed like a paradise, obviously, but after a few decades, or even a century, could this place be seen as a sort of prison?
(also most of the snacks had already been invented by the 80's, which is the time period the loop is in. So it'd be easy to get them.)
Aspen heard Janix get into bed and soon she was snoring with a faint whistle coming from her nostrils.
Aspen rolled over and fell asleep almost immediately.
(Oh yeah, that's true)
Darius dropped the bag off near the large oak desk and pulled out the mattress underneath his bed.
"It's not much, but we can get you an actual bed later. This will be ok for tonight, right?" He asked River, yawning as he did.
"Yeah," River said, feeling sleepy just looking at it.
"Okay," Darius said, climbing into his bed. "Good night, then."
"Night," River mumbled as he layed down on the mattress, his body relaxing and going into sleep mode as soon as he laid his head down.
(time skip?)
Aspen woke up, the morning sun shining through the pink transparents curtains on the window that sat between her and Janix's sides of the room.
She sat up on one elbow and Janix waved to her from her bed, in the other corner.
"Morning." Aspen said, with a smile.
"Good morning." Janix said, swinging her legs over the edge of her bed and got up, going over to her dresser and picking out an outfit.
River groaned as sunlight hit him right in the eyes, thanks to the lack of curtains. He heard Darius mumble something under his breath in a language River didn't know.
"I need to make Maya get me actual curtains," Darius sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "The sun's always unbearable in the morning." He shot a glance toward River, who was slowly gettin up. "I should've warned you about that."
"It'salright," River said, his words slurring together as he tried to make himself more awake.
Aspen changed, not bothering to go into the powder room next door, and for a few minutes it was just Aspen and Janix facing the walls and away from each other, once they were done, the walked out together, towards the dining room.
"Breakfast is always good, but then again, the food almost always is." Janix told her.
River and Darius walked out of their room dressed in the same clothes as last night, not bothering to change.
"Good morning!" Maya chirped as she ran over to the two of them from behind. "You both look like you slept well."
"We need curtains. Dark and impenetrable curtains," River mumbled, Darius nodding in agreement.
Aspen spotted River and smiled gleefully, waving excitedly.
"Good morning!" she called to him and ran up to him.
"Hey," River said, giving Aspen a tired smile.
"They're not morning people apparently," Maya stated, smirking at her brother as he reluctantly walked farther away from his bedroom.
Aspen nodded and smiled.
"I get that." she said, as she yawned.
"Yeah, but breakfast will wake all of you up!" Maya said as they approached the dining hall.
Aspen followed, her feet dragging a bit, but she brightened at the breakfast that was already spread along the middle of the table and smiled.
She said down quickly and began piling her plate with food, three pancakes, four pieces of sausage and three hashbrowns and a singular fried egg.
River looked at what Aspen was getting and grabbed the same foods that she had. The orphange only ever offered liquified and tasteless oatmeal for breakfast, so when he took his first bite of the pancake he closed his eyes and sighed happily, experiencing pure bliss.
Aspen finished eating and piled her plate again, eating at the speed of light and sitting back in her chair, rubbing her stomach.
River happily inhaled the rest of his food, barely pausing to breath. When he was done, he felt more awake, his mind clearer and more focused than it was before.
Aspen got up and trudged into the sitting room, where she threw herself onto a couch, it was soft and slighty squishy.
River followed and sat down next to her, surprised by the softness of the couch.
"So, how're you doing today?" He asked her, relaxing more into the couch.
Aspen smiled.
"Awesome." She told him honestly.
"That's good," River smiled. He closed his eyes, feeling tempted to go back to sleep, especially in such a comfortable place.
Aspen yawned once more and sighed.
"I don't ever want to leave, but I also want to let my mother know im okay, even though she probably won't care, I still want to tell her.
"Maybe you can send her a letter?" River suggested. "Mrs. Finch will probably be able to help you find a way to tell her."
Aspen shrugged.
"i'm not too worried about it, to be honest, I'd just like to let her know at some point." She said aloud. "Maybe I'll make her worried and wait to do it."