“Ugh, decided to go in early today since I missed two of my shifts working on that quest,” Thera said, planning to do a bit of extra help at some of the surrounding hospitals despite her hours having been reduced, out of sympathy for all of the other healers she knew and worked with, with Mora joining her as he typically would on those particular days. “And it already feels like a mistake. Genuinely, how are you surviving without sleep?”
“Sleep’s overrated. Why lose a third of the day to it when I could focus on other things?”
“Lucky,” Mora chimed in, his insistence on wearing a body of flesh and blood forcing the need for it on him despite it being foreign to his nature, making Ben grin as he reached over to ruffle his hair.
“Ha, but there are nice things about sleeping too,” he conceded for the boy’s benefit. “Nothing quite like waking up refreshed and rested, is there? If I can ever spare the time again, maybe I’ll let myself have a proper little nap.”
A statement that was met with doubt by everyone in that room, even himself. Wasting time wasn’t in his nature, and if he could make more of it then he wasn’t going to give it up. The odds of letting himself actually sleep were nil, at least until their war ended and probably beyond it too, with how many demons would still be on the world even if they won. Far better to try and be productive and, if he needed to, he could let himself properly rest in a few good years.
Still, that was a future worry. In the present, his focus was cooking for them all and he sped up just a bit, plating the table for the three and putting an extra one to the side for Sonya since he knew she was home that day, letting them all talk and eat as they did until the meal was done.
“Alright, if you two are looking for an early start then I’ll clean this up and see you later. Try and have a good day.”
“Thank’s Ben,” Thera smiled, leaning in to kiss him goodbye. “Hopefully, it won’t be a long one.”
Leaving from there, Ben stayed behind and quickly washed the dishes, about to leave as well until he heard Sonya stir, getting up to start the day after arriving back late the previous night and looking as tired as such a thing implied.
“Morning,” Ben said brightly, setting her place at the table and putting a plate of food in front of her before joining, deciding that he had enough time to talk with her for a bit before he’d need to rush off to work. “Been busy while we were gone?”
“Mmh, more than I’d like,” she yawned. “But you know how it is. Are the other two still asleep?”
“Already out, actually. Thera feels guilty for missing her couple shifts, so she’s going to try to make up for it.”
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“I’m sure they’ll appreciate it. Gods know, the reaction I get when I go in anywhere, you’d think I was saving the healers’ lives instead of the patients.”
“Ha, perils of being in high demand. You doing okay though? If it’s too much then you can tell me. I could probably pull some strings to ease your work a bit.”
“Your teacher said the same thing,” she smiled. “Thank you, but no. It’s exhausting, but it’s important. I’m not going to stop just because I’m tired. Besides, today should actually be an easy day for me. I’m going to take a bit of a walk around the surrounding area to see if there’s any nearby places that need my help, but with how many healers we have here now, I’m not expecting to be swamped with work. It should be a light day.”
“Well, if you’re sure. And how is my absent teacher doing? I barely see the guy anymore.”
“Busier than me. When he’s not at his factory, he’s being sent from place to place to work on all sorts of different projects, but you know how it is. It’s not like he can quit either.”
“Mmh, I guess it is important for a future god to build up a good reputation in life,” Ben shrugged. “Seems like a pain though.”
“You really should probably have the same concerns.”
“Eh, probably, but at least I’ve already got a bit of a workaround for some instant faith when I ascend,” he said, his thoughts turned to the soul tiles he’d made to pray to himself he had stored away. “I’ll figure out the whole believer thing later. Worst to worst, I can probably steal at least a few from Myriad.”
The expected comment from such a statement never came, his god clearly having some other focus that kept him from noticing the offhand remark, even if it left Sonya shaking her head.
“Well, I’m sure you know what you’re doing, so I won’t say more. In that case, are you expecting a long day?”
“No, just me and Delair for this one, so nothing crazy. Since this is your first time home in a bit, I’ll try to make something exciting for dinner. We got to try a lot of food while we were dealing with our quest; I have some inspiration to work through.”
“Then I’ll look forward to it,” Sonya smiled, stopping him when he went to take her finished plate. “And I can at least clean up after myself when you’ve made me such a lovely breakfast. Thank you, Ben.”
“Of course. In that case, I’ll see you later.”
Walking off, he couldn’t help but feel positive about the day, having started strong as his thoughts wandered on what was still to come, planning out how he wanted it to go.
Let’s see, why don’t we make this a cooking day for Delair? I got some new ingredients so they could be fun for her to play with, and it’s been a while since we dedicated a day to that anyway. While that’s going on, I could focus on a few different things. Sonya was right after all, I might end up needing faith one day, so I should make some more soul tiles for myself, and I should make more for Myriad too while I’m at it. Stocking up on materials would be good too, and it’s also been too long since I’ve really made anything; the construction stuff doesn’t count. It’s not like I needed to figure out how to make legendary cutlery for anyone or something like that. Other than that-
Oh, hey Myriad. I was wondering when-
Instantly knowing what his god meant, Ben needed no time to react as he lifted himself with his magic and shot himself through the air, the shop no longer his destination, with far bigger problems to deal with.