Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Silver was in bed, sick as hell. Thank gods there wasn’t a doctor on the island anymore (Well, sad in the aspect that Box still wasn’t doing well, but hey, at least he didn’t have to deal with a doctor breathing down his neck.) It wasn’t like a doctor would help anything anyways, besides maybe psycho-analyzing him into a therapy session. Silver’s metal surface was flushed pink, especially in the face, and he tried to suppress a whimper; he could have sworn he was shivering. He looked out the window numbly, it was only partially closed. The clouds were painted orange, the sky pink and purple, as the day eased its way into night. Silver distantly heard some of the other New Pinkers in the common room.

Maybe they were laughing together, eating dinner and chatting, bonding or something nice like that. Silver listened for their laughter, maybe they were talking about him. He tried to be subtle in coming to his room immediately after today’s excursion. It wasn’t like it was entirely out of character for him to avoid being in the common room with everyone. But maybe he slammed the door too quickly, too loudly, or maybe his expression gave away his mood, or maybe he let one of his whimpers get out. It was hard to know what had happened when your head felt like it was full of cotton fluff. 

Silver gripped the covers he was laying on top of. He hadn’t taken time to get under the covers, he just lay on top of them with his bow still wrapped around his neck, clutching a pillow desperately, one of his paws in a fist gripping the duvet. The lower half of his face shoved into the pillow he held onto, eyes trained on the wall as his brain ran too quickly. He took another few shallow breaths, trying to at least get a grip on his breathing. He didn’t know how else to determine his current state beside an intense overshadowing fear. He didn’t know what he was afraid of, he didn’t know if he was even afraid of anything. But he felt like he was falling.

He held his breath again to listen to the others in the common room. He could hear muffled talking, but struggled to pull out much more than just knowing who was talking. Bow said something. Test Tube next. Paintbrush said something, but in an annoyed tone.

Maybe they had noticed something was off, they were talking about him. 

Paintbrush, short laugh. Paintbrush, annoyed tone. Bow spoke, with concern maybe?

They must have seen the crack in his mask, they must have seen what was wrong with Silver. They were laughing at him and they were talking about how weak he was, how as soon as this voting void would be broken they’d vote him out. Or maybe they would tell everyone about this. About how weak and unpolished Silver actually was. It wasn’t like he didn’t expect this to happen eventually but it caused him to whimper.

The voices went quiet. Silver’s eyes readjusted to the wall of the bedroom as he snapped back to reality at this revelation. Did they… hear him. He held his breath, ears pricked up to catch their voices again, hoping to the silverware gods that they didn’t and it was just a lull in the conversation.

A voice sounded. Test Tube, quieter than she had spoken before. Bow said something short in reply.

Footsteps approached. Silver gripped the pillow tighter, he felt his cheeks flush hot from the sick feeling mixing with anger. The cabana itself was quiet, but in Silver’s head it was all so loud. It felt like everything was screaming, he felt like he needed to run, and he felt like he was falling.

He froze when he heard a knock on the door, but could swear he was shaking.

“Heeey Silvey… you, like, ok in there? Can I come in?”

Silver breathed out, “I’m perfectly fine Bow.” His voice was eerily steady. He let go of the pillow, quickly shifting himself to be sat on the edge of the bed, but making sure to stay facing the window, his back to the door. His expression turned blank, empty.

Bow pushed the door open, “Haha, yeah, uhm, just like, making sure! Are- you like, very sure that you’re good? Like super okay, totally fine, good?” Silver didn’t move. He could swear that Bow would notice he was shivering. Was he even shivering? He looked at his paw, no, he wasn’t shivering. Why did it feel like he was?

“I assure you Bow, everything’s… positively peachy.” Silver Spoon smiled. It wasn’t a happy smile. He didn’t really know why he was smiling, maybe it was because he knew how much of a lie that was.

Silver heard Bow’s pawsteps on the carpet, she was coming closer. “Oh, great… great! Well, do you think you’d like to, like, come hang out with us in the common room? Like I know you prooobably don’t wanna but we’d really appreciate if you’d…”

“Please don't come closer, Bow.” Silver was still smiling, it was forced now if it wasn’t forced before. His eyes trained on a spot on the floral pattern of the curtain. His voice was hauntingly devoid of smug. It was just flat.

“Come on, it’ll be fun and we can like, I dunno, play some games! Paintbrush has a Metindo Smitch and they said they’d let you maybe play.” (this was a lie they did not agree to that)

Bow had reached Silver’s bed, she reached out a paw to place on the silverware’s arm. As soon as her paw made contact even close to Silver, he practically launched himself away. He turned towards Bow very suddenly and hunched down upon himself, trying to back up hitting the headboard of the bed quickly; he unsheathed his sharp gem claws, posed as though ready to hit her and hissed violently at her. 

Bow flinched back, she was still, eyes wide. His ears pressed back, glued to his head, as his face fell realizing what he did. And he just started crying. His face stayed in a look of confused bewilderment, but tears fell quickly, dripping down into the silk sheets.

“AAAH HE’S GOT RABIES!!” Bow suddenly screamed, and ran away; leaving the door slightly ajar.

Silver stared at the door for a bit, vaguely hearing more voices, as tears continued to stream down his face. “Huh.” He managed to say, slowly turning back to the window. “Heh, h- ha… Haha.” He reached up and tried to wipe away tears from under one eye, before devolving into a combination of laughing and crying, that quickly just devolved into ugly crying. He desperately tried to cover his mouth to prevent sobs from escaping, with limited success.

“Ok what the FUCK.” The door was forcefully opened as Paintbrush stomped in. They weren’t flaming just yet, but seemed close to catching fire. ”What the FUCK do you think you’re doing threatening BOW of all people! You self centered pain in the a-” They trailed off at the sight of Silver, hugging themselves tightly with one arm and covering their face with the other to muffle sobs.

“G-go aw-aw-away.” Silver managed to force out before devolving into a mess of sobbing.

Paintbrush grimaced, they glanced back into the common room with a look of ‘what the fuck do I do’ at Test Tube, who motioned them forwards. They rolled their eyes. The scientist had said something about how Silver Spoon would probably react best to them since they’d been on the same team originally, or whatever. They balled up their fists and gritted their teeth, before sighing harshly and turning back to Silver Spoon. At this point he was still crying, his arms crossed over his chest as he shook with quieter sobs.

Paintbrush closed the door quietly before they approached slowly, step by step. “Ok, sorry about yelling at you, uhm- listen we can talk about that later. Do you want to talk about what’s wrong?”

Silver turned slightly, his teeth barred in a silent snarl. “I told you to go away.” He said, voice returning to level but without his usual smug tone.

They continued their slow steps over, “Are you sure that you want me to leave?” They stopped just short of a few steps from the bed.

Silver turned more towards them, he’d managed to stop crying for the most part but he looked exhausted. He didn’t say anything before looking back out the window. The sun was nearly set now. The sky twilight blue, and only the last remaining dregs of sunlight remaining on the clouds, their edges orange.

Paintbrush came closer, before they carefully reached out a paw. Rather than approaching Silver, they lightly touched the bed in a quiet question, asking to sit. Silver made no motion besides bringing his paws to rest in his lap.

“So do y-”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I assumed as much. That’s ok for right now, but, I’ll ask you some follow up questions, ok?”

Silver didn’t say anything.

“Do you want me to get Candle?”

Silver tensed, “No. I-” He held his breath.

“Breathe out. Don’t hold your breath.” Paintbrush said, annoyed.

Silver took a deep breath, closing his eyes. “I know she can read auras, I don’t want that right now.”

Paintbrush nodded, “Ok, next question. When was the last time you ate something?”

“...I had a piece of baguette this morning.” 

The blonde rolled their eyes, “When was the last time you ate something substantial .”

Silver rubbed his paws together for a bit, squirming under their gaze, “I- think I had lunch yesterday?”

Paintbrush rubbed their eyes, annoyed, “Ok, we’re going to get something to eat after this. You don’t have a say in that. We’ll just try to make it as comfortable as possible, but you need to eat something.”

Silver took his tail in hand and started to gently run his fingers through the tufts of argentine fur.

Paintbrush stayed silent for a bit, looking hesitantly out the window. They tapped their hand on the bed in a stimming motion, “Listen, I know you don’t want to talk about whatever that was but uh, objects don’t snap like that for no reason. If you need to talk about it I’m-” they paused, biting their lip, already regretting this offer, “I’m willing to listen. And my lips are sealed too, I swear I won’t tell anyone details.”

Silver continued to run his fingers over his tail, down to the skin, carefully searching for any imperfections. “I don’t know what came over me, honestly.” Silver Spoon gave a tired smile. “I can’t describe it beyond that it felt like I was falling.” He practically whispered.

“Like, you felt dizzy?”

“No, it was- all in my head. I don’t know how I can describe it beyond that I felt like I was falling down mentally .” He found a scab on the skin of his tail, a spot he’d previously picked at that his fur covered up from prying eyes. He mindlessly scratched at the scab “I’m not making much sense, am I?” He thought about it for a bit. “I felt a need to run away, sort of like when you have somewhere you need to be, and you aren’t there, but you need to be there.” His tone got more frantic, he started to pick at the scab harder, claw digging into the spot, “I- It was just a strong sense of fear? I don’t even have anything to be scared of, I just felt really…”

“Silver. You’re bleeding.” Paintbrush said quietly, but forcefully.

Silver snapped out of it, looking at Paintbrush, before looking down at his tail. Though the bloody skin was easily hidden by his luscious silver fur, the claw he used to pick at the spot had a spot of blood. He sharply inhaled before putting his finger in his mouth to suck off the blood, getting rid of the evidence. “Right, anyways. It’s not important, I’m feeling better now.” He smiled back fakely at them before trying to subtly wipe his paw off on his bed.

Paintbrush fiddled with their own paws, “Do you think you’re ready to go out to the common room?”

Silver’s smile fell slowly. “I don’t know…” He mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Here, wait. This might be silly but would you feel better with a blanket over your shoulders?”

Silver paused a bit, then nodded once. “Mayhaps.”

Paintbrush quickly got up and hurried out of the room “I’ll be right back.” they said before shutting the door behind them.

Silver felt so tired. He had opened up way too many emotions today and wanted to just curl up and disappear.

Paintbrush was quickly back with what Silver assumed to be their own blanket. They handed it to him, “Go ahead and wrap yourself up in this, it might help with the anxiety thing.”

“It’s not anxiety.” Silver snapped back, but took the blanket nonetheless, wrapping it around his shoulders and over his head. “Princes don’t have anxiety.” He huffed. The blanket was… fine. It had a soft fuzzy inside layer and was silky outside. Silver noted that he did feel better with something wrapped around him, he felt safe.

“Right, well, are you ready to go out to the common room?”

Silver bit his lip nervously, hesitant, but nodded slowly.

“Aaalright great, lets go.” Paintbrush motioned for the door, brushing a tuft of bristle hair into place that had decided to escape their perfect, carefully crafted style. They opened the bedroom door into the light of the hallway, which was nearly blinding after sitting in the low light of the bedside lamp for so long. They mouthed ‘You owe me’ at Test Tube who was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, before they turned back to Silver Spoon who looked about ready to run for it. “Is there anything specific you’d like to eat?” They added, “It has to be a real meal, it can’t just be fancy bread.”

Silver glared at them, before fading back to his previous tired mood. “I don’t care.”

That was a first, Silver Spoon not caring about what he was eating? They smirked, “Instant ramen it is.”

Silver Spoon scrunched up his nose, “Commoners food.” He grumbled, but didn’t fight it. He glanced over at Test Tube. She looked away with a nondescript look, but with an element of relief.

Paintbrush led the silverware objectkind to the kitchen, turning on the warm yellow overhead light and gesturing him to come in. Silver Spoon shuffled past and sat at the small dining table with a flourish of blankets, before crossing his legs and looking at Paintbrush expectantly.

“I’m guessing you want me to make this for you.” They shook the pack of instant ramen in hand. Silver Spoon just gave a small smirk. Paintbrush gritted their teeth, “You’re insufferable, you know that?” 

“Hmm.” Silver vocalized vaguely.

Paintbrush got out a saucepan, filled it with a bit of water, and set it to boil.

Silver tilted his head, “You know you could just microwave those, right?”

“Well, I for one am surprised you even know how to make instant ramen.-”

“Wh- no, I never eat that drivel.” Silver snapped back, looking away in a huff.

“-but if you want to know… This is just a better way to make it.” They opened the fridge and got out a bag of frozen broccoli and some already sliced ham. 

They went about preparing the ramen silently, which Silver was fine with. SIlver pulled his blanket closer and looked up at the light. He had to admit he didn’t feel awful like he had before, he just felt exhausted now. Maybe a bit nauseous, but that was probably due to hunger. He was snapped out of his thoughts when Paintbrush moved to a drawer and pulled something out, before coming over with a bowl.

They set the bowl down in front of Silver Spoon. Sure, it was instant ramen, but there had been care put into its preparation. On top of the noodles were a few sprigs of cooked broccoli, two folded slices of ham, and it was dusted with dried parsley. Paintbrush set down a packet of cheap wooden chopsticks and crossed their arms. 

Silver scrunched up their nose, “Well, I would never use such cheap chopsticks normally, but I suppose this looks tolerable.”

“Wh-” Paintbrush was exasperated at this point, “What is wrong with you??” Their token whistling kettle sound started to build up, “Listen man, I’m trying really hard to be understanding right now. You had a rough day, and here I was trying to be understanding about the situation but even after I went through the effort of trying to make something I think your snobby ass would even touch, you still have the gaul to call it tolerable!” They looked back at Silver Spoon who looked increasingly uncomfortable. They sighed, “Sorry, I shouldn’t be snapping at you.” The whistling sound faded away, “But you could at least say thank you .” 

“That’s what I said.” Silver quietly replied.

“Ok you definitely didn’t say anything close to a thank you.”

Silver bit his inner cheek and scrunched up his face, “I’m- thankful for your efforts.” He managed to force out. “And I… appreciate that you took care by thinking about my preferences.” He avoided eye contact and was blushing lightly, embarrassed. He carefully took the chopsticks, opened the packet and snapped them apart. As he delicately started to eat his food, Paintbrush had taken to pulling out a chair on the other side of the table, and took out their phone to fiddle around with it to avoid awkward silence.

Silver gently blew on the soup to cool it a little, slowly picking through it over time. As he got further into the meal his nausea ebbed away into a more healthy feeling of hunger. Maybe not eating much for a day and a half wasn’t a great idea. He looked up to see Paintbrush glancing over, he slowly set down the bowl and looked at them suspiciously.

“Is the food ok?” They uncomfortably asked. Silver gave a curt nod, setting down the chopsticks and placing paws in his lap, straightening his posture. They awkwardly looked at each other. “You know you can keep eating.” Paintbrush motioned vaguely.

“I’d rather not be watched.” Sliver quietly huffed.

Paintbrush nodded and went back to their phone, “You know you should really get your anxiety thing checked.”

Silver snapped back, “I told you, it’s not anxiety…  I just don’t like being watched when I eat.”

Silver picked the bowl back up and started eating again, the noodles had started to get cold. He’d gotten to pretty much the end of the bowl (He would never drink the gritty bullshit at the bottom of the bow, disgusting.) setting it down quietly. “So… why are you still here?” He asked the blonde.

They shrugged, “Just making sure you’re ok, I guess.”

Silver paused before asking, “What’s your opinion on tea?”

Paintbrush was taken aback from this, “Uh, it’s fine I guess? I don’t really like green tea, it’s too bitter.”

Silver’s eyes widened before he very suddenly smacked a paw on the table, “Oh! That is a misconception! You have merely been served bad tea! Green tea is very different in its preparation than a black tea! You see, you can’t use boiling water for a green, it burns the leaves and makes it absolutely undrinkable. And on top of that object’s always leave the tea leaves in far too long.” His voice raised up from the previous quiet muttering into more of an excited spiel. He waved a paw in the air, touching thumb to finger in a back and forth motion, from pointer to pinky and back, as his voice rose in excited tea talk. Paintbrush had never seen Silver excited about something that wasn’t in an attempt to drag someone down, it was kind of nice for once. “-you see the mother tea is Royal Golden Yunnan, that’s the tea that Tea Kettle makes, it’s a very smooth tea without the usual bitterness you can expect from the tannins in other blacks. I-” Silver looked down to see his paws stimming and quickly shoved them under his thighs and ducked his head, avoiding Paintbrush’s gaze. “Sorry! I- have a lot to say about tea.” He squeaked. 

Paintbrush smiled a little, “Hey, no problem. Nice to see you happy about something normal and not about putting other objects down.” Their smile faded a little and they tilted their head. “Why’d you ask, anyways?”

Silver was still blushing furiously, but he took a breath to calm down, “I just feel like tea, and I wanted to offer to make you some.” He muttered.

Paintbrush’s hatred for this pain in the ass melted away a little, “Sure, since you seem to be the expert in tea.”

Silver gathered up his blanket quickly, it had moved down from over his head to merely drape over his shoulders like a lavish cape. He moved to the tea kettle (normally the kitchen didn’t come with one but he had brought his own.) and picked it up, filling it with water, and setting it to boil. “I won’t make a green, that has a lot of caffeine and it’s already quite late. Do you mind an herbal? I have a Honeybush blend that’s a little like oranges and cream.”

Paintbrush nodded their head, “That sounds fine.”

Silver opened up a cabinet that he had claimed as his tea cabinet, as two of its shelves were completely filled up with sealed metal tins of tea. He took one out, and pulled out two mugs and a strainer from the drawer. He pulled the water once it boiled and set the timer for five minutes. He leaned against the counter a little, “Herbal tea is hard to mess up, you can leave them to brew for a long time and at worst the tea will get cold.” He mused.

Paintbrush didn’t know anything about tea so they just nodded, trying to be supportive.

Silver crossed their arms after a while and looked out the small kitchen window. “Will you be talking to Test Tube about this?”

Paintbrush squirmed a little, “I won’t tell her about what you told me. But I’ll need to reassure her that you’re ok.” They added, “And you’re going to have to apologize to Bow, you really spooked her.”

Silver glanced at them before going back to looking outside. He could see a glimpse of the quarter moon. “I can- probably do that. Would you mind helping me?” Paintbrush raised an eyebrow, Silver waved a paw, “You don’t have to do anything, just stay close to make sure I say the right thing. My- words don’t come across as I’d like them to,sometimes…”

They nodded, “Yeah, sure, I can do that.” The tea timer went off with a quiet ringing, Silver stopped it and took out the tea strainers. “Do you think we can go to the common room?” Paintbrush asked. Silver didn’t say anything but eventually gave a curt nod of agreement. He handed them their cup of tea, pulled the blanket up more around his shoulders, and followed them out the kitchen door to the common room.

Silver carefully peered from behind the other tall objectkind. Test Tube and Bow were hanging out on the couch, playing Nyahrio Kart 8 on the Smitch. Test Tube was just vaguely watching Bow play, she had a notebook in hand and seemed to be writing. Bow was excitedly driving over a grassy part in the game. She was in 12th place, and cheered when she got a power up that drove the path for her. She still tried to drive the car during this power up, commenting on how good she was suddenly doing.

Test Tube noticed them approaching and asked Bow to pause the game. Bow gave a little “Oh.” and hesitantly looked over. She gave a small wave to Paintbrush, but frowned at Silver Spoon.

Silver clutched his tea mug closer, looking away, before Paintbrush nudged his arm and motioned him forward. Silver took a deep breath and tried to approach carefully. He stood behind the couch, keeping a bit of a distance. “Uhm, I-” He looked back at Paintbrush who nodded at him, arms crossed. “I’m sorry I hissed at you. I wasn’t feeling well, but that was no excuse to… be upset at you.” He ran a paw through his tail in nervousness.

“Oh, that’s fine! You don’t have like, rabies though-” She glanced back at Test Tube for confirmation, “Right?”

“I- no?” Silver squeaked out, confused.

“Oh ok great! Do you wanna like, play multiplayer Nyahrio Kart with us? It’ll be super fun, I’m really good at it, I keep getting the strong power ups!” Bow chirped.

Silver stayed silent, with a confused forced smile. Bow was… odd. “Uh, sure. Sounds fun.” He managed. Bow made a happy squeak, jumped up and down on the couch and picked up more controllers, switching the game to multiplayer. “Do you wanna play too, Paintbrush?”

“Sure.” They walked up behind Silver and carefully placed a paw on his shoulder, “You did good.” They whispered to him, patting his shoulder before hopping up over the back of the couch and were handed a controller by Bow.

Silver was blushing bright red, clutching the cup of tea that was now a tolerable temperature. He took a sip of it before regally walking around the couch (he wasn’t a heathen that sat on the backs of couches) and taking a careful seat on the couch on the right side. Test Tube looked over from the other couch and gave a subtle thumbs up and small smile. Silver huffed and hid his face in the mug of tea again. Bow hurried over with a controller for him, he cautiously took it and leaned back into the couch hesitantly. Maybe things would be ok.

Chapter Text

Upon awakening Silver noticed that there was one blanket that was decidedly not silk wrapped around him. What nonsense was this?! He was very adamant about his bed sheets being silk; of course the sleeping arrangements originally had rather dull white hotel style sheets that he could hardly call acceptable, so he’d brought his own bedsheets. The only downside of that was that his roommate, Bow, (note that he very much did not choose this roommate) had asked if she could get her own pink sheets. Which, if she had bought them herself wouldn’t be an issue, but bizarrely she didn’t have any money so she accosted Silver into purchasing her pink sheets. (He wouldn’t admit he’d given in a bit too easily to the demand, it was difficult to say no to someone who exhumed so much aggressive adorable vibes to an almost frightening degree.) But the point still stood that there was a blanket here, wrapped around Silver’s pedigree pelt, that was not his. He wiggled the blanket out from under himself and recognized its splotchy cover pattern from the night before. It was Paintbrush’s blanket.

The night before returned to his memory, and he sighed and nuzzled deeper into the actual silk sheets. What a pain, what a silly moment to have. He’d have to work even harder at saving face in front of the other New Pinkers now, they probably were laughing at how pathetic he’d been yesterday.

Well, regardless, Silver checked the alarm clock on the bedside table. It was 7:14 AM, which was odd. He’d expected after how tired yesterday’s events had left him that he’d sleep more than 9 hours. But he felt no need for sleep at that exact moment, and quickly became bored waiting in bed.

He turned around, checking to see if Bow was still in bed. From what he could tell from a lump under pastel pink bed sheets that had been aggressively bunched up and untucked from the mattress, she was. Silver tried to unwind as quietly as possible from the sheets that were still properly tucked in, as they should be. His paws hit the carpet (he still didn’t know why the bedrooms were carpeted, he doubted that Mephone would bother with a frequent cleaning service that would make it bearable to have so much carpet; and it’s not like Silver was going to be the one vacuuming the floor every other day. Or ever.) and he shook his pelt free from sleep.

Silver quietly made his way to the dresser where he got out a basket of beauty products, as well as a fresh pink ribbon. He made his way quietly to the bathroom, taking extra care when passing Bow’s bed; gently shutting the door and hitting the bathroom lock with a click . He took a deep breath and looked in the mirror. To be honest, he looked like shit. 

Fur out of place, he still looked exhausted, and was his silver-y sheen looking duller than usual? What a nightmare! At least the team didn’t have their daily meetings until later that day. Silver immediately went to work on his routine. He got out his silver polish solution (as much as he’d like to say it was a high quality brand, it was homemade with very simple ingredients. It was cheaper that way.) as well as conditioner made for metal based fur types. He grimaced at the thought of showering (the texture of wet fur was unpleasant on his paw pads.) but it was of the utmost necessity that he keep his appearance up. He begrudgingly turned the water on and waited for it to warm up. It was a meticulous job to polish himself, but he was used to the process and managed to be polished and conditioned within a short twenty minutes. He stepped out of the shower and dried off with a towel, accepting that he’d probably have to air dry today since the hairdryer was going to be too loud for this hour. 

He promptly got out the rest of his items. A hairbrush to make sure the longer fur wouldn’t tangle, perfume of wild rose and thistle, and he ended the routine by tying a pink ribbon around his neck ruff, folding it just right so that both tail ends would sit at equal lengths. He looked in the mirror, finding himself at least presentable now. He unlocked the bathroom door and paused a moment, before carefully pulling it open to see if he’d woken up his roommate. It didn’t seem he had, and glancing at the alarm clock it looked to be about 8am now. Silver quietly headed out the door and into the main room. He hoped no one was there and was sadly mistaken. 

“Oh, good morning!” Test Tube chirped up in her slightly nasally voice. “You’re up and ready early.”

Silver Spoon grimaced and waved at her half heartedly, “Good Morning, I suppose.” He continued on his way to the door.

“W-wait, you didn’t have breakfast yet.”

“Hardly necessary, thank you for the concern though.” He sarcastically replied. 

“Well breakfast has been scientifically proven to be an important start to the day, you might not feel hungry because you just woke up not long ago but really it’s important for an objectkind to get those nutrients-“

“No thank you.” Silver sing-songed in response, his paw already on the door handle.

“You sure? Painty got croissants from the pic-nix table.” Test Tube sing-sang back. 

Silver froze. Ah fuck, his only weakness, fancy bread. He considered it for a moment, before snapping back, “Fine. I will take one, to take with me, and eat later.” He huffed, making his way back to the main dining table where Test Tube was, a basket of French pastries waiting temptingly.

Silver grabbed one and gave an indignant “Hmph!” Before heading out the door with a flourish. He pointedly ignored Test Tube’s smirk as he left. 

He closed the door behind himself and headed down the boardwalk, instantly taking a bite of croissant. His tail wagged furiously without his knowledge. 

He’d made it down to the beachside, where the boardwalk had started to go from just a little sand to blatantly covered in sand; until finally there just weren’t planks of wood anymore it was all just sand. Sand was thankfully a texture Silver actually liked the feeling of, even if it was a nightmare to get out of fur later. He spent time monching on his pastry while watching the waves.

“Hello Silver.” A calm voice broke the silence.

Silver jumped three feet in the air and screeched, dropping the rest of his croissant :(

The calm figure meditating did not react in any way, a subtle smile on her face.

Silver recomposed himself as best as he could, “You frightened me. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be out this early. Though I suppose if anyone would be up at this silly hour it would be you .” He dusted his fur off and repositioned his bow tails to be even. He looked sadly at the quarter of bread on the sandy floor that would now be food for the crabs. “You made me drop my breakfast.” He sighed sadly.

Candle smiled, taking a deep breath in and out, before putting paws from her meditative stance calmly into her lap. “Apologies Silver, but it was meant to be.”

Silver rolled his eyes, “What are you even doing out here.”

“The calm rolling of the waves helps me meditate.”

Silver’s ears pinned back in annoyance, “Why did I even ask? I could have guessed as much.” He flopped down a foot away from Candle on the sandy beach, about as gracefully as his awkwardly long lanky body could manage. They sat in comfortable silence for a while,  before Silver sighed, “You meditate a lot.”

Candle hummed back, “Yes, it helps me get in touch with my Inner Flame.”

“Hmm.” Silver mused, looking out at the lull of the waves.

“You should try it.”

“I don’t think ‘sitting extra still and quiet’ is going to solve my problems, dear. No offense.”

“You’d be surprised. Even if you don’t trust the metaphysical positives to the process, meditation helps you sort through your thoughts and emotions.”

Silver bit back a bitter remark about how he didn’t need to sort through anything, but he damn well knew that she could read auras, which apparently included a whole lot of personal details he’d rather not leave out in the open. Instead he opted to bite his tongue and tossed back a half hearted, “I don’t see why not.” His gaze slipped to the sea.

Silver wouldn’t deny that the ocean had a soothing effect. The consistent pulsing of the waves, gentle white noise, and though the early morning air was cool it was not uncomfortable.

“You can decide to do this with your eyes open or closed, whatever is comfortable. We’ll start with some simple breathing exercises. The exact timing doesn’t matter. Everyone has different breathing paces, so don’t feel like you have to breathe in for four counts if you can only manage three.” Candle calmly walked through the process. “Breathe in for four counts, hold for seven counts, and then you’ll breathe out for eight counts.” She inhaled, counting quietly. Holding, then exhaling while counting again. “Does that sound reasonable?” She nudged Silver’s arm gently in a playful mocking gesture.

Silver gave a little, “Hmph” but didn’t say anything more, following her instruction. Deep breath in, four counts. Hold, six counts. Breathe out, seven counts. The crashing of the waves was blurred in the background, and the cold of the morning air was chased by Candle’s naturally emitted warmth. Silver naturally ran a bit cool, but his silver based physiology caused him to heat up rather fast. Within a few minutes, sitting next to her had warmed him up to a cozy degree. 

“Now, you’ll want to keep your breathing going, and you’ll stay focused on the breath. Whenever a thought comes by, acknowledge it and let it go it’s way before returning to the breath.”

Deep breath in, four counts. Hold, six counts. Breathe out, seven counts. Silver’s mind wandered to the night before. He could feel sparks of embarrassment at how he had snapped at Bow.

“Acknowledge it and let it go.” Candle reminded him.

Silver winced, trying to focus back on the breath. Deep breath in, four counts. Hold, six counts. Breathe out, seven counts. He managed to hold focus for a bit longer, before shame burned at his mind recalling how he had been seen in such a vulnerable position by Paintbrush. What if they told everyone on the team about the instance? What if they told all the contestants? What would they think if this silver spoon wasn’t nearly as flawless as he appeared.

“Silver.”

He snapped back to the moment at hand, blinking at the sight of foamy waves in front of him before turning to see Candle. She had a light look of concern. “Wh?” Silver managed.

“I can sense sparks of anxiety in your aura, they spring off your pelt into my own energies.”

Silver sighed, curling in on himself. “Sorry, I can’t say I’m particularly good at this mediation thing.”

“It’s ok,” Candle curled her long tail around silver, pulling him a little closer. “Meditation is a skill like anything else. It takes time and practice.”

Silver placed a paw gently on Candle’s tail, “Thank you, dear.” He said quietly. “I hope I didn’t ruin the morning for you.”

“Don’t be silly, Silver. Just because I can sense others' emotions and auras doesn’t mean I need to be pushed and swayed by them. Much like meditation, it’s your choice if you’ll let them move you, or if you’ll acknowledge them and let them go. But in the end, you need to let the energies of others return to them, and call back your own energy.”

Silver patted her tail, “I only have half an idea of what you said, but I’ll trust you.”

Candle smiled softly before flashing back to concern, “Really though, are you doing alright today?”

Silver pet Candle’s tail in a reflexive repetitive motion. “Just had a rough evening yesterday. I’m doing fine now, I just… I have my concerns I suppose.”

Candle nodded, not pushing any further. “Oh, that reminds me. I have something for you.” She moved to pull off a pink beaded bracelet from her wrist, where she had several in different colors. “I made you a gemstone bracelet.”

Light blush dusted Silver’s cheeks, “Oh, well, I suppose that’s alright.” He took the bracelet in hand. It was made up of thin cord delicately weaved together, and the beads were pink with various veins of black. “It’s perfectly tolerable I suppose.” He quickly slipped it onto his wrist.

“It’s Rhodonite.” Candle smiled, “It’s a good stone for helping along self love.”

“…thank you dear.” Silver managed before he picked up Candle’s tail into his arms and buried his face in it and silently screamed.

“Are you ok?” Candle asked with a little smile.

“Mmhm, yes, fine.” Silver’s voice was muffled by waxy fur. Candle patted him reassuringly.