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"Thanks.... Do you want to watch a movie or something?"

Bucky shook his head, his arm wrapping around me.

"Okay...." I reached up with my left hand,soothing my fingers over his cheek. Orat least that's what I was hoping me playing with his stubble came off as.Scratching it was oddly fun.

"...What is it?" Bucky questioned lightly.

"Huh?"

"You want to say something."

'...How the fuck does he know these things? I swear I don't have words stamped on my face. Unlike his.'

He nudged me when I took too long.

I took a deep breath in, searching for the words. "Are you sure you want to teach me how to defend myself...?"

His hand waved into the ether. "She mentioned you could use what you learn to kill people."

"I can't argue with that.... When shit hits the fan, I doubt I'd be able to compartmentalize what skills I learn from you.... You... you shouldn't teach me if you're not alright with me killing people....

"Though learning how to shoot probably might stop the collateral damage.... Shoot what I want to shoot and not hope for the best?"

"They'll come for me, and they'll go through you to get to me.... I can't leave you defenceless against them... in case... in case I... I-I...."

"...Whatever happens, try not to blame yourself for it...."

"None of this matters until I manage to dart you..." he pointed out.

"I could probably figure a way to nudge you into shooting me with a dart...."

"I don't want to snap and hurt you."

"I'm not going to threaten you or the dogs. Let me think on it a bit. If I come up with something, shall I use it?"

"...If you're sure I won't hurt you."

"Deal."

"...I think... I think I'm going to take a shower after you finish your breakfast."

To which, with one PRO slice left, I changed my eating tactics to nibbles. To stretch out this moment a little longer. Let him have more time to relax.

But the last bite came too soon, and true his word, Bucky peeled away from my side and got onto his feet.

"I... I should be alright now," he muttered softly, eyes not quite meeting mine. "You should go back to sleep."

I shrugged, fishing out an earbud from my shorts pocket. "I might check out the sn... outside? If anything, call me. I have my earbud in."

With a nod, Bucky headed for the hallway to the rooms. Going by how his stiff gate was and how hunched shoulders were, he was barely alright.

'I hope he's been using hot water....'

And not the sad excuse for room temp water. Pretty sure it's colder than room temp.

No point in saving hot water here. Something would have to be seriously wrong for us to run out.

"He'd probably be more comfortable barging into your room if you wore more than panties to sleep."

"But it gets so hot," I whined. "And then it gets all tangled up. Next thing I know I'm having a nightmare about breathing problems and I wake up not able to breathe 'cause it's actually fucking strangling me."

"Takes you about five minutes to figure that out. Give or take a couple. I guess you and your brother's dumb idea of holding each other's heads underwater did pay off."

I shrugged her off.

Leave it to Eve to watch me strangle myself with my pyjamas.

"Let me know if Bucky's not okay," I said and headed to the door.

"...If I must."

"...This is a shit ton of snow...."

I was standing knee deep in it.

Fresh and white.

The air crisp and cold.

A grin worked its way across my face. I always loved this view with snow. A world covered in powdered sugar.

Falling face first into the fluffiness was a semi bad plan. The ribs did not appreciate it as much as the rest of me did. Except for my ankle. It didn't quite like being bent that way yet.

Sitting up, I pushed at the snow and formed a wall. A snow castle. I could probably make shapes that I couldn't with sand, but then Eve would render it as a sand castle on the windows....

Probably.

...Probably not.

With a pout, I grabbed a handful of snow and packed it into a ball. Rolled that around until I had one about half the size of me. Stacked three of them on top of each other.

As much as I loved the crunch of snow under my feet, I was too lazy to find pebbles and branches. Too far to walk. Too deep under the snow.

When I tried to poke holes for a face, my stupid twitching hand moved too much, and the head shattered.

"Okay, this is turning out more demented than I thought...."

With a shrug, I let my body drop backwards.

"Fuck... my ribs...."

But after the pain faded, this was comfortable. A nice cool bed with perfect tailored support.

As much as I tried to keep my mind off everything I still had to do, it didn't work. Project Oasis kept returning to my thoughts. How it all could have been if things... if things played out differently....

"Ewww! Nononono! Don't drink that!" half of us squealed, cringing away from the sight of Jess taking a swig of the still muddy water.

"It's just dirt," she laughed. A piece of whatever that was in the water stuck to her tooth.

"We suck at filtering water..." I sighed, swirling the dark bottle of liquid.

"Did we even remember to boil it?" Amber asked, not even looking up at the bug she was prodding with a stick. "You did grab the dirt by the tree, and most animals tend to mark their territory in that area. The microbes in animal piss –"

Jess started dry heaving, and Chanelle followed suit out of a reaction.

We never did light a fire.

"Yay.... Camping.... Such fun..." I groaned, staring at different layers in the bottle. "There has to be a better way to filter water than just pushing it through rocks and shit."

That had Amber looking up. She waved me closer. "There're a few bacteria out there I can think of that could be of use. They'll need to be crossbred, and if we could figure out how to gene edit properly, we might manage something workable."

"Oh oh, and if we can make them reproduce cheaply without going rampant in the environment... we can give this out for free."

"Hmmm, there's something I have in mind for that."

"Holy shit, we just might solve the world's water supply problem," I half cheered in an excited whisper.

"I guess we found another side project."

"And one that doesn't involve poisons. Yay!"

"What are you two whispering about?" Chanelle cut in.

"Can't figure out how to tell you about the spider in your hair," I fired back to throw some insanity as a cover.

"I think I'm getting hearing loss..." Amber stated flatly. Barely heard her over all the screeching.

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Author's Note:

If you enjoyed this part, please consider leaving a vote. They're very much appreciated. ^^

And a big thank you to TinselA/Bunny Carrot (https://www.fanfiction.net/u/7591081/) and the Anonymous Fifth Beta for Beta-ing this chapter.