Fire Opal ( 8 ) WC: 1,669

The apartment was a really nice one. Two bedrooms, two full baths, a nice-sized living room, and an updated kitchen. They even had in-unit laundry. Bonus? A fireplace. Small, but still able to make the predominantly brick-lined living room totally toasty cozy.

It was a boon to living in a city with so many issues. Low rent prices for even luxury spaces.

That Jericho and Cabhan could afford the rent without any issue was testament to that, though both were at least careful with their money--and the stipend from the Negaverse certainly didn't hurt anything. Lexi spent enough time there to contribute to household purchases, too. Cabhan had brought up the notion of her just moving in a few times, but…

She preferred to be a frequent visitor and couch crasher, and Jericho wasn't pushing the matter.

It wasn't too often the trio had downtime at the same time--Jericho's schedule was often too packed for that, and Lexi and Cabhan's school schedules were… iffy. So the fact they did find themselves in the living room, a fire crackling beneath the wall-mounted TV with a classic Christmas movie sing-songing away…

Lexi was comfy cozy in the best possible ways.

Curled up on the couch, legs tucked up so the extra large zip-up she'd nabbed from Jericho's closet covered her nearly entirely, she leaned against an arm with her hands wound around a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Jericho himself occupied the other end, legs stretched out and feet on the coffee table so he could mind his laptop. Cabhan had taken over the black nest-like chair, which nearly swallowed him whole in its plush-ness. That he had a fluffy blanket tossed around him didn't help his nearly vanishing into the darkness. Through the large windows in the brick wall, Lexi could see large snowflakes drifting through the air, adding to the blanket of white that covered the city.

She grinned and sipped her marshmallow-topped drink, noting Cabhan and Jericho had rested theirs on the table--using the Santa coasters she'd brought, much to her delight.

Neither guy was especially into the holiday season, but they humored her. She'd bombed the living room with garland and lights, and Jericho had helped her set up a good sized Christmas tree in the corner of the room. Fake and pre-lit, which just made the most sense financially to her. She hung enough pine-scented sticks around the place to simulate the real deal, anyway. She'd even hunted around for proper ornaments to christen their tree--Cabhan got an ominous crouching Cthulhu, Jericho'd gotten a wooden carved bird, and she'd added her own little crystal heart just cuz. The tree hadn't gained any other ornaments since then, but she still appreciated them letting her use their space like this.

Both at least only minimally used said extra space, so her colorful additions didn't hinder anything of theirs. Lexi was pretty sure Jericho wouldn't have been so chill with her invading his room and workspace, for instance, and she… wasn't too sure she even wanted to know what Cabhan kept tucked away in his.

A young Santa Claus was singing about putting one foot in front of the other in stop-motion animated nostalgia and joy as Cabhan untangled himself enough from his blanket and deep seat to pull himself to his feet. The loose tank and lounge pants looked oversized on his frame, and she wondered if she wasn't the only person who occasionally stole the taller man's clothes. Jericho didn't make any commentary, though, instead focused on the laptop that lit up his frowning features. His typing, the consistent click-click click click clack cli-click was a comfortable white noise alongside the movie and crackling fire.

Cabhan moved over to the fireplace, the flames dwindling as their meal was exhausted, but after a quick glance around, straightened and placed his hands on his hips with a hum. "Where're the--"

"Closet," came the immediate grumble of Jericho's deeper voice.

Cabhan just hummed again and paced over to the closed door, twisting the knob and peering inside. Sure enough, a few clunks and rustles later, he emerged with a couple of small partial logs. He toed the door close again as he walked back to the hearth, crouching down to gently set the pieces into suitable formation and encouraging the fire to begin the next round.

Once the logs caught, he returned to his seat and his dark cocoon, and Lexi mused at how few words were actually used in this household.

Really, she was without question the loudest person there, the most likely to babble and rant about whatever hit her fancy at the moment. Even if Cabhan or Jericho didn't join into the conversation vocally, though, they usually made some sort of expression or motion to answer whatever she'd tossed at them. Though, Cabhan was the most likely to jump in to chatter with her, which was the only reason she'd become more familiar with his vague answers and apparent inability to actually answer her questions.

There were many reason Spectrolite just went to Seraphinite if anything concerned Rigel. As a senshi he just… gave her the creeps. The hood and bones really didn't help the vibes he gave off to her.

Silence again took over, outside the fire, movie, and typing that drifted together like almost a lullaby. It was soothing. The warm drink had already infected her with heat through her center, and snuggled up in the zip-up over her already cozy clothes? Ugh. It was wonderful.

She hadn't even realized she'd begun to doze off, though, till she heard Cabhan's low hum. "Well that's new."

On the other end of the couch, she could hear Jericho shifting in his seat. The low thump of the computer being set on the table was what really alerted her that something was up. "Did you toss in a few of those packets again?"

The stuff that changed the color of the fire--Cabhan frequently did so, so the sight of randomly blue or green flames in the fireplace wasn't too concerning… but as she opened her eyes, Lexi was met with the sight of multi-colored flames, shifting through a brilliant pastel-y rainbow. Straightening in her seat--apparently she'd been smart enough to put her mug on the side table and hadn't spilt it all over, yay--she gaped at the sight.

The crackling drew her attention down to the logs themselves, and she jerked her hand forward to point. "Oh! Look look! The wood's like… stone or something!"

"Definitely nothing I added," Cabhan tossed to Jericho who had gotten to his feet and made his way over to the hearth. Crouching down, he peered into the fireplace, brows furrowed as he took in the colored flames and… strangely cracking wood. It wasn't stone glistening inside, per say, but an opalescent vein certainly seemed to be forming as the bark cracked and burned away. It shimmered in the fire, only adding to the brilliantly colored flames. In his seat, though he'd straightened up a bit, Cabhan stretched up his neck and head like a cat to peer at the display. "Wood was from the regular bag, too. This wasn't me."

Jericho used the metal poker to nudge at the logs, but beyond the pretty colors and stone, they looked normal. Nothing else flickered, nothing else formed out of them. Just a very pleasant smelling smoke--Lexi would have loved to have a candle of the scent.

He gave a heavy sigh, and adjusted himself till he was sitting with his back against the table, facing the fire. Cabhan shrugged and leaned back into his seat, and Lexi grabbed up her mug to finish up the now cooled chocolate. Nothing was jumping out at them or threatening them, so… she just focused on the movie. Every now and then she glanced down at Jericho and the fire, admiring the beautiful colors and how the logs glimmered like that. Even Cabhan was pretty content with watching the flames instead of the movie--though she doubted he was very into the flick to begin with.

The movie ended, and she browsed the offerings for the next. They continued in silence like that, only really speaking when at one point Lexi got up for a refill and came back with some waters for Cabhan and Jericho, who thanked her thusly. No words really needed beyond that. They were there, nothing was threatening them, but Jericho was effectively on guard with a weapon in hand in case that changed. And the fires just… kept on shimmering.

Lexi again dozed off, stretching out on the couch since Jericho had abandoned his spot. Cabhan at some point began to play with something on his phone, and Jericho… sat silent and watching, listening, attention moving from the fireplace to the movie and then off to some middle distance he didn't speak of. They were just… content. Comfortable.

By the next morning, Lexi had stayed on the couch and the guys had drifted to their rooms when it had become clear that nothing was going to leap out of the fireplace. Just a pretty multi-color show that she watched and drifted off to, that in turn left behind multi-colored embers and coals that still glistened like opals after the fire had died out.

Jericho nudged the remains with the poker, and the final remnants of heat flickered and faded till nought remained. Something Lexi was kind of sad about, really, but said nothing about the oddity--there were plenty of those in that city, they all knew. Cabhan fiddled with breakfast, and Jericho swept the poker through the ashes a few more times before he set to cleaning out the fireplace. All quiet, nothing really spoken. Lexi rested her head on the arm of the couch and wondered where the line was between comfortable silence and disinterested silence.