"just ━━ sit down," addison sighed in exasperation. she seemed exhausted, so elysia quickly apologized quietly, staying put.
        "are you guys like ━━ a zombie alien doctor couple?"
        zed chuckled. "i don't even know what you just said, but we probably are in this world. i mean ━━ daywalkers are real."
         elysia chuckled while they examined the swelling on her right foot that extended up her leg.
        "there's a lot of swelling going on right here," addison noted. "you should stay off it, maybe don't help finding the second clue for the key, as much as you may want to."
        they needed the bloodfruit more than anything, and competing for the second clue against the vampires ━━ specifically vargas ━━ was a party she did want to join. the closer she was to getting all the bloodfruit, the closer she could show her father she meant her word.
        "so, you really didn't hurt elysia?" ray asked outside the cabin. the daywalkers and vampires sat at the vampire, roasting marshmallows. these scene was humorous for how peaceful it seemed between them.
        vargas looked offended, turning to the girl, who was wrapped in the blanket addison and zed provided her. they ordered her to stay off it and not go on any 'vampire hunting missions' ━━ she thinks they were joking. "no! of course i didn't. why else would i carry her back?"
        ray didn't look pleased, but he leaned back. "and you don't use your fangs to drink blood?"
       "blood━━fruit. we don't drink blood, unless you're offering," he smirked, lurching forward with a growl as his fangs appeared. ray shrieked in surprise with the other daywalkers. vargas laughed. "just kidding, just kidding."
        elysia couldn't help but smile, but it was gone before she hoped anyone could see. nova was laughing too, watching victor out of the corner of her eye. elysia made sure to sit as far away from vargas as she could, but she could feel the heat of his stare. the flames are tricking her!
        it felt weird roasting marshmallows with the people she was fighting hours ago, but ever since they found the first key to the gate, everyone's been starting to tolerate each other.
        if that meant she could start tolerating vargas ━━ they're mistaken. she didn't have to hate him because of the bloodfruit, but she could still hate the way he irritated her.
        willa clapped her hands. "okay, time for bed campers!"
        some groans in refute arose as daywalkers shoved their marshmallows into their mouths. a vampire even offered elysia his marshmallow! it was nice, she ate it immediately. vargas was watching her eat the marshmallow, flickering between it and one of his buddies with an unreadable expression on his face.
         elysia stood up, clutching her blanket around her shoulders tighter. she looked around for nova, but she was nowhere to be found.
         "want some help?" willa offered with a warm smile. elysia nodded gratefully, and she put her arm around her shoulder.
        "it's okay willa, i got this." vargas intervened. elysia internally groaned, holding onto willa tighter.
        "you're like those mosquitoes that don't leave you alone."
willa looked torn between leaving elysia with him, but vargas waved her off. "this is our code for 'please help me, i'm so withered and in need of a handsome human crutch.'