we do not lose heart

"Is this your phone?"

Stella checks her pockets. "I believe so."

"What?" Viv glances down when Stella gestures and laughs. "Dude, totally. My bad." She places down her food on the counter before walking over to help.

Stella manages to move the suitcase out of the way with help from Viv. Once she's in the kitchen properly, she starts looking through some of the cupboards. "Did you leave anything for me?"

"Yeahp!" She grins, popping the ‘p’. 

"You shouldn't go around kissing random people, they might not appreciate it."

Betty looks at Stella curiously, tilting her head to the side slightly, “Oh no— I meant to.”

"I, uh–" She brings a hand to her lips. "Have you been drinking?"

Viv glances over her shoulder at the sudden voice. “Of fu—” There’s a pause. “—reakin’ course. I gotta be ready, man.”

"Can I–?" Stella gestures to the suitcase blocking her way into the kitchen. "Move it a little?"

Betty runs- or stumbles a bit, rather- up to the first person she sees, “Hey you! C’mere,”

"Uhm–" she pushes Betty away gently, trying to be polite. "I think you have the, uh– the wrong person."

With her oversized suitcase blocking the entrance of the kitchen, Viv struggles to collect an abnormally large amount of food in both her mouth and arms.

Stella watches Viv, unable to enter the kitchen because of the suitcase. "Stocking up for winter?"

"Nah, it’s cool. I’m just here to check on my bull." Betty continues to walk through the room, "What were you just doing?"

"Your bull?" Stella doesn't sound surprised, just a bit curious. "Oh, I was praying. The rec room was the quietest place I could find."

"Hm? Oh no, thank you though." His eyes wandered around the rec room in search of something. "I’m actually just looking for my trident."

"You've misplaced a trident?"

Not really.

Then I hope you don't mind if I stay here.

Tristan shakes his head “You’re in the middle of something, video games can wait.”

"Thank you." She sounds surprised, but pleasantly so. "I can do this elsewhere, though, so you can go right ahead."

Yes. Get up please.

Alright, no problem. [She stands up, moving to the side so he can take her place in the chair.]

[shakes his head] No. Sorry I was jus’ lookin’ for someone. I keep forgettin’ when she said she’d be back and I need to apologize. [shakes his head again] Ya didn’t need to know that.

It's fine. [She smiles at him as she stands up.] Do you remember when she's back now?

“I…No, I don’t.” She looked around before her gaze fell back to her. “Uh—Am I interrupting something?”

She shakes her head and smiles at the other girl. "I'm finished. Don't worry about it."

Oh. I’ve seen L in the infirmary, is she okay now?

She's improving. I'm still worried, but she's going to be okay.

L freezes a bit at this, fearing what’s coming. “..Yeah?”

"Where did you get them?"