**DOUBLE UPDATE - GO BACK TO CHAPTER 23 IF NOT YET READ**

"So, Kris."

Said Walker groaned - he'd thought he'd be safe here, back leaning against a mast right at the stern, with the sun beating pleasantly down on him. For the most part, he was obstructed from view, but then again Lay seemed to have ways of popping out when least expected. Smiling, most of the time, and unbearably chirpy.

With a childish eye roll, Kris glanced over in annoyance. "What?"

"Nothing." Lay lowered himself down beside him, much to his despair. "Just wanted to chat."

"Well I don't." 

Lay stayed anyway. "Where's Zitao?" Kris let his head loll back, eyes narrowing to near slits as he sighed, that particular predicament returning once again to the forefront of his mind. Zitao still wasn't the same - he'd been better in front of everybody else, but in the rooms, the improvement was barely even marginal. 

"He's in his room." 

Perhaps Kris' tone was too glum, too concerned; Lay understood immediately, smile fading slightly. "He's taking this hard, isn't he?"

Kris nodded, crossing his outstretched legs awkwardly at the ankles. "He's a kid," he admitted, "And nobody here knows it. I mean, he's still a teenager, and yeah, he's a good leader and all, but sometimes he just..."

"So you're saying," Lay frowned, "That he can't keep it together?"

Immediately, Kris' eyebrows drew in menacingly, and he shot a glare at the Nephil. "He can keep it together just fine."

"Then you said it yourself." Lay smiled serenely, smugly almost. "He'll get through this. It's only been a week - think about it, it's almost like losing a limb. It's going to take time." Kris let his forehead relax, lines disappearing gradually - he was laid-back and irritating, but for what it was worth, Lay knew how to comfort people. "Hey, by the way, what pelt did you use to get rid of those wolves the other day? I never got to ask."

Kris didn't miss a beat, slouching. "Whale."

"Oh." Lay blinked, confused. "How anticlimactic." After a little while though, he chuckled to himself, "Oh but, but that would've been pretty terrifying, come to think of it."

Kris' own lip curled, quirking slightly, "And cold. Freezing, for them - oh, you should've heard it, they were pathetic." 

Sinister, yes; but their low sniggers came in near unison, and it was these types of moments when Kris didn't actually mind Lay.

JinJu hissed, pushing her hair messily out of her face as she threw her head back. "Could you be a little more gentle, Chanyeol?" she gasped, and above her, he snorted. 

"JinJu I'm barely touching you. You're being sensitive." He frowned, concentrating, fixated on the task at hand.

Baekhyun, who had perched himself incredibly awkwardly on the corner of the bed, let loose a high, obnoxious laugh that sounded less amused and more kind of terrified. Both JinJu and Chanyeol shot him a look, and he shrugged. "Sorry, sorry, injury makes me queasy," he said nervously, apologetic grin flashed their way before he let his eyes flicker to JinJu's exposed stomach, tank top pushed up around her ribs, and swallowed. Hard.

"If you're that bad with it- Ow, Chanyeol!- Then leave," she forced through gritted teeth, muscled abdomen rippling with exertion as she forced herself to keep still, hands forming fists in the sheets.

"No, no, that, uh-" he paused, eyes flashing to her face then back to the carpet, "I'll be fine."

"And quiet. Be quiet too." Chanyeol had reached the other end of the gash now, the cut running on a diagonal across her stomach, and was painstakingly dabbing Zitao's miracle ointment stuff into it. They'd been assured it'd be gone by the end of the week, and while that was all very well, treating it hurt like a .

JinJu was over her panic, and was now just embarrassed, despite all Baekhyun's fervid reassurance that she needn't be. The day she'd gotten the cut, when their ship had been stormed - she sort of remembered it in flashes. The fight was crystal clear, the burning across her torso, the surge of triumph she'd felt, and then the terror she'd let consume her when faced with imminent death. After that, she remembered snippets of the shivering, of Sehun in particular, regarding her with a mixture of hostility and cold, vulnerable fear in his eyes as they'd both sat in that room.

She'd been trembling in time with the shouting; then Zitao was there, all but carrying her to the sick bay below deck, staying beside her until she was safely in bed.

"!" She winced, cursing sharply, and Baekhyun coughed, cheeks flushed a subtle pink. Chanyeol noticed though, eyes dark and warning, and Baekhyun stood from the bed, walking to grab his water bottle form the desk.

"Sorry," Chanyeol murmured as he turned back, grabbing the bandages from the kit splayed beside him on the bed. "You're almost done now."

"Hey did you know we're supposed to be in Athe within the next three days? I heard Gem telling Kris - that man can't whisper, can he?"

Chanyeol blinked, ignoring the last comment, JinJu arching her back and lifting her hips slightly to let him wind the gauze around her waist. "Weird," he mused, "I'm still getting used to the fact that I'm literally on the water right now, and soon I'm going to be in Athe."

"If anybody had told us a year ago where we'd be now..." JinJu trailed off with a whimper, Chanyeol's fingers just a little too heavy against her front. He hummed sympathetically; Baekhyun gulped down water like a fish.

"I know. We would be thought they were crazy." Chuckling, Chanyeol fixed the end of the bandage, leaning back to admire his handiwork. 

"I was going to say I'd punch their lights out for even suggesting I'd speak to a walker-" Baekhyun cringed, and JinJu tugged her top back down, sinking into the bed with a sigh. "But yeah. What you said, too." One final breath, and she sat up slowly, muttering a curse. "Alright, well, I'm going to go see Zitao now, so..."

Chanyeol frowned. "I don't know how I feel about this,"" he protested, and JinJu shook her head.

"Chanyeol, you are not my dad,"

"I, uh," Baekhyun coughed nervously again, "I kind of agre-"

"And you are not my mum." She scooted off, swinging her legs over the side and standing to leave. "Go up and entertain yourselves. I'll see you at dinner, I guess."

With that she all but flounced out, shutting the door behind her - then she sped down the corridor, stride bordering on a run, looking over both shoulders before wrenching a door down the end open, and quietly slipping behind it.

She breathed sigh of relief, quietly shutting it behind her. Normally, getting caught going to Zitao's room wouldn't be a problem, unless it was Gem who found her. There was a slight issue this time, though, a problematic element - this wasn't quite Zitao's room.

"Hello, JinJu." 

Jongdae had looked up from his book, sitting cross-legged and barefoot on the sofa, lips tugging up in a small smile; JinJu nodded her head stiffly by m