Morning came quietly with the soft hush of waves rolling against stones far below, while the pale gold of sunlight crept over the edge of the world.
Nico sat at the lip of a small cliff, legs dangling over open air, staring out at the endless stretch of ocean.
On his left sat Nom-Nom.
On his right sat X-97.
And somehow, against all odds and cosmic horror, this was happening.
Each of them held a toothbrush and a water bottle.
Both clearly purchased from the System's shop.
Both sets of violet eyes stared at the toothbrush, each wondering entirely different things.
Nom-Nom squinted at the toothbrush like she was predicting if it would taste sweet or salty.
X-97 held hers delicately between two fingers, turning it slightly while her violet eyes narrowed with the focus of someone inspecting a relic.
"…Alright," Nico said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and exhaling. "This is called brushing your teeth."
Nom-Nom raised her hand immediately.
"No, you don't eat it," Nico answered her before she even asked.
Her hand lowered slowly as she muttered, "…Why would I eat it?"
"Because you absolutely would," Nico replied without hesitation.
Nom-Nom considered that, then nodded solemnly. "Fair."
X-97 glanced between them. "Is this… a hygiene ritual?"
"Yes," Nico said. "And a daily one."
Her brow furrowed. "To prevent disease?"
"…And bad breath," Nico added.
She paused. "Define 'bad' breath… is it akin to poison breath some magic beasts use?"
Nico stared at her, speechless.
Nom-Nom, meanwhile, had already unscrewed her water bottle and was aggressively sniffing it.
"This water smells normal," she declared.
"That's… good," Nico turned to her. "That's what we want."
He lifted his own toothbrush. "Okay. Toothpaste goes on here… no, Nom, a small amount… small, that's… half the tube."
Too late. A heroic amount of toothpaste now coated Nom-Nom's brush like frosting.
She beamed. "I like this already."
X-97 watched closely as Nico applied a modest line of paste to his own brush.
"…That quantity seems inefficient," she noted. "Is there a reason for restraint?"
Before Nico could even reply, Nom-Nom had already shoved the toothbrush into her mouth.
And it did not go well.
"MMPH MMF-!"
"Do not swallow it!" Nico said quickly.
X-97, ever the observer, leaned closer. "Fascinating. Is it poisonous?"
"No!"
Nom-Nom swallowed.
Nico winced. "… Mostly."
Nom-Nom coughed, sputtering slightly as she frantically reached for the water bottle, chugging half of it in one go before gasping for air.
"…It's spicy," she accused, eyes watering.
"That's mint… " Nico said. "And that's what happens when you use enough toothpaste to... well, forget about it. It's done.
X-97 finally lifted her own toothbrush and, after a moment's consideration, began brushing with careful movements following Nico's.
"…This sensation is… unpleasant."
"You get used to it," Nico said, brushing his own teeth now, words slightly muffled. "Think of it like maintenance."
Nom-Nom tried again, this time more cautiously, scrubbing with exaggerated care.
"Mmm," she hummed thoughtfully around the brush. "I don't hate it."
That earned her a look from X-97.
"You adapt quickly," the Chimera observed.
Nom-Nom grinned, toothpaste foam clinging to the corners of her mouth. "Master says I'm good at eating things."
They brushed like that for a while.
Three figures on a cliff at the edge of nowhere, morning breeze tugging at hair and clothes, and the sound of waves below mixing with the soft, rhythmic scrubbing of bristles against teeth.
No fate or destiny. Or Pantheon.
Just… this.
Eventually, Nico spit over the edge of the cliff and rinsed his mouth.
"Okay," he said. "Rinse. Spit... Don't swallow."
X-97 followed instructions perfectly.
Nom-Nom nodded seriously before she swallowed again.
Nico closed his eyes. "We just talked about this."
"Instinct." She shrugged.
X-97 capped her water bottle and looked out over the ocean.
"…Is this," she asked quietly, "what mornings are usually like for humans?"
Nico paused before he glanced at Nom-Nom, who was contemplating whether she should lick the toothpaste off her fingers, and then at X-97, sitting beside him, staring ahead.
"…Yeah, kind of," he said.
And the moment passed.
The three of them walked back to the small clearing they'd set up camp in the night before, tucked just far enough from the cliff to avoid the wind but close enough that the ocean was still a constant presence in the background.
Two tents stood there.
One, clearly meant for Nico.
The other… conspicuously reinforced.
Nom-Nom's.
While X-97 kept watch the entire night.
Phoenixes can stay awake for months on end.
And the same goes for Dragons, but Nom-Nom had insisted, very firmly, that she wanted to know what it felt like to sleep in her human form, inside a "tent thingy," wrapped in a sleeping bag just like Nico.
Now, the three of them sat cross-legged in a loose circle on the grass, beneath the morning light filtering through the trees.
Nico cradled a metal cup of coffee in both hands, taking slow, careful sips like the liquid was single-handedly holding his consciousness together.
Nom-Nom, meanwhile, sat upright and attentive, hands on her knees.
Her own cup of coffee lay empty beside her, which she had finished in one gulp.
"Bitter," she'd declared. "But I like it."
While X-97 sat opposite them, posture straight.
Her expression, however, was… strained.
She kept swallowing subtly.
Like she was still at war with the lingering aftertaste of mint.
Her violet eyes flicked between Nico's cup and the treeline beyond the camp, impatience practically radiating off her.
Until finally the dam broke –
"Now that you have rested," X-97 finally said, "… completed your hygiene ritual, and consumed this… coffee…"
Her eyes lingered on the cup for half a beat longer as she continued, "…We should move. We need to put as much distance between Pantheon and us as possible."
Taking the final sip, Nico exhaled softly as he said, "Yeah, but first… Let's talk strategy."
Even Nom-Nom's ears perked up as she leaned forward.
"…Strategy?" X-97 repeated.