Sitting in the middle of camp was a tired-looking Ren, keeping lookout and ensuring the fire didn't go out before his teammates returned. At the sound of approaching footsteps, he immediately jumped up into a combat position, his weapons at the ready, prepared to fight if necessary. Immediately, he heard a panicked, high-pitched "Wait!" That sounded like Ruby, Ren thought. And sure enough, a couple moments later, Nora and Ruby waltzed into sight. Ruby had her hands up, as if to placate him, looking ready to collapse at any moment. Meanwhile Nora was bouncing around, evidently still full of her seemingly endless energy. Ren dropped out of his combat stance with a nod and a sigh. "That took longer than expected," Ren noted, leveling his gaze to Ruby, who seemed to wither under it.
Ruby felt her nerves start to get the best of her and started rubbing the back of her head, looking anywhere but at him, letting out a nervous laugh and a quiet, "Uh-yeah! There was... uh, girl troubles..." Her face lighting up like a cherry, while her pointer fingers fumbled with each other anxiously in front of her. Ren knew better than to ask, simply nodding his head. "The- the, uh, canteens are good, though. I filled them all up, so we should be good on water until we get to the next place to fill them, right?"
Ren considered it for a moment, his brows furrowing in thought before just shrugging it off, too tired to think about it. Instead only saying, "Not if we keep at the pace we went today." Ruby frowned at that and was sure Nora heard none of it, seeing as she was still all smiles beside her. "We'll be heading out at the same time as usual, despite your late adventure tonight, so try to rest up. You two can decide between yourselves who's keeping watch next, just be sure to put out the campfire," Ren shook his head then rubbed at his eyes before making for his tent. "Good night... and thank you for the water."
Ordinarily, whenever they slept out in the wild, they slept in shifts with one person keeping lookout while the others slept until enough time passed that it would be someone else's turn to keep watch. Nora usually wasn't the best one to do it, oftentimes falling asleep on the job, but between the two of them, Ruby felt it was obvious which of them should stay up. She just hoped her friend felt the same way. "Nora," Ruby started, immediately gaining the ginger's full attention. "Would you mind taking the next watch, pleeeaasseee..." Nora stared at her for a moment before saying -
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