Welcome to Gaia! ::

Mark felt relief as tangible and real as cooling drops of water sliding down his back. Well, at least he could try to keep Riley off the public radar. "I'd love to," the brown haired teen said, "and I promise I won't pull it on you again." But I am bringing it. What if someone tries to mug us? Or worse; take you away?

Mark looked at Riley, somehow so beautiful even when passed out on a couch. Tip-toeing away, he grabbed a camera and snuck a few silent photos. Old habits were hard, if not impossible, to break. That done he made is way to his small room, switched on his computer, and proceeded to close down the site. Mark was tired, sure, but it was something that needed to be done. God forbid that Riley ever actually look onto the site and see just how many, and what kinds of pictures, had been taken without his consent.

With a yawn and a click, Mark finished, returning to the kitchen to retrieve his knife, turn off the water, and dry the blade off, not wanting it to rust. It wasn't big; just a large switchblade.

Everything taken care off Mark grabbed a sleeping bag and set up camp close to the couch, so that if Riley needed anything he'd be able to wake the other teen up without having to yell. Dry-swallowing a pill (another thing he'd successfully hidden from Riley; a part of why his family didn't take his calls anymore) he settled underneath the sleeping bag and waited for morning to come while he slept.

"Hmm," Mark made the small noise at the first call, making his head go up at the second call, "wha's it?" The brown haired male woke groggily, like he usually did, blinking with sleepy green eyes at Riley.

Slowly, two and two came together and Mark tried to shake the cobwebs from his mind, sitting up. "Cold ... blanket ... yes?" he asked, which was basically, 'are you cold, do you need a blanket?' in the Tired-Mark dialect.

"Mm-hm," Mark said in reply, getting up and heading towards his bed room to pull out an extra blanket from the closet in there; out from beneath the pillow cases.

Once back he put the blanket on Riley, having gotten a woven cotton one that would warm the other up quickly. "Any thin' else you need?" Mark rubbed one eye sleepily. He was not an early bird, not at all. On the weekends it was rare to see him up before noon, even when he went to bed at a reasonable hour.

"Hm-hm." With a flop Mark was on his sleeping bag, unconsciously sprawled out. Even as much as a sloth as he was though he was up again before Riley, anxious and filled with a jittery energy at the thought of what had happened and the 'adventure' they would go on as soon as their time off started up. With a slightly worried look at Riley, but still more pictures taken (he really was cute when sleeping; Mark just couldn't help himself) before heading to his small kitchen to make some scrambled eggs. He added salt and small bits of ham, along with other flavoring ingredients. Mark hated his eggs plain, they didn't sit well in his stomach that way, so he usually added things to give them more flavor.

Once the food was done Mark took out a fork and began nibbling at the eggs, only taking a few bites. His appetite wasn't as big as it usually was, largely do to the sick feeling he got in the pit of his stomach whenever he remembered that he'd stabbed Riley yesterday. Mark swallowed, eggs seeming more like gravel or paste as it slid down his throat, and he wondered when he'd be able to schedule an appointment with his doctor. He had completely freaked out and he wasn't supposed to; not when he took his pills anyway.

Poking his head out he saw that Riley was awake. "Want some eggs?" Mark call out, more awake than he had been.

Scrapping a plateful of eggs for Riley and grabbing a glass of water, Mark was still surprised that the other hadn't totally come to hate him over what he'd did the day before, along with the website. But that was Riley for you. Good inside, beautiful outside. Bringing out breakfast for him, Mark pulled the small coffee table normally used to rest drinks and popcorn bowls on close to the couch so that Riley could eat with relative ease.

"Anything else you need?" Mark was ready to play the nurse/servant/caretaker for as long it took Riley top get better.

"No problem." It's my fault that you're unable to get up to get your own food after all. Slightly tempted to secretly take a picture, but still feeling guilty and a bit like his world had tilted to a new odd angle, Mark sat down at the edge of the couch near Riley's feet turning on the television. He liked to watch the news every so often to see what the latest events were and to make sure nothing big had happened while he wasn't paying attention. Though it just seemed like they were playing the same old, same old this morning.

Car accidents, low job rates, well this dude said this but then did that, etc. Sometimes it even got boring. Couldn't people think of solutions instead of just talking about stuff like this? He brought up the remote, about to change the channel, when the announcer said something about the 'mysterious disappearance of the famous Unknown Model.'

And then the TV was switched to Animal Planet, showing a documentary of sea turtles.