Milos didn't catch on for awhile, actually. He remained quiet, smiling contently as he rested against Dyss. He could hear his heart beating calmly and breathing serene--and it was nice. After awhile, he started to catch on that something had changed, and he leaned forward so he could turn and look up at Dyss's face.

"Dyss?" he asked quietly.

Dyss wasn't responding, but he was still breathing--and his heart was beating. He was . . . sleeping? Dyss had an odd way of sleeping, it seemed, with his eyes open. Milos had never seen him sleep before. It was actually pretty interesting. Milos set his hand before his lips to suppress a giggle. It was pretty cute, oddly enough.

So, Milos turned around again and leaned against him and let him sleep. He probably needed it, what with all this excitement. Milos was feeling pretty tired, too. He could go for a short nap just as well . . .

Hours had passed, though.

Dyss would be stirred from his rest by a nudge on his shoulder; a soft touch and a weak grip, and a voice whispering softly, yet hurriedly:

"Ummm . . . Dyss . . . hey, wake up . . ."

It was Izumi, of course, and she hadn't woken Milos up just yet. She figured that . . . well . . . Dyss could do that.

"Nnn..."

Dyss slowly awoke, his consciousness returning if not his vision. Even foggy as he was, he could tell Izumi's voice easily, even when she was sick or distorted. And even if she hadn't spoken, he might still have recognized. In some ways, he was starting to even be able to identify by smell...

"Izumi?"

It took Dyss a moment to realize what the weight on his chest was, and moving his hand to recognize it was still Milos. He brushed the other boy's hair, but not really hard enough to wake him.

"How long has it been?"

Dyss was still extremely imperceptive of time...

"I-it's, um, it's almost evening, Dyss . . ." Izumi trailed off.

In the time between mid and late summer, the evening breeze felt the same as the morning breeze. Not blistering hot, not in this part of the world, but warm enough to feel it and know for damn sure that it was summer. A cool breeze didn't come until the sun went down--and even then, the air was still warm. There really had been no way to tell a difference between the times of day, for Dyss, excepting the extremes: night and day. In the day, the sun was out; the sun beat down harshly on bare skin and was easy to recognize. In the night, when the moon was out, there was no harsh heat to irritate the skin.

Milos was still sleeping soundly; he had been far too content just sitting there with his head against Dyss's chest, hearing his heartbeat, physically understanding that his friend was alive and well. It was soothing--and it had soothed him to sleep over the time they'd been sitting there. He'd have to be roused from sleep, if Dyss wished to wake him.

"How long have you two been, um . . ." again, she trailed off. Except this time, her pause was a lot longer. "Um . . . sleeping like this?"

"We came here soon after you left..."

Dyss was a bit surprised at how long it had been... But as the shakiness of sleep started to wear off, he had a terrible surprise waiting for him. His eyes hurt. An immense amount. He hadn't ever gotten new dark glasses, and slept with his eyes open, facing up rather than sideways as usual. And though he didn't know it, his eyes had faced the sun...

"Milos? Wake up...!"

Dyss would shake his friend for a moment urgently, trying to wake him up, moving his other hand near his eyes before realizing that it likely wouldn't help. And while it definitely was bothering him, Izumi would be able to see what had happened. Dyss's skin was light red from sun exposure, not quite burned. His eyes, however, were bright red and sunburned...

"Nhhh . . . I-- I'm up . . ." Milos eventually replied with a yawn.

He stretched out both his arms and his back, leaning more into Dyss than before in the process, before relaxing rather suddenly and limply resting against Dyss again. He couldn't help it; Dyss was comfortable, like a really nice pillow . . .

Now, Izumi would have normally been a little put off by this--without understanding why, of course, but something else had come to her attention that revoked all possibilities of her frowning or feeling irate or anything of the like. Rather, she became worried quite suddenly. Something was terribly wrong here.

"O-oh my . . . D-Dyss, your eyes are . . ." Izumi whispered in shock and concern.

This sparked Milos's curiosity--and concern. He sat up on his own and turned to look up at Dyss--and see exactly what Izumi was talking about.

"O-oh, Dyss . . ." Milos shared the same concern. He reached up and placed his fingers upon Dyss's cheekbone, right under his left eye. "Are you . . . okay?"

"I... I don't know... They hurt so bad... They've never hurt before like this..."

Dyss had received sunburns since arriving, though he still didn't really know a lot about them. He certainly hadn't received any on his eyes, though. The pain was really quite remarkable, and he would pull away violently from Milos' touch, though he wasn't even sure what he could do...

"What's wrong with them...?"

Blindness was bad enough, but now the pain was a problem...

When Dyss pulled away, Milos retracted his hands just as quickly. He placed them over his lips and back away from Dyss by a couple of feet.

"I-- I don't . . . know," Milos whispered with a trace of a whimper in his voice.

Milos had never seen something like this before. What was it-- a rash? A burn? Impossible, so he thought. Milos had never seen anything like sunburn before--yet somehow, it did look kind of familiar, like he remembered something about it before, but couldn't put his finger on what, when, or where . . .

"It-- it's, um-- I think it's sunburn . . ." Izumi thought aloud.

Which was weird. She'd never seen someone with sunburn on his eyes--but then again, before Dyss, she hadn't met anyone who slept with his eyes open. Izumi didn't know how to proceed with this. Just how does one take care of sun burn of the eyes? Izumi didn't know, but she could find out. There was a pharmacy in town, but it wasn't going to be open until tomorrow morning. They'd already closed for the evening-- probably.

"Dyss . . . . Dyss, w-we, um, we should really get back home, and put, um, ice . . ." it was so awkward for Izumi to say this: "On your eyes . . ."

Dyss was essentially lost, as usual, and agreeable to anything that might help, despite the inevitable discomfort ANYTHING was going to entail.

"Yes... Please..."

At least there was no worry about his eyesight. The eyes weren't really functional in the first place, after all. It just a matter of huge discomfort... It hurt to keep his eyes open, but he couldn't even close his eyes or tear up. It was just too much...

"Sorry..."

Dyss pushed himself up, reaching out for someone, though he wasn't sure who. Izumi would have to lead them, in any case...

Initially, Izumi reached for Dyss-- but Milos did just a second later. Milos, who was a little closer. This erupted into a momentary pause, with Izumi and Milos both staring at each other awkwardly. Izumi, with a vague expression of frustration, and Milos, with a rueful expression of guilt. The standoff ended with Milos stepping back.

Izumi took Dyss's hand and helped him up--and walk. She was a little slow at first, but the sun was still out, and Dyss was bound to just become worse off the longer he was out in this heat. He might have to be down for some time, unless there was some other means of working things out. Izumi didn't know; she wasn't thinking that far ahead. All she knew was that she needed to get him home where she could try and take care of him, and work on the details tomorrow morning.

Milos and Izumi didn't say anything during the walk back, and it was a little uncomfortable between them--and worse, because neither of them really knew why it was uncomfortable. It just was. Inevitably, though, it was time to split ways.

"Dyss . . ." Milos sighed; he regretted to say this: "I-- I'll come over tomorrow and check up on you, o-okay? And Attis will probably come, too, I think. He'll know more about, well, what we're doing here, and all that, so . . . so . . . um . . . I-- I'm really glad I got to see you again! A-and, I-- I'm really sorry about, well . . . this . . ."

Milos wasn't the best at wording sentences sometimes. They got awkward if they were longer sentences. The same applied for emotions--the deeper the emotions, the more confusing they were for him.

Dyss was fortunately unaware of the brief encounter between Izumi and Milos, aware only of a brief pause in movements. Once Izumi touched his hand, though, Dyss instantly recognized it, and would eagerly hold it, though he was somewhat drained. The exposure of the sun on the rest of his skin was perhaps less severe than that on his eyes, but still draining..

"Thanks, Milos. I'm glad you're here..."

Dyss intended to refer to the entire group of friends who had arrived, but wasn't in a condition to clarify. He would follow Izumi, as he had done so often in the past days, back to her home. He was almost warm to the touch in some places, but was still happy, despite the condition.

"Thanks to you, too, Izumi... I'm glad everyone else I like is here, now..."

Just like Dyss had with Milos before he left, he warmed Izumi's heart. She actually felt a little bad, calling him away from his friends. For a brief moment, she even contemplated just bringing him to their place, and treating him there! But it probably would've been too crowded.

"I, um, I-- I'm glad, too," Izumi replied, "To see you happy."

Which was the truth. As much as Dyss's friends freaked her out, they made him happy--so she was fine with it. She might have been nervous, but as long as he was happy, Izumi, too, felt contented. Nervous, but contented.

"Just . . . just . . . just don't overdo it anymore, okay?" Izumi asked--regretfully, as somewhere in the back of her mind, she felt that it might have been a selfish request to make--but she couldn't help it. Izumi didn't want to see Dyss hurt . . . "I really worry sometimes. It's, um, . . . it's really stupid of me, I know, but I just-- I can't help it. I really appreciate it, you here and all . . . it-- it really makes me happy . . ."

It felt a lot like she was spilling her heart out to him--but she wasn't. Izumi was saying no more than Dyss had said to her, just in different words. Her appreciation of him was expressed in being a bit of a worrier--which was saying something. All of her other friends, users included, didn't receive the same kind of concern from her, and it really had nothing to do with the fact that Dyss was blind. Truth be told, he actually got around pretty well on his own . . . it was just a matter of confidence.

Izumi's words put a strange sort of lump in Dyss's throat, something that seemed to be difficult to get out. Perhaps it was another consequence of being in the real world, one that had slowly been growing as he spent more time around Izumi? It was strange, certainly...

"Th... Thank you. I like being here, too, Izumi..."

He certainly hadn't meant to overdo things. He just didn't understand some things, and not that his friends were here, he wasn't paying as much attention... There was so much less reason to worry. As dangerous as the real world could be, it was nothing like Purgatory. And it was so much more enjoyable, even without his eyesight...

"I'll try..."