Not all here but not all gone Who: Barnabas and Cheila Where: Elias home When: 3:30 p.m.
The twins had been over. Barnabas was aware of that because Diana'd told him and he'd heard their thoughts. He had a horrible habit of hearing everyone's thoughts these days. Like there was no barrier between his mind and the rest of the world. It wasn't a pleasant feeling at all but at least it kept him up to date on what was happening in the world. Or what Dashiell had had for breakfast and how Diana needed to patch up that tear in her dress. There wasn't a filter on what was or wasn't important information and besides, he thought that that particular definition might lie more with the person whose mind it came from. Like Aurora would always view how things tasted or smelled as more important than how they looked. Her thoughts were always so devoid of images that it actually pained him a little bit. But right now it was a little quiet. There was still a buzzing in the back of his head that he knew to be the thoughts of the others in the house, but they weren't close enough to make it much louder. He liked that. He liked knowing that they were there when he needed him, but that they didn't feel like they needed to sit on the end of his bed all the time. He was getting better after all. Bit by bit he was gathering his own thoughts back and placing distinctions between them and those of others.
Which was why he didn't need to have everything brought to him. Which was actually a good thing because as much as he loved his family he was fully aware that letting them do everything themselves was a good way of having someone end up hungry. Mostly himself. So when he got hungry and didn't feel like asking someone for something or waiting for it to be brought he'd decided to go and get it himself. Because one of the first thoughts that he'd realize as actually his own was a need for independence and not laying around all the time. Barnabas hadn't ever been very good at being taken care of even if that was how he'd met Diana and started this life. So after he found a pair of pants that he knew had to be his, because he remembered that Diana didn't wear pants, just robes, and put them on along with a shirt that he managed to button almost all the way he shuffled out to the kitchen. Or he tried. First he wound up in what he thought might be Dashiell's room, or maybe Cheila's, but after a few tries he found it. And proceeded to stand blinking for a moment while he tried to remember exactly what he had been - oh yes, food. The fridge. A sandwich would be nice.