Luxury By Candlelight

From their apartment window, Yoshino could look out over the skyline of Burrowgatory and see almost halfway across the city. This evening, everything looked darker than usual as the buildings around Burrowgatory dimmed one by one, their bright neon and electric lights replaced with the softer glow of candles in windows and along the eaves of roofs. The small, fuzzy points of light reflected the dim glow of the crystals in the cavern roof far above.

Yoshino leaned on the sill of the open window and lit their pipe, shielding the bowl from the light breeze outside until the flame took. They inhaled deeply and blew out a long plume of smoke, watching said breeze carry it lazily away. The sweet smell of the pipe’s smoke mingled with that of the lit candles inside their own home, only saved from becoming cloying by the fresh air drifting in through the window. 

Down below, they could see other buns bustling about, resembling imps as they darted around in the low candlelight. Some of them were already whooping and hollering with the telltale unsteadiness that signified a generous indulgence in alcohol or some other substance. Some, they could see even in the low light, were running around practically naked.

All of that was… fine. Just fine. Yoshino would join in themselves in a day or two. Their personal indulgence every time All Sinners’ Day rolled around was to take a few days of doing absolutely nothing. All work appointments declined no matter how much a client might offer, all other plans canceled well in advance. For a few nights, it was just Yoshino, their imps, and a cozy candlelit apartment.

They finished their smoke and dumped the ashes from their pipe into the ashtray they kept on the windowsill before setting their pipe aside to clean (...later). They left the window open, making sure the curtains were securely tied so that no surprise gusts of wind could blow them into any of the lit candles sitting around, and then they returned to their living room, satisfied. They’d taken care not to leave any candles around their imps’ beds, of course, but they still checked one last time to make sure none of the little troublemakers had gotten ideas about investigating too closely.

Fortunately, the lot of them seemed to have caught on that this was a night for doing as little activity as possible. Rika chimed softly as Yoshino passed, and they paused to stroke the chimelody’s head, earning a pleased little jingle in response. This got enough attention to rouse some of the others, and Yoshino sighed, resigning themselves to a few minutes petting and fawning over the rest of their imps. (Well, it wasn’t like that was work, exactly…) Gigi chirped and beeped indignantly from its cushion, unable to follow the rest of its brethren, and Yoshino sighed again before picking it up and cradling it until it was satisfied.

“Brat,” they said extra affectionately. The tomodigi chirped back as though in affirmation.

Finally, everyone had their fill of affection, and Yoshino was able to set Gigi back in bed and continue making their way through the apartment to their true destination: the bathroom, and more importantly the tub, just waiting for a long, luxurious soak. It was a spacious room for an apartment, a costly but important factor in why Yoshino had picked this complex in particular to live in. It looked even bigger in the dark, and as they lit the candles they’d set around the room earlier, the flickering orange light reflected off the tile and the metal and glass of the fixtures. When that was done, they turned the tap on the bathtub, turning it almost all the way to scalding; steam from the hot water began filling the room in short order, mingling with the faint smoke from the candles and turning the firelight soft and hazy. Yoshino took an unnecessarily long time pondering over their assortment of bath salts and other additives just because they could, before settling on a bath bomb with a mix of rosemary and spices that felt seasonally appropriate. They added it to the water and watched it fizz as the tub filled, enjoying the way the colors of the bath bomb swirled around.

Finally, the tub was full with hot, steamy water. Yoshino fiddled with the small, waterproof radio they kept on the bathroom counter, flipping through channels; they couldn’t decide if they wanted a spooky radio play or just some good, relaxing music.

They considered having to get out of the tub to change the channel if the play ended up being dull or aggravating to listen to and settled on the music.

With that done, they undid the tie keeping their ears in position on top of their head, shaking their ears out as they were let down, and then finally climbed into the tub. The water was just this side of too hot to be comfortable at first, just the way they liked it, and Yoshino slid down into it with a deep, pleased sigh. The aroma from the bath bomb filled their senses, relaxing them further. They could already tell they were going to doze off in the tub, but that was just fine.

It was good to be a sloth-focused sinner. Rest and relaxation with all the comfort they could desire, and the best part was that Yoshino could honor the yearly celebration without really doing anything at all. This was the life, right here.