Skrael shook his head, though he regretted the action as soon as he did. He grimaced, but said nothing of it. “I will not rob you of your bed. And, in case you are concerned, you may sleep as you need it. As I said, I am no enemy of yours. Here. In your base.” He added. He cleared his throat, trying to move on to less awkward conversation territory, to little success. “Not to mention, I understand that you and my sister have had a… difficult time, lately, and not just with… me and–.” He stopped.
“I will keep watch tonight!” He changed the subject quickly, “And every night that I am here. There is no telling what manner of magical threats are attracted by both Nari’s and your magic. I may be weakened, but I am not useless, and if I cannot fend something off, I can, at the least, raise alarm.” He felt disgustingly pathetic, but it was the least he could do, since they were allowing him into their place of refuge. He’d been planning on exchanging a few things in return for said service, if they’d granted it to him, and this was one such offering. Besides, he didn’t really enjoy sleep all that much. It was too still, and often, he was tormented by dreams that left him shaken, and whatever bed he’d been using completely frozen.
He also didn’t think he even could sleep, after the day he’d had. His mind was still moving too quickly, turning over the confusion he’d been facing, and now, he was in what-was-supposed-to-be enemy territory and they were helping him, despite of who he was. He had much to think over.
Then, as he came back to the present, wrenching himself from his thoughts, he glanced at the aforementioned cat, and then back at Douxie, and said, seriously as the grave, not getting the joke, “I do not even like salmon. Your familiar’s fish is safe.”
Douxie chuckled to himself, amused at the Ancient’s rather poor grasp on humor. He could have a bit of fun with that, he thought, but he was too exhausted to come up with anything just then. But rest assured; assuming they had future interactions, he would be using that later.
“Suit yourself,” Doux said, shrugging. “In that case, I’ll be catching up on some much-needed sleep. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”
And with that, he went into his room, fell onto his bed without bothering to change from his work clothes or even take his shoes off, and passed out within seconds.
A few hours later, Douxie found himself already awake. Still exhausted and muscles still sore, but fully awake. Nightmares had plagued him, as was usual. This time, however, they were more intense. Maybe it was the stress of the possibilities in front of him; He could either be aiding an enemy based on a temporary truce just to have to eventually fight said enemy once more, or be responsible for the safety of yet another member of the Arcane Order. He was starting to feel an oddly older-sibling-type bond with Nari, despite her being far older than himself. Given the joke that flew directly over the short-statured wizard’s head, Douxie imagined he was just as behind the times as Nari.
He glanced at the clock. How long had he been sitting there, thinking to himself? Maybe fifteen minutes? He groaned, supposing he might as well pull himself to his feet. He knew he wouldn’t be getting back to bed.
He was careful to be quiet as he left his room, shutting the door as silently as possible. Want to see Archie’s dragon side truly come out? Wake him in the early morning.
Douxie shuffled his way to the bathroom and splashed his face with water. Looking in the mirror, he couldn’t tell if he was beginning to age or if his exhaustion was that apparent.
With a sigh, he flicked off the light and turned toward the couch, leaning against the door jamb as he watched whatever bollocks was on the TV. Some infomercial was playing, going on about a pointless, gimmicky gadget intended to capture the eyes of elderly folks everywhere. He’d glanced to Skrael, surprised the Ancient had turned on the TV. He assumed Nari must have before she, herself, went to sleep. Maybe he didn’t know how to turn it off?
From his angle, Doux couldn’t tell is Skrael was awake or not. God, he could only imagine how bored the wizard must be if he’d really been awake the entire night.
So, he decided to address Skrael. He kept his voice low, however, in case he’d fallen asleep after all. And, of course, to not incur the wrath of a small cat-dragon.
“As entertaining as that Slap-chop seems, would you like me to change the channel?”
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