#ghostiwrites

[iwasghosti]

The Weight of It: A Short Fiction

[clownmeowse]

Draft snippet from shitfuck

Two knocks came from the wooden door and Elis froze in place. "'m coming in, Elis!" was called before the door slid open. The scene that met Jupiter's eyes was something he couldn't quite explain. His long time friend Elis was clinging to one end of a singed bath towel and tugging on the other end was a furry lizard. The room was covered in small located fires, burn marks, and singed items. The door clicked behind Jupiter and he just started laughing. Hearing Jupiter's laugh Elis immediately turned and glared at him. Under the angry gaze Jupiter's laugh puttered off. "...Sorry man. I mean the scene was just too precious." Another glare came from Elis. Jupiter sighed and dropped his bag on the scorched wood floor. "So lemme guess, you want everything fire proofed, don't'cha?" Elis nodded then gave a sharp tug, causing Pyrros to tumble forward. Another laugh dared escape Jupiter's lips, but he held it in. Rummaging through his bag, Jupiter pulled out a slim poster-back book and flipped through the pages until he found the spell he was looking for. "Okay. Before I fire proof anything let me do you a favor and fix all this shit." Jupiter began chanting. Glowing symbols began appearing everywhere. Broken and destroyed items would become brand new, or at least what they were before Pyrros had burned it up. Twenty minutes passed before Jupiter cleared his throat and ceased chanting. "Moving on," spoke Jupiter as he took a sip from his thermos then flipped to another page. This time once he began chanting no glowing symbols appeared, but everything began glowing red. This spell only took five minutes. Jupiter closed his book and repacked it with his thermos. "Well that does it. So you owe me...hm...let's see...500 Crystals." Jupiter adjusted his bag's straps and said, "I'll be expecting the payment in two days time. Anyway, see ya around." and with that Jupiter left.

I should write more of these extras so I can get a hang of the charas...or I should write period bc shit I suck

[clownmeowse]

Is it time to shamelessly promote my fic? Yes!

Magic and Snacks

“So what do I even do with this tiny stick?” asked Juuzou as the triad left the store.

“You’re supposed to do magic with it—and get that out of your nose! It’s not to be used as a nose picking device.” Hanbee scolded him and removed the wand from up Juuzou’s nose. “Let me just keep this safe,” he said and pocketed the wand.

Juuzou shrugged, sniffled and rubbed his, now, empty nose. “So now I get my first contribution to my zoo, right?” Owls, toads, and cats could be in a zoo, at least Juuzou thought they could. He’d rather have a giraffe but one of the aforementioned animals would do.

tbqh this is just to add to my collection of garbage posts on this blog

[clownmeowse]

This has been sitting in my files for who knows how long....It’s really old and I’m probably never gonna finish it so I guess there’s no harm in throwing this grossly old piece here.

A common theme in my college aus, hatred for morning classes bc that is me.

Somehow, no matter how many times he woke up disenchanted with life in the same prison-esque bedroom with the same dead creature smell—which Nezumi attributed to his suitemates' inability to do laundry or clean up, ever and by now the scent had wafted through the shared bathroom and into his living space—and the same lack luster furniture set, Nezumi couldn't dissuade himself from going to the hell hole known as morning classes. Groaning and frustratingly untangling his slender limbs from underneath the blanket cocoon he had lovingly dubbed his nest back in the first week of the semester. Hopping off the mattress bare feet met tile and Nezumi shivered before scampering over to his wardrobe to quickly change out of his pajamas and into what he would call his "lazy day" outfit, which he reserved for days where his sleep deprivation couldn't be cured by three cups of coffee chasing a five hour energy drink, though recently those days have been outnumbering the good days. With the soft fabric of his favorite gray band tee lightly hugging his warm skin, Nezumi grabbed a red hair tie—his only hair tie—and snatched up his keys before running out the door. 8am was such an awful time to wake up on his campus if one had to go to morning classes. It was just late enough that there would be a line at the campus Starbucks and Nezumi had class at 8:30, so waiting in the 40 minute line was just not an option. Instead he grabbed a five hour energy drink at the campus convenient store and gulped it down with a grimace. That shit tasted like cherry medicine and Nezumi hated cherry medicine. The lecture hall was packed as usual and his favorite seat was taken already. Curse waking up late! Reluctantly Nezumi took a seat next to someone with fluffy snow-like hair seeing as it was one of the only seats not occupied. Sighing angrily he reaching into his backpack and pulled out his notebook, then rummaged around for a pen. Slowly his face turned from anger to disbelief. How had he forgotten to throw a pen in his bag? Another angry exhale puffed through clenched teeth and turning to his right Nezumi tapped his snowy-haired seat neighbor.

"Do you have a spare pen I could borrow for this class?"

[trashheapking]

If anyone cares I finally scribbled out that BokuAka mermaid fic!

The suns light licked the aquamarine scales, making them shine like the stars. The translucent fins shown like mellow flames in the orange glow. Bokuto couldn't take his eyes off the beauty. Short black hair and soft skin; he was entranced.

[trashheapking]

Operation make Laviichan feel better is a go!

Okay so my sweet Lavii has been feeling down and I want to cheer her up so I wrote her some grossly cute fic snippets!

There are two for LaviYuu and one for RoadLavi. One of them is sad js.

They're under the cut. GOmEN for the awful writing I was a bit more distracted than usual when writing these.

Prompt: Sweaters and mistletoe.

The kettle whistled, signaling that the water was at a boil. Lavi gave Road's hand a squeeze as he wiggled his way out from their cocoon of blankets. With the sound bare feet padding on wood Lavi made his way to the kitchen. He turned off the stove, which stop that god awful whistling, and took out two mugs. As Lavi fixed the couple some hot chocolate Road just tangled herself more into the nest. A Christmas romantic comedy played on the TV but Road had her eyes glued to the golden light shinning in from the kitchen. "Remember the extra marshmallows," called Road. From the other room came an "Of course, princess." Road could practically hear the stupid grin on her boyfriend's face. She simply rolled her eyes and turned to face the TV again, though she was far from paying attention to the movie. Soon Lavi returned with two mugs of hot coco and handed the one with a mountain of marshmallows to Road. She grinned and sat up, letting Lavi scoot in next to her to cuddle. Road took a sip and let the warmth find it's way through her entire being. Placing her mug on the coffee table she turned to watch Lavi, who had become engrossed in the too cliche movie. She enjoyed watching the little twitches of the corner of his mouth when he was about to laugh and how the sides of his eyes crinkled when he grinned. Eventually her eyes were drawn to the gross seasonal sweater Lavi wore. It was a bright red with a decorated Christmas tree on it's front. She playfully stuck her tongue out. Somehow she'd been suckered into wearing one of these dumb sweaters too. Her sweater was light blue with white snowflakes on it, and it was three sizes too big for her small form. "Admiring how gorgeous I am?" Road had gotten caught staring. She sat up, poked Lavi's nose and replied, "Not in the slightest." This kind of teasing usually got Lavi to jump on her and start a tickle fest. Road couldn't stop as her sides were attacked by skilled dancing fingers. They rolled and started tickle wrestling on the carpet. Eventually she was able to grab ahold of both Lavi's hands and pin him down. "Look up," said Lavi with a grin. She glanced up and to her surprise there was mistletoe. As soon as her eyes met back with his he leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. "Scared?" she teased. Lavi grinned and got his hands loose. He grabbed the back of her head and pulled her into a deeper kiss. His hands entangle in her short purple locks as she cupped his face in her own delicate fingers. When they separated for air he grinned again and gave a chaste peck. "Merry Christmas." ---

Prompt: Last kiss.

How naive could he had been? Thinking that Lavi was going to get better when the doctors had confirmed the illness to be terminal. Kanda just didn't want to believe it. Although he may act cold and harsh he really did have a soft spot for Lavi. Kanda had gone on and on about how if Lavi couldn't beat this illness then he was just another weak insect that didn't deserve to live. In response Lavi just laughed jovially and said that if Kanda kissed him in a maid outfit then he'd consider getting better. The two would banter like this for a few hours each day until the nurses shuffled Kanda away on the premise that Lavi needed his rest or that visiting hours were over. The fateful day that Lavi had been diagnosed Kanda was there with Lavi's family. He had expected this to happen, despite how he desperately wanted it not to be true. He wasn't one to cry, but he had thought Lavi would at least shed a tear after hearing that he only had a few weeks to live. Against Kanda's prediction Lavi hadn't even let tears prickle his eyes; he kept that sunshine smile going through the whole debriefing. That night Kanda was let stay over at the hospital. Around 2 am he was woken by the soft sobs of Lavi, who had been holding it in the whole time his family was there. Kanda got up from the not-so-comfy hospital chair that was his bed and comforted his boyfriend, rubbing Lavi's back as he was wracked with tears. The next morning Lavi put on a smile and acted as if the night before had never happened. Kanda expected nothing less. Today would mark Lavi's last day alive and Kanda didn't want to hold anything back. He wanted to spend his last day with his boyfriend without any regrets. His boot heel made a resounding click each step he took through the lonely bleached hell that was the hospital hallways. Kanda slowly came to a stop in front of room 643. He knocked twice then walked in. On the far side of the room by the window was the bed which a weary red head lay propped up by many pillows. Kanda took off his heavy trench coat and lay it on a chair by the entrance then went to sit by Lavi. "G...good morning," muttered Kanda. A bright smile formed on chapped lips and Lavi spoke for the first time since Kanda had come in. "Oh my Yuu-chan you're being so kind and like a normal human what's wrong? Are you sick?" Always playing the jester, never showing his real emotions in broad daylight. Kanda felt his heart contract in his chest. "Stop joking Baka-Usagi!" growled Kanda. In return Lavi laughed and said, "That's the Yuu-chan I know! But are you sure you're not sick? Your compassion is showing a little." Lavi laughing soon turned to pained hacking. The only thing Kanda could do was rub his boyfriend's back in a vain attempt to sooth the ache. The red head grinned and sat up. "Hey hey! You know what I feel like doing today? Going to see some New Years fireworks? What about it Yuu-chan?" Before he could reply Lavi interrupted again. "Wait wait. I know that I'm not allowed outside, but I reeeeeeally want to! C'mon Yuu-chan I've been a good boy. See see I took my meds all this week without a fuss just ask the cute nurses," he said as he held out his empty container where his pills usually were. All the pills were gone, but it was only Thursday. Lavi was supposed to have pills for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in there too; the week wasn't over, Kanda wasn't ready for it to be over. Sighing Kanda stood up and turned to walk out the door. "I'll ask the doctor if they'll let you out as--" he choked on his own word, unable to say that this was Lavi's last day request, "a request." Lavi was beamed as Kanda went out briefly to the hall to find the doctor. After a short exchange the doctor relented, but with a few conditions. The whole hospital staff knew Lavi as a bright kid who could have live a happy, promising life, and it was hard for the doctors and nurses to deny him a last request. Kanda came back told Lavi that he couldn't go out, but the doctors said that they would put some fireworks together just for Lavi. The red head smiled and said that sounded just fine. "Sooo what're we gonna do before that time comes Yuu-chan? Oh! It's almost dinner time how about we have pizza?" He always remembered that ever since he was stuck in this place Lavi complaining about how he wasn't allowed pizza. Kanda laughed and said he'd sneak some in. This stunned the red head for a little bit. Kanda laughing and doing something risky? Yeah it wasn't common. A bit later Kanda took out his phone and called for pizza after he worked out with the doctors to let Lavi have some. When the pizza came Kanda put it on the bland paper plates and gave a slice to Lavi. Such a simple thing made Lavi practically shake with happiness. Kanda was happy, yet sorrowful at the same time. Lavi would never experience the other joys of life other than the simple lack luster life of a hospital patient. He had barely gotten to live as a regular college student. This was their first year and Lavi was missing it. He would miss out on graduating with a bachelors degree and going for a masters, going out drinking till the sun rose, having stressful nights after work, getting married, and more. "I'm so excited for the fireworks!" voiced Lavi as he set his pizza plate to the side with only a few bites taken from the single slice. His heart was aching and he wanted to just break down. So this really was the end that they were coming to. Kanda nodded solemnly. Just then a knock came from the door. A nurses voice sounded from the other side saying that the fireworks would start in a little bit. Lavi was brimming with happiness at the news. He wouldn't stop grinning. Helping Lavi up from his hospital bed Kanda held his hand and led him to the roof for the best view. How ironic. They were celebrating a day of renewal yet... It was breezy on the rooftop. Kanda wrapped his arms tighter around a shivering Lavi, who was already sporting a fleecy jacket and two other sweaters to boot. Still the weathers wasn't going to deter the red head. A few minutes later the fireworks started. They weren't much of a spectacle, but they were more than enough for Lavi. Kanda felt content enough to just hold Lavi and watch how his eyes would light up with each boom from the fireworks. He tangled his fingers together with the ginger and rubbed the back of Lavi's hand with his thumb. They let the fireworks slowly come to a close. "Yuu-chan...I'm really happy that I could spend the day with you." Kanda could hear Lavi's voice crack near the end and his heart contracted in sadness. "I'm....glad too..." He turned to fully face Lavi, grabbing the other's frail shoulders. He couldn't take this. Kanda pulled Lavi into a soft, yet strong hug. "I....I'll miss....you...Baka-Usagi.." croaked Kanda as tears fell from his eyes. The always stoic Kanda showed his true feelings. He just couldn't hold himself behind the mask anymore. Lavi nodded into the hug. Back in the awful white room with Lavi still hooked up to these horrid machines Kanda squeezed the other's hand tight. He sat there silently comforting Lavi. The only noises were the slow beep of the machines and the occasional cough fit from Lavi. "Yuu-chan...could you...grant this selfish usagi one...last wish?" Breaking the silence Kanda glance over at Lavi, who weakly motioned to his lips. He nodded and leaned over. "I love you," breathed Kanda as he gently kissed his boyfriend. "I...love...yo....u too...Yuu-cha...n..." replied Lavi as he drifted off into eternal sleep. The flatline drowned out Kanda's thoughts as he squeezed Lavi's hand and broke down.

--- Prompt: Kissing in the rain. Peeking out from under his umbrella Lavi gazed at the dark storm clouds swirling above. He had a gut feeling that the weather wasn't going to get better anytime soon. Right now it was a light shower, but Lavi had a long way to go before he got home and it could easily start down pouring. Buttoning the last button on his jacket Lavi placed his umbrella comfortably on his shoulder. Set to go he hopped down the front stairs of his college and headed home. Lavi would say that he liked April as a month because all the rain meant beautiful flowers later in May, but right now he wasn't really feeling the love. He had woken up late this morning, and didn't have time to find his galoshes. So now his feet were slowly getting soaked along with the hem of his pants. All Lavi hoped for was that his umbrella didn't break like it had last time it had rained. About two weeks ago he had been caught in a storm and his poor umbrella took a beating. The umbrella was already in pretty bad condition to start with; the fabric would sink in and collect a pool of water that would slosh around, occasionally dousing Lavi. So in the storm the fabric had partially broken off the metal skeleton and Lavi had gone for a little swim. To say the least he didn't want that happening again. He had caught a pneumonia and had to stay in bed for a whole week or two. A splash on the back of his leg alerted Lavi to the changing weather situation. It was raining harder now and he was going to get caught in the midst of this storm. Gripping the umbrella handle harder he started walking faster, but not too fast or he would trip. Almost half of the way there his umbrella decided that it hated him and wanted to make him miserable. Lavi's poor repair job fell apart and the whole fabric part of the umbrella ripped off. Now Lavi resembled a drenched mop and it could only get worse. Somehow he felt like this was the universe's way of condemning him for pissing off the love of his life the other day. Two days prior Lavi had been joking around at lunch with some of his friends and somehow his lunch found its way onto Kanda's head. It had been an honest to goodness accident; Lavi would never purposely do that to his boyfriend. Okay, maybe it wasn't a complete accident; he might have just walked over to bother Kanda and accidentally tripped, but right now that wasn't really important. All that really matters is that he gets the heck out of this rain. Brushing his wet locks from his face Lavi discarded his broken umbrella in a trashcan and stomped through puddle after puddle on his way home. Half a block from his house he notices a familiar figure walking in front of him. On top of that said figure had an umbrella that looked nice and roomy. Jogging a bit Lavi jumped and roped his arm around the other's neck. "Heyyyy Yuu-chan~! Do ya wanna share that umbrella with me?" he asked innocently, trying to sound cute. "When in hell did I ever give you permission to use my first name and why should I share my umbrella with a wet hooligan like you?" Kanda shook off Lavi's wet arm and picked up his pace. Lavi walked fasting and got in front of Kanda as he pleaded with the other. "Pleaseee Yuu-chan!! I'm soaking here!" "You're getting what you deserve," replied a slightly irritated Kanda. "Aww is someone still mad about the fish incident? C'mon Yuu-channnnnn!! I said I was sorry!" Lavi moaned and latched onto Kanda's shoulders in a bear hug. "Oi watch it!" Kanda became unbalanced and slipped causing the pair toppled over, the umbrella falling a few feet away. Kanda groaned and glared at the red head who was over him. "Get off Baka-Usagi!" growled the now soaked Kanda. In this position Lavi was the deciding factor of if they would get up or continue being rained on. He decided to take this chance to force Kanda to listen. "No way," replied Lavi, which only proved to vex an already infuriated Kanda. Kanda growled and tried to forcibly move Lavi to no avail. He wasn't that weak but Lavi was just bigger than him. Kanda sighed, resigned to listen to Lavi just so he could get off the wet ground that was thoroughly chilling him to the bone. "What do you want Baka-Usagi?" "A kiss," cheekily replied Lavi. "C'mon you know you want to." Lavi's hopeless romantic was showing. He sometimes fantasized about kissing in the rain, though not exactly like this. Besides it's been forever since Kanda had given him their first kiss anyway. Lavi leaned in close enough for his forehead to knock against Kanda's. "You look like a water logged cat, Yuu-chan," commented Lavi as his moist lips touched Kanda's. "Shut up, Baka-Usagi," growled Kanda into the kiss. And that's how Lavi and Kanda both got pneumonia after sharing their second kiss.

[trashheapking]

Cherished Hearts

pairing: Lavi x Road

under the cut. trying not to clutter dashes

On top of the idea of a parasite from some guy’s eyeball-y tongue inside him, he had bruises all over and maybe a fractured rib or two. This was pointless pain, or maybe Sheryl just liked to knock him around to let off steam; if that were it then Lavi would blow a gasket. Why did he have to be used as the human punching bag?

Lavi knew, rather believed, that Panda-jiji would never talk. Also by now he would be a bit angry if Bookman spilled the beans; he would have suffered for nothing, and could possibly suffer for nothing if these beatings continued.

He was human, not some fancy super human like Yuu or Allen who had speedy healing abilities. His ribs would take, in the best case, one month to heal. A grunt left his lips as he shifted his position to lean against the wall. Even the slightest of movements were painful, but he managed. This prison cell was small, but right now, to the beaten up redhead, it seemed huge. Maybe being stuck in one spot all day was messing with his mind or maybe it was the head trauma from one too many blows to his noggin.

He bristled at the first cold touch of the wall, but soon eased back till he was completely against the wall, using it as support. For a moment Lavi wondered how he looked to others right now, probably pretty sad. He felt that his right eye was swollen, his legs were shaking, his once nice exorcist uniform was in shreds, and he had plenty of cuts amd scratch marks all along his back, chest, neck, and arms.

A weak laugh slipped from his chapped lips; why did he even care about appearances at a time like this? Did it even matter? It did not, but the thought did bring a brief and tired smile to his face.

"That’s the first smile I’ve seen from you in a while."

The sweet ring of the familiar voice jolted Lavi from his pain induced tiredness. Despite the immense pain it caused, he looked around frantically for the owner of that voice. He had been thrown against one hundred sixty-two walls over the owner of this candy-coated voice.

"Road, where are you?" His voice was scratchy and hoarse from lack of anything to drink. Still he called out urgently to her, his voice cracking and fading to a whisper soon after.

"I’m right here, silly booooy." And as she said, Road stood in front of Lavi in all her Noah glory. She looked unharmed and quite pleased with herself. Did she find his sad predicament funny? Probably…

Road sat down next to Lavi, the skirt of her white petal dress sitting neatly on the floor. She leaned in and examined Lavi’s wounds. He was too sore to move, so he let her do as she pleased. Her fingers ghosted across his skin, lightly pressing against his bruises and cuts, eliciting a hiss from between clenched teeth. Lavi could have sworn that he saw her silently giggle at his pained expressions.

"Easy there Princess," croaked an injures Lavi, "Don’t be so rough with me."

She raised an eyebrow and smirked. That wasn’t a welcoming sign to Lavi, though little to none of Road’s gleeful expressions ever spelled good luck for him.

"What are you thinking—" Now his voice really would be sore. A cry of pain slipped from Lavi’s thin chapped lips. Even his scream was gravely. His body locked up and his head flew back, colliding with the brick wall of his cell.

As his voice faded to a coarse whimper Lavi’s body relaxed and he slumped against the brick wall. Before he could even take a glance to where the pain originated from, he felt something warm trickling down the side of his back and chest, and down his left arm. Soon his nostrils were filled with the smell of iron, and his mouth could taste salty tears. Lavi hadn’t realized that he was crying.

Slowly his gaze turned to rest on deep, gaping wound near his neck. The initial throat tearing pain was gone and replaced with an odd tingle. Lavi realized the nerves had been severed; he could no longer feel most of his left side. His body had gone into shock and most of his muscles refused to respond no matter how hard he willed them too. All Lavi could do was be a silent on-looker of Road’s doings.

He simply slouched there, using the wall as support for his helpless body as he slowly bled out onto the ground. His single emerald eye followed Road, who had gotten up and was now in his full line of vision. In her right hand was the weapon: a bloodied candle.

"Think of that as a welcome back present," cooed Road as she licked some of his blood from the candle’s pointed end. Lavi couldn’t help the shiver that ran through his body at the sight.

Lavi couldn’t quite grasp what she meant as a welcome back present. It’s not like being here was something he did often or even any times before now; and present entailed that it was for him not her though she was the one coming back. Lavi quickly let the thought slip his blurred mind, it would be useless to try and figure out Road’s reasoning; she never made much sense.

A sharp pain screamed through his dulled senses. Lavi then noticed the pressure his fresh wound. It came to his attention that Road was hugging him. This seemed like a complete opposite compared to five seconds before when she stabbed him.

Road pulled back with a grin plastered across her angelically demonic features. This either meant more stabbing or…more stabbing. Maybe there was another meaning, but his brain wasn’t working at one hundred percent right now, and due to the previous trauma he was on the subject of stabbing and impaling via sharpened candles.

"Don’t look so confused, Junior. And here I thought you were the smart one," said Road with a sigh.

What did she mean by that? Obviously he was missing something here, or maybe she just wanted to trick him. If it had been anyone else Lavi would have no problem reading into the meaning of their words and expressions, but with Road he was always lost or lead in circles. She really was a challenge, figuratively and literally.

After a good minute of a half of Lavi internally debating the meaning of Road she interrupted him. She looked fed up with his constant analyzing. “Stop over thinking things that don’t matter. Aren’t you curious as to why I’m here?”

Collecting himself, Lavi willed himself to at least give a verbal reply. He managed a soft yet snarky “Yeah.” He really needed to let his injured throat heal. Lavi had tore his throat muscles and pulled his vocal cords.

"That’s better," commented Road as if she expected him to reply verbally, despite knowing that she cause his voice to be in such shambles.

By now Lavi knew the whole story of Road’s disappearance; after all he had to listen to Sheryl moan and groan about it for the past five weeks. That guy had a serious daughter complex and probably should go get checked out by a psychiatrist.

Lavi knew she had disappeared after going to rescue Allen. He distinctively remembered how angry and worried Sheryl was about Road encountering some crazy Innocence monster that was out to destroy Allen. Also she had protected Allen which is why she had faded away. That was the gist of the story anyway.

"You probably heard from Sheryl about me fading, but don’t worry I’m back now. And don’t worry I’m not going anywhere any time soon, so you wont have to miss me anymore."

It was oddly comforting to Lavi to hear it straight from her, though at the same time it was quite frightening to know as well. Then his thoughts turned to Allen; was the little moyashi okay? Or was he being gutted and interrogated by the Noah? Lavi didn’t have time to dwell on that thought.

"Well I’ll be going then."

Road’s voice broke Lavi away from his train of thought. Unable to reply verbally, Lavi tried to silently ask why. It wouldn’t be good if she just left him there to bleed out; the least she could do would be tell someone. He would rather let Noah bandage him up than sitting in a pool of his own rusting blood.

She seemed to get what he wanted to say since she said, “I think Wisely will be around to get you some bandaids soon.”

He croaked a sigh in relief at her answer. Though the ambiguous time worried him a bit. Lavi couldn’t feel or see his side so he didn’t know how bloodied up he looked, or how long he had till he completely bled out.

A jingle of metal and the tap of heeled shoes notified Lavi of Road’s departure. He groaned and found himself dozing off slightly. This should have turned alarms off, but he was too tired to be thinking this as a bad thing. Lavi slowly let himself get lulled into a sleepy trance.