Ceryll sighed while she lay on her bed. 'There really is nothing that can soothe my soul as well as a good bed'. She thought turning to Amere who lay alert on the cold wood floor near the door.
"Why don't you come to bed? I'll scratch behind your ears." Her voice was sweet in hopes of coaxing him to bed.
"That's unnecessary." His voice had lost all the excitement it had held before causing Ceryll to frown a bit, while she got out of bed to lay next to him. The fabric of the dress pooled next to her.
"Weren't we having a swell time with the innkeeper just a few minutes ago? Why so upset now?"
"I have no reason to tell you." He got up and went to the other side of the room only for her to follow him.
"And if I order you to?"
"You can't, it's not something that threatens your safety."
"What if you don't protect me as well because of it?" Amere scoffed at this.
"It won't, you know that." The elven woman went to pet him but he flinched away. "It's not that deep Ceryll. Stop worrying."
"Is it about the position conversation?"
"Not really, no."
"Then what is it?!" Amere's face held no emotion when he finally looked at her exasperated state. Her left hand stressfully gripped her white locks while the other was thrown up in a similar manner. if he didn't know the context, seeing her blue-gray eyes opened so wide would be scary considering how they contrasted with her skin but something about that made it even funnier.
"You're hilarious." He managed as he rolled over, howling with laughter. "I'm sorry, I just-" He was cut off by his own giggling. Ceryll stared at him blankly. This only made him laugh harder, and weakly crawl away. If he were human he'd probably have tears running down his face from the pain of such a boisterous expression of amusement. "I might...die!" He gasped, while he struggled to calm down.
"I'd say I wish you would, but I know that you'd die with that stupid grin on your face." Amere's pleasant chuckles devolved into maddened cackling while he tried to rub against her leg to appease her.
"I'm sorry, consider it payback for the conversation earlier." She rolled her eyes but still pet him behind his ear just the way he liked it. As he calmed down, his rear stretched up coaxing her to pet him there too.
"Awe, who's a good kitty?" She cooed in the sweetest baby voice, it was so sweet it could probably put candy to shame however when it came to Ceryll that could be a dangerous situation. Not that Amere noticed, of course, he was already trapped in a blissful trance.
"I am." He mewled rolling onto his side. "Love me more." It was almost amazing how the 5-foot cat seemed to become docile when pampered.
"You'd like that, huh?" When he nodded, she pulled away and climbed into bed. "Well, I'm sorry to tell you that I'm a bit too tired to go on." Amere looked at her feeling neglected only to see her teasing smile.
"But...but-" he stuttered to no avail, the words simply couldn't form properly due to his shock.
"No buts. It's late and I need some kind of rest before we go job hunting tomorrow."
"You're really serious about that?" He sighed joining her. Just the idea of her being in the slums left the poor creature stressed. It made no sense to him why she'd want to downgrade so far but at the same time, he had to remember that she had yet to give him the full story of Reid's death. There was something there, something key to the situation that she was leaving out but there was no use prying now. For the time being, he'd just have to deal with her illogical aspirations.
~~~~~~~~
Amere's dream was one of him running through darkness, covered in human blood with the same person's skin beneath his claws. In his heart was neither fear, nor guilt but his body shook with hot rage. 'He did this. It was his fault. Only I can keep her safe.' The last sentence echoed in his mind while he rann until he was met with his own soul-sucking glare. What seemed to be a replica of himself stared down at him, sneering cruelly before walking away. Though it was far, its heavy voice shook his body.
"You have fallen, Amere, and not even I can tell you how to get back up." With that the real Amere was cast into a pit of smoke causing him to wake up, eyes bulging, body shaking. He could still feel the blood trickling down his face, and the sensation of skin underneath his claws was too real for him not to do a quick check of them. Even though this was all just an intricate post-dream hallucination, he still felt scared and crawled closer to Ceryll who was just waking up.
"Amere? What's wrong." She drowsily lifted her arm for him to slither underneath.
"A dream." He was still shivering, claws ready to attack the imaginary threat. His state was alarming but it only took the hand of his widowed friend to soothe him. With her touch, he was instantly at rest, already drowsy again. This brought a loving smile to Ceryll's face.
"Don't fall asleep now. It's actually time to get up." She kissed his furry cheek.
"It's not even daylight."
"Actually-" She moved to open the thick black curtains but Amere gripped her dress.
"Forget it. I believe you...just..." He sighed. "Just give me a few minutes, okay? " His voice was trembling again leaving her weak heart with no choice but to succumb to his innocent desire.
"As you wish." A tranquil silence filled the air as they rested upon one another and everything seemed right with the world. It was like they were still at home before Ceryll even met Reid, when all they had to worry about was how to spend the wealth she'd nearly lost herself for. That wasn't the case though. the circumstances were much less favorable and they had to deal with a miserable innkeeper banging on the door
"Breakfast is in the dining hall, come eat." His voice was deep and heavy as if he as well had just woken as well. When neither person replied from the inside, he simply left. If they missed breakfast that'd be their fault. A groan echoed from both of them while they lazily slid off the bed.
"I don't want to get up." Whined the elven woman.
"I know," replied Amere in a similar tone of voice.
"Do we have to?"
"Well, yeah I mean everyone needs eat." The word "eat" made him go silent and she began to process just what the innkeeper had said.
"Oh my gosh. Food!" Now posessed by a sudden burst of energy, she sprinted to the bathroom to take the quickest shower known to creature kind before running out the door with Amere beside her. There were stairs but those weren't quick enough so she jumped off the balcony, barely landing on her feet before going off again. In the dining room, the innkeeper was setting up the long birchwood dinner table with his chef when the doors slammed open to reveal Ceryll and Amere. The first thing he noticed was the hungry expression on her soft round and the second was the animal's low growl. The chef tugged on his sleeve.
"Good luck eating with, " He made a confused motion to the savage creatures standing at the door, "those things." The white-haired man shook his head and motioned to the table before sitting at the head.
"Go on, you can eat." Within seconds they'd devoured the honey biscuits that had elegantly decorated the table and they were starting on the ham. While they ate, the pale elf allowed his gold and black eyes to take in the sight of the woman who was currently taking a massive gulp of water. She was quite the beauty, especially without that silly veil over her mouth. The sight of her long white hair paired with her dark ebony skin reminded him of a waterfall cascading down a curvaceous cliff but the way she ate dulled her charm. "For someone who dresses like nobility, you sure are a slob." He snarked.
"Well, how would you feel if you hadn't eaten for a week?" Amere paused mid sausage bite.
"a week?" She gave him a look but he seemed not to get the hint.
"I've been on the run longer than you think." Was all she had to say for the full-mouthed jaguar to make an 'o' sound and continue on.
"Banished? Was it because of your awful temper?" Hummed the innkeeper.
"I don't have an awful temper, I just don't like random men touching me."
"Oh. So I'm not an innkeeper, I just happen to own an inn, right?" She scoffed at his words wiping her mouth with the cloth napkin she'd put on her lap. He was such a miserable man. She wondered how anyone could ever sleep with such a creature.
"Those are two very different circumstances, but I wouldn't expect simple-minded scum like you to understand." The innkeeper once again shot her with his signature eyebrow raise.
"Whatever." He looked at Amere who was purring loudly while he chewed on some bacon. "Do you know when this insufferable woman will be checking out of my inn?"
"Insufferable!?" The poor animal flinched while Ceryll went off on the Innkeeper who was still waiting for an answer. Little did he know, the Jaguar couldn't verbally answer because he'd be indirectly acknowledging the insult. So Amere simply went back to eating despite the fact that the food no longer tasted as nice due to the quarrelling pair before him.