colder than unlit ashes

@"zeronos"

Turned lazy by the food and the only distantly familiar comfort of the bed, Adder watched Neon putter around silently. He still... Wasn't sure what to make of him. Not completely. He wasn't sure he'd figure it out just by watching either, this bewildering stranger who went so far out of his way and really didn't seem to be asking for something in return. He was just.

Hmmm.

Adder's expression tightened a bit when Neon began shedding clothing, but he felt too lazy to move preemptively. If Neon tried anything weird, then he could move.

Except Neon was altogether weird. Weird and soft but not failing for it.

Adder didn't get it. Or why Neon was climbing into the bed too. No. Adder was here. What did he think he was doing? The street wolf kind of just stared at his host in tired incredulity, tucked into his mound of blankets and not planning on moving. Not without a proper explanation, at any rate, and patting a pillow was not a proper explanation.

.... Warmer? ... That made sense. Warmer was always good in weather like this. Warm was good and logical and valuable. Sleeping within arm's reach of someone else was not good, logical, or valuable. There was no space or time to react to changes or threats.

Warm, though. Adder warred with himself for a bit, arms tucked up so the blankets at least hid most of his face and hid his expression, only for surprise to come clear across his face, both visible and hidden. Particular foods he liked???

Yes, he was aware of the concept, thank you very much, but no one had ever seriously asked him. Except maybe the odd weirdo who'd asked him if he liked candy when he was a kid.

How was he supposed to answer?? Also there'd been some other comment he ought to notice and think about but he was too tired to multitask.

Squirming down until he was... Technically lying beside Neon, if not very close to him and still decidedly hogging the blankets, he at least got to stop thinking for a moment.

"I dunno."

@Zeronos ((I'M NOT DEAD I PROMISE))

Adder huffed at Neon's shift in position. He wasn't going to share the blankets. They were his now, even if they were technically Neon's. They were in his possession so they were therefore his possession. Neon was rich enough to be fed enough to stay warm on his own. Adder was plenty aware of how food countered cold. Plus they were indoors, so it wasn't going to be cold for Neon anyway.

He should just be... grateful...

No sleeping. No. Nn. Grr. Adder gave his head a little shake. No sleeping. Resting, yes, but not sleeping. Not yet.

Right, Neon should be grateful that Adder was letting him on the bed at all, never mind so close.

Fooooooddddd he did like food. Thinking about food was usually a bad idea, but when he wasn't hungry then he could think about food. It made him sleepy, though.

"Ramen stuff?" Early grave? Adder understood the implication but not the logic. How did food kill people? Food kept people from dying. If it was in a store, then it wasn't rotten. He'd seen people get sick from eating rotten things, although he was usually fine. It tasted gross, but when you were hungry enough...

Unless you were so hungry that you couldn't judge where the line was for too rotten. He'd given himself stomachaches as a kid...

No, no nodding off and dreaming of the past. No. Nope. Nu-uh. He was not going to sleep in front of Neon. Not even if Neon was asleep. No, no, no, no, no

Eventually, Adder missed the beginnings of a snooze and fell asleep, and far deeper than he had for a very long time. Deeper, and longer, but equally possessive of the blankets if Neon thought he'd try to reclaim them at any point. Adder was very good at snarling in his sleep.

@Zeronos

Usually, the only time Adder slept without interruption or creeping memories was when he was so incredibly exhausted that he had effectively dropped where he stood. Who was he kidding, though? He was plenty exhausted for that.

He still dreamed, though. There were flashes of walls and doors, no labyrinthe but something more familiar. He felt softness and couldn't tell when he felt it. The warmth was timeless as well, somewhere between now and then, both and neither. It enveloped him and made him feel...

In the dark, he woke abruptly, but nothing moved around him. Quieter than sleeping outside, walls that at least slowed intruders and kept them from approaching in full silence. The little noises of things connected to electricity. The sound of soft breathing.

Adder slipped back into sleep without thinking about Neon's presence next to him, but he felt... watched throughout the flickers of dreams and imaginings after that. Not stalked, but observed. For a while it bothered him, and he moved through his dreams faster to wrap himself in their disguise and distraction. A moment on a bridge in the rain, cold and lonely but fed, a tiny and angular child who didn't dare accept help. More recent, thrashing in the air, but now he knew how to escape. He'd lived the result of not escaping; he didn't need to dream it every night anymore.

Sometimes he still did, but not tonight. Tonight, his back was flexible enough and his teeth were sharp enough, and he even landed a solid punch in that idiot's nose without so much as splitting the skin of a knuckle.

That pleased him, but then there was darkness and heat that wasn't flesh, heat that danced with choking smoke.

Adder bolted upright, ears tight against the sides of his head as he frantically looked for a way out. The route always changed in his dream, but always managed to burn him.

Light streamed in with no implication of unstead fire, simple sunlight. There was no real outside heat. He could see clearly. He was alone.

A careful breath. No scent of smoke, new or old. Not that kind of smoke. Just city, just someone's home. That someone wasn't here, though. Traces of him were everywhere, but he wasn't there. Where was Neon?

Did it matter?

Adder curled back into the blankets, tucking them over his head and letting them absorb the sweat still pricking his palms. Neon's smell was all through the sheets, but it wasn't as fresh as other parts of the room. That pillow was stronger, and after a moment, Adder pulled it into the mound with him.



By the time Neon returned, Adder had fallen asleep again. He finally drowsed rather than dreamed, and stirred slowly at the noise. He rubbed at his face, still buried in blankets, and sleepily pushed the fabric away. It took a couple of tries, and when he finally sat up, it was with an enormous toothy yawn, a lot of squinting, and hair that couldn't agree on stretching or curling up to go back to sleep.

It did agree on poking him in the face, and Adder grumpily smushed that chunk back into the messy mass of not-particularly-clean hair. It didn't stay there, so he pushed at it again, and again, and then used both hands to maul it and break it into smaller pieces and smush them all in individually.

Then it stopped getting in his face, and he was satisfied enough to actually look at Neon.

...

Now what was he supposed to do? He remembered what had happened the night before, more or less, without waiting for it to rush back to him. His memory was hardly that unreliable. But knowing the context didn't mean he knew what to do now, and there was, uh, also the part where Neon was returning. When had he left? What had he done?

How had he left without Adder noticing?

Wait, maybe he had noticed and just gone back to sleep. That seemed vaguely familiar. Uh. That was not the right decision. He had to be more aware of things, had to react to them better -

food.

Lunch and groceries were both food words. He had had a bit of food last night but it was another day. He wanted food, more food. Even if it came from someone else. Hfff. He squinted at Neon, and then opened his mouth to ask what the lunch was - except then his stomach growled.

Bad stomach, he knew it knew better than to admit to hunger! Showing hunger was showing weakness. He huffed and pulled the blankets around himself some more as if he were cold rather than trying to muffle any further noises from his internal organs.

... Damn it, he was still hungry and he still wanted to know. "What did you get?" he finally asked, not quite making eye contact. Then again, he didn't make a lot of eye contact unless it was fully intentional. He shifted a bit within the blankets, pulling his feet under himself so he could sit on his toes.