#apprentice liam

Liam was fast asleep, no sign of a sleep walking episode bothering him tonight. His breathing was deep and even, and he was comfortably curled up under his thick blankets. He shifted a bit, to lie on his back, letting out a satisfied sigh as his head leaned back against and sinking into the half-plush half-firm pillow. He couldn’t help but smile slightly: goodness, he could feel the muscles in his neck finally relax. Unfortunately, he didn’t notice the door to his room opening…

He was slowly pulled out of his slumber as he felt a weight on his chest. His brows furrowed in confusion as he squirmed a bit, and when he opened his eyes, he saw he was practically nose to nose with Quaestor Valdemar. He could swear their red irises were glowing softly in the dark. They were fixating him with even more intensity than usual, pupils blown wide. He was hopelessly confused, his eyes barely focusing on their face.

“Valdemar...? What are you… What time is it…?” The necromancer mumbled, his voice hoarse with sleep as he desperately tried to focus.

“Three and fourty-five minutes twenty-five seconds in the morning. Are you sleeping?” They answered, confusing the man further.

“…What?”

“No? Perfect. I have to admit, I am a little bored.” Their head tilted, like it does so often. “Have I mentioned my last experiment? I do not think I have.” They were speaking a little faster than usual, weren’t they? “So it started when I saw that little corner in the dungeons which was covered in fungi because of the humidity and darkness down there…”

And then they started rambling, their lengthy tirade about testing and documenting seemingly never-ending. The more they spoke, the more Liam got confused. Of course, as they rambled on about their experiment, he found it somewhat interesting, it was just rather inconvenient right now, because… Again, it was three in the morning. The necromancer tried to get his point across and convince the demonic doctor to just wait until morning to tell him about this new experiment and let him sleep, but it’s like his words weren’t even reaching them. They rambled, and rambled, all excited, and jumpy, too, sometimes, which just further exhausted Liam, leading him to let out a few frustrated whines.

But then, just as quickly as they came, they were gone. They jumped off Liam’s bed, trotted towards the door, turned back around briefly, and then they left, leaving the poor necromancer utterly confused once more. Liam sat up in bed, the muscles in his arms protesting at the sudden movement and struggling to push him upright. He looked at the still open door of his room, his mind feeling sluggish and struggling to come to terms with what had just happened. His eyes were begging him to lay back down and go back to sleep, and he tried, but unfortunately for him, he wouldn’t quite sleep much more…

The next morning, at breakfast, he tried to focus on the pastry on his plate and ignore the way Volta was eyeing it hungrily. He had things to do today, after all. Portia brought in some tea for the Countess, and seeing Liam’s dishevelled state, she walked up to him.

“Liam, are you ok?” She asked, obviously concerned.

"...They have the zoomies. The three-in-the-morning zoomies..." Liam tiredly and incredulously whispered to her, without looking up from his pastry.

Portia looked confused at first, but then it clicked. She gave a knowing sigh, looking at him with a hint of sympathy and an apologetic smile, patting his back and giving him a quick side-hug.

Author's note: aaaa this is so short Im so sorry 😭 Im trying to get back into writing to continue Murder at the Hospital but the inspiration... sigh, has been a bit non existent as of recent