#eeeeyyyyyyy

"How did you even sneak past the guards?"

The question, emphasized by a curious quirk of a brow, made him pause, unsure if he should reveal the magic he wielded or fabricate some form of an explanation that would suffice. Or perhaps, more accurately -- he briefly froze the moment those words are spoken to him. The very presence of the prince had him tongue-tied and it's nothing short of a miracle that he hadn't stumbled out something ridiculous.

Nick seemed patient, surprising his visitor of the nonchalance about the encounter instead of immediately summoning the guards or even moving to defend himself. Had the prince experienced this before? Were there others like him that attempted to gain an audience as he did? He wets his bottom lip.

"Ah... Not to show that your forces are inadequate or lazy," the intruder quickly began with a sheepish smile, a hand reaching up to play with his spectacles. "It had just been my luck that I've found my way through the castle without much scrutiny. Good places to hide, if you ask me."

To his surprise, the prince merely laughed. A show of pearly whites and a melodic chuckle that had red coloring the tips of the visitor's ears. Thank the powers above that it was dusk, the sun already shying down the horizon. "Yes, that's always been the case," he affirmed after his chuckling subsided. "It makes them a little too confident, y'know? The bastards that think they can just come in and decide to have a little fun with me."

Something flashed across the other man's eyes yet Nick hadn't caught it in time. Only the surprise flickering at his features afterwards. "You've dealt with this before?" At Nick's nod, the visitor frowned. "What, to get at you or to take your life or something?"

A grin graced the prince's lips, and his breath nearly hitched at the sight. "All of the above, my guy~. And I can already tell that you aren't like them, considering you don't have a knife at my throat by now or threatened me the minute you stepped foot into the courtyards. Who are you, then?"

The man stared at Nick, almost impassive if it weren't for the intrigue glimmering in his eyes. During their conversation, he can't help but observed the way the prince kept his distance -- not entirely casual or lackadaisical as he would have initially believed given their chatter. He, on the other hand, felt himself guarded, not convinced that this is all there is to it and there were no trickery or traps of the matter to capture him the moment he gets too comfortable.

Regardless, he felt himself swayed by the natural allure of the prince. How that fortune blooming from Nick's essence welcomed him in spite of the sudden meeting between them. Something fluttered in the pit of his stomach, like butterflies beginning to fly in a frenzy, and his cheeks felt warm to the touch though he dared not to reveal that flustered state.

Instead, the visitor attempted to mimic the grin, not caring if it happened to look shaky or bashful, and he decided to lower down to one knee to offer a proper greeting.

"Pleasure to meet you, your highness. You can refer to me as Noah."

The last thing that she could remember was setting her sketchbook aside for just a moment and then nothing. She might have closed her eyes for a minute and then blacked out. It wasn't much of a stretch since she had an awful sleep schedule and was hardly getting the right amount of rest with everything going on in Magenta.

Figures she would continue her bad habits, even in a place like this.

The cloth that had been draped over her torso slid down a bit from its spot and rested against the chest. Wait, had she been wearing a blanket when she sat down last night? She reached up and picked up the garment to inspect only to realize that the magenta colored coat was the very one that belonged to Ray.

Lila pursed her lips at the sight. How did this get there? She wondered.

She looked around the room and realized that she wasn't alone. Ray was in the room with her, but he had fallen asleep at the desk with his face pressed against his forearms and brows tightly scrunched up in a line. His white hair was a bit messy compared to how it normally appeared, pressed down and carefully tailored just like the rest of his outfit.

Had he come here in the dead of night wanting to check on her only to realize that she had already fallen asleep? He didn't tuck her back into bed, rather, he just given her his coat and then…

Perhaps he wanted to make sure she was alright and fell asleep himself without him realizing it. The thought made Lila want to laugh a little bit because if that was the case it meant that the two of them were more alike than she had thought prior and they really needed to get some actual rest in bed instead of these compromising positions that couldn't be good for their respective backs.

It was early spring but there was still a bit of frost in the inside air, enough to make Lila shiver a little and mindlessly tug on Ray’s jacket. She sank her arms into the sleeves and gave it a little sniff. For some reason, Ray always had the heavy scent of earthy flowers. His coat smelled of a combination of lavender and gardenia, mainly the prior as far as she could note the subtle hints.

For some reason, the cogs in her brain had always sort of assumed that he, if not everyone of Mint Eye would have the strong and overwhelming scent of raw peppermint bark.

It wasn't entirely wrong as Rika had used that as one of the many stimulants in her chambers; But, Ray was different from her, and even if he hadn't picked out these clothes himself to wear, as he had mentioned that the Savior had been the one to guide his dressing choices; She would find the individuality and personal touch that Ray had, even if the choice was as small as the cologne he was wearing.

It reminded her that Ray was still his own person, and that made her smile just a bit.

For as tiny as Ray appeared to be and as starved as he seemed, his clothes still managed to swallow her up and cover most of her torso and a good portion of her thighs.

Rising from the window pane and brushing the tips of her toes against the cold ground, her socks glided across the floor as she walked the short feet over to where Ray was.

The way he was juxtaposed seemed as though he had been looking at her, or around her before he unwittingly had hit the hay. He had seemed worried when she mentioned to him that she had insomnia and it was very hard to sleep even in this nice room he had painstakingly made for her to use. It wasn't a big deal to her because it had always been that way but still, the hacker was obviously bothered by her struggles.

She stood in front of him and nervously reached forwards to brush her fingertips to the top of his head. Ray didn't stir from his sleep but he didn't cower at the gesture as her gut assumed. It was surprisingly soft to the touch in spite of his incessant use of bleach to keep it from turning back to its natural shade of red.

“Thank you for checking on me, Ray,” she murmured, gently. “I'm glad you watched over me while I slept. I hope I can do the same for you someday.”

It was still very early in the morning and getting a little bit more sleep wouldn't do either of them any harm. Perhaps it would be better if they both used an actual bed for once instead of this. It was going to be a bit of a challenge but she determinedly carted him from his seat back over the bed after bracing herself and moved him the two feet from point A to point B. He didn't stir from that either, his chest simply rose and fell in time with his heartbeat.

*Went to go take some pictures for a client. Be right back.  Don’t eat everything :p