Dark scoffed, “You assume I don’t try to understand her already?” He whispers, trying to make sure he let Shop sleep a bit. “But, you ARE right anon, this has been quite the learning experience...” 

The next morning, Shop wakes up to the smell of a home cooked breakfast, Dark waiting for her so they can talk over food, the events that had transpired.

After which, the two set off back home, Shop, for once, not looking back. She knew it would still be there when she needed, and she had a hunch that lead her to believe that Dark, and by extension, she, needed to go back to the manor to get back to their normal, not so normal life.

“I guess we just... wait.” Shop said with a lethargic yawn. Why was she feeling so tired? Maybe she didn’t get enough sleep, not like she had a normal sleeping schedule or anything. 

Still, time to get the ball rolling, she thought to herself, taking Dark with her through her day, and playing catch up with this place she called home, which seemed to simply exist the way it had when she was last there, not that she thought much on it.

Settling in for another night, Shop was restless, her mind running a million miles per hour. One glance to the little doll on her dresser waving her to sleep though, and she smiled and turned in for the night.

Unfortunately for her, it was not a peaceful rest.

Obviously, being a toy meant he didn’t need sleep, and Shop has left a light on in the room to illuminate it in an amber glow. At first, she just shuffled around, which wasn’t much cause for alarm to him; he knew Shop couldn’t sit still, even in sleep, but what caught his attention was the mumbling that came from her.

She was having a nightmare.

At the same time, the cat that had been on the bed with Shop hopped down to the ground, being understandably disgruntled with his sleeping spot being compromised. One look at this yarn based creature though, and the cat was jumping up to stare Dark down.

The doll looked up as frightfully as he could manage, not enjoying the whisker investigation while trying to keep an eye on Shop, who was now seemingly still. This moment of silence also spelt doom for Dark however, when he felt a dainty jaw clamp down on him like the inanimate object that he was, the cat jumping down and back onto the bed, deeming the warm body a good enough spot again before curling up with Dark, who managed to wriggle and punch his way out of the maw. Now propped against the mountainous Shop, he could feel how she quivered, and decided to crawl his way up to her face in some silent, vain attempt to comfort her as the cat beside her watched on, curious.

He placed a yarn hand on the tip of her nose, feeling every tension in this small part of her that normally went by unnoticed by him. It was almost... humbling to have this moment to reflect on what this person meant to him, despite all the bickering and disagreements. This one had faced so much, and even her sleeping can’t always give her an escape... 

The whole situation was fascinating, and what was more so interesting was that fact that he could now start to feel how cold Shop’s nose was under his hand. Throwing his brows up in surprise, he blinked for the first time in what felt like forever.

The spell was wearing off! And he still had no control over his legs. A shame, but luckily Dark wasn’t so much worried about that as he was worried about turning back and shoving into Shop, so he dragged himself to the edge of the bed and did his best to slide down, more and more feeling returning as he turned back to his normal form, albeit without his signature glow and rather unnatural height as he partly tumbled to the ground, scaring the poor cat into running out the room as Shop shot up in a cold sweat, shaking like a leaf as she stared head on into nothingness.

“Hey, hey, calm down, it’s ok, you’re alright.” Dark cleared his throat and spoke as he got to his knees, being level with the bed as Shop whipped her gaze aggressively into his, panting as she looked to the dresser and back down to him, whimpering a small bit; he got the hint.

“No, no you’re not dreaming anymore, I’m back, er... mostly...” He gestured to himself as he glanced down as his rather pristine outfit. “I don’t suppose you had anything to do with this?...” He chuckled to himself, not expecting a response.

"Oh goodness, I'll have to make sure that doesn't happen to him-"

Shop commented as she gently shooed the cat away and scooped up Dark, yawning while stretching with her free arm.