[Roue]

Roue was fast asleep, his chest rising and falling evenly with his breaths.? There were no nightmares this time but no dreams either.? Subconsciously, it was as if he was just floating out in the middle of dark space, cradled by a grayish sort of liquid that cushioned his body.? Though the bench didn't quite have enough space to really be sleeping on one, he managed to somehow balance himself on it when he decided to turn to his side, slipping his hand under the towel to provide some additional support.? This action caused him to breathe out heavily though he did not wake.

The wizard didn't even stir when Rabbit decided to move in for a closer inspection.? Despite his ears listening for any unnatural external noises, there were none except for the gentle splashing of the water in the bath, so if that didn't wake him up, then Rabbit's more than silent movements certainly would not have disturbed him either.? Even when the other was just about hovering over him, the youthful elf gave no indication that he had sensed anything at all.? The only thing he did when he shifted again was hug himself tightly, subconsciously seeking physical comfort that he has been missing all these years.

It wasn't till Rabbit suddenly cried out that Roue was startled awake.? In his half-asleep stupor, he thought he was being attacked and kicked forward with his legs, his feet alighting with the floor and instead of actually kicking anything, he pushed himself backwards and promptly fell off the bench, legs danging over the top.? His back hit the floor first followed by his head, first knocking the wind out of him and at the same time causing him to cry out as his skull collided with the tile.? Curling up into a ball, he cradled his head in his arms as he waited for the stars to subside in his eyes.? Once the pounding had dulled into a small ache, he propped himself up with his hand and turned around to see Rabbit close by him, his heels teetering on the edge of the pool.

"<Rabbit?? Wh-what happened?? Were we being attacked?>" Roue asked, rubbing the back of his back with his right hand.? "<Are you okay?? when did you come back?>"? He hoped that despite their lack of verbal understanding, that the other could feel the inflections in his tone.? Swiveling his head, he noticed no one else in the bathroom except for himself and his host.? Placing one hand on his chest, he breathed out a sigh of relief which inveritably turned into a deep yawn that he tried to stifle with his arm.? Though he'd just woken up, his body was calling for more rest, preferably not on the bench and not in the steamy room either.? Using the back of the bench as support, he stood up, dusting himself off and then widely stretched out his arms, shutting his eyes as another yawn found its way out his mouth.? Tears appeared to moisten his eyes as he looked back at Rabbit, something that was a common occurrence for the elf when he was especially exhausted.

"<I think I want to go back to the room,>" he said, making the motions of sleep by tilting his head and putting both his hands under it.? He hoped that Rabbit understood that, since he seems to have looked like he did when Roue first showed him what he wanted to do.? "<So tired...>" he mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

(Rabbit)

Rabbit could make out his name in what Roue was saying but nothing else. The man seemed startled at first - probably because he was waking up in an unfamiliar place - but quickly calmed down once he'd looked around a bit.? He was still apparently very tired though, yawning and looking ready to fall right back to sleep again, even as he was making gestures that made it clear that that was what he was wanting. ?

"Uhm, okay," Rabbit said, looking around the bath for a moment before turning back to Roue.? "But you can't, uhm, you know, s-sleep in here.? This particular bath is pretty p-popular, and there'll be other people wantin' to use it. Let's get you back to the private room you were in, okay?"? The little vampire helped the stranger get to his feet and then slipped his shoulder's under the man's arm to help keep him steady as they left the Roman bath.

"We r-really need to get you an account set up, Mister Roue," Rabbit said as they headed around the fringes of the main club room to where the private room they'd been using was.? Especially if'n you're gonna, you know, b-be here for a while. I mean, I'd be more'n happy to let you stay in my room..." he said, chewing his lip pensively as he glanced up at the elf's handsome face, adding a wistful "... and in my, uhm, b-bed, if'n you like.? But I cain' do that 'cause of the, uhm, you know, r-rules here 'n all. Leastwise not until you can, you know, understand me 'n all."

When they finally reached the private room, Rabbit helped the sleepy Roue over to the edge of the bed, then stood in front of him.? "You can sleep here, Mister Roue. But I need to go and, uhm, let the management know that you're gonna be usin' the room for a while.? And since you ain' a, uhm, you know, Dionysus m-member, I need to get you some, uh, c-credit."? The little vampire fidgeted awkwardly, trying to mime gestures of the pouch Roue had shown him before.? Finally he dug into his pocket and brought out a few coins and showed them to Roue, then gave the elf a questioning look.? When Roue got it and brought out his pouch, Rabbit picked three of the smaller coins, trying to get one of each kind, then pushed the rest of the pouch back into Roue's hands.? "I just n-need these," he said, slipping them into his pocket, "to show 'em you've got money, even if'n I got no idea wh-where these're from.? I'll bring 'em back when I'm done, okay?"

"Meanwhile, you can just, uhm, get some sleep while I'm gone, okay?"? Rabbit copied Roue's earlier mime about sleeping and nodded at the bed.? The little vampire hesitated, then said "Uhm, you should p-probably take your clothes off before you sleep though. At least your shirt 'n p-pants?" He mimed taking those garments off and hanging them up.? "You know, so's you can still wear 'em when you wake up?" The little vampire couldn't help giggling impishly a bit when he added "Of course, ifn' you wanna take _everythin'_ off, I wouldn' mind that either." ?

You shouldn' be flirtin' like that, Rabbit chided himself, recovering his self-control.? Not till he can understand you anyways.? "Anyways, you go ahead and I'll be b-back and check on you in a few hours, okay?"? With that, he quietly slipped out of the room and left the stranger alone.

---

"Where did you get these, Rabbit?" Antonin asked, eyeing the coins curiously through a jeweler's eyepiece.

"From a, uhm, g-guest," the little vampire replied. At the man's questioning look, Rabbit became defensive.? "I didn' s-steal 'em!? You know I don' do n-none of that inside the club!"?

"I didn't say you did, kid," the cashier said, motioning for Rabbit to calm down.? "I was only asking."? Antonin was one of the few Dionysus staff members who could get away with calling the deceptively young-looking vampire a 'kid'.? No one except possibly the boss knew how old Antonin was, but from the stories the man would sometimes tell, he knew it was at least a couple of centuries.

"Well, uhm, the thing is," Rabbit began, biting his lip, "he kinda needs a place to stay, but he ain' a, uhm, you know, Dionysus member. So I wanna try'n, you know, s-set up some credit for him.? It's kinda tricky right now, 'cause he comes from somewhere where they don' seem to speak any language I've ever even heard in the club.? And we get f-folks from, you know, everywhere!"

"Yeah," Antonin said, nodding distractedly as he continued to examine the coins.? "We do. We do indeed."

"So," Rabbit said when the man finally looked up again.? "Are they worth anythin'?" he asked anxiously. "And can he stay?"?

"Oh, he can stay alright. I'll need to check these out, but if they're what I think they are, he can stay just as long as he wants."? The cashier removed his eyepiece and regarded the little vampire speculatively for a moment, as if pondering how much to tell him.? "I'll need to keep these for now," he said finally, "but you can tell your guest that his credit's good with the club. Okay?"

"S-sure thing!" Rabbit said, much relieved, relaxing for the first time since entering the cashier's room which overlooked the club's main floor.

"One thing though," the man cautioned, his dark-as-coal eyes fixing on Rabbit's to make sure he had the 'boy's attention. "I wouldn't go showing these around. Especially not in here. They could attract the wrong kind of attention."

"Oh. Uhm, s-sure thing," Rabbit said standing up again.? "I'll make sure he kn-knows that too.? And, uh, thanks, Antonin.? I owe you."

"Yes, yes you do," the cashier said with a wry glint in his eye. "But it can wait."? As the little vampire turned to leave, the cashier went back to his books, waving Rabbit away with a final admonishing "Remember, you're staff.? Be good!"

Tag - Roue