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!"
Having zero comprehension of what Rabbit was saying, when the slightly shorter youth addressed the elf again and then slid under his arm, the wizard at first thought that he was looking for a hug.? Remembering his social cues and training, he was just about to too, getting ready to reach around, when the other indicated towards the door of the bath and made a motion for them both to start walking together.? He felt his cheeks grow hot at the misunderstanding, instead reaching back up to scratch his cheek instead, as they left the hot, steamy room.? As they slowly made their way back, the elf now realized why Rabbit clung to him at that moment.? He wasn't sure if it was exhaustion or too much steam, but his head was spinning a bit and he was still unsteady on his feet, so that fact that Rabbit acted as his support was very welcome.
As they walked back to the room, Roue didn't pay so much attention to what Rabbit was saying but as to how he was saying it.? Lowering his head a bit, he trained his ears to listen to the inflections in his tone as his eyes focused on how his lips moved.? Though the words sounded like gibberish to him, he was still trying to wordlessly mimic the way the other man was spoke, in a weird sort of way of trying to make a connection, any connection, to the strange language he was hearing.? He didn't even realize how much he was staring until Rabbit suddenly looked up at him, his look a bit softer than he expected, immediately looking away, cheeks rising in color.? He had to stop that - staring was rude.? It's something he was taught from a very early age, but he couldn't help it.? Roue had to keep telling himself that it was nothing else...that there was nothing else except the desire to understand each other.
Once they got back inside the room, Rabbit helped the wizard to the bed, but then started motioning for something.? It wasn't until he produced some coins that Roue understood what he was asking for.? Taking the money pouch out, he unfastened the top and stretched his hands out, welcoming the other to take whatever and however much he needed.? He half expected that the lot of it would be gone but his expression changed to one of a surprise when Rabbit only took out a few medallions all of which were of a small value.? The wizard questioned why he would take so little but Rabbit simply waved him away, showing that this was enough, at least for now.? Pulling the string taught and tying them into a knot, Roue re-fastened the top and then shoved the pouch back under the pillow.? When he looked back, the other man indicated that it was now okay to undress and head to bed, so he proceed to do so as instructed.
The elf started by kicking off his shoes, using his heels to hold the soles down so he could pull out his feet.? Placing the pair of boots onto the bedside bench, he then stood up and hooked his fingers into his pant waist.? Unlike the wizarding outfit which required one to wiggle out of them almost like a worm, there was no such struggle as Roue easily slipped out of the pants and neatly folded them on top of the shoes.? The shame of having previously discarded his clothing like a ne'er-do-well floated up to the forefront of his mind so he wanted to make sure that he didn't do something so uncouth again, so when he slipped the shirt off, it too went neatly on top of the rest of the pile.? Once he was clad in nothing but his underwear, Roue promptly jumped into bed, pulling the comforter right up to his neck and then cocooning himself by piling the rest of the blankets around him.? The bedding was so soft he felt as if he was surrounded by clouds, and all the better, as at this point he was just about ready to drop into la-la land.
"<Thank you, Rabbit>," Roue said, turning his head to face him.? The young man said something back, eliciting a small chuckle as he smiled, though he knew not what was said.? Once Rabbit made sure that Roue was all set, however, he turned around and left, leaving the elf all to himself.? Now that he was along with his thoughts, Roue thought back to the entire day's events.? He had not expected this kindness nor this level of service after having been on the run for so long.? How long was this going to last, he wondered, I'm going to have to leave sooner or later.? He suddenly felt like he did not want to be alone, that he did want some kind of companionship, but it was too late to call the other back.? It would probably be super awkward anyway, he reasoned, seeing as they just met and barely even knew each other.? He pulled the covers closer to him as he laid in the dark for a little while, waiting for sleep to claim him.? It didn't take long and soon he was deeply sleeping, the exhaustion and stress finally claiming him.
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