Bedfires and Lunatics...

[Piper Wren]

Piper stirred from her still unrestful sleep to the vague smell of smoke...jeez when did her dreams become this weird? Her half asleep state didn't quite register that she wasn't dreaming, she really could smell smoke! Suddenly wide awake, Piper leapt up from the bed and tripped over part of her quilt that was trailing on the floor. Alex again...the little sod! The oh so flammable covers of his bed were once again in flames albeit small ones and the culprit was nowhere to be seen! She dashed to the sink and filled two cups full of water before dumping them onto the duvet. The flames were now just black singe marks and glowing embers, Piper sighed in relief...living in a dorm with a pyro was not good for her blood pressure. After tonight she really didn't want to stay in here, she needed some place quiet where no one was going to set fire to things. The young woman ambled back over to her own bed, picking up a pillow under her arm and struggling slightly with the quilt, making sure she didn't trip over it again.

"Bedfires...bloody lunatics."

For a moment Piper considered going to stay in Kristopher and Augusta's room, then reconsidered that perhaps if she wanted peace and quiet that staying with them wouldn't be an intelligent plan. Perhaps Elric wouldn't mind if she slept on the floor in there, it would be infinetly more calming then dealing with a pyromaniac. Piper left her bedroom and crossed over to Elric's, grumbling all the while. There was a slight pause before she knocked on his door, he probably wasn't anticipating a slightly rumpled Piper and not up to her neck in fabric, the bruises on her skin almost completely faded but ghosts of them were still there.

'Hopefully he won't think I'm mad...'

[Elric Vlarintos]

A knock in the night and no response at first. Elric had been laying in bed between dreams and consciousness. It was a weird sort of state to be in; the shadows were phantasms drifting through the night and the hushed sounds were the sirens' cries luring him into the world of slumber. At first he thought he imagined the knocking and he waited for a moment. The moment passed and he grunted as he forced himself to sit upward in bed.

With a turn of his head he looked to the door. It seemed a harrowing journey at this hour, but he chose to advance. His movements were sluggish, but the rhythmic sound of the legs of his jeans scraping against one another kept him going. His hand reached forward and touched the cool brass door handle, and with a turn and a pull he opened the door.

Piper was on the other side and Elric startled a bit more awake. He suddenly became aware that he wasn't wearing much, just the jeans. She could get a full view of his chest and the scars of the years that had worn down on him. Lots of his previous injuries had healed without leaving marks, but a few of them had not been so kind and left ugly marks. He was most self-conscious about the burn just below his left shoulder, but maybe she wouldn't take note of it.

"Something up?" he managed to mumble in a voice that did not sound entirely unwelcoming.

[Piper Wren]

Piper should have really been expecting Elric to look more...dressed down that usual, after all. It was the middle of the night after all but she still found herself feeling awkward at the sight of her friend in just his jeans. The scars on his torso drew her eyes, where could he have gotten those? At the time they must have hurt terribly. Then she realised that standing there and gawking at him must have made her look like she came to stare, the young woman coughed awkwardly and she felt her face flush. Not her proudest moment...Piper gave herself a second to collect her thoughts before speaking, at least Elric was half asleep and not fully functioning anyway.

"Sorry for the intrusion but there's only so much of pyromaniacs starting bedfires that I can take...I was hoping to um, use your floor if that isn't too much of a problem."

She must have looked a little silly, standing there in her camisole and too big cotton pants holding a quilt and pillow but at the present time she would prefer to look like an idiot rather than wake up with another bed on fire. When Piper finally brought it upon herself to look Elric in the face again she noticed the burn mark near his shoulder, it looked like a fresh wound as well. What had happened? Had something gone on again with the Ezel's like the last time he kept it from her?

"I mean, erm, I can go somewhere else..."

[Elric Vlarintos]

She was staring at him and Elric became very self conscious. His toes curled up as though they were trying to grasp at something before he let go again. It had not crossed his mind that she was terribly rude to stare, though he wished that he had covered himself with a blanket now. Then again, Piper wasn't wearing much either. This was the first time he had ever seen her without sleeves. She was very slender.

When answers finally came to his question Elric found himself unable to make any sense of it. Had someone set fire to the other wing again? No, it was still far too calm and quiet for that. "Bed on fire?" he asked, as though to make sure he had heard her correctly. It seemed wild and far out there. Then again, he supposed weirder things had happened before. After all, books had teeth and plants had appetites here.

He stepped to the side and swung his arm out indicating that Piper could come in. "No, I'm not going to make you walk any further. You take the bed though." Chivalry was a bit old fashioned, but his father had been certain to beat it into him. Some people found it charming, others found it terribly annoying. It didn't really matter now whether or not Piper took his offer, he was sleeping on the floor.

"At least it isn't an emergency," he offered with a slight smirk. Getting stirred from his dreams to deal with a nightmare reality was never fun.

[Piper Wren]

"Bed on fire?"

Yes, Elric wasn't going mad, Piper had said 'Bed on fire'. It sounded about was ludicrous to her as well but that was the joy of sharing a dorm with Alex the pyromaniac. Piper was just lucky it wasn't her bed that was on fire but staying in there for the night was doing nothing for her stress levels. She simply nodded in return to Elric's statement with a deep sigh, hitching the quilt up again to stop it trailing along the floor.

"Yes...I share a room with a lunatic and pyro, need I say more?"

No, I'm not going to make you walk any further. You take the bed though...At least it isn't an emergency,"

Piper looked awkward in response to Elric's smirk but entered the room none the less, she knew she could trust Elric and at least there would be no loud 'goings on' like there would mostly be in Kristopher and Augusta's room...Although she shook her head at Elric's offer of taking the bed, she didn't want her friend to feel put out by her, it was his bed after all! Piper laid out her quilt and pillow on the floor and sat down cross legged, looking up at Elric.

"I'll be fine, really, I'm not going to throw you out of your bed, I'll be perfectly ok on the floor."

[Elric Vlarintos]

Piper shared the bedroom with a lunatic and a pyro? Right now his mind was still groggy enough to accept that at face value without really evaluating it. Said room mate set something on fire and created enough of a ruckus that she did not care to sleep in her own room. It was an absolutely logical train of thought and was terribly easy to follow.

Moving over to his bed Elric pulled the blankets off and laid them on the floor. All save for one which he wrapped around his torso. He looked at Piper, a little incredulous that she would refuse the offer of the bed.

"Please don't make a big deal of it. Just take the bed. I'll be fine on the floor. It isn't like you're really throwing me out of the bed." He might have just been able to take the bed and leave well enough alone, but that really wasn't the type of person Elric was. He wanted to do well for other people, even if they didn't really agree with the way he tended to do it.

[Piper Wren]

"Please don't make a big deal of it. Just take the bed. I'll be fine on the floor. It isn't like you're really throwing me out of the bed."

Piper knew she wasn't throwing him out of the bed but she felt bad about Elric sleeping on the floor while she took the bed, so to cut a long story short...she wasn't going anywhere, it wouldn't be fair on Elric. The young woman got beneath her own blanket and stubbornly stayed where she was, she wasn't going to make a big deal out of it, the deal was Elric stayed in his bed, she got the floor, simple.

"I'm not making a big deal out of it, I may still be...well, you know, a little sore but I'm not too delicate to sleep on the floor. Take the bed."

As if trying to put an end to the conversation Piper laid down and put one arm underneath the pillow, shifting a little to make herself comfortable-ish. Trying not to put too much pressure on her still slightly tender ribs which were taking the longest to heal out of her run in with Iugo several weeks before...but she couldn't get comfortable in her own bed either really, the mattress was old and had lumps no matter how much you tried to beat them down...at least the floor didn't have various lumps and bumps.

[Elric Vlarintos]

Elric shut his eyes as he brought his hand up to his face and pinched the top of his nose. Clearly this wasn't going anywhere, but he wasn't going to surrender the point to her now. If she wanted to sleep on the floor, it was fine by him. But he refused to use the bed now. He pulled his pillow off of the bed and laid it on the floor as well before taking a seat in the mess of blankets.

"If you want to sleep on the floor, fine. But it doesn't matter what you say or do, I will be sleeping on the floor whether you like it or not." Laying down he hoped that he made his point perfectly clear. If Piper still didn't take the bed, he guessed that they'd both be sharing the floor. Now it seemed like a shame to leave the bed unused, but it was far too late to take back what had been said.

Floors weren't that bad for sleeping, so long as you took appropriate care not to sleep directly on the floor. Wood and carpeting were both lousy materials to lay on for extended periods of time, which is why Elric would wrap himself in the blankets when given a chance. Also, a floor provided a much firmer surface to sleep on than most beds. Elric had been on beds that were less comfortable than the floor before, as sorry as he was to admit that to himself.

He looked over at Piper and watched her carefully and quietly. He wanted to see if she really looked comfortable, as though he were looking for something to prove his point.

[Piper Wren]

"If you want to sleep on the floor, fine. But it doesn't matter what you say or do, I will be sleeping on the floor whether you like it or not."

Piper had never known Elric was this stubborn, that behaviour had never come through before...not a lot she could do really, it seemed that now they would be sharing the floor for tonight. She could feel Elric's gaze on her whilst she shifted to get comfortable, gritting her teeth as she jarred her ribs in the wrong place. That hurt...she shifted to face Elric, the blanket pulled up to her shoulders. She never really shared this kind of closeness with anyone else...unless you could count Alex getting into bed with her after setting fire to his own and promptly causing Piper a near panic attack. Right now she wasn't on the verge of panic or nausea from someone getting too close.

"I never knew you were so stubborn."

That was a bit rich coming from Piper at the moment though...this whole scenario was starting to remind her of camping when she was a kid, except this was indoors...and no tent. She carefully propped her head up on her hand, leaning her weight on her elbow as she looked over at Elric.

"And I'm fine, a little sore but fine."

[Elric Vlarintos]

She looked like she was still sore from whatever beating she had gotten before and it made Elric feel very sad to see her like that. She really should have just taken the bed instead of staying on the floor, but Elric did not make any comment about it. They'd be sharing the floor tonight and they might as well make the most of it.

A comment about his stubbornness seemed to set Elric's face into a frown. He supposed she was right, he was very stubborn when it came to some things. Nothing she said or did would make him get back into that bed tonight, and he was fine with it. "Sometimes it's a necessary trait," he finally said with only a slight hint of negative attitude about his speech.

"I'm sorry that you're still sore. At least you're mostly better now though." Elric nodded to himself as he rolled onto his back and stared up towards the ceiling for a bit. He shut his groggy eyes, but a thousand new thoughts seemed to be running through his head. A few of them were more odd than others, but a lot of them were related to his conversation with Kris the other evening. "Do you think I have a nice ass?" he asked without really thinking about it. It seemed like an odd question, but who else would he really ask about such a thing?

[Piper Wren]

"Sometimes it's a necessary trait, I'm sorry that you're still sore. At least you're mostly better now though."

Piper noticed Elric's frown, he obviously didn't approve of having that trait pointed out even if it was glaring her in the face...perhaps she shouldn't bring that up again. Once Elric laid onto his back and closed his eyes, Piper was under the impression that the conversation was over...well, she had woken him up in the middle of the night after all. After a moment she curled up under her blanket again and closed her eyes, at least here no one was going to set any beds on fire or do anything to send her blood pressure through the roof.

"Do you think I have a nice ass?"

Alright, let's scratch the previous statement...Piper sat up as if someone had given her a mild electric shock, her pale complexion quickly turning dark pink. What kind of question what THAT?! She coughed awkwardly, how was she supposed to answer that? What if it came out wrong and it sounded like she had been checking him out...

"Well, erm, er....I've never really taken the time to..erm...form an opinion on that, why do you ask?"

[Elric Vlarintos]

It felt awkward for a moment and judging from Piper's violent response he had just applied some kind of jump start to her nerves, which apparently had just been relaxing. Her blood pressure must now, in fact, be through the roof. Elric rolled over slightly, but was unable to really make out how bright her face had turned. She had a pale complexion like him, so she often ran into the same problem about hiding when she blushed. Elric gave her the benefit of the doubt and did not look that hard to see if she was blushing or not.

She had never formed an opinion on his ass. That was a perfectly acceptable answer in Elric's mind. After all, it had only really been Kris who had commented on Elric's appearances and his ass in particular. It had been really odd hearing such compliments from a man he barely knew, so maybe he had just wanted to see if there was any independent or objective truth to the boy's opinions.

"I met Kristopher out and about the other day. He said some things and got me thinking about them. In particular, he commented my looks and my ass. I needed to get it off of my mind." That conversation with Kris did bring up a lot of interesting questions and concerns in Elric's mind. Truth be told, it would probably complicate things far more than he would like to ask Piper about everything Kris said that evoked his thoughts. Maybe he'd just settle for this.

"It's a pretty awkward thing to say to someone."

[Piper Wren]

"I met Kristopher out and about the other day. He said some things and got me thinking about them. In particular, he commented my looks and my ass. I needed to get it off of my mind."

Piper sighed and relaxed slightly...she should have known Kristopher would be behind putting such a thought in Elric's head. If it had been an unprovoked question Piper may have considered the possibility of Elric having a strange twin that he may have forgotten to mention to her. At least she could hunt down Kristopher and have a 'discussion' with him about not perverting Elric's mind. As much as she loved Kris and Augy, she didn't want to hear the intimate details of their sex life. The thought of it made her feel nervous and sick even now, without really thinking about it, Piper rubbed her bare arms as if she were cold but in truth she was trying to smooth away the ghosts of unwanted hands on her skin. At least the dark pink blush on her face had faded, attempting to relax she laid back down before speaking.

"I should have guessed that Kristopher would be the source of that comment, you just took me by surprise..."

She pushed her dark hair away from her still slightly flushed face and stared up at the cracked ceiling, as if she were contemplating that rather than her own thoughts. The subjects that Elric was stepping upon was not something she ever really discussed with anyone. Piper didn't pick and choose her friends by their appearence, she only thought about her own enough so that she looked clean and presentable.

"Most of the time I just tr-don't think about that much."

[Elric Vlarintos]

Kristopher was the source of that thought, and behind much more mischief. The other mischief, however, Elric would not breach in a conversation with Piper. Those were topics that Elric felt largely uncomfortable talking about--especially when they involved him. Good matchmaking took more than just pointing at two people and saying that they looked good together. Piper was cute, but distant most times. Her response to that question, instead of giving him any kind of reaffirmation of what Kristopher suggested, just told him that she'd rather not think about such things.

He was fine with that.

"Acceptable answer. It's really odd having a guy comment on my features, though. Kristopher's an odd one, but a good kid. If he grabs it while I'm not looking though..." Elric trailed off and chuckled at the idea. He wasn't actually certain what he'd do to the kid if he had the audacity to pull it off. At the very least he'd let him know it was unacceptable. Thinking about that he pondered a few other things that were mentioned not in relation to him.

"He's in a relationship. Is that doing all right?" Elric disliked listening to rumors, but he had more or less heard it from the horse's mouth this time, and Piper was his friend. Maybe she knew more details about it than Elric had felt comfortable asking Kris.

[Piper Wren]

"Acceptable answer. It's really odd having a guy comment on my features, though. Kristopher's an odd one, but a good kid. If he grabs it while I'm not looking though...He's in a relationship. Is that doing all right?"

Well the concept of men being attracted to other men was not alien to anyone in Wonderland, very few of it's residents both human and boogies seemed to confine themselves in that respect...Elric either hadn't grasped that yet or the whole idea still weirded him out a little, Piper wasn't quite sure which. She fidgited awkwardly, pondering her response while pulling her quilt over her shoulders and shivering. Summer was definetly over and the South Wing got more than a little chilled in the winter months.

"Well...Kris and Augy's relationship has been a little...off track lately. They've never been a very stable couple to say the least, I've been stuck in the middle of it more than once, both of them tend to come to me and hope I can make it better. How am I supposed to do that if I can't-I mean, nevermind."

Piper stayed quiet for a moment after that, as far as she knew Elric still knew nothing about the messy side of things. The very same thing which made her skin crawl at the thought of being touched even nearly a year after the event.

"Kris needs someone to love him, it's just how he is..."