COMPLETED ~ Eldar X Rogue: CSI DC- There's a murderer on the loose...

This was all giving Lutis a right headache. They had gone from wandering after vague hopes of clues, to having so many they didn’t even know where to start. It was crazy, really, to try and think straight under such strange circumstances. They really needed to start in one place and go from there, but it was difficult to justify when, as Soneya had pointed out already, there might be another life on the line.
He groaned in frustration and bent to hit his head on the desk.
“Time t’give up, aye, for a few hours.” He pushed away the papers from his head, still lying down on the desk, and half-hoping he wouldn’t suddenly spot something even more useful or interesting in the packet. Alas, another, more pressing question popped into Lutis’ head. He observed it like it was a wild thing, deemed it no good, and spoke anyway.
“You gonna kick me out then, or what?” It wasn’t like he had a plush inn room of his own; a wonderfully cold and hard rooftop crevice awaited him, if he could manage to find where he had slept the night before again in the dark. Not very inviting, when there was a nice soft bed sitting across from him, with an even softer (although perhaps not as nice-a) bedmate sitting nearby. He lifted his head from the hard wood of the table and looked at her hopefully, hoping that she would go for his puppy-face more than she had his preying one earlier.

Who was he kidding, she’d never let him stay. It was always worth a shot though. Now he almost half-regretted that he had agreed to stopping their fruitless thinking over their mystery, when it meant he’d have to get kicked out into the cold again.
“Wotcher say, then?”

It was true. She had spoken before properly thinking things over, once again. It was nothing new and it had gotten her into trouble more often than once but generally it was only the pissing people off kind of trouble because she spoke her mind a little too freely at times – alright, most of the time – not this kind of trouble.

Soneya looked at Lutis, shock on her face, when he asked her if she was going to kick him out. Why would she kick him out?! She might not have acted like the nicest person on earth towards him but when had she ever mentioned that she would be this heartless and kick him out when the nights were not all that warm these days?

Then her eyes strayed over to the bed, the not very large bed, and stayed there. Ah. That would be why. Well that put them in a bit of a pickle.
When she looked back at him, she caught his lock and merely glared at him. Puppy eyes were not going to work on her. But when he looked resigned all of a sudden, she melted. Not that the puppy eyes had taken effect after all, but he honestly seemed convinced that she was going to kick him out.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not going to kick you out. If you have nowhere to stay, you’re welcome to stay here. But I’m warning you, the pillow is mine!”

But how were they going to do this? Were they really going to sleep in one bed together? It was small. They would have to lie very close together. She didn’t mind as such; it had been a while since she hadn’t woken up alone and all of a sudden that thought more than anything else convinced her that she really would not kick Lutis out now.

“How about some sleep then? It’ll do us both good,” she said, forcing herself out of the chair and moving towards the bed. “It’ll be a squeeze but there should be enough space.”

In the end, she didn’t care. She may not know Lutis all that well, may not even like him all that much, but not being on her own after what they had just been through was worth more than the satisfaction of kicking him out. She didn’t want to wake up alone tomorrow, especially not after everything that had happened.

Soneya looked quite shocked indeed by Lutis’ words; yeah, he was sleeping outside. That was a shame, because he was rather getting used to being warm. He saw the look on her face as she realised what it meant to let him stay- why would she ever let him stay? They had only known each other for a day anyway, anything other was ludicrous.
Don’t be ridiculous. Apparently Lutis had been hoping a little bit, because he felt disappointed now. That was foolish. He should have just known that…
“What? You’re screwin’ with me.” No, no she wasn’t being serious. He sat back in his chair and looked at her with slight confusion, slight concern and a fairly big portion of suspicion. “You don’t like me though. Why’d you do a nice thing like that?” She was almost jovial, joking along! This was a crazy turn of events- but as his mind jogged to catch up with what he had just heard, a very, very pleasant one.
“Well, then… Pillow’s yours. Not saying the same about the blankets though.” Oh man, he’d struck gold and silver. He rose from his chair too, unfolding himself from where he’d draped his coat over his front to keep warm underneath, and hastily pulled his boots off with a series of hops before Soneya could change her mind. The floorboards were cold against his bare toes, and he hotfooted it after the mage towards the little bed.
“Oh, I don’t think a squeeze is much problem. We’ll jus’ have to cuddle up close.” What a terrible shame.

He had all sorts of comments he wanted to make, but decided that it was probably best to restrain himself for at least a little while, if only so that Soneya didn’t change her mind. It was one thing kicking him out when he was wandering round her room, but quite another when he was snuggled close in her bed. Before she could change her mind, he pulled back the covers and (now, a little more awkwardly), climbed under.
They really were just strangers, yet this… it was all a weird situation.

It wasn’t until she observed Lutis – from the corners of her eyes only of course – slip under the covers of the bed that she realised just how very awkward all of this could become. Why had she done this? He was right – why? He had been right to be suspicious. And she should have just kicked him out. But really, could she have done it? No matter how annoying he was – and he really was an expert at it – could she really just have kicked him out? No, her conscience wouldn’t have allowed it.
Sighing, she turned away from pulling off her own footwear and simply made her peace with the thought that she would just have to rip him apart the next day for all the kindness she was showing him tonight.

“Well...,” she started when she saw him huddled under the covers. “Maybe we could strike a deal after all? Half the pillow, half the covers? I mean if we practically have to cuddle anyway...” She trailed off when she realised how much this had sounded like a proposition and felt her cheeks grow hot. Stupid, stupid, stupid. That had not at all been what she had meant! It was all his fault! He had started this! With his nonsense cuddle comment.

Angry at herself, she didn’t wait for a reply but merely lifted up the covers on her side of the bed and slipped under, whether he was going to protest or not. The pillow was already positioned in the middle of the mattress anyway, so maybe they could just somehow...
‘Oh whatever, just go to sleep, Soneya,’ she scolded herself. Yet somehow that wasn’t so easy anymore when she suddenly noticed just how very close they were when, evidently, their bodies touched.

Lutis wanted to watch as Soneya settled herself down, half out of interest and half out of remaining suspicion. He couldn't quite believe she was going through with this, but sure enough... What a bizarre day it had been, all in all. However, as she sorted herself out, it was just too weird, uncomfortably so.
He was even quite glad they had both opted for clothes-on. And that was not a Lutis sort of thought, at all. It was a bit of a different sort of situation they were in than normal however, when they were working together on this quest... mystery... thing. Wasn't really a quest.

He grinned widely at her words, seeing her cheeks colour. "Cosy. I think I can agree to that sort of deal." He was in her bed now, and he wasn't going to be extracted as easily any more. Mmm, it was warm and comfortable already, even as she clambered in awkwardly next to him.
"Well this ain't what I was expectin' from the day. Sleep well darlin', I'm sure I will." The cat-got-the-cream smile on his face didn't fade for one moment as he felt her brush against his front, watching her close face across the pillow. "Goodnight kiss, t'send you off to sleep?" Now he really was pushing the boundaries.

Goodnight kiss? Alright that was it, now he really was pushing it. But already her eyes were slipping closed, the comfort of the bed – despite Lutis’ closeness – starting to get to her. Mixed with the exhaustion of their overly crazy day, she wouldn’t be able to keep her eyes open much longer. However, she did manage to keep them open long enough to glare at him through half-lidded eyes.

“Don’t make me hit you where it hurts the most,” she grumbled but she didn’t move away. She was almost ashamed to admit that she hadn’t realised just how much she had missed being close to somebody else, if only for something as simple as a hug. But she wasn’t going to snuggle, no she wasn’t!

“I didn’t expect this either when I woke up this morning... yesterday...?” It had all somehow melted together and she felt like she hadn’t slept in a week, constantly running around and solving puzzles her brain couldn’t handle, but she thought it had only been a day. Honestly though, Soneya couldn’t be sure anymore.

“Sleep well, Lutis,” muttered the mage, before she finally drifted off to sleep, already much closer to the man in her bed than she would have liked hadn’t she been this tired. Or this lonely.

"It'd be worth it," Lutis hedged a bit further, but didn't really think he'd get anywhere with Soneya. She was already half asleep from the looks of it, despite his flirtatious words. He pulled on the covers and soaked up the warmth of them both. "You'll come round to me eventually Soneya." Just looking at her so sleepy made him tired, and he decided to call it quits for now.

==X==

Lutis was a heavy sleeper, and once he dropped off, that was it for the night. Sometimes he thought the fact a bit of a shame- the times when he had a pretty lass lying next to him, tonight, for example- but others, he was rather grateful for it. Kaionar was never the quietest place to live. So, when he was snuggled closely to Soneya despite her protests earlier, he was blissfully unaware; blissfully unaware of any noises downstairs in the inn. When their stolen book on the table started to shake and clatter around like it was possessed, not even a flicker of awareness. He was quite happily snoozing away, so much that he wasn't even dreaming.
The book shook from the scorpion-monster inside, strangely awoken despite it being the middle of the night, or perhaps the very early hours of the morning. The book had been as still and silent as any normal object since Lutis had managed to slam it shut, but now... certainly not.

Her dreams were a jumbled mess of symbols, floating dragon heads, annoying men and monsters emerging out of books. Nothing made sense and none of the images or emotions made Soneya feel in any way rested. Yet she didn’t wake up in between, but instead kept floating from nightmare to nightmare.

She had just arrived at a particularly nasty bit of monster that was clattering around in her dream when the mage suddenly woke with a start, unable to rid herself of the freakish impression that this wasn’t just a dream. Something pulled at her conscience and it was hard to ignore.

Sitting up in bed, she instinctively clasped for the covers to keep herself semi-warm as she glanced about the barely illuminated room. The sun hadn’t fully risen yet but a slim shiver was starting to show through the ornamental holes in the shutters.
It took her a moment to realise what was going on but when she did, she felt a wave of panic. Hadn’t she been sitting almost pressed against Lutis, she would have remedied it at that moment.
“Lutis!” she hissed, shaking the fairly unresponsive man. “Luuutiisssss!” The tone of her voice become more urgent with every time she had to repeat the name and her shaking became more frantic the longer it took for him to wake up.

She was already considering conjuring up some water to splash it into his face when she finally got a reaction out of the deep sleeper. She didn’t give him much of a chance to properly wake before she started pointing out the book and shrieking when it suddenly jumped off the table.
No! No, no, no no no no! It had not jumped. It had simply fallen off as it had been clattering around the table and had been close to the edge. It had been an accident, nothing more!
“Lutis! What is going on?!”

It was only when Soneya started to shake at Lutis' shoulder did he start to wake up, groaning in dislike and scrunching his face up against the covers. No, it was so warm and comfortable. Why did he have to wake up now?
"Whosahhh?" He rolled over onto his back and threw one arm over his eyes, trying to ignore Soneya, but that wasn't quite the easiest thing to do when she was making rather a lot of noise now. Disorientated, he had to remember who Soneya even was before looking up to pay attention to her, blearily wondering why she was making such a horrible racket, and also how he had ended up in her bed.
And he hadn't even been drinking. It was miraculous.
"Heyyy, that goodnight kiss." He grinned crookedly at her before squinting at her more. It wasn't her that was making all that noise. Huh. He would have sworn they had their own room... Oh jeeze, that better not have been a dream, and the noise other occupants getting it on...

It was with reluctance he looked to the rest of the room, then even more when it involved peering over the end of the bed to the floor... okay, phew. That possibility eradicated, he frowned as a book juddered around on the floor like some mad possessed thing, making a horrible noise all over again.
The scorpion! He looked back to Soneya again, much more aware this time, his eyes wide in disbelief underneath his scruffed-up hair.
"You didn't open it did you? It just started doing this?" He had been fast asleep; a warm bed was so much better than outside. Getting out of bed really wasn't inviting, but with the book doing what it was, they were going to get attention soon... he didn't really enjoy even thinking of trying to explain this to other sleep-deprived occupants of the inn. "Ah Guardians..."

“Of course I didn’t open it! I was here in bed with you!” Soneya replied angrily, not even noticing how that particular sentence might have sounded like. “I am not going to touch that thing anymore! Not after what happened the last time I merely pressed a few fingers against it.”

It had taken Lutis long enough to wake up and then he instantly thought she was the culprit? After obviously thinking about that goddamn goodnight kiss again! He was unbelievable! Why had she ever invited him up to her room? Why had she even let him stay the night? In her bed nonetheless? Now she had had to wake up with him next to her, instantly getting on her nerves! Argh, she should have just kicked him out while she had the chance! Or just not talked to him at all! She should have just left him to his own devices when they had been picked up by the law officers instead of managing to get her lot thrown in with his.

“We need to make it stop.” The question was though: how? She had no idea and she was pretty sure that Lutis didn’t have a clue either, though she didn’t want to jump to conclusions, not when it was the middle of the night and she could remain under the warm covers while he took care of the situation. “Do you have any brilliant ideas?”

Without waiting for an answer she began looking around the bed, around the room, in hopes of finding an answer to that question. Maybe something would jump out at her and she’d know what to do. But she couldn’t think of anything other than throwing some water over it but there was absolutely no guarantee that wouldn’t make the noise even worse. “Should we throw a blanket over it and wrap it up?”

The problem was though, there was only one blanket in the room and she was a little reluctant to give it up because then the only warmth left in that bed was that of the body next to her, and no matter how much she had wanted to feel another human’s proximity, she wasn’t so inclined at that moment. Lutis was annoying. She didn’t want to be snuggled up to him.

Lutis just looked at Soneya for the wording of her sentence, not even having to say anything. She really should learn to watch her words around him, because he would mercilessly turn those sorts of things against her for his amusement.
"Ahreet, ahreet. I was jus' checking." Ugh, she couldn't touch it, could she? That meant that he would have to be the one to forfeit their comfortable nest. Especially when it was being what was perhaps twice as loud as before, ugh, how horrible...
"No brilliant ideas at this time in t'morning darling. Except using the pillow as ear mufflers." The mattress was never as comfortable as a soft, downy pillow though, and if you were holding it over your head... well.

"I get the message, going, going." It was a struggle to drag himself out of bed despite the awful racket that the book was making, the air cold and the floor chilly against his bare toes. Picking the book off the floor, he could feel it shaking in his hands, the horrid noise it was making only seeming to grow louder. Not the nicest thing to be holding, he quickly put it back on the table and threw his coat over it, burying it under the folds.
Unfortunately, even that didn’t seem to actually do very much. Groaning, he pressed on the book to try and hold it down and make it stop, resulting in even more noise and even more fuss.
“Ughhh, this is not worth it. We can’t even use this damn thing.” He looked back towards Soneya, huddled in the bed, then towards the covered window. “Can we just chuck it outside? It’s not as if…”
Thoom.
The book jerked wildly under Lutis’ hands as the door juddered on its hinges, someone knocking very loudly the other side. Ooh, less than good now. It was somewhat inevitable, that there would be an upset other-customer of the inn along the way, but not so quickly. Lutis grimaced and looked to Soneya, shaking the book in his hands in a vain attempt to make it quieten down. It seemed to be even louder now- he hoped it wasn’t its master outside the door, come to collect the unhappy, screaming child.

Soneya almost, almost felt sorry for Lutis when she watched him hop over the certainly cold floor towards the book. She would have done it but she couldn’t touch the book – alright, no. She wouldn’t have done it as long as someone else was there to take care of it but the fact remained the same, she couldn’t touch the book without risking some sort of catastrophe.

“Out the window?! Are you…?”
Thoom.

And then everything happened a little too quickly. She didn’t know how it happened but somehow the wailing got louder despite Lutis doing his best to shut the thing up.
“Oh no, no no no, no!” Soneya hissed.
On a whim, she pulled off the top part of her clothing – with her back to Lutis of course – and threw the blanket over her shoulders to wrap herself up completely, leaving only a hand free to open the door. Motioning for Lutis to hide the book or throw it out the window for all she cared, she stepped to the door, dispersing her shoes in different directions on the way.

In a fake, sleep-deprived, hoarse-from-screaming voice, she asked: “Who is there?”
“What is that noise?”
“What noise?”
Furious knocking followed that obviously stupid question.
“You know damn well what noise I mean, you’ve been making it all night!” It seemed as though the man outside the door was not very pleased anymore.
“Pardon me sir, but you must confuse me with someone else, I have only just come home and I would very much like to spend the night with my man in peace.” Soneya began dishevelling her hair and picking on her remaining clothing a little to put it askew and looking like she had been interrupted in the middle of something. Lutis would get the hint, surely.
“That is not the noise I’ve been hearing!” He knocked again, more loudly this time.
“Even so, good sir, I would ask you to please leave us alone.” With a smooth motion, she unlocked the door while their visitor was thumping on it like mad again. He was sure to try the doorknob sooner or later, and ….

Whoomp!
All of a sudden, the door opened and their visitor came flying in with it, surprised by the fact it had even opened. Soneya jumped out of the way, starting to scream bloody murder herself. “Intruder! Help! Heeeelp!” It was all she could stop herself from screaming “rape” all over the inn.

Lutis didn’t know what to do when he was now caught guilty with the damn book in his hands, and someone obviously unhappy outside the door. He looked to Soneya, then hurried towards the window, not really caring about any other options. It obviously wasn’t going to shut up voluntarily, and was barely muffled by even a couple of layers of coat.
What Soneya was doing in the meantime, he didn’t quite cotton on- in fact, one part of him suddenly worried, when he saw her wrapped in the blanket. He hadn’t enquired as to her personal relationship matters (further than pursue her as a challenge), and… well, what if she was already hooked up with someone else? And he was guilty in her bed… not good. Perhaps he should have been following the book out the window, as he shoved open the rusty lock and quickly deposited the book into the two storeys of air below.

It fell quickly and with a heavy thump… accompanied by a shout of pain. Lutis stuck his head out to see a reeling shadowed, cloaked figure underneath the window rubbing at his shoulder, then quickly retreated back inside before he was seen. Probably not best to have two people angered in the middle of the night. Now then, for the first pissed-off person, and hopefully not someone related to Soneya.
Quickly, and thankfully, Lutis ascertained that it was not someone Soneya knew, and he let out a small breath of relief. Again, he was slow off the mark to her ploy, but got the message eventually. Scruffing up his shirt, he figured his hair probably was messy enough without even more mess-making.
Ooh, and he’d have Soneya good once their unwelcome company was gone too. She couldn’t say things like that and just expect him to pay no attention, now!

He stepped towards the door as she protested, ready to add his own words to send the man away. Did he honestly not have better things to do, his own bed company to complain to?
“I can’t apologise for my lady, she likes to make a noise…” He grinned across at Soneya again, but his face quickly turned to one of protest when the man fell completely into the room, apparently having tried to actually break in.
“Hey!” Lutis put his hands on Soneya’s shoulders and pulled her a pace backwards as the man stumbled across the room, looking surprised that a mechanism to get into a room actually let him get into a room. “Get the hell out! Haven’t you got your own room?” He pointed with his one hand towards the now-open door, insult in his voice. “Out!”
Thankfully the man wasn’t slow to get out, now he had embarrassed himself like this, but he still had choice words to say as he glared back and made his retreat.

‘Noise?!’ Had he just... Soneya glared at Lutis just long enough to bring her point across before she had to adopt her face of utter terror and shock. Their joint protests and screams would most likely alert a few more people, which hadn’t quite been part of the plan but it would also serve to make this man reconsider to ever storm their – and probably anyone else’s room – again.

It was a shame about the book though but in all honesty, Soneya was glad to have that thing out of the room. She already felt safer again.
Or maybe that was because Lutis had his hands on her shoulder and was acting as though he was protecting her?
‘Just you wait...’ she thought before she took another step backwards, pressing her body against his.

When the man turned back to glare at them, Soneya let the blanket slide off her shoulder just a bit as she waved at the man with a grin pulling at the corners of her lips before she stepped towards the door and shut it in his face, turning the key in the lock.

As soon as it was shut, she leaned her head against the door before heaving a sigh of relief. “That was close. Took you a bit to catch up there,” she added with a mischievous grin on her face as she turned around to face Lutis. “Never been caught in a compromising situation before?”

Grinning at Soneya’s indignant tone, Lutis was pleased with that sort of response. It was always fun to make her yip in protest. Thankfully it had the man decide that he didn’t want to be part of a spat between the pair of them (or hear more about their fictional bed adventures), and left quickly enough. Good, Lutis wanted to go back to bed.

“I was tired. Good t’see what your mind jumps to first though.” He raised his eyebrows briefly, looking at her wryly as she leaned back against the door. “Compromisin’, eh? And here was I thinkin’ we were just friends.” He smirked and turned away, rubbing at his hair. Crossing to the window again, he took a peek outside to see whether he had managed to floor the figure that had been hit with the book enough for him still to be there now… no, the street was empty. The book too, was gone. Perhaps that was a good thing, but their best clue was gone now. Even if it had proven useless so far… and a lot of hassle. Hopefully it wouldn’t come back to them in the hands of an angry passer by, although he couldn’t imagine so.
“No more book. That’s probably a good thing.” They could think about the bad points later, in the morning.

“Wha..?!” Soneya pulled her lips into a pout as she glared at him. Of course they were only friends! What on earth did he think? It had been nothing but... “Figure of speech. Ever heard of something like that?” she grumbled as she pushed herself off the door to grab for her clothes again, aware that he was probably not even listening to her anymore.

Danger averted and clothes back on, Soneya looked around to see Lutis staring out the window. From the expression on his face, it was clear that it hadn’t gone quite the way he wanted, though whether that meant the book was gone or whether it hadn’t shut up or whatever else he might have hoped to gain from throwing the book out the window, she did not know.

Sighing, Soneya gathered the blanket around herself again and sat down on the bed. “Yeah, I guess that’s a good thing. At least we still have the notes, so we won’t have to start completely from scratch again.” She felt an odd sense of loss at the disappearance of the book but somewhere in the back of her head warning bells were pointing out that this was not a good emotional path to follow. It was for the best that the book was gone. Who knew what else might have happened if they had kept it?

“Let’s just try and catch a bit more sleep.” Her voice was already barely more than a murmur as she let herself drop down on the bed completely, eyes drifting slowly closed.

Oh, she was just too easy and too fun to wind up. Lutis grinned still as she moved around the room behind him, tidying herself up again. Shame, he could have made a quip on that too, and would happily have shared the bed with her in whatever state of undress she had put herself into for pretence…
“I’m not thinking about it tonight. We’ll sort out somethin’ in the morning.” Lutis couldn’t be bothered, simply put, to go through the struggle of kicking his brain into gear on an impossible puzzle right now. Locking up the window again, he crossed back over to the bed with a yawn and a stretch, flopping back down onto the covers next to Soneya.

==X==

It seemed like Lutis had only had his eyes shut for a moment before the sun was up and the birds were shrieking outside the window, a foreign sound to him, when he was used to the noise of a city, not of the country. Stretching across the bed, his hand touched against Soneya gently, then he sat up and yawned, looking around. Ugh, day two of the frustrating puzzle they had somehow ended up taking on. How had that happened again?
“C’mon Soneya. Time t’spend another fruitless day not-solving a murder.” Rolling out of bed, he found his way over to the desk first, checking that they had all their papers, and scooping up the extra from the floor. Oh joy, look at that, pages and pages of thick writing. Maybe he could write out a translation sheet for Soneya, and save a few manhours writing out absolutely everything himself.
"Another bright sunny day, full of running round in circles trying to fix things we shouldn't even be fixin'... oh the fun that waits."

Soneya usually woke up early, but with the late night they’d had anyway, after an exhausting day, and the interruption in the middle of their few hours of sleep, she didn’t feel like waking up, or getting up, or even considering starting a new day.

Once Lutis started moving next to her, she slowly came to awareness but refused to wake up completely. Until his hand gently brushed against her. Her body’s reaction was instant and she was glad for the covers and clothes hiding the obvious goose bumps spreading across her skin.
Really now? What was this? Reacting to the mere brush of a hand which hadn’t even been intentional? From a guy she disliked?
Soneya’s mood drooped a little at this and she rolled onto her side with her back to Lutis when he got up and started ruffling through pages and muttering grumpy things. While she wasn’t all too pleased herself, it was for different reasons and his grunting oddly made her smile.

“Not a morning person, are you?” she inquired when she joined him at the table. “I’d quite like to freshen up and let’s get breakfast before we launch ourselves into this. What do you say? The mistress makes killer eggs and bacon,” she tempted as she cocked her head at him, waiting for him to lighten up a bit – if that was going to be the case. But it was breakfast, food! That should help the case, right? “And her coffee could wake the dead...”

"I'm not an awake person," grunted Lutis, characteristically tired and grumpy, even though he had volunteered getting out of bed. Perhaps they could sort their pickle quickly... then he could sleep in lots in the days to come.
Or perhaps he should have taken advantage of the bed while he could, while he had access to one. He pressed his hands down against the table as he yawned.
"Breakfast, aye, that sounds like a good idea. Mm, you know how to convince someone to wake up." Bacon and eggs and coffee... nothing could get much better. Those were practically luxuries! Quickly he abandoned the thought of flicking through the papers in favour of food.

The heady scent of coffee quickly woke Lutis in the best manner possible, and the room downstairs was only improved by the smell of bacon and eggs cooking. Soneya really had picked a good inn to stay at... was was rather in her debt now. Happily munching his way through the plate in front of him and enjoying every mouthful, he regarded the room and the few others that were staying, also enjoying breakfast, and whether they had anything to do with the strange mess they were caught in.
"Oh! So when I uh, lost us our book last night, I might have... dropped it on... uh, someone." Lutis had failed to mention that last night. It had been dark, but he was sure that it was gone. Later, he'd have to check outside in the mud. "Just by mistake. But maybe we shouldn't go 'round lookin' for it outright, 'cos there might be an angry someone with a headache today." Someone who had stolen their prime clue. There was no key to go with it though, that was still on the table. "Let's hope they've not magicked it open in the meantime."

“You hit someone over the head with it?” Soneya paused with her fork half-way to her mouth.
“Are you serious?!” She wasn’t quite sure whether she should start laughing or yelling. The man was a menace!
After a few more seconds of blankly staring at him, she shrugged and proceeded to eat her breakfast. At least in that respect she hadn’t been far off the bat, Lutis had been lured into a better mood by the idea of getting some food – some hot food to be precise.

Breakfast did them both a world of good it seemed as Soneya’s mood brightened a little as well though her tongue sharpened again along with it. “Of course we have to go looking for it!” Of course Lutis hadn’t exactly said they should just that they shouldn’t straight away, but she was purposefully ignoring that little fact.

“I really, really hope whoever picked it up didn’t try to prise it open somehow,” she agreed. “There is no telling what could happen.”
Picking up her coffee, she held it in front of her between both hands, elbows firmly settled on the table but without drinking it. She savoured the smell of it as she considered her next words. “If, for some reason, the book has been opened, we should make sure we stay far away from any kind of magical death there might be. If the thing, whatever it is, is out for blood, I’m sure it won’t hesitate for a second before striking as soon as the lock is popped.”

She finally took a sip and set the cup back down, ripping a piece of bread to shreds instead. Somehow she felt the need to keep her hands busy. Popping one of the bread pieces into her mouth absentmindedly, she kept her gaze on Lutis, but not really.

BOOM!

Along with everyone else in the inn, Soneya jumped up in fright, not having expected the front door to suddenly slam against the wall, practically falling off its hinges. Framed against the morning sun stood the silhouette of a man Soneya really, really did not want to see.
Without taking his eyes off of him, she muttered for Lutis’ benefit – though she was sure he was thinking the exact same thing: “Just what we needed.”

The lawenforcer, himself enforced by a couple more men, headed straight to their table. “You two! You need to come with me!”

Lutis grimaced. “Well… it was an accident. They were jus’ standing outside, and happened to uh, be outside our window.” It honestly wasn’t his fault, things had just come together at the wrong time in the wrong place. He rolled his eyes as if that rid him of all blame, and proceeded to carry on as if nothing was wrong.
“It’s not as if we can actually use it though. I mean, look what happened yesterday.” The book was more trouble than it was worth. The only good thing about them having it was that nobody else could, and cause even worse havoc than there was already. “That scorpion thing… yeah. I don’t want nothin’ to do with that any more. I guess I’ll go have a check outside later, see if it ain’t stuck in the mud. Otherwise, we’ll be sticking to them papers instead.” They were the more useful clue anyway.

His eyes wandered from Soneya to range around the room, inspecting the few others that were sitting around to see if he could recognise them from the night before. Unfortunately, he couldn’t remember much, the figure that had been outside cloudy in his mind from sleep, the dark, and the heavy cloak that the person had been wearing. Lutis hadn’t even been able to tell if it had been a man or a woman, although he had a hunch that it had been the former. Whether the same person was in the room was to be seen though; perhaps they were, out for a midnight wander and now just going about their usual business or…
Thud!

Lutis’ head snapped round immediately to the sudden noise, his relaxed expression and demeanour immediately vanishing at the silhouetted figure in the doorway. Aw crap. They hadn’t even left the inn yet this morning!
“We ain’t even finished breakfast yet,” said Lutis as the law enforcer stomped over to their table, looming close and the very epitome of an unwanted guest. He sighed, twisting his fork in his hand and trying to act nonchalant. Unfortunately, that only went down badly with the man, and Lutis quickly felt a heavy hand on his shoulder, hauling him up to his feet.
“Ahreet, ahreet, ouch, jeeze.” He protested as he was yanked away from the table, the lawman gesturing for Soneya to follow too.
“Let’s go. We have a few more questions to ask you two.”

“Hey! There’s no need to manhandle him! You haven’t been exactly polite either,” Soneya spoke up, angry, which only earned her a death-stare from their friend. Throwing her napkin onto the table, she pushed her chair back, with extra noise. “Fine! Whatever!”

Turning towards the mistress, she shot her an apologetic glance as she waved at their barely even half-empty plates. “It was lovely but... you know...” She relocated the waving motion to the law enforcer who had Lutis practically out the door already. “Could you please make sure that everything in my room is left as it is? Thank you!” And off she went to follow the policemen, who was already staring at her again as though he was about to yell.

Once outside and on their way back to the place of yesterday’s adventures, Soneya tried pry some information out of the man. “So, are you going to tell us what this is all about?”

“You know bloody well what this is all about!”
“Hey, if you had a rough night or no breakfast this morning – that isn’t our fault. Oh no wait, that was us, not you!”
All of a sudden, the man stopped and was in her face. Soneya gulped but didn’t move backwards. “If I were you, I’d watch my tongue, missy.”
It really wasn’t what she wanted to do but for the sake of some peace, Soneya looked away and apologised. The law enforcer didn’t seem quite satisfied but took them both by the arm and dragged them along. “We need to hurry.”

Against her better judgement, Soneya opened her mouth again. “That’s all nice and well but would you still please tell us what is going on?”
Sighing heavily, the man shot her a glare – again. “Fine! We have another murder victim. Satisfied? And we need you two to take a look at it.”

Perhaps it was written in the lawkeepers code, or whatever else they followed and called the law, that they were allowed to manhandle normal citizens. The man didn’t let up any on Lutis as the pair of them were escorted rather brusquely out of the inn and into the street.
“I really hafta protest…” Lutis started, and was instantly given a death glare. He carried on regardless. “It wasn’t us that did anything! Cross my heart. We spent all night at tha’ inn, doing nothin’ but good.”
“Shut up. There is no time for this.” The grip on Lutis’ arm only seemed to tighten as they were both borne down the road now, Soneya showering him with a fair number of woes and gripes herself. Certainly neither of them were happy about this, and they started to attract a little attention with how noisy and reluctant they were being as they were marched past the others using the streets now.

“Another murder victim?” Lutis immediately baulked at the lawkeeper’s words, digging in his feet in protest. “No, no, no. No, I don’t wanna see that. We don’t want nothin’ to do with any of that, I’ve had more than ‘nough dead bodies at my feet this week.” He tried to prize away the man’s fingers, although his grip was like iron. “C’mon, you know we had nothing to do with this at all.” His voice was a whine. “Not no dragons, or humans either. I just wanted a quiet change!”

“It’s another dragon. You are both coming with me.” The man tugged Lutis mercilessly forwards, not sparing Soneya either. “Who’s to know where you were last night? Not another word, until we reach the station.”

Soneya was really starting to be fed up with the way they were being treated. And the accusations! And what the hell was that supposed to mean that he had no idea where they had been last night! Wasn’t their word enough anymore? They’d been quietly sitting down at the inn enjoying their breakfast when the bastard came in to interrupt everything! If they’d been out all night, they wouldn’t have been up that early; or even there, for that matter.

Alas, there was nothing to do about it and as much as Soneya wanted to keep muttering and grunting at the law keeper, she bit her lips and decided it was wiser to hold her tongue before they got into more trouble. The people staring at them already didn’t make for a very nice distraction and she could only hope that the innkeeper wasn’t going to believe rumours over what she had witnessed herself. The papers were still in that room!

When they were dragged into the station and hauled back to the room they had been in the previous day – had it really only just been a day? – Soneya felt her stomach heave even though she had neither seen nor smelled anything until then. “I hope you have buckets ready,” she muttered under her breath as the man threw open the door and shoved the two of them in, ahead of him.

“Here they are,” he announced to the room, before he addressed Soneya and Lutis. “Now get to work the two of you. Tell us what you can make of this and then maybe we’ll consider listening to your so-called alibi for last night.”

On the table, stretched out before them was a dead dragon. And not any kind of dragon but a wolf dragon. Soneya barely managed to resist the urge to look at Lutis. They’d found this species in the notes. Did it mean something?

Lutis was filled with a horrible, cold dread as they were marched back to his least-favourite place in the village, quickly becoming somewhere he found himself much to regularly. He really wanted to protest more and beetle his way out of there with a quick dodge, but there wasn’t much way of doing it without looking like a horrifically guilty party in all of this, especially after the fight they had already put up over the past couple of days.
He steeled himself for the unpleasant sights that awaited, and hoped he wasn’t going to meet with his breakfast again.

He closed his eyes as he and Soneya were pushed into a new and coldly unfamiliar room of the lawhouse, shuffling inside the room blindly, so he didn’t have to see whatever nasty surprise there was this time. A faint musty smell filled the room, with a nasty tinge of sharp metal, and Lutis vowed not to open his eyes until he had heard Soneya’s reaction. Hopefully it wouldn’t be a thud of her hitting the ground…
There was quiet for what seemed like a long time, although perhaps wasn’t, it was just the tension in the room, before Lutis peeked open an eye to have a quick look. Thankfully the wolf dragon wasn’t in as nearly as bad a condition as the night dragon the previous day- it’s fur had soaked up the worst of the blood pooled around it, too. That was the metallic smell, and the musty one… well, the wolf itself. Wolf dragon… that didn’t bode well.
Lutis hoped that they wouldn’t have their room searched in the meantime (or after, when they were let out), because that was going to look really very bad on their record. For now, he hung back as normal though, his eyes grazing briefly over the prone form of the dragon, trying not to look too hard.
“Did you check its ears? That’s where the night dragon had marks, yesterday. Wiggly ones.” He gestured from his spot far away, not wanting to come any closer really. Although the dragon’s wounds didn’t look too bad from here, they had to be to kill off the poor beast. “Where’d you get it?”

» COMPLETED ~ Party Time! With Liz and Eldar
» Anyone for the rescue? (Cold, Parade, Eldar)
» Chance Meeting [Kor] - Completed
» Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen)
» The Altar of Stars (Alex X Eldar)