➹BEEPER

[intheblanks]

"It had better be an emergency."
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Comments

[eggsac]

[She has jam on her chin, now]

I don't think a castle would be very nice to live in, anyway. And it's always snowing where princesses live.

[intheblanks]

And you can never completely trust old ladies or red apples.

[He's buttered some toast for himself, and ignores it to snag a piece of kitchen roll and pass it across, tapping his own chin to indicate the problem.]

You spilt some of your inevitable sugar rush.

[eggsac]

[She touches her chin then cleans it up]

Or men with beards.

[intheblanks]

You should never trust those, anyway.

[He raises his eyebrows.]

What do you think of this place, to live in?

[eggsac]

[She thinks about it]

It's big but whoever usually sleeps in the room with the clothes has too many shoes.

[intheblanks]

[It's not a laugh. He's coughing.]

I'll let her know. That's where you woke up?

[eggsac]

Yes.

[Saya had been slipping into her sylie, and the door is behind her closet]

[intheblanks]

[Chase's expression turns a little curious at that, but he answers with a noncommital hum.]

Can't have been comfortable.

[eggsac]

[She shrugs]

It wasn't so bad. I can sleep almost anywhere.

[If he pokes around back there, he might find the panel that opens the wall, and leads into the massive room full of webs]

[intheblanks]

[He might just ask. Although assuming Saya wanted to try on shoes at midnight isn't out of the realms of possibility.]

Yeah? Me, too. But that usually means you're not getting enough at night.

[eggsac]

[She thinks about it]

Do you have nightmares, too?

[intheblanks]

[Yes. But he's all but trained himself to wake in the earliest phases, to keep them from whoever he's in bed with. Her.]

Everyone has nightmares sometimes. You have them a lot?

[eggsac]

Yes. They're strange. Papa says nightmares are way for the brain to clear the con-

[A pause as she struggles of the word]

Like Jiminy Cricket.

[intheblanks]

Conscience. [He says it clearly but doesn't draw it out the way a teacher might.] Do you think he's right? It doesn't sound like yours are too good at the job.

[eggsac]

I don't do anything bad.

[She says it with all the innocence of someone who makes a lot of mischief.]

[intheblanks]

[He doesn't think mischief should hang too heavily on a pre-teen's soul.]

Well, then I don't think nightmares are a punishment.

[eggsac]

[She reaches for another piece of toast]

Does that mean yours are?

[intheblanks]

[He shakes his head.]

No. I think it would be too neat if we could do something we were ashamed of and get all our guilt out in dreams. People are messier than that. But if something's playing on your mind during the day, even right at the back of it, it might pull the same trick while you're sleeping.

[eggsac]

[She considers it]

I dream about spiders. They eat me.

[intheblanks]

[Ouch. There are easy reassurances, here. He doesn't reach for one, yet.]

Are you scared of spiders? There are a few local ones it's not smart to get too close to, right?

[eggsac]

I'm not really afraid. They're neat and funny to watch.

[But quiet]

I don't want them to eat me, though.

[intheblanks]

Know what I think? I'm pretty sure you'd be more than a match for them if they tried.

[Which, he thinks, is the truth told by degrees.]

And I don't think any of the locals are likely to. Definitely not American spiders.

[eggsac]

[She finishes her second piece of toast]

Can we do something fun?

[intheblanks]

[He takes a look in the jam jar and decides there's not enough left to warrant putting it back in the cupboard.]

We can do anything you like. [Wait.] Within reason.

[eggsac]

Let's go to a park!