Chapter Text
The faint sound of a clock ticking.
The warmth enveloping you against the cold outside.
A wholly satisfaction to your body and mind. This sweet feeling keeps your eyes shut, tight or not.
Its lull makes sure you are comfortable where you are—able to enjoy the area in which you lay. Taking in said area; you absentmindedly appreciate the soft blanket that has a light smell, reminding you of a close one. The pillow not hard yet not too flimsy, allowing you to rest calmly without worrying of the possibility of getting up to a sore neck. And the mattress doesn’t even make a sound, allowing oneself to enjoy the sound of the rain outside.
It is all perfect. You don’t mind the small bits of light that you are able to see even through closed eyelids. It does not even matter that you are conscious right now, all that does is the comforting feeling that you rarely get finally showing up.
Yet, after laying on your arm for so long without moving, it began to numb. With this, your perfect moment is already starting to ruin. Annoyed and filled with the want to keep everything nice, you flip over onto your other side in order to allow blood flow back into your limb once more. The movement drags a sigh out of you, but something is different.
There is a weight in front of your body that causes the bed to sink, in which almost causing you to roll to its position if it weren’t for the fact you caught yourself in time.
Your head bonks something cold.
Something cold and hard.
Something cold and hard and it hurts you.
You bit down on accident.
Your forehead and tongue stings after a few seconds of initial shock. One of your eyes forced itself open in both annoyance—due to such an abrupt thing occurring—and curiosity, squinting as it adjusts to how bright the room actually is.
The first thing that greets you is a light yellow, perhaps creamy, skinned figure with a headband.
Your eyebrows furrow, your left hand goes to rub your head where you had hit it. Confusion takes over as it registers in your mind who it actually is—Runner. Why was he here and for how long was he just lying there, staring at you? And although you want to keep thinking, a voice stops you from it.
“Good morning, you!” Runner chirped out, cheery as always, eyes glimmering in the light from outside, giving him a sort of pure and innocent look.
“Good morning to you, too,” You groaned out, voice laced with mild irritation that couldn’t stick for long now that you knew who was in front of you.
Especially since he was so gleeful for no apparent reason.
You sat up on the bed, careful not to bump into the other, drawing your knees to your chest. Your posture slumped forward, reflecting the slight bit of tiredness that follows you even now despite the fact that you were startled enough to make your heart stop for a moment. While rolling your shoulders and wrists, hearing them to pop, you continued on from your last short and clipped sentence, “Whats up with the sudden appearance?”
Runner copied what you had done, sitting up as well (Albeit criss-crossed rather than whatever you were doing). His eyes drifting off to the window, taking a look at how dark it was outside for whatever reason he deemed necessary. At least, that was what you assumed he was looking at.
“It’s my bed too, y’know,” he spoke softly, eyes coming back to you.
You let out a sigh, not out of annoyance, but rather at the fact you hadn’t taken that into consideration. It made you feel almost foolish. Your hand came to the back of your neck, rubbing at it almost sheepishly.
“You’re right, I suppose…” Your head turning away slightly, hand coming back to wrap around your knees. You had slowly begun to rock yourself, not in a fast manner, just a calm attempt to wake yourself up in a way that wasn’t someone scaring you. “Do you have anything you’d possibly want to do today,” you mumbled, “I don’t have anything planned... As long as you don’t either, of course.”
Runner responded almost immediately, not giving your question much thought, “Hmm.. Nope! Nothin’ going on today, as much as I know of...” If he had a mouth, you could imagine him with some stupid grin plastered all over his dumb face. Always happy for absolutely no reason. “We could clean, or draw, or cook, or maybe walk around The Construct, if you’d like.”
“I doubt you would walk. I would be left behind almost immediately, wouldn’t I?”
“…Possibly” He said almost jokingly, dragging the word out for a few more seconds than necessary, although you knew that there was some truth behind it.
“Well, I guess we could clean. This place doesn’t seem to be in the best shape right now, doesn’t it, Runner?” You asked rhetorically, looking around the room without actually taking it in.
“I think it looks fine, Player…” He looked away from you, rolling his half lidded eyes, crossing his arms over his chest, probably pouting if he could. That whiny tone you knew all too well coming up in his words.
“I wasn’t actually being serious, you know. I mean, I was serious about the cleaning part, but the Manor isn’t that bad.” You said back at him playfully, moving closer with slow, deliberate movements. Once you finally got close enough, you sat in his lap, getting a tiny squeak out of the action and finally putting an end to his little fit.
Runner moved his arms from his chest, raising them slightly above you. Eventually, after a few seconds that felt a lot longer, he wrapped his arms around your torso. “I knew that,” he said in a faked matter-of-a-fact tone. “I knew that this whole time!”
—
You placed down the candle onto a table, one hand going to rest on your hip as you’ve finally finished cleaning and rearranging items inside the manor, feeling a sense of satisfaction. A bit of sweat clung to your skin, despite how cold it is, making you feel a bit grimy. Especially since there had been so much dust collecting in the areas that Runner seemingly just didn’t care all that much about. To top it all off, after so much hard work, you began to feel hungry. Which would mean dishes to wash, which means more cleaning that you do not want to do. Maybe you could make Runner clean them for you, if he felt kind enough. Speaking of which, you should probably check if he has any rations left.
You began to walk around the Manor, searching for the Ragdoll that would determine whether or not you get your stomach filled for the day. It has been a while since other Ragdolls came by, assuming that it was because of you. Runner was adamant that no other Ragdoll should bring you harm, since it would’ve easily been done with how common other Ragdolls were aggressive. Although, a bit of guilt would come and go as the occasional thought that you were the reason why the Manor has been so empty lately.
Well, not really in every sense. Before Runner decided to take you in as one of his own, the Manor was quite bland. No furniture, no paintings, no pictures, no decorations (unless you count the two trees outside), nothing. It wasn’t like those things were needed anyway, simply something to make the place look better. Yet, after you made your appearance, that had changed completely. With the help of finding NPCs that would be willing to sell or gift things to either you or Runner, the Manor started to look more comfortable. You suppose thats one good thing that came out of you.
After checking the first floor completely, you settled on the idea that Runner had to be upstairs cleaning still. Walking up the stairs, you can hear the music coming from Runners phonograph that he cherishes probably more than anything. With that in mind, you knew he was up there, most likely not cleaning.
“Runner? You here?” You ask, not really yelling or shouting but definitely louder than needed.
A faint, muffled voice comes from somewhere across these many rooms, “I am, Player!”
With the confirmation (again, in a way) that he was up here, you began to search for him a bit faster, no longer caught up in your head. It does not take long to spot him as you walk towards where he stood.
“Hey, um, Runner,” You began, almost beginning to feel a bit of shame for the question you were about to ask (considering food as become a bit more scarce now that Ragdolls don’t find it reasonable to share anymore).
“Huh? Is there something you need?” He cocked his head a bit to the side, sort of like how a puppy would, curiosity showing through his body language and tone.
You looked away, wincing a bit, “Do we still have… uh. Like, food left. Y’know. Like, right now, maybe.”
He looked a bit confused at first, then replied with a simple “We should, do we not?” as though you were supposed to know that there was still some excess food to eat away at.
“Can I have some? I know it’s not time yet, but after doing all this cleaning I’ve become a bit hungry. Not like you would feel the same considering you didn’t do a whole bunch.”
Runner’s usually pale skin started to redden, blushing with embarrassment. “Of course you can have some, just not more than needed. And, hey, for the record, I tried to clean! It’s just so boring. Whaddya expect me to do!” He shook his head, refusing to look at you, “How about this, we go out for something new. C’mon, let’s go get you something to eat, I guess.”