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Throngs of Kindred big and small ran over to greet their lord to ask him how his trip was and if he brought them anything. The inquiries were immediately dropped by the wayside when the smell of pizza and cheese bread wafted into the foyer. After he finished up with his greetings, exhausted legs carried Vox as far as they could muster. His sunset eyes fluttered open and closed with every trudging step he took. He had long since left the luggage behind at the foyer. It was just a matter of getting to bed. Jetlag always was a pain in the butt for him.
With enough distance between her and Vox, Caesura was able to say, “Hinna-chan, help me bring these to the dining room?”, to which the cursed doll reluctantly agreed. Once that was sorted out and everyone had their fill of food, it occurred to Caesura that she didn’t really have anything planned for the remainder of the day.
She had been putting off that novel she’d been reading as of late. Maybe now would be a good time to enter the study and continue where she left off. With newfound resolve, she ventures through the countless hallways that would make Madame Foster look claustrophobic. She hums a little tune she’s had stuck in her head over the past few days. “Who could I be and who are you? Trying to see what’s true. So will you join me in a p–” That is, until her voice silences when she sets foot in the study.
The stranglehold this feeling had on her was far too strong to be anything else. Vox was in here, but she couldn’t discern exactly where. Making her way across several shelves of books, she winds up being led directly to her answer. Collapsed on the couch was the demon lord that she spent what felt like years chasing after in her perilous journey between universes. She never noticed just how peaceful he looked when he was sleeping.
She gently moved some of his jet black and crimson red hair behind his ear, smiling weakly at the sight of him. There was so much that she always wanted to say to him or do for him, but they always seem to escape her, whether it’s forced by her curse or it’s her own undoing. Tender moments like these where time seemingly stood still meant the most to Caesura; they reminded her of just what it was she saw in a demon like him.
It’s the kindness deep within his supernatural heart that beats into every Kindred that lives to serve. It’s his determination to put so much of himself in all that he does to the point of exhaustion. It’s nurturing him and encouraging him when he does get exhausted. It’s the warmth of his company and being held in his loving arms. It’s his laughter and his tears alike. It–
“Hey, Cae! Kaeru-chan said you’d be in here. Where are you?” The dreadful little doll hovers her way into the room, searching left and right for the only girl she’d dare to call friend. In her little wooden hand was an opal colored mug that read, “Cutie Pie”, filled to the brim with pitch black coffee. The trip back to Akuma Castle was always exhausting for the spirit held within its prison, and what better way to sate her insatiable appetite than with a cup of joe?
Several gestures brought her attention to her bestie. “Oh, there you are! You didn’t say anything and I was worried I was lied to again.” Caesura waved her arms about every which way as though she were monitoring traffic. Hinna-chan laughed in kind. “What are you doing? You look like you’re about to do a fusion.” After a long sip of her beverage of choice, she sees the pale demon with a sword that could cut its enemies to ribbons laying flat on his face into a couch cushion. She floats his way and repeatedly pokes his cheek. His only response is to move his head further into the contents of the couch. “Hehehe, hehehehe…”
She sets her cup down on the floor and nods her head. “Alrighty, so what do you wanna do about it? He might be too heavy for us to take him to bed. Plus it’s a whole three doors down, that’s way too far than I have the patience for.” Caesura nods. “Plus I don’t know how the Kindred would feel if they saw us pulling a Weekend at Bernie’s with him. Knowing my history with him, I can only assume they’ll think I poisoned him or something.” The human standing beside her pursed her lips inward and pulled her eyes away to think of what to do next.
A snap of the fingers is all it takes to make Hinna-chan aware that Caesura came up with a solution. She makes a gesture as though she’s fanning out a blanket in order to set a bed. Hinna-chan immediately understands and soars out of the study, zooming her way above several other Kindred’s heads until reaching her destination: their shared bedroom. And there was the perfect throw blanket right on the bed.
It was folded up and fresh from the laundry: a Friday the 13th blanket (Hinna’s choice) that says to whoever will read it, “I wish it was Friday” with a very cute and very distraught Jason Voorhees in the middle. Hinna-chan’s rouged lips lightly smirk while she picks it up in both tiny hands and flies back to the study, sending a surge of wind in her wake and accidentally sparking her infamous light blue flames against some of the tapestry. “Whoops…” Sure hope Cae didn’t see that… She finally hovers back to the duo, one mute and the other asleep. “Okay, here. Don’t say I don’t do anything for him…”
A heartwarming smile forms on Caesura’s face at the kind gesture as she watches her closest friend put the blanket over Vox’s sleeping form. She nods once and headpats the doll’s human hair before making her way out of the room. Hinna-chan follows close behind until she sees Caesura twirl around with arms folded.
Finally at full volume, Caesura points to a velvet curtain entangled in an azure fire. “Did you need to make a mess to do it?” She sighs, but the smile remains on her face. “Go find the fire extinguisher…” The guilty doll obeys the command, leaving Caesura alone at the doorway to the study. She peeks inside to look at him one last time before she pulls the door closed.
He can tell her all about his journey when he wakes up. She’d be waiting patiently until then.