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Her heart was pounding, shaking her to her very core. He squinted his eyes, trying his best to see through the seemingly blinding overhead lights. As if sensing her plight, Aurora dimmed them, a small hum of apology echoed throughout the empty halls. She took a deep breath, collecting her thoughts. His fingers traced the paper edges of her book, the repeated motion calming her as she walked further down the halls. Her black steel-tipped shoes made click-clack sounds that seemed only further to soothe her overactive brain.
Ivy glanced around the halls, they were entirely empty and quiet, which was fairly unusual. He reasoned that it was likely the fact that it was around 0246 AST (Aurora’s-Starship Time), or about 2:46 AM Earth time. There was a 58% chance she was the only one awake, and if any of her other nocturnal-leaning crew members happened to be around they were likely in their rooms working on various projects.
She reached Lyfrassir’s door, it wasn’t as decorated as the others since they had only recently (476 years, his mind supplied) officially joined the crew. It however did have a few stickers on it. Ivy went to knock on the door, as she reached up she noticed a piece of paper on the handle. It stated that Lyfrassir was semi-speaking and having a poor pain day. He looked around the handle but did not see the note that said they did not wish to speak or interact with anyone today.
Still, she softly knocked on the door and quietly waited for a response. He started to count to 130 in her head, and he decided that if he got to 130 before the door opened he would go to a different mechanism or go back to her library.
She got to 56 before the door opened.
Lyfrassir was on their bed propped up against the wall, reading a book; they must’ve asked Aurora to open the door for them, then. They were still wearing pajamas (there was an 86% chance they had yet to leave the room for breakfast-), Ivy could not see what book they were reading due to how dark their room was, which she was slightly grateful for. The only light source was Lyfrassir themself, they seemed to be using their hair as a reading light.
They smiled warmly at her. Ivy reached for her AAC device in her hands, nearly forgetting she brought it with her, along with her journal. Its screen light was already dimmed, enough so her eyes were not burning but she could still make out the words and pictures.
She typed out her message “May I come in?” Lyfrassir nodded and scooted closer to the wall; giving Ivy some room beside them to lay. Ivy gestured to the door, asking if they wanted him to close it; to which Lyfrassir nodded again. He closed it, its metal framing thankfully making not a sound as it sealed shut.
Ivy did not waste a moment in scooting up close to Lyfrassir, immediately interested in whatever book they happened to be reading. Their bed was soft, the plush blankets doubled as an excellent insulator and weighted blanket. Ivy counted about 12 pillows on the bed, each from a different planet with different designs on each.
If On a Winter’s Night A Traveler, the title of the book read. She had read it in the past, it was quite interesting for a fiction piece. He decided it was worth reading once again and looked over Lyfrassir’s shoulder as they read along. It was enough of a puzzle to put her mind at ease, even if she already knew the answers to them. Ivy found herself absentmindedly petting one of the quilted blankets, the stitching proving rather rhythmic.
She found themselves studying Lyfrassir a bit more than the book. They were analyzing the book, a deep look of concentration on their face. Ivy quite admired how they put so much work into even the smallest things. One of the many reasons that they were married more than a few times now, courtesy of Brian of course.
Ivy noted that his heart was slowing down, signaling that he was calming down. Good, she thought, she spent enough time without sleep anyway. Lyfrassir’s body heat worked as an effective heating pad, as well. They shifted, lifting and settling one of their arms around Ivy, pulling him closer. Ivy immediately relaxed into the touch; she hadn’t realized how much she wanted it until she got it.
He saw Lyfrassir smile, and then he apparently decided to do something truly evil. They reached their hand up to play with her hair. His mind supplied that it was a common way to show affection back on New Midgard, but it quickly became irrelevant as Ivy leaned further into the touch. She relaxed more than she had thought it possible to.
It didn’t take long for her eyes to grow heavy. Lyfrassir’s gentle breathing and steady heartbeat were enough for him to need to start fighting off sleep. She was not all that excited to spend another night in between her bookshelves and conserving various scrolls. For once, he wanted to spend time with the people he loved something nice and relaxing. A break, if you’d dare call it that.
Ivy yawned, curling up around herself further. He was ready to fall asleep when a grumbling in the dark woke her back up. After a moment of confusion and slight panic, she deduced that it was likely her stomach. The aching feeling confirmed this theory. He let out a small groan in annoyance, Lyfrassir chuckled and looked back at him. One eyebrow raised, with a slight amused smile.
“Would you like to get some food, Vennen?” Lyfrassir asked, still more than slightly amused. Ivy’s brief annoyance on having to get up was replaced with annoyance over Lyf’s petname for him. They had refused to translate any of them for her, claiming it ‘made it more special’ or some other excuse. She huffed in further irritation, before reluctantly swinging her legs off the bed in a move to get up.
Lyfrassir rolled their eyes (rude!) and moved to the side of the bed to get up. Ivy reached out a hand to help lift them up, and they gladly accepted. Ivy smiled, before realizing how…empty his arms felt. He felt his heartbeat pick up as she scanned the room.
He still couldn’t find his notebook; did he leave it back in his library? No… she wouldn’t walk all the way here and not take it. But then where is it? Against her better judgment, Ivy felt her breathing pick up its pace.
She could hardly hear the shifting and creaking of the ship around her due to how her heartbeat and breath were drowning out everything else. He looked around the room one more time, all the automatic LED lights in the room were out, sans the one by Lyfrassir’s desk, drawing his attention to it. And upon the wooden surface laid his notebook.
To call it a sigh of relief was an understatement. She put a hand upon Aurora’s wall and signed a “thank you” before she picked up the journal and held it close. He looked back up at Lyf to meet their worried and panicked gaze. Ivy signaled that she was ok, and to further illustrate her point; she grabbed their hand and squeezed it. They smiled and Ivy counted that as a win. Lyfrassir reached over to grab their cane. It was carved and wooden, with charms from various planets and people that they had deemed important enough to them.
(She tried not to smile every time she saw the little book charm. It was only partially successful.)
Lyfrassir made a “lead the way motion” so that is what Ivy did. When she stepped into the hallway she noticed Aurora lowing the lights in the hall that lead to the kitchen. He smiled at her attention to detail and care.
Ivy walked down the hall with a slight spring to her step; feeling much better now that she was with Lyfrassir. The click of their cane followed behind them, the rhythmic beat of it sounding like music to his ears.
Once they had reached the kitchen, Ivy was slightly surprised to find it completely empty. Lyfrassir came up behind her and passed her, immediately going to scavenge into the sweet and grain cabinets. Ivy got to work filling the kettle with water and putting it on the stove.
The sound of a cabinet opening, multiple things falling out, a quiet swear and the groan of someone squatting down to pick something up were all heard in very quick succession. When he turned around to look at Lyf, she found them with a container of glow berries and two honey buns in their arms. A great after-midnight snack, if you asked him.
Lyfrassir sat the food down on the counter and stared at it as if it had personally wronged them. Ivy smiled at their antics.
Ivy was enjoying the quiet, still atmosphere. The only sounds being the water slowly boiling in the kettle, the electricity moving through the stove, and the quiet comforting hum of Aurora all around them. Ivy opened his journal, writing down the events prior to this. Taking special note to note down that she will need to thank Aurora after this.
The scene's atmosphere was broken by silent footfalls- at first. Someone was running towards the kitchen at rapid speed. Lyf looked back at Ivy once the footsteps seemed nearly deafening in the otherwise completely quiet room. Ivy prepared himself for the following loud screaming. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of Aurora’s screens pop up with a small apology for the upcoming noise.
She however, did not prepare herself for the door to be kicked open, and both Ivy and Lyf jumped in suit. While Ivy was calming her rapid heart rate, she watched as a frizzled Raphaella jumped around, stimming rapidly, both wings and hands flapping as a wild grin spread across her face.
“Ivy! Lyf! Oh my god, you won’t believe what’s happened- ok so-“ Raphaella had to take multiple deep breaths, “I was in my lab and I was fucking with the lithium based-batteries again, you know the ones we stole from that monopoly company a few planets back, right? Well, I had magnets out, because of course I had magnets out, and the magnetic field improved the electrochemical performance of the batteries that I don't even-“
Raphaella cut himself off to take more deep breaths, still looking starry-eyed and stimming while he explained his process. Their smile was wide enough that Ivy partially worried it would split their face in two. However, her smile dropped when she looked at Ivy, who at some point during the rant had to cover her ears; just enough so that most of the noise was blocked, but she could still hear Raph’s excited rants.
He looked sheepish, and let out a small “Sorry,” and continued to take deep regulating breaths and flap her hands.
Ivy saw a movement out of the corner of his eye, and looked at Lyfrassir; who had grabbed yet another honey bun from the cabinet while making eye contact with Raph. Their blank expression contrasted with Raphaella’s excited and growing curiosity in his eyes. She tapped her index fingers together as she stalked over towards the pair and looked down at the food; like a cat to a mouse.
Ivy reached for her AAC device, and quickly put in the message “Would you like to join us for the night?” Raphaella lit up once again and picked up her stimming speed once again. They looked towards Lyf as if to ask for their permission, Lyf responded by throwing a honey bun at them and stalking away. Ivy smiled.
Raphaella looked at Ivy, Ivy looked at Raphaella. Ivy shrugged, grabbed the rest of the food, and followed Lyfrassir, Raphaella followed, his skipping proved to keep pace well with Ivy’s walk.
Lyf looked back at them, checking to see if they actually followed them. Ivy smiled. A loud and excited gasp sounded out through the halls. When Ivy turned around, she saw Raphaella, who was now holding a particularly grumpy octokitten. She reached over to the creature in Raph’s arms and gave it some scratches behind its ears. It let out a happy ‘mrrp!’ and Raphaella’s wings started flapping in joy once again. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Lyfrassir turn back as well and smile at the scene.
Raphaella, having deemed the octokitten as theirs now, continued to carry it with them as if it was their child. The group continued to make it back to Lyfrassir’s room with their fortune in tow.
They were still a few meters down when their door opened automatically, which Ivy was silently thankful for. Only Lyf has a free hand after all and even then, it would be a struggle. A funny one to watch, yes, but she didn’t want any more pain for her partner than necessary. He mentally added that to an ever-growing list of things to thank Aurora for later.
They filed into the room and then onto Lyfrassir’s bed. Raphaella claimed the corner spot as soon as he had enough room to launch himself onto the bed (the octokitten letting out a startled screech, before slithering away to somewhere between the blankets and pillows). Ivy climbed in after them, with Lyfrassir taking more time to carefully lean their cane against their desk and to change into more comfortable clothes.
The remaining food was sat between the three, with Lyfrassir taking the spot closest to the edge of the bed. Raphaella let out a happy chirp noise and folded her wings partially around them. Lyf, ever one for dramatics, took that as an invitation to act like they’d just been shot and flopped down upon Raphaella’s lap. Raphaella immediately took this as an invitation to start playing with their hair.
Ivy smiled at the pair, taking out his journal and making careful not to write down everything that had happened. It would be a good memory to look back upon later.
The wall next to Ivy dinged, one of Aurora’s screens popping out of the wall with a simple message: “Raphaella, your posture is absolutely atrocious.”
Raph let out a small “oh!” before straightening out her back. Ivy took one of Lyfrassir’s pillows and put it behind him, knowing that he would likely resort back to it at some point (93% chance, his mind supplied). She saw a small <3 appear on Aurora’s screen before it moved back to its place on the wall.
Lyf grabbed a honey bun and started unwrapping it. Raphaella, apparently remembering there was food, started to stare intently at the glow berries. Ivy was about to ask if they wanted some, but a quick glance down reminded him that they were in the process of braiding Lyf’s hair. Ivy decided to take initiative and picked a berry off of its branch and held it up to Raph for him to eat.
They followed that routine for a while, but when Ivy noticed that Raph had slowed down with her braids and seemed to be spacing out more often; he decided to pull out his AAC device and ask, “Do you want to talk about science?” While she did mean specifically the lithium batteries turned super magnets, she did not yet have a button for that specific circumstance. Yet.
Raphaella perked up, immediately taking the offer, “Oh yes! Well I plan to run more tests on the batteries, just to make sure it is working how I think it is and then I plan to find more practical ways to use them since lilithum is really good at storing energy, and if we can make them a reliable electromagnet then we could improve Aurora’s energy production!” While he was excitedly ranting, he made sure to keep his voice barely above a whisper.
Ivy yawned and decided to cuddle closer to Raphaella since there was an 87% chance he would be asleep within the next 30 minutes. She saw Aurora’s screen turn on with text on it yet she was not in a good position to actually read it. Raphaella did, though, and started talking to Aurora about her experiments. Ivy looked to Lyf, who had already fallen asleep and smiled.
Ivy, surrounded by the people (and ship) that he loves, felt himself gently drift off.