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Heat, screams, and a single, burning eye in the darkness…
Sir Pentious woke with a start in his nest, with the sleeping Egg Boiz curled up all around him, and stifled a frustrated groan. Yet another of those…strange dreams he’d been having. He knew that he probably wouldn’t be getting back to sleep, at least not anytime soon, so he crawled out of bed, pulled on his jacket, and slipped out the door quietly, making sure not to disturb his minions. I’ll just take a stroll around the hotel until everyone else gets up.
The first few minutes of his walk went by without incident. However, as he turned a corner into the lobby, he was startled to hear, rather than the silence he would expect based on the hour, a quiet, wet sound. Almost like…sniffling?
His eyes–all of them–widened as the lobby came fully into view and he saw a tiny figure curled up, shaking, on one of the couches. He slithered over quickly, and as the tear-filled eye turned up to him, he was astonished at what–who–he saw before him. “Niffty?”
She shrieked and leapt off the couch, racing across the lobby toward a storage closet, leaving a small puddle of tears in her wake. “Niffty, wait! What is it?” he called after her desperately. Why me, why me, why me? He had never been the best at dealing with things like emotions, much preferring the relative simplicity of machines. Combine his ineptitude with Niffty’s volatility and obviously severe emotional distress, and he found himself in what seemed a surefire recipe for disaster. Still, he slithered toward Niffty, who had frozen at the sound of his voice and was trembling all over like a frightened animal.
When he reached her, he reached out one gloved hand and placed it gently on her shoulder. She whimpered softly, turned, and scrambled up to sit on his shoulders, burying her face in his top hat with a loud wail. “Am I really a–hic–mess?” she asked, hardly understandable through her crying.
Sir Pentious sighed and reached up to pat her gently on the back. Of course, she was still focused on that. That disastrous night out had been a few days ago, but it made sense that with Niffty’s fixation on messiness and the stress around the hotel due to…whatever had happened at Charlie and Vaggie’s meeting with Heaven, it would still be on her mind. “Oh, darling, are you still worried about that? Angel Dust didn’t mean it.”
She sniffled. “Oh, yes he did. He’s probably right, you know. I’m always such a mess, that’s why they sent me to the hospital, that’s why I ended up down here!” She leapt off of him with a shrill squeak and began bashing her head violently against the floor, bawling.
His eyes widened even further with panic. How the fuck am I supposed to deal with this? He scooped her off the floor quickly, and she seized up, stiff as a board, and screamed. He flinched at the high-pitched, cacophonic sound. For such a tiny demon, she’s remarkably loud. Her eye looked almost clouded, as if she couldn’t even see him in front of her, and she clawed at him wildly, drawing blood from his arm. He hissed in pain, and she seemed to suddenly realize that it was him. “Oh! Oh, I’m sorry…this is just what I meant, just like he always said, such a goddamn mess…” She resumed her sobbing, mumbling incomprehensibly.
He sighed and pulled her in closer, squeezing her into his chest. “Oh, Niffty. You aren’t a mess, alright darling?”
She whimpered and wrapped her limbs around him. “Oh, but I am, I am…”
“You aren’t,” he said, more firmly this time. “Now. I don’t think you should be alone right now, but you do need sleep, as do I…” He sighed. “Would you like to…spend the night in my room?” He groaned internally. What would Mother say? There's sure to be a scandal tomorrow…
She gave a watery giggle. “Oh? I knew you were interested, Penty, but I didn’t expect you to be so forward…”
He blushed. “Not like that! Why, I’ll even find somewhere else to sleep, you can stay with the Egg Boiz, if you like…”
She smiled up at him with a deceptively sweet expression. “Oh, no, I’m sure you’ll be a perfect gentleman. Not much of a bad boy, are you?”
He pouted slightly. “I’m plenty bad…”
She giggled again, rubbing her cheek against his cheerfully. “Sure you are.”
She hopped down and took his hand in hers. She’s so tiny… Sir Pentious thought, marveling at her nimble fingers. She could certainly be of assistance in working on my machines. Among…other things… His face flushed even darker, and he hurriedly redirected his thoughts to other avenues, before he had another problem on his hands.
Niffty was seemingly oblivious to his turmoil. She skipped up ahead, then raced back, giggling and grabbing his hand again. “Where’s your room?”
He led her there, grinning at her chatter and stifling an endeared laugh when she ran up ahead to stab at a bug. After a few minutes, they reached his room, and Niffty raced around in circles, slashing at the air with her sewing needle and giggling, as he pulled the key from his pocket and let them in.
The Egg Boiz were still fast asleep, and Sir Pentious slithered back into the nest and curled up amongst them with a sigh. Niffty skipped in, toed off her shoes, and peeled off her hose and gloves with a relieved sigh. Sir Pentious looked away, flustered. “That’s better!” Niffty chirped, seemingly oblivious to his discomfort, and leapt on top of him without warning, pushing a startled “Oof!” from his mouth.
She pressed her lips to his jawline and settled down, curling herself up so that she was lying completely on his chest, with her knees practically touching her nose. “Good night,” she said, uncharacteristically softly, with her voice muffled by the fabric of her skirt.
Sir Pentious smiled down at her fondly and pressed a kiss to the top of her hair. “Good night, dear.”
The two slipped off to sleep, blessedly uninterrupted by dreams, good or bad.
–THE NEXT MORNING–
Sir Pentious was awoken by a sharp rapping at the door. “Sir Pentious? Are you in there? It’s getting a little late, everybody is wondering what you’re–” The door opened, and Charlie squeaked softly in surprise, hand frozen in midair. “–Doing!”
The snake demon yawned, stretching his arms up above his head. “Oh…hello, Princess. Yes, I’m perfectly fine, just having a bit of a lazy …”
“Pentyyyyy…” a high-pitched voice called from behind him, raspy with sleep, and he froze. “Come back to beddddddd…”
Charlie’s eyes widened so much, it was practically comical. “OH. Oh, I am so sorry! Oh my gosh, let me just get out of your hair…um…hood?” She raced away, yelling apologies over her shoulder, before Sir Pentious could get a word out to explain himself. He shrugged and slithered back into the room, shutting the door behind him and returning to the nest. That’s a problem for later. A pair of arms immediately wrapped around him in a tight embrace, and Niffty buried her face in his chest. “Thanks,” she slurred, obviously still half asleep, and went limp against him with a little sigh.
Sir Pentious just rolled onto his back, pulling her along on top of him and shutting his eyes as well.