Never Trust Appearances

[Kaleb Morrington]

Kaleb woke as soon as he heard the floorboards creak. He didn't move, mind you, sometimes the element of surprise is what save your life. It was nearly what took his though. When Safyra slid down beside him and snuggled into him, Kaleb was positive he'd died in his sleep or something. But no, here was her body heat radiating between the two of them, warming them. He waited a moment, then two, unable to think strait as her breathing evened out. She voluntarily slept with him! Not sexually of course but still-! Sighing, Kaleb sat up and maneuvered himself so he could carefully scoop her into his arms, not liking how light she was.

"We'll get your weight back on, love, and help you get this sorted, I promise." He murmured quietly as he carried her into the bedroom, lying her on the bed. He slid in under the covers beside her, pulling her close to his chest, and fell asleep easily.

[Fyra]

Safyra woke warm and comfortable for the first time in a long time. She was on a relatively soft bed, warm, and feeling safe. Oddly, there was an arm, two arms, curled around her in a protective manner. That made her stay completely still for a moment. Who?

Vaguely, she remembered getting up and searching for Kaleb, and then her muscles relaxed once more. She had laid on the floor, no doubt he had woken at some point, and decided that the bed was more comfortable, if she was going to curl up with him either way. She smiled, blushing. Her father would be appalled! But then... he wouldn't understand either. He'd never accept Kaleb anyways. And he's sweet, even if he's cursed and crooked.

The girl didn't want to get up, but no doubt it would be dawn soon, if it wasn't already. She couldn't tell from where she sat. But neither would it be easy to just slip away. She started to, carefully moving so as to disturb Kaleb as little as possible, trying to slide out of his arms.

[Kaleb Morrington]

He felt her move and smirked to himself, tightening his grasp on her and pulling her back. "It's just turned dawn, go back to sleep." He husked, sleep roughening his voice and slowing his thoughts. He buried his face in the crook of her neck sleepily, mumbling something incoherent. She was so warm, so soft... he murmured his approval and promptly went back to sleep, holding her tightly against his chest.

[Fyra]

Letting out a squeak as he tightened his grip on her, Fyra tried to frown in disapproval, but the sleepy way in which he was burying his scruffy face against her neck made her smile. Even so, she was ready to get up. Which meant, he either would let her, or she would make him. "Exactly. Dawn means light. Light means it's time for us to be awake. Or me, at least." She struggled slightly against his grip and then laid back for a moment.

Twisting, she moved until she could look at him without twisting around herself, and poked at his ribs. "I say up. If you won't let me go. Up. Up. Up! She ran her fingers over his ribs in a ticklign motion, hoping he was ticklish, and then added. "Or perhaps I'll find some way to get whatsername Amy-girl to help me! I'm not sure if she's around but hey! You act like she's a constant." She grinned at him. "What do ya say, Amy-girl? Wanna help a woman out?" She looked around at the empty air. I've gotta be going crazy. But who cares?! I'm warm for once!

[Kaleb Morrington]

Amyrea, of course, heard the poor, pinned girl and floated to see the pair, laughing at Kaleb hiding his face in the poor girl's hair. She thought about helping, and even decided to in the end. Hoping, praying, that the girl could feel the abrupt change in temperature that Kaleb always complained about when Amyrea touched him, she tried pushing the girl's hand down to Kaleb's ticklish spot - his armpits and upper torso.

Kaleb, by this point, was too far gone to bother yelling at, only strong movements or tickling him would work... and let's just face it, Amyrea couldn't be around ALL the time to wake up the sleeping medium.

[Fyra]

She could tell when speech was doing little. She wasn't sure if the ghost was coming to help, but she twisted around trying to find one ticklish spot or another. Her hand had come up onto his ribs when she felt a cold shiver run over her hand. Eyes wide, she stared at her hand for a moment, shifting away from the cold sensation. She didn't noticed that her hand had crept upwards to the upper portions of his chest until the cold disappeared.

Then she grinned, and like any girl with younger friends, gleefully started to tickle him.

[Kaleb Morrington]

Kaleb yelped and twisted away, laughing and batting her hands away. "I'm up I'm up!!" He protested, laughing and rolling away. He looked up to see a laughing Amyrea and narrowed his eyes playfully at her. "How did you tell her?" "She was smart enough to let her hand be moved by a ghost." The girl crowed before floating down to 'hug' Fyra. "Might wanna let her know what I'm doing."

Kaleb laughed. "Amyrea's hugging you. Apparently you're smart for knowing how to follow the direction of a cold hand, congratulations."

[Fyra]

Safyra laughed with delight as her tactic worked to make her target move, and then tried to follow the conversation between him and the ghost. At the knowledge that she was getting hugged, she smiled. "My life is crazy. I've been on the streets a year, and that was crazy enough. Now, in less than a day, I've at least begun how to control my shifting, and am willingly listening to what little I can from ghosts." She raised an eyebrow at Kaleb as she sat on her knees, running fingers through her hair to try to straighten and untangle it. It didn't work well. What it really needed was washing.

"It's your fault you know... I've never shifted without being terrified, and the whole time I was shifted I was terrified. You calmed me down." Her eyes came to settle on him through her hair. His was sleep tousled, his unshaven face giving him a rough look because of the shadow that it spread over his face. You know this won't last. He's helping you now, but that's not a permanent situation. He'll expect payback. And you've only one thing that's worth anything- She cut off that thought. It was one thing to curl up, comforted by his arms, totally another to think of paying her way through anything by using her body as coinage.

She preferred to just enjoy looking at the man who had saved her anyways. His dark hair and light eyes was something she had never quite seen before. And his eyes were so very intense. Her heart fluttered a little.

[Kaleb Morrington]

"Aye, fishy mentioned that, sorry love." Kaleb yawned as he swung his legs out of bed and stretched. Joints popped back into place, causing him to grunt and sigh. He turned, rubbing his face. "Well since mistress sunrise here has decided I need to ride with the bloody fireball in the sky, I'm going to go shave." And with that, he moved to the bathroom, though not before he gave her a quick hug and a kiss on the temple.

He moved down the hall, whistling as he moved, sliding into the bathroom when he came to it. Once in there, he began that familiar process of shaving. Beat the cream, smother hos face with it, sharpen his blade and scrape most of the bristles off. He began to hum a jaunty tune as he moved, swiping his sharp cheekbones carefully.

[Fyra]

Blinking, Fyra watched him first stretch- Oh, Theogios...- and then walk out of the room, apparently on his way to shave. She stood up and stretched herself, her muscles each pulling their own strange way around her body. Her neck popped when she stretched it to one side, and she paused for a moment, debating whether it was good or not. The feeling of her neck relaxing made it good, so she smiled, reached for her boots and tugged them onto her feet.

She was unsure where to go now. She paused as she walked out of the room. She could go downstairs, and start fixing breakfast. But she remembered Adrian, and shied away from that prospect. Despite that the boy was helping her, she didn't really want to face her problems just yet. So she followed Kaleb instead. When she came into the washroom, she almost burst into chuckles as she watched him for a second, lower face covered in shaving cream, except for the couple of scrapes he'd gotten through already. From the doorway, she watched for a moment more, before her slightly neat nature took over. Exasperation colored her voice. "The least you could do is get an even cut!" She stepped forward, eyes narrowing.

[Kaleb Morrington]

Kaleb almost jumped, but caught himself when he heard the chuckle. He turned his eyes to her for a moment before smiling and looking back, trying to get a clean shave in. That was when she stepped in. Kaleb's eyebrows rose before he simply handed her the razor and leaned slightly against the wash basin so she could reach his face easily.

"If you think you can do any better, have fun." He husked, sleepiness still evident. He looked around for a moment before drawing a wooden crate to him to sit on, and there he sat, forearms on his knees, sleepy emerald eyes on Fyra's face as he awaited her decision.

[Fyra]

She frowned a little as she accepted the razor from him. He just hands it over like that? Am I that non-threatening? Or am I just too used to people being threatened by everybody? She shrugged it off and grinned at him . The two lines he had shaved down were wobbly a bit. "Perhaps you should only shave when you're fully awake, Kaleb." Fyra waited for him to sit, and then started to carefully shave his face for him.

She wasn't wholly unskilled with a razor. While they weren't poor, neither was her family rich, and her mother had taught her, with her father, just in case whoever she married didn't always have enough to go to a barber. Her fingers were gentle as she tilted his chin up so that she could get to his neck. The strokes were long, even and close to his skin, leaving clean-shaven skin in the wake of her work. "You're a late sleeper, aren't you?" Her voice was soft, a little musical, and she had to bend just a little with how his height was while sitting on the crate. She didn't mind. Being this close to him was nice. She didn't want to go far away. And the motions of scraping the razor over his skin, cleaning it off, and repeating was a little soothing, reminding her of long moments spent at such tasks.

It did take her a bit longer than it might have taken him, but she was paying attention to detail. Each time she shifted his face to match where she needed it to be, Fyra found herself holding her breathe and waiting to see his green eyes again. Silly girl. She scolded herself. It's just a silly crush, not anything more.

[Kaleb Morrington]

She took the razor, he noted sleepily, and tilted his head as her gentle hands directed. Vaguely he hoped she didn't randomly decide to slit his throat, though he supposed he kind of deserved it. The blade scraped off the stubble with more skill than he could muster, even if fully awake. She said something about "shaving" and "awake" so he just hummed an agreement. Shaving while awake is a good idea.

The motions she used became almost hypnotic, causing Kaleb to close his eyes, fighting the urge to purr the entire time. Gentle fingers tilted his head up, to the side, down, and he followed every wordless command. Changers I trust this woman... the thought hit him like a kick in the gut and he almost doubled over. Somehow, however, he managed to remain calm, almost comatose, in this woman shifters grasp.

"You're a late sleeper, aren't you?" Her voice was quiet, musical, hypnotic. Of course, she only got a purred hum of agreement as a response. He couldn't get much more out. Her scent, once he got past the initial scent of the street, was warm and comforting. She was just putting away the towel she'd used to dry him when he leaned forward and snuggled into her, mumbling incoherently. Really, honestly, Kaleb wasn't a morning person.

[Fyra]

She had carefully cleaned off the razor and set it in it's place, wiped his face off with a towel, and as she turned back to him, he leaned forward and leaned into her, his face pushing against her stomach. At first, she froze, unsure what was happening. But as he just seemed content to cuddle against her, she felt her lips curve up into a smile once again, and one hand moved to run through his hair. It was silky, despite the rough treatment that it surely got.

Fyra shifted slightly. "Seriously, how could a street boy like you survive and be a late sleeper too?" She sighed, enjoying how it felt to have just the warmth of somebody's touch. And to have it be somebody who had been so kind. He's a knight in disguise he is. She ran her fingers through his dark hair again, and then rested both hands on his shoulders, kneading at the muscle there. "C'mon bucko. Neither of us gets breakfast if you aren't awake and I can't move because you're face is in my stomach.." She almost didn't want him to wake up. He was cute, half asleep like this. And she didn't have to deal with resisting those intense eyes. Swoon-worthy, just for those eyes alone... I have to wonder what he'd look like if he was dressed upper class... His little tale said that he'd been born into money. Absolute madness to run away. But I should be thankful for it... It's probably saved me. She shook him a little and pushed him away from her.

"Now see here, you! I can't just stand here with your face in my stomach."

[Kaleb Morrington]

Kaleb grumbled at the idea of moving away, making a happy noise when she ran her fingers through his hair. He liked that, it felt nice. He snuggled closer, again having to fight the urge to purr when she kneaded his shoulders. She pushed him away again after saying something. He sighed and looked up, unable to stop the pout.

"Fine... but only because you say so." And with that he stood, though not before scooping her up in his arms. He easily slid through the door sideways, making sure he didn't bump Safyra, and headed down the stairs, yawning. Adrian was still asleep, and it was just as well either way. Into the kitchen he went, setting Fyra on a chair he passed, Kaleb began to cook, working to wake up.

"You better hope I don't burn these." Kaleb groused, gesturing to the eggs he had. "They don't taste good burnt." He turned to her, eyes hooded from sleepiness and his hair tousled by her very own hands. "Because it's all on you if I burn them, miss we need to be up with the blinkin' sun..."