Xelqua's Redemption

Chapter 10

It took Grian a lot of energy to make his way down to the office to collect and fill out all his paperwork and hand it to the secretary admins to file and organise properly. He knew that with his current fatigue organisation is something his tired brain would not be able to fully comprehend at this current moment in time. The paperwork itself had already taken him two and a half hours to complete and he dreaded to imagine how much longer it would have taken him to then organise, file and shelve all the data and documents he had stacked up from that single report. So, by being better safe than sorry, he handed in the paperwork and began to pass the little time left of the morning patrolling the central area of Minecraft.

There were many stalls and markets opening up for the day and a few of the small cafés were open along with the usual grocery stores and other small businesses selling their various handmade crafts and trinkets and souvenirs. Grian could smell the strong coffees that were currently being brewed and the usual delicate scent of the flower shops and confectionary stalls.

He decided his current best course of action would be to head to his favourite coffee shop and get himself an extra strong coffee to hopefully wake him up enough to get him past lunch time so he can then continue his duties and not sleep through the meeting he was meant to be having later that day.

Upon entering the coffee shop, as usual, all its customers lowered their voices and spoke in hushed tones. Some good conversations and others not so much. He shrugged it off, as usual, and waited in the line. Once he reached the counter he requested his order, paid for it and took it to go. He found in all these local stores, he never seemed to have to wait long for his order to be done. He didn't mind this, of course, he enjoyed the fast paced service but he knew they only did it due to his rank which sometimes made him feel bad for customers who had waited much longer than he had for their order, but he was never in the mood to complain or do anything about it.

Upon leaving the coffee shop, a strange figure ran straight for the alleyway beside the shop. It was covered entirely in a black cloak and it had caught Grian entirely off guard. He took a sip of his coffee and slowly walked to the end of the alleyway to see what it might have been. He didn't keep much of his guard up as he did so, he was used to the odd strange person lurking about in dark places for no apparent reason. Though what Grian wasn't expecting was for him to reach the top of the alley and for it to lead to a dead end and be entirely empty. He shrugged it off and walked down the alleyway, his coffee still in hand  inspecting the alley just in case there had been something suspicious present.

"Uh, Prime? You good?" A familiar voice called from the entrance down the alleyway, at Grain.

Swiftly, Grian spun around and found Lyra staring back at him with a rather confused expression.

"Yes, Lyra. I'm fine." Grian said as he made his way out of the alley.

"Then care to explain what you were doing down there?"

Grian took a moment to pause, as he took another sip of his coffee and looked up to Lyra.

"I thought I saw someone shady run down there but when I got there it was just an empty alleyway." He said, keeping his gaze fixed on Lyra.

"I think that tiredness is getting to you. Why don't you head back to your room and take a nap? If you want to miss the meeting just send me a message and I'll alert the others of your absence. You're bad enough at falling asleep in those meetings when you're wide awake, wouldn't want you embarrassing yourself further by being delirious too." She smirked whilst trying to also remain sincere.

Grian wasn't going to argue with her on that and nodded to her before summoning a portal to his room, placing his half-filled cup of coffee on his desk and flopping himself into bed. He was still adorned in his formal wear with his mask across his face but in that moment he didn't care. He remained sprawled out across his bed as he let himself fall asleep and get some rest after the long night he had previously had.

A few hours had steadily been passing by, when Lyra approached his bedroom door and knocked on it, hoping it was enough to get his attention so she could check up on him. Grian, on the other hand, remained in his deep sleep, recovering what energy his body could in that moment.

"Grian? Hello! It's me, Lyra!" She called from the other side of the door once she realised her knocking was proving to be ineffective.

Still, Grian did not stir from his slumber, his rather unelegant position of being face down in a skewed starfish position as he slept had not changed one inch since he first face planted onto his bed. By now, Lyra had finally remembered how deep of a sleeper he can be and decided to put to use the skills she learnt during the early days of Admin Academy to sneak out of the Academy to the private gardens and pick locks. She slowly slid a hairpin out her hair and into the lock of Grian's door. Then, using some sleight of hand and some magic to get past any admin locks that may have been added for security she managed to open Grian's door only to be greeted by him in his peaceful dormant state. Part of her enjoyed the peace from his shenanigans but she knew she'd have to wake him somehow to ask if he is still up for going to the meeting later that day.

She didn't feel like putting in too much energy to wake him up, she already knew he was going to be difficult to wake so she took the simplest approach she could think of. She aimed her index finger towards him and flicked some harmless bolts of magic at him, which almost mimicked a poking action as he slowly stirred but remained showing no signs of waking. Lyra didn't want to give up and remained persistent as she took a step towards him and tried to remove the mask from his face but instead was met with a sharp tingling feeling, similar to that of a static shock but with slightly more pain than tingling, on the tips of her fingers where they had made contact with his mask. Despite the pain, this action had somehow managed to awaken the previously sleeping Grian.

Groggily, Grian rolled over and slightly raised his head towards Lyra before flopping back down on his bed.

"What are you doing in here?" He groaned before realisation had hit him that he had locked his door before he fell asleep, causing him to jolt upright and look at her. "And how are you in my room?"

Lyra slowly glanced between the open door and Grian, she makes a slight smile as she slides her hair pins back into her hair no-so-subtly. Grian just rolls his eyes and himself over in his bed as he sits up.

"You still didn't answer my first question." His voice grumbles with a low hum as he tries to clear his throat and awaken himself, to which he has minimal success with.

"I've been trying to get your attention to see if you were up for the meeting later or if you weren't in the mood for it?" She replied with, already assuming what his answer would likely be.

"I think I'm going to catch up on my napping, if you don't mind sending me a summary form later. If this meeting does end up being important, I'm still available to be called into attendance if I am needed to be present." He spoke before slsidding down further onto his bed from his previously upright position to a more unprofessional slouch.

"That's all good! I'll catch up with you once the meeting ends to give you everything you need from it." She smiled, half turning to leave the room. "Oh, and don't forget to relocate your door, wouldn't want anyone breaking in now, would you?"

With that she swiftly turned on her heels, waving to him over her shoulder before closing his door and heading to the meeting. Leaving Grian to fix the mess she had made of his locks and protective enchantments before he would be able to return to his very important duty that he needed to do. Sleeping.