Adventures At The Hotel Deucalion

Wooziness

   Morrigan's stomach grumbled as she lay, sprawled over a velvet couch in the smoking parlour.
   "Are you hungry?" She tossed a glance over to Jack, who was spread-eagled on the loveseat beside her.
   "No, not really. I had breakfast about an hour ago. Are you?"
   "I'm famished. I haven't eaten a thing since I was in the hospital ward, come to think of it. I'm going to the kitchens, do you wanna come?"
   "Why not?" Jack smirked. "It wouldn't hurt to have a third pile of pancakes, today."
    Morrigan's eyebrows shot up.
    "You must be joki-"
    "Oh hold onto your horses, I am, I haven't had any pancakes today." He sounded bitter about the last part.
   They made their way down to the kitchens eagerly, and when they arrived, they realised how fast their time together in the Smoking Parlour had flown. It was already 11 a.m.,and so the only thing available for Morrigan to eat, actually was pancakes, ironically enough. Morrigan was not at all disappointed by the news.
   She dutifully demolished the spongy, syrupy stack, while Jack chose to bide his time sitting across from her at the table, watching her.
   "Dyou wan fum?" Morrigan mumbled around a mouthful of pancake, growing slightly uncomfortable under his fixed gaze.
   "No, no, you just enjoy your food." He smiled at her lazily.
   What was this business of him being so nice? She wasn't in the mood for dissecting his words and analysing his behaviour, and so she went with the easier option. She swallowed down the last morsel.
   "Why are you being so nice, all of a sudden?"
   Jack blinked back at her. "What, now I'm not allowed to be nice?"
   Morrigan rolled her eyes. "Being allowed to never seemed to encourage you before."
   She picked up her plate and elbowed her way through the large swinging doors, behind which, she found an empty sink to place them in. She came back to find Jack holding one of the grey doors open for her.
   Now this was really unlike Jack.
   "What's different? I don't get it." She gave him a puzzled look, crossing her arms.
   "I'm just trying to be a little kinder, alright? I realise that we aren't exactly 'best buds', as Hawthorne likes to say, but I thought we would be better off, if we... were friends. You know, since we live right beside eachother."
   Morrigan chewed on her lip, pensively. He was right. And that was very decent of him to suggest.
   She reached out a hand to shake his, bearing a huge grin.
   "Well, hey there, best friend."
   Jack scoffed. "Were you paying attention to anything I just-"
   Before he'd managed to finish his sentence, a heavy thud sounded just outside, in the hallway. Their eyes flickered to one another's.
   Morrigan rushed towards the door, with Jack just a few paces behind her, and deftly swung it open, finding a pasty young man, picking up stray shards of what must have been, just a moment ago, a ceramic teapot. She rushed over to help him, picking the last tiny pieces out of the carpet, where a fresh splotch of pale green swelled.
   "Oh thank you, thank you, that's very kind of you," he mumbled, dropping the smithereens onto a platter on the tea trolley beside him. He got up from his knees, eyeing Morrigan warily.
   His expression changed in an instant. "I really must repay you in some way! Erm- there, would you like some of this freshly squeezed orange juice?"
   Repay her? For what?
   "Oh um. No thanks,"
   "No, no, really, I insist," he had already started pouring some into the glass beside the silver platter. He passed it over to Morrigan, but didn't offer any to Jack, who was standing just to her right. Morrigan held it in her hands, graciously.
   "I don't think I've seen you before. Are you new here?" Morrigan frowned.
    "Ah yes, yes, it's my first day." He fumbled with the hem of his shirt. "My first day and I've already broken a teapot! I really must pull myself together..." His cheeks reddened and he cast Morrigan a guilty look.
   "Oh, well that's alright," Morrigan tried her best to arrange her face in a welcoming manner, to mirror his kindness, taking a long sip of the orange juice. "I'm sure no one will be upset about the one teapot."
    Jack inched a little closer to her.
   He chuckled politely. "I hope so. Well I better be off now, the guests will be waiting for me. Thank you, again!"
   "It was nothing!" Morrigan called out, as he rattled the unstable tea trolley down the hallway.
   "Strange man," Jack muttered under his breath.
   "What?" Morrigan whipped around to face him.
   "Well, I just... Well I don't know really. I just felt as though there was something slightly off about him."
   "Why?"
   "Well- I don't know. Forget it."
    Morrigan watched him. She had no idea what he was talking about. They stood there for a few moments.
   "Hey, do you want to go see what they're up to in the music salon? Frank said he was going to practice his new... Morrigan?"
   The glass slipped out of her hand and clattered to the ground, the orange juice spilling out all over the carpet.
   She felt a wave of dizziness wash over her and suddenly all the muscles in her body loosened.
   "Morrigan, you okay?" Jack rushed over to her, grabbing her as the world rocked out of balance and the ground drew nearer.
   "Morrigan! Morrigan! Can you hear me? Morri..." She couldn't hear him any longer but she could still see him: a faint, fuzzy figure now looming over her. She gazed up at him until he disappeared from her view and the only thing left was the blank fuzz of the ceiling. She felt her eyelids slip down.
   She felt so woozy, she was overwhelmed by the sensation that her body was being thrown about. Not only that, but she was fighting a battle of exhaustion within her; she was shattered, and yet she mustn't give in to sleep- what if she didn't wake up?
   A shiver rippled through her.
   The seconds stretched out into what felt like an eternity, and eventually, she felt a pair of muscular arms heave her up, sending such a strong rush of blood into her head that she felt her ability to think slip away from her.
   The darkness quickly took over.