A Matter Of Understanding

Wolf In Sheep's Clothing Is More Than A Warning

Chise and Elias arrived at the glass house faster than she'd expected. They only needed to walk across the bridge, and shortly, they were back in the house. There it was.

A glass house that hid a little secret.

A hidden pit, which you could access through a wooden staircase, itself embedded in the brick wall. At the bottom, a built-in bed with a bedside table and a pitcher of water.

The perfect place for someone whose purpose in life was sleeping. The perfect place for someone who had been so tired of the world, no one would blame him for escaping a few months. This was the place where Cartaphilus, Joseph, was sleeping.

Chise opened the glass door like she used to when she brought water down every morning. She kept up the routine until she left for the College, but Silky managed just fine until Joseph rose and decided he was ready to wake up and face the world again. After that there had been no need to go back there any longer, but, now that they were back from the College, his old room was the most suitable residence for him.

She looked back at Elias, who was following her closely, and made a gesture for him to follow her, but Elias didn't. He sat down at the top step of the wooden stair, and answered with a silent sign for Chise to go down. He would watch from above, rather than interact directly with a person he had no liking to. Chise assented, and went downstairs, where Joseph was.

Chise couldn't understand how a mass-murderer could look so... charmingly... innocent, while sleeping. He was curled in the same blankets as last night, which had been tossed over the undone bed, like he didn't even care where he was sleeping at all.

But she knew him. Once he woke up, it wouldn't be out of character to burn down a church. Or a kindergarten. If his plans needed it, he would do it. He wasn't the most empathetic person.

Chise sighed. Right now, she couldn't think about the bad things he had done. She needed to think of the times he helped her somewhat, and pray that this time, he would help her again.

She kneeled over the sheets, close to him, and stretched her arm to wake him up.

"What a surprise."

His response startled her, and she pulled her hand away. He... wasn't supposed to be awake.

"I wasn't expecting any visitors after how rude you were this morning...Ainsworth."

Joseph didn't even open his eyes, but somehow managed to know Elias was up there on the stairs. Elias sighed. The mage hadn't wanted to talk, but now he had to.

"You shouldn't have slept with my wife in the first place," Elias told him, annoyed.

She wasn't expecting this type of confrontation from Elias. Chise didn't know what to say, or where to hide. Maybe she could turn into a mouse and burrow under the blankets forever.

Joseph snorted.

"That sentence is so wrong on so many levels... I don't even know where to start."

He was talking in a slow, lazy voice, and that annoyed Elias even more. The mage crossed his arms. Joseph was in one of his playful moods and he couldn't bear it.

"Well..." Joseph continued, "I suppose you two wouldn't be here for something petty like childish jealousy, wouldn't you? You don't like me enough for that."

Chise sighed, glad to change the subject, but this awkward confrontation had thrown her out of her pace, and now she didn't remember what she was going to say to him anymore. She didn't even know where to start. Would he want payment? What was she willing to give him? What could she afford to, without risking someone's life?