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At those words, Jericho actually let out a sort of content rumble. It was nice to hear that his efforts were being appreciated. Well, he knew Riley always enjoyed his efforts but hearing it from other people was good too. All in all, the Pricolici was doing a pretty good job of keeping him calmed.

"Well thank you, Shehk. A red like us wouldn't be much of a dragon if we couldn't keep our treasure safe from thieves," he said with a huff.

There was relief in her mind that she'd found the right part of his psyche to appeal to in order to calm him. Though it was also truth as well, in the older students of the school, Jericho was one of the ones she considered stronger, and thus more able to protect.

"I only speak from observation, Jericho. Nothing else. You keep us all safe, and I know you'll keep on keeping us safe." she continued to appeal to that protective side of him, stroking his arm. "I'm at ease with you around, and I'm sure everybody else is too."

Shehk reached out, touching his chin gently to try and lift it up a bit. There was no offered smile, and the look on her face could have been described as sad.

"If it isn't enough, get stronger. Sometimes it takes that near loss, or...even the loss itself..to make you understand what it is you need to do to make sure it won't happen again." her hand moved from his chin to stroke over his hair gently. "Riley is still here. Riley still cares about you, and she still trusts you." her ears flicked a bit, but she still looked pained. "She's an intelligent woman, professional, and one I put a lot of trust into. Riley would not give you her trust if you didn't deserve it, Jericho."

After a moment, she put her arm around his shoulder to give him a hug, despite the fact he was holding food from the table. "You're a good man, right, left, upside down, or sideways, and I believe in you. Riley does too, I know it. So don't be so down on yourself, alright? Just keep working hard like you have been.

It'll be alright."

Stronger. Always the need to be stronger. It was a talk he had with Riley nearly a year ago too, after the whole ordeal with the Island. Here he was, stronger, and yet not strong enough. It made him wonder if there would ever be a point where he didn't need to strive for more. It felt daunting. Almost hopeless really.

Even so, what Shehk said was true. Speaking to her in general was helping distract him from the mass paranoia and whatnot. The voices didn't seem quite as loud to him, which he was very thankful for. As she stroke his hair, he unknowingly leaned in slightly.

"Right. You're right. I can't give up. Especially not now. Too many dangers."

Hugging Shehk in return, Jericho nodded. For a moment, he wondered if it would be safe to tell her about his.. current affliction that he also shared with Riley. The thought was quickly dashed. It was something they had to keep to themselves. They could overcome it, he was sure of it. The other students didn't need to know. It would cause too much concern and quite frankly, it wasn't a huge deal as far as he was con--

Well, yes actually it was a pretty big deal. He didn't really enjoy being on edge all the time, or constantly hearing those damn whispers taunting him. It had been too long since he was able to get some real quiet. Even in his dreams they were present. And there was always fog in them nowadays.

Damn. Fog.

"Of course," he said anyway, "We will keep this in mind. The offer goes back to you too."

Pulling back a bit, he smiled to her, though it faded as he was feeling a little odd. Somehow, he felt like he wasn't really there, or that his body was losing its form. There were no changes to him physically. And quite frankly, the sensation was very brief. Blinking, he just shook his head and looked down at his food. Maybe the bloodlost had made him a little more woozy than he thought. Better get some more FEAR back into his system.

"Just as long as you don't try to break into our room to do so. That never ends well," he chuckled, "Though there are days where we might not be in our own room. Should this be the case, simply give us a call."

With Riley and himself actually going as far to sleep in shifts for one another to give the other a little more sense of security for the night, he wasn't always going to be sleeping at the monster dorms. The Mindflayer was the one who got the sleep last night, which likely was a part of the reason why he was so on edge today. Everything was working against him a little more strongly.

Ah yes. Text would be good too. It would also be less likely for him to grumble into the phone for suddenly being awakened in the middle of the night. It'd give him a moment or so to come around before replying.

"This is true. And I wouldn't doubt Malodore would be up for it. It does love its experiments," he nodded before finally getting around to eating some of the food. He finally deemed it safe to consume. After all, Riley had put out the order so it had to be alright to eat. At least, that was his hope.

"Just don't use me as the test subject," he warned.

Else after awhile, there was probably a chance he'd end up chucking the phone across the room. And if he was in his room, that meant he could very well end up throwing it into the lava.

That would be bad.

"Nah, I'd do it. I'm up at that hour anyways." She just...didn't sleep...anymore. She use to force it, but it had just stopped coming. It gave her a lot of time to think and be productive if nothing else.

Her inner canine wanted to gawk at him as he began to eat, a sort of 'must know all the noms' reaction she wasn't sure of the source of, but she instead took up one of the sausages herself to nibble at. Cautiously, the inside of her mouth tender and some pieces of it wanting to peel off. Really, it was the worst part about having a mouth-blister.

Totally worth it, though.