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It had just made common sense.

Her couch was broken into segments. The larger segment, in the middle of two smaller ones, was 60 inches long. 152.5 centimeters. The segments on each side were each approximately four feet in length, but each had their own arm rest, which prevented them from being put together. It was never meant for sleeping on.

Subsequently, the boy who had slept on it the previous two nights was 71 inches long, not even taking into account his horns. 180 centimeters of length, curling up into 152.5 centimeters of couch. It had to be uncomfortable, even for one night - let alone two.

On the third, Riley felt obliged to offer Jericho the rest of the bed that was unused on her other side. She had never skimped when furnishing her dorm, and the abnormally large bed was no exception.

So, when she woke up the third morning of her exile, she found herself trapped between a plague doctor, and a dragon. And she wasn't in the least bit surprised.

She was, however, too warm. Fire dragons. Can't live with them, can't submerge them in solid carbon dioxide until they cooled down and stopped giving off so much body heat. She buried herself closer to Malodore, and stretched out her legs. They felt much better today, she wagered. She hoped that meant she might get a nice walk in, instead of being couped up in her room wasting yet another day away.

It had taken a little bit of convincing, but Jericho had given in and jumped into the bed with the others. Unlike the overheating Mindflayer, he was feeling rather cozy where he was. One could never be too warm. At least he couldn't. Or at least he thought he couldn't.

The dragon was still sleeping soundly as Riley scooted back towards Mal. Shifting his wings as he laid on his side, he murmured something quietly in his sleep. For anyone awake enough to try and hear, it sounded something like, 'man eating cheese puffs'.

Gimbal was already up, doing some stuff in the kitchen. He was trying in the least. It was a little hard for the Kobold to do things with his short stature, but that didn't stop him from trying in the least!

Luce slowly got up, then toddled up the bed towards Riley, a little wobbly from sleep. Once she got to Riley's hands, she flopped over hard, leaning against the ithilid and yawning hugely as soon as she hit the bed once more.

Riley scooped the little pup in her arms, and pulled her into her embrace. She snuggled the poor thing against her, and looked back behind her at the two still asleep. A strong well of emotions throbbed deep inside her at the peaceful expressions on each of their faces. She laid back down, turning her head from one, to another. They were each so precious, so important. The same emotions that had her running in fear a few nights before, were the ones that overflowed from her now - only this time, they came from a happier source.

She looked down at Luce on her chest, and scratched under the puppy's chin.

What would I do without them, Luce. She whispered. What would I be.

Yes. I agree. Riley nodded at the lick, and sat back up again, curling Luce up in one arm as she slid down the bed, between the two of them, until she reached the end. Her legs, wobbly from lack of use, felt unsure as she planted her feet on the ground. She released Luce from her grasp, so she didn't take the pup down with her if she fell.

Well, now's as good a time as ever to try this.

She held onto the bed, pushing her self to her feet. She felt the strength of her legs kicking in, but the ache of pain was still there. Pain she could ignore, though. She took a few hesitant steps, before grabbing a hold of her dresser on the other side of the room.

She was kind of glad they were still asleep - she felt like a toddler learning to walk again. It was embarrassing.

Luce hopped off the bed and paced next to Riley, glancing at her every so often, ears flicking up and back with vague canine concern.

The movement and the dragon's voice, even slurred with sleep, were enough to finally bring Malodore back to consciousness as well. The plague doctor lifted its head - quite a sight, given its long neck - and blinked at Riley. "Buon giorno," it said, after a moment.

"Morning Riley. Morning Mal," yawned Jericho as looked at the platter Gimbal had brought in. Food sounded pretty good right about now, so he went on and grabbed the slab of meat before carefully charring it with a small breath. Once he had that, the kobold made his way over towards Riley to offer the brain.

With a sleepy grin, he looked over towards her and Mal before settling his gaze on Luce. He knew the Plague doctor didn't eat but he had to wonder if the pup wanted any food at all right now.

"Did you guys sleep well?"

I did. She eyed the brains, hesitant to let her hold on the windowsill go to get them. I'll. Uh. Let me get back over there and I'll take that.

She pushed herself off the windowsill and grabbed Jericho's arm to steady herself, before letting go and taking slow, but stronger steps toward the bed. When she turned to sit down on it, however, her knee finally caved and she crumpled down less gracefully than she would have liked. Still, she made it, and patted Malodore's legs gently. I am feeling better. I will be good as new soon. Her hand then reached out to Gimbal. Very kind of you to have prepared this for me, little creature. I don't believe I have a pet of any kind intelligent enough to do such helpful things.

Of course, if she did, she was sure Christof would have thrown it out long ago.