Welcome to the Playing by Ear one-shots! This is just somehwere for me to write while I'm stuck on the main story. Chapters might be varying lengths, but mostly short. Like, really short.

For new readers, if it's not already apparent, these are in the same universe as my other story, Playing by Ear. I mean, it's certainly possible to read one without the other, but if you read this one first you may be playing some guessing games.

1. On Patrol: Disturbed Sleep

"Haaaaaaah!"

Robin started at the cry. It sounded like Merra; was she being attacked? He hurried over to her tent, as he was the one on patrol tonight. Readying his thunder tome, he burst in, only…she was asleep?

He let the thunder spell on his fingertips die out, confused. The girl out of her world looked disquieted, but had very much been alone prior to his abrupt entry.

She suddenly let out a choked gasp, hands flying to her side, all the while eyes closed and unaware of the world around her. Was she always this active in her sleep?

Robin shook the thoughts out of his head. Her dream had obviously taken a turn for the worse, if her pained expression was anything to go by. The least he could do was stop standing around like a creep and wake her up.

"Merra." He leaned over, about to put a hand on her shoulder to wake her, when, with only a cry as a warning, a fist came out of nowhere and hit him square in the nose. "Shit!" He reeled back in surprised pain, dropping his tome and gripping his nose with both hands.

Merra awoke with a gasp, shaking out her hand from the punch. She squinted, trying to see through eyes that were blurry from sleep, as usual. "Robin?" Her eyes widened as she realized what had just happened. "Oh shit I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

Robin gingerly held his bleeding nose, attempting to smile reassuringly. "I'm fine, but I should be asking you. You were shouting in your sleep and it looked like you were having a nightmare."

"Oh, the yelling? That wasn't fear, that was a battle cry!" Her face morphed into a scowl. "Dammit, I was about to win that time too!" She crossed her arms and pouted. She hated waking up prematurely from exciting dreams.

"Augh…Do you know where Lissa's tent is?" Robin asked when it became apparent that the bleeding would not stop.

Merra stopped her pouting, realizing the damage was worse than she thought, and thus more important than her dreamly woes. "Yeah, um, I'll walk you there. Sorry."

"It's fine, I'll be okay." He lifted his hand from his face, allowing her to actually see the damage. Red circles were already forming under his eyes, and the swelling bloody nose didn't make it look any better.

"Oh my gods, I broke it didn't I?" She realized. "I'm so sorry!"

"Stop apologizing," Robin tried wiping the blood off his face, but only managed to smear it. "You were asleep. It was my fault for forgetting your violent unconscious tendencies. Better?" He looked at Merra so she could get a good look at his face.

"You look like a delinquent who just lost a fight." She said with a hint of amusement.

"Thanks," he sarcastically replied.

The duo stopped awkwardly outside Lissa's tent.

"I'll wake her up," Merra volunteered.

Robin nodded. "Sure."

"No need," came Lissa's annoyed voice. "Your talking did that for you."

"Oops." Merra cringed. "Sorry?"

"Yeah, yeah." Lissa's face emerged from the tent flap. "What do you need me—What happened to your face?!"

"I thought Merra was having a nightmare, so I tried to wake her up." Robin said regretfully.

"I punched him." Merra delivered with a straight face.

Lissa gaped, before coming back to her senses. "Okay. Come in I guess."

A/N: I am a very violent sleeper, and thus, so is Merra. This has already been shown somewhat in the main story, but I had way too much fun and had to write this too.

Let's see…I have indeed punched someone in the face in my sleep. The hardest punch I've ever thrown was in my sleep, though it wasn't the same punch I got my friend with, don't worry. I woke up from the pain because I hit the wall, and my knuckle was swollen for the rest of the day. Just last night I kicked the wall hard enough to dent it, so now there's a hole in the wall by my bed. Yaaaaaay.

I also cuss a lot in my sleep. Loudly. Which is hilarious because even though I've used some language in PbE, I really don't cuss that much in real life? Only when the situation is dire, extremely unexpected, or I just woke up from a particularly violent dream. The times Merra has cussed in PbE have mostly fallen under the first two categories.

I remember when I was in Australia and had to share hotel rooms with some of the other girls on the trip. We were all talking about odd things we do in our sleep, and I brought up my violent language and behavior. They all deadpanned, "We know," in the most done voices ever. Now that I think about it, it was kind of a mean response…