Let's see how Ricken and Henry get along. I'm sure Crawsley won't hurt Ricken...much...
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Spending the night with Henry was something Ricken seriously had to get used to.
First off, whatever Henry had as a pet it was not a bird. It was a monster with wings. And indeed Ricken could not look directly at, not only because it pecks, but because it had two red slits on each side of its beak for eyes which made it hard for direct eye contact.
Second (and the most annoying) Henry was an insomniac. He was always up in his purple and black skull pajamas casting some type of spell or playing with Crawsley. Since Ricken was a light sleeper he often stayed up with Henry, not that he wanted to.
"Haha! Go fish Ricken," Henry said as he threw down a bunch of cards.
"This is not how you play Go Fish," Ricken replied as he drew some tarot cards off the top of the stack. "Plus, are you sure we should be using your magic tarot cards to play? What if we summon something by accident?"
Henry laughed loudly and threw a cracker to Crawsley sitting on his perch. "That's the fun part! You never know what'll come out. Makes for good magic practice." Crawsley cawed in agreement and settled on Henry's shoulder.
Ricken immediately averted his eyes and stared at the light blue fringe of his PJs. He didn't want to get pecked like he did earlier that day. All he wanted to do was meet Henry's supposed pet "bird" and got a sharp peck on the side of his cheek. So much for being friendly.
But while Ricken was facing the ground he accidentally summoned something from the stack of Henry's dark tarot cards. There was a flash of black smoke and then something blurry ran under Ricken's bed and disappeared.
"OH MY GOSH! What was that thing!?" Ricken yelped as he hopped up on his bed. He stood in the center of it turning around and around.
"Woohoo! You summoned a Dust Bunny. That's kinda cool actually. I hope it comes out tonight," Henry said as he pulled his feet onto his bed.
"That doesn't sound so bad. A Dust Bunny. Maybe it's not bloodthirsty."
"Oh, it's bloodthirsty alright. Even worse than Crawsley here. It usually eats dust, but it also has a penchant for going for your toes. I had an uncle once who lost seven of his toes to one of them and then-"
"O-o-okay, I don't want to know anymore." Ricken was swaddled completely in his blanket with his hands over his toes. He had the feeling he wasn't going to sleep any tonight. And neither was the demonic Dust Bunny under his bed until it had his toes.
Henry cocked his head to the side as he studied Ricken. Then he tiptoed over to his bed and sat next to him. "I'll stay with you tonight since you're so scared if a little bunny."
Ricken honestly thought Henry was more dangerous than the Dust Bunny and was about to say so when he heard skittering under his bed.
"That sounds like a WONDERFUL idea! The more the merrier," he said shakily as he cowered behind Henry.
"Awesome! Hey, do you want me to bait it with my toes-"
"NO! Just go to sleep, alright? We could get rid of it later."
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Isn't Henry sweet in a twisted sort of way? They'll get rid of the Dust Bunny eventually in another chapter. But for now on to the next pair: Stahl and Gaius! (I love them so much!)