That had been a few hours ago… and still Archways could not get the living one-from-before to understand what playing was. Each and every attempt at showing just fell flat on the-one-from-before.

It was like trying to get a wall to dance.

They were a good companion nevertheless despite that. Archways had no doubt that Alive-one could teach them many things as they HAD many things. Apart from the talking and the plants, there were rooms and rooms of various stuff that the ancestor had obviously hoarded/protected throughout the years and obviously wanted to show.

It would take a lot of time they knew, the pictures of the birds itself would take about the time to get to the mountain and back and then more to truly understand. Archways was giddy with excitement –the same kind as their very first journey but with more.

But it came with a little-known feeling. It was jittery and mind-racing and made their thoughts go blank. Archways wanted to explore every item and every nook and cranny right this instant and not stop until everything was explored and yet they didn't know where to start.

"Sun's gone down… Time for bed." Alive-one flatly said and began moving off to somewhere. Archways assumed something amazing and chittered excitedly after the ancestor. They shrugged the previous feeling off after realizing that they just needed to follow Alive-one with whatever they decided to show first. It was their place after all!

Alive-one stopped in their tracks, almost startled-like, before giving a short sort of note and changing course.

"Right, right, right, right! Other person here, small other person needs a bed too." Alive-one muttered to themself as they hurriedly made their way over to a particular row of plants. They were as tall as the ancestor themself and thin as a stick with a strange brown part at the very top. Alive-one reached up to one of those brown bits and began testing below them for any give.

Archways had no idea what Alive-one was doing besides lightly pinching plants with their cloak and thought it was… odd.

The plants, however, gave their quiet hellos and chatter like it was normal as Alive-one continued to poke around.

"Not many dry ones left… hmmm… oh! Thank you, the lot of you!" Alive-one tweeted as some of the plants pinged more insistently towards a browner patch of plants. "Perfect!"

Snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap!

Archways looked on in confused horror as Alive-one snapped the tops off the plants.

And immediately gave a series of distressed tings.

Alive-one puffed out from the noise and immediately went stiff as a statue.

"Is there something dangerous here?" Alive-one whispered with a shake in their voice.

Archways simply trotted over to the snapped tops and chirped comforting coos.

All fell silent.

But only for a moment or two because soon the plants all exploded with their choir of a thousand chirps.

Were… were the plants laughing?

"Sweet skies above…. You thought I hurt the plants.." Alive-one dropped their stiff stance like a sack of rocks and huffed before turning away to collect themself. Archways could only stand around awkwardly as they tried to figure out what had happened, giving sheepish glances as they waited for an answer.

"This is okay, don't get mad, they didn't know, probably just their first time seeing a plant and what one does with parts of plants, that's all Last, that's all." Alive-one muttered to no one but themself. Archways gave a tentative ping as they watched the one-from-before whisper to the air. Alive-one peered over their slim shoulder with a worn look and nodded to themself.

"right, right… they ne- You need a bed… I'll show you what these parts are for." Alive-one said unevenly like their voice was fighting the mountain's storm. Archways stumbled after, still a little dazed by the events from moments ago until finally they were walking by their side.

But they dared not touch, dared not get any closer because unlike almost all other cases with an upset, scare, or nervous companion, Alive-one simply didn't like to be touched and they quickly understood not to; but it didn't mean that they didn't wish they could, the overlapping of cloaks and bursting light had always been a comfort to many.

Just not Alive-one.

"In here," Alive-one stated as they passed through a doorway. It lead to a long hallway, one that had been even longer eons before but the end of it had collapsed at some point. It had many other rooms branching off of it and Archways wondered what could be in all of them.

"This one," Alive-one stated again and Archways quickly followed them into the first room on the left.

Inside was relatively bare compared to other parts of the building, the only notable items in the room being two big slabs at opposite ends, a table, a small lantern, and another 'book' with lots of colored charcoal.

"This place is my bedroom and has been for almost two centuries. There's an empty second bed here that I'll set up for you tonight." Alive-one said as they made their way over to one of the slabs. Archways wanted to know what the slab was and decided to hop right up on top of it… Only to slip and fall into the hollow middle; at least it got a laugh that was more like a snort out of Alive-one.

"Okay, okay, please step aside!" Alive-one rumbled happily. Archways instantly climbed up onto the edge of the hollow slab. What would Alive-one show them with this?

Alive-one took one of the brown tops and gave it a little shake before bringing it down and whacking it against the edge. Archways hardly had to question why when the thing exploded into blinding light. When Archways finally blinked away the dark spots in their vision, they were greeted by a surprising amount of white fluff that was now laid in the basin of the slab.

Alive-one hardly stopped to let Archways take in the sight before they were doing the rest; by the end, the slab was overflowing with fluff.

"I don't exactly have the time to properly smush this down so nothing floats off, but it'll keep you cozy all the same," Alive-one stated with a wave of the now-fluffless ends. "I'll be right back, just going to put the seeds in a jar."

Archways glanced towards the ancestor as they left the room only to focus back on the white fluff. Immediately they were poking the fluff around, watching how the mass waivered with every touch.

It didn't take them long to decide to jump into it.

The plunge sent all the loose fluff flying and the subsequent flailing about in glee did little to rein it in.

When Alive-one came back, they were greeted with a mess. One bit of fluff lazily floated down until it rested on the top of the ancestor's head. They shook their head in disbelief before trudging over to the still playing Archways.

Archways didn't notice the-alive-one had returned until their shadow was looming over them.

"I hope you're going to clean that up." Alive-one deadpanned as they poked Archways with an excusatory foot.

Archways simply wiggled with excitement.

"It's bedtime." Alive-one forced out as soon as it became evident that the little red cloak wasn't settling. "You know… go-to-sleep-time?"

Archways stopped all movement as they stared at Alive-one. They weren't sounding practically friendly, but they couldn't place what was wrong now.

Alive-one simply sighed and turned away, going over to the other slab and stepping into the middle. Ever curious Archways peeped at Alive-one and promptly hopped out of their own slab and trotted over to theirs. The tall white cloak had laid down in theirs and had their eyes closed but they quickly snapped open as Archways leaned over the edge to look.

"Go. To. Sleep." Alive-one said with a truly unpleasant sound. They slowly sat back up and glared at Archways, but Archways stood there frozen.

With a huff of displeasure, Alive-one got out of their bed and herded Archways back over to theirs. Archways plopped back into their fluffed with hardly a ping, but still eyed the Alive-one closely; they hadn't the foggiest idea what Alive-one wanted them to do. They sat still, however, as the-alive-one packed down some of the fluff around them.

"Sleep." Alive-one repeated as they stepped away.

Soon they were sluggishly heading back to their slab and lying back down. Archways studied the-alive-one for several more minutes as they puzzled about this particular situation. Was this a type of meditation? A time to reflect on the day? Whatever it was, Alive-one wasn't moving much, only shuffling every once in a while. Eventually, Alive-one flipped over and was now facing the still-awake Archways.

"For the love of the Mountain, just Sleep." Was all they said before closing their eyes again and refusing to utter another word.

Archways gave one last quizzical look before attempting to copy Alive-one, lying down in that weird way and shuffling about until they were comfortable. They didn't close their eyes right away though and instead imagined the cracks and the lines in the ceiling being pictures or scenes in a story. They had made a whole tale by the time they realized that they felt that heaviness again. Archways gave a few slow blinks as they tried to fight the heaviness, but lost the fight quickly as they rolled to their side and nestled further into the fluff.

Soon they were out like a light.

But Alive-one tossed and turned throughout the night.

A/N: To the guest who worried i wouldn't be doing more, I don't plan to stop anytime soon! Chapter just got majorly delayed due to real life issues :Y Hopefully the next one won't be so delayed!