Belle

Belle stood alone near the window in a large, empty and mildly chill hotel suite. Her bodyguards were withdrawn to their own room at the far end of the entrance hall, so she felt as alone as she had ever felt; even during the hollowfall that had destroyed her childhood home, she'd had Wise with her. At this moment: no one. Intellectually, Belle knew this was a silly feeling, but she couldn't shake it.

Belle felt thoroughly embarrassed and ashamed. What had she been thinking? She'd been so focused on dinner and her new surroundings and missing Wise that she'd entirely forgotten the whole reason she was here. And now Lycaon was furious with her and he was spending the night in the same room with Ellen! In the face of that, the opulence of the suite suddenly seemed irrelevant and pretentious to Belle. Why did people even like rooms like this?

Not that Belle thought there was anything romantic between those two: Ellen and Lycaon. They were partners, and maybe Nekomata was right and there was a sort of found-family situation; but Belle could sense that Ellen was not a romantic rival for Lycaon, though maybe Ellen might think of herself as one to Belle. Belle wasn't sure about Ellen, but Belle was very sure that Lycaon wasn't seeing Ellen like that. Belle had been the focus of Lycaon's romantic emotions several times this week and that remained unique amongst Lycaon's interactions with other people.

Unless, in that room right now, and later tonight, Lycaon would look at Ellen in that way and-

No! Nope! Don't go there, Belle! The girl is in high school and Lycaon isn't the type to go for younger wom-...

uh… for schoolgirls! He didn't go for schoolgirls! Young women maybe. Hopefully. Or at least he seemed eventually convincible regarding younger women… but NOT schoolgirls. And certainly NOT Ellen Joe.

Belle took a deep breath, trying to solidify and calm her rampant swarm of worry and postulations. Ellen was not a romantic rival. She might be special to Lycaon is some way, but not in that way, so Belle.. Just chill!

But disappointingly: Belle's misstep guaranteed that Lycaon was not going to be in Belle's room tonight, not that that had ever been a given, but it had been a possibility. She had already set up a few possible strategies during dinner: Maybe a midnight call for water? Or maybe he would have snuck up for a quiet check up on her welfare through a gently cracked door, and Belle would see, and raise her arm, and gesture for him to enter and then…

Belle blushed. Silly, dirty fantasies that certainly were not going to happen now! Thanks to her own stupidity.

Should she go apologize? She looked longingly down the hallway towards the closed elevator, light emitting from the security room from door slightly ajar. She could walk down there and take Lycaon's judgemental gaze and Ellen's glare and just, apologize. That would go with conventional wisdom, but Belle also had a sense that such an effort would annoy Lycaon. If he knew anything of her, which he did, he would have known she was immediately sorry, but he'd remained angry anyway and clearly disengaged himself for the evening. So, he wanted something from her instead of an apology

Belle decided it would probably be best if she seemed contrite until the morning. She could apologize then, when both of them were rested. That seemed the best idea.

She resolved to return to her bedroom and try and enjoy what luxury it offered. But as she entered, she did leave the bedroom door open, slightly ajar. There might still be a chance of a wandering wolf in the night…

Belle blushed and dove into her bed, much of her contrition immediately being forgotten as she re-lived her encounter with Lycaon earlier today in the darkness of her room, and fantasized about what might happen in the future. Living in fantasy and memory seemed preferable to being trapped alone with only a head full of worry to distract her. Lycaon was much more fun to think about, and Belle honestly had absolutely nothing better to do.

Lycaon

Lycaon settled into the chair of the security desk with a sigh and closed his eyes. He had this latent headache he couldn't shake. He unstrapped his eyepatch and set it on the desk, it being superfluous with the hotel's security system available to his fingertips. Less pressure on his head did help a little.

"So~" said Ellen. "Don't see you angry like that very often."

"A sharp rebuke can be a memorable experience. Especially, if left to stew overnight," said Lycaon, eyes closed, rubbing a finger up and down the top of his snout. Belle was safely sealed away in one of the most defensible structures in the city, and after his recent few moments of calm calculation, Lycaon thought the probability of anyone mounting a significant attack upon it based on Belle's brief informational indiscretion was decidedly low.

He somewhat wished he'd thought that all out before he'd shown his figurative fangs to Belle, but- well, what was done was done and he could make a teachable moment out of it. And there was a real danger: Belle would have to leave The Black Sun Hotel tomorrow, and that would be the moment for the enemy to strike. Belle might have made that easier to plan with her phone transmission.

Sure, she may have announced her presence here with that, or it could have been any of the hundreds of CCTV cameras on their path here, or the staff members they'd passed in the hall, or a hacking of Victoria's computer systems- in this world, it could be anything. Lycaon always moved his principal under the assumption that the enemy knew where they were, so he would not be surprised when they actually did.

Lycaon grimaced and rubbed his snout harder, plunging his middle finger hard into the point where his nasal canal connected with his skull: Then why were you so surprised by the rocket attack at Random Play, Lycaon? Hmmm? Why were you so unprepared?

Ellen had been quiet for a moment, and now she said sharply. "Hey, Lycaon! A sharp rebuke and letting it stew- That's what you used to do to me. All the time!"

"Yes," said Lycaon, eyes still closed, fingers still massaging. "And do you remember why I was mad those times?"

"...Yes."

"There you go," said Lycaon. "And Lady Belle's failure is partly my failure. I never discussed information security with her. And Ellen, if you are suddenly such an expert: What is Tenet #4?"

There was a pause before Ellen managed to recite: "A principal is a coin with two sides: security and complacency."

Lycaon was pleasantly surprised. That was it verbatim. "And what does that mean, Miss Ellen?"

"That if we're good at providing security, the principal feels safe; but when a principal feels safe, they become complacent, threatening their own security."

Lycaon continued to massage his snout, but the pleasure of Ellen's correct answer did far more for his headache. "Excellent. Very good, Miss Ellen."

Then Lycaon's eyes opened into the darkness of his own palms, a bit of suspicion now flowing through his mind: Why was Ellen suddenly seemingly so studious and attentive? She was up to something, but he wasn't sure what. He lowered his hand to look at her, and nostalgia chased away the shadows of his suspicion.

Ellen stood before him in a large sleeping onesie, stylized as a giant blue cartoon shark. Despite her sharp attitude and regardless of the maturation of her body, Ellen was still clinging to certain aspects of her childhood- one of which was bringing these absurd pajamas on every overnight assignment. Lycaon wasn't worried about it, as he assumed it reminded Ellen of happy portions of her past at the Von Joseph estate- and seeing her in that shark get-up brought warm memories to his own mind.

"Well? Miss Ellen?" said Lycaon warmly, a bit of his weariness fading as he fell into an old tradition between them. "Do you know what story you want me to read? Shall I continue the one from before?"

Ellen dove forward onto the single bed, bouncing on her chest, her tail waving in the air. Lycaon turned his chair towards her and reached for his phone. He had the text saved there.

"Actually," said Ellen, propping her chin on one hand. "I want you to tell me the story about you and that Belle lady."

Lycaon took in a sharp breath. That was the last thing he wanted to talk about, but Ellen's eyes bored into him and he knew from long experience that she wouldn't stop hunting a blood trail, ever. And… if there was anyone he could tell about it all…, it would be Ellen- without the explicit bits, of course. There was also Rina- maybe; but she had her private life and Lycaon had his. He wasn't eager to breach that unspoken arrangement with an admission that he was becoming attached to his principal- but with Ellen…?

Ellen didn't reveal secrets, and did not parents confide with their teenaged children? Not that Ellen was his child, but she might as well be. Lycaon rarely had idle time, but even so, Lycaon could remember several movies and television programs where a single parent and their teenage child confided with one another. Lycaon's own adopted father had done the same with him. So perhaps Ellen's question was along the lines of something he should talk to her about anyway?

Lycaon decided he would, since Ellen had asked. So, while carefully avoiding the salacious details, Lycaon told Ellen about everything that had happened. Lycaon listened and seemed to grow rather grim as Lycaon spoke.

"Sounds like she's kind of a pervert," commented Ellen. "Why do you even like her?"

Lycaon chuckled. "A lot of that comes from cultural misunderstanding. You had similar experiences with your own friends, I do recall."

"I guess… but why do you like her?"

Lycaon sat back in his chair and thought. His mind traveled back to vague memories of his own emerging adulthood. Back before everything had gone wrong and he had been some stupid fool who loved a girl and she had actually loved him back.

"I'm not sure how to put it, Miss Ellen. But I think… there is a part of me that has been asleep for a very long time. And I think Lady Belle is waking it up."

Ellen pouted at this revelation and rolled over in her bed, turning her back to him. Lycaon interpreted this as disappointment at what must seem a lame conclusion for someone as young as Ellen was, but Lycaon was evaluating the truth of his own answer with himself anyway. It felt about right…

The room was quiet for a long time as Lycaon thought and Ellen remained rolled over. After a while, Lycaon figured her asleep. He maintained his routine checks and manipulations of the security computer, deciding he would take both watches so that Ellen had a full night of sleep for school in the morning. The meeting at Scott Outpost was in the early afternoon, and Lycaon was sure Belle wouldn't object to him sleeping the morning away with her safe in this secure suite.

"Lycaon, if you marry her, where do I go?"

Lycaon blinked and looked at the bed. Ellen had silently rolled over and her red eyes gleamed out from the open shark mouth of her pajamas. The question stopped his brain from working. "W- what? I'm not currently thinking of marrying Lady Belle! Or- or anyone, for that matter, Miss Ellen."

"Yeah, yeah. But if you do. Where do I go?"

Lycaon blinked a few times, trying to wrap his head around Ellen's unexpected hypotheticals. "Go? I don't understand."

"Cause I couldn't live with you anymore."

Oh. That's all that it was. Ellen's old worry. Lycaon had read a few books back when she was younger, books about human children and thiren children. They sometimes talked about a thing called separation anxiety, and while Lycaon was just someone who read a few books, he thought it likely that Ellen suffered from something akin to that sort of thing.

"Miss Ellen. There will come a day that you will want to live on your own, but until that day, you can stay with me. Whether I'm married or not."

Ellen looked at him without emotion. "Huh," she said finally.

Then she turned away from him again. And after a short time, Lycaon could hear her breathing shift into a sleeper's rhythm.

Belle

Belle looked up at the dark ceiling of her lonely hotel room, stewing in the memory of Lycaon's anger and Ellen's taunting smile. She mourned her lost fantasies. She glanced over at the cracked door of her bedroom and, for the fith time in the last ten minutes, was disappointed to find no Lycaon peering in to check on her. She sighed in frustration, lifted her feet off the mattress, and let them fall again to bounce uselessly.

First thing tomorrow morning, she was going to figure out some way to get Ellen Joe out of here!