For Love of the Game

She silently watched him as he calmly finished his water. She knew that eventually she would have to figure out sleeping arrangements. The raiding session with her friends had lasted quite late and she was exhausted. She had half a mind to simply let him sleep on the couch as he'd so obviously been doing. But her manners got the best of her. He was clearly here against his choice and she knew that if she'd suddenly found herself somewhere she didn't recognize she'd appreciate a little hospitality. Standing up, she left the kitchen, aware that he was now following her, and dug through her hall closet, looking for spare blankets and a couple of pillows.

Once she'd found them, she brought them back out to the living room and dumped them on the couch. She pointed her finger at the couch. "You stay." He blinked at her and she tried again. "Micardrin, stay." This time he seemed to understand. Nodding to herself in satisfaction, she retreated to her room. She looked at her cat, the cat was going to be a problem. It did not like closed doors and she certainly wasn't going to sleep with him in her house and her bedroom door be open. The cat would have to deal with a closed door. She scooped the animal up and brought it into her room and then deposited it on her bed. Glancing around, she found the spare kitchen chair she'd brought in earlier that night to change a lightbulb and immediately closed her door and wedged the chair underneath the door handle. She didn't really hold much hope that it would keep him out if he really wanted in, but it would give her enough time to break her bedroom window open and escape. She hoped. Her nerves at an all time high, she slipped beneath the covers and tried her best to ignore the wailing cat.

Micardrin took a few minutes to more fully examine his surroundings. He walked to the door she'd disappeared in and silently tried to open it. He grinned when the handle turned, but he could feel something wedged against the door, keeping it shut. She might be weak, but she wasn't stupid. He knew he could easily break the door in half but wasn't inclined to do so. Although he was inclined to silence the animal that was locked in the room with her. How could she sleep with that racket? 

The next morning dawned and Jenny cautiously stepped from her room to find him leaned against the wall in the hallway and glaring at her. He motioned that she should follow him. She did and was surprised when he led her back to the kitchen. First thing she noticed was that her dog was fed, second thing she noticed was that he had removed several plates from her cabinets and was now looking rather pointedly at her refridgerator. She silenced her sigh and began rummaging around inside the refridgerator. Eggs, bacon, sausage, she then looked in the freezer and found some biscuits and hashbrowns. As she was in the process of cooking, she made herself some coffee. He seemed very interested in all of her activities, but the coffee maker seemed to intrique him most. It brewed exactly one cup and he was so interested that she decided to let him try it. First she measured out a small bit that she hadn't added any sugar or cream to and then she fixed the rest the way she liked it and poured it into a second cup. He tried the coffee both sweetened and black. He threw the sweetened mixture down the drain in obvious disgust. She brewed him a fresh cup and left it black.

He ate everything she put him front of him with the exception of the eggs. Although he had tried them, she guessed by his facial expression that they were simply not to his taste. He'd probably eat them if they were the only thing available, but given a choice, he wasn't going to touch them. She bit back a small laugh as she thought about what his possible reaction to plain cereal or oatmeal might be. 

Breakfast done, she cleaned up and wondered if she should brave trying to turn on the television. And maybe, just maybe, she'd show him a few games on her PS5. She needed to work slowly around to getting him comfortable with the idea that there was a chance she knew something of his realm, hopefully he wouldn't kill her for it when she finally did show him. Then again, hopefully he wouldn't destroy her TV when she turned it on. Once he got more comfortable with his current surroundings, she hoped and prayed that they could figure out a way to get him back to where he belonged. The sooner the better.