Awkward

"So our skeleton friend was alive around the 1960ish, and he had a relationship with a girl named Reya".

"That's what you told me".

"Alright, so we know that we need to head to Haight-Ashbury in order to find out the skeleton's name".

"Yup".

"But due to it being very late in the evening, we have to wait until tomorrow morning to go".

"Correct".

"One last question".

"Shoot".

"Why are you in my bed"?

After dealing with the memory reading of the Skeleton Bard, RJ had returned to his own room in order to get some sleep in real time.

While sleeping in a [Spirit Garden] with a time dilation sounds like a good idea, he figured it'd be better to be in-sync with reality in order to not weird out his roommate's with a wonky change in his patterns. Plus, he didn't want to risk overshooting or undershooting his wake up and go time.

After settling Mr. Mariachi(Senior Hippie) in and making sure Ember and Frost didn't harass him anymore, RJ left the [Spirit Garden], only to find that Tatterhood and Bellerophon, in goat form, had followed him to his room...again.

Tatterhood was currently in her "Tatiana" form, but instead of the manic pixie dream girl aesthetic, her hair was tied into a neat braid and she was dressed in light blue, lacey nightie. As for Bellerophon, he had commandeered a corner of the room and was currently covering himself with a patchwork quilt

"Where did he get the blanket"?

"Magic".

"Meeeh".

"Okay, not questioning that. But again, why are you in my bed?", RJ asked once more.

A teasing smile appeared on Tatterhoods' face as she repositioned herself on RJ's bed. She was now staring up at him while lying on her stomach, her legs now swaying in the air behind her. Tatterhood right now looked a bit like one of those seductresses seen in those "special" phone hotline ads.

"Is it so bad to share such a large bed with little ole me?", she asked while batting her eyelashes, "not used to sharing a bed with a pretty gal"?

"N-no, it's just that...wouldn't you be more comfortable in the Garden with the others", RJ asked in a moment of deflection.

It's not that RJ hadn't shared a bed with a pretty girl before, it's just that RJ was fresh off the heels of a break-up and it felt rather odd to him to move on so quickly. Additionally, RJ thought Tatterhood was out of his league, several tiers upwards. That's what he thought as least.

"Oh please min venn, I may be a 'wild princess', but even a wild princess needs at least a but to call her own. Or in this case, need someone to cuddle up with in a nice soft bed. Besides, you don't want to disappoint your roommates after showing me off, right"?

"I mean...hold up a minute...", RJ trailed off as he pulled open a drawer and produced a small can.

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"You two do realize you're both fucking perverts, right?", Sergei said as he he shot Dickie and Xander a disapproving glare.

After "Tatiana" and RJ made their way into his room, Xander and Dickie proceeded to forget about them and go back to their game...for about a half-hour.

Their curiosity got the better of them at some point, leading to the two to press their ears against RJ's door to listen in.

As to why they were curious?

Having been roommates/friends for a number of years, the group made it no secret to share their past relationships with each other.

Xanders' list was about a mile long, Dickies' was a little less than that, Sergei had a long term/distance relationship while RJ's list had about four names with a surprisingly large time gaps between them.

Aside from she who will not be named, all three past girlfriends could best be described with the terms: average, quiet, unassuming, girl-next-door and/or nerdy. Not necessarily all of these terms, but some combination of them.

This trend made sense to Xander and Dickie, since the impression they had of RJ was that he was also very normal.

So the fact that he came back with a girl who looked like she belonged in a pop-punk music video about a girl who could cause car accidents with a wink, a smile and just walking by, they were understandably shocked. That fact that she also made it a point to purposefully tease RJ in front of them also had a small bearing on their rationality.

Xander was about to retort Sergei's commentary when Dickie interrupted him.

"Wait I think I hear something", Dickie said in a hushed tone.

The two perverts proceeded to hold their breaths as they listened closely to the door.

Anticipation built up in their guts, wondering just who would make the first-

*BWOOOOOONNNKKKKK*!

"GAAAAH, MY EARS"!

"OH SWEET CHRIST NOT AGAIN"!

Evidently, the two didn't expect RJ to place an air horn right next to the door.

"Next time I'm blasting heavy metal music!", RJ said through the door as Xander and Dickie were rubbing their ears in pain.

"Hah! Told you not to do it!", Sergei said with a laugh. Xander and Dickie just stared at him with wounded pride in response.

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"Freaking peeping toms", RJ muttered while tossing the air horn back into his drawer. With his nosy roommates out of the way, RJ returned to his attention to Tatterhood...who was now laying on her side, her nightie covered front in full view and her head resting on the palm of one of her hands.

Off to the side, Bellerophon was in full-on sleep mode.

"Still want to kick me out?", she asked with a pout.

"I...okay fine", RJ finally agreed in exasperation, "But we figure out your sleeping situation sometime tomorrow".

"Yay!", Tatterhood said as she quickly made her way under the covers, "Now let's catch some sleep, min kjære".

RJ didn't know why, but something about that last word made him pause. Whatever it was, it could wait until the morning.

_________________________________________________

On a moonlit night

As the city sang it's endless tune.

A young woman laid awake in bed, which she shared with a young man.

This man was not her lover, but she cared for him deeply.

This man was not her brother, but she felt closer to him than any other...save one.

As far as they were concerned, they were perfect strangers to one another.

And yet...