. It’s almost dark.

You return to the house and sweep it once, but you don’t need it. The creature seemed to be a solitary one, likely kicked from its mother’s nest to go find food for itself.

You nod to yourself and head back to the living room; carefully setting down your bag and begin unpacking.

Carmen watches you, having nothing to unpack. She hesitates and starts working her way out of her jacket. You pause for a second as you look at her; the jacket moving her thin top and exposing her midriff for a moment.

You shake your head quietly and return your gaze to your bag. There’s surprisingly a large amount to unpack, at least compared to before. Despite everything that happened today, you _did _end up with a pretty good haul. Hopefully it lasted a while - even with a second mouth to feed.

You sit back on the couch and Carmen looks around awkwardly. “So, uh…” she begins. “What now?”

You look up and close your eyes. “Not much to do now but sleep.”

“Isn’t it… isn’t it a little early for that?” Carmen asks uneasily.

You shake your head ever so slightly. “Best to start moving again before first light,” you murmur. “Nocturnals go to sleep and dayers are still waking up. Good time to leave, then.”

Carmen looks at the door and bites her lip a little.

You sigh. “It’s barred. The place has no other entrances. We’ll be fine.”

Carmen’s shoulders drop and she turns back to the living room, looking at the floor. “Ok, let’s… ok.” She awkwardly drops to her knees on the floor and then sits cross-legged.

“...What are you doing?” you ask, frowning under your goggles.

She blinks at you. “I, uh… I’m gonna try to sleep.”

“You _know _the bedroom has a bed to sleep on, right?”

She scratches her bare elbow. “Yeah, but… aren’t you gonna take that?”

You sigh and lay back on the couch. “I’m sleeping here. You take the bed.”

She blinks. “Oh! No, I… you don’t have to–”

“It’s fine,” you sigh, eyes closed again. “Use the room. I don’t like beds anyway.”

She hesitates but clutches her elbow again. “...Thanks.”

“Hmm,” you murmur, eyelids already heavy. You watch the young woman walk back to her room and quietly close the door. You’re awake long enough to see that she leaves the door open a crack before the tiredness of today crashes into you and knocks you into your dreams.