Approximately 10 minutes later, after Rae had divulged all of the secrets of his summer, with the exception of his attempted suicide to his best friend, he was having trouble looking at Abigail. He had a sheepish remorseful expression as he grasped his right arm with his left hand.

Abigail inhaled deeply. “First of all!” She held up her finger, her black-painted nails stretching up at the ceiling. “Stop with this, I’m not mad at you. You got rid of the drugs...” She moved over next to Rae, and moved his hand off his arm, as she cradled the quiet embarrassed boy against her chest.

“I’m a bit peeved that you started using them again BEFORE I left and didn’t say anything though.” Abigail shot Rae a slightly irritated look. “But you’re really stressed, I can tell, so you’re forgiven.”

“Secondly, how long were you going to wait to tell me that you got new friends?!” The girl exclaimed in celebratory joy, and gave the then goofy-grinning Rae a small punch on the arm.

“I’m sorry.” Rae apologized. “I really was going to tell you soon, but It’s just a lot you know. And I wasn’t sure how to just like… tell you I met Aliens?”

“Uggh! Rae you know you can tell me anything! You worry too much! You’re going to worry yourself into an early grave... Don’t give me that look, I’m serious.” Abi gave him a pat on the head, and then added. “I’m just so happy you made new friends even if they are super ho— Ehem— space Aliens.”

“Are you two done being sentimental with this drivel?” Dasnir’s grumpy face shot out from around their newly acquired suite's kitchen with a bottle of liquor in his hands.

“It’s no Oanx Mead, but this ‘Whiskey’ will have to suffice.”

“Oh my god! You’re not even legal drinking age! Put that back right now! Rae’s friends can NOT be bad influences on him…” The protective girl protested.

“And who said I was going to share?” The Prince scoffed. “On Asgar we imbibe alcoholic beverages from the age of 12. And I certainly will not be denied any longer.”

“Young Master, please go easy this time; I do not want to have to peel you up as I did last time.”

“That was over a month ago! Those damn fools drank all our supply. I have not had anything… this is intolerable.” The cranky Prince bit into the corked bottle with his giant canine and ripped it out in one go. Then to Rae’s amazement, he turned the rather large bottle of Whiskey upside down and began glugging.

As the night grew old, the 4 of them sat around the suite coffee table about the floor and socialized. Rae and Abigail spent some time giving the Alien Warriors some pointers on how to mimic human speech and body language. But after a while, Rae decided it might be a good idea to just pick some casual activity, and attempt some bonding with his new friends. He grabbed a deck of complimentary playing cards from the suite's living room, and began dealing out four piles to his prospective participants.

“What are you doing?” The flushed Prince asked curiously, as a Jack of Hearts landed in front of him. After his first bottle of whiskey, the Prince’s demeanor had relaxed to resemble something that was close to a casual friend.

“Woops, Heheh— you gotta turn that back over. I’m not supposed to know what’s in your hand… Here let me re-deal. I’m gonna teach you how to play Poker.” Rae smiled warmly.

“What is a ‘Poker’ and how does one play with it? Fulbrik questioned.

“It’s a game and you play it with these. Rae held up a Jack of Spades then quickly began reshuffling the deck.”

The unusually quiet Dasnir did not protest, as he normally would to such a trivial activity, but rather in his flushed half-stupor was simply listening to Rae intently. And after a few moments of Rae briefly explaining the game, with a few additional details from his helpful gal-pal…

“Ohoho— I raise.” Rae grinned as he eyed his Full House of 3 Aces and 2 Jacks. He pushed in more of his fake chips that they had been playing with.

“Call.” Abigail swiftly replied, and shook her finger at Rae with a taunting wink.

Fulbrik scratched his forehead beneath his hair band as he looked at his puzzling cards, “I believe I must fold?”

“It’s both cute and terrifying that he can be flustered by something so mundane, but can casually hold a sword to someone’s neck.” Rae thought, as he eyed the pensive Guardian.

“I am not scared!” The wobbly Prince exclaimed, with an uncharacteristically goofy and playful look on his Warrior mask. “I will Call.” He raised his right eyebrow as he glanced at Rae in a slightly coltish manner.

Rae started to blush as he wondered how this could be the same Dasnir he had been hiding in his shed for nearly a week. “Is… is he flirting with me? No fucking way. Shut up Rae you’re imagining it, you idiot. The last thing you need is to ruin this friendship with your social awkwardness! This is just cause he’s drunk. Although, It’s nice to see him not grumpy for once. It’s just too bad he has to guzzle a bottle of booze to act more casual. I wonder which is the real Prince-Face?”

“Ok show em, boys and girl.” Rae winked at Abigail and then threw down his cards.

Rae had a confident look, but narrowed his eyes as they landed on Abigail’s cards. His lips curled in a half-dejected half-amused way as he observed his loss to the lucky girl.

“Heehee— Too bad suckers! Royal Straight Flush, baby! Come to Momma!” She exuberantly exclaimed as she scooped up her fake winnings.

“You have a truly terrifying ‘Poker Face’” Fulbrik remarked at the girls elated victory.

“But I should have the Royalty of Flushes!” Dasnir said in a positively pouty fashion.

If it had not been for Rae’s respect for the Warrior’s demanded boundaries, he thought he might have patted the Prince on the head. Though Fulbrik did have some Whiskey as well, it was rather clear which of the two Aliens was able to hold their liquor better, and showed more restraint.

Around midnight after finally sating her curiosity and concern, Abigail decided that the Alien boys were not a threat to Rae, and she even thought, perhaps, they would be good for his confidence and self-esteem. She announced that she was going to call a lift back home and left the three boys there together.

“She seems like a wonderful Female. You have good taste in friends, Sir Rae.” Fulbrik said, with an odd sense of approval.

“I dun… thin...” The now thoroughly intoxicated and overly relaxed Prince wobbled and slurred. He had imbibed nearly 3 full bottles of Whiskey by himself at this point, disregarding his Guardian’s earlier plea for caution. Though it was clear, Asgeeri took significantly more alcohol to become intoxicated than Humans; it was equally apparent they had their limits, and Dasnir had certainly pushed his, for whatever reason.

“I don thin she was that great. Not even a Warrior… —Hph…” He took another swig. “And she stolesh ma Royaly Flush” The salty flush-faced Prince opined.

“Young Master, I think you should lie down.” Fulbrik took the bottle from his hand.

Dasnir looked up at the older boy with a hazy confusion. “Ful… I’m not don. How dare…”

As Dasnir’s voice trailed off, Fulbrik smacked him across the back of his neck with his palm, in a rather strange looking technique, and the Prince fell completely unconscious.

“Heheh— he’s actually kind of funny when he’s relaxed. What did you do to him?” Rae asked, and smirked at the knocked out Alien.

“Many of the Great Races have pressure points on various parts of our bodies, though not all; the Polkrem are an exception. I merely helped the Young Master get some rest." The Guardian looked down at the limp Prince with a slightly concerned expression. "He can be quite stubborn sometimes. And this is also part of my duty: to make sure he is cared for when he is vulnerable, and ensure he does not embarrass himself.” Fulbrik smiled warmly and then grabbed up his slumped-over young ward in his arms and took him to his bed.

“Sir Rae, I already asked the Young Master earlier if you might share his bed, since you will not fit next to me. I barely fit myself —Haha! As long as you do not touch him, I think it should be fine. I do apologize for my carelessness in retaining less than adequate accommodations. Though I must say this Human ‘hotel’ is quite nice.”

“O-Ok…” Rae said, rather nervously upon hearing this suggestion. He had been planning to sleep on their couch, but since it was offered to him and he did have a very hard time falling asleep, even in his own bed; he figured that he would go with it, since there was seemingly no harm. Yet he still felt guilty about the thought of it, even though he had done nothing wrong.

Shortly after, having spent a little more time practicing human speech patterns with Fulbrik, an exhausted Rae climbed quietly into bed beside Prince Dasnir. He felt flustered already, and frowned. Being this close to the Prince gave him all kinds of unwanted thoughts. Rae desperately wanted to become closer friends with Dasnir, and was determined to prove his worth and earn acceptance; but he did not know how. However, having these feelings towards the Warrior was certainly not helping Rae maintain a collected head. He rolled over away from the Prince, so as to be as respectful as possible. But somehow, Rae did not have trouble falling asleep that night. Even though he had not imbibed whiskey that night with the Aliens, he felt nearly as relaxed as if he had.

During the night Rae was awoken by a stray hand. He came too groggily and looked over to see the peaceful slumbering Prince had rolled over in his sleep and wrapped his arm around him. Even though Dasnir was still fast asleep, it looked almost as if he were smiling.

“Mmm-Moksha” A very low whisper escaped the Prince’s mouth.

Rae’s entire face went flush as he felt the Prince’s warmth directly against him; the Warrior’s arm felt so large lying across his chest. He could feel his pulse involuntarily and instinctively increasing it’s rhythm.

“Das…” The embarrassed Rae squeaked out a whisper trying to see if the Prince was awake. He did not want Dasnir to be upset with him.

But as the confused Rae was trying to think of a way to move his bed mate from him, Fate moved the small bit of unintentional sleepy affection away from him instead. Dasnir rolled back over onto his back. There was a small awkward moment before Rae shut his eyes again and then…

“MOKSHA!” The Prince nearly screamed, and sat up in bed; his lungs seemed almost like they were gasping for air, like a fish falling out on land. Rae now noticed the stiffened Dasnir had been sweating the entire time, and thought this was likely the reason the Warrior felt more warm than one might expect. Dasnir did not open his eyes nor seem aware of his surroundings, but rather quickly slumped back over returning to his slumber.

“What was that? Did he have a nightmare?” Rae’s ear twitched and he suddenly felt less embarrassed but more concerned for his bed mate. And after that, he did have trouble sleeping the rest of the way through the night.