Niko Refiné's Story

Niko Refiné

"My, my... it's about time..." Niko seemed to have grumbled impatiently as his box was finally opened. It was a while since he was to be released, and he was never the type of person who would contently wait a few hundred years. Actually, he wasn't the type of person who would wait even a few minutes. It was a bit obvious he didn't like staying imprisoned all that time, and although he was glad to be out, he had no clue of the year of place he was in. It's not as if he was going to stay put inside that prison counting the days and months and years.

But once he got out, he hit his head on the nightstand, making a loud thump sound and let out a slight 'ouch' as he rubbed his head with his hand gently. Luckily, it wasn't bleeding, but it still hurt a lot. Niko stumbled to get up from the ground, seeing how he hadn't stood up for a very long while, and looked around the room, "W-what the... now where the hell am I...."

Yet even wondering this, he didn't pay much attention to the location he was out. He looked at it like it was just some place he was familiar with, seeing how he took a few things like a book or a pencil and held it close to his eyes, trying to see it clearly with his terrible sight. While doing so, he noticed a girl on the bed next to him with glasses and black hair. Now, Niko knew his role, and he knew it quite clearly. He knew the right words to say, the right appearance to have, and the right personality to demonstrate. But he wasn't much in the mood to be polite like he was supposed to, so instead, he simply said while 'reading' the book backwards, "Good... morning..." Niko said slowly, not knowing the time, "Uh... I guess you're supposed to be my new... what's that word... ah... mistress, and stuff. Nice to meet you, I'm going to stay with your for eternity now, yeah, I think you know the rest and whatever else there is to say."

He then shut the book as his stomach seemed to grumble, 'God... Please tell me there's food here...' Niko yawned a bit and turned back to the girl on the bed and said, "Hey, hey, do you have anything to eat. I'm a bit hungry at the moment..." He said, being slightly rude, but he never realized it since he had already decided long ago not to trust any one or get too close to them. Niko, from then, dropped that kind and caring attitude and became selfish from there, trying his best to turn his back on his past personality, which explains his current attitude.

---

The dark room was piled completely, from top to bottom, with books. Shelves lined the walls, each piled with at least three rows of books on every surface, if not more. It was like someone had taken an entire library and crammed it into the unassuming, ill-furnished guest room which the shut-in girl had ended up choosing for her own - leaving the three main bedrooms in the hands of her friends. And, when the shelves ran out of space, the books seemed to flow seamlessly over, piled into orderly stacks that almost completely concealed the walls of the already dismal room from view. Post-it notes were hung regularly across every open space, each marked with at least half a dozen unintelligible, scribbled notations on how the books were organized. As it was, perhaps the only person who could have located a book amidst the chaos made by perfect, simultaneous hextuple order was the room's owner herself.

There was very little open space in the gloomy, dust-filled room. The miniscule area that wasn't taken up by the bookshelves or miscellaneous stacks of literature was instead occupied with assorted furniture. Against the left wall, enclosed on almost all sides by towers of knowledge and paper, sat a small writing desk, wired into which sat an old, well-used computer that served as the ordinary girl's eyes into the outside world, a system which allowed her to see much more, and with more confidence, than her own twin azure orbs, which were ill-suited to much but reading books. But aside from this purpose and the other occasional utility, the computer was left largely untouched, its capacity as an entertainment tool, for the most part, ignored in favor of either the literature stacked all around it, or of the large, ornate wooden box that occupied the rest of the desk, and the antique chess set contained within it. Across from this, in the back right corner, was a small, circular table, with two comfortable-looking, well-cushioned chairs - the one facing the back wall was an armchair, while the one in the very corner facing outward was a basket seat piled with countless cushions, pillows, and blankets, and the degree of tilt in which made it look more like a nest of some sort than a seat - positioned one on either side of it. Behind these things was a cabinet that looked quite out of place, for visible through its glass doors was a full tea set, and atop it were several implements including a wicker box containing tea packets and various other accessories, as well as a small, old-looking microwave. Next to this cabinet, almost concealed behind it, was a dispenser with a jug of water perched atop it, ready to flow at a moment's notice. In the back left corner, meanwhile, was a small, humble-looking black piano with worn yellow keys, chipped and battered by time, but nonetheless serving its purpose to perfection.

Placed around a third of the way along the back wall on the left side was a small dresser, the garments it contained all sorted, folded, and ordered by its somewhat obsessive owner. Then, in the very center of the back wall, placed directly beneath a single window through which the moonlight shone brightly down, and facing outward towards the door, was a bed. Its sheets were plain, made of a soft, fuzzy-looking gray material, and accompanied by matching blankets, as well as similar pillowcases on the two rather puffy pillows that served as the simple, frameless bed's furnishings. But, although the light of the midnight moon shone down upon this bed, it was not in it that the room's owner was to be found. Rather, one would have to look in the dark corner, only barely visible in the half-lit, dusty air, were it not for the small night-light by which she made out the words on the page beneath her gaze. The girl looked tiny compared to all of the blankets and pillows surrounding her where she half sat, half lay, curled up within the basket chair in the corner, clumsily half-clad in an oversized navy blue pajama top which she wore more like a nightgown than anything else, the top few buttons undone, allowing it to sag down slightly past her shoulders, so as to let the cool, nightime air keep her from overheating beneath her covering of blankets, while the long sleeves, which otherwise probably would have covered her arms, were rolled back to her wrists, her small, soft hands poking out from amidst their oversized folds. The garment was long enough to cover her undergarments from view, but didn't extend much further, leaving her long, slender legs exposed to the chill darkness, another means of keeping cool. Her dark hair was splayed out about her like an unkempt halo, while her tired blue eyes were already beginning to droop as they ran across the page before her eyes.

Despite her attempts to grasp the meaning of the sentences before her, Nadine Valencia could not bring herself to take in a single word of the passage beneath her gaze. Her mind was tired, and her thoughts were already beginning to wander away from the passage. Yet always, no matter how much she thought about it... her mind always returned to the same thing: the small, blue-green ring that was now coiled gently around the pointer finger of her left hand, its unfamiliar, cold feeling attracting her thoughts again and again, just as its mysterious nature came to her mind constantly. She had been perusing the same paragraph for the past two hours now, at least, and yet, she couldn't pay attention. The excitement and anxiety within her was much too strong to simply be mastered so easily.

This ring... what exactly was it? Alchemists? Homunculi? Transmutation of living creatures? The alteration of a Human's nature to create a beast that defied all comprehension, all laws of physics and reason? These things spun wildly about through her thoughts, even as her eyes began to flutter slowly closed, and she slowly relaxed her grip on her book, allowing it to fall shut to the floor as she spread loosely out upon her cushions. But, above them all, she wondered about one thing, and one thing only.

A hero... a servant that would protect her... She didn't know whether or not it was possible, or whether or not it was even true and not just some elaborate joke by the others, a ploy to raise her spirits. But... even so, as she slowly lapsed into slumber, she somehow felt... safe. And, as those cerulean orbs shut at last, and her body became still save for the slow rising and falling of her chest in peaceful slumber, Nadine did something somewhat unusual: she hugged her left hand gently against her heart, and fell asleep with a smile on her face.

Normally, for her, sleep was an ordeal just as waking was, for the fears that filled her waking life were made manifest in dreams, and often times she found it impossible to rest, instead finding herself waking and staring blankly at the ceiling, or perhaps out the window of her room and into the bright moon that hung gigantic in the starry skies beyond. But tonight... tonight was different. For, little did she know it, but the servant who would keep her safe was already right by her side, even as she lay slumbering beneath the moonlight, like a sleeping angel in her heavenly nest. And that night, as Nadine slept... she dreamed not of darkness, of fears, and of failures, but of a strange, comforting light. She found herself floating - perhaps she was flying, or perhaps she was sinking beneath the surface of a tranquil lake - gazing up at a gentle radiance that streamed down to shower her. The ring on her hand seemed to have expanded, forming a winding mantle that had wrapped itself around her, supporting her where she hung aloft, and keeping her from falling. And yet, she didn't feel at all afraid of the warmth that encompassed her. Rather, the encircling, protective shape seemed to her a somehow familiar thing, a comforting, gentle embrace that kept her from falling out of the light, that protected her from the fears waiting to invade her dreams. For perhaps the first time in recent memory, Nadine felt at ease. She felt... safe.

She dreamed of the ring, wondering even as she slept if the promise had been true, if there really existed a servant who would absolutely, without a doubt, always be there to protect her. And yet, although she did not know it, in some manner, that servant was already protecting her, even at that moment, for the ring of the snake adorning her finger was shining ever brightly in the moonlight, as though its reflected radiance would banish all the darkness from its master's sleep. But these matters did not concern the young girl at this moment, for right now, she was at last at peace, in a state of blissful slumber that so often evaded her. Rolling over with a quiet sigh, she smiled, unconsciously hugging the ring that now served as her protective talisman tightly against her chest, warding away the nightmares that otherwise haunted her rest as, for once, she dreamed deeply, without fear nor sorrow, blissfully unaware of what was transpiring even at that very instant while she lay weary in her nest, not daring to even fancy at the extraordinary events that were about to unfold, nor to guess at the plot of the storybook into which she had at long last been cast, the hero...

---

A sudden, dull thud reached Nadine's ears as though from a distance. And, although fatigue still clouded her thoughts, she found her tired blue eyes opening almost immediately at the sudden noise. Nadine was, to begin with, a very easily startled or frightened person. This fact was not helped in this particular case by the fact that her senses aside from sight - prompting her to wear her usual glasses - were quite keen, and by the consequent realization that the sound had come from only a few feet to the side of the chair in which she'd fallen asleep. Her opened eyes widened as her tired mind began to process the meaning behind this inexplicable sound. She was just about to rise up to investigate the noise when another, more frightening one reached her ears. A faint shuffling about, and something that sounded like a quiet exhalation of breath. She covered her mouth to stifle the gasp that tried to escape her. That sound... it couldn't be... was there someone in her room? The sound of a body rising up from the floor seemed to indicate that, and yet, turned on her side as she was, facing away from the intruder, she couldn't be sure of who it was. But, several things immediately became apparent to the young girl. Firstly, judging by the angle of the moonlight faintly streaming through the window and into the dark room, it was still very late at night. Secondly, whoever was inside her room couldn't have entered through either the door or the window, for both were rather large, thick, and heavy, and had a tendency to give loud squeaks upon being opened. She would have awakened instantly if the intruder had attempted to slip in through either of these methods. But, then, how had they gotten in? She didn't know of any large vents or other such means of entering the room. It was like a locked room mystery. The only answer she could think of was that whoever was in her room now had been hiding there all along, and yet, where could the intruder have been lurking that she had not noticed? And, in any case, it would have been impossible for any of the other girls to have concealed themselves in her room between the time she'd seen them last and when she'd entered her room. Then, whoever it was in her room really was an intruder. The fatigue clouding her mind faded in an instant as she realized the situation she was in. She was alone, in the very corner of her room, with an unknown person standing between herself and all of the exits. A thousand terrible possibilities flashed through her mind in quick succession. Who was it? A murderer? A thief? A stalker, or worse, a rapist? Terror began to fill her thoughts, and, out of fright, she did something that she realized only too late was quite foolish indeed.

"Who's there!?" She cried, shooting up to a seated posture and turning to face the intruder, trying to make out the identity of the individual she could only see in silhouette on the far side of the room. And yet, her glasses seemed to have fallen off of her as she slept. The darkness of the room combined with her blurred vision made it difficult enough to discern the appearance of the unknown figure standing across from her. The blinding shafts of moonlight streaming through the window, forming an almost tangible curtain between the frightened girl amidst the blankets and the mysterious person who now met her gaze. Frantically, Nadine searched about her for her glasses, hastily sliding them onto her face as she drew back, terrified by the knowledge that, standing so close to her, vulnerable as she was, was a hostile being, who, judging by its large size, was very likely male. She was bad enough at dealing with men during the daytime when she was accompanied by her friends, let alone when she was trapped by herself, half clothed in her own bedroom in the middle of the night.

Donning her spectacles, Nadine found her vision clearing up just in time to see the figure in the shadows turn towards her and take a step forward. The young man who had been shrouded in darkness was now bathed suddenly in the light of the full moon as he stood, towering high over where she sat cowering amidst the blankets and cushions of her chair. His unkempt hair was stark white, and gleamed like so many diamonds as the moonlight shone through it. His expression was a cocky, carefree, almost bored one, a dull, sardonic expression of fatigue and distaste. He seemed less to be looking at her than he was simply noticing her, as though he didn't really care that the girl in whose room he now stood had awakened, and was gazing with barely contained fright up at him. His skin showed itself pale in the moonlight, and, although it seemed well-kept enough, there were signs of wear upon him, even upon his face, further increasing the tired appearance the young man held. But, most notable of all these things were his eyes, which held such a radiant emerald hue that Nadine found her own sapphire orbs affixed by his gaze, even after he averted it from her, focusing instead on a book he held casually in his hand.

"Who... who are you?" She gasped quietly. The fear that shown in her face was painted equally in her voice. And yet, for whatever reason, she somehow felt it beginning to lessen. She couldn't place it, but there was something familiar about this boy, a mysterious sense of connection that, combined with the dismissive manner in which he was acting, not really seeming to care about what she did, made it difficult to feel threatened by him. For a moment, the young man remained silent. Then... he spoke, and all of Nadine's questions were immediately answered. And yet, even though she suddenly came to realize all too clearly who it was she was talking to, it was so sudden, so unexpected, so unbelievable, that Nadine found herself stunned into momentary silence as she slowly, shakily raised her hand before her eyes, looking down with awe and disbelief upon the gleaming blue-green of the ring that shown faintly in the moonlight. It couldn't be... it just couldn't be true...!

"Good morning... Uh... I guess you're supposed to be my new... what's that word... ah... mistress, and stuff. Nice to meet you, I'm going to stay with your for eternity now, yeah, I think you know the rest and whatever else there is to say."

But it was. How else could she explain the boy's mysterious, silent, and, more importantly, impossible entrance to her room while she slept? How else could she explain that he was here, and yet wasn't harming her? How else could she explain that he even knew at all about the ring she now wore? Nadine was a superstitious girl, and believed easily in the supernatural, or the fantastic. Consequently, realizing these things, she found it surprisingly easy to accept the boy's word for the truth. Since she lived in the world of storybooks to begin with, why couldn't storybooks come to life in her own world?

"You..." Nadine murmured, realization passing over her countenance as fear turned to wonder and disbelief. The boy said something else, but, at the moment, Nadine was too stunned to register what had been said, or to respond. This... this was unbelievable. This situation should have just been a fantasy, a story in one of the many books that filled her room. And yet, it was real... wasn't it?

"You can't be the ring... can you? I'm not dreaming... right?" Nadine murmured uncertainly, looking with equal parts confusion, shock, awe, and unease up at the boy who stood towering over her, silhouetted by the light of the full moon. It didn't seem real, and yet, it most certainly was. This boy was standing over her right now, and had just called her his mistress... then, did that mean that the rings really were magic? Was this boy really the spirit promised her in the note? Was this really... her servant? She didn't know. And yet, for whatever reason, she found that, to her surprise... she believed.

Niko Refiné

"Hmmm? Ring...?" Niko asked, trying to think for a while, as if the term hadn't been known to him for quite a long while. He was stuck inside a prison for a long, very long time, so he wasn't used to speaking at all, so he was still a bit slow. He hadn't talked to anyone in years, so all he did was have conversations with himself to pass time by. It didn't really work so well, but if he hadn't done so, he probably would have been at a loss for words.

He searched the room for this so called 'ring', but all he found were figures in the darkness, not like a human, but in squares, and rectangles, and other shapes he couldn't name(He's referring to books and things you'd see regularly in a girl's room). He continued looking, his vivid green eyes scanning the room as he ran his pale hand through his grey and messy hair, "Ring... Ring... Ring..." He repeated to himself slowly as he then drew his eyes onto what was one the girl's hand, "Ah, that stupid thing."

A bit of a disgusted expression came across his face as he accidentally said out loud without knowing, "That... horrific demonic item kept me in a cage for over a hundred years..." Niko gritted his teeth with anger and frustration. He didn't know he said his words out loud, so skipped to the next topic without paying any mind, "Apparently I am that damn ring," Niko answered, not really caring if he swore since it was something he couldn't care any less for, "And if this were a dream, you should try pinching yourself and seeing if you would wake up." He rolled his eyes rudely. His attitude was never something he was concerned about, and he didn't care what people thought of him either. Not ever since that one day in his past.

Niko then picked up the same book he took into his hands before, and held it up to his eyes, it being backwards and upside down. He couldn't read, that was obvious, but never held back his curiosity when it came to things, so he just tried his best, squinting his eyes at the words since they were so small to him, and since it was nighttime. He did need glasses after all, but its not as if he knew that. If he heard about glasses, he'd most likely ask what they were.

He kept his eyes on the book, moving towards the window to see if that would help him read. It didn't help much since he didn't know how to read, but he could at least make out the shapes and curves of each letter and word. While flipping a page to a picture and studying it carefully, Niko finally removed his eyes from the book, and shifted them to the girl with glasses who was still in the bed a few feet from him.

Slowly, he set the book on the sill of the window, and walked towards the girl with glasses and black hair. Along the way, he tripped on something on the floor that he didn't see, even with the light shinning directly onto it. As said before, Niko had possibly the worst eyesight possible, and missed seeing the largest things. He landed on his face obviously, making quite a loud noise on the ground, but immediately got up and rubbed his forehead as he sat down, groaning a bit from the pain, "W-what the... what the hell would someone place on the floor... that's dangerous you know." He grumbled while rubbing away some of the blood from his nose that had began to run.

But Niko also ignored that as well. Instead, he stood back up again, swiping away the dust from his clothing, and getting closer to the girl on the bed. He stopped about five feet away from her side that she was laying on, and leaned onto the wall, his arms behind his head, "Your name?" He asked, though it kind of sounded more like a command. Niko wiped a bit more blood onto his sleeve, which he didn't mind, and decided to introduce himself first, "Niko Refiné. Nice to meet you..." He held off the last sound of his sentence, as if waiting for her to finish it by telling him her name.

---

(Just a small note: Nadine's actually sleeping in her basket chair, not on her bed. Also, there aren't really many typical "girl things" in Nadine's room. As I mentioned, it's basically filled almost completely with books and bookshelves.)

Nadine's blue eyes gazed intently upon the stranger as he tried to come up with an answer. His words seemed as though they were coming from across a long distance, as though he was struggling to wake up after a long, long sleep. His words only confirmed this when they came at last, for speaking with regret and disdain for the item now on her finger, he cursed it as having imprisoned him for "over a hundred years." And yet, a moment later, he concurred with her previous statement, revealing that he was, indeed, the ring itself. Then... which was it? Was it his prison, or somehow an intrinsic part of himself? Or was it both? But how could someone be imprisoned within their own self? Nadine supposed that the answer to that was easy, if only in a metaphorical sense. Each and every day, she felt trapped within her own skin. And yet, she couldn't even begin to imagine how it must have felt, if this boy was telling the truth. To have been trapped alone for so long... It seemed too horrible to even think about.

"I'm... so sorry," She apologized, feeling somehow implicit in the boy's suffering just by now wearing the ring that must have caused him such pain. Nadine felt like she had to say something, and yet, what words should she use? Such a simple apology surely would be inadequate condolence for the "crime" she felt as though she had now become an accomplice in. But, on the other hand, it seemed to her that it would be the pinnacle of conceit to try to act like she could understand how he must have felt. And, furthermore, she feared that if she paid too much attention to the subject, it might show that she pitied the boy. What if that only insulted him? But what if he was looking for sympathy? She supposed that she might wish for someone to try to comfort her after something so terrible as being alone, trapped for over a century. But, on the other hand, there was no way for her to be sure that this person felt the same way. Then... what should she say? Nadine didn't know the answer to that. It was just like always. Try though she might to understand others, she found herself completely unable to interact with people. Nevertheless, she resolved to try her best, opening her mouth and trying to find even mildly appropriate words for the situation, only to find a gasp the only sound that left her as the boy abruptly tripped on something and collapsed on the floor next to her chair. Rising up, she peered over the edge of the basket seat, concern evident in her face.

It was somewhat odd, come to think of it. Even though this boy had just suddenly appeared in her room, she found herself taking his words to be true without question, and worrying about his well-being even though she had no idea who he was. It was to be expected, though, she supposed. This situation... it was just what she had been wishing for, wasn't it? Something exciting, fantastical, and impossible was unfolding before her - no, with her at the very center of it. This was everything she had always dreamed of made into a reality right before her very eyes. She couldn't help but feel her fears disappearing and, although her sense of astonishment and wonder was still there, Nadine felt... happy.

"A-are you alright?" She stammered, bending over the edge of the chair without thinking and offering a hand to help the boy up on reflex. To her slight surprise, he didn't seem to even notice that she had moved. Hmm... that was a little odd. Come to think of it, he'd been holding that book upside down, hadn't he? It seemed like it, anyway, since the pages and spine had been reversed from the sides they should have been on. And yet, it had looked like he was trying to read it. Had he not noticed that, either? Maybe his eyesight was bad, like hers. For a moment, Nadine thought of offering him her own glasses, but stopped, wondering if he would even recognize their function. Although he'd only said that he had been imprisoned for "over a hundred years" the note in the puzzle box had talked about things like alchemy, hadn't it? That was a psuedoscience that had fallen out of favor much, much earlier than a hundred years ago. Then, it might be possible that he'd been sealed away for more than three centuries, wasn't it? And if that was the case, there was no way he'd recognize what "glasses" even were, as they weren't invented until much later than the twilight of alchemy. However, this wasn't the only realization that struck her.

Namely, Nadine, tipped off both by her increased level of consciousness and by the feeling of her exposed legs brushing against the cushions beneath her as she had moved, realized exactly what it was she was wearing, causing her to instinctively retreat back into the center of the basket, rapidly slipping beneath a blanket and covering herself with it as quickly as possible, a hue of vibrant scarlet emerging on her cheeks. Just being seen in her pajamas would have been embarrassing enough. The fact that she was being seen by an unfamiliar young man, in her own bedroom, alone, in the middle of the night only made it worse. And, on top of all of these issues, she'd even unintentionally chosen a rather revealing ensemble for her night clothing, consisting only of a rather embarrassingly thin and short, gown-like top that only reached down to her thighs and happened to be so loose in the collar that it was sagging to a point below her shoulders, exposing much more in the way of cleavage than she was comfortable with. Suffice to say, Nadine just hoped that her previous assessment of the boy's vision was correct, because if it wasn't, she felt like she might just die of shame.

However, judging by the boy's apparent ignorance as to her current state of clothing, it seemed she didn't have to worry about that for the moment, at least. Or at least, that was what she hoped. Nevertheless, she pulled her blanket covering more tightly around herself, her head and sleeve-covered hands poking out from amidst a tangle of various pillows and sheets. Adjusting her glasses, which had been knocked slightly loose by the force of her start backwards, she quickly replied to the boy, Niko's, questioning.

"I-I'm Nadine. Nadine Valencia," She answered quietly, trying to speak as clearly as possible, not wanting to let her embarrassment show. Sadly, she wasn't quite able to master herself, and ended up stammering as she found herself doing all too often. "N-nice to meet you... A-ah... Is it alright if I just use your first name...? O-or is there something else you'd prefer me to call you by?" Looking nervously up at him, she stopped for a moment, concern once more crossing her features as she noticed the faint red stain on Niko's sleeve as he wiped his face.

"A-ah...! You're bleeding. A-are you okay?"

(Ah, gomenasai >w< Kei-chan writ her post in a few different times, so she forgot things along the way! She'll make sure not to do that again!)

"I don't really get why you'd apologize. I mean, it's not as if you locked me up in there." Niko said. He had been inside that ring for such a long time that he had trouble understanding what people said. He was especially confused when someone apologized, or when they apologized out of feeling pity. He didn't understand it, so he didn't pay much mind to it, and didn't question. Instead, he seemed to have said quietly, and turned away, his face now in the shadows of the room instead of the moonlight, "I should actually probably be thanking you for letting me out of that thing... now that I think about it... T-thanks... I guess..." Niko murmured quietly, his face slightly red since he found it embarrassing to actually be thanking someone for something. He wasn't the type of person to be thankful, he was much more selfish which is why he hid his expression by standing in the shade.

But almost immediately, his personality swapped back to it's usual, and said, "Nice to meet you too, Na-" He stopped, about to call her by her first name, but knowing that he'd probably be scolded for being rude, so he coughed, to take back what he said, and resumed, "Nice to meet you, Miss Valencia."

'What name to call me by...?' Niko wondered to himself inside of his head, 'Why... Why would anyone care about what to call me? No one cares for me, right? That's... that's impossible. Last I checked... No one... no one cared. Only that one woman did. Only that one woman... And she's been dead for years, probably half my lifetime. It's impossible for someone else to be so polite. She's probably just... she's probably got another reason behind all of a this...'

Niko seemed to have sighed quietly to himself, telling himself constantly that he was never going to be cared for again, or at least, not in that way. He then heard her ask about the blood as he nodded and looked back down on his sleeve, "I've had this happen in the past a lot. The blood will dry, and I can wash my shirt some other time."

He then noticed something, even with his bad and terrible eye sight, "Hey, are you hiding something?" Niko got off the bed and went a little closer to his mistress, "You're seeming to be holding to your blanket more tighter than before. What, are you anxious or something?" He asked.

---

"N-no, there's no reason for you to thank me," Nadine disagreed, shaking her head sadly. "I mean... I didn't find the box, I didn't help open it, I didn't even really do anything. I just happened to be a fourth trusted person there, and there was a fourth ring, so the others let me have it. I-in fact, I didn't even really expect anything to come of this. So... I'm not the one you should be thanking. I was no help at all in getting you out. I didn't even think to try. That's why... I'm sorry." She gave a wry, mirthless smile, looking sadly up at the boy from within the folds of the blanket she'd half pulled over her head in fright. It looked more like she had clad herself in some sort of bizarre hooded robe than simply slipped herself under the covers.

She seemed rather gloomy for a moment, but started from this demeanor when Niko addressed her again, referring to her as "Miss Valencia," something she really wasn't used to, save for in scoldings or overly impersonal talks with her disappointed teachers. Instinctively, she grimaced at those two words, and yet, she swiftly mastered herself, trying not to think about such things in a situation like this. She also couldn't help but notice that Niko hadn't answered her question about how to address him, but decided not to be rude by commenting on it. Playing it safe, she decided to just use the same polite, not overly familiar manner of address as he had just done, if she needed to.

"E-er... Y-you can just call me... N-Nadine, if you like," She said quietly. She hoped that didn't come off as sounding strange, as he seemed to be a little older than herself even discounting his apparent longevity, and, if the note was anything to go by, he was supposed to be some sort of guardian for her. Would it be odd of her to ask him to refer to her so informally, so suddenly? Especially considering the standards of the time period Niko had probably lived in. Maybe, from his point of view, it might even seem scandalous for a young lady like her to allow him to refer to her so informally right from their first meeting. At the very least, it would probably seem weird, which worried her. Nevertheless, she had a feeling that the others would probably laugh at her if she had this boy refer to her in such an indirect, respectful manner, and it might even seem like she was exploiting him to boost her own ego. She didn't want that, so she decided to risk it.

While she was fretting about these things, however, she looked up only to find that the boy had suddenly come much closer to her, and was looking inquisitively at her, as though closely inspecting her appearance. She couldn't help but recoil slightly beneath his direct gaze, uneasily wrapping herself more tightly in the blankets. Had she been wrong about his eyesight? It seemed this was at least partially the case, since his words made it obvious that he'd noticed something. And yet, given his attitude, it seemed his vision was at least partially impaired.

"A-ah, n-no...!" Nadine quickly denied, shaking her head nervously. "I-it's just that... E-er... I'm..." She stammered quite a bit at this point, not wanting to say something embarrassing by revealing her current state of dishevelment and lack of more modest clothing than her pajama-gown. Nevertheless, she had a feeling that if she didn't say something to that effect, Niko might get curious as to what she was hiding under the blanket, and try to see for himself. Needless to say, that wouldn't end well for either of them. So, Nadine resolved to at least partially clarify the situation before it got any worse.

"I'm... still.. in my bedclothes," She said at last, flushing a bright shade of red as she more mumbled the words into the blanket than actually saying them directly. Nevertheless, they'd probably be audible enough to easy interpret. She just hoped she didn't have to go into detail as to why exactly being seen in her current state would be embarrassing, since that would doubtless result in a conversation much more awkward than she cared at all to have.