Ari's House

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari gulped down the ball that had formed in her throat. Ace... she had been able to not think about him all day, but now the pain just came back. Surprisingly, though, it didn't hurt as much as she thought it would... maybe hanging with Crash was helping.

She shook her head. Nope. That wasn't it. Too tired and overwhelmed to think, Ari sank to her knees and then laid down on her side, closing her eyes.

[Crash Bandicoot]

About 2 hours later, Crash stopped moping and came out of his room to get himself something to eat. He wasn't too concerned about what Ari was doing or where she had run off to and decided that maybe he'd better just drop this lady-servant act. She wasn't exactly doing what he wanted. With a sigh, he came into the living room to turn the light off when he noticed Ari asleep.

He sighed and walked over to her, bending on one knee and nudging her with the other. "Hey. Go collapse in the guest room."

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari opened her eyes sleepily. She yawned. "I'm... not tired," she said, stretching. She rolled on to her other side and fell asleep again.

[Crash Bandicoot]

He blinked at her and groaned inwardly. "You better not be heavy", he grumbled under his breath and slid his arms under her, hoisting her bridal-style into his arms. Crash turned off the light in the living room with his chin and made his way to the guest room but then stopped. Rolling his eyes, he turned on his heel and just took her to his room instead, laying her on his bed while he sighed and stared at her for a while. "...You're a mess", Crash muttered with a smirk and turned to go to the guest room, turning off the lights on his way out.

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari rolled over and stretched after about an hour, yawning widely. She padded out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen, still half asleep. She grabbed eggs and butter from the fridge, mistaking Crash's place for her own home.

[Crash Bandicoot]

Crash frowned in his sleep, hearing clattering and noises coming from downstairs. He was usually a heavy sleeper but because of Tawni and Neil had learned to be alert sometimes. So rolling his eyes, he grabbed a Nerf football that was sitting on his bedside table and padded down the stairs, noticing Ari grabbing things from the fridge.

He narrowed his eyes and looked at the time on the clock. 2 in the morning. Crash turned his attention back to Ari and chucked the Nerf ball at her back, putting some force behind the throw.

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari grunted as the ball hit her back, her eyes widening. She turned around on the spot and furrowed her brows in question when she saw Crash. "Crash? What are you doing in my house at..." she shot a glance at the clock, "two in the morning?"

[Crash Bandicoot]

He sighed heavily, running a hand thru his hair as he walked towards her. "Telling you that you're in my house and are unsuccessfully making breakfast at 2 in the morning." Crash gave her a tired look and raised his hand to her forehead so he could flick it. "Go to sleep, will ya?" He started putting the butter and eggs back in the fridge.

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari just looked at him. "Oh... that explains a LOT." She turned out of the kitchen and walked back upstairs and into the guest room.

[Crash Bandicoot]

Crash slowly shook his head and closed the refridgerator, then trudged back up to his room and fell onto the bed, not even bothering to get under the covers. His pet serval Lynx had found her way to Ari's bed while she'd been downstairs and was sleeping on it.

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari stumbled into the guest room, not bothering to turn on the light. She collapsed into bed, wrapping her arms around her pillow. Or... what she thought was her pillow.

When her pillow growled, Ari screamed, jumping off the bed and bolting into Crash's room, jumping on his bed. "My pillow just growled!" she shouted, shaking him.

[Crash Bandicoot]

"Ah-wha...? Aaaaaughhhhh", Crash grumbled in annoyance when he started shaking. He scowled and turned over to look into the face of a scared Ari. "Right...Lynx must've crashed there while you were on your little two a.m. adventures", he somehwhat snapped.

"She's not gonna give that space up now, y'know", he muttered with a yawn.

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari slumped down. "Oh.... alright... I just wanted to make sure nothing was in my bed that wasn't supposed to be," she said without thinking, moving to leave Crash's room.

[Crash Bandicoot]

Crash narrowed his eyes at his wall, then flicked on the light on his bedside table and shot Ari a tired but disbelieving look. "...And just where the hell do you think you're going? Kitty ain't movin'."

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari looked at him. "I figured I'd grab the pillow next to her and sleep on the other end of the bed... is that a bad idea?"

[Crash Bandicoot]

He shrugged and turned so that he was facing the door. "So long as you don't snore...or kick things in your sleep, then by all means, climb in with me."

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari's eyes widened. "Are you sure?" she asked, surprised.

[Crash Bandicoot]

Crash raised an eyebrow at her. "Sure. What's wrong with that?"

[Arianna Rivers]

"Nothing," Ari said slowly, looking at him oddly. She walked over to the other side of the bed, climbing in.

[Crash Bandicoot]

He surveyed the look she was giving him and scowled in annoyance, quickly turning on his other side so his back was facing her. "I'm not gonna rape you if that's what you're thinking. We're not turning this into some SVU case."

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari chuckled. "I'm more of a Criminal Minds/ CSI type of person... which would mean you'd have to kill me. Not that I'm suggesting it, of course," she added, blushing a little.

[Crash Bandicoot]

"Dammit", he said, a slight whine to his voice. "What the hell? That takes the fun out of everything, party pooper." Crash smirked and shifted to the other side so he could look at her. "Now what am I supposed to do with the gigantic butcher knife I just bought?"

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari shrugged her shoulders. "Bake a gigantic cake?"

[Crash Bandicoot]

Crash smirked and poked Ari in the side. "Or how 'bout I just eat you instead? I hear cannibalism is the shit right now."

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari shook her head. "I don't think I'd taste that good... no muscle or anything..."

[Crash Bandicoot]

He sized Ari up and came to the same conclusion she had. "Yeah, you're probably right. I'll just feed ya to Lynx instead. She'll eat anything, it's not even funny...I'm pretty good at planning deaths, too", he muttered, his mind completely going somewhere else. "No one will even know..."

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari propped her head up on her hand. "You know, I may not look dangerous, but I could kill you in about twenty ways and the police would never find your body. I've watched 12 seasons of CSI... don't make me hurt you," she said, trying to appear menacing.

[Crash Bandicoot]

Crash turned to look at her and frowned but laughed anyway when he couldn't hold it in. "Oh ok. Sure. You could totally hurt me--oh, my bad kill me. I have total faith you could pull it off...if I was already on the brink of death and all ya had to do was kick me", he mumbled.

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari huffed. "Excuse me. I could so kill you. I may look scrawny, but I can hurt you."

[Crash Bandicoot]

Crash raised an eyebrow at her and then his face cracked into a smile and he ruffled her hair. "Sure you can." He grinned, pinching Ari's cheek playfully. "Yes you can...A-yes you can." He spoke like he was talking to a dog.