Chapter Text
0031 Ante Meridiem.
Barely the start of the new day. Typically time reserved for resting up and preparing for whatever the morning would throw at you.
Not for Boggles.
For some reason, the night had decided to curse her with every human's worst nightmare; the inability to fall asleep.
She tried everything she could think of! A glass of warm milk, a lap around the wing, even Folejo’s old advice of several cartwheels before bed! (Which had earned her a scolding from Matadork about the ruckus) but there the clown sat, tossing and turning in her assigned twin size. More awake than ever… trying to sleep felt like a mission in of itself.
There was nothing new on the ceiling that Boggles hadn’t seen before. The cracks her gaze had followed over and over hadn’t led anywhere new. The throw-up sloppily spelling out B0GZ she had painted her first month at SaFel hadn’t moved from its birth spot right above her bed.
If the need to sleep wasn’t going to come soon, death by boredom would certainly get her.
A huff of frustration left Boggles as she lifted herself from her beaten in pillow, legs shifting to hook the side of the bed as she prepared to get up for another lap around the hall. Staring at the ceiling was getting her nowhere- she might as well get a little snack to quell the ever growing yearn for a sweet treat in the back of her mind. Trying to sleep on an empty stomach was a terrible combination…
The additional debate of what to eat began to float around in Boggles’ thoughts. There was some leftover chicken strips from the night prior, some lizards she had frozen, a bag of chips somewhere in her room that likely went stale, that liquidized crap they always fed Mari (which sounded rather unappealing), fish…
The pondering had managed to carry Boggles from her room and down the hall to the H.E.P’s communal kitchen. Boggles and Mari were really the only ones who saw any action out of the kitchenette, so there was never a rush to clean unless commanded to (or when it became practically inoperable). The pile of dishes in the sink over the week hadn’t begun to overflow just yet, the scribbles of notes from one H.E.P to another hung to the fridge hadn’t been torn down or relocated from their original spots.
Actually- there was a new one that Boggles had just noticed as she approached the fridge. A torn piece of lined paper addressed to no other than her. With one hand snaking onto the fridge’s door handle, she began to mumble the note’s contents aloud;
“Boggs,
Matador threw out those frozen whoopee cushions.
Better luck next time.
Diablo”
Oh yeah… she had forgotten about those. Boggles had filled them with water and hid them in the freezer a number of weeks ago, ready to let them thaw out and soak her coworkers beds. The prank must’ve slipped her mind up to tonight. What a shame… those were good whoopee cushions, too. Boggles must’ve managed to get a good dozen capers from them up to now—
“You found the note?”
The aural interruption to Boggles pause at the fridge had given the clown a good scare. Reeling back from the fridge and eyes darting to the table that sat in the middle of the dark kitchen. The only light coming from the fluorescent beams from the hallway behind Boggles.
The lighting had managed to illuminate the culprit of the disturbance just enough for Boggles to calm herself down upon realising it was just her coworker; Sitting in the dark, probably here for a late night snack.
“You gotta stop sittin’ in the dark, Mar.” Boggles shook her head a little through levelling herself. “You’re gonna give me a heart attack someday…”
“My apologies… the light can be a bit much.” Mari-Anna hummed out a half hearted apology. The utensil she was handling telepathically catching Boggles attention from the light shine it illuminated from the light she did have.
Boggles’ fingers slid from the fridge’s handle, closing the few steps between her and Mari at the table. Upon closer inspection, Mari was poking at a salad. Mostly consisting of cut up carcits of uneven proportions.
“Late dinner, huh?” Boggles tugged out the chair beside Mari, making herself comfortable. She wasn’t gonna fall asleep at the table, what was some conversation?
“I fear so.” Mari huffed defeatedly, bringing carcit filled prongs to her mouth. “I never get to eat before missions these days. They do not give me enough time when getting ready.”
The lab had been particularly picky about Mari’s schedule as of late. With her getting up and curfew, the kitchen had mostly just been in use by Boggles for the last few weeks. She hadn't actually seen Mari sit down for a meal in quite some time.
“What’s up with that?”
“I do not know…! I am up at their time and yet they do not let me eat. I tell them ‘I am hungry, may I please have something’ but no! Nothing! And I do not understand why they do not listen to me about it. Maybe if I drop from starvation during a mission, they will listen to me.”
Mari’s translator only allowed for so much with her tone. The rather flat, gentle voice the device emitted alongside her long winded rant and tentacle flailing frustrations couldn't help but get a small snort out of Boggles; even if the topic was not a laughing matter.
Through her complaining, something seemed to click to Mari that paused her in her grouse. A realization of the time and who was sitting with her. “…Why are you awake?”
Boggles shrugged at Mari’s question, leaning back in her seat before giving her a matter-of-fact response. “Can’t sleep.”
“But you need eight hours of uninterrupted sleep, do you not?”
“Only if you think you do!” Boggles gave Mari-Anna a sly simper, which only earned her a stare from the alien.
“I do not think that is how it works” Mari ran a tentacle under their chin in thought, staring down at her bowl as she began to poke around for her next bite. “I read that humans are natural co-sleepers once. Perhaps that is why you cannot sleep.”
“What? Like, with people?” There was truth to Mari’s observation. For a millenia, humans would rest in groups. Boggles’ family included! The memories of falling asleep on the shoulder of Folejo and waking up hours later to a pile of her troupe amongst one another was one she held rather fondly, even if the annoyance of not being able to feel limbs that were pinned under her many relatives for hours always crept right behind.
Leaning into the table, Boggles’ kept a crack of a grin through her teasing. “You thinkin’ about crawlin’ into bed with me or somethin’?”
A jest, for the most part. Hoping the razz would either get an eye roll from Mari or maybe fluster her a bit. But somewhere, under guise of teasing, there was a string of hope Mari would possibly take the quip as an offer.
“Well… I would not mind.” Mari stabbed at a few slices of vegetables. “My people also share sleeping quarters. It is a part of my capture I still have not quite adjusted to… your company could be nice.”
The acceptance of her offer hung heavy on Boggles for the few seconds of silence articulating a response, rather stunned Mari would actually agree to sharing a bed. Well… not too surprised. The alien never had any qualms with sharing space with Boggles the more comfortable they had gotten around her. It was more the prospect of the proposal that managed to perplex the clown.
“That’s sweet of ‘ya Marbles, but won’t your room be kinda… wet?” A reasonable concern. Unlike Boggles, Mari was much more slimy. A natural byproduct of her anatomy that left an annoying trail most times the others tried their best to avoid. But after a while, the slime kind of just became a part of routine most got used to. Mari’s personal quarters were a bit of a different story, though…
Mari couldn't think of much she could say to mediate Boggles’ worry. Giving her the same shrug response as the clown had moments prior. “Perhaps a little. But it is my bed.”
Fair enough.
“I’ll think about it.” Boggles hummed, pushing up from her seat at the table and giving Mari a pat on the shoulder. “Enjoy your dinner yeah?”
Mari watched Boggles scuttle to the fridge, tugging the door open a crack to steal a chicken leg from a container of leftovers she had the night prior.
“Good luck with your rest, Boggles.”
Despite a snack, nothing changed within the hour of Boggles returning to her chambers to writhe more in a frugal attempt to rest. Several position changes and more wall staring than one would like to admit began to feel like teetering the brink of insanity for the performer.
A final roll to the left of the bed was her last straw. Several minutes of ogling the vague shape of a bedside table through the pitch black was enough to frustrate Boggles to finally consider the waddle to Mari-Anna’s room down the hall. At this point, what did she have to lose? More sleep?
A final lap down the hall, hopefully. Boggles fixed the bunched hem of her shirt from all her restless rolling as she rose from her bed once more. Kicking her thin blanket elsewhere onto the floor as she left her room for the last time.
The track to Mari-Anna’s doorway felt longer than it had to, for some reason. The worry of disturbing Mari if she was able to sleep began to bring Boggles to a trudge upon making it to Mari’s door. She knew how poor Mari’s schedule could be with how face-paced their work environment could be… but if her coworker was up at 12 am like Boggles herself, who's to say she would be resting now.
The muffled “Come in.” That followed Boggles’ knocking managed to wash away at least a handful of her worries of disturbing Mari. Enough to slide the door open and give a peak into the extraterrestrial’s room.
A gentle orange illuminated Mari’s bed. Curled amongst several pillows sat Boggles’ coworker, legs to their chest, attention drawn from whatever was in her lap now to their visitor. The only thing that really changed from when Boggles saw Mari in the kitchen was the fact Mari had retired her bulky eyewear for the night. The familiar red tinted stare Boggles was so familiar with now replaced by a more gentle, bug eyed gaze.
“Are ‘ya still up for that sleepover…?”
“Of course.”