The Dragon(Crowley and Richard)

The moon was high in the sky when Crowley was lurking around the school, and he reckoned it a lucky night. Lucky in the sense nobody was around. There was an edge of nervousness in his movements and his hands were firmly stuck into the pockets of him hooded sweatshirt. His shoes had been specially chosen to not make much noise and were headed purposefully in his direction, through the corridors of the castle.

The staff room had several keys to the infirmary and one was in his pocket, when he got the door of the place he opened the door carefully and shut it again with the same amount of care. Breathing deeply and narrowing his eyes towards his target, he stalked promptly towards a cabinet. His fingers trembled a little. The manticore knew he mustn't dawdle.

Unfortunate as it was, living beings still needed to sleep; so, despite her insistence that she was fine, Richard wished the doctor a good night and departed. He wasn't quite certain where did the time go.

There were people whose company wasn't as desirable, though, so he was very quiet as he walked down the corridor, listening carefully. Not that the chances of stumbling into somebody in the middle of the night were big, but it seemed that in Lillegard, the unusual was the norm.

Surely enough, his sensitive ears caught some noises, but what surprised him was the close proximity. There was no valid reason for anybody to be in that part of the Castle at that hour, unless it was to visit Sheloe... and if the person was going to, they would have to come upon him. And there was no need for that. Richard glanced around, considering his options. In the dead silence surrounding them, switching to a bat form would be much too loud. The only idea was to turn around and go to the other exit, the stairs down, so that he could avoid whomever it was coming to the Infirmary so late at night.

If he did just that, he would not find out who it was, though. And that was unacceptable.

The vampire stalked over to the passage that led to the parallel corridor and stopped there, back clinging to the wall. In the darkness and out of the way, he would not be easily spotted... not by a human, at least, he supposed. He was willing to take that risk. Breath held, he focused on listening in.

It wasn't that Crowley's eyesight was particularly prize-winning, but he knew what he was looking for. So it was just a seconds's worth of rustling, a seize, then what he was after was pocketed and he was shutting the door. The possession probably counted as a placebo but Crowley didn't care that much anymore. The whole time his wings were hunched tight to his back and he was breathing as little as possible.

He locked the door and would walk away swiftly-like he was planning to, if nothing else got his attention or no other presence or sound attracted suspicion. For the amount of time there had been none he didn't expect any.

The footsteps stopped, and the brief silence was broken by the sound of a closet door being opened, some ruffling, then the click of the door closing again. Richard prided himself on his logical reasoning and deductive skills, but here, not much effort was really necessary to figure out what was going on. If this person had come to get something they were allowed, but didn't want to wake the doctor for, their breathing would not be so restrained and nervous.

Quickly and quietly, Richard made his way to the doorway, then stepped through it into the corridor the noises originated from to see a winged back.

Crowley. Well, well.

"May I know what are you doing?" he asked calmly.

Shit, Crowley thought as he stopped himself sighing heavily like he felt like doing. It suddenly felt like the nervous butterflies in his stomach had turned to lead. He didn’t know what to do for a moment, but then thought to bluff it off until he had any sort of plan. The manticore with wings and shoulders now more relaxed, turned.

Finality settled as he saw Richard. Not in a suit but there none the less, with that face of his. Him being an ex-counselor wasn't reassuring and he was just too normal to be here. If he could fit into regular society why was he here?

“I don’t know, do you?” He said in his usual tone. Nothing would be more suspicious than his being helpful immediately, the chef figured.

The cook displayed impressive nonchalance, he thought. Not that he believed it to be in any way genuine. Richard crossed his arms, a light, incredulous smile on his face. "Sleepwalking?" he suggested. His gaze trailed down to the man's hand, trying to see what did he take. He had talked to the man before -- so long ago -- but not nearly enough to be able to guess what could he have taken. Maybe it was, indeed, something innocent, and Crowley was nervous just because of having to sneak around, and not because of his unlawful intentions themselves.

Right.

"If I'm sleeping you shouldn't wake me, apparently it's dangerous" He countered to the vampire playfully, who was now looking at his hand, which was making him nervous. Crowley made a mall show of it being empty, not to showy and considered that he had not really considered that he was losing touch. His hand was empty anyway. Maybe it had just been luck all along.

"You aren't wearing a suit thought, I could ask the same of you"

It was a statement that was a bit of a diversion but it felt like an umbrella felt against a hurricane. He was just glad he didn't sleep walk, now it had been said out loud. That would have been awkward however more escapable from. As escapable as someone in the room directly opposite was in any case. His wing pushed the closet door behind him gently shut and he tilted his head slightly in question. "But if that's all I'd better be off" He said, turning to walk away. Worth a shot.

He ignored the japing, his brow creasing slightly as he saw the hand was empty. Crowley had had more than ample time to shove it -- whatever it was -- up his sleeve or into his pocket, though, so that hardly deterred him. As the man turned away, he lifted his incredulous gaze back up to him.

"I had been paying a visit to the physician," he explained. "Which..." He paused as he stepped forward to be at Crowley's side, tilting his head to look into his face. "...You hadn't. See, as the Castle Steward, I am obliged to know what medicine we have in stock. And I happen to be doing my job well enough to be aware the contents of that one cabinet--" He threw a thumb over his shoulder. "--are not to be taken without a prescription."

With a quick move, he stepped in front of the manticore to block his way, crossing his arms. "I'll need to know what you took."