"They really can be." Ryker responded.

He then watched as Eke fell asleep right there, his tail wrapped around his torso.

"......." he was silent as this happened, before smirking.

'Guess I have no choice but to sleep now.' he thought to himself.

'....or try, anyway...' he added, before closing his eyes and listening to the storm, as it passed directly over them.

When he stirred, Ryker was already awake.

But he was still there, as his torso still had Eke's tail wrapped around it.

He didn't seem to mind, though.

He was just laying there, reading a book, before he noticed that Eke was awake.

"Hey." he said.

"Sleep well?" he asked.

"........." he was silent as Eke said nothing to him.

Not a word.

"Um... okay then..." he said quietly.

He then looked around the room, and just stared at the ceiling again.

He didn't know what he was going to do with this day. Or what was left of it.

He found himself not really caring, either, if he were to be honest with himself.

Ryker continued to lay in the bed, before sighing.

He then got up and got changed into his jeans and a shirt, as well as his sneakers. Once he'd done that, he left the room and made his way straight to the back door.

He opened it and stepped outside, looking upwards at the sky.

"........hm." he mumbled.

"I guess I gotta try." he said to himself.

Ryker was silent for a moment, and looked at Eke.

"Hey." he greeted him.

"No. I don't want something to eat." he told him.

"And... a shrink?" he then asked.

"I... that's a pretty big thing to do. To admit." he commented.

"Do you need help with that?" he asked him.

"And as for where I was going... nowhere in specific." he then added.

".............." Ryker was silent for a moment.

"I'll... I'll only be gone... for an hour." he said.

"I... I promise." he told him.

".................I promise." he repeated, his hands clenching into fists for another moment.

Then, through his angry expression, tears started to fall down his cheeks.

"No. I don't." he then said.

"I'm not even going to go for a walk. I don't want to leave here right now."

Ryker seemed to choke up for a moment, before he shook his head and wiped the rest of the tears away with his arm.

"I want to help you do that." he said.

"But I know I can't." he admitted.

"You need help that I cannot provide." he lamented.

"But I hope the one you DO go to CAN help." he then said further, a small smile forming on the corners of his mouth.

"....that's what I was considering." Ryker said.

"But I don't know what I can do." he told him.

"I have no skills. I don't have a real education. Just whatever people have managed to teach me over the course of my life." he admitted dejectedly.

"All I can really do is... physical labour." he admitted further, before pausing.

"Well... I suppose I could see if there's a factory hiring, or a place that needs a stock boy or something." he realized, thinking about it.

"A nap?" Ryker asked.

"...already?" he asked further.

"But you just got up." he told him.

"Seriously. You like, literally just got up." he reiterated.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Did you not sleep well or something?"

".........." Ryker was silent for a moment, and then sighed.

"Hm." he muttered.

When Eke woke up around midnight, he noticed that, when he left his room, the light in Ryker's room was on, and the door was slightly open a crack.

He also heard shuffling and mumbling inside. Almost like papers were being ruffled about.

"Hmmmmmmmm." he heard Ryker murmur.