Callie nodded to Clarisse, feeling her eyes droop. God, she was ready to sleep. She tried to keep in mind where the bathroom was, but most of her focus was taken up by staying upright until Clarisse had left the room. As soon as Clarisse was out the door, Callie dropped to the bed. It took her all of about a second to realise she was still in her very uncomfortable jeans. She could feel her body relaxing into the bed, her muscles going slack and heavy. It was almost a familiar feeling, the ache of that muscle fatigue, but there was a hint of something else there, a different kind of fatigue. She felt it, but she couldn't focus on it. She couldn't sense where it was coming from. It was intangible and slippery, like it worked on latitude while she was still on longitude. But she knew it was magic. Something about whatever she'd done today had taken more out of her than she'd ever even realised could be taken out of her.
It took an embarrassing amount of time for her to work up the energy to sit up and pull her jeans off. She knew that next time she lay down, she could just pass out and deal with all of this tomorrow. It would be morning, there would be sun, and most of all, it was tomorrow. While it was tomorrow, today felt a lot safer. With a stage actor's speed blocked by a child's exhaustion, Callie changed outfits, dumping all her clothes on the floor and pulling the nightgown down over her head. She dropped it and the hem brushed against her knees, soft and light. A small smile crept over Callie's face. Clarisse had guessed her size pretty well. The material was as soft as it had looked, and it was certainly far more comfortable than jeans. She wondered vaguely where the nightgown had come from, if it was someone else's, cause it sure as hell wasn't Clarisse's.
She smoothed it down, and finally, went to bed.
---
Leo didn't mind taking the couch. He'd done it a lot. Far more than a thirty year old man really ought to have, if he was honest, which often wasn't the case. The issue with this particular couch was that it faced the sun in the morning. It was technically beautiful, rays of light piercing the darkness, illuminating dust motes and setting them to sparkle as the night breathed its last. But when you had gone to sleep three hours earlier, it was hard to appreciate the beauty. In fact, it was hard not to swear at it with every curse he knew, which given Leo was a multilingual reporter, was a lot. Groaning, Leo finally conceded defeat and let his senses come to wakedness.
What he assumed was his blanket was twisted around his waist, the cushion under his head just straight up vanished. It was probably on the floor somewhere. His head felt heavy and slow, but Leo had certainly woken up in worse condition. Taking a deep breath in, he screwed his eyes closed and reached up for the back of the couch to pull himself up. His foot swung down and touched something solid, and far too warm. Leo's eyes snapped open, and he groaned again, swinging his legs around and scrubbing a hand through his hair. "Jesus, Luke. Morning."
---
Callie woke pretty late the next morning, by her standards. About 9am. The curtains over the window were floating on a gentle breeze, sunlight filtering in and playing over the floor. This was a pretty room. This was why Callie had always wanted an upstairs room. Sitting up, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and got to her feet, stretching. Her body felt surprisingly good. It actually felt better than it had yesterday. She surely hadn't rested that much, but she felt vital, and strong. It was a good feeling, though she didn't examine the slightly fuller feeling of her wellness, that same intangible something she'd avoided thinking about last night. Nevertheless, it felt good. On automatic, Callie started in on her morning stretches. Weird in a night gown, but it wasn't like she was going to be able to go for a run in her jeans later, so this would have to do.
Her mind whirred slowly into action as she went through her morning routine. For now, her mind was still waking up, slow-moving and easy to direct. It was a strange feeling doing her regular morning in a strange place, but it was oddly comforting. Whatever she was, she still did this. That was something.
It felt a bit better being today. It was easier to put a bit of distance between now and the disaster of yesterday. Of course, everyone was still here to remind her of it, downstairs, and it was all there to be dealt with, but it was a little easier with the weight of yesterday stuck there in the past.
Besides, her body was singing right now.
Stretches over, Callie thought about heading straight downstairs, but as much as she wanted to, she wanted to avoid starting the day more, so she headed down the hall for her shower instead.
Eventually, she had nothing else left to do, but she felt strong and vital, and clean and ready to face the day. Not much else to do but go to it.
Heading down the stairs, Callie tried to find her way back to the kitchen to see if there was any food available.