Alastor nodded as they pulled up into a driveway, not really paying much mind to Andy's talk of his residence. So long as the man could provide some shelter from which he could go about finding a way back to Chaazim, the place could have been a dung heap for all he cared. Unbuckling his belt, after fumbling with it for a bit, as they came to a stop and the vehicle was shut off, Alastor clumsily exited the car and followed along after Andy.

The Laizu grumbled. He wished humans could simply propel themselves through the air rather than puttering about in noisy steel contraptions with all manner of infernal locks and hinges. Unfortunately nature had not been so kind as to grant them that option. Shaking his head slightly, the Umbral Lord walked alongside Andy as they strode up to his house's main entrance, waiting off to the side as the man went to unlock the door.

After Andy opened the door for them he gestured to metal doors on the other way of the entrance hall. "We're taking the elevator," he said. "I live on the third floor and I don't feel like walking up the stairs." He went over to it and pushed the button that would call the elevator.

It didn't take long before the metal doors slid open and revealed the compartment inside. According to the image there was room for eight, but in reality five could stand there comfortably. After Andy went inside he waited for Alastor to join him and pushed the button with the 3 on it. The doors closed and the elevator started rising to the third floor. It wasn't as smooth as some of the modern ones, but it moved without problems.

Andy glanced aside to see if the Laizu was doing okay. He used elevators on a daily basis, but that didn't mean his new friend was used to this kind of transportation.

Alastor examined the metal contraption he was currently standing in, as it made its way up to the third floor. It was a rather rickety looking thing if he were being honest, and not something he would have ever thought up in a million years. Mainly due to the fact that in his home dimension they didn't need such crude contraptions. Still, he supposed such a device would have been a miracle to the primitive bipeds who first saw its creation and then use. The Umbral Lord couldn't see it in quite the same light himself, however.

He supposed it wasn't entirely worthless though. At least it was getting them were they needed to be, and in relative safety at that. Granted the slight jostling of the object and occasional rumble that reverberated throughout its frame made Alastor somewhat uncomfortable, but he'd manage to endure the ascent well enough, or as well as could be expected from a creature like him anyway.

When the doors opened Andy left the elevator and entered the corridor, the walls beige with horizontal orange stripes painted on it to have a some colour. A notice board hung halfway and Andy quickly examined it before continuing, nothing new had been added since the morning.
He stopped in front of the 4th door and opened it. "Come in," he said, leaving the door open for his guest as he stepped inside himself. "Close the door behind you, will you?"

The walls in the hallway were white with some pictures of family members and on a hatrack were four sculptures of saints. Andy led him to the living room with several masks covering the yellow wall next to a large window, and a large painting of the African savanna on the wall next to an open door giving access to a corridor with a few doors. A round table of light birch was surrounded by four chairs and a light oak sofa and seat set with a matching coffeetable made up the television corner. A tall bookcase in a similar light wood covered most of the last free wall.

"That is where the toilet, bathroom and bedrooms are," Andy said as he gestured ahead. "The kitchen is behind the door in the hall," he added, gesturing to where they had come from. "What do you want to do first, check out your bed or talk about whatever is on your mind right now?"

Alastor stepped inside, pulling the door shut as he went. Following Andy through the hallways, and stopped a few feet away from him as the man turned to face him.

"Well," the Laizu began, leaning on his cane. "I doubt you'd be able to understand much of what I need to do, or plan on doing, so I'll check out my... bed, first."

Tucking the cane up under his arm, the Umbral Lord let his gaze wander around the room pensively for a bit, before shifting it back towards Andy.

"Where is it by the way?"

"Right this way." Andy led him to the second corridor and opened a room. A thick grey carpet was on the floor and against one wall was a single bed with a bedcover over it. Against the wall opposite of the bed were a chest of drawers and a chair. Andy walked in and opened the lowest drawer so he could quickly make the bed.

"This is my guest room," he explained. "I sometimes have my nephew or a friend spending the night, but most of the time it's not in use. I'll give you some pyjama's from me to sleep in, we don't usually sleep in the clothes we wear during the day. But, you can sleep naked too, whatever you prefer."

It didn't take him long to have the bed made and turned to Alastor. "This is where you can sleep. Lightswitch..." Andy switched the light to show how it worked. "We tend to sleep better when it's dark. Bathroom is across the corridor. If you get an urge, a pressing feeling or pain in your lower abdomen," he tapped the area of bladder and colon on his own body, "that might be a sign you need to use the toilet. I'm not going into detail how the digestive system works, but it comes down to we eat food or drink fluids, the body takes what it needs and we expel the excess, the waste. We dump it in the toilet and flush it away, just lower your pants, sit down, and let nature do the rest. You will be hungry and thirsty again in the morning, but there is food and water in the kitchen." He paused as the thought about it. "I think I covered the basics, but if you have any questions I'll do my best to answer them."

This was the first time he had to remember to explain the basics to what looked like an adult man. At the same time his guest was in for a treat, so many good things to discover for a first time, he probably didn't know how lucky he was.

Alastor examined the room with a slight nod.

"Alright," he said, turning back to Andy. "I think I should be able to manage the expelling and intake of materials from this form. I do have one question, however."

He paused, shifting his weight slightly.

"How exactly does one sleep?"

Andy paused when he heard the question, he had never expected he would need to explain something like that. "Well," he began with a shrug, "in a body with a healthy mind that is an automatic process. Sleep is a kind of unconscious state that just happens when we relax when we are tired and we wake up from it automatically, when the body and brain had enough rest, or an external stimulus wakes us up. If you will lie in the bed it should just happen by itself, but if you worry a lot about your current situation or start plotting or whatever it may take a while before you fall asleep. That is also normal, with an active mind it's harder to fall asleep, but eventually the fatigue will take over."

He gestured with his thumb over his shoulder. "If you need me, I'll be sleeping in the room on the other side. But I'll probably watch some TV first."

Had he covered the basics now? He thought he had. In the morning he could see about getting the man a toothbrush and explain a bit more about personal hygiene, if that was also something he wasn't aware of.

Alastor nodded as he took in Andy's explanation. Waiting until he left the room, Alastor began the process of getting changed. Once that was done, he flicked the light switch, submerging the room in a murky darkness. Moving over to the bed, he sprawls out on it and closes his eyes, trying achieve this sleep the man spoke of.

And, after a while, he did.

Right before falling asleep, however, he wondered just how these humans had managed to survive so long with the need to plunge themselves into such a defenseless state.

It was quite a troubling question really-albeit one that did not keep him from the dark embrace of slumber-for a few minutes after lying down on the bed, the Umbral Lord was out cold.

After Andy had relaxed a bit in front of the TV he went into the kitchen and pondered for a moment what his guest would like to eat in the morning, if he would be up before himself.
There was a fruit basket on the small table pushed against the wall with some apples, pears and plums in it. Going through the cabinets he got a small water bottle, the bag with sliced bread, a plate and a butter knife which he all put on the table too. After that he wrote a small note.



He placed the note so that the arrow pointed to the bread and also put a post-it with the word 'fridge' on the fridge.

After that was done he went to the bathroom, switched off all the lights and went to bed as well. He lay awake in the darkness, thinking about his guest and whether or not he would request some vacation days. He soon decided he would deal with all that tomorrow and slowly fell asleep.

Alastor awoke-a strange experience really, just as slumber had been-and slowly dragged himself out of bed. Rubbing the sleep from his prisons eyes as he got to his feet, the former lord made his way into the kitchen and found the note Andy had written the night prior. Giving it a quick read, he made his way towards the fridge and opened it. Rummaging about inside, he began picking up and investigating the various foods lying within, gazing at each with somewhat childlike curiosity.

Faint sounds penetrated his sleep, Andy turned to his side, to his other side, and opened his eyes. It sounded like... someone was in his house. Burglar? Then he recalled he had a guest. He was so used to living alone that the sound of someone else opening doors and walking around had broken his morning slumber.

Should he go back to sleep? Or see what his guest was up to?

Curiosity won and he got up, aided by a complaining bladder, and he grabbed a morning robe as he left his room. Scratching his head, his messy hair falling around his face almost reached his shoulders. He'd grab a band to bind his hair if he would decide to stay up.

First he went to the kitchen where he heard some sounds coming from. He poked his head in and looked at Alastor, rummaging through the fridge. "That's mustard," he said when he saw the jar in Alastor's hand. "It's really spicy. It's good with cheese but only in small amounts, for a bit extra flavour."

Alastor nodded slowly, his eyes narrowing slightly as he stared down at the jar for a bit before placing it back in the fridge.

"I see," he said, taking out a packet of meat and examining it curiously before returning it as well and taking a moment to think, all the while letting the cold air seep out into the room.

"Tell me," he went on, closing the door at last as he turned to face Andy. "What would you recommend I fuel this prison of mine with? I haven't exactly had time to see what it is humans need to eat specifically in order to survive after all, although I doubt it's things like burgers or mustard."

"Depends on if you're looking for a short-term or long-term stay in your prison," Andy said from the doorway. "If it's short term I'd say you can eat whatever the taste buds on your tongue will appreciate. If you want to stay healthy for the next decade you may want to include lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains in your diet." He walked further into the kitchen, went to the coffee maker and pushed the button; he always prepared it before going to bed so he wouldn't have to deal with that in the morning.

"It comes down to this: we need nutrients from foodsources, proteins to repair and maintain the body and carbohydrates and fats for fuel." He tapped on the bread. "This is a source of carbohydrates. Cheese and meat, like the salami, are sources of proteins and fat, fruit like in that bowl also deliver carbohydrates. There are also micronutriets that we need for various reasons, but I'll give you a book that you can read if you want to know the finer details. For now I suggest you try and see what you like and you go from there. Some food needs to be cooked first though."

The kitchen filled with the scent of freshly brewed coffee, a scent much welcome to Andy, who grabbed a mug from the cupboard. "Coffee?" he asked his guest.

Alastor stared at the man blankly, still going over everything he'd mentioned previously. After a couple of seconds, however, the Laizu pushed the thoughts to the back of his ancient mind, deciding to come back to them at a later date.

"Sure," He said, turning his attention back to Andy as he eyed the empty mug suspiciously. "What was coffee again?"

"Fluids, we need those too. Water would suffice, but most like some flavour to their water. Coffee has a strong and bitter taste, lots of people add milk or sugar to it, but it also has caffeïne which gives a boost of energy. I don't know how you will react to that, but if you want a cup you can have one."
He filled his own mug, adding a bit of sugar to the hot brew and stirred it with a spoon.

Now he had a guest, one that knew very little of humans and the world they lived in, but he also had to go to work and it was a bit too late to request the day off. He contemplated what the best course of action would be. Right now he just wanted to get the Laizu through breakfast.

"Ah, I see," Alastor said, moving towards the machine he'd seen Andy using. Although he wasn't exactly well versed in human technology, the small period of observation he'd had in which Andy had made his own mug of coffee was more than enough for him to get a handle on the basics, and the Laizu went about making his first cup. Granted it wasn't the best thing in the world, tasting closer to dirt than anything edible, but it was a start, and one that gave him an unexplainable pang of pride at that.

Setting the cup to the side, the former lord made his way back over to the fridge and began gathering several ingredients from it, with the help of his human compatriot of course. After a couple of seconds of bumbling and inquiry over the various items he had collected, however, Alastor soon found himself sitting at the kitchen counter eating a breakfast of eggs and bacon with a bowl of fruit on the side and a glass of orange juice. A spread that, altogether, he found quite pleasant.

"Hmm. Well that was better than I'd thought it'd be," he remarked, dabbing some food from the corner of his mouth with a napkin. "I always thought you humans were so... uncultured when it came to, well, everything, eating included. Glad to see I was mistaken."

He shot a questioning look at Andy.

"I assume you do something with these... plates?" he asked, raising it up slightly.

Andy watched as Alastor eat his breakfast, a hearty and healthy one too. He had settled for toasting a few slices of bread and eating them with pre-sliced cheese from the fridge, after he had helped his guest prepare his breakfast. It usually was that or cornflakes. Something fast and simple.
He grinned when Alastor managed to both insult and compliment humans at the same time. "We'll have that conversation again after you watched your first hotdog-eating competition," he promised, eating the last bit of toast.

When the Laizu raised his plate and asked his question, Andy nodded. "We wash them so we can use them again later," he explained. "Some fill the sink with water and a bit of soap and wash it by hand," he pointed to the sink as he said that, "but lazy people like me use a dishwasher." As he said that he opened his dishwasher and pulled out an empty tray. "Plates here. Cups, mugs, glasses here. Cuttlery here. We'll run it when it's full, it's a waste of resources to let it wash only a few items at the time."

Since he had opened the dishwasher he put his plate in it, but he kept his mug for a second cup of coffee. "I will have to go to the hospital today for work, so you'll be alone for several hours. I have lots of books you can read and I can give you a key to this place so you can explore the city bit, but try not to kill anyone. In the evening I'll show you how to use the TV and the computer."

Alastor nodded as he gathered his things and walked over to the open dishwasher, placing his plate and utensils inside as he listened to Andy's routine for the day and his warnings.

"Alright," he said, walking over to a nearby shelf to examine the spines of various books. "I myself might wander a bit. Find out more about you people since it seems as though I shall be staying here for the forseeable future."

Falling silent, the Laizu continued to examine the books, even taking a couple out to investigate their contents. From what he read, human speech was just as primitive when written as it was when spoken, though he didn't mind that much. There had been other races he'd heard of with languages far more complex or abstract than his own, so it was somewhat refreshing to find a tongue so simplistic in nature.

Moving on from the books, Alastor sat down on the couch as Andy finished getting ready, only rising to his feet once the jangle of keys could be heard and the human himself could be seen standing near the door, which was held open slightly. Watching as he headed out for the day, leaving a pair of keys behind on the counter as he swung the door shut, Alastor finally got to his feet and walked back into his own room. Finding the clothes he had worn yesterday, he changed into them, picked up his cane, and strode back over to the counter. Grabbing the keys he left the apartment, making sure to lock it behind him once he'd figured out how, and made his way out onto the sidewalk.

Surveying the area a bit, he eventually decided to go find someone-or somewhere-that could tell him more about the most advanced forms of technology currently available to the human race. They might not have unlocked dimensional travel, but perhaps he could retrofit some existing tech to suit his own purposes instead. He also made a mental note to find out more about human history as well. If he could figure out how their societies advanced over the years, then perhaps he could learn how to blend into it better.

Alastor also made a mental note of the draining he'd performed on that man in the clothing shop, deciding to experiment more with it when he got the chance. If not to see its effects on the human form, then at least to find a way of mitigating whatever hold it might have over him.

It wouldn't do to have his plans ruined from a frenzy induced feeding after all.

It was with mixed feelings Andy closed the door behind him. He had to abandon a guest who wasn't used to be in this realm, but he wasn't sure whether he feared more for Alastor or the humans he may encounter. Was it his responsibility to supervise Alastor, either to help the Laizu or protect others against him? He soothed his conscience with the assumption Alastor would probably honour his request and not kill anyone, at least not on purpose.

When he reached the hospital he went into the Emergency Department and got ready for his shift. A nurse, one of the regulars, already handed him a cup of coffee. His first of many to come. Not for the first time the thought that he might be drinking too much coffee crossed his mind, but it kept him going. Already prone to low sugar and low blood pressure, his use of coffee was almost medicinal. At least that was a good excuse to keep drinking it.

After taking care of the first two registered patients, an emergency case was rushed in. It pushed the waiting time for the people in the waiting area up even further, but that couldn't be avoided. After assessing the damage and stabilising the patient, Andy sent him away for surgery. He recalled meeting Alastor just the day before, but he couldn't devote much time thinking about that, or what the Laizu was up to now, since patients were still waiting to be seen by a doctor.