Left to her own devices in someone else's home, Lauren was glad she'd admitted before Valerian left that she was a nosy sort of person. He'd virtually given her permission to snoop about, but she managed to restrain herself for half an hour by having a shower in what had to be the most luxurious waterfall bathroom she had ever seen. Still, that didn't keep her curiosity at bay for long. The kitchen was not a surprise, containing little more than a fridge of blood for emergencies. The living room was very bachelor-pad-like, complete with stocked bar. She wasn't intentionally looking for anything in particular, just nosing around Valerian's private space to see what she could learn about him. A classical man, it seemed, with his library and his piano, but she found a few things that made her smile.

When Valerian returned, there was a surprise waiting for him. Not only were all the windows covered with their specially filtering curtains, ready for the sunrise, but on the table in front of the elevator was one of his own nerf guns and an invitation. Load up and find me, I'm armed too.

It was nearly dawn by the time he arrived back, just missing the traffic that always started cluttering the streets at daybreak and wouldn't let up until well into the night. It wasn't called The City that Never Sleeps for nothing. He wasn't sure what it was he was expecting to find when he got back - Lauren soaking in a tub full of bubbles, or maybe plinking at his piano; curled up on the sofa and paging through one of the books in his study, or sipping from an expensive bottle of cognac. Maybe he'd find her curled up in his bed, waiting patiently for the second course. What he didn't expect to find was a nerf gun and an invitation to find her. He chuckled to himself, unsure where she'd found them, and slipped out of his shoes. The hunt was on, and he didn't want the sound of his footsteps giving him away.

Well, Tobias had warned him that she embraced life. Having found something that opened up the option of playing, there was no way Lauren wasn't going to use it. She wasn't the most predictable when left to her own devices, after all. She was, however, hiding somewhere in his penthouse, armed with a nerf gun, and trying very hard not to giggle and give herself away.

He might have called to her and baited her from her hiding place, hoping she'd give herself away with a few giggles, but a hunt was a hunt, and if he was up for anything, it was a good game. He knew the penthouse better than anyone and knew there were only so many places one could hide. He crept quietly from one room to the next, the nerf gun in hand, peeking behind furniture and checking closets, as quiet as a mouse.

Of course, he could have listened for her heartbeat, but that would have been cheating. And doing that would have cheated him of what happened when he stepped into the library. There was the dull thunk of a nerf dart fired at him from behind the door, and Lauren let rip with a loud giggle, scrambling to get out through that door before he managed to retaliate. She was wearing one of his shirts ....and nothing else ....which meant the view as she stumbled on her way out was definitely distracting.

Oh, he'd heard her heart beating and knew she was there somewhere, but cheating would have taken all the fun out of the game. Thankfully, the dart was made of foam as it hit him square in the head, enough to make him turn toward the door in time to catch sight of her darting away in one of his shirts. He laughed, darting after her and pausing a moment to take aim and fire a nerf dart of his own her way.

She squealed, lurching upright as the dart bounced off her backside, and launched herself into cover behind the nearest couch, laughing all the way. They only had five shots each, but she was obviously planning on making him work for it, inching her way around to fire at him from ground level where she lay against the rug. "You can give in at any time!"

"Where would the fun be in that?" he asked, launching himself onto the couch and hanging over the back to fire at her backside from above, darting out of the way just as she launched another dart toward him. Whether the nerf guns actually belonged to him or why they were there, he hadn't said, but then, she hadn't asked.

Her dart went wild as she tried to fire and evade at the same time, rolling out of the way as he suddenly loomed above her from a far better vantage point. "You should get laser-tag," she told him, accelerating to try and find somewhere better to hide behind and fire at him. "No one beats me at laser-tag!"

"Laser-tag in my penthouse?" he asked with a dubious chuckle. "Laser-tag in the nightclub perhaps, but not the penthouse," he said, easily hopping over the back of the couch to pursue her, purposely giving her a head start. "You have to do better than hide behind a door, Lauren!" he called to her from the living room.

"That would be awesome!" she called back, very at ease with modern vernacular, and terrible at being stealthy, it seemed. The noise of her foot sliding on her own discarded underwear pinpointed her as having run for the bedroom.

"I have you now!" he called, a grin on his face, his preternatural hearing pinpointing her location. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" he warned as he silently crept closer to the bedroom.

In here, at least, there were several places she could have hidden. Under the bed, perhaps, where the sheets were disarrayed. Behind the door into the bathroom, though she would have cornered herself if she'd gone in there. For once, she didn't answer, knowing he had a better idea of where she was than she might want, but loving the game all the same.

He crept closer, knowing there were only so many places she could hide in there. He didn't think she'd corner herself in the bathroom; she was too smart for that. Behind or under the bed, maybe? Inside his closet, he wondered as he carefully pushed the door open and tip-toed inside, nerf gun poised.

Braced in her hiding place above the door he passed through, Lauren held her breath, not wanting to give herself away too soon. She needed him further inside if she was going to escape again. It was a game, yes, but it was also honing skills they had both learned over the years they had lived. As Valerian stepped further into the room, she took aim and fired, pushing off from her hiding place to pounce him with an outlandish yell.