Can't Run Anymore
Log Info
- Title: Can't Run Anymore
- Emitter: Andelena
- Place: Dolan and Andelena's apartment
- Summary: Andelena and Dolan are recuperating from their sojourn into the realm of dreaming, tired and worried about each other from what they've gone through together. The sun couple shares a tender discussion on the couch about their relationship and their feelings when Dolan realizes something: his parents live out in the countryside, and if they've been evacuated, they're likely with the refugees. Andelena vows to find them and discusses the possibility of setting up a food distribution network between the Temples before the expected harvest failures result in starvation for many.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=- Dramatis Personae =--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=- Andelena 6'0" 180 Lb Human Female Redhead with steel-grey eyes and powerful build. Dolan 5'10" 174 Lb Human Male Brown-haired human with scars down his face. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
Steel-grey eyes meet steel blade.
The Sunguard Andelena fixates on her weapon, her instrument, as she places it where it usually lives next to her gear. She's already torn off her armor and replaced it with a pair of the communal drawstring pants and loose tunic that she usually reaches for when in a groggy daze after a hard day's work, but her odd fixation on the blade has caused her to put it away last.
"Fuckin' weird," she murmurs to herself. She glances at it for a moment longer before she puts it away, and she stalks over to the couch, practically throwing herself down onto it. She lets out a breath of air like a deflating balloon. It's the first moment she's allowed herself to relax since coming home.
Dolan, too, has doffed his armor and gear, stowing the greatsword safely away and putting the armor on its simple rack with it. He'll give it a good cleaning a little later, but there are more important things to be seen to first. He strips to trousers only in the heat of an Alexandrian summer afternoon, absently tossing the sweaty shirt into the laundry pile in their bedroom, then stalks back out to the main room.
The single eye he turns on Andelena is worried, haunted, angry. Mostly worried. The rest of it will be more in evidence later, but - he just watches her, without a word. Gauging whether she's okay.
Andelena's eyes are fluttering shut when Dolan walks out into the room. They open again as she realizes those steps she's hearing belong to him. She stretches out her arms as she yawns, just a little, and offers him a grin as she fully registers Dolan's body.
"Sight for sore eyes," she says. "Come on over here."
She scoots over on the couch to make plenty of room for him, patting the cushion with her hand to invite him over. "You look like you need a hug, or three, or a hundred. Could use some myself." It's said warmly, but there's an acknowledgment, albeit a small one, of the pain they went through together.
"I didn't want you to ever have to see that. I - I'm sorry." A knife of guilt drives through the words as Dolan seats himself on the couch next to Andie as bid, but reaches out, snakes an arm behind her shoulders, and moves to pull her against him if she'll let him. "You okay, baby?" He's taken to calling her that more lately.
Of course Andelena lets him hold her. And of course, she smiles as he does so, the warmth returning to her face. "I know you didn't, Bry," she says gently, shifting around to get closer to him as she puts a hand on his chest. Her steel-grey eyes look into both eyes, natural and synthetic, before she closes them--an indication of trust, just happy to be there next to him.
She leans in her head so that it touches his forehead. "I'm okay. I know you better now. And I really understand why you ran to begin with now more than ever."
Her eyes open, just a little. "But once the fear let go of me, all I could think about was protecting you. To win over that godsdamned thing. To have you see me win, Bry. I wanted to become the sword of the Knight himself and strike it down. So you wouldn't ever feel afraid anymore."
"What, and deny me the chance to kick its ass myself?" The mobile side of Dolan's face splits into a half-hearted, short-lived grin that is a sham of its usual cheeky self. "That wasn't just a phantasm, though. That was way too real. I think that was the statue's doing. Why in all the green garden hells she brought that thing with us I'll never understand." Irritation snarls through the last sentence. "She could have gotten us both killed - and her nightmares were even worse." Compassion wars with annoyance.
"Andie, I wanted to protect you. I had to stop it by stopping her, because the statue was what was causing it. I should have had a better hold on that. I didn't realize it would do that. When I go back, I need a better hold on my own thoughts. It almost got us killed."
"I don't know, Bry," Andelena says quietly, soothingly. Her hand goes up from his chest to rest on his cheek--the scarred side, the side that she knows, after the events they endured, is like an open wound. But her hand is warm and gentle, and it doesn't flinch away from him or tremble. "I think she was hoping it'd make it easier, but it didn't work like that. She's in service to Vardama, not to Eluna--I can't fault her for not realizing."
There's a reassuring smile on her face. Compassion comes easy for her--in some ways, always has, and that's what got her into all of this to begin with, but right now, it's focused on Dolan. "And you can't fault yourself, either. There's all sorts of shit that none of us knew or thought would happen."
The skin beneath her hand is hard, knotty, callused scar tissue in places, and soft in others. Dolan suddenly smiles again at the touch, a smile that is neither his usual cheek or the half-hearted shams that so many of them are revealed to be. "Thank you, Andie." Somewhere in that is acceptance, relief, an one hand absently twines itself in her titian locks. Her words ring true, and yet - "But - I still have to find her. Find out what she is trying to tell me. I don't know how to do that now, and - I can't ask the Mourner. She's - it's too much for her. She didn't move, didn't act. I don't think she could bring herself to. After what we saw? That woman needs just peace and quiet. I can't ask anything else of her."
Andelena can't help but smile even wider and warmer to see his own bloom underneath her hand on his cheek. She continues to hold him there, a full acceptance of him as he is now.
She leans in and kisses him gently on the lips, and holds him there for a moment before she draws back. "I agree," she says, quietly. "She's been through too much. There are others in this city we can seek out. Telamon's mentioned something before about navigating dreams, I think."
The Sunguard shakes her head. "You've been through a lot, too," she says. Her voice trembles on the words 'a lot'--just a little shiver like she's been out in the cold without the sun's warmth. "Worse than I had, worse than I ever had it. But gods, Bry--it just makes me thankful that when you saw me again, you didn't run then."
Dolan leans in, resting his forehead on hers if she'll let him, letting that touch - so very different from what it's been - echo through him. The smile fades, though, at the reference to that first meeting. "I wanted to, but - I didn't dare. Figured it was a reckoning. Didn't think you'd understand - and I was right. At least it didn't get you," he mutters. "I can't tell you how relieved I was to see that. If that meant you hated me - to have you not have to face something like that - I thought it was worth it. All I can say is I'm sorry."
"Yeah, I was pissed then, Bry," Andelena replies gently, her forehead propped up against his. "If I could go back in time, I'd get myself to wait a damn moment, put aside my anger and all of my dumb notions about where you'd gone..."
She sighs. "It's behind us now, Bry. I've forgiven you for running--especially now that I know your fear first-hand."
That statement's followed up with another kiss pressed to Dolan's lips, her hand still gentle on his scarred side of his face. "After all, we're getting married again," she says. "I wouldn't have said yes to you a second time if I held anything against you."
This time, Dolan returns the kiss, his lips smiling against hers. "I'm more grateful for that than you can know. But - I can't run anymore. I have to do something about it. Yes. We are. And we should probably go see my folks. I haven't seen them since it happened." Suddenly, the smile fades, and the hand twined in her hair tightens a little bit. "But - I can't really go right now. I've got to figure this out. And ..."
He freezes, ice water suddenly running through his veins. "The wights. Maybe they're in the city. I hope they're in the city."
Andelena's eyes open wide, and a look of fear takes over her features, blinking rapidly for a moment. "Shit," she growls lightly. "Bry, what're their names? I've been working over by the refugee areas lately--I can ask around. See if they arrived. I can't imagine they'd stay in the countryside given all you've told me about them. They're not stupid."
"Faelan and Adella Donnelly." Dolan suddenly looks down, every inch of him tense, all of his own worries forgotten, his hand tightening further in her hair. "I hope to all the green garden hells they did, though Papa won't like leaving the crops that long. It'll be a lean harvest this year - if there is a harvest."
Suddenly, the implications loom large - for his family, and for what this winter is likely to be like.
"We won't let them starve, Bry. I'd sooner invite them to live with us," Andelena says reassuringly. She lets him take his comfort from his hand in her hair, and she strokes his scarred cheek with his finger. "I'm sure it's not their idea of a comfortable living, but living's better than the other option. This apartment might get crowded and I'm sure I'll have something to bellyache and bitch about--but I'd sooner come crawling back to my parents begging them for my name back then I would ever leave your folks out high and dry."
That's how Dolan knows she's serious--that and the conviction in her eyes. "It'll be okay, Bry. I'll make it okay," she says, which seems to be her ethos as of the last few hours.
"Not that, baby. I've plenty to help them out." The tension hasn't left, although Dolan does look up. "How many other farmers are in the same boat? So many people crowding into the city, and the food from the farms doesn't happen, it's going to turn ugly quick unless we find another source of food."
Andelena thinks about it for a moment, her brows knitting together in thought. "The Temples--we're going to be slammed with people looking for food. We can make food all day--hell, I can do that now--with nothing more than a prayer to the Knight, but I think that's our best bet."
She looks exhausted at the thought of it. "We need to start training people now to deal with the people who'll be coming in. We can't wait for the crops to fail. We'll need people who can conjure food and we'll need a lot of them."
"That ain't something I can do, Andie. The Knight's gifts to me are a little different. Can you create enough for all four of us?" With an effort, Dolan untangles his fingers from her hair - hair pulling is not called for here - and instead wraps his armos around her shoulders, pulling her close. "If we can find them - and see whether any of my brothers and sisters made it too."
"At my skill, one prayer makes enough food for fifteen people," Andelena replies, smirking a little. "So enough to feed your family and us--and it'll keep for a full day and night til it goes bad. And... the druids. I think they can make those little berries that can feed people like full meals."
She mulls it over some more. "If we can get them involved, and we get more people in the Temples trained... Everyone will have a fighting chance of making it through the winter. The time to prepare is..."
She looks weary. Maybe it's just thinking about the logistics of magical food creation. "Soon. First, I need a long fucking nap, and I think you do, too."
"Yeah." With an effort, Dolan lets go of her shoulders entirely and pushes himself to his feet. "Come on, baby. Let's get some sleep." There's a rasp in his voice, but the worry is still there. It won't rest until he has answers - not to mention the dreams. "Damn I'm glad you're here."
That puts a smile on Andelena's face again as she rises up with him, her hand with his engagement ring curling around his arm. "That makes two of us," she says, looking at Dolan with that tired-but-very-glad-to-be-here smile. "I'm glad you're here, too."
The sun couple duck into the bedroom for some well-deserved rest.
And Andelena's sword rattles a little from its resting place, like it's stirring from its own bed. Just a little. Then all is quiet.