Flashback

Dolan snaps awake with a gasp in the relative darkness of the room, his lone eye staring up at the ceiling. Although his chest rises and falls rather quickly, the lone brown eye holds sanity, and he breathes deeply. "Damn it," he mutters in the darkness, shifting against the pillow-padded binding that holds his shoulder in place on a night when planned dreaming was to take place. "Hope Zeke's okay. What in all the green garden hells was that?"

Andelena's in the middle of a cup of tea when Dolan wakes up, and it takes some poise to not shove the entirety of the teacup and its contents into her face as Dolan jolts awake. It appears half-forgotten lessons on poise and grace befitting a noblewoman have, at least, internalized somewhat, as she takes a hard gulp of the tea that doesn't splash all over her face and puts the cup down, getting up from her stool and walking over to the bed.

"Dreaming again, baby?" she asks. She already knows the answer, really, which is evident by her steel-grey eyes going to the totem for a couple of seconds before she affectionately puts her hand into Dolan's hair. "What happened?"

"Yeah. Magpie showed up and shit got weird quick. I hope Zeke's all right. I think she scared him." Dolan leans affectionately against the hand in his hair - he at least seems to have all his marbles. "I told her to come find me here and ask for Zeke to get to me." He is slowly calming down, and nods to the totem. "Better hide that for now. I'm not dreaming any more tonight. Can you get this off of me?" He shifts his bound shoulder again, clearly meaning the padded restraint intended to keep himself from re-injuring the shoulder.

His right reaches up to rub at the mobile side of his face. "I didn't see what I wanted, but I remember now. I remember why. Have you talked to the others? What did they find?"

Andelena takes the binding restraint off him, her expression caught somewhere between happy that Dolan's reciprocating her affection and concerned for what's been said. "I didn't know that Magpie was involved with... all of this," she says. "Somehow, I'm not surprised. She and I have been involved in weird shit before. I hope Zeke's okay, too."

The question about talking to the others gets a pursed set of lips. "I haven't been able to sit down with Verna yet," she says. "Not about the totems, at least. Wedding talk's been most of what they've been occupied with at the moment. I'm gonna try and head over tonight or tomorrow if I can. I don't wanna... shit on their parade, but this is important."

GAME: Dolan rolls will: (16)+10: 26

With the restraint removed, Dolan's able to rotate the shoulder carefully, stretching it out and settling it back down. Disappointment and worry drag down the mobile half of his face, though, and he wears that pursed look of unhappiness. "Yeah. Guess so. I can track her down in the Dream Realm, Andie, I'm sure she isn't doing wedding stuff in her dreams. It's all right."

He sighs, still staring at the ceiling and not quite looking at Andelena. "Yeah. She's got one of 'em. Didn't realize that until she dropped in, but I was able to tell her a little bit."

"It's not just her. Telamon's got a totem, too, so... Fuck it, how's about it's time that all of us enter the dream together," Andelena suggests. "I'll send a fucking letter if I have to. We all pool the knowledge together and we don't have to worry about crowding the room."

She looks briefly in the direction of the door, like she's remembering something. "I'll have to get someone to watch over us while we dream if Zeke's coming with."

"Arcanist "Magpie" Savienne!" comes the muffled announcement from the other side of the door, the guard's voice clearly stating 'That is an assumed name but it's not specifically my job to be upset about it, so I'll be upset on my own dime.'

A short while later, *just* on the other side of the door are surprised -- and vaguely annoyed -- sounds, followed by a sigh one can feel in their very toes, before the door swings open to admit a ruffled gnome in an eye-catching motley of colors, walking backward and stabbing an accusatory finger at the guard at the door. "Just... fine, but once you're sure it's safe, *let them have something nice.* I got that tea special for soothing nerves, da--" Which is when she steps on the trailing hem of her own robe, and tumbles over backwards in a heap at the foot of Dolan's bed.

"Hiiiiii Dolan..."

There's a bit of a commotion down the hall as Zeke's presence is announced, and then more as the sith-makar makes his way down the hall to the door and talks pleasantly to the paladin's guarding the way in. The door opens and Zeke enters with a tray set with a tea pot and food. It's simple fair, bread and fruit already cut up and ready to be eaten. Magpie's tea is sitting awkwardly on the edge of his tray, and he nods politely to everyone as he enters the room. "Peasssce on your nesssts." He murmurs politely. "Thisss one wasss able to ssave the tea, but thisss one will have to examine the passstriess more carefully."

This is probably a polite way of saying that the guards were already eating them. Or that they are not allowed. Either way he takes the tray to the bedside table and begins swapping out the pot that already sits there with the fresh one.

"He doesn't have to, and just meeting up's pretty safe. I've done it a couple of times. Might be the only way to get them to put down the gods-cursed flowers and do something," Dolan is growling when the announcement comes across. "Good, she came," he immediately brightens, setting the matter aside for the moment. "Andie, can I have my shirt and my eye?"

They don't get the time to do that.

Dolan is sitting up in bed, shirtless, his left side facing the door, his right side facing a stone wall. The room is dim, but flickering manalamp shadows fall across scars on his chest that are all too real, looking like nothing so much as an eerily perfect basketweave. "Brightest of days, Magpie, thanks for coming. This is my fiancée Andelena." He nods to the redheaded Sunguard by his bed.

And then, Zeke is announced, and he relaxes a little more still. "Good."

"Hey Magpie," Andelena says with a smile and a wave. She goes and gets the shirt and Dolan's eye anyway, walking back over with the shirt folded over an arm and the eye in her hand. "Glad to see you're all right. That fucked up business with that house a while back was /something/."

But the time for reminiscing is over, and she looks at Zeke with a nod and another smile. "Brightest of days, Sunguard," she says. "Thanks for the food. And yeah, Magpie, sorry. Strict protocol and all."

Zeke's apology makes Magpie's head shoot up from the tangle of limbs and clothing on the floor, righteous indignation write large on her face... Which melts away with a sigh, and the sorceress begins the job of picking herself up, and setting her clothing to relative rights. "Fiiiiiine, but I'm not bringing them jam-filled buns *every* day. That was *special.* And you're looking a lot better Zeke, glad to see it!"

Turning, she leans back to get a good look at Andelena, and grins. "Good job, Dolan! You got found by a good one! Nice to meet you, I'm the disaster that fell in the middle of his brain, sorry about that. ...Actually--"

Taking a step back, she clasps her hands in front of her, staring at the floor. "I'm really, really sorry, everyone. That was my fault, and nobody deserved it."

Zeke finishes putting his things down and replacing the old tea pot on his tray. He doesn't say anything until he's passed the tray off to one of the paladin's outside again, and when he's completed this he looks at Magpie very seriously. "The dream issss very difficult to control. Oness mind can eassily become consssumed with negativity. Particularly if one hasss experienced a great deal of it. There isss no ssshame in your memory. Asss there wasss none in Dolan'sss. Nor, even in thisss onesss." He blinks twice. "Thisss one would apologize that you saw thisss one in ssuch a ssstate, but thisss one knowss that thisss one over-came thossse trialss of the passst, and they can not harm thisss one any longer."

Dolan's grin is a half-hearted thing, pulling at the mobile side of his face, and he reaches to take the eye first, then the shirt. "Nothing to be sorry for Magpie. It's as Zeke says. The dreams with the totems are damned difficult to control. It takes a lot of practice, and shit going sideways just goes with the territory. It happens _lots_, and we regained control. I've gotten physically hurt a couple of times, coming out of those. Blame yourself for none of that, my brain is the damned disaster right now." He shrugs off the statement, and pauses long enough to put his eye back in, turning it right, left, right until it clicks into place. When that is done, he blinks his flesh-and-blood eye a few times.

"I could definitely eat something," he agrees, turning himself hopefully towards the tray and unfolding the shirt with clear intent to don it.

Andelena supervises the shirt-donning carefully. There's a little wicked grin on her face with the supervision for Dolan to catch after the fact, but it quickly tempers off into a more sober expression. "Things can go wrong pretty quickly in the dream," she says. "I haven't done nearly as much diving into it as Bry has, but that's gonna end soon."

Her eyes flicker over to the tray. "Honestly, me too, but Bry gets dibs on the goods," she comments. "He's a growing boy with a good taste in ladies." That's a wink to Magpie's comment; clearly she appreciated the compliment.

"Well... okay," Magpie answers, clearly doubting the magnitude of her own guilt, but equally unwilling to fight *three holy people* over it. When you're that absolved, you're absolved. "So yes! Tea. Lots of herbal stuff I don't know all the names for, I just asked for something soothing and slapped a gold on the counter the moment I could reach it. ... ...So maybe don't drink until *after* we're done talking I guess? Anyway."

Turning her back to allow Dolan to put his shirt on -- more a gesture than anything else, considering -- "So all of you have one of those totems?"

Zeke also supervises Dolan's putting on of his shirt. "Do you require asssissstance Dolan?" He inquires politely, knowing that the other man might well be sore after their dreamwalk last night. Zeke hovers over the tray so that he can pick up Magpie's choice of tea and sniff it hesitantly. Her words do not offer much encouragement but after a moment he nods. "Lavender and chamomile. Good for resssting. Would you like thiss tea, or the peppermint-orange that thisss one brought Dolan?" Because of course he brought tea.

"Andie and I do," Dolan answers, still sorting out the bottom hem of the shirt. "Peppermint and orange, Zeke, I ain't likely to sleep after _that_. You all right?" he asks, then sighs. "Yeah, it's not moving right. I could use a hand." He wriggles his right hand into the shirt, then his left. "Andie is the best, but if she doesn't remind me why she's so good soon, I might forget," he shoots back at her with a wicked edge to his tone.

Well, with a jab like that, Andelena's not passing up that opportunity. She goes over to help with the shirt, pulling it down for Dolan. "Oh don't worry, babe, we'll find a way to remember, all right," she says with a grin and a tone to match his wickedness before she leans in and pecks him on the lips.

"That peppermint-orange sounds delicious, Sunguard," Andelena replies to Zeke as she turns away, sitting down on the bed next to Dolan. Then she brings her attention to Magpie. "I do, and Bry does. The Mourner Verna has one, and--I don't know if you know him--that fancy-britched sorcerer, Telamon, does, too."

And Magpie's back remains turned until the clothing noises cease, though when the gnome turns back around, there is a faint redness to her cheeks, and she shoots Zeke a look like 'are they always like this?' before clearing her throat. "But you don't have one, Zeke? Does that mean... oh gods am I going to be able to just yank people *into* my dreams? Because underwear lecture's bearable when you don't *actually have an audience,* but..."

Zeke begins making the tea, allowing it to steep while he considers Dolan with careful eyes. "Would you permit thisss one to examine your ssshoulder Dolan?" His inquiry is gentle and not at all demanding, but there's a general feeling of 'hovering' that indicates that he'd very much like to do what he'd suggested. Magpie's question leaves him blinking and then a sort of soft horror crosses his features and he suddenly looks like he swallowed a mouth-full of worms.

Dolan's wicked chuckle answers Andelena's quip. "I'll hold you to that. Go ahead, Zeke." He grins up at Andie, but shrugs aside the shirt she had just pulled into place to allow Zeke to do what is needful. "Magpie, it's all right. The healers are still working on my shoulder. " He is, at least, trying to be reassuring?

"It's all about your will, Magpie," he explains, clenching his teeth as he waits for Zeke to do what he needs to do. "It's like you said, about not thinking about something? You want to focus on what you want, instead of what you don't want. If you try not to think about what you don't want, that's exactly what you will get. If you sleep with the statue, always go to sleep with a focus and a plan for what you want to know, or see, or do. That helps a lot."

"In other words," Andelena says, "unless you plan on having all of your friends show up to your dream so they can witness you in all of your undie-glory, you're probably not gonna have an admiring audience. And if you /do/ wanna, no judgment, just not my thing--that's between you and Eluna."

She shoots Dolan a grin like she's about to say something, but... There's Zeke with the shoulder. So she doesn't.

Ordinarily, Andelena's joke would have Magpie chuckling, and reassured. But when Dolan lays out that curling up with her totem will make it even easier for her unconscious mind to run riot, and maybe over multiple people, the blood begins to drain from her face. By the time Dolan talks about having a plan and a focus before trying to dream, her face is a perfect mirror of Zeke's -- which is itself a feat, given the radically different facial structures.

Zeke shakes off whatever thought he'd had that turned his face into a twisted version of itself and moves in to gently touch Dolan's shoulder. He uses mostly his flesh-and-blood claw, his expression becoming more thoughtful as he explores the shoulder as gently as he can. "It isss sslightly out of plasce. It could ussse massssage if you think you can bear it Dolan. Perhapsss after you eat?" He doesn't want to disturb Dolan's eating schedule, but it's clear that this is important.

Dolan grimaces as Zeke works. Clearly, this isn't comfortable, but at the verdict, he nods. "After I eat, yeah." He nods to confirm acceptance of the proposal, and instead of putting the shirt back on, pulls the blanket around his shoulders with his other hand, still watching Magpie. Her expression says a lot, and he sighs. "Sorry. Not trying to scare you. Dirk's got one too. Andie and I were saying we should all try to get together and talk stuff over, and we really could use your help. Did you get a chance to read the book?"

"Y'gotta remember, Magpie, you're /not/ alone in this. There're quite a few people who are involved here. You might be suddenly swimming in the Tornwmawr, but you've got friends with you," Andelena tags onto Dolan's words, offering a reassuring smile to Magpie. "We can do this together, you know? Just like you and I managed to get out of that fucked-up house together."

"Honestly that's not the part that bothers me," Magpie says after a bit. Rapid blinking ensues, then she shakes her head. "Just that if I need stuff like... discipline, and focus, and plans? I'm *screwed.* I'm screwed with my incredibly comfy *pants on.* I... hm. ...Okay since I seem to have a nice range of holy minds here, quick question; which of you is familiar with planar cosmology?"

Zeke nods to Dolan, retreating and moving the tray with food-stuffs on it so that it's closer to Doalan. Though he does first pour a cup of tea for the man and put it too on the tray. Zeke hums in reply to Magpie's question and murmurs. "Doesss planar cossmology have to do with the book that Dolan asssked you to read?" He blinks at her, happy to help.

"I'm pretty good with planar stuff, yeah." Dolan keeps the left shoulder under the blanket, using the right to reach for tea. He takes a sip, sets it down, and then reaches for a piece of bread, munching it thoughtfully. "Yeah, it does, Zeke. That book should give me more information on a demon that might be tied to these furry little sh-" He stops, glances at Magpie, grins cheekily, and switches words. "Troublemakers. What do you need?"

"Bry's got way better of a handle on it than I do," Andelena replies. "And hey, the word you used for them was better than how I described 'em once." There's a grin that splits her face.

She looks back at Magpie. "Now... book? You gotta fill me in a little. To be real honest, I've read a total of one book the past month and it's been the same... fifty-something pages of wedding rites. Over and over again. So... not even really /a/ book, just the same portion over and over so I don't fuck up and accidentally get married to Zeke instead of Bry or something."

GAME: Dolan rolls will: (18)+10: 28
GAME: Magpie rolls will: (10)+6: 16

"...Right, book. No I haven't, last night was... a lot. Like, a *lot.* But real quick," Magpie says, herding the cats of her chain of thought for a moment. "So you know how there's planes for elements, and planes that, like, *carry* the stuff that isn't elements, but like concepts. Like a plane of Law is probably made up of hexagonal bricks instead of rocks, because they all fit together just right and all. And how sometimes, for whatever reason, folks can *have* a little bit of planestuff in them."

Cupping her hands together in front of her mouth, she takes a long, hacking wheeze, then spits into her hands, holding up a ball of wobbly, jelly-like green plasm. "Best I can figure, Chaos. Plans and discipline and focus slide off me like water off a duck's a--"

Then what Andalena said hits her, and she just.... *stares* at the woman, for a moment.

Zeke blink-blinks at Andelena. "Thisss one doess not wissh to take a cihuaa." The dourness in his tone suggests that there is a _story_ there, but he moves on and looks at Magpie. "Thiss one doessss not underssstand where you are going with thissss Magpie."

Dolan manages to swallow his bite of bread before throwing back his head and letting out a peal of helpless laughter. "No danger of that, Andie. You're mine, and that's the end of it." The lone brown eye sparkles bright with humor and warm affection, and a healthy dose of teasing. "You don't have to know the whole thing, you know."

He'd say more, but then Magpie hacks up something that looks like it belongs either in a dungeon, on a wizard's work-table, or both, and he narrows his flesh-and-blood eye at it. "So you're telling me you've got a little bit of the chaos plane? You be careful with that dream stuff, Magpie, or you'll get run over by rainbow squirrels every time you dream."

Andelena would have a witty reply for Dolan, but then she watches Magpie hock up that green thing like she's watching one of her cats throwing up something that they /definitely/ shouldn't have had to begin with. There's a moment before she asks, "Okay, did you just. Did you just hock up a..." She flails for the right phrase. "Danger-loogie? Pardon my language, but what the /fuck/ is that? Are you okay? Like, your throat's not raw or anything?"

"I call them mage-boogers," Magpie says, helpfully.

"Anyway Dolan's got it exactly right, I'm wondering if I should just stuff it in the bottom of my sock drawer and forget about it entirely. Because I can barely focus on a Crimson Pen story for more than an hour, much less flying with unicorns."

Sighing, she claps her hands together, banishing the ball of jelly to nothingness. "Anyway, I'm gonna settle down with the book tonight... And, speaking of! Exposition! Who's ready for storytime?"

Zeke is admittedly confused, not really understanding what point Magpie is trying to make. So he sits down and merely nods along.

"You can always ask us for help, Magpie, but you might not want to go it alone in the Dream. I don't either, so no shame in that. We found out we have more control when we work together, anyway." Dolan picks up his tea again and takes a pull of it, then continues with his bread. He seems to be working one-handed, leaving the shoulder that Zeke was examining under the blanket.

"So let's hear your story," he encourages, leaning back and towards Andelena a little.

Andelena looks like she has so many more questions about the mage-boogers, but then Dolan's leaning in her direction, and the Sunguard can't help but smile warmly, giving him a shoulder to lean against. "Go ahead, Magpie," she says. "I'll even keep my stupid comments to myself til the end."

"Oh trust me I know from stupid comments, don't you worry," Magpie chuckles, then claps her hands together. "So okay! Best I can remember, Dolan was looking for some information on the demon he's been hunting, and Auranar and I kind of tripped over the search in her library. So, we started helping. We found a book hidden away there, just *dripping* evil badness. Turns out? That's mostly because it was created using soul-magic. It's *housing the soul* of its creator, Albus Kinkade. Still in lockup, I think here? But anyway, Albus told us about the other book he wrote, and it took me a *lot* of hunting. But I found it in the Arcanist stacks. Whoever hid it, destroyed a *completely different innocent book* to hide it, so I'm pretty sure it's important. But wizards're usually also pretty dragony about their private stash of secrets, so I'll bet dinner in the Noble District that it'll take some work to break whatever code he's using."

Trailing off, Magpie blinks at the middle distance, then claps her hands again. "Right. Why all this is important, and why all the effort? Turns out Albus Kinkade had Dolan's demon on his summoning shortlist, but what we'd found before was pretty damaged, so we didn't get its truename. But the way things are, I don't even want to say the name he's known by aloud, just in case. Dolan's holy, he's different, but I'm a midnight snack for a high-tier demon."

Zeke makes a low humming noise and tilts his head and flashes his teeth. It's not a smile. It's a symbol of a readiness to fight. A threatening gesture, but not at Magpie. "Thisss one hearsss you sssaying many thingss Magpie. Many thingss that sssuggesst you think your-sself lessser. Not asss good ass thossse around you, but thisss one sssaw your courage lassst night. Your kindnesss. You fasced terror then and in the passt. You can be of aid now."

"If you think I can take down any old demon, you've lost your mind," Dolan chimes in, on the heels of Zeke's remarks. "Don't sell yourself short, Magpie. You do good work, and demons are no joke, holy or not. I've had too many run-ins not to know that."

Suddenly, he trails off, and stiffens, staring into the middle distance as if distracted by something, his lone eye wide and pupil down to a pinprick..

Andelena listens to all of this raptly, nodding along with the explanation. "That makes sense," she murmurs, but then she says more loudly, "I agree with Zeke. You're far more competent than you realize--"

But then Andelena feels that stiffening from her other half, and she wraps an arm around Dolan's waist. "Hey, Bry, it's okay. You're here with me, Andie, in the Temple of Daeus," she says. "It's okay, promise."

"Well I mean..." Magpie trails off, looking among the bigjobs, then nods slowly. "...Okay. Sorry."

As Dolan stiffens, Magpie looks up, and opens her mouth... but no sound emerges, eyes instead moving to Andelena and Zeke, a question in her gaze.

Zeke thrums as he notices the distance in Dolan's gaze, the way he looks as though his mind is somewhere else. "Peassce Dolan. You are in the Dragon-fathersss temple. You are not alone." These words are similar in fact to the words that he offered last night to Dolan in the dream with Magpie, so she might well recognize them. He thrums a little louder. "Return to ussss, ssshare wordss with usss if you will."

He turns his green eyes on Magpie, knowing the question in her gaze. "He isss sseeing not-here. He isss sstill dealing with the monssstersss of hiss mind. Thiss one knowsss that you underssstand yesss?"

The pair seem to know very well what that gaze meant, and what to do about it. It takes only a minute for Dolan to snap back to himself, breathing hard. "Fuck. I'm sorry. Just - got reminded, is all. A demon's why I have this." He gestures with his mostly empty teacup to his artificial eye and the scars on his face, and he leans on Andelena a little more. "It was - pretty bad." He is still breathing hard, but finally looks up and at Magpie. "Demons are serious shit, Magpie. I - I almost got sacrificed to one."

He uses his wrist to rub at the scars on his face. "I'm - I'm all right. I'm still here."

Andelena leans in and kisses Dolan somewhere in those strands of dark hair. "You're here with me, and you're okay," she affirms. Her grip around his waist is gentle and warm. "We're here together." This is decidedly not a side of Andelena that Magpie's seen before--the spitfire turned more into a gentle hearth flame.

She turns her face back to Magpie. "He's dealt with a lot. But I'm determined to make sure he's never alone again. That's why we're getting married."

"Yeah... yeah I do get it," Magpie says gently. "Just... never seen it from this side of memory. Okay.... okay. So. Figuring out what's in the book will get us a step closer to getting you *peace* from this. I can work with that. I can *remember* that." Tiny hands ball into tiny fists, as determination floods the sorceress. "Right. So... the moment I have anything to summarize, I'll be visiting *all* of you. Until then..."

She looks from Zeke to Andelena, then nods in Dolan's direction. "Take care of him, yeah? It's starting to sound like he's gonna need to be better than his best to finish this."

She starts to turn on her heel, like a confident, smart, purposeful arcanist, but a thought strikes her, and she immediately tries to turn back, steps on her robe, and faceplants yet again. "...Also congraulatiooooons...."

With a heavy sigh, she starts to pick herself back up. "That was embarrassing," she murmurs, clearing her throat. "So uh... anyone want anything I'll be allowed to bring in here?"

Zeke continues to thrum in a low tone that is almost more felt than heard even after Dolan seems to come back to himself. It seems though, as if Magpie is leaving. Zeke is not certain if Dolan's reaction had caused her decision, but it might be for the best. Dolan is after all, still recovering. "Thisss one will care for him." This at least there is no argument about. "Thisss one isss glad you came Magpie. Thisss one isss grateful." He nods his head low to her.

"It's all right, Magpie. I'll be up and around before you know it." Dolan tries on a grin that is quite obviously about half-faked. "It's not just that, Magpie. That's what the dreams are for. So I can get hold of my own damned mind. They're good for that. Sorry you got sucked in. Don't know that they'll let me have much right now. Maybe we'll get pastries when I get out of here or something."

"I'm glad you came by, too," Andelena says with a wide grin to Magpie. "Trust me, I think I'm probably the person that wants Bry out of here as badly as he does." For similar reasons, judging by that slightly wicked grin on her face. She leans in and kisses Dolan on the cheek.

"Honestly, I plan on /spoiling/ the shit out of this man when he's finally out," Andelena says. "He deserves it."

"Hey," Magpie says, turning around to give Dolan a grin that is, perhaps, one part painted, three parts genuine. "We're adventurers. It's our job to help people, right? Don't remind me I can ask for help, and apologize for needing it yourself. And if I can help, I'm *gonna.* You see if I don't. And it was good to meet you in the real world, Zeke! Andelena, I--" Her mouth snaps shut, and she looks around at the room for a moment, before clearing her throat and switching words. "I bet you'll take *great* care of him. And remember... If I need a wagon to hold all the notes I take, they *need* to be allowed in here with me."

With a jaunty wave, the sorceress turns back around -- much more carefully, this time -- and marches for the door. Back straight, shoulders back, and a scrap of used note-paper stuck to the heel of her shoe.

-End