Fey Nightmares
Log Info
- Title: Fey Nightmares
- Emitter: Dolan
- Place: A10 - Temple of Daeus
- Summary: Dolan's recuperating at the Temple of Daeus with a fever and with nightmares plaguing his sleep. Andelena tends to him as he wakes up from one, reassuring him and tending to his fever by getting him a fresh wet cloth. They discuss the issue with the werewolves and with the little fey witch Phyrelia. Dolan posits an interesting hypothesis to Andelena: what if Phyrelia is not merely fey? Andelena accepts this is an intriguing hypothesis, but neither of them are fey experts. They resolve to find someone who is... Once Dolan's had some rest and gets better.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=<* A10: Temple of Daeus *>=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
The temple of the Sun Lord glitters golden beneath the same. Rather than walls, the majority of the temple is composed of what appears at first blush to be a raised round platform made of one of the largest slabs of marble likely in existence. Columns rise into the air as if to hold some massive ceiling, though instead of a normal ceiling, one finds the deep blue sky, studded by a disconcertingly close canopy of bright stars. One should not worry, however, as the rain never falls, and the wind never blows on this particular temple, but for a gentle breeze, whatever the weather outside may be.
Despite the austerity of the columns, warmth suffuses the grounds. A grand, marble statue of the Shining Knight stands a the center, a hand outstretched in benediction. Beside Him, the statue of Althea, their hands clasped in love. The central position of the temple to the others gives view to all of their children, and the two look upon one another with the solemnity of love that has been the center of so many tales and legends.
Masterfully designed mana lamps provide further soft, golden lightning where needed, their pedestals carved in the form of the Dragons of Light, over which Daeus is said to have dominion in His form of Draco Solis. Majesty, justice, and welcome suffuse the temple grounds. Around the central temple are a series of smaller buildings, each with a simple function and form. One houses the sacred book depicting some of the earliest known translations of the Laws of Light, which pilgrims from near and far come to visit. Another houses the well-appointed quarters of the Sunguards, and among all the ground bristle the Sunblades.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=- 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. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
It certainly has been gray and rainy in Alexandria of late, and today is no exception. Fortunately, in the Temple of Daeus, the magic that keeps the rain away from its walls also keeps it warm and comfortable within its confines. Many people find sleeping when it is raining easy, peaceful, and soothing.
Dolan is not that lucky.
The chills he'd experienced earlier have blossomed into a full-blown illness, helped not even a little bit by the fact that he awakens repeatedly throughout the night in a cold sweat, gasping and sometimes screaming. He's been doing this for nearly a week now, ever since he came back from a Guild job with that statue in his bag, but the fever seems to just be making that worse.
It's about midmorning when he snaps awake again, this time with a shout. "NO! NO, GODDAMMIT!"
Andelena is by his side, of course--the Sunguard to accompany the Redeemer, the former fiancee (maybe still is--they haven't really put a label on it yet beyond 'my man' and 'my woman'). She's always there, only departing for the sake of fulfilling her schedule, and it just so happens to be that she's coming back into the room with a fresh change of clothes for her man when he shouts.
The Sunguard immediately rushes to his side, putting his clothes aside for now at the foot of the bed. "Bry!" she calls out, going to cradle him in her arms as she practically dives onto the bed with him. Which, well, in another context might be a fun way to greet him in bed--in fact, she's done it before--but it's not the same.
She runs a hand through his dark hair. "Shhh, you're here. You're here, you're okay. Promise you you're okay." It's the way she soothes him--has always soothed him.
Someone - it might have been Andie, it might have been another of the healers, has at least made inroads into the injury situation, and the left arm under the covers no longer requires a splint. The impact of Andie diving onto the cot sends a shockwave of agony through Dolan, but he grabs onto her anyway with his free hand, clinging with sweaty arm and hand in a strong grip, but this time, he's not looking at her as he clings to her, shaking. "Damn it." His voice quavers. "No. Damn it. They're getting worse, Andie." He's warm to touch, too warm. "No. No."
Andelena realizes about a second too late the pain she's accidentally caused Dolan in her dive onto the cot--6 feet of muscular woman is a lot to handle, but Dolan's always been able to handle it--and she leans down and kisses him on the forehead. Fever be damned, sweat be damned. "I know, I know, Bry. Bry, I'm here."
She's firm about that last line, eventually drawing back to try and give Bry some space to breathe--but she's still there. "Let me get you another cloth for your head. Do you want me to heal you some more? Try to break the fever a bit? I could send for someone else, too."
Dolan's breathing is shallow, careful against her. He doesn't let go at once, not until she pulls away, and when she does, he drops back to the bed, staring at the ceiling with a lone eye that is haunted, and will not look at her. This is not the first time since they started sharing a bed again that he's had nightmares, but they're not constant like this. "Not that."
He closes his eye against the pounding in his head. She and the other healers will have discovered that he doesn't mind the cloth on the ruined side of his face, and it seems to help on several levels. "Andie ... I was dreaming about you this time. Hunting you. Specifically. But -" He breathes carefully and slowly, clearly trying to gather himself. "It wasn't your cloak. You were - in all white."
Andelena quickly retrieves another wet cloth for Dolan--easy enough to find and do--and places it on the ruined side of his face where it helps him best. She purses her lips as she thinks about what he said.
"So I looked like a ghost," she says, gently, as she returns to the cot--sitting on the side of it like they'd done before. "And you were hunting me."
Another careful purse of the lips. "Tell me more if it helps. I'm not about to make you barf it all up if it'll hurt."
GAME: Dolan rolls knowledge/religion: (6)+7: 13
Dolan is still breathing very carefully, shallowly, and slowly, clearly trying to pull his wits together. He's clearly exhausted, with dark circles under his eyes, in addition to the pallor that accompanies being ill. He shivers as the wet cloth touches his face, but its weight does seem to bring him some comfort, and the reasons many people do not care for such an approach - inability to breathe, inability to see - simply do not appear to apply to him. He does not open his eyes, thanks to the pounding in his head, but her presence on the side of the cot is quite obviously reassuring, even if his thoughts are not.
"I was - a monster. A hunter. A predator. Pursuing you. I was planning to eat you - consume you - I never would!" He stops, and breathes again, quite obviously trying to still himself. "You looked like - yourself. All in white. Not like the cloak. But it was you."
Suddenly, he stops. "Andie. What if the wolves find me here? They want to stop this knowledge. This knowledge of what they are doing. They want to keep it from being known. Like the fae girl and her prophecy." His expression shifts. "I know too damn much, Andie."
Andie is far, far too calm. It's one of her best attributes, really--she stays so calm and focused even when Dolan's been taken by panic and fear. Those steel-grey eyes reflect that calm, like the still of a dark sky that has decided it will not tear open to spill forth rain and thunder and merely keep watch over the creatures, places, and things that dwell on the ground below.
She puts her hand on his head, burrowing her fingers in his hair as she reassures him again with that touch. "I know you wouldn't," she says. "I know you're scared, Brydion Donnely. I know what you've done before when you're scared--but it's different now."
She gives him a warm smile, radiant like the sun lord that they worship--radiant like the sunrise to which they offer their morning prayers. "It's different because I am here. It's different because I will be here with you, and I want to be here with you."
Dolan starts to shake his head, but the fingers in his hair - a touch he has always loved unreasonably. "I'm not running, Andie. I can't. I promised I wouldn't." How many times has he said that, now? "But - we need to be careful who we let in here. I - realized something." That's not quite true. He's a terrible liar. "The fae girl. That piece of the moon that went missing. She was no kid. Way too old and wise for that. Didn't she show up right after that piece of the moon went missing?"
"...I think she did," Andelena says, looking thoughtful as Dolan brings her up. "Phy..."
She squints at Dolan. "Hold on a minute," she says. "Are you implying she's not fae? I mean, I don't know shit from mud about them, but... What makes you think that?"
In the meantime, she keeps touching Dolan's hair, even beginning to massage the scalp a little. It's clearly the soothing touch that he's responding to best, and it's certainly not something the nurses and healers are willing to offer him.
The touch does indeed seem to relax and help Dolan, the aches in every inch of his body subsiding just a little - or maybe he just notices them less. It doesn't matter - what does matter is that Andelena's fingers in his hair seems to soothe him, and his breathing and heart rate are beginning to slow. "What if she's that piece of Eluna - the piece that dropped the night the werewolves attacked Her temple? Wouldn't that explain why she knew what she did, and why the werewolves want her so bad?"
His eyes remain closed, but his lip turns up just a little at the one corner. For a moment. "How many people do you know can turn a mirror into a portal in the fae realm in seconds?"
Andelena can't help but smirk just a little as she notices Dolan respond to her touch the way he does. It's a familiar little smirk, of course--how many times have they done almost exactly this?--but that doesn't mean it's lost its appeal. Dolan may be missing an eye and have a scarred-over half of a face, but...
(Nothing has changed. Nothing will stay just the same.)
"Yeah," she finally says. "Yeah, that... I have to agree with you. I don't know anyone who can do that. That's something on the levels of... a god."
With his remaining eye closed, Dolan doesn't see the smirk. All he knows is the familiar touch, the soothing fingers on his skin that make him hurt just a little less. It's a touch that, while it doesn't quite banish fear or the images in his mind - images he'll never be able to fully convey - reminds him that he is not alone. "But - if she's dropped down here. She's hiding out - but right now, she's alone. And if they ever figure out where she went, she's in serious trouble."
His eye opens. "That's what I mean by I know too much. I'm one of a very few who knows where she went. The Lieutenant said he was going to ask the Seers, the Union, to come here. We have to be careful, Andie." He looks up at her, pleadingly. "Look. I got paid by the Guild the other day. I ought to be able to swing it. I need something silver. Something so we'll know if whoever comes is one of them."
"We are one of a very few who knows where she went. I was there, too," Andelena reminds him. She keeps touching him, keeps soothing him--and now that his eye's open, he can still see that hint of a smirk on her face. There is a part of her that, despite the conversation, is glad simply for having the opportunity to tend to him like this.
She nods at the mention of silver. "Something silver, something enchanted," Andelena says. "In the meantime... Maybe we can start talking to people who we know that have been involved with all of this. Maybe one of them will be able to confirm something about your hypothesis with Phy."
The spot of a smirk is reflected in the one that forms in the corner of Dolan's mouth, an affectionate and rueful thing. "Telamon. The wildman khazad - I think his name is Barclaiigh. They can help. Others have seen a little of it."
He lets out a breath. "Damn it. I'm a damn mess, aren't I." It's not a question. "I wish shit was still simple." This isn't the first time he's gotten wrecked in the course of their work, before they first split, but it's definitely one of the worst. "I just wish I could sleep."
"We should probably talk to that Telamon kid about that sleeping aid he offered," Andelena says, although she looks somewhat amused as she mentions him again. "I went on a job with him before and he definitely could hold his own, just... Mmm, I didn't expect him to have a 'fiancee'. He looks like a kid to me, but I guess that could just be... Elf-y shit."
She looks at Dolan for a moment longer. "Hell, he's a spellcaster. Might as well ask about Phy with him, too. Get his opinion on the deal."
"For sure, he's more than meets the eye. Don't let him looking so young fool you." Dolan's eyes begin to drift shut again as, aided by the damp clothes, his temperature is beginning to come down. "As for his girl - she's like that too. She's tiny, but I wouldn't fuck with her. I'm pretty sure that bird of hers wears the pants in that relationship, though." He's starting to mumble. "They live somewhere in the University District. See what he thinks, yeah," he agrees.
Andelena blinks a few times, just for good measure. "Bird? Tiny girl?"
Then she sees him beginning to drift off to sleep. She sighs a little and just smiles. "Get some rest, Bry," Andelena says. She leans down and kisses him on the forehead again. "I'll be here by your side. Don't have a shift today, so I'm here all day."
Which means she's going to be somewhat of a pain in the ass for some of the nurses. But she wouldn't have it any other way. After all, Bry's hers, and she'll stand by him all the way.