Dreaming Again

Tranquility fills the Temple of Daeus, a sort of peaceful hush in the wake of the nighttime hours. These are the times that Zeke most enjoys in the temple. Hours - days even - when the quiet is so deep and round that one can almost feel the Dragonfather smiling. The blue-scaled sith-makar sits beside Dolan on a stool, the tea long grown cold, but the necessity of it past. He is awake in spite of the hour, a small mana lamp beside the table offering faint illumination as he sits there patiently. Not really waiting for anything, but peacefully meditating the hours away.

GAME: Dolan rolls will: (11)+10: 21

For the last two nights, Dolan has been sleeping with that statue in his bed. H Since the other day, he has been reluctantly cooperative and allowed others to move him when needed, although evidence suggests that he doesn't have a lot of choice in the matter. All the same, he is most comfortable when Andelena does the moving, and while he is tense, he seems to be able to tolerate Zeke doing so without much or any difficulty. Anyone else touching him is a dicey proposition, and doing so without warning is more so.

He has not explained the nature of the statue, nor why he wants it, but he's made it clear that having it in reach is important to him. So much so, in fact, that he's been willing to let the matter of his eye drop, but not this. He sleeps now with the thing next to him, atop the covers against his right leg. The first night he did so, he awoke with a start in the way of one having nightmares. No panic or real risk ensued, and such things are to be expected. He did need a sleep aid to return to sleep, but that is not terribly unusual, either.

Tonight, though, there's a violent scream from the bed and he sits bolt upright, struggling as if against some unseen restraint. The chocolate-brown eye is open, but unseeing, lacking in cognition of his surroundings, and he writhes and fights whatever it is with a violence that will put him on the floor very soon if not careful.

Zeke is startled out of his meditation by Dolan's sudden violent reaction to his dream. The sith-makar thrums low in his throat, loud enough to be heard over Dolan's reaction, but quiet enough that he doesn't disturb any of the other rooms in the area. He rises to his feet as quickly as he can. Not terribly quickly given his prosthetic limb, but he does his best. The blue-scale has no desire to touch Dolan in this moment. To worsen the man's clearly panicked reaction, but letting Dolan fall to the floor is not an option.

So he hovers nearby, waiting to see how the man will react to his thrumming, and then, catching a bright memory, picks up one of the cups of tea that is still half-full and tries to bring it around to the other man. "Peasssce." He murmurs to Dolan. "Peasssce, you are in the houssse of the Dragonfather."

GAME: Dolan rolls will: (19)+10: 29

Is it the voice that gets Dolan's attention first? The hum? The muted scent of the tea for how long it has been sitting? It's hard to say. He's rolled himself over on his left side, though, and sense returns to the mobile half of his features and his lone eye as he rolls back over onto his back. He stares at the ceiling, sweat beading on his brow, chest heaving with effort. "Fuck. Didn't expect it to be that nasty." He shudders again, biting his lip, hard. "Sorry."

Dolan says, “Now it does.”

"You were having a nightmare." Zeke offers, his voice gentle as he returns the tea to the beside table. He eyes the two tea pots and hums at the thought of asking for more water to brew more. "Would you like sssome tea? To help you ssssleep, or to help you relax?"

From the look of Dolan, from the way he's gritting his teeth, he might need the tea for a third purpose. He tries to wiggle his left arm a little in its padded restraint, grimacing, and stares one-eyed up at the ceiling, trying to shake off the remains of the nightmare. "I - I don't know," he answers honestly. "I'm awake. I didn't mean to wake you, sorry." He's clearly struggling with something, but the eyes are coherent, and if there is a terrible memory hiding in them, who is to blame him?

Zeke's voice comes even more gently than before. "Thisss one wasss not asssleep. Thisss one isss fine. You are in pain. Thisss one will have fresssh hot water brought." This is not quite a question, and he moves to the door, opening it and holding a brief conversation with the cleric on the other side even at this hour. The sith-makar returns a moment later and Zeke looks at Dolan's injured shoulder with some concern. "The tea will help your ssshoulder relax. Thisss one will make sssome-thing that isss more for that than for sssleeping if you prefer."

"I - uh - yeah." Dolan's not making a huge amount of sense at the moment, but he seems to know better than to try to sit up. Instead, he just stays where he is while Zeke bespeaks more hot water, chest still heaving but gradually slowing. "Asked and answered." He swears colorfully, but half to himself. "So where in all the green garden hells are the others? Maybe I can use the one to find the others. Damn demons got at least two."

When Zeke comes back from his request for water, he breaks off to allow the inspection of his shoulder, rolling to the right a little. "It doesn't feel like it's out," he offers. "Just wish I could move it a little."

Zeke is very careful with his inspection of Dolan's shoulder, a polite, "May thisss one touch?" Before any actual interaction is made and even then it is done with great effort to not agitate the shoulder more than it already has been. "You may think you wissh to move it more, but doing ssso would be very painful. It iss better to let it heal asss much ass it can. Thisss one believesss that it isss... permanently damaged. It iss unlikely that you will be able to do sstreniousss thingsss with it out of a brasce."

The muscles around the shoulder are very tense and tight, but the joint itself remains loose, and Dolan lets out a gasp as the shoulder is manipulated in its restraints. "I'm - assuming magic's not going to work. The other one's fine, and -" He stops short, shuddering and losing whatever it was he's been about to say. Still, there's sense in the words, and he does not feel as of he's going to panic. "Don't tell me I'm not going to be able to fight." There's real worry in those words.

When he's done, Zeke pulls back, removing his claws from Dolan's skin and sitting down at his bedside. "Sssome of the ssshoulder began healing before thissss one could resstore it. Damage that isss healed can not be healed again and sso... Thisss one can not be scertain. If you are determined, and you rebuild the musscle with care rather than take on too much too quickly.... You may have full ussse of it again some-day."

Zeke looks at Dolan very seriously. "You have another arm; you will not be taken out of the fight entirely either way, unlesssss you wisssh it to be sssso."

Unhappiness writes itself across Dolan's features, but he shakes his head determinedly. "I'm not out of it. I'll use His holy longsword if I have to." Determination turns his tone to steel. "Damn him. He's not stopping me from doing shit." Still, that's a pretty heavy blow, and he rolls back onto his back carefully, gritting his teeth again and staring at the ceiling. "No way am I giving it up."

"Thisss one would never sssuggessst you do ssso." Zeke says gently, and seems mildly relieved when a very gentle knock at the door sounds. He trades the blue pot on the stand for a green one, and begins to mix herbs on Dolan's bedside stand. "Would you like sssome-thing to help you back to ssleeep? More for pain?"

"Pain," Dolan says at once, crisply and clearly. "I'm not going back to sleep yet." _Not for a while yet,_ is the unspoken meaning written there. He looks over at the herbs being mixed, turning his full face towards it, and then readjusting the direction he looks so that he can see the entire operation. "I better not go back to sleep yet. Need to straighten my head out. That was -" He shudders again, momentarily going blank, but comes back quickly enough, and if he wears a troubled look, that is not a surprise. "Shit. I guess that answers what I wanted, though."

Zeke does as he is bid, mixing the tea more to alleviate Dolan's pain and relax his aching muscles than anything. Once he is done with the herbs he pours them into the water to steep, and waits. "Anssswersss? You got anssswersss in your sssleep? Are you a Ssseer asss well?"

GAME: Dolan rolls will: (20)+10: 30 (CRITICAL SUCCESS)

Dolan shakes his head again, then reaches up with his good hand to rub at his neck. He massages it a little, but frowns. "Nah, although they taught me how to do this. I can - control my own dreams," he explains matter-of-factly. "I've gotten pretty good at it. That statue's a Dream Realm artifact, made by the Knight Himself." He nods to the statue in the bed with him. "They're the chains that hold the Nightmare, and it's one of thirteen. Andie is holding two more. That statue on Kol's dresser was one. I don't know what happened to it. I think someone grabbed it." _I hope someone grabbed it._ "Anyway, I sort of asked it to show me something and it did. What it showed me -" He stops again. "They're the actual chains. The Nightmare's chains. It just - I watched that and saw Kol's chains," he manages, breathing quickening again.

The blue-scale thrums low in his throat to calm Dolan once more. To remind him that Zeke is present. He offers his claws to the other man. A grounding technique taught to him by his kin, and useful in situations like this when one is so close to memory. "If you would ssshare wordss, thisss on isss here. It isss good to talk about sssuch thingsss for it givess them lesss power over usss."

Taking those claws is a little difficult, with one arm bound to him and the other on the far side where Dolan will need to roll onto his left side to reach it. He does not take the claws yet, staring into the middle distance as if sorting out his own mind. "Fucking chains," he starts. "I can still feel 'em." Unconcsciously, he rubs his right wrist against his left, as if a phantom sensation bedevils them. "I almost feel sorry for him in a way. But - if he gets loose-"

Zeke takes no offense to Dolan's lack of contact. It is an offering, not a demand. There if the man needs it, and so he remains as he is. "You feel sssorry for... the Nightmare? For Caracoroth?" He blinks and seems to think about this. "Thisss one can ssssee thiss yesss. Thisss isss proof of your goodnesss Dolan; that you can feel even for one sso wholly evil."

"I've spent enough damn time in chains." This time, Dolan's voice cracks, and he turns his face away. "No more. Please." The grasp he had on the here-and-now appears to be starting to slide, although he is not yet in full-on panic.

Zeke hums again. "You are in the Dragonfathersss houssse. There are no chainsss here Dolan. No-thing to bind you. You are free." He keeps offering his claws, one scaled, the other crystal. "Would you like the tea now? Thisss one can help you drink it."

There's something about that hum, something that Dolan seems to instinctively respond to without even knowing why. "Can I - Can I sit up?" He breathes deeply, clearly and with a will pulling himself back. "Damn it. I can't be doing that if I'm going to dreamwalk. That's how things go bad." He looks at the claws, and slowly, starts to turn himself to reach at least the one.

His eye falls on the crystal one, then, and his lone eye blinks. "Huh. Never really noticed that before. Guess I don't care about stuff like that as much. Speaking of - is my eye around somewhere?"

"Thisss one will help you sssit up if that isss what you want, but you ssshould not move that sshoulder asss much ass you can avoid doing ssso." Zeke leans forward slightly, ready to help Dolan sit up then blinks at him. The sith's tail gives a little swish-flick. Not for the first time he is glad that most humans are not overly familiar with sith-makar emotions. "Yessss. Your prossthetic iss in the sstand here. Thisss one can get it for you, before or after. Your choisce."

"Yeah. That's fine," Dolan grits out as another shock radiates through shoulder and collarbone and bone grates on bone, but reaches out and grabs the crystal claw first, grasping it as firmly as he can. He is still weak, but there is muscle there. "Yeah. And - I don't know if Andie ever brought my holy symbol. She should know where that is too. I - I feel weird without it."

He shifts a little, to make it easier for Zeke to pick him up.

GAME: Dolan rolls fortitude: (2)+12: 14

With infinite care Zeke moves to help Dolan into a seated position. He has a great deal of experience with this, but Dolan is in healing slowly and continues to push himself further than he is able to go. As he makes the effort to move Dolan, he speaks. "Thisss one can let you borrow thisss onesss. It will not be the sssame, but you ssshould have sssome-thing of the Dragonfathersss while you are here."

Dolan is clearly trying hard, but the movement and the sitting up brings a colorful curse and a heavy lean while he consumes his tea, his eye squeezed shut. "No. Better skip the eye for now," he grits out. "Not until I can sit up straight." Clearly, the issues with doing so are immensely frustrating, but he's at least cooperating. "It wasn't this bad even there," he gasps, between sips of the tea. There's more he's not saying, but he does at least manage, "Don't have to - I'd hate to take it from you - but I'd like something."

Zeke quickly helps Dolan back to the bed, laying the other man down as soon as the tea is consumed. When the other man is carefully laid down, he pulls a holy symbol over his head and presses it into Dolan's hand with his crystal claw. "Thisss one doesss not require one in the every-day. You can return it when you get yourss back." It is indeed unlike Dolan's, bearing Daeus upon it in his form of a platinum dragon. But it is of the deity they share worship of. "It may sseem worssse now, becausssse it isss healing. More aches. More painsss. The need to sstay alive makesss ssuch thingsss sseem sssmaller in the moment."

Dolan breathes a sign of relief when he is once again horizontal and the tea consumed, shaking. "Shit," he swears shakily, clutching at the holy symbol. "Knight only knows when I'm going to be able to fight again. If at all." That, for some reason, seems to trouble him even more than the talk of the chains did. "Damn it, I've got to."

"You mussst take it ssslowly, one day at a time." Zeke replies calmly, reassuringly. "The better care you take of your-ssself now, the more you will recover over time. The mossst important thing isss that you never give up; do not lossse faith in Him. Or your-ssself." Zeke nods to the holy symbol in Dolan's hand.

Memories stir in Dolan, of the last time he was in a state like this. Admitted that this is worse than last time, in some ways. Slowly, Dolan's right hand moves up to feel the scarred side of his face, the eye socket. _You got through that. You'll get through this. You had to completely re-learn how to fight, remember?_ he reminds himself silently.

He doesn't answer Zeke immediately, still holding onto the holy symbol as if for dear life. _You didn't let demons stop you, did you? Are you going to let that monster stop you? You knew what he wanted when you went with him. You let him do it,_ his silent inner dialogue reminds.

Zeke dislikes the silence. Not because of the fact that it is silent, but rather what he is reading from Dolan's expressions tell him that the man is thinking deeply. Either in memory, or in practice of some thought that is not particularly pleasant. "Thisss oen isss here, if you wisssh to sshare wordsss." He reminds the other man gently, but doesn't push any more than this. It is Dolan's choice.

A minute more, and Dolan shakes himself mentally, much like a dog shaking water off of itself. Physically, it looks more like a shudder. "No. I'm okay," he answers. "Just one more damn thing to deal with." He seems to slowly be pulling himself together. "One day at a time. Right." He seems to be managing better when he is flat on his back, still. "Look. I know I'm a pain in the ass with this stuff. I think I'm stuck in the dream world work for a bit, yeah?"

The long blue tail behind Zeke gives another swish flick and Zeke rolls his right shoulder in a half shrug. "Thisss one doess not think you a pain, you will find your own time with thessse thingsss. Your own way. Thissss iss ass it sshould be. Thisss one isss merely here to offer what-ever aid there isss to be offered along the way. Tell thisss one more about thessse dream thingsss. Are they dangerousss? Dreamsss can-not affect the body true?"

Dolan hesitates at that, and runs at the fang scars on the side of his neck. "Usually, yeah," he temporizes. "With these artifacts - yeah, it can manifest in the real world," he admits. "They're that powerful. Whether it does - it's about how good your control is. I've only had it happen once, and that was a while ago. I can usually get out if I need to," he says quickly. Clearly, the man can't lie for coffee. "But - it might be the only way I can see what I need to see."

"Thisss one is not going to tell you not to do ssssome-thing dangerousss." Zeke says calmly, blinking his green eyes and looking at Dolan. "But thisss one will not allow further damagessss while you are in thisss oness care. Ssso, thisss one will be ready with healing prayersss ass necesssary."

He hesitates and then continues. "And Dolan, if you bring sssome-thing into thisss temple - Kol by meansss of your dreamsss." His eyes light with momentary illumination. "Thisss one will _dessstroy_ him."

Dolan is silent at that, and swallows hard. That's not something that he had thought of - that he is putting the temple at risk by doing this. "Look," he answers, swallowing hard. "If I start screaming and don't wake up. I need you to do whatever you have to to wake me up. Take the statue. Slap me. Do what you have to. I'm pretty good at this - but sometimes it's pretty bad. Andie knows this. It's nothing new. Sometimes I still see that altar too. Just - that statue doesn't leave here. It can't."

Zeke hesitates, then nods. "Thisss one will do asss you sssay, but thisss one will not harm unlesss it isss necesssary. There isss alwaysss the tea. Thisss one knowsss of few that can sssleep through a face-full of tea." He nods very seriously. It seems he means what he says. "If necesssary, thisss one will do what mussst be done, but thisss one will try every-thing elssse firssst."

"Yeah. Thanks. The tea'll be fine." Dolan seems to take that one in stride, and turns his head carefully towards Zeke. "If you have to - don't sweat it. I've - gotten used to the little stuff." He tries on a cheeky grin, but it comes out as more of a ghost. "Sometimes I can still feel my eye. It's like the worst headache ever, but it's not even there. I don't know why."

The blue-scale glances at his crystal claw for a moment and then away. "Thisss one hass heard sssuch. That ssome-timesss thossse who have losssst feel that which they have losst. The pain of it, the memory of it. Thisss one doess not know it persssonally, but asss a healer." He hefts a sigh, not knowing how to explain to Dolan that even giving a small pain is difficult for him as a healer, so he leaves that alone. He will do what is necessary, and that is all that need be said about that. "Perhapsss ssome day we will ssshare wordsss. But for now... perhapsss you ssshould try to return to ressst?"

"I don't know, Zeke." Dolan looks what he can see of Zeke up and down. "Somehow, I get the impression that you know more about things like that than you're admitting to." The pain meds are starting to take hold, now, and he essays that smile again, with limited success. "Just watching you move says that much."

Zeke blinks at this then lets out a small chuckle. "Thisss one knowss much of thingsss yesss, but thisss one... Thisss one wasss born with-out limbsss." He motions with his right claw to his left side where arm and leg are both replaced with crystal. "Many think thisss one losst them in sssome battle, but the truth isss that they were never there. Thisss one doess not know what it feelsss like to have ssuch there at all. Can not imagine thisss one asss other than thiss one isss. Yet..."

Here he pauses introspectively. "Thisss one knowsss very well what it isss to be with-out thessse limbs." He meets Dolan's gaze. "Thisss one knowsss much of pain, of recovery, and it isss not all a healersss knowledge. You underssstand?" This last is offered very gently.

The way Dolan's lone eye roves over Zeke's form, over the limbs, over everything, it is as if he is seeing the makari anew, for the first time. "Yeah. I guess it's probably not. You know what -" He swallows. "Isn't so great. I appreciate that. Thanks."

"Asss thisss one sssaid. Perhapsss ssome day we will ssshare wordsss, but there isss no need for it now. Only when you are ready." Zeke doesn't seem to mind Dolan's discomfort. He simply accepts it like water rolling off a duck's back.

And that is the end of that. Dolan swallows again, understanding that the conversation is at an end. Not ready to sleep, he simply turns his face towards the ceiling, and drops into silence. Eventually he'll drop off, but it's - a while coming.

-End