Days Like This

Quiet and a full guard greet Zeke when he does finally return to the Temple, nearly two full days after he first departed. The Sunblades on duty are alert and watchful, and he is challenged and checked for extra items, but passed upon recognition - a thing that happens quickly enough, for Zeke is both well-respected and quite unique among the Sunguards here.

What greets him on entering the room, however, are smells that tell him something is amiss. Dolan is exactly where he is supposed to be, his eye out and neatly tucked away, but atop the the left shoulder, there is a poultice typically used to ease swelling and bruising. Dolan is not wholly asleep, but staring in silence at the ceiling, and the cleric in the room is more asleep than he is, having a holy text spread across his lap with hands folded over it.

The scent is a warning indeed and the sith is displeased to see the poultice on Dolan's shoulder. "Peasssce on your nessset." The words are mild, but there's a bit of 'tell me what happened _now_' in his tone. Zeke is looking at the cleric for explanations, but moves toward Dolan for a closer examination. "Sssa Dolan."

Dolan moves first, head snapping immediately to the door, and lets out a gasp and a colorful swear word as he moves entirely too fast. The shoulder nudges, and he swears again.

The cleric looks up at the greeting and immediately snaps the text shut, standing. "I'm glad to see you, Zeke." It's one of the more senior healers of the temple. "We had an incident yestermorn, he awoke and threw himself out of the bed. We've got it back in place and as comfortable as we can make him, but you should look."

"Oh. Brightest of days, Zeke." _As comfortable as we can make him_ clearly is not comfortable, from the way he grates that out, but Dolan seems quite coherent. "Andie went to feed her cats." He appears to be moving nowhere, and deliberately so.

Zeke huffs and peers down at Dolan. "You are relieved. Thisss one thanksss you for your ssservice." He says only half his attention on the cleric. Indeed he has almost all his attention on Dolan's shoulder. "Thisss one mussst examine your ssshoulder, sssee how badly you damaged it in the fall. It came out yesss?"

Zeke does not seem surprised that this might be the case. "Have you had any tea for the pain Dolan? Would you like sssome before thiss one beginsss?"

GAME: Dolan rolls will: (13)+10: 23

Startled, the cleric _stares_ at Zeke, but only bows and turns to leave the room. Someone knows he's been dismissed.

Dolan, meanwhile, simply stares at the ceiling. "Didn't want to wake him," he grates out. "Yeah it came out. Damn chains." He shudders again. "I - is it going to knock me out? I dunno if anything'll stay down right now," he admits, with a sigh. "It's - pretty locked up. Don't know how long you were gone. Guess something must have happened." It's a polite inquiry, but an inquiry nonetheless.

Zeke snorts lightly and does not move to touch Dolan. He will wait for the man to be ready before that. "You were dreaming?" A gentle question and then he grows still. This happened while he was away. He can't help but feel guilty that he wasn't here to help sooner. But guilt will not help Dolan. "Thisss one wass gone for sssome time. Almossst two daysss. Thisss one assskss your forgivenesss that thisss one could not be at your ssside during ssuch a critical time. Will you pleassse allow thissss one to look at your ssshoulder?"

For a moment, Dolan hesitates, but assents - notably without moving his head. "Do what you need to, Zeke," he grates out. "It's fine." He moves the blankets a little to reveal the rest of the bandages that bind his shoulder. "Tea when you're done, though."

"I tried to look at - at that place," he says quickly. "Shouldn't have tried that. I - I don't really want to tell Andie too much."

The sith could not answer the question about the tea at this time; uncertain of what is in it beyond 'medicine'. He does actually take a moment then though, to open the top and sniff the tea, identifying the herbs by scent and nodding. "The tea will not put you to sssleep. But issss very ssstrong." He notes silently that Dolan seems to be in a great deal of pain, and that the last dose has probably worn off. Zeke then encourages Dolan onto his side a little, so that Zeke can take a look at the shoulder. Though his expression never changes as he does so, he finds the resulting injury worrisome. "Thisss one ssshould regenerate sssome of the ligimentsss in thisss sshoulder asss iss posssible. It will help you build muscle later."

He is as gentle with Dolan's arm as he can be, but he doesn't doubt that every gentle touch hurts. "You can tell thisss one Dolan, if you wisssh to ssshare wordsss, thisss one isss sssafe to talk to. No word you ssspeak will leave thisss one." Zeke helps Dolan lay back down fully; ready to pray for the proper spell if Dolan is accepting of the treatment that he has suggested.

Dolan is quite cooperative, although the attempt to roll over on his side draws a gasp of pain. It's clear that touching it does hurt quite a bit, but that most of the problem is muscular, for much of the shoulder, back, and neck in that area are pretty well locked in place by bowstring-taut muscles. Even manipulating the joint encounters some muscular resistance, and his hands clench into the bedclothes, but no further noises come out of him for the rest of the exam, not until the question is asked. "Do how you think best, Zeke. I've got to be able to fight again." The words are half-muttered into the bedclothes. "If that's what it'll take, then do it. I can't get there in the dream, so I'm just going to have to go myself."

The examination completed, Zeke focuses on the prayer, drawing on the light of the Dragonfather to repair the damage done to Dolan's shoulder. The spell does what it is meant to do, and repairs much of the injury, but there's only so much that _can_ be done. Zeke hefts a sigh in the aftermath of the healing, his claw gently probing to see if the tension remains or has been alleviated. "How doess that feel? The sssame? Better?"

GAME: Zeke casts Regenerate. Caster Level: 16 DC: 22

Powerful magic ripples through Dolan, and he breathes a sign of relief as tears and tension and pain fade, moving the shoulder experimentally, slowly and cautiously. "You aren't joking about strengthening it. I feel like I've got a sleeping cat attached to my shoulder. It doesn't hurt, though. Just limp." He moves it around a little more, clearly much more comfortable. "And kind of loose. I guess that makes sense, though."

Zeke nods in approval. "Thisss one would like to sssuggesst that you receive sssome masssage for your sshoulder. To help relax and build muscle. Two daysss. Let it remain in the brassce two more daysss, and then you can begin to rebuild it." Zeke helps Dolan back into the brace with care, settling the arm back across Dolan's chest and then pouring him some tea. Then, perhaps a bit too astutely, he holds the cup for the other man and peers at him. "Would you like to ssshare wordssss now?"

GAME: Dolan rolls will: (8)+10: 18

Dolan is leaning on Zeke a good bit less than he did at the outset, and he sits up for the assistance with the re-binding of the shoulder without too much difficulty. He even manages to consume the tea with minimal assistance, but by the time it is done, he lies back down with a sigh of relief, and stares up lone-eyed at the ceiling again. "Just - trying to figure something out," he mutters. "I -" he looks down. "I was trying to help them out," he mutters. "Don't think I can do much more there. But something else started bothering me. Kol - he - I." He seems to be flailing for words. "He's a monster - but," he shudders. "What under the holy sun happened to someone to make them believe that pain is beautiful?" Sanity remains, but there's a haunted look there.

The blue-scale takes his usual seat, and pours himself tea from the other pot. He doesn't drink it though, he listens. He considers the question seriously, very seriously. He has not spent much time trying to understand the motivations of the vampire though he has suggested such to Seldan. It's clear to him that Dolan is already much further along on this thread than any of them had considered. "What do you think makesss sssome-one thisss way? Or more importantly... What makesss him that way?"

"I know something pretty damned horrible happened to him." Now settled back into his bed, he pulls the covers up over himself, as far as the bindings on his shoulder will permit, and holds them there with his free hand. "He's got scars on the bottoms of his feet. I think it was a scourge, from what he said."

He searches in the blankets at his right side for something, digs around for a minute, and comes up at length with his holy symbol, a stylized representation of the platinum dragon that Alexandrians sometimes use for Daeus. This he grasps firmly in his right hand, the chain draped over his hand. His eyes are turned towards the ceiling, but his lone brown eye is turned towards Zeke. "I - who would do that to a _boy_? I - I think I have to look. To go find out. Find out _why_.

Zeke blinks at the words and then nods. "Evil Dolan. Only evil doess harm to children." He looks at the other man with steady green eyes. "You ssseek to unravel a great evil, and that isss no easssy tassk."

For a moment his eyes fall to the man's ruined shoulder and he considers words, but they do not come. It would be too harsh a thing to say; however true. "Thisss one will not sstop you from your quessst; will help in what-ever way thisss one iss able. Thesse rissskss are yoursss to take."

"Yeah." Those words come with a long sigh. "I've tried to unravel a lot of evils in the name of the Knight. I've succeeded in some. I know evil when I see it. I - just can't do evil to other people, just 'cause it was done to me, you know? That - it doesn't help anything. I don't want anyone else to have to - to have to do that. I want to stop it. I used to think it was just demons and devils that were that evil. That if I just took out all of the ones I found - but there's more to it than that. There's more evil than that."

He sounds weary, the pain medicine in the tea he was given starting to take hold. "I can't just let it go. Andie said Kol's out looking for me. I - it sounded like quite the story, but I didn't get to ask her any more about it. I - maybe I can't do anything about Kol or the werewolves or the camp right now, but - I need to at least see what happened. I need the answers. I was trying to get him to talk - if it was talking, he wasn't -" He stops, and shudders again. "No. No."

Zeke understands. In a way that few others could or would ever be able to. He knows this. He lets Dolan talk where he will. Lets the words come. He sips his tea and is there. A thing that only one has ever offered to him. He sets his tea cup aside when it becomes a lot for the man on the bed and offers his claws to Dolan. "Here. Ground your-ssself in the pressent. Thisss one iss here." His eyes nictate slowly. "Thisss iss ssscale, isss crysstal. Isss not-thing familiar to that time and plasssce."

He leans forward very far, so that Dolan doesn't have to move very far to touch him and ground himself. "Thissss isss a sssafe plassce, you may ssspeak, or not ssspeak. What-ever you need."

Almost at once, the freed hand reaches for the claws, grasping at the first one it reaches. Scales. His grip is firm, the grip of a fighter, complete with sword calluses. A strength that is less than it was, and yet still plenty. "Fuck. Dammit." He swears colorfully, but the grip of the claw - hard as it is - seems to help. "Look. I know I'm taking a risk. I don't want to do that again. Maybe - I don't know, is it possible to strap me into the bed while I do this? I think - I think that'd be okay. Just over the bed so I don't try to dodge those chains again."

Zeke shakes his head. "You do not react well to being... held in plassce Dolan." He reminds the other man with gentleness, clearly not minding Dolan's strong grip. "You would awaken from one nightmare to another. Thisss one wantsss the waking world asss sssafe for you asss thisss one can make it."

"But it's _not_." Dolan doesn't let go at once, although the grip does loosen just a little once the moment has passed. "Well, I guess here is pretty safe. I - I can't just hide here, you know? There's nowhere to hide from this shit. You've got to stand up and tackle it head-on. It's the only way. I'm in it now. I can't look away. You know?" The holy symbol that was in his hand has fallen back to his right side, dropped when he reached for Zeke's claw. "The more I just lay here, the more I think."

"Issss thinking a bad thing?" Zeke asks gently.

"When it's all I'm doing, yeah. I start thinking about stuff and - yeah, that happens." Another squeeze of Zeke's claw, and Dolan's staring at the ceiling. "I'm not getting anywhere just wondering." His grip begins to relax a little as the medicine starts to take hold. It won't put him to sleep, but it will slow him down. "I - I didn't think it would be as bad as it was. I thought I could handle it. I keep telling myself that it worked, that they found me. That I was right. Did anybody ever go back there?"

Zeke seems to consider things for a moment. "Yesss. Your mate and Ssseldan ass well asss a few othersss went. Thisss one doesss not know the whole of what happened. Thisss one only knowsss that there wassss... no injuriesss in thossse that left. You do not remember that your mate ssspoke of thisss?" There's some concern there that Dolan doesn't.

"Oh. Right." Yeah, Dolan had forgotten, and a small ghost of a sheepish smile creeps across his face. "She was talking pretty fast. I don't think I got everything she said. I'll ask her when she comes back. Maybe she can say more of what they found. I remember the message. I think she was just crazy excited that it happened at all, Zeke. We saw that vision when I first touched Daeus' statue." He shakes his head. "I saw what he did. That took balls, but - I get why it worked now, I think. He just isn't interested in anything outside of him. He doesn't care, and he doesn't lie about it. If he doesn't care, he says so. He's honest about it."

"Take care Dolan, thisss one will not allow even your mate to upsset you, and thisss talk of Kol... It iss often a... trigger for your unpleasssant memoriesss. Thisss one doess not wisssh you to damage your-ssself further." Zeke looks at the other man very seriously. "Dolan, you mussst know - if you continue to damage your arm in thisss way, we may be forsced to remove it. It isss very badly damaged right now."

All color drains from Dolan's face at that. "Oh no. Not again." He shakes his head quickly, as if in denial, any languor that the drugs may have achieved vanishing in an instant. "All right. No more talk of it. I can't - I can't let that happen. No more bullshit. The answers will just have to wait. Fuck." He lets go of Zeke's claw, letting his hand drop back to the bed, and turns his face towards the stone wall.

Zeke knows what that means, and he has more than enough respect for Dolan not to push or even apologize for the words that had so obviously hurt the man on the bed. He had debated saying nothing, but... It would have been a lie. A lie that could mean drastic and life-altering effects for Dolan. To not tell him the truth would be tantamount to harm, a thing that Zeke would not abide. He'd explain further, but that would deny Dolan his right to process the information. So Zeke picks up his tea and stares at it.

It's at that moment that a knock comes at the door, followed by Andelena, sporting what appears to be a fresh kitten-scratch underneath her steel-grey eye. She looks a little peeved at first--perhaps an over-eager paladin interrogated her along the way, or maybe it's just the kitten-scratch--until her gaze lands on Zeke.

"Sunguard Zeke," she says, eyes widening in surprise. "You're back. I--"

She looks over at Dolan, raising a brow. The silence is thick enough to be cut with a knife, after all. "I, umm. Everything okay?"

There is no response from the man on the bed.

Zeke rises to his feet slowly. "Peasssce on your nessst Andelena." He offers to her politely, glancing to the man on the bed and then putting his tea down. "Thisss one had to give him sssome bad newsss. Thisss one will not go into detail. But perhapsss thisss one ssshould go out-ssside? Let you two have sssome time together..."

The brow on Andelena's face is still raised, but she nods slowly in understanding with Zeke's suggestion. "Yeah," she says. "That's probably for the best. Sorry to put you out like that, but..."

But the rest of the sentence doesn't come to Andelena's mouth as she looks back to Dolan. She walks over to him and takes a seat on the edge of the bed. "Hey baby," she says in that warm tone of hers used only for him (and the cats). "Wanna talk? Or I can just hold you, if you'd like."

From the bedclothes, there's a voice, finally. It does not speak to Zeke. "Andie, take the totem out of the bed. It's by my right calf. I need you to tell the others. I can't get into the camp in the dreamworld, and if I keep trying I could lose my ability to fight. They're going to - going to have to take over. I can't let that happen. Once was fucking enough."

Wordlessly, Zeke slips out of the room. He could explain, but... forcing the information on Dolan could make the situation worse. He leaves the situation to Andelena. If they need him, he will be just outside the door. That... will have to be enough.

Andelena frowns as Dolan explains, her eyes flicking briefly in the direction of the door as she hears Zeke leaves. Her steel-grey eyes return to Dolan quickly after, and they are suddenly deep with a sympathetic sorrow. She knows what that meant for him. "I got it, Bry," she says, and she leans over to take the totem out of the bed, gently, before she returns it to the contents of her bag. Once that's in place, she sets the bag down and away by the foot of the bed, and she sits back down next to Dolan.

"I'll tell them," she says as she holds her hand out to Dolan for him to take, if needed, "but you're my priority first, Bry. I'm here with you until my next break. I'm not leaving you all alone to deal with this." She's firm about that.

Turned over on the bed as he is, facing the wall, Dolan doesn't see the hand offered, and doesn't move.

Andelena pauses for a moment as he doesn't respond. She mulls over what he needs, what he wants. And she comes to a conclusion. She lies down on the bed next to him and she drapes her arm over him, warm and full of life, much like she does when they're at home together.

"I'm here for you this time," she says in a soothing manner. "It's not like before. You're not recovering alone."

For a moment, there's no response. Then, it begins. Something in that touch opens a floodgate. Shuddering sobs, a cathartic release that when it starts, is like an avalanche. There are no words for the torrent, nothing that will slow it, soothe it, or stop the tidal wave of emotion that washes over Dolan now. It is a thing he doesn't do all that often - only a few times - but he does it now. "No," he chokes out. "No, baby. I'm not letting it - letting it happen again."

"I know, I know," Andelena responds, and she snuggles in a little closer to Dolan, giving him more of her warmth, more of her touch. "That's why I've been here as much as I can. That's why Zeke started ordering me out on breaks--I didn't want to leave your side, because I /vowed/ that I wouldn't make you recover without me--like you did before."

Her hand, which had dangled off his side, comes up to find his chest, resting close to his heart, where she usually likes to hold him. "I'm here, Brydion Donnelly. And I'm gonna be your wife. Not a single thing can change that for me or for us. It's not like last time. It's not happening again."

Still caught in the tidal wave, Dolan doesn't answer Andelena.

Andelena just holds Dolan for a long moment, knowing her touch alone is a great comfort for him, a warmth that he hasn't gotten to have in so long. But tears find her own eyes as she realizes that... She needed this, too. Just holding him. Just having him. And that she doesn't have to fear touching him anymore.

"I love you, Bry," she murmurs, and she leans in, pushing herself up a little to kiss him on the cheek. Her own face is wet with tears now, but at least they're both already like that.

-End