Images and Words
Log Info
- Title: Images and Words
- Emitter: Dolan
- Place: Dolan's apartment
- Summary: In the aftermath of what's happened at the Temple of Eluna, Dolan and Andelena return to Dolan's apartment, where Andelena consoles her Redeemer. Dolan expresses his sorrow and disappointment with himself that he harmed a child (or, well, what appeared to be a child, but was actually just one of the fae), and Andelena consoles him. They discuss how they both have a lot to work on, and how they've gotten pretty far in over their heads with way more than they ever imagined--but they'll do it together. The pain of what's happened is not so easily healed, but it's easier when you don't have to bear it alone.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=- 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. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
When the group returns to the Temple from Quelynos, a dense fog has rolled in off of the water, and after a brief but pointed discussion with the temple officials, the pair walk home through quiet, mana-lit streets in visibility of maybe ten paces. It isn't far from the Temple to Brydion's small flat, and they return to find it in exactly the order in which they'd left it, which is - not great but serviceable. It's a bit of a mess, if we're honest.
For their entire stay in Quelynos, Brydion had been quiet, speaking only when spoken to. He'd nodded at the whispered words in his ear, but - it didn't seem to help all that much. He's still quiet, and still has the greatsword resting over his shoulder, having left the harness for it in that deep inner room when they'd fled so abruptly. Now that he is inside, he wordlessly sets the weapon in its usual spot, and begins to work on the buckles that hold his armor.
Andelena had acted like... Well, terribly out of her element, the entire time that they were in Quelynos. Brydion knew from years of being with the woman that she'd never really given much thought to discussions of the fey nor their world, and so she'd walked on eggshells the entire time--but mostly, her eyes had been trained on him, that steel-grey gaze full of worry as she looked at him.
The Sunguard accompanies her Redeemer on the trek home, and she similarly begins to strip herself of her gear. But it's too damn quiet.
Has been too damn quiet the whole time.
"Bry..." Andelena says at first. She stops as she's down to her underwear, not immediately going to rummage in Brydion's drawers for another pair of comfy drawstring pants to steal.
It's one syllable, just to try and dispel that curse of silence that'd been put onto her partner.
To be honest, Brydion had never given any thought to the fey world, either, or its denizens. There just had never seemed to be a need to worry about other worlds when there is plenty of trouble to go around on this one. He doesn't seem inclined to do so now, and where Andie had walked on eggshells, he'd just been lost in his own thoughts, and there's no way those thoughts are happy ones. Not with as quiet has he's been. He very rarely gets this way.
When the armor is off, and he is stripped to trousers, he walks over to the long sofa and drops into it, elbows resting on knees and head in his hands. "I almost killed two innocent people, including the very one I was trying to protect. A child, Andie. What in all of the green garden hells am I doing?"
The shoulder he'd tweaked, complete with closed but still red bite marks surrounding it, appears to be only mildly swollen. Nothing to worry so much about.
Andelena takes a deep breath and joins him on the couch. She puts her hands, strong and calloused from years of handling weapons in a variety of conditions, gently around him, her arms wrapping around him as she leans down to meet him.
"You were doing the best with the information you had, Brydion Donnely," she says. "No child goes running to save a grown person like that--Phy is... one of those fairy creatures. They're old. That's why she was laughing when I kept calling her kiddo. And as far as you knew, you were preparing to kill a werewolf coming after us."
She gently squeezes on those muscles. It's a calming gesture. "I would have done the same fucking thing, Bry. That was the definition of an accident, and those two ended up being fine. You're not a monster. You just got put in a really fucking bad situation. Now, let me tend to that shoulder again--that fucking looked like it hurt back there."
Dolan does not exactly respond, but does straighten up, letting the hands drop from his face and sitting up so that she can move the shoulder freely. "I ... I was lucky, Andie. Someday I'm going to stop getting lucky. It's a damn good thing they're both okay. We're supposed to think, damn it." His eyes are still down. "I ... all's well that ends well, I guess, but ..." He seems to be flailing for words. "That bitch."
GAME: Andelena casts Cure Light Wounds. Caster Level: 3 DC: 14 GAME: Andelena rolls 1d8+3: (2)+3: 5
Andelena sets her hand on Brydion's shoulder--gently, gently, more gentle than someone might assume Andelena to be capable of--and she murmurs a prayer to Daeus. She heals the angry swelling under her hand.
Her steel-grey eyes flicker back to his face--although she can only see his human eye where she's sitting, his head hung down in a way where she can't see his artificial one. "You're right. That bitch. Look, you can blame yourself all day until the cows come home, to use one of your farmboy sayings, but that fuckin' furry asshole is the reason we were in that mess. If it hadn't been for her, nothing would have happened."
She leans in and kisses his cheek. "Believe me, I'm blaming myself for being too careless with my swings. I should have lopped off that woman's head, her arm--something. You were fucking right, Bry--werewolves. They're terrifying."
She shakes her head. "And... fey are fucking weird. What a world we live in these days."
Healing does so much more than ease pain, sometimes, although it certainly does that. Sometimes, it is like a great big hug. The mild swelling beneath her hand fades and melts away until there is hard muscle beneath it, and even those muscles relax at her touch. Finally, finally, he leans into the embrace, laying his head on her shoulder. "Phy ... she doesn't worry me so much. If she's a fairy - aren't they supposed to be little tiny things?" Suddenly, he sounds doubtful.
"All I know is I'm in way over my head, Andie. Werewolves. fairies, demons. All I can think is that He's asking more of me than what we've been doing. More of us," he corrects quickly. "I don't know if I'm enough. I'm just some farm kid. I'm no hero."
Andelena adjusts him so that he's even closer, just bringing him in for that great big hug that her healing occasionally promises. She snorts a little, closing her eyes as they're close. "Bry, they've always been in the world. Werewolves, fairies, demons, monsters--all of those fuckers. We've just been sheltered and dealing with the human kind of minor monsters until you ended up running into that cult. I sure as shit never thought I'd be in... You know. Fairy lands."
She laughs a little. "I'm not asking you if you think you're enough, Brydion. That's not what the people are asking, either. You don't get to decide those things--people see you and determine if you are, and you've been enough when you choose to stand and fight."
His Sunguard partner plants a kiss on his cheek again. "That's why I decided to give us another try. That, and I never could say no to the only man I've ever loved."
"That's a good thing for me, I guess." That is said with a soft snort of amusement. "I suppose I need to learn to heal, too, at the rate we're going. You can't do it all. And - want to be able to help you." He straightens, finally, although he does not break the embrace. "When that bear-thing had you - damn, you scared me. I was afraid I'd lose you."
The talk of the people is something he'll chew on later. Some things closer to home are more important for the moment.
"That, and the poor fucking showing I gave of trying to hit that werewolf, are just demonstrations as to why I need to get better," Andelena says with a snort. "I should have been able to just cleave 'em both in two. I need to commit to more training."
She seems to realize something, however. "Maybe I'm still adjusting to having the same schedule as you now and my body's all fucked up still."
But she shakes her head. "My excuses aside--I know that rattled you, Bry. But I knew you'd come through for me in a moment of danger, and you did. That's what I mean when I say you're enough, because you come through in the end if you can't do it sooner."
Another quiet snort, but at least Dolan is talking, a sign that he is gradually coming around. "You were far from the only one that screwed up, Andie. I couldn't hit anything until I refocused. I need to get better too, but don't forget that you've got a new blade, too, and it's got better balance than any ordinary blade. It's just different, and you've got to get used to that. You'll need to spend some time with that blade. I need to get one like it, too. Maybe I can get this one enchanted."
He looks over at the blade resting in the corner, then back at the floor, and finally, for the first time, at her. "I don't know what I thought I'd do without you." He looks away again. "I can't stop seeing it in my mind's eye, though. I never want to see a child bleed in front of me again."
Andelena gives a thoughtful nod as Dolan offers the explanation about her new blade. "Y'know, Bry, I... actually hadn't even thought about that. That explains why it kept feeling off in my hands. Damn, I'm glad you're smarter than I am."
She squeezes him a little. "That goes to show you--we really are better together than without. Two halves of the same hole. It's like having depictions of our Knight without his wife--they're together for a reason."
Andelena looks up to the ceiling and says, "Yeah. Yeah, I fucking hate seeing kids in pain. Do you remember when we busted that thief group back in the Kingdoms and they were trying to train a six-year-old to do it? Moment I discovered they'd been hurting that poor girl when she didn't do what they wanted, I had to stop myself from fucking killing them."
Oh, Brydion remembers that all too well, and there'd been more than one of those. Thief groups start kids as young as they can get their hands on them. He nods soberly. "I wanted to kill them, too. At least we got her out of there, her and the other two. Was that the one where I had to kill the ringleader?" He draws a deep and even breath, something in him relaxing just a little more. "Bright and holy morning, was that one a shitstain. I have no regrets." He usually doesn't, in those times when he did kill. He didn't do it often, but if he felt it was necessary, he didn't hesitate, and seldom regretted it.
"Yeah, and it was either going to be you or I who did it," Andelena replies. Her hands wander down his back a bit as she continues to hold onto him, her steel-grey eyes looking into Brydion's eyes--both of them, artificial and natural.
"Like I keep telling you, Bry--if it hadn't have been you, it would have been me. This isn't just yours to bear. It's mine, too. Everything is. Just like before we suddenly got acquainted with demons--and now werewolves and fairies. I think the Knight's middle child must be having a giggle at us both."
"Andie." Brydion returns that gaze, seriously. It's the human eye that holds all the compassion. He's always been unnerve people with a good stare, but the scars across the right side of his face, and that eye, add to the effect tenfold. "If I could spare you all of that, I would. I - don't think I can. I think the Knight's got other ideas - and damn it, you're right about His middle child." He closes the one eye. "You, me, and the Knight, baby. We'll get through this crazy shit together. I think it's what He wants."
"Don't spare me all of it, Bry," Andelena says, smiling gently as only she can for him. "You'd be doing me a disservice as a Sunguard by not allowing me to bear some of it through my compassion. But yes, together--in His light."
She finally lets go of him and pats his head. "Well, are you hungry? Maybe we can get a bite to eat out or something."
Andelena sure as shit isn't cooking.
"Starving," Brydion agrees. "And I want a hot bath. I'm sure you do, too." He runs a hand through hair that isn't far from needing another cut. "Ugh."
He stands up, and for a moment, stares at the wall. The image of Phy lying in a furry Lauriel's arms, bleeding badly, is not one that will leave him anytime soon, not judging by that middle-distance stare he wears, but at least he's talking, and at least he's open - and not hurting anymore. "You know I wasn't about to let her heal me, right? I just wanted to goad her into showing herself."
"Sounds like we're due for a trip to the TarRaCe, then," Andelena says with a smirk. "We'll have to behave ourselves in the baths."
She stands up, too, going to find some clothes suitable for heading back out into the world. "Oh, I knew that you weren't going to let that bitch near you," Andelena responds, still smirking as she roots through Brydion's clothes like they're hers. "I just wanted her to know you're off-limits. Nobody touches my man, especially if they're aiding the forces of evil."
Brydion has never minded her stealing his clothes. They are close enough in size, and it just gives him an excuse to "take them back" (read: take them off of her) later. "Nobody but you, princess. Grab me a shirt and trousers, will you?" he asks absently, turning back to grin at her. It's not quite the cheeky grin he usually sports, but that will come.
Andelena ends up grabbing two pairs of shirts and trousers, tossing one pair at Brydion playfully as she begins to dress. "I'm happy to be a 'princess' only in your eyes, farmboy," she replies with a grin. "Now let's get going so we can take our clothes off again--in the bath."
If Brydion didn't know better about the rules in the bathhouse, that would sound like she's already planning something. It'll have to wait for afterwards.
That garners a chuckle that says that Brydion knows exactly what she's about - and is likely to be about later. Not that he objects. The trousers he catches, but the shirt hits him in the face, and he grabs for it with a bit of a flail. "As you wish."