Nightmare then Massage
Log Info
- Title: Nightmare then Massage
- Emitter: Dolan
- Place: Andelena and Dolan's apartment
Somewhere on the morning side of midnight, the light of the mana lamps outside the second-story window spill warmly across the dimness of the bedroom the soon-to-be Donnelly team share. The bed has four heartbeats in it, two human and two feline, but not all of them sleep soundly amid the warmth of the night, and the window has been cracked to allow in a little air.
There's a gasp from the figure nearest the wall, Dolan awaking with a start, lone eye widen. He quickly rolls onto his side facing the wall, leaving an unfortunate catling to wiggle out from underneath him as he curls up, shaking like a leaf in a Quintoos storm.
The complaining mew that comes from one of the calicos is what turns Andelena's rousing into a more wakeful thing. Being an unabashed cat mother, she naturally is the one who tends to the cats when they think it's time for food in the morning, which is always announced by paws on faces and a chorus of mews. When her steel-gray eyes land on Dolan, however, she frowns. "Baby, baby--baby, it's okay, we're home. It's safe."
Like she has so many times before, she draws in close to him and puts her warm arm around him. "It's okay, baby. I'm here." She pushes her lips into his hair to kiss him comfortingly, knowing that he tends to calm from his nightmares when she gives him that tender love and affection.
Now it's Spot's turn to wiggle out from between them as Andelena pulls Dolan close. Backs arch and legs stretch, once Patches has wormed her way out from under Dolan - thankfully, no harm done, besides a rather offended cat. Patches wanders to the edge of the bed, then, and sits there, staring at the pair. "Fuck," is Brydion's first response. "Sweet and holy gods, that poor woman." He's still shuddering in her arms, and his color in the dimness is not so great, although that could be the mana lamps. "That -" He trails off, ignoring the cats, snuggling up close against Andelena. "I'm here. I think."
The remark of a woman tells Andelena right off the bat it's not a relived nightmare of Kol nor of the demon assaulting Dolan. That would be a relief it it wasn't for the fact it was still a nightmare and her man is still reeling from it, and so she squeezes him just a little in her own affectionate way. "You're ok, baby. Was it a dream from the totem?" she asks. Most notably, she doesn't even look over at the cats to see if they're fine. She'll baby them when her man's okay again.
The squeeze, as gentle as it is, causes Dolan to tense up in a way that tells her that that hurt, and not in a good way. He pulls in deep, shuddering breaths, trying to force his heart to slow, the memories to recede to a remove suitable for examination. Not that the subject matter needed much. "Yeah. I - I asked it what happened to Derwes' maid." He leaves it there, the lone eye facing the wall still shut. "I - wanted to see if I could see who ordered it." He offers no resistance to her touch, and he's talking and knows where he is, which makes it better than some nights he's awoken screaming.
"Sorry baby," Andelena murmurs apologetically. Sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn't, and it's a roll of the dice where it lands. But when he explains about the maid, her face pulls into an even deeper frown. "I'm guessing it showed you what happened to her instead."
She goes to find his hand, to take it and hold it in her own. An anchor for the here and now, even if he's currently okay. "You okay to talk about it?" she asks.
It takes a minute. Dolan rolls back over towards her, letting her keep his hands, and sits upright, scrubbing with his free hand at the remaining eye. "There's not that much to tell, baby, and there ain't no damned need for two of us with nightmares." So whatever happened to her is almost definitely nightmare fuel. He accepts the hand, squeezing it and leaning into the hand. "It was demons all right, and it was the kind of thing I swore to stop." He shakes his head slowly. "I ain't remember much else. I tried creating a false figurine, and had no luck at all with that."
"Demons killed the maid?" That's said in a voice that expresses shock, but Andelena follows it up quickly. "Tch. I shouldn't be fucking surprised, really, but--some godsdamned people, you know. They do something that's so far beyond the decency of good people..."
She sits up in bed herself, scowling. "No wonder nobody was saying shit about that maid. Gods--" She bites back a swear, which is a thing she seldom does. "We gotta go see Seb soon. I want to know if he knows anything about this shit. I feel like he does and maybe that's why Mother did what she did to him."
"Yeah. Tore her apart still living and ate her." That image is going to stay with Dolan for a while, and maybe that isn't necessarily a bad thing. That sort of thing is the reason why he takes on the work that he does. "This Aza Chidea Lady Derwes is behind it, I can feel it. I just have to prove it. Once it's daylight, let's go see if we can find out what is going on with Seb." Almost instinctually, he leans against her.
Andelena shivers at the mental image. She can and she can't picture it. Doesn't want to picture it in some respect, like the way the mind tries to protect someone from the worst things they've ever experienced. "I fucking agree," Andelena murmurs, her tone almost dark as she thinks about... everything. "On all counts. You're gonna do what you do best, baby, and get answers--and I help you deliver the judgment, yeah?"
She pushes her lips to Dolan's forehead when he leans into her. It's a soft kiss. Something that reminds her there's indeed still good and light in this world. "That's what we do."
For the first time, that soft kiss draws the barest of smiles from Dolan. Here in the darkness, at least he can see her. "It's what the Knight asks of us. But damn, it's rough some days. But, the fewer people that have to see this shit, the better the world is, yeah?" His arm snakes around her, very, very carefully, the muscles against her bunched up tight enough to hurt. "We'll get those answers. I - hope I never see anything like that again." The remark is made with the knowledge that he probably will, and worse, but there's hope all the same.
"I fucking hope not too, baby, but like you said--we're called to what the Knight asks of us," Andelena says softly. She can feel that tightness in the muscles and so she doesn't dare move anywhere in his embrace. The last thing he needs is to have an unexpected movement jostle him. "All of this horseshit, all of this pain, everything--it's got a purpose. It's got a reason. And I trust the Knight to get us through everything that comes our way."
She looks at him with a smile, however. "After all, He brought us back together, baby," she says. "Has twice now. And we're gonna make it real damn official soon."
"I don't begrudge it for a damn minute, baby. If it means that someone else didn't have to see that, it's worth it. Bad enough she had to experience it." The mention of making it official, though, brings that answering smile fully to bear. "Can't wait, yeah? It's been a long time coming. But -" Ignoring how much he hurts after that, he moves, then, the bunch of muscles in his legs her only warning as he tries to roll over and straddle her lap, the grin turning wicked. "I ain't gonna sleep for a bit yet, not after that," he tells her.
That wicked grin gets returned as easily as daylight pokes through clouds. But Andelena just leans her forehead against his. "You sure you're up for it now?" she asks. "At least let me massage you first; you're bundled up like a snake--"
And then she spots Patches and Spot, still staring at them from the foot of the bed. "And let me get those two out of here or they'll fucking watch the whole time. Little fucking weirdos."
"If I'm not, I will be by the time you're done." Dolan obediently resumes his former position on the bed, though, turning his head to gaze at the pair of felines who, somehow, haven't had the good sense to get off of the bed yet. Cheeky little things. "You would," he tells them. "Either that or you'd decide to play with us. I don't need claws in my prick. Off with you." He shooes them away good-naturedly.
"And I don't need claws in your prick, either! I want that shit to at least work for another ten years if we're gonna have kids!" Andelena says, laughing as she watches the cats scram. It's a good, good laugh, one that she clearly needed in light of everything going on. It's a laugh that's part of one of the many reasons Dolan loves her to begin with.
Eventually she manages to catch her breath long enough to look down at Dolan, wickedly grinning at him again. "Okay, let me go and give you that massage, then..."
It's supposed to be for loosening up. And it does that in some ways... and doesn't in others.