Journal #61: The Dreamcatcher

Journal Entry #61: The Dreamcatcher [Text Roleplay]
 
The Barkeep was surprisingly shocked he could keep his drink down tonight. The last time he actually drank, well elven ale was heavily involved. That being said the alcohol had hit him. It was clear as Aniks climbed the stairs carrying Celuriel swaying slightly. Or the slight lilac tent to his face. After climbing an eternally long spiraling staircase, which was only about three full rotations. Still felt like forever for Aniks. The drow’s eyebrows furrowed as being on the same floor made it very hard to ignore Sigrun and Cid. He eventually had to open a door to open on the other side of the house. Awkwardly while holding up Celuriel he opened the door to the room. Slightly slurring as he spoke, “Gods I sswear, they better not be at it all night. I don’t want to hear them alllllll night.”
He extended the ‘all’ in a way only somebody drinking would do.
 
Celuriel hadn't felt the world move this much before, it was.. an experience. Very experienced at being inexperienced, she was, so she did as she always did in such environments and clung to Aniks. Literally, this time. Her rose-red cheeks had to look interesting against his flushed purple. She wished for a mirror. "they're go.. go-een... gonna be," she said, lips turned up into a barely-restrained laugh at the flash of insight. This was weird. "mayyy-be th'elf'll be loudrrrr. do.. do beards do... quiet things? muff-le." She was sounding out the words as she spoke, finding them all quite new again. "aniks. a-niks. an-iks? ani.... ksssss." She paused. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa-nik-ssssssss."
 
The drow took a couple steps into the room. Then with his feet started removing his boots. There was a mirror near by, some dresser or desk. Aniks wasn't pay attention, as taking off boots and paying attention to Celuriel's laugh was a chore. It was adorable. "Nooo, They jusssst as loud as elves. Be... beards beards are just muffle theirrr vo-ices." The shoes came off, flinging them across the room with each leg. He shuffed over to the bed, he heard his name repeated by the elf in his arms. "Yes?" Unsure if she was asking a question or just saying his name.
 
Celu let her head rest against his chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat as if entranced for a solid minute before realising she'd been responded to. Had to cling a little to not fall when he started kicking off shoes, but... that wasn't bad. "do you knoww... what your name iss... in elfvfish?"
 
Aniks attempted to put the elf on the bed. He expected some level of resistance on the matter. The drow's face was quite puzzled, if he had considered his name in elven. He clearly couldn't do it now, his head was too fuzzy. "Nooooo, I can't immmangine what it would be. Do u know?"
 
Celuriel was not letting go of Aniks. He could join her: he could not let go of her. That wasn't allowed. She smiled prettily at him, eyes half-lidded. "it's... areyou sssure you want tto know?"
 
Her grip, as he expected, was ironlike as he lowered her to the bed. He found himself next to her in bed shortly after. His eyes narrowed. Now seeing the room in full. He left the door open. He waved a hand. Letting the mage hand close the door and was he meant to lock it? Turning back to elf next to him, he poked her stomach "Yes. Wh-y why would'nt I waant to know?"
 
Celu made a noise of annoyance at the sound, hitting him back with one hand - about as much as she'd willingly remove from him, to be honest. "because you're weieiirird?"
 
"I I am not thaat bad." Aniks said cuddling up to elf. The drow took a deep breath in, moved slightly to get comfortably and relaxed. His eyes were closed for a moment as he spoke. "now im curiou-us what is mine... my name in Elfish"
 
Celu looked up, leaning, letting her face rest close to Aniks's, and smiled at him. "aniks."
The dark elf sighed deeply. A smile clearly on his lips. Then very sarcastically said "aniks? Thaaats a very de-cent name in-in elfish"
 
"then I am.. happy that you took iiiiit," Celu murmured, letting her head drop back down onto his chest. "you're.. good t'me."
 
“I diid’t take it. I was givven it. By my Mother?” Aniks corrected. Though he wasn’t sure who gave him his name. His mother probably named him. The drow placed a hand on her back as a response to her resting on his chest. “Of’coursss you’or my dre-emcatcher.”
 
"gonna catchh.. more'n your dreams." She leant into his touch, not quite content to remain still. "ludri... drizi... loodri... lewdruseel's jealouss of my name b'cause it's pretty-er. do you liike... my name?"
 
"Celuu. Celuurieeel, celurieil. Youor name is reallly pretty, i luv it." He repeated the name, she could likely hear his smile as he spoke. His only other free hand brushed some of the hair from her face. Mostly so he could look at her eyes. "Did... did you enjoy toooonite? We needed to re-relax for once."
 
"we hadd fun," she replied softly, peaceful smile on her lips. She was willing to move one arm from him - with it, she ran a finger across his lips. "drinmking's fuuuunnny. this'isisz nicer than.. shrines. banshees are... louuud. aaniks is reaaally soft..."
 
"Noow look whoos bein weirid." Aniks said after her finger left his lips. The drow leaned in to kiss the top of the elf's head. Then reached for the loose hand trying to hold it with his.
 
Celu accepted the handhold, pulling their clasped hands closer. "miiine," she said, looking up through her lashes at her drow. "why're youuou kissinnng my.. my haiir?"
 
"youvvv cauught me" It was likely the alcohol in his system that made his turn a lighter shade of purple. She has always made it clear he was her's. That didn't cause him to blush before? Aniks would think on it more but he just enjoyed the warmth for once. " becausse, the ...its its hard to kissss youor face whin when youor lay-ing there"
 
Celu adopted a determined expression at that, and struggled to push herself upright and further up to be closer to Aniks's face. Sadly, she was very drunk, so the attempt was.. not very good. "aaanikss. kiss me. Proprererly."
 
Her determination was something to be admired or was it adorable? Probably both Aniks thought. Her attempts to get closer lead to both his hands being free. Which his partner found those two hands around her face. Pulling her into a proper kiss, as she put it.
 
Celuriel made a noise of complaint as Aniks let go of her, swiftly followed by one of surprise at the kiss; she was happy, though, and demonstrated that by a) not stabbing him and b) hugging him.
She was so warm, given how everything recently had gotten cooler. Being this close to her, that kiss, it was difficult to keep certain thoughts from his head. He was forgetting something? That thought was quickly lost in others as he kissed her nose. “Sooo much msmischief tonite, youuu think we can make ssssome of our own my dre-emcatcher?”
 
Celu's look of surprise and surprisingly embarrassed blush slunk into an... almost predatory smile. Former vampires, hey. "m'gonna out-mis..miss-chuff all of them."
 
Cue fade to black. Wink wonk.
 
Time became nearly irrivently, it was clearly night. Moonlight flooded the room, creating a soft blue shade to the room. Time was the least of his worries under the warmth of blankets. An arm stretched under their pillows, which Celu rested her head on. The other was curled around one of her hands interlocking with her fingers. Holding him in place. The two pressed closely together cuddling. The Barkeep hadn’t opened his eyes for a while, it felt like a while at least. Falling asleep was nearly impossible tonight. He was sobering up though, Aniks had a nice buzz going. A part of him wondered if Celuriel had drank any water last night? Aniks hadn’t, but he has had much more alcohol than her. So the hangover wasn’t going to be terrible for him. For her, without water? “celu… i need to get up. you need water, helps with drinking.stops the hangovers.” Most of that was whispered into her neck. He didn’t move, he waited for her to let her go. Hopefully.
 
Celuriel's sleep was always deep and full of colours she barely recognised; myriad whispers of futures and pasts murmuring incomprehensibly into the depths of her dreaming. Thus: it was not an easy task to wake her. Unless your name was Aniks, whose whisper cut through the sleep and reminded her of.. all sorts of things, especially that night. She stirred lightly, murmuring a curse in some form of Necril before dragging her eyelids awake but a fraction. "..mmm? i'm sleeping..." If anything, she snuggled closer into him.
 
“i know, i know…” Aniks whispered an expected as much. The soft rise and fall as she breathed was all he needed to know to tell. Still, Aniks didn’t want to consider how stabby she would be with a blaring headache from the hangover. “i just need to get you some water. It will stop the hangover tomorrow. i’m only going down stairs to the kitchen. won’t be long.”
 
That got her attention with the smallest intake of breaths. "...oh. come back or i'm... knives," came her retort, slightly more awake and slightly distressed. She loosened her hold on him, but only slightly.
 
"promise" Aniks said leaning over gently kissing his elf on the cheek. "no longer than five minutes."
"...don't make prom'ses of feeeey," she whispers back, smiling as she once again lets her eyes fall shut.
 
" only if that fey is you." Aniks whispered back, before removing himself from the bed. Quickly slipping into at least his underwear and pants which had been scattered along the ground. He silently moved to the door. He wasn't about to walk around this house nude. Slowly he opened and closed the door, disappearing from the room. Heading for the stairs.
 
The stairs were, amazingly, still stairs. Random sticky patches lined them; the walls bore scratches from pauldrons and weapons. The house seemed mostly quiet now - quiet, but not silent. Aniks would quite easily pick up the noise of clinking glass in the bar area downstairs.
 
Aniks was thankful only buzzed. If he wasn't, the stairs might have been more troublesome. He still remained quiet, more from how he naturally walked. A side effect of growing up in a family of assassins. The noise didn't bother him, he assumed that a couple of people were still up. Still he had to pass the bar area to get into the kitchen. So he did.
 
Downstairs was... dark. The sort of darkness that comes only at the dead of night. Thankfully, Aniks was a drow and thus had little issue with it-- meaning he could quite clearly see the vampire that froze when he realised he'd been spotted.
 
The vampire that was holding a small pile of blankets, a number of glasses, and, most strangely, a bucket. The vampire that was only a few steps away from the clearly unconscious forms of.. what appeared to be Teras Galewen and Sigrún?
 
"...vhy ze fuck are you avake?!" Lukas hissed, eyes wide.
 
Aniks paused for only a moment, his eyes narrowed "you assumed I fell asleep."
 
"Vell, you both vent silent?" he offered, stopping himself from shrugging instinctively. Balancing!
"and you would know that how?" Aniks whispered. His tone told Lukas two things. First being the drow never fell asleep, his voice wasn't groggy. The second was he expected some answers. "when did they drop, I just heard their glasses a second ago?"
 
Lukas looked back at the two with a look of sheer exasperation. "Vell I have ears und zey vere betting on how long ze others vould make noise. Zey have been out for.. not long? Miiinutes?" The glasses clinked as he instinctively shrugged and nearly tripped from the movement. Both Teras and Sigrún looked to be breathing, but... Sigrún's neck had a number of deep purple marks, the kind left by a lover, and Teras's seemed to bear a number of old traces of bites and scars. Nothing recent. Lukas seemed to notice his observing of the sleeping adventurers, his brows dipping in a frown. "Mein gott, you are all so paranoid. Theo passes out on me all ze time, I am not letting ze glasses bring in ze outdoors." He gave in and put the glasses back down on a table, bucket also landing next to Sigrún with a gentle clunk. "Vhy are you down here, more of ze alcohol?"
 
As the Vampire explained everything became apparent. Aniks didn't even answer, he simply disappeared into the kitchen. Returning with two glass pinched between thumb and and forefinger with a large jug of iced water in his other hand. Though it was hard tell exactly what it was. "You try growing up as a drow assassin, doesn't take much to be paranoid. As for why i'm down here." he shook the jug lightly, the ice sloshing around in the water. "Water."
 
Lukas made a noise of annoyance at the mention of Aniks's family. "Assassins are so messy... Do you sink ze ozzers vould be suspicious if zey wokr up to pitchers like zat? ...Actually zat makes it a better idea." In the short time that it'd taken for Aniks to disappear into the kitchen and return, Lukas had carefully draped blankets over the other two.
 
"Oh ja, ze aasimar guy got into all ze veird alcohol too? If he is still naked und declaring veird sings about his sword in ze morning, I am blaming ze humans."
 
"only the bad ones are messy." Aniks said, he was almost concerned how quickly that came out. Guess that Alas'thil blood is hard to change, prideful in their craft. He almost sounded like Nivinle for a second. "don't worry about it, if they wake up with hangovers it's their fault." They didn't have to worried about getting stabbed.
 
"Vhat..." Lukas stared, shaking his head. "Vhy am I asking? I don't really vant to know. Anyvay: it is funnier if zey drink it zen realise it vas put zere by me." He grinned, fangs visible in the darkness: bright white stood out. "Do you and ze girl vant anysing? I found ze alchemy room, you know."
"do what you want. we'll be fine just stay out of our room, we might stab you out of reflex. goodnight." Aniks said.
 
Leaving quickly as he was still under the five minute limit he gave himself. Walking down the hall, his foot kicked something in the dark. He blinked watching the object slide towards the stairs. Even with his darkvision he hadn't been paying that much attention. It's probably why he missed it the first time. A handful a steps later and he was leaning down, placing the two glasses on the ground, quickly exchanging it for the square... Aniks narrowed his eyes. It read 'Dong of Darkness'' HE KNEW HE FORGOT SOMETHING! His eyes widen and the realization. He could feel his face flush, yet his blood went ice cold. It was overall an odd feeling. Gods he didn't know how to feel, OH GODS HE HAD TO TELL CELURIEL. How would she even take it? would she need an explanation?! His ears raised at that thought. Gods he was so stupid how could he forget about protection?! His mind ran through what seemed like a million thoughts, before he picked up the two glasses again. The deep breath didn't help but it made him feel slightly better. The flushed drow silently walked back up the spiraling staircase, and back to the room. Eventually opening the door, and silently shutting it.
 
He silently placed the glasses on the bedside table, pouring each of them a glass of water. Careful not to let the ice make to much noise. The Jug was tenderly placed on that table and Aniks pick up a full glass. He sat on the side of the bed near her brushing some hair from her face "celuriel...i need you wake up." Get her drink the water. You can tell her after, You gotta tell her Aniks thought. He sighed, so many thought rushing through his head.
 
Celuriel stirred lightly at the touch; it would seem she hadn't been able to get back to the depths of her dreams yet. She glared at him, eyes lidded. "m trying to dream."
 
Dreams? She use to be worried about constant nightmares. The glare didn’t bother him that much, Celuriel was never happy about being woke up. Swirling the glass ice clinking in its cup “sorry but i need you lean up to drink this. trust me you don’t want a hangover.”
 
Celu glared at the glass, instead, seeing no understanding from Aniks. Never before had she shown such sullen ire to a glass. "what is it?"
 
"water" Aniks said, taking a drink from it.
 
 
"...that's boring." She struggled to sit up, succeeding after a minor bit of fighting with the blankets and pillows. "it's coold.."’
 
"yes it is but we're not drinking anymore tonight. i need you to at least finish one cup" Aniks whispered, much sweeter than he normally would when cutting somebody else of from alcohol. He handed the water over to her. He reached over to grab the last glass of water. His drink quickly brought down to half, sat between his legs. He used the accuse of drinking the water not to stare. As staring at her now brought with it a flood of thoughts. As well as mental images of what could be. GODS Why can't I deal with this in the morning, no it has to be now he told himself . He was clearly lost in though…
 
Celu drank the water a little too quickly, coughing when done, and put it on the bedside table a little too hard. "are you coming back to bed?" Not at all a pointed question. She could see he was worrying about something, but her head still felt fuzzy - her everything still felt strange. "i can't catch your nightmares if you stay away from me."
 
The coughing brought him out of his thoughts, all his attention on his partner. The worry not completely gone from his eyes but momentarily set aside. He took the empty glass and refilled it replace both his and hers back on the table. Incase he could convince her to drink another later. That’s a loaded question, his ears dropped slightly. One Aniks knew he’d have to answer. The fact that she wanted to talk about it brought a small comforting smile to his face as he crawled across the bed. He leaned against the backboard of the bed. “it’s no nightmare, but we need to talk about tonight.”
 
He looked almost shy? His face was very *lilac* as well and he spoke so softly only she could properly hear him.
 
Celuriel immediately nestled back against her drow, dragging the blanket with her. "was something bad...?" Perhaps being drunk made that sound more emotional than she ever usually would show, but she seemed worried.
 
Arms wrapped around her waist pulling her in closer, resting his head on her shoulder before he spoke. Cool air filled his lungs, for a long moment he held his breath. Air slowly released from his chest before he spoke. “It shouldn’t be,tonight was nearly perfect. I just was a *bit* lost in the moment, forgot a couple of important things” Which was an understatement given the night, still his voice as quiet and near her ear. “How much do you really know about we did?”
 
She shivered at the cool touches, the cold whisper; temperature was still so strange. She turned in his embrace just enough to see his face properly, and murmured an even-toned response. "...we had sex." Celu was either incredibly vague, or pretty blunt. Any in-between stage was rare. This... was definitely the latter. "did you hurt something?"
 
He didn’t look hurt and was nothing really wrong presay. His face was an odd mix as she looked, still a bit lilac around the cheeks. There was a moment of silence as he just watched her as she spoke clearly both concerned and happy. As she clearly didn’t know some things, otherwise she would have made mention of it. “Nothing hurts, no. You do know what could possibly happen as a result of having sex?”
 
She considered the possibilities, cheeks flushing at.. some of those images. The occasional hum of mechanical sound coming from Kraia's room didn't help that any, instead serving as a distraction. Her brows furrowed in thought - until her eyes widened. "you're thinking of pregnancy?" Immediately, without pause, she hit him - not gently, but not with any weaponry. Open-palmed against his chest. "Ludrissiel will kill me.."
 
It was slightly amusing watching her puzzle through ideas and watching her blush for once. The open-palm strike got a solid ‘oof’ to leave Aniks. Arguing against her thoughts on Ludrissiel would only lead him to sleeping in the bar. Aniks knew how adamant she was about it. Besides they probably needed to ‘talk’ about this not ‘argue’ about how Aniks *WOULDN’T* willingly let that happen without a fight. Pregnancy or not.
 
“yes I was...” The drow whispered while very carefully watching her expression about the topic. “...it’s a possibility. a very low one, being that we’re elves but still a chance.”
 
"we can't," Celu whispered back, cold fear evident in her voice. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so many different emotions in a night. "the shards exist. she would find out. we do not know what Champion powers could do... we are not ready," and she hid her face against him, dark hair shielding her expression. In a lower tone but no longer entirely a whisper, she asked: "if it happened. if it were true. is that what you want?"
 
" i know..." it was a simple enough statement. Two words that were clearly a mix of emotions, and figuring out which ones was hard even for him. The Drow turned his head slightly looking as his elf, hidden behind her nearly pitch black hair. Aniks wasn’t blind to the problems. Two of those technically had ends, the third? He wasn’t sure what would happen if two champions have children. Especially given their gods. Besides if she was, it would put her in danger more than Aniks would have liked. It's something that they wouldn't know for a little while. Pondering on these thoughts, there was a long pause as he considered this. His voice was still whispering as he spoke. “yes. it’s something that i have thought about and considered, especially after the world seems to keeps showing me hypothetical children. hard not to think about it when that happens. but your opinion matters just as much if not more.”
 
"hypothetical..?" Celuriel was ever confused by the things they encountered. When the alcohol was gone, and when her dreams were done for the night, she would have to ask Aniks how much of this was unusual for adventurers.
 
It still felt odd to have an opinion, and she lapsed into silent thought to also give it consideration. Had there been a clock to tick behind them, it may well have spelt out five agonising minutes before she sighed, uncertainty lacing every breath. "a child cannot live in a world where she does. it would be taken from us. but imagining a world where my sister is gone is hard." She was thankful to not have her expression visible, instead demonstrating her fear through nails slightly digging into her lover's skin. "...if it were true, I would not be the one to kill it." Ludrissiel would inevitably have that honour.
 
The silence was something Aniks could deal with, as for the nails. That he had to do something about. While he didn't stop her, the drow simply pulled her slowly into hug, kissing her shoulder lightly. Trying to comfort her, let her know she was safe, she was here. "Yes, one was an illusion to depict the future, the other was well I'm still not sure. She spoke, but I am pretty sure it was something else taking that form... you want to see them?"
 
"no. yes? ...if you think it's a good idea." Celu lent fully into the hug, gripping him just as tightly. She needed this touch right now; nothing they were talking about was anything she had thought about for longer than a heartbeat. "if it won't hurt you."
 
"it won't, it's a simple spell." Whether it was a good idea or not, he wasn't sure. Having no decent illusion spell in his collection to produce such an effect, Aniks drew from that small pool of mythical energy within himself. He knew the spell he’d use, Minor Illusion. He tried his best to keep from removing himself from her too much. With a mix of both quick arm motions and a handful of arcane words whispered in the air. Two images were rather clear in his head. On the edge of the bed the air shimmered with a mix of purple and grey before the lingering arcane energy disappeared. Replaced with two illusionary children that came into existent. A slightly taller young girl stood next to a younger boy, both with light smile across their faces. These hypothetical children clearly showed traits from their parents. The pale skin, white hair, golden eyes were some of the few more noticeable familiar traits. His arms once again wrapped around his lover leaning against her. Waiting to see what she would say.
 
Celuriel fell completely silent, staring over at the children. Pointed ears. Golden eyes. Alive, with a smile reminiscent of Aniks's own. She... didn't know what to say, instead turning away from the images to hide against him and remaining quiet for a moment as she processed what had just happened. Then snuck another look, and repeated that process.
 
Finally, she whispered - loud enough for him alone to hear - "what names would you give..?"
Her reaction was… adorable? Aniks clearly couldn’t place it but it was his turn to be silent as he thought. A small smile came across his face, as she asked that question. Resting his head close to hers, Celuriel could hear the soft sounds of contemplations. He didn’t want those names to be Drow like, besides elven names often sounded more pleasant then a Drow's name. “Hmmm… Ilyana or Allisa. Perhaps Sindel? I was rather fond of that one. As for the boy, I just saw him in the shrine so… " The Drow paused as another minute when by, he hadn't had the time to consider names for a boy."Alder or Lanre? I was never great at naming on the spot. Also might be better for them to have a different surname then Alas'thil.”
 
"allisa would make the emperor sad," Celu commented after another few minutes of listening to the sounds of their own breathing, still barely audible. "it is close to the girl he lost. sindel is better. my mother told me we were named for nature. 'celu' is 'river'. I don't know hers... I don't know how to think of names. sicil... siciriel? knife-girl." She breathed out slowly, listening to the sound - reassuring herself, perhaps, that her breathing was still there. "...think of a better surname for them and you. then you can give it to me as well."
 
“I don’t think we can name her that...” Aniks said a smile clearly across his face. Knife-girl? It was so not what he expect he couldn’t help but have a quietly laugh as he spoke. This would explain why Celuriel only referred to her cat as ‘Her Cat’ or ‘Cat’. Probably should name them as well at some point. She was of course right about the name Allisa, he had almost forgotten how close it was to her name. Somepeople named their children after fallen friends, this didn’t seem like an instance where that could be the correct thing to do. At the latter comment Aniks unconsciously hugged her a bit tighter, nuzzling into her. “ Hmm... might be awhile before I find a good surname for us. I’ll definitely find one, before I get you a ring.”
 
Celu made a soft noise of pleased surprise at the increased amount of cuddling. He wasn't as warm as before, but that didn't matter. "you already gave me a ring," she reminded him, definitely hiding a small smirk, but didn't push the matter. "how do people make surnames? ours are long. the other elves have long names too. but the plant's is short, and the halfling's is made of Common."
 
The dark elf removed a single hand from a very warm hug. Gently lifting Celu’s hand as if the two were going would inspect the ring in question. “Not the Wedding Ring I thought you would like, but if that’s the one your happy with…” While clearly teasing, he did plan on finding her a ring. Probably after they dealt with the Harp though. As for the surnames question. That one took a minute, as he didn’t have a good answer.“Hmm some adventurers take accomplishment as last names like Dragonslayer or Lightbringer. Not the best last name, but those are my opinions. Many complex elven names explain or tell what their family means or stands for. More Common names are often like two simple things combined together and changed slightly like Kraia’s last name.”
 
It took a moment for Celu to catch onto what he was doing with her hand - the realisation, seconds later, pinkened her cheeks. "..." She... didn't know what to say. So she stayed quiet and waited, letting him muse on family names.
 
..Family names. For them. She captured his hand in a gentle grip, lacing her fingers between his. "then we need to decide what sort of family we would be?" she asked quietly. Silently wanting to confirm that they would be a family.

As the conversation and long pauses progressed, the illusionary children dissolved into the air. Leaving the edge of the bed empty. Aniks hadn’t realised the spell was about the dissipate, or that they had been talking for that long. It took his attention away from Celuriel for a moment. The empty space soon lost his attention, returning to person between his arms.
 
Their interlaced hands softly fell down, a similar grip returning from Aniks. His head now leaning against hers. His voice quiet as well "hmmm a caring one to start, but I already thought of you as family."