12393/What Dreams May Come, Invaded by Some

What Dreams May Come, Invaded by Some
Date of Scene:	10 August 2022
Location:	Seaside Victorian House
Synopsis:	Etrigan convinces Jason it would be a good idea to look into Morrigan's dream. Jason definitely should have known better.
Cast of Characters:	Jason Blood, Morrigan MacIntyre

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Jason Blood has posed:
Jason Blood sits staring out the window, alone with his thoughts. Or he would be, if he did not have a perpetual inner dialogue partner.

        You can have her if you care.
        But for why you do not dare.
        She wants you to take her hand.
        Wait not til the last of the sand.

Jason rolls his eyes, shaking his head slowly. He had checked in on her a few months ago, and she was most assuredly _not_ pining away for him. She in fact was spending what seemed to be a rather cozy time with a rather well off businessman. Admittedly, well off businessman did not seem to be Morrigan's type, but certainly her type was not men who had other voices residing in their mind and occasionally taking over their bodies.

And yet, Etrigan may have had a point...

        If you want to know,
        There is an easy way to go.
        It would be a simple thing to try,
        Into her slumbering mind to scry.
        Her thoughts and feelings you could pry.
        And then _after_ you see something let hope die.

Jason frowns at the suggestion. And yet. What harm could a little bit of poking around cause? He justifies it to himself easily. If she is truly over the moon with whomever this businessman is, then he will slink off into the mystic corner and let her be. It would be respectful of him to keep his distance, not do anything. But if she were open to it...

The downside to having a perverse demon inside one's mind is that sometimes his ideas bleed over and they seem good. Within a few moments, Jason is preparing an incantation. All he needed was...from the jacket he wore to the ghostly intervention, he plucks one long fiery hair from his sleeve. Convenient, that.

He mouths the words to the ritual, and prepares to take a voyage into Morrigan's sleeping mind. Just to look, of course.

He can only hear Etrigan, not see him. If he he could, he would know just how bad of an idea this truly was...

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan was not fond of dreams lately, but she was exhausted with the last few days and the redhead was in need of sleep. It helped that her Maine Coon, Occam was there to supervise and make sure that she was not getting out of the bed. His fuzzy ears flicked back and forth as he was playing a large evil looking guard.

Morrigan was fast asleep and the dream that she was sitting in was rather stormy compared to most of her other ones. The backdrop was the site that the Cult of the Morrigan had summoned her at. Dunluce Castle was a rather eerie looking place at night. She was replaying her summoning in her mind, watching how everything had played out from this perspective. And there had been so much blood. What had been killed to bring her form back.

"Maybe I should go back?" she asks herself as her other self crawls forth from the blood in the summoning circle. "Life seemed a lot easier on the other side...and it wasn't like you were actually dead." she points out to herself.

There was something else going on though, something that someone might pick up on, even with all of these people in this dream, she was lonely. It was something that hurt her. But Morrigan was too stubborn to tell people and too stubborn to reach out.

The dream switches from packed and full of cultist to empty. The woman padding out of the alcove that she'd been standing in to look over the blood filled summoning circle. Was she looking for enlightenment? Possibly.

Jason Blood has posed:
The good part about dream walking is that those ephemeral senses in dreams that exist just outside of the dreamer's perceptions are front and central, almost palpable, to the spell caster. And so as Jason drifts into Morrigan's subconscious, invisible to her, he is overwhelmed by that sense of loneliness. In a wholly selfish way, it makes Jason's heart swell, even as part of him is saddened by seeing her with anything close to pain. His heart sinks as he realizes that perhaps, maybe just maybe, he was partially to cause for this.

He drifts closer to her, imperceptible to the dreamer herself. He takes a moment to look at her, to really look at her. Not like he needed to, her image was burned into his mind from those times a year ago when he thought, perhaps, she might be more of a fixture in his life. And he in hers. Maybe...

But the pool. What was in the pool? He leaned over to peer down into it. Wondering both what she sought, and what she was revealing to herself...

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
"Why would we go back?" comes a voice that sounds like Morrigan's, but the tone is something cynical and echoes off the stone walls. If Jason looks around, he'd see that Morrigan's at the Northern tip of the summoning circle and three other cloaked figures stand at the East, West and South. "We're here. You're not alone in these things. Even if you did lose a heart." the Eastern voice speaks.

Morrigan sneers at the other three, "You're all in my head. /I'M/ the one here. Not you. I share this because it is my duty as was ordained ages ago!" she shouts at them. The voice shakes the rocks. That's a new trick from the woman!

The blood in the circle bubbles as the anger flares.

"We're all going through this. Your emotions are ours. Just because we aren't coporeal doesn't mean we don't feel, Morrigan." they point out in unison.

"Then help..." she whispers to them.

Jason Blood has posed:
This is new. There is a slight smirk as Jason realizes that Morrigan and he share something in common that he had not considered before - annoying voices in their head.

        You do not like it?
        Make me your sidekick.

Jason looks around quickly. He is sure the voice could not be heard by Morrigan, but it sounded different to his mind. There is a might bit of panic that creeps in. If Etrigan hitched a ride in, and his own conciousness...

He hears that Demon laughing, and realizes that he has been tricked. Outsmarted by the Demon, who is now running loose somewhere in Morrigan's unconscious. His lips crease into a frown. The Demon will appear when he wishes to, he will not hunt him down. He remains, watching Morrigan's mind play out this conflict. Maybe something in here will give him inspiration to help.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
"Help can be given, but not in the matters of love, Morrigan." The voices tell her. "Remember that you are born from Death. You have good company all around you. Don't focus on the negatives so much. Enjoy the time when you aren't doing your duties." they point out to her. "You're still new to this mantle. It will take time...and patience." they add.

Morrigan gives a bit of a sigh to that, "My brain is still being mopey over the breakup. I'm guessing that my subconscious is going to magnify it." the overly intelligent woman states to herself. She gives a look up and around to seem the other figures gone, "Thank the gods." she whispers.

That leaves her alone again. There is a smell that comes up from the blood. Like Brimstone and sulfur. It causes her mind to go to Etrigan and in quick succession, Jason. She crouches down to peer into the circle of blood, "That smell is familiar." she muses.

Jason Blood has posed:
There is a lot going on that Jason is paying attention to. There are probably some deep truths about Morrigan's struggles with her new powers and new place in the - Morrigan. If Jason were to dwell on those, he would likely actually have something productive to do to help her. Especially since she is unlikely to remember the nuance and detail of this dream the way the dreamwalker would.

But all he can focus on is one word. Breakup. It is a good thing that he has to actively become visible and perceptible to the dreamer, because Jason Blood, stoic Brit that he is, nearly devoid of humor and displays of emotion, cannot resist pumping a fist in delight. It did not happen if no one can see it, right? He was subtle. Not everyone is, though.

There is a sudden eruption from the pool of blood as an orangish demon leaps out, arms held up int he air in triumph, laughing peeling from his mouth.
        I told you you were good!
        And you should do it if you could!
        You should listen to me more often,
        Instead of letting your approach soften.
        Now you know you have your chance.
        Ask your damn woman to dance!


Jason's face buries itself in his hand. This is not going to go over well.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan was definitely sure that she did not order one short and stocky demon into her dream. Her reaction is pretty comical in its own way as she has to look over the laughing one that bubbles up from the blood of sacrifices.

"I didn't order a gargoyle in this moment of turmoil." she tells him as she punches the horned one right in the nose with a strength that definitely didn't reflect what she could do in the real world. Or if she could it hadn't been shown.

There's a violet glow to her eyes...before she realizes that Jason is also here. The redhead turns slowly to let her eyes fall on the Brit, "I should give you a swift punch in the nose as well." she states as she heads towards him with quick steps.

Jason Blood has posed:
The downside, of course, to dreamwalking is that the dreamer retains all of the power within the dream. So if Morrigan is stronger than Etrigan in her mind? He cannot put up an argument.

Etrigan flails as he is flung from the punch, limbs frantic as he tries to find some purchase to avoid cascading down into the depths of the undefined piece of the dream.

        At least that time
        YOU made the rhyme!


And then, blissfully, he is gone, for the moment.

Leaving a now very revealed, before contrite looking Jason Blood. "I can explain, it is not what it looks like," he starts, putting his hands up as if to try to ward off her advance. But then he stops and he sighs, his shoulders slumping. "It is exactly what it looks like, Morrigan. I..." He closes his eyes and breathes out. "I have no excuse or explanation."

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan looks guarded for the moment and then she looks behind her to see that Etrigan is gone. "I did make that rhyme, didn't I?" she muses to that. "He's shorter than I remember last we met." she states as she turns to look at Jason.

The glow from her eyes stop and she tries to stuff what anger she had felt down, "I...probably shouldn't punch demons, but I'm guessing he deserved it." she points out. She watches him and realizes that she'd definitely not hit him. Even if she was mad for a split second. That wasn't how things went.

"How long have you been in my dream?" she asks him. "I apologize if it's...mopey? I guess that's a good word for it." she motions around. "I don't think I can dreamwalk, so you're one up on me." she grins to that.

Jason Blood has posed:
Jason Blood says, "He has a way of inspiring all manner of reactions in people," replies Jason dryly. He glances off to where Etrigan may very well still be falling into dreamscape, and then back to Morrigan. "Your dream, your proportions."

Jason seems to breathe out a bit easier once he sees the answer start to fade. Not that he does not deserve it. "I deserve it more," he says softly, standing there before her. "If I listened to every damn fool idea he tries to get me to fall far..." He shakes his head.

He could lie. He could say he was chasing Etrigan. That he did not hear her mention of a break-up. That he did not sense her loneliness. That he did not invade her subsconscious to pry secrets from her mind that he could have just asked her and likely gotten a straight answer to. Coward that he was. It always came back to that.

"I saw the ceremony, on the hill. Since then." He shakes his head. "You have no need to apologize. Why should you apologize for an inhospitable dreamscape when you do not intend to have any visitors?""

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Amusingly Morrigan isn't worried about where Etrigan went. Maybe she should be. "I wasn't expecting him to crawl out of a pool of blood, but I'll add that to the list of experiences." she muses to that. She looks around and the landscape shifts to something a bit warmer and softer. The ruined castle in the daytime. After the blood has been washed away and it's a decent place to be.

"He suggested spying on my dreams?" she asks him as she looks to him. "I'll forgive this intrusion. Next time ask." she points out to him. "I don't tend to stay mad at you. Call it a gift." she states with a smile.

"I often wonder if I should have stayed in the Otherworld and just did things from the seat there. It might have been easier." she muses to that. "He mentioned something about dancing?" she looks to him curiously.

Jason Blood has posed:
"He rarely does what one expects." Jason glances over towards the pool from which Etrigan erupted. "I have no idea even how he got in there." A shrug, and then he looks around as the setting changes. He breathes a bit easier as it grows more relaxed. Perhaps this error will not prove fatal.

"Yes, well, he thought it would be a good way to..." Jason trails off. Even knowing the information he sought now. He could just explain it. "He suggested that I could find a way to help you with something, if I had a bit more insight into your thoughts and feelings." Technically true.

"Easier, perhaps, but way less fun." Jason walks into a trap, nearly. Dancing. He looks back at Morrigan. She brought it up, and he looks into her eyes. It is hard to resist that. And unlike some of his other mystical colleagues, Jason stands by an old set of ethos. He was, after all, a Knight.

"Not a day has gone by since I disappeared on you that I have not regretted that decision and wondered what might have been different if I had instead given you the chance to decide whether to accept the risk or not." Sometimes, it is just best to come clean.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
"I'm guessing most demons don't." Morrigan chuckles to that. "Dramatic entrance? I'm guessing that's what he was going for. And it worked." she shakes her head to that. She listens to him though. Letting him speak and not interrupting him. "My current thoughts and feelings are scattered. But I'm sure that you realize that." she states. Because he was here.

"Maybe he does have a soft spot for redheads." she murmurs. "Or he's just trying to get you in trouble. Might be both." she shrugs to that. "I'm fine with you asking me about things, Jason." she states as she looks to him.

But then he tells her the truth and there's a moment her face falls and there's a sadness as tears well up in her eyes. "You were so worried about /him/ hurting me that you didn't think about the hurt that you did." she whispers. "I understand that he's dangerous, but I'm not some wet behind the ears magician." she breathes out. Crying? Oh yes, Jason had made Morrigan cry. This was new.

There is a flutter of wings that can be heard before she reaches out to throw her arms around his shoulders and buries her face in his shoulder. She just needed a good cry.

Probably.

Jason Blood has posed:
"He can be a bit much sometimes." Sometime? All the time. Jason sighs, and he nods. "I get it. There is a lot going on, and I should have just...should have let you be." That won't come back to bite him later.

Laughing, Jason shakes his head. "His entire purpose it seems is to torment me and get me into trouble, yes. " A sigh. "It is not my place to make inquiries on that. I gave up that right a year ago." She knows. She was there. Or rather, she was there, and he was not.

Jason feels that pain in his heart as he watches her begin to cry. He stammers, trying to get his point out. "I was worried he would _kill_ you, Morrigan. And yes, I knew it would hurt you, but I would rather see you sad than dead!" Not the smarted move, trying to turn it around like that. As the tears come he reaches around her, hugging her. He places his hand at the back of her head, running it against her hair. Trying to support her as she cries about his lack of support for her. It has a certain symmetry.

"I am sorry. I thought it was the best thing for you. But I assure you, it was the worst thing for me."

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan's first instinct is to step on his foot when he tries to turn it around. Or stab him. Stabbing him in a dream wouldn't hurt him in real life, would it? She stamps down that violent urge as she tries to stop herself from crying.

"Do you ever get tired of being lonely, Jason?" she asks him softly.

"And I know that you aren't really alone with him...but through your life?" she adds.

She closes her eyes as he holds her, a soft sigh escaping as she can be open here. "Can we talk next time before you leave? No matter what happens. I know everything can't be white picket fences or butterflies and rainbows all the time...but I just want to be talked to." she whispers.

Jason Blood has posed:
The rule are unclear, and certainly Jason did not explain them. But given that she has her own powers, it is probably for the best that she keeps stabbing to a minimum.

"I have been lonely for fourteen centuries, Morrigan. What do you think?" There is a bitterness to his tone that he is unable to suppress, and he immediately softens. "Sorry, it is a..." He trails off. He does not want her to think his bitterness is towards her. No, there are plenty of people to share that, but she is not one of them.

Jason nods slowly, as he squeezes her. "I should have talked to you. I should not have taken the decision away from you. I realize that now."

It is one of those quiet, soft, tender moments. The sort that Jason had been yearning for, thinking of since he had made that decision.


        Now is when you kiss her
        To show her that you miss her!

The voice of Etrigan comes very loudly from directly behind Morrigan.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan pulls back just a little, "That was a stupid question for me to ask, of course you have been." she states. Then there is a shake of her head, "I know it's not directed at me." she points out gently. "I did part ways with the man I was seeing. I think in the end that it will be better for him." she states.

"I will just need a little time. Plus I'd never want you to presume that you were a rebound." she admits. "Talking does wonders...even if you can't get your roommate to shut up." she points out.

As if on que...Etrigan states that from behind her and she looks over her shoulder, "Thin ice. Like...falling through and drowning thin ice." she whispers to him. Then she looks back to Jason, her pale gaze curious for the moment, "You could come by the house tomorrow and we could have lunch and talk face to face or well, not in my dreams?" she chuckles to that. She was at least feeling better.

Jason Blood has posed:
Jason bites his tongue. Almost literally. There is much he wants to say to that, but he also knows that opening up conversations about who something is better for is not the best ground to tread on right now.

"Morrigan, trust me - one thing that I have in abundance is time." He laughs softy, reaching up to brush a stray strand of her hair back behind her ear. "And yes. I have never really been good at talking."

And then the mindmate is there. Etrigan laughs at her threat and scampers away, leaving the two of them seemingly alone again. "Yes. That would be more polite, to be sure." He sighs for a moment. "I am sorry for ... " He waves his hand around. "Once again, I was presuming to try to protect you instead of just...talking." He looks into her eyes. "I promise you that I will never do that again. You are..." He stops himself for a moment. Rethinks. "...someone who deserves that." Almost certainly not what he was going to say.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
"I might have an abundance of time as well, though I'm not testing the death theory so soon after I just got back to this side of things." Morrigan chuckles. Though she softens when he tucks the stray lock of hair behind her ear.

"He makes me want to get a stick and beat him like a pinata sometimes." she tells him. "Though he'd probably like it." she smirks. "I've never had anyone in my dreams, at least not that I know of." she admits. "I think it is in your nature to protect. I know some of your history, but not all of it. It is something that I'd like to learn though." she tells him.

She leans in to place a soft kiss on his cheek, "Thank you, Jason." she whispers to him. "You know, you do have the rather dramatic timing, it has been a year and a day since you went away the last time." she points out.

Jason Blood has posed:
That thought strikes him for a moment. She can see it on his face. Something he had not yet considered. A friend until the end of time. Jason's mouth opens, and then he closes it again without words.

Until she speaks of Etrigan. "He absolutely would. That is what he is aiming for, actually, I think." He takes a breath, and then he nods. "I will open up the book of my life to you, Morrigan, if you feel it interesting enough of a read."

He chuckles at the timing. "There is something to be said for the mystic arts and chronology." He gives her another squeeze before stepping back. "Although in truth..." He pauses. And then just shakes his head. "You are welcome, Morrigan." He reaches out to take her hand and give it a squeeze. "Lunch. Tomorrow." He smiles. "Promise."