define('WP_CACHE', true); Chapter 24: Comforting After The Nightmare – Crossed Paths – Logs

Feb 05

Chapter 24: Comforting After The Nightmare

Chapter 24: Comforting After The Nightmare

In Which Jozra’s Nightmares Are Back With A Vengeance.

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Arrin Woodgreen: Soquan enters and flops down beside Jozra. Arrin grins, “So tell me what happened to you guys.” Soquan nods and proceeds to tell her about their recent ‘Adventures.’

Yazeth: As Soquan tells the tale, Jozra occasionally interjects with a detail or comment, but as time passes she becomes more tired and soon she’s sleeping quite soundly with her head on Soquan’s shoulder. Long days and rambunctious otters really can wear one out.

Arrin Woodgreen: It takes him a while to notice. “So here we are with this horde of mice coming at us an-” He pauses, looking over to Jozra. “Joz?”

Yazeth: The ferret merely twitches her nose in her sleep.

Arrin Woodgreen: He chuckles softly. “I’ll be right back Arrin.” Shifting the ferret as little as possible, he lifts her up gently, carrying her down the hall.

Yazeth: Jozra, surprisingly enough, doesn’t wake.  There’s something to be said about being in the company of friends to put one at ease.

Arrin Woodgreen: Laying her down gently, he slowly unlaces her boots, slipping them off of her feet carefully. He then puts them to the side and pulls the blankets up around her shoulders, tucking her in. He nuzzles her cheek somewhat affectionately before rising and leaving the room quietly. “Goodnight Jozra.”

Yazeth: The ferret merely snuggles down into the blankets, still sleeping soundly.

Arrin Woodgreen: He returns to the living room. “Now where was I?  Oh yeah, the army of mice…”

Yazeth: As the two otters talk on into the night, the ferret sleeps soundly. At least at first.  At some point or another, something again twinges in the back of her mind. Flames lick up and swirl across her mind’s eye.  Somewhere, somebody screams. If her nightmares the night before were bad, it was largely due to them no longer being horribly familiar.  Tonight they returned with crushing detail.

The ferret squirmed in her sheets as she watched Azrun take another arrow, grimace at his distasteful task, set it alight and then in a flaming arc onto the thatched roof of a building. Several more village beasts, some helping along the very ill, flooded out, trying to escape the flames. Jozra spun and nailed several with her tiny black daggers. They screamed in terror and reversed their direction, trying to escape elsewhere. There was no escape.

Jozra tosses and moans in horror at her own deed. More arrows shower into the village and in Arrin’s house, the ferret screams with the squirrel dying in her dreams.

Arrin Woodgreen: Soquan jumps, his fur standing on end. “What in the seasons was that?”

Arrin Woodgreen: Arrin shakes her head. “I don’t know, but it came from your room.” Soquan rises quickly and moves as quickly as he can to the said room, opening the door.

Yazeth: Jozra thrashes at the sheets, ending up precariously close to sliding off of the bed. Unfortunately, her own scream did not wake her.

Arrin Woodgreen: He moves swiftly over to Jozra’s sleeping form, shaking her gently. “Jozra? Jozra wake up!”

Yazeth: The ferret jerks awake and makes a grab for where her long dagger should be.  She stares at Soquan with haunted eyes before recognition clicks in and she sags against him.

Arrin Woodgreen: He hugs he close and sits on the bed, pulling her against himself. “It’s okay, it’s over, the dream’s over…”

Yazeth: She nods jerkily as she buries her head into his shoulder. ‘But that’s just the thing,’ a voice in her mind cries out, ‘it is over. An entire town… slaughtered.’  She shudders and clings tightly to the otter.

Arrin Woodgreen: He rubs the ferret’s back, rocking her gently. Arrin knocks softly on the now closed door. “Is everything okay in there? Soquan replies, “Yeah, everything’s under control.”

Yazeth: After a while Jozra sighs. Then something piques her curiosity. This isn’t where she fell asleep… Furrowing her brow in confusion she asks, “Did I wake you up?”

Arrin Woodgreen: He shakes his head. “No, I was talking to Arrin still.” His paw continues to rub her back. “Your scream scared the heck out of me and made my fur stand on end.”

Yazeth: This makes Jozra look up. “Scream?”

Arrin Woodgreen: He nods. “Yeah.”

Yazeth: “Huh.” She takes a moment to look around. “Looks like I really made a mess of the bed.”

Arrin Woodgreen: He laughs lightly. “It’s okay, you were really thrashing around.”

Yazeth: The ferret nods silently. After a moment she mentions, “I could really use a glass of water or something.”

Arrin Woodgreen: He nods. “I’ll go get you one.” He gently un-clings her from himself and heads for the kitchen.

Yazeth: Jozra sits still for a moment, surveying the ‘damage.’ She recalls the grab she made for her long dagger and looks around to see where that ended up. Spying it with the rest of her stuff she nods to herself. It’s fine there. She’s afraid of what she would have done if it had been on her before she realized who the otter was.

Arrin Woodgreen: He returns a few minutes later with a glass of water and sits on the edge of the bed. “Here you go.”

Yazeth: She takes the glass from him and downs it all almost immediately. “Thanks.”

Arrin Woodgreen: He smiles at her. “Anytime.”

Yazeth: The ferret nods and hands the glass back.

Arrin Woodgreen: He puts the glass on the bedside table and looks towards her, putting an arm around her shoulder. “So are you okay now? That must have been some dream.”

Yazeth: Jozra hesitates a second before nodding her head. “I’m fine now.”

Arrin Woodgreen: He grins slightly and hugs her again. “Don’t scare me like that again okay?”

Yazeth: She nods again. “I’ll try not to.” She frowns a second and then looks at Soquan.  “It seems… I used to have these dreams. I guess I got used to them. They kind of went away after we started traveling together.”

Arrin Woodgreen: He nods. “I understand.”

Yazeth: The ferret blinks absently. “Yeah.”

Arrin Woodgreen: He leans back slightly. “It seems I’ll have to be more careful on leaving you alone when you’re asleep I guess.”

Yazeth: She sighs heavily but nods.

Arrin Woodgreen: He draws her a bit closer and rubs her back. “Get some rest, I’ll be right here ’till morning.”

Yazeth: Jozra yawns broadly and mumbles. “Good… idea…”

Arrin Woodgreen: He pays back against the pillows and closes his eyes. “Goodnight.”

Yazeth: She nods yet again, though quite sleepily this time. “’Night.”

Arrin Woodgreen: He snuggles a bit closer, rapidly dozing off.

Yazeth: Surprisingly enough, the ferret drops off quite quickly, clearly exhausted from the long journey, rambunctious afternoon and the hardly restful few hours of sleep she already had.

Arrin Woodgreen: He mumbles something inaudibly and drops off to sleep.

Jozra

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