Beyond the Wall of Sleep

[Seth_Bloodmoon]

Seth was definately a relieved that the crossbow out of Jirai's hands. Though there was the fact that his little plan to try and stop her from reaching Suede hadn't gone as he had hoped it would. That was life though, and all one could do was roll with it, or tumble about in a heap with a tailor and a dark elf. Now that was something that a person didn't see every day right?

As Suede went about the buisness of trying to prevent the drow woman from drawing her dagger, as well as trying to hinder her breathing, Seth attempted to hook his arms up under her armpits. Surely it would be no easy thing with three people tangled together, but if he succeeded he'd do his damndest to try and wrench her away from the tailor in the hopes of pinning her to the floor, or, at the very least, hinder her arms if possible.

As that 'Ow' escaped Suede in mid sentance, the tall elf would offer up, "Sorry," even if it hadn't been him that had landed the blow. A moment later a curse in elven was uttered as a knee landed close to a very sensitive area admist the little brawl. Other than that he was fairly quiet amidst the struggle as the others exchanged words. For him the important thing, at the moment, was to try and pin Jirai. Though, if she did stop fighting, then Seth would ease off seeing as Glenn had shouted out 'Enough'. Until then though, it was all about pinning the dark elf before she could viciously maim Suede.

[Jirai]

Glenn might be a bit overconfident about his ability to end Jirai with the crossbow. The last man who'd tried that had died - which is why Jirai had the crossbow in the first place.

Then again, she'd been sane then.

For now, there were so many things happening simultaneously. There was the mess of the three of them, and this must needs be foremost in her mind, for she was having difficulty reaching a weapon and even having difficulty breathing, with a hand around her throat - not to mention Seth's arms from behind, trying to wrest her away from the tailor. Then there were words, from Glenn and from Suede both. She had no idea what they were babbling about scars for (after all, she couldn't see her own face!), but there were other parts that perhaps hit a bit closer to home. Which ones they were, and from whom, would remain a mystery with things as chaotic as they were, but somewhere along the way Jirai shifted her goal from assaulting the tailor to escape, willing to allow Seth to pull her away from Suede - assuming the tailor let go of her throat - before turning her attentions to the elf by way of some impressive twisting and a boot aimed for a knee.

[Glenn]

Glenn Burnie, overconfident? Perish the thought.

It hardly mattered. Right now he was more frustrated than confident anyway. His initial plan had been a stereotypical Glenn Burnie plan. Put a number of highly combustable elements in the same place and see what happened. The hope was that it would either shock the crazed drow back to sanity or at least enlighten him on elements of her psychosis. If he understood her better, he could deal with her. That was the idea.

The sad reality of the matter was that he probably would have done better going into her dream alone. Were it not for Suede, he might have had an answer from her already. Speaking directly to her subconscious mind might have gotten them past the usual difficulties they had communicating and he might have come to an accord with her. Yes, he did enter into this dream on the assurance that she would accept nothing less than the child, but it wasn't a sense of hopelessness which made him bring Seth and Suede along.

In truth, he had been afraid. He had been afraid and had not wanted to brave this alone. It wasn't Jirai's dreams he feared, despite any dream-related trauma of the last few years. No, it was what lines he might cross while here. He was afraid of what he might do. Even now, he was beginning to feel that temptation, increasingly even more so than the temptation to use the crossbow. This was becoming a mess. He could pull the rug out from under Jirai here and now. He could change the setting, take temporary control of her dreams. Her own awareness was so shattered that it should have been possible with even the minimal training he had.

That would be crossing a line. At this point, almost any action he took would be crossing a line. And somewhere in the back of his head, something was pulsing, ready to be released... his ultimate method of dealing with a drow, insane or otherwise, but then, that would be crossing the worst line of all.

So he stood there, crossbow pointed at all three of them, unsure of what to do. What he knew, however, was that he couldn't just stand there indefinitely. He couldn't just do nothing. It couldn't hurt to at least TEST what he could do here, no? That was barely crossing a line at all. So, upon the ground near the mass of human and elves, dull grey chains slowly began to appear.

Chains. The first thing he had thought of. Wouldn't Ariane just love that?

[Suede]

Suede never believed for a second that even Jirai's subconscious would answer honestly, which is why he never gave it the chance. That was one of the reasons he came along. He didn't trust Glenn Burnie, nor the man's intentions, enough to let him wander around in here. The tailor no doubt had his own opinion of things should finish here, and if Burnie was already considering just causing as much damage as he could, his worries were well founded.

With Jirai losing interest in him, Suede would break free of the tussle, rolling once to bring himself a good 15 feet away. He pulled himself up into a crouch and blinked, he was apparently getting good at running away! He wished he could do that in the real world.

Then chains beside the pair caught his attention, and he raised an eyebrow at Glenn. "Really? I mean, I don't really think that sort of fun is appropriate right now!

[Seth_Bloodmoon]

Another elvish cursed passed through Seth's lips as the drow's booted foot connected with his knee. It was enough to get him to release whatever hold he had upon Jirai. The instant he released his his hold, he rolled away from her a little ways before leaping to his booted feet, right hand immediately moving to grasp Twilight Heart's handle once more, but not quite drawing the weapon again.

At the very least he had managed to get the dark elf off of Suede. Damn the tailor moved fast when he got the chance to escape danger! Then the chain that had grown out of the ground caught the tall elf's attention for a moment. Huh that was interesting, a brief glance given to Glenn as the tailor spoke to the mapmaker.

At least the chains were of Glenn's making, that was a relief to Seth. The tall elf could only guess that they'd be used in a way to try and capture Jirai in one way or another. Still, Seth really wish he understood more of the overall situation. It might make certain decisions a little easier to make. Oh well, for now he could but watch and react as he felt needed. With that thought running through his mind, he shifted his gaze back towards the drow.

[Jirai]

And so things stood, all four of them separated. Suede was watching the chains (where had those come from?), Seth and Glenn doubtless focused on the drow. As for Jirai, she'd sprung back to her feet, positioning herself so that her back was to no one. Her focus was clearly on Glenn Burnie, who had her treasured crossbow aimed in a rather unfortunate - in her opinion - direction. She did keep something of an eye on Seth and his sword, though. Suede... well, it seemed like the dark elf was clearly avoiding looking in his direction at all. It was actually an impressive feat.

For a moment, there was silence. Then...

"What do you want?" She snarled at the mapmaker.

[Glenn]

"What do I want?" The chains paused for a moment. What was he going to do with them anyway? Keeping everyone apart... that made sense. Restraining Jirai? Restraining all of them? That less so. Still, they didn't disappear. They just paused. "What do I want?" His voice took on a slightly more intense tone as he continued to point the crossbow at her.

"What do I want? I want to know what YOU want. You were about to tell me. You don't want the child. You didn't want anything to do with me in the first place. You don't want my help even though I've freely offered it. What the hell do YOU want?" Now, though, he was aiming the crossbow between her and the tailor. Were he to interrupt her answer again, Glenn seemed more than willing to shoot him too.

[Suede]

Suede stood up and leaned back against nothing, and then a table, and then nothing. If he didn't focus on it he seemed to be okay with it. His attention didn't seem to hold the focus the rest of the group did, and he settled on a traditionally bored appearance, his eyes nearly closed. His arms were crossed, and one ankle was hooked around the other.

Glenn may have been threatening him not to speak, but he was doing his best to be an irritant, no reason to let Jirai calm down entirely. Perhaps that was why she wasn't looking at him. That fact made him curious, just what was it that she wanted to do. Hide his face from her, vice versa? Smother some rage she didn't want winning out?

He'd have to wait and see. There was a wave of one hand towards Glenn, a lazy ascent to whatever the man wanted to do for now.

[Seth_Bloodmoon]

Once more Seth watched and waited and listened as Jirai and Glenn exchanged words. His stance seemed relaxed, but to the trained eye the tall elf was ready to react should something crop up. Twilight Heart remained in its sheath, though the fingers of his right hand remained curled about the grip, ready to draw the blade should he need to. His attention remained upon the dark elf, for the most part.

A glance was cast towards the mapmaker briefly, and the positioning of that crossbow noted. Apparently Glenn was prepared to maybe use it on Suede? That brought the slightest trace of a frown to his lips. For a fleeting moment his gaze wandered to the tailor who was leaning against a table, then nothing, then a table again. Yep, flickering environments in dreams made for interesting things to say the least. Still far better than an oozey, fleshy landscape! In the end, though, his gaze returned to the drow woman to watch her carefully.

[Jirai]

For a moment, the scarred Jirai looked confused.

"I told you what I want. We had a deal. The child was the deal." What was he talking about, her not wanting the child? That was what the deal was! "Of course I don't want your help. I don't NEED your help!" The drow's voice was intense, but somewhat perplexed as well. And still, she acted as though Suede did not exist, despite talking about his child.

[Glenn]

Frustration mixed with sympathy. How could he still feel bad for her after all this time? It was probably the blasted curse. Whatever it was, he only felt more frustrated because of it. "Jirai, you need help." The crossbow dipped ever so slightly as he concentrated. The chains were still there, but now, something else was forming... or someone was.

Between them there was a second Jirai now, a memory of the recent past given form:

It still had a crossbow in its hands, and after a moment, it spoke, as he remembered. "I don't want the child. But you still haven't fulfilled your side of the deal, Burnie. Though at least you have figured out that just disappearing isn't a very good way to handle things." The dark elf continued to caress the weapon in her hands, not quite in a firing position yet. The image did not fade even after it finished.

Instead, Glenn took a step forward. "Jirai. I didn't just make that up. You said it just minutes ago. And you say you don't need help. You do."

[Suede]

Now wouldn't it be fun if you could summon people up at your whim whenever you wanted to? Suede needed to ask Glenn exactly how to do that for himself. Suede chose not to speak for the moment, and merely remain where he was. He was rather curious just how this would play out. Jirai was insane, he knew that had been happening for a while, but little did he know she had descended so far.

Maybe he could convince her that Seth was the child.

[Seth_Bloodmoon]

The tall elf quirked a silvery brow ever so slighly as he watched another Jirai form between the mapmaker and the scarred dark elf. Well now, that was interesting. Still, silently, the Seth listened as words were exchanged once more between Glenn and Jirai. Occaisionally his gaze would shift from one to the other, but for the most part remained focused upon the drow.

Of course, he was utterly unaware of Suede's little pondering. It might be quite the stretch getting her to believe such, but hey, she was a touch crazy in the head.

[Jirai]

Now wasn't this... strange. Jirai's brow furrowed as another of her appeared out of nowhere. She'd thought the mapmaker had an aversion to magic. Then again, he did tend to the practical, and if he thought illusions to be practical maybe it wouldn't bother him so.

"Nice trick." She said with a smirk. "But really, if you're trying to convince me that I just said that, you might want to try having the illusion wear the same clothes I'm wearing today." She had a point - she was back in the black right now, while the memory of what she had said was wearing the red leathers she had been wearing at the time. Her face was also scarred at the moment, while her double's wasn't, but she didn't seem to pick up on that. It was pretty hard to see one's own face! "Now give me the damned crossbow. If you can't fulfill your half of the deal, you'll have to come up with something else to make up for the time I've spent on you. And it had better be good."

[Glenn]

Burnie was only getting more frustrated. He DID hate magic, and he hated the idea of himself using it but he was going to more and more extreme ends to get rid of Jirai. He had one... such method just waiting to be used, a perfect test case for Sarayn too and... and the drow was making it hard to focus by being so deranged and obstinate.

Fine. He'd just use the same line as before. "Look over there, then. I brought you the one person who knows where the child is." He pointed the crossbow at Suede again. "And hey, now *I've* got the thrice-damned crossbow, so I've fulfilled my promise to everyone, right?" It wasn't a question so much as a threat. Going around in these circles was starting to get to him. The chains were starting to creep towards Jirai once again. She better give him an answer he liked one way or the other. There was something just a little unnerving in his eyes.

"Not that you care anyway. You spent time with me to keep yourself from being bored and because you're an insane and that's it and we all know it, her most at all." He turned the crossbow back to the Jirai of a few minutes ago, who really did seem far too lifelike for anyone's good. "So if you're going to deny that, you can just accept the fact I brought Suede to you as all the payment you're going to get out of me and really, if you truly believe that you want the child, you should have a nice long talk with her." Again he pointed the crossbow at the unscarred Jirai. "Because she obviously disagrees with you. If you don't believe me, you can ask him." THEN he pointed the crossbow at Seth. "Elves can't lie." He might have been making that up but it sounded good. That's all that mattered right now.