[OPEN/EVENT] Time was thrown at the wind;

[magisterium]

Who: Dorian Pavus & you!
Where: The gardens, then throughout the mansion and grounds.
When: 9/16 - 9/20
Rating: R, probably.
Summary: Dorian returns from his long visit home on the 16th, and is welcomed back by a nasty event the day afterwards. Splendid work, Wonderland! This log will have heavy spoilers for DA:I Trespasser, as a note to those who would prefer to avoid them.
The Story:

When Dorian awakes in the gardens, Dorian idly wonders if this is going to become a running theme-- for a few moments, he thinks he might be dreaming, but his memories of Wonderland come rushing back all at once. He'd only spent two months here before going home, if that, but those memories return as bright and vivid as though it's only been days since he left.

It hasn't. It's been much longer-- two years, and it feels even longer than that. 'Feels like ten,' he'd told Brennan when they'd met again at Halamshiral, forced to admit that after all that had happened, he felt old, tired, then quickly swept it under the rug with a series of jokes and irreverent remarks to try pretend the news from home didn't weigh on him quite so heavily. Brennan had known better, but he liked to think that some of their friends were fooled. Perhaps not. They'd all had ample time to get to know him, but it made him feel better, in part, to assume otherwise.

Once he regains his bearings, he's quick to make his way back towards the mansion. He looks different from the Dorian who had departed only a week before; aside from the change in his attire, he does look older, having gained a few more lines around his eyes, and his hair has just begun to grow out of the short crop he'd kept it in for so long, unkempt after the long, tireless haul through the Eluvians that still felt so surreal a part of him couldn't even be sure that it happened-- a small part, because the smell of blood and gaatlok and the bite of Qunari steel were too sharp in his memory to be anything but real.

He has to find Brennan. If Dorian has returned to this place, then Brennan must have, also, or so he wishes to believe. Too much has happened for them to be separated again now. Nearly two years apart had been trying enough, but now the Inquisitor needed his companions at his side, perhaps more than ever, and while business at home would be quick to steal Dorian back to Tevinter, here there was no such issue. Here he could help, see if Wonderland bought them more time to deal with this new problem that had been dropped in their laps.

On the 16th, he'll be quick to make his way to the room he shares with Brennan on the third floor, but can easily be caught making his way through the gardens or entrance hall before he reaches it, looking far more harried than usual. Later in the day, he can be found in kitchen or dining hall, and will be spending the early evening hours at a table in the library with a number of books laid out before him, though it's unlikely he'll be permitted to work late considering his week-long absence.

When the 17th rolls around, the curse will effect him the same as everyone else. The strangely darkened sky will catch his interest, and he's outdoors in the gardens when the curse itself strikes-- at 6:20 PM, he'll be caught in the downpour of cursed shards and the spell will take hold. He doesn't know many people in Wonderland well enough to have even minor grievances to be amplified-- but there are also those he does, few though they may be. To them, the curse will be especially unkind.

(OOC: Prose or action are both a-ok, I'll match you! If you want to run into Dorian on the 16th, feel free to intercept him before he finds Brennan or catch him in the evening in any of the common areas. For the Shattered Sight event, he'll be available throughout the mansion and grounds on various days if your character wants to encounter him, just put the location in the subject title! If you'd like to plot something more specific, toss me a PM or hit me up at necrofancy.)

Comments

[magisterium]

"I knew I could count on you to take this in stride," Dorian remarks with a faint but genuinely appreciative smile, exhaling slowly. While Dorian himself was prone to fixating on things behind closed doors once they got serious enough that he could no longer play them off with his usual forced cheer, Brennan had grown quite practiced at tackling whatever their situation tended to throw at him, as well as accepting when something was simply out of their control-- as most things were now, with them stuck here in Wonderland.

Not for the first time, Dorian thinks that being 'stuck' isn't quite so bad-- and quite possibly not the right word for it.

"You were sleeping," he reminds Brennan, "And I'll admit, I'm overdue myself." Their series of skirmishes with the Qunari had been exhausting, simply put. "Perhaps we should relocate?"

[outofthebreach]

Brennan was quite used to sorting through problems and separating them into categories of 'to be dealt with later' and 'messes I can fix now' - it seemed like most things fell into one of those two ever since he'd become Herald and problems had started landing on his lap on a daily basis. To do otherwise would have left him completely overwhelmed and never getting anything accomplished.

Wonderland, it seemed, was just adding new and interesting twists to his organization system.

For the moment, he just leans in and kisses his lover once more. "There's not much else for us to do about it at the moment and I can be content with that. And with what I have right now. At the moment, there is nothing that sounds more pressing on my agenda than taking you to bed and curling up with you there for as long as I can. So yes, a relocation sounds perfect. Come on," he adds, offering the mage a hand up with a fond smile before leading him off to bed.