I know something of cages.

Noah was no stranger to going without decent sleep for days at a time. It was not an advisable or healthy thing for a person to become accustomed to, and yet he had been made so, through many years of paranoia, distrust, and stress. He was most used to doing it because of necessity, for some special mission in his own native world, not... because he couldn't handle life. But here in this time where everything was strange and nothing made any sense, he found himself as a fish out of water, unable to deal with even the smallest things without flying into the rage or falling into a depression. Wanda had helped him immensely, and her patience for him seemed to know no end, but... every now and then he still fell victim to those voices in his head that told him he wasn't good enough, he wasn't doing enough.

They had, indeed, come a long way from the first time they met or even from the early stages of their relationship. Noah was so comfortable with Wanda now, that he trusted her implicitly. There was no more flinching at her touch, and with her care of him and infinite patience, he was slowly learning to be more open with her. Vulnerability was terrifying for Noah, but Wanda was teaching him that it was safe to be so around her.

Once he was in her arms, his last bit of guard fell away and he closed his eyes, giving himself over completely to her love and affection. Without her comfort, he might have gone insane by now in this time period... or worse. He sighed in contentment, feeling her rub his back and play with his hair. Both were immense comforts to him. And when she began to hum, he smiled, thinking it a lovely sound.

@tarnishedxknight continued from here

The Guardians stood there, letting Captain Basch formally introduce them to King Raminas. They all then bowed respectfully except for Rocket, who only did so because Gamora pushed his head down. They trusted Basch for the most part, as he assured them no one would hurt them after telling them to leave their weapons at the ship. Quill and Gamora were the first ones to leave theirs; Drax didn't want to leave his knives, but did so after Mantis looked at him, while Rocket pulled a comical amount of retractable weapons from his pockets.

As they followed Basch, Mantis had stayed behind for a moment to approach Vossler. She felt much better after Munoh sent her some calm energy, and she smirked at the man. Suddenly, her hand was on his cheek, her antennae aglow. "Whenever you open your mouth to say something unkind, you will wail like a baby. Honestly, it might be more coherent than anything else you have said," she whispered. She patted his cheek twice as if to seal her whimsical behest, and hurried to follow the Guardians as Basch guided them through the palace of Rabanastre.

Quill straightened and cleared his throat to speak to the King. Mantis took his hand; Quill was a little confused, but he allowed it since he knew she wasn't feeling great.

"Your Majesty," he said, once again lowering his voice in an attempt to mirror Basch's formal tone and presence, hoping it would make the King like him more. "We come in peace. We thank you for your time, and we apologize for occupying one of your docks. I think I have–" He stopped talking rather suddenly, and swallowed. "Uh... I think... I have..."

What was happening was that Mantis was frantically reading his thoughts as he spoke, using her powers to interrupt him because he was going to say he had the perfect stuff to make up for it, wanting to show the King some Terran music with the Zune. While Terran music was excellent, Mantis knew not everyone would like it, nor find it an acceptable form of apology.

Caelen felt so helpless. He knew that he was not going to be able to be the king his father expected of him, and with Raminas on his deathbed and Ashelia about to be married off and sent to live in Nabradia, Caelen knew he would be utterly alone. And incapable. And afraid. And—... No, he mustn't think about himself right now. He must set aside his own fear and panic in favor of being there for his father.

Munoh knew their dear friend well enough to know exactly where his mind was at right now. While they didn't want to take away all his fears for the future, for it was that fear that would help him decide further action, they did want to take away the urgency. Caelen did not need to dwell on the future right now. He needed to be in the moment. And so, Munoh simply removed the frantic obsessiveness with which Caelen was fussing over his own fears enough for him to feel comfortable setting them aside for now and focusing on the present. For good measure, they also filled him with a warm and supportive feeling, almost like a hug, but from the inside out, and with magic instead of an embrace.

Caelen had been upset enough times and comforted by Munoh many of those times to know what their friend's magic felt like. The moment he began to calm down, to feel better despite the situation at hand, Caelen looked up at Munoh, smiling. "Thank you, dear friend."

"'Tis no trouble at all," Munoh simply replied.

Once Ashelia had burst into the room, she seemed to stop and stare at her father in his bed as though the man had passed already, her face contorting into such a look of extreme worry and sadness. hearing Mantis say that Raminas was awake, Ashelia slowly approached the bed as Caelen moved one chair over to allow her to sit closer. He had spent time with his father, had said his piece to him. He wanted his baby sister to have that same time with him.

Basch stayed by the door, having not been dismissed outright but not feeling he belonged in this family affair. Though he cared for Raminas like a father figure as well as a king, he was only a servant, after all, and not really a member of the family.

Tears came almost immediately, and Ashelia flew right into apologies. "I'm sorry, father! I do not know how I did it with Basch! I have tried to call upon it, to grasp hold it, but it eludes me! If you'd only let me study magic... maybe... I could have..." She stopped talking just then, for Caelen had laid his handon her shoulder and Raminas had lifted his hand to her cheek.

Caelen knew that his sister spoke of the time she had cured Basch of the nethicite poisoning he'd been afflicted with in Landis. She'd been about twelve at the time, and it had been an accident. She'd been so upset over Basch's decline that she'd wept over his bed and wished so hard that he could get better. In that moment, she'd cast a spell without even realizing it. She'd woke up many hours later to see that Basch was fully restored. Dynast magic sometimes skipped people or generations. Caelen had never had any magical ability, nor had Raminas, but Ashelia, it seemed, had a natural ability for it. But Raminas hadn't wanted Ashe to study magic, or history, or the sword, opting instead to "protect" her. As a result, whatever natural magical ability she had remained unrefined and unpredictable.

The old king rubbed Ashe's cheek with his thumb, where a smudge of dirt lay after she'd been climbing through bushes in the royal gardens to find hidden lizards. He chuckled weakly. "How dirty you are... my daughter..." he said, though it was not a criticism. No, it had been said affectionately. "You look a mess... in pants, no less..." he said, smiling as his gaze ran over her outfit.

"I'm sorry..." Ashelia whispered, bowing her head.

"No..." Raminas said, tilting her face upwards. "It is I... who am sorry. I never wanted... to stifle... who you were, child. But... I had Dalmasca's future... to think about..."

"Father, you needn't apologize..." Ashelia said.

"I know... you do not wish to marry him," Raminas said, his expression becoming a bit pained, but not from physical pain, "or to leave your homeland..."

"But I will. Because it is what I must do. Do not worry, father, I will go through with it. For Dalmasca's sake," Ashelia said, feeling in that moment that it was easy to say the words, eve if her heart was not in them. She could promise her father than much on his deathbed, and she could recognize the need Dalmasca had for the alliance her marriage to Lord Rasler would bring. "Shh... do not worry about that now," she said, squeezing his hand. "Just focus on getting better."

"It may be my time, child..." Raminas disagreed.

"No..." Ashelia said. "I refuse to believe that."

@tarnishedxknight

"I did not say you were, I was simply warning you that I would never fit that mold," Noah said, though it seemed the damage had been done. Now she'll realize she doesn't want me. She'll understand what a cruel person I am. "That is what I do, Wanda... I hurt those I love and then I get them killed," Noah said, already starting to shut down rather than face the fact that he had upset Wanda.

Noah didn't think he was welcome in the bed with Wanda anymore, so as she got into it, he sat in a chair and immediately fell into a brooding state. It was not all that long, however, before he spoke. "I am sorry, Wanda..." he whispered. "When... Basch left me to take care of our mother after Landis was destroyed, he was all she could speak about. 'Basch this, and Basch that. Where is Basch? Go get Basch. I don't want you... I want him.' And I heard that every day for a year." He was quiet for a second before he added, "Basch... was her favorite. Basch was everyone's favorite."

Had he been staring off at nothing again? Given Wanda's reaction, Basch guessed that he had been. He honestly could not remember the last time he slept. His eyes burned and their lids felt so heavy, while his tongue was dry and his throat parched. The days were blending together, and although Wanda was a constant and miraculous source of love and support, even she could not prevent Basch's thoughts from finding him again.

"Pain of my own making, both through my reckless decisions as a youth and my misguided assumption that somehow isolating myself could atone for them all," Basch mused. "You have helped me to realize that there are far more constructive forms of atonement, and that denying myself in life serves little purpose. Ne'er before have I felt so understood by another. That is how I know that I have found someone truly special in you. You, who have freed me from my self-imposed emotional prison."

Perhaps he had learned to seek Wanda out in the future if ever he was having trouble sleeping or working through his pain. She had certainly helped him right now, so maybe he should consider involving her more often. The only thing holding him back a little from that was the desire not to lay all his problems and burdens on her, lest it bring her down with him. But that was part of being open with her and trusting her as his partner, was it not?

Her question, though, gave him pause. "I am not certain if it would help," he said, thinking about it for a moment. "As wonderful as it would be to see Dlamasca again, I would know that it was only an illusion, and that might leave me more melancholy than before. I am open to trying it, my lady, if you were so inclined as to offer such."

It had been Gabranth's duty to show the Emperor's new sage around the palace and the capital city, helping to familiarize her with important locations she may need to know during her stay. If she was to assist His Eminence with war strategies and grant him advice on what direction to take the Empire in the future, she would need to know what was going on there. Thus, one of the stops on their tour was the Draklor Laboratory.

Pietro was starting to think he was probably the least combat capable person of this group, given the company Wanda was currently keeping. Nevertheless, he was still ready to protect her at any cost. At least, if he couldn't defeat opponents, he could mess with them, steal things from them, or otherwise avoid capture or injury with how fast he was. That had to count for something, he figured.

Gabranth wasn't sure Wanda could do anything about his nethicite poisoning, but if she was willing to try, then... why not? He felt like it couldn't possibly leave him any worse off than he already was right now. "Perhaps, though I do not wish you to tax yourself too much," he noted.

"Mayhap we ought to ask your friend, Munoh," Drace suggested. "Or Xenos."

Xenos perked up, hearing his name, wondering why Drace would say it.

"Dynast magic originates either from the Occuria or from the deifacted nethicite they gift to their champions. They would know best what magic could alleviate the symptoms of nethicite poisoning," she explained.

"C-can-not do anym-more," Xenos said, shaking his head. "P-po-wer l-lost."

"Can Munoh?" Drace asked.

Xenos shrugged. "M-may-be?" But just then he seemed nervous about something. "M-might b-be... too m-much... of an in-ter-fer-ence," he warned. As Gabranth started to cough, though, he wished he could help more, but Drace and Wanda were right. He was physically a Hume now, and there was no telling was absorbing that much Mist would do to him.

Pietro watched as Gabranth coughed and got out of the chair he was lounging in, gesturing for the man to sit down if he wanted. He ultimately decided to sit down at Wanda's suggestion.

"If the tea is ready, he ought to drink something," Drace said. "That oft helps."

"Maybe he should stay here with Wanda," Pietro said. "If he gets real bad, maybe she can do something, yes?"

"It makes little sense to have all but one of us in the same room," Drace protested.

"I can stay with you," Pietro said. "Can't I?"

"If you wish," Drace said.

@tarnishedxknight

His gaze fell a bit as she tried to reassure him that she did love him, even as she said how much she missed Basch. "It would be..." he replied, "...if it was truly me you wanted. I cannot be him, Wanda. Even if I wished to be. If you've any notion of molding me into him, I can tell you now that it is not possible. He and I were as different as night and day. I feel as though all I can do is disappoint you with how unlike Basch I am, and hurt you with how much my face reminds you of him."