Untitled

by wordsonscreen

Gyoro and Ururun's possession of Ashton is starting to have unexpected consequences. Fortunately, they've finally found a way to separate themselves. Unfortunately, it's dangerous and they require the assistance of their friends to complete it.

10. Chapter 9

Summary: More lead up to ritual. Because I suuuck.

Author's Note: Yeah, I lied. The ritual isn't in this chapter as between this, the last minute prep and the ritual itself the chapter in question would have been over 40,000 words, which seriously breaks the self-imposed 22,000 word limit I put on myself after Chapter 4 was posted. I'm just posting this so that anyone wondering why it took an entire month for me to update this, thought I had abandoned it or started to lose interest would see that it's still going. The actual medical stuff and ritual will be posted within a few days or a week at the latest as I'm still finishing up and working the kinks out of it.

Warnings: None really. Bowman goes on about medical stuff again and consequences of severe blood loss are mentioned.

Disclaimer: Square-Enix owns it, I'm making no money from it, and I hate writing this over and over again. Does anyone else think that disclaimers are the worst part of posting stuff online or is that just me?

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Dias' modification of the straps, while practical and effective, had forced Bowman to revise his plans and not in a good way. Getting situated in the chair with the restraints loosely looped through their fastenings had proven somewhat difficult for the pharmacist even without locking his arms to simulate the splints he had been planning on putting over Ashton's elbows. Dias was most likely correct in his assumption that his patient would have far less difficulty than he had, but it still gave him enough pause that he didn't want to insert his cannulas and set up the catheters until the younger brunet was already sitting in the chair.

He flipped through the anatomy textbook that he had brought with him, looking for the interior diagrams that would match up with the crest patterns that were now to be found on Ashton's body and fighting the urge to scratch at his freshly inserted cannula and flee the ceremonial chamber. Arriving at the deep view section of the forearm, he studied it before turning to the illustrations of the crests themselves found within the ritual book and frowned at it before turning back to the textbook, turning to the section dedicated to the calf and ankle and scowling. It was a good thing that Rena's powers could heal tendon, muscle and nerve damage, otherwise Anchors might have been crippled for years or even the rest of his life. Maybe ancient Elurians had expected demons to learn humanity by acting as their former host's nurses and caretakers; even if the incisions were done perfectly there was still a high chance of hitting one of the tendons or nerves that the arteries in question were adjacent to. This was going to be bad, he had been hoping that his memory was off but he would be cutting into the lower third of Ashton's ulnar arteries and even worse, the posterior tibial arteries. The ulnar arteries would be easy enough as they rose from their deep position to rest near the surface in the areas he would be cutting, but the tibial arteries in the upper half of the incision area were still protected by just enough tissue that he would have to put a good deal of force behind the blade as he cut. He was torn between bad two choices now, either he could go slowly and make the incisions with the tip of the knife, or he could do it quickly and push the entire edge of the blade into the flesh that covered the arteries he needed to hit. Going in slowly might decrease his chances of hitting a nerve and thus causing unnecessary damage and pain, but too much blood would be lost in the process and given the way the platform and grooves were angled and carved Ashton might not have time to finish his recitation of the incantation, and if he went the other way and did it quickly he might be in so much pain thanks to the dragons and the feedback they sent that he probably wouldn't be lucid or even conscious. To make matters worse any painkillers he could give him to mute those sensations would be so strong that the other brunet most likely wouldn't be coherent enough to parrot back what Celine told him to say once they took effect.

Yawning, he tossed the anatomy textbook in the direction of his medical supply bag and slid himself off the platform, ignoring the thud of its landing as it reverberated and made his way out of the room. He didn't know where Dias had run off to as the man had left shortly after they finished inserting the catheters and Rena healed him, but given the current situation he doubted that he would be secluding himself somewhere too far out of the way or engaging in any strenuous activity that could irritate the cannula or pull at or kink the IV line that was stitched in the side his shirt and looped loosely around his waist; he'd already warned him against that. Celine might be napping again, so he needed to check to see if Rena, Precis or Claude had woken her yet and that aforementioned trio was most likely in the kitchen unless they had decided to wake Ashton up. Bowman hoped that they hadn't, the medicine that he'd given Rena to keep her calm wouldn't be kicking in fully for another ten or so minutes and he and Claude had already dragged her out of his room once today. He heard her voice drifting from the kitchen as he approached it on his way to Celine's room and looked inside as he passed quietly, noting that everyone but the mage and his patient were present and gathered about the table. He might as well join in on the discussion for a few minutes to see how their leaders were going to be approaching this, it was already eleven o'clock. "Where's Celine?" They might have to brew and pour some coffee down her throat to wake her up if she was napping again, no matter how much she hated the stuff.

Bowman should have at least made some noise first or waited for a break in the conversation, if Dias wasn't Dias and he hadn't been facing the entrance from where he was sitting the two of them would have jumped as much Rena and Precis had when he said that. "She said she was going to the bathroom. What time is it?" Not that Celine had directed that information at him, she'd been doing everything she could to avoid looking at or speaking directly to him ever since she'd popped into the kitchen earlier in the day to tell Rena that Ashton's crests were done. She was probably pissed at him for leaving the two of them alone together like he had, there was no way Ashton had told her about their little talk on the boat even if he had been out of it from fright, lack of sleep and pain. He better remember to play dumb and act surprised when he and Rena asked him to be the best man otherwise the blond would be in hot water with both of them.

The pharmacist wasn't going to even check the blond's watch for that, he'd looked at it recently enough and had a good enough sense of time that his estimate would be close if not right on the mark. "About five after eleven." He'd stay by the doorway if that was the case, he'd be able to hear her coming and get a good look at her when she rounded the corner if he was quick enough. It looked like Rena wasn't the only one that needed something to take the edge off, Claude was visibly tense and Precis was fidgeting more than normal. He should have made several more doses of the compound he'd made for Rena earlier and given it to them, it was too late for him to make more now.

She needed to stop fiddling with her hairpin and put it back in her hair, she was going to break the clasp if she wasn't careful. "Someone needs to wake Ashton while the rest of us start moving the clay. How long will it take for you to get him ready?" It probably wasn't a good idea to hold off on this for long even if Rena still wanted to avoid it as much as she could despite the medicine Bowman had given her. She was most likely going to be sitting at the far edge of the platform and staring at the wall to keep herself from healing Ashton prematurely, the healer didn't trust herself enough to even look at him while the ritual took place no matter how far she was from him. Well, she wasn't sure that she'd be able to trust herself then, either; she didn't need to make physical contact or be visually focused on a person to heal them, all she really needed was to know where they were and she had no doubts that she would be well aware of exactly where he was.

"Not long. I'll wake him up and let him move around for a while before I start setting him up, so depending on how long that takes about thirty or forty minutes at the maximum." He needed to see if his patient had bothered to drink the rest of the water as well, it seemed to have been drained a bit the last time he had checked in on him, but that had been hours ago. Anchors needed as much of it in his system as possible, Bowman had only brought three bags of saline solution and he'd taken enough out of one of them when he had flushed and filled the lines he had placed in himself and Dias to prevent any air bubbles getting into Ashton's system and giving him an air embolism. Of course he could throw the water up, but he was going to be dehydrated enough afterwards from the sudden blood loss and his body releasing as much fluid as it could from his muscles and organs to make up for it, so whatever was left in his stomach after that would still be welcome. Bowman almost wished he had stolen a feeding tube even if he had never inserted one before, whatever trauma he caused while placing it would have been far outweighed by the benefits of being able to pour broth or sugar water down his throat at their leisure. The pharmacist wasn't concerned about the other man losing control of his bladder before he regained consciousness, even with Rena's magics at work his body would still probably register the trauma it had suffered and drastically reduce urine production for hours afterwards.

At least this meant that they'd all be doing something again, she'd been going crazy trying to distract herself with Bobot since she finished making all the stuff for Ashton. "Do I need to go get the cart? Y'know, for the clay?" Unless Bowman was going to get it for them, Precis was pretty sure it was still in Ashton's room. Him or Dias might have moved it back during their break now that she thought about it, she knew that both of them had been up the whole time like her because she'd heard them moving around and talking and they'd helped her tear apart the bed she'd gathered raw materials from for the stretcher.

Bowman shook his head as he leaned out the entryway, the faint sound of footsteps growing louder as Celine finally rounded the corner. His ex must've had a rough time while she was hiding out from them; the mage's hair and clothing was mussed and she looked drained and scattered as she rubbed at her face distractedly before looking up and noticing him, that stony, blank expression she adopted when she was trying to distance herself from people falling into place near instantaneously. The pharmacist knew better than to say anything or send any inquiring looks before he turned back to the others, glancing at Dias before turning his attention back to Precis. "I put it in the library after I checked on Ashton. Just carry it in there by hand, putting it on the cart'll probably contaminate it. Dias'll do the weighing as you go, he doesn't need to be moving around too much until I unhook him." It was probably in his best interest to get out of Celine's way, so he stepped fully into the kitchen and to the side to let her pass as she approached.

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It was a little unusual for the dragons to not instantly awaken at his presence, which led the pharmacist to believe that demons were just as affected by the sleeping compound as their host was. He kept back to stay out of Gyoro's range as Rena purged their bodies of any lingering traces of it and watched as she petted the dragons awake, their host mumbling sleepily beneath them but still holding fast to unconsciousness. Things like this were what perked the pharmacist's curiosity, especially now that the three of them were mentally intertwined the way they were. Bowman would have thought that having what amounted to having two of your appendages moving independently on their own and having additional minds thinking at you at the same time would make sleeping impossible, but Ashton, Gyoro and Ururun had been proving that and other assumptions wrong ever since he'd begun traveling with them. It was especially strange when it was the other way around; if the dragons wore themselves out enough the day before they could sleep for hours while pulled over their host's front, Ashton walking, talking, eating, drinking and even moving them around to get dressed without the two of them waking.

Rena was going to tickle him soon if he didn't start waking up. She'd try talking to him first even though it only worked occasionally, Ashton could hold a conversation very well while he was asleep for some reason although some of his responses could be incredibly silly and out of left field depending on how deeply he was sleeping. It took a few repetitions of his name for him to respond coherently, referring to her by name and asking if it was morning already which just proved that he wasn't awake despite the clearness of his voice. "Ashton, do you remember what day Claude's birthday is?" She was going to try to questioning him first, his response would give her an idea of just how deeply he was sleeping at the moment and if she should just start tickling him.

"It's this month on the twenty...twenty-third."

He wasn't very far down at all going by the way his brows had furrowed and the thought he had given the answer, so she might not have to tickle him after all. If he had been he probably would have given his astrological sign instead and started going on how much he hated astrology and that Claude didn't really strike him as an Aquarius, they'd had that conversation before. He was such a Libra sometimes, it was no wonder they got along so well. "Well–"

"I don't know what to get him, it's only a few weeks away and I can't think of anything."

The anxious tone made Rena smile lightly as she reached past Gyoro to pat his host's hair. Thank Tria the compound the pharmacist had given her had finally kicked in all the way, she was able to ignore that little voice in the back of her head that was wondering if they would even be able to celebrate Claude's birthday if Ashton didn't make it through tonight. "It's okay, we'll think of something. You could get him a typewriter or one of those personal computers that the Lacour Laboratory came out with a year ago, he's been writing science fiction novels and there are pens and stacks of paper all over the mayor's house." That had been one of her gift ideas, but she had other ones to fall back on so she wasn't too worried about giving him one of hers. She'd have to call the teenage Fellpool and make very clear that he wasn't allowed to give that to his 'big brother' for his birthday. She'd go outside the temple to do it, Leon had calmed down tremendously ever since he had joined them but his ego still took over on occasion and a screaming match wasn't outside the realm of possibility.

Ashton made a disgruntled noise to go with the expression he was wearing and attempted to shift onto his side. "He's not still writing those space odysseys, is he? I told him that was cheati–" Something was in his way and–Gyoro and Ururun. He didn't know why he always forgot about them when he was waking up. Why was he shut off from them? The last thing he remembered–Oh. Oh Tria, he really had done that. Now he wanted to run and hide again, but it looked like Bowman was blocking the escape route and Rena was still touching him. At least his pillow was here, he could hide the blush that was starting to form as that revelation registered fully. He wished Claude hadn't left them alone like that, now Celine was probably angry at him for being an idiot again. Maybe the demons had done something and he was wrong, his memories of the past two days were rather vague and scattered and it was so far away that it could have been a dream, but knowing his luck that was just a combination of waking up and the sleep deprivation at work and he really had…done that. Crap.

It was a good thing the other brunet had worked himself up enough to wake up, Bowman had nearly joined in on their conversation if only to try to startle him to consciousness. Ashton better stay awake now, he wasn't as talented as Dias or Noel was at it but he could still turn over and go back to sleep with the best of them. To be fair the pharmacist could as well when the mood struck him, but he was already awake so he didn't count at the moment. "Feeling any better?"

He nodded into the pillow as he felt Rena shift to lay down beside him and hugged him as best she could considering their positions. She was feeling tense and he hoped that she wasn't going to cry, she'd come close enough to that the last time he'd seen her. It wouldn't be right to ignore her, though, so he wound the arm closest to her over her back and rubbed it as soothingly as he could. He was okay. Embarrassed as all get out, but there was nothing unusual about that. It was a good thing Bowman had drugged him like he had, he didn't know if it had been the sleep or the medicine itself but he didn't feel like he was shattering to pieces and falling apart anymore, he almost felt...stable and himself again. Of course the 'feeling like himself' part might just be from fighting his blush down, but he'd figure that out once he looked up again. Might as well do it, his face wasn't feeling hot or even warm anymore. " Yeah, thanks. What time is it?"

"A little past eleven." Bowman made his way over to the bed, ignoring Gyoro and Ururun as he approached and checked the pitcher of water on the nightstand. It looked like either Ashton or the dragons had managed to drink a few more ounces of it when they'd taken the last dose, but he'd rather see it empty so he poured a glass for the other brunet and held it out to him. He seemed to be focused on Rena at the moment, but that wasn't too surprising given how emotionally trying this was and the way the first four members of their group tended to prop one another up at times.

If Ashton looked as bad now as he had when she'd seen him last time she might have come close, but he was acting like himself again and even smiling slightly as he tried to reassure her, so Rena returned his expression and reached up to collect the glass from Bowman and handed it off to him, giving him a playfully commanding look as she did so. She'd like to give all the credit to Bowman's compound, but the hour she and Claude had spent crying together had probably helped more than she wanted to admit. "Do you need to go to the bathroom?" Rena would need to scout it and the halls first before he left the room, if Celine was hiding in there again and they bumped into each other the results might not be in their favor if how tightly wound the mage seemed to be was any indication. They needed to corner her before the ritual if there was any time for it, maybe if she talked to them she could let some of that tension and fear out like they already had. Ashton needed the same treatment as well, but they had waited too long and he needed to stay as calm as he could now. She'd just hug on him as much as she could until it was time, physical affection tended to be as good as talking when he wasn't too tense or emotional to stand it.

The Nedian was more on the mark then she realized with that theory. It was too bad she'd needed to cook lunch earlier, if she had supervised the crest branding a certain thing that he was doing his best not to think about could have been avoided. They might have wound up in an orgy of tears but that would have been better than what had happened in his opinion. He still couldn't believe he had done that. Ashton almost wanted to ask Ururun to breath on the water even though it might crack the glass, it was room temperature at this point and had a slightly odd taste to it once it stood for hours like it had that he couldn't identify. He supposed it was from contact with the crests and the magics they gave off or maybe the pipes. He nodded his head as he drained the glass slowly, he had a feeling that Bowman was going to try to get him to drink as much as he could given the way he'd watched him when he hadn't moved to fix or drink his tea during their consultation earlier. He needed to brush his teeth to; between the water, the aftertaste of the medicine and the time he'd spent sleeping he didn't want to be talking or exhaling through his mouth too much when he close to people.

Bowman accepted the glass as Ashton passed it back to him and refilled it as Rena hugged him again and announced that she'd be back in a few minutes before leaving the room. Setting the glass beside the pitcher, the pharmacist studied the other brunet as he and the dragons shifted to a sitting position before him. His patient seemed to be have calmed himself a great deal and the pharmacist found himself hoping that he wasn't going to destabilize him by bringing the ritual and their preparations for it up, but Ashton needed to be aware of their current predicament. "I need your opinion on something." Well, two thing really, but it was probably better to start slow.

"Oh?" That wasn't good. He wondered what was wrong, Bowman wouldn't be asking for his input like this unless he wasn't comfortable with whatever alternatives he'd already come up with.

"Dias set the straps up so that we can secure them quickly, but there's a bit of a problem." It was best to just get to the point, if he prolonged this for too long or hemmed and hawed too much Anchors might start to become unhinged again. "I was going to put your catheters in before we got to ceremony room, but the way it's set up now I don't think I'd be comfortable setting them up the way I want to until you're in the chair." He'd let Ashton decide this one, hopefully if he felt in control of something it would make the real problem easier for him to deal with.

He needed to move now. It was a good thing he needed to brush his teeth, it meant that he could get up and grab his traveling bag to hunt for his toothbrush and toothpaste while he spoke. He didn't need to be looking at Bowman at the moment. "I don't want to be in that thing for longer than I have to. What is it? Is it the splints you mentioned earlier? Do I really even need them?"

Bowman didn't blame him for that, he'd been in the damned thing twice already pretending to be him and even then the first time had been more than enough. "They're going to be on the inside of your elbows and the back of your hands and I'm not comfortable with them being pulled or moved somehow even with the bandages over them and the splints keeping them steady." Besides, the only thing he had to make them from were wooden tongue depressors so they would already break easily enough. "If I don't do the splints you'll need to be very careful with how you move until they're taken out, the catheters could irritate the inside of the veins I'm going to be using or move if enough force is applied."

He could do that. "Right, I won't bend my elbows unless I can't help it and then I'll be slow with it." Where'd my toothbrush go?

"Sounds good." He waited few long seconds, letting that sink in before he introduced the real conundrum. "The other thing is how I'm going to make the incisions. Your forearms aren't a problem, but the bottom of your calves are. We can either go slowly or quickly, either way could cause problems."

Oh, good. So that first one had just been a warm up. He had a feeling that he didn't want to know what 'problems' the pharmacist was referring to, but something told him that he needed to know. "What problems?" It was too bad the toothbrush hadn't fallen further down the bag, he didn't have any distractions now.

The feeling was mutual, Bowman would have preferred it if Ashton hadn't looked back at him when he asked that. "If I go slow there might not be enough time for you to get the incantation out and if I go fast and hit a nerve you could be incoherent or passed out from pain."

And there was the problem. It was too bad he'd already be in the straps by the sound of it, if he could do it himself he would have been able to hold at least some of it back from Gyoro and Ururun. "Give me a minute." He needed to let them back in enough that he could talk to them, see if they could figure something out. D-do you two think you can handle not sending it back at me? He blinked down at the floor as he thought that, the demons' relief and worry flooding him as they reconnected and nearly halting his own thoughts in the process.

...We do not know. Is it truly such an intense sensation? We have not been injured in such a manner before.

Let's assume he knows what he's talking about, Ururun. It really bothered him when the demons started saying 'we' or referring to him as an 'other' as if he was a part of them and not even attempting to hide or correct it. Gyoro was thinking as well, but his thoughts were too complex or primitive or alien or something for him to unravel all the way unless he focused all of his attention on it or the dragon slowed and started breaking down what he was thinking so that he could understand it easily. Gyoro, stop it.

Hnn. What if he lies?

Why would he do that? He shook his head at the dragon both physically and mentally. Gyoro was going to have to get over his intense dislike of Bowman one day, at least Ururun was just indifferent to him most of the time. He's a friend, he's trying to help.

Bowman raised an eyebrow at Gyoro as he glared at him for a second before turning his attention back to his host and a flurry of motion ensued from the demon and his brother. It almost looked like a tennis match was taking place over the man's head as the dragons darted and ducked about above him, alternately looking to each other and their host. Apparently he was missing a lively conversation. Ashton must have the wackiest inner monologue on the planet.

We can try.

We may not succeed.

If we were to hold the sensation–

As best as we are able–

–until he is done cutting–

–we may be able to send it a final time–

–if you have already been disoriented from the pain–

–and bring you back to yourself.

It was always trouble for him when the dragons were on the same wavelength like this. Ashton held back his own thoughts as he listened to them volley theirs back and forth, waiting for the next shoe to drop. He was fairly certain that he knew what it would be, but he wanted to hear one of them think it before he started protesting.

Or we could take you over and shield you from it the best we are able.

No. Gyoro, we don't know how this works. You can't take me over, we don't know what'll happen if our minds are that close together when the spell kicks in. One of you could wind up in control of my body for the rest of our lives while I get thrown into one of the golems and then you two won't be able to go back to normal. That and he really didn't like the idea of either of them having full control over his body for the rest of his life. Tria only knew the places it would end up if Gyoro was the one that inhabited it. It was bad enough he'd be walking around in a facsimile of it, but he preferred to keep the original relatively…clean and unsullied. He had a feeling that if he ever let Gyoro wander around unsupervised for any real amount of time he wouldn't want to ask what he'd done for the day or week or month or however long it was before he saw him again; something about the red dragon gave him the impression that he wouldn't want to know.

What would Gyoro do? How would it get dirty?

I don't know, something. I really don't want to think about it.

I would not.

Yes, you wou–this isn't important right now, okay? Neither of you are taking me over so don't even think about it anymore. What if you two knock me out when you send it back? It takes hours for me to wake up again after that and I don't want to put everyone through this again. If we separate ourselves as much as we can, do you think that would work? Can you even do that? Separate yourselves from me?

...We have not attempted such a thing before. Ururun didn't like this idea, he rather enjoyed the intimacy that the changes in their possession of Ashton had created between them despite the dangers that he and his other suspected awaited their host in the future should their possession not be nullified or altered in some manner.

He was well aware of that, the dragons were codependent by nature and the deepening of their mental link had just increased those inclinations and dragged him even further into the middle of it.

We are not 'codependent.' Gyoro didn't know exactly what that meant but he had gleaned enough of an understanding of the word from his host's mind as he thought it to be offended by the idea.

Okay, then prove it. The complete lack of any mental movement away from his psyche in the wake of his challenge didn't surprise Ashton in the slightest. He shook his head and snorted derisively at that, not even concerned about Bowman or the rudeness of the gesture. The demons needed to be goaded into action somehow and they were prideful enough that such an open display of disdain–especially one that Bowman of all people was aware of–would work wonders.

The pharmacist was starting to think that being attached to the demons had given Anchors multiple personalities, there was no way in the world he would ever have done that in front of another person when they'd travelled together two years ago. Gyoro and Ururun had stopped their display and were 'standing' stock-still, their emotions hard to read due to their lack of pupils, expression and body language before they shuddered suddenly and shook their heads, Ururun whining discontentedly before falling silent as his brother growled. At least it wasn't directed at him this time. Bowman almost wanted to feel sorry for the two of them, they almost looked as dazed as they had the first time the crests had been put in. Ashton seemed fine, though, even if he was blinking and scratching the back of his head thoughtfully as though he was considering some foreign concept that had just come to him. "Everything sorted out?" The three of them blew his mind sometimes, he swore they did.

"Ah, yeah." This was almost like when he separated himself from the two of them, but it was much more intense now that they were putting effort into it as well. He'd forgotten what it was like for his mind to be this quiet, to be this alone. With only his own mental presence, sensations, thoughts, emotions and memories inhabiting his mind he almost felt...mentally deaf and physically numb. In a good way. That didn't make sense and it was a terrible thing to think, but it was true somehow. He needed to snap out of this and test whether this would work or not. Hopefully Rena wouldn't be angry at the pharmacist when she found out. "Can you hit me or something? I need to see if what we're doing will work."

Anchors was trying to get him killed, apparently. Maybe Gyoro had taken him over without any noticeable changes this time and were looking to create an excuse to attack him. "Come again?" The pharmacist was going to let him rethink that for a second, see if the possible implications would register this time.

"I'm serious, if this doesn't work I don't know what we'll do." He better not chicken out on him. This was too important for that and the only other thing he could think of would be for him to get one of his swords and run himself through with it or maybe get Precis to hit him with Bobot or her mechanical punching arm. Bowman was their resident hand to hand combat specialist, he'd know where and how to hit him to maximize pain and lessen any damage at the same time.

Bowman shook his head at the taller brunet as he walked across the room to shut the door. He had no idea how he and the dragons worked but apparently Ashton wasn't too sure at the moment either. If Rena, Claude and Celine killed him for this he was going to haunt the younger man for the rest of his life. "Fine, I'm not going to hit you, though. Hold your left arm out and take a deep breath when I say 'now.'" If this worked he might have found a way to numb some of the pain that the knife would cause his patient, now that he thought about it. If he hit the nerve quickly enough with just the right amount of pressure it could numb that entire side his forearm long enough for him to make the incisions, though he probably wouldn't be able do something similar to his calves. He and Anchors were geniuses and didn't even know it. Walking back over to stand before Ashton, Bowman held his forearm in his right hand and placed his thumb over the dual line of crests that traced his ulnar artery before holding his elbow tightly with his left hand to keep him from pulling away. "Say 'when' once you've had enough. I'm going to try something after that, it might numb the entire side of your arm and I'm going to need you tell me how long it stays that way and when you start getting sensation back. Ready?"

He'd been hoping that he would hear 'now' mixed in with all of that, but apparently the pharmacist thought that whatever he was getting ready to do would be painful enough to warrant two preambles. Gyoro better not snap at the pharmacist this time, he was getting fair warning and he wouldn't be able to hold him back with one hand. "Ready."

"Now." The pharmacist waited for the man before him to inhale deeply before he pressed his thumb into the flesh of the forearm he held, watching as Ashton's face contorted in pain and tried to tear his arm away from his grasp out of instinct. It looked like he'd hit the ulnar nerve just right. Increasing the pressure he was applying slowly, Bowman watched as the other brunet leaned down and to the side as best he could, forcefully exhaling with the movement and making a strangled noise deep in this throat. All the feedback he got from the demons all the time must have increased his pain tolerance somehow, most people would be crying or screaming at this point.

Ashton would dearly love to say 'now' at the moment, but he was waiting for Gyoro and Ururun to start sending some of this pain back at him. The pharmacist must be increasing the pressure he was putting on whatever it was he was hitting, he couldn't even think anymore. He wished he could stomp his foot or something, but the only movement he seemed capable of managing was confined to his diaphragm and vocal cords as he whimpered and gasped for air. This was the worst idea this he'd ever had, including that thing he'd done earlier in the day even if it didn't really count because he hadn't been thinking when he'd done it.

This was ridiculous; if the dragons were going to hit him with anything they would've done it by now. Bowman was certain at this point that this little experiment of their was edging increasingly over the line to full-out torture by the second, so he relaxed his thumb before pressing it in again swiftly and harshly, drawing cry of pain from the possessed man before him even as he released his grip on his forearm completely and watched the arm in question fall limply to his side. "Can you feel anything now?" Ashton better stand back up soon, if Rena came back before he collected himself he'd be on her bad side again.

At least it didn't hurt anymore, it just felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to his funny bone; the far side of his arm didn't hurt anymore but it sure was tingling like crazy. "Nn…no-not really. It's just...r-really tingly." It would probably be a good idea if he stood back up, at the very least he'd be able to breathe better.

That was also known as 'feeling something.' Still, Bowman wondered if anything else would register at the moment. "Let me see it again." He almost returned the look Gyoro was sending him, but settled for shaking his head at him instead. As if he was going to hurt their host again. Well, technically he would be hurting him nearly a dozen times by the time this was done, but it was necessary so the demon needed to get over it. Taking the proffered arm in his hands again, he pinched the tip of Ashton's pinky finger and studied his expression as he moved his way down his finger towards his palm. "Can you feel this?"

Ashton blinked down at his arm as the pharmacist continued pinching him. "No, I–"

"Why was the door shut?" Please don't tell her Ashton had started crying after she left, Rena had been hoping that he was feeling better now. Wait, why was Bowman pinching him like that? "What are you doing?"

It looked like he'd timed that just right. His patient's face was still flushed slightly, but at least it was at the level that it could theoretically be a blush again. "Checking to see how numb it is. Do you think you could stand it if I hit your nerves like this before I cut you, or do you not want to deal with that?"

Ashton nodded to Rena as she came over to hover beside them and held onto the arm the pharmacist wasn't experimenting on. "Um, are you sure it'll do the same thing again?" His hand was boring apparently, Bowman had decided to move on to his forearm and was pinching the crests found there. "I can feel it now, it's more pressure than anything, though."

He shook his head in answer to the question. There wasn't a guarantee that the nerve would react the same way especially after being given such rough treatment, but if this was how Ashton's brain interpreted the signals it was sending it still indicated to them what they could expect later. "It could change on us but it gives us an idea. I probably won't be able to do the same thing to your legs, though, so the big question still stands. I'm going to do your arms first as the blood has more distance to travel from them so I'm not going to rush those unless you want me to, but the artery I'm hitting in your legs have a few things in the way and if I go slowly there might not be enough time like I said before."

He wished that Bowman wasn't leaving this to him, it wasn't something he could really control. It wasn't as though the pharmacist could put on a demonstration for him and show him exactly how he was planning on doing it without cutting him. "Do it….Do it quick. All of them, I don't care how much it hurts anymore. If they can't send it back to me when we're like this, then...it doesn't matter. I just want this over with."

She should have stayed in the hallway a bit longer or checked on the others, Ashton wasn't becoming unstable yet but there was something in his voice that was almost desperate by the time he was finished speaking. He needed more hugs as far as Rena was concerned, so she dropped his arm and hugged his side as best she could without getting in Bowman's way, feeling relieved when he didn't tense up, try to move away or start squirming. It wasn't too bad yet, if she kept hugging him he'd calm down.

He was smacking the other brunet upside the head with the situation and had been every time he'd seen him today, so he supposed he knew what had caused that tone of voice. The pharmacist continued his pinching until Ashton flinched slightly, his nerves apparently recovering enough to transmit pain correctly again. Nodding to himself, Bowman patted Ashton on the shoulder once he released his forearm and the other man shook it out. If he was going to insert the cannulas he would need to get his supplies from the ceremonial chamber. He'd be slow about it, Rena might be able to get Ashton to talk without breaking down herself if he left them alone long enough. "I'll be back in about ten or fifteen minutes, I need to get my stuff and find something that you can bite down on while I make the incisions." A roll of gauze would do the trick, luckily for them he had plenty of that left over since he'd only bandaged the crests once. He didn't bother making eye contact or trying to nudge Rena in some other way as he left the room, she was looking concerned enough that she would do her best to help him without his prodding.

At least it was Rena he'd been left alone with this time, he wasn't used to being undressed in front of her like he was around Celine or Claude but the other swordsman and the mage came with certain thoughts that he'd rather not think at the moment. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and started walking them over to the bed, feeling the need to lay down again. Rena was safe; he didn't need to worry about anything around her, it was like being with a sister at this point despite how long it'd been since they'd seen each other. He didn't know how Claude could look at her like that, the Nedian was just too...something for those type of thoughts to form in Ashton's opinion.

That wasn't fair at all, she would've tickled him if she'd heard that. She was the same age he'd been when they'd first met now and she'd been seventeen when they had, so it wasn't as though he had the same excuse Dias did. He was the little sibling in this relationship, anyway. Still, laying down until he calmed himself wasn't a bad idea and she could pet Gyoro and Ururun better this way as well, the dragons were looking a little lost for some reason. "What happened?" He could take that and run with it however he wanted to, Rena was certain that it would go somewhere eventually.

She was petting Ururun as she settled beside him, so he knew well enough what that was supposed to be referring to on the surface at least, but he didn't want to talk about the demon and his brother at the moment. Then again, he didn't know what he could talk about, everything led to either the ritual or Celine at this point and neither of those topics were safe. "I don't know." She took the lead along with Claude when it came to planning and everything else, steering their conversation shouldn't be that difficult for her.

Or he could refuse to even catch it. She couldn't bring up what Ururun had told them about their reasons for doing this or anything that would give him the idea that the demon might have tattled on him in Mars, so she hummed lightly and fell back to study him as he reached over for the glass on the nightstand and took a drink of water. "I had to ask Bowman to make something to keep me calm while everything happens, maybe he could make something for you too." He should have volunteered something, now she was going to guilt him into talking about this. Ashton didn't get angry at women the same way he did men so there wasn't any need for her to tiptoe around this like Claude had to about certain things, the worst he would do is get testy or push her away from him and run from the room if she drove him past the limits of his tolerance or temper.

"You…" He had to stare at her for a few long seconds as the fact that she'd drugged herself to stay calm enough to wait to heal him registered, instantly feeling like an ass again. "I didn't mean to do that to you."

"You didn't do anything to me, the ritual did." He better not start blaming himself, she'd tickle him until he started hiccuping if he did. She reached out and ruffled his hair, giving him a warning look as she did so. Silly Ashton. He needed to put his headband on, his hair was in his face again. The ruffling had nothing to do with it, nope.

He shook his head to get his hair to fall back in place as he set the glass back on the nightstand, realizing as he did so that he had fallen into her trap. He was going to have to talk about this apparently, Rena wouldn't let up now that they were on the subject's doorstep. The bed really was the best place to have these conversations, pillows were in easy reach and he could hide his face in them at a moment's notice. "I don't know how I feel about this anymore. I was scared for so long and then I broke apart and now I'm just…." There weren't any words he could really describe it with, he was still terrified but it was intermingled with so many other emotions that even it was difficult to single out.

Rena reached over to hug him as best she could when he hid his face in the pillow, rubbing at his back and waiting to see if he would start crying like Claude told her he almost had after they'd finished his crests. She'd start too if he did but maybe that was what he needed, to just cry and have someone there to understand it and share the experience. There wasn't much any of them could do at this point, telling him that everything would be okay might be true in the end but it was also a lie even if everything did go well and he was fine afterwards because nothing about this situation was 'okay' no matter how much they pretended it was. They were getting ready for Bowman to cut him so he could bleed out on two big piles of clay for several minutes and recite a spell and that was supposed transfer Gyoro and Ururun's souls off him and into golem bodies that were identical to their host's and somehow later transform them back to their real demonic form if they learned 'humanity,' however the spell defined that. Nothing about this made one bit of sense.

At the very least he had one reason to be thankful for what had happened earlier in the day; whatever dam had broken inside him then allowed him to touch and be touched and that was definitely coming in handy at the moment. He was doing his best to avoid crying again, she might join him and it was enough that she was here. Besides, he was sure he'd made her cry enough already the same way he had Celine and Claude as well even if he had done his best to hide it from him, the same way he had until they had arrived at the temple and he'd lost control of himself. Hiding his face for too long might give the impression that he was going to, though, so he shifted his shoulders briefly to indicate his intentions to Gyoro and Ururun as they might not be aware of it anymore and rolled onto his side to face her with their help. "We should have told you how this works, we didn't mean to do that." Leave them in the dark the way they had. The conversations he'd had with Celine about it had been bad enough and neither of them had wanted the others to have to deal with it before they had to. That and they'd been doing their best to pretend that the situation wasn't what it was whenever they were able to and talking to the others about it would have made it too real. Celine really needed to stop popping into his thoughts so much, he'd never realized how much she did until his and Claude's conversation the other night.

She almost removed her hand to ruffle his hair again at that, but settled for giving him one of her looks before smiling sadly. "Bowman's birthday wouldn't have been as much fun, though." It would have depressing, the same way thinking about Claude's was now. She knew why the two of them had done it and it was another thing that she couldn't be angry at them for; Rena didn't think she would have been able to just come out and fully explain the ritual to either of them if it was her or Claude that was the one going through with it.

He did his best to return the 'Ashton' expression she'd given him with his 'Rena' one as he started shifting off the bed. She just had to remind him of that, didn't she? "One of you could've reminded me about that, I could have gotten him something while we were in Clik." That was number four on his 'Things to make up for to Bowman' list, Celine, Claude and Rena telling the pharmacist that their presents were also from him didn't count. If he did this right they could argue about it until Bowman came back. He would hug her again before getting off the bed, but that would distract her from the debate he was trying to start and he really did need to go to the bathroom and brush his teeth if they were going to be talking like this.

/////

Finding Bowman in the ceremonial chamber was quite a blessing so far as Celine was concerned, it quieted Precis' verbal barrage and distracted Claude from his nonverbal attempts at communication with her. Depositing the clay in the depression they were working on quietly, she decided that as the pharmacist was going to be helping them until he judged it safe to return to his own business she would take leave of them to calm herself. She supposed that she should avoid the bathroom and the kitchen, if Rena didn't confine Ashton to his room those would be the places that they would most likely be found. Really, she didn't know what had possessed Claude to leave them alone like that, as if whatever could have come from that would have been good for either of them. Shucking her gloves off, she wondered where she could go as the bathroom was now off limits and she had to pass either that or the kitchen to make it to her room. It didn't sound as though she needed to worry about that, the blond had apparently taken leave of his senses and decided to follow her judging by the soft footfalls she could hear approaching from behind her.

Yeah, Claude had indeed decided to follow the mage after she'd hightailed it out of the room; he'd had enough of the silent treatment she'd been giving him and he was going to get her to talk one way or another. Being one of the leaders of this little group was like herding cats sometimes. Maybe he should have recruited Bowman for this, the pharmacist would've been able to go around the other way and they could both work on her after they cornered her. Then again doing that might have tipped her over the edge, but he was fairly sure that he'd be doing that soon enough anyway so at the very least it would've given her another target. It didn't matter, he needed a distraction again and if she didn't get over whatever it was that he'd done to piss her off before they started the ritual Ashton would notice and none of them needed that. He did his best to adopt an innocent expression as she looked over her shoulder to glare at him as she rounded the corner and when he followed he found himself staring down an empty hallway. Well, at least she'd decided to stop running, it wasn't like she could teleport to the other side of the temple so she had to be in the room with the door hanging wide open. The mage might be planning to attack him preemptively, there weren't any lights on and the only thing down this way were laboratories and studies filled with thick books and other instruments of varying bluntness or sharpness.

As if she would ever get her hands dirty like that or risk breaking a nail over him of all people. Claude truly did need to try toning his imagination down, he was almost as bad as Bowman was at this point. He needed to work on a few other things as well so far as she was concerned, such as the presumptuous attitude he'd taken recently towards things he had no business being presumptive about to begin with. She almost smiled in amusement when he hovered by the doorway, apparently not trusting her to be in control of her temper at the moment. Still, Celine wasn't about to hold this conversation in the dark with the door open the way it was and the others didn't need to know about this, so she summoned a fireball and smiled darkly as he ducked out of the doorway. "Darling, come over here and light this lamp for me, will you?" It was a pity this room didn't have any light sources that were activated by heraldry, that had been her true intention when she'd conjured it but it seemed that they'd need to set a few sheets of paper on fire to light the lamp on the desk behind her.

"Okay." It still took him a second to actually move from position and enter the now dimly lit room. At least she'd found that amusing if the tone of her voice and the fading expression on her face could be trusted, but it also told him just how angry the mage was with him. He should have gotten Bowman to come with, the last time he had seen her anywhere near this enraged the battlefield had been scorched and full of craters by the time she'd noticed that Rena and Noel had gotten certain someone up and moving again. She was probably pulling the same thing he and Ashton had earlier, though, so hopefully he could knock her out of it before any real property damage occurred. "I guess this is about me leaving the two of you alone?" There was no, no way in the world that Ashton had told her about their talk no matter how out of it he was. Hell, he'd been as vague as he could manage when Rena had dragged his confession out of him and had never ratted him out when it really mattered, so if she did know he would take a page from Ashton's imaginary playbook and freeze up or faint from the shock of that revelation.

"Mm." Smart man. Claude was quite lucky that Ashton was as trustworthy as he was; the blond had overstepped his bounds enough earlier today and if she knew that instance was part of a pattern he was developing she might have lost what was left of her restraint. She waited for him light the lamp and shut the door before responding properly, snuffing out the fire she had conjured as she did so. "Really, what possessed you to do such a thing? Were you even thinking when you did that?" It was much easier to ask him that than herself given the situation and redirect that anger and fear she had, destroying the tattooing supplies hadn't been enough and seemed to have made it worse somehow.

He had no idea what'd happened, but apparently it'd been enough to unsettle her and decide to blame him for it. She hadn't been alone with him for that long, though, and Claude found himself wondering how to respond to that without rilling her up further. "I thought you two might want some time alone." You know, what with the way you were looking at each other. Saying that last bit would have been a bad idea, but that didn't stop him from thinking it. He hoped she wasn't going to start exhibiting psychic powers or something like that, Ashton did that enough around him but that was just a thing they had. "Besides, you told me to tell Rena he was done." Not that he'd done that.

It was a good thing he'd added that last bit, it gave Celine something to focus on other than the idea that he'd taken note of what had passed between them then. "But you didn't, did you?" She knew he hadn't, Rena wouldn't have asked her how long she needed to wait if he had. The blond must be trying to spark her temper, it seemed that he was going to bring up everything he had done earlier in the day.

Claude was actually trying to figure out how to go about this; he knew how to snap Rena and Ashton out of this type of anger but he had no clue about Celine, she was too collected most of the time to demonstrate this level of rage and mostly confined it to small displays of annoyance. He shook his head at her as she leaned back on the desk and narrowed her eyes at him, and he figured it was a good thing he'd already put a bit of space between them when he shut the door. Maybe if he was far enough away he'd be able to duck whatever she threw at him if he did this wrong.

It was her turn to shake her head as he turned his back fully towards the door and studied her. The blond had apparently forgotten how think critically sometime in the past twelve hours, that was the only explanation she could think of. Never mind the fact that the observation applied to her as well. "What exactly were you expecting to come from that? Did you honestly think that either of us were in any condition at the moment to be left alone like that?" She should have spoken up and asked him to help her pack the inking implements when he moved to stand and then leave instead of falling silent and doing it herself. "I know he didn't encourage you somehow, I wasn't even looking at him and I was well aware just how uncomfortable he was when you did that."

"Okay, so I made a bad call." He might as well admit it, he was Ashton's unofficial therapist not a couples counsellor, it wasn't like he really knew what he was doing in that situation other than trying to encourage him. That was something he might as well admit to, it probably wouldn't shock her out of it like it had the brunet since she knew about it, but maybe if she heard the actual why of it she would start calming down. "I just wanted him to come out and tell you something before we went through with it, you deserve that much."

He truly boggled her mind at times. Celine couldn't even shake her head at that, she would have been stuck staring at him if it wasn't for all the thoughts that statement brought up. "Would you appreciate being pushed to hear or say something like that if it was you or Rena going through with this? Do you even think you could trust it?" As if she wanted that, a confession driven by fear and desperation and everything else that was most likely going through his mind then. What had happened was bad enough as far as she was concerned, she would probably thank the demons now instead of slap them for what they had done to pull her out of the moment before she'd lost control of herself, it had been the last thing she desired. "I don't want that, Claude. You know well enough that he's not in his right mind, hasn't been since we got here. Even then I already know even if he hasn't told me and no, it's not just from Ururun though he did help me see it for myself."

"I get that, but…." That just made him wonder if she knew what could happen to Ashton during the ritual; if she realized he might not come out of this himself if he did have a stroke or several of them and Rena's magics couldn't heal enough of it or keep his brain from being damaged from either lack of blood flow, oxygen deprivation or one of the vessels in it bursting. Expellians were similar enough to Earthlings that Claude was certain that if he did have one he could be someone else by the time this over with, that he could have either short or long term personality changes to go along with everything else that kind of brain damaged entailed. "You know that, that when he wakes up he might not be Ashton anymore, right?"

She flinched at the reminder, it was one of the many things she had been doing her best to forget about ever since she realized the scope of the damage he might incur. "Don't talk like that. Just don't, I'm well aware of it and I'd rather not have that on my mind at the moment." This was terrible; she had apparently picked up his fondness for superstitions somehow, that was the only way she could explain this. Never mind how she might have acquired it, she didn't need to be thinking of that again.

"Right." Well, it looked like someone was floating in denial. It was too bad he'd never taken any of them to Earth, if he had he could've made a joke about that. Not that the Nile was an especially pretty sight anymore, but maybe if he'd taken them to a museum or showed them simulations of what it used to look like and told them the history of the river they would've gotten it. Anyway, that wasn't the issue here and he really needed to figure out how to get Celine to calm down a little. He almost wanted to ask what had happened, but that would do the exact opposite of what he was trying to accomplish. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make this harder on either of you, but I guess I did. Do you…would you feel better if you weren't there? I could take care of the book and everything if you don't feel up to it."

The mage gripped the edge of the desk behind her at that and leaned forward slightly, her eyes narrowing at the blond across from her. "No." She wasn't even going to allow herself to acknowledge that apology or entertain that notion, forgiving him would mean letting go of this and Celine wasn't aware of whether Ashton knew that they would all be there with him but she wasn't going to give him a chance to wonder why she wasn't among them either way. He would probably think that she was angry at him or...actually, now that she thought about it he was most likely beating himself up over it and had come to that conclusion already. She really was going to need to work with him on his self confidence, she hadn't seen him in over eight hours and she just knew he was fretting over it. "I'm going to be there through the whole thing. Someone needs to take care of the dragons, after all." If she was lucky Gyoro would be feeling inappropriate and stubborn again and she could distract herself by arguing with him, it was that or she'd wind up hovering and crying behind the others as they tried to stabilize the demons' soon to be former host.

...And there wasn't anything in that about accepting his apology. "Okay." He shouldn't be surprised, he realized as he leaned against the door behind him and shook his head, her complaint was valid enough but this reaction was far beyond what she would normally exhibit, so she'd definitely chosen to focus on that over anything else. Claude almost wanted to try to push her over the edge and get her to release all that anger she had, but he was the only target in the room and he didn't know how long she'd stay in that state before emotionally exhausting herself enough that she could admit to and deal with what she was really feeling underneath it. Either way she definitely didn't need to be acting like this whenever Bowman decided that Ashton was ready to go through with the ritual, so he was going to follow instinct on this one and pull rank on her even if it did make her forget herself and send a spell his way. It was starting to look like he'd wind up in some form of fight with everyone by the time this was over with. "Wait, no, It's not okay. You want to be pissed off right now, and I get that, but you're not going anywhere near that room or Ashton again until you calm down and deal with what's really bu–"

That made her snap her spine straight as she glared at him, her crest flaring beneath her clothing as she dug her nails as best she could into the wood of desk behind her to avoid conjuring anything in his direction. "How dare you! I'm not a child, don't you dare treat me like one. You're in no position to tell me what I will or won't do, don't you even attempt it."

And thar she blows. It was too bad he didn't have his sword on him or better yet a harpoon to go with that thought, he could definitely use something to defend himself. Maybe he should try to develop that habit of Dias and Ashton's and keep his sword close by and wear it all the time, it would have come in handy at the moment. "What, you think Ashton isn't going to notice how high-strung you are the second he sees you? He doesn't need that and you know it, he's bad enough already." He wished she was wearing her old traveling clothes, it would've made noticing whether she was tapping into her crests to focus her magics much, much easier.

She scoffed at that. Really, as if she wasn't aware of just how easily the heraldic swordsman could read her when his self esteem didn't get in the way; she'd had far too many experiences that demonstrated that quite plainly in the past two weeks alone, she didn't need the reminder. She didn't need to be reminded of any of that at the moment. "And you don't think that he'll notice you or Rena or any of the others? You can't possibly be that delusional, Claude, he's going to know one way or another the second he sees us. I'm tired of seeing him in tears and letting him see me the same way, if my only alternative to that is this then I'll take." Celine would almost be amazed if he could even do that anymore, he had undoubtably ran himself dry several times the same way she had since they had arrived.

He had no idea that the two of them had been leaning on each other so heavily and he almost couldn't believe that she'd let someone see her in that state even if it was Ashton. Claude found himself wondering vaguely how something hadn't happened before whatever it was that had happened after he'd left them alone if that was the case. "That's not what I'm saying," he gestured widely with one hand quickly, grimacing as he spoke. "Yeah, he's going to know we're scared; he'd be an idiot not to, but he's going to be expecting that and if you're pissed off like this it's going to get him worried or even more on edge or something and he doesn't need that on top of everything else. Hell, knowing him he'll probably think he's the one you're mad at for whatever it was that he did when I left you two alone." He really wanted to know what that was now, Ashton obviously hadn't come out and said what Claude thought he needed to, but whatever had happened had managed to shake her up in a way he'd never seen before.

If he kept bringing that up she was going to lose control of her temper and let loose on him, she was approaching the point that she didn't much care anymore. "He didn't do anything." So far as Celine was concerned she was the one that had started the whole thing. If she hadn't come forward and hugged and kissed him like that he wouldn't have had the opportunity to surprise her the way he had. She should have known better, the situation being what it was she would have done it herself if he hadn't beaten her to it. That would have been even worse; she wouldn't have been anywhere near as hesitant about it and who knows where it would have led if the dragons had managed to control their curiosity long enough for her to become involved to the point that she could ignore them, their host didn't seem to have that problem, at least. She was grateful she was outwardly as enraged as she was, so long as she continued glaring at him like this he might think her flush was solely a side effect of her anger. "If he so much breathes one word about it I'll tell him that myself. He probably already thinks that, he doesn't need to see me to have those thoughts, you know that; he'll start tearing himself down at the slightest provocation."

Yeah, that faint blush that started to form even before she spoke combined with the way her eyes darted about as she protested made him want to track the topic of their conversation down, slap him on the back and see if he remembered any of those dap handshakes he'd taught him in Central City after the Ten Wise Men outed him as an alien and destroyed the planet; he hadn't thought Celine capable of blushing like this, but apparently Ashton had managed to do something to cause that reaction. He needed to hide the expression that was forming in response to that thought and look halfway serious at least, so he crossed his arms in front of his chest, leaned back against the door, ducked his head and nodded, making a strangled sound that he hoped passed for a noise of approval or acceptance even as his throat tightened and he tried to hide the smile that was starting to form. It couldn't have just been a hug, they'd done that back when they'd all been traveling together, though it had been rarer than Ashton and Rena hugging, and they'd shared the same bed at least once that he was aware of, but he hadn't told her how he felt, so….Scratch that, apparently he had, just not verbally. It was about time.

Claude was blessed to have retained enough of his common sense to nod, if he hadn't she would have lost her temper at that look he was trying to hide and the chocked back giggle that he seemed to think was a substitute for a 'yes.' "I'm so glad to see that you agree with me. Now if you don't mind, could you step away from the door for me?" Before I hurt you? This conversation was over so far as she was concerned; he'd given in whether he realized it at the moment or not and Celine wasn't inclined to continue this in the least. If she ever heard one word of this again from him, Bowman, Rena, or anyone else she swore she was going to make him wish he had never been born.

It didn't matter at this point, he guessed, she was going to hold on to that anger as best she was able until the ritual shocked it out of her. Celine didn't even mean it, he knew she didn't and this whole thing would be forgotten about assuming he never, ever told anyone about this. He couldn't even hold it against her given that he'd nearly done the same thing earlier with Ashton, so he knew damn well what she was doing. Claude didn't bother nodding at that, just unfolded his arms and reached behind him to open the door and stepped out, holding it for her as she stalked past him and headed down the hall. He watched her until she faded from view behind a corner, making a mental note to ask Rena to go to the supply entrance to the temple if she wasn't back before they were ready to begin, that seemed to be her destination now.

/////

If Ashton didn't start taking care of himself again after all this was over Rena was going to drag him back to Arlia for the rest of winter to retrain him, she'd already had to stand over him to make sure he would eat earlier and now she'd had to remind him that he needed to shave and grabbed his travel bag for him when he handwaved it away saying it wasn't that bad. It was okay for now since he wasn't himself due to everything he was dealing with but it just wasn't him; he was the guy that could always be trusted to pay attention the that type of thing and had prettier jewelry than most of the girls of their group save Opera and Celine and even then it was a tie. She knew he was trying to distract her to keep from talking about himself, but he was going to so when he finally emerged from the bathroom looking more than halfway decent she led him to the kitchen. At least he was together enough to remember his manners, if he hadn't pulled the chair out for her she would have dragged him to the ceremonial chamber to grab Claude so they could start working on him ahead of time. Rena wasn't too worried about Bowman wondering where they'd gone, he knew the two of them well enough to know that if they were anywhere other than his room they'd probably be here. "You know we're all going to be there, right?" Bowman had told her that he'd informed him of that, but he'd already admitted he was scared so maybe reassuring him again would help him open up a little.

He almost froze at that even as he moved to sit beside her. "Ah...B-Bowman and Claude talked to me about it." Not that he liked the idea. He'd already been an idiot with Celine once today and if she was going to be in front of him with Claude he didn't know what he would do. Rena wasn't going to let go of this, that much was obvious, she hadn't taken the bait when he'd asked about the wedding and that had been his best bet since the healer wouldn't let him start any petty debates. He hoped Bowman came back soon. Ururun whined again and curled himself under his jaw, and there weren't any actual words behind that for him to translate. He was going to have to make this up to the demon and his brother, they weren't used to this type of total separation from him at all anymore. If he was going to be honest with himself, he wasn't either. Their mental connection might be completely closed off, but he could still feel his hand running under his jaw as he soothed the dragon although it was muted as if the contact was being made through a layer of cloth. That wasn't the feedback that the dragons normally sent him, it was too dull and there was no echo to it so it had to be that old side effect of their nerves being interlaced with his that had disturbed him so much in the beginning. "I know you have to be there for it but I wish the rest of them weren't." Hopefully they wouldn't feel it when Bowman inserted those things in him or when he cut him; if he remembered right they hadn't be able to feel what he felt before the connection had formed, for some reason it had only happened to him when he was the one doing the touching.

"Why? We want to be there." He was being silly again. She scooted her chair closer to his so that she could pet Ururun and Gyoro as well, the red demon seemed to be taking whatever Ashton had done this time better than his brother but he still needed to be comforted. Maybe their host would feel it too, if he could she would be taking care of the three of them at the same time.

He couldn't and found himself blinking at the partial confirmation of the theory he had been entertaining as he answered. It was good thing he couldn't, it'd feel like she was running her hands through his hair given the way she was half scratching, half stroking Gyoro between his horns if he could and that might have reminded him of Celine again. "I don't want them to see that. I don't want any of you to see that." Maybe it would have been harder on them and he was being selfish, but he would have been more comfortable if they were wringing their hands in the hallway until Gyoro or Ururun opened the door and let them in. The three of them would have died if he lost too much blood and the dragons didn't stay conscious while being transferred, though, so maybe it was better this way.

She wished he would look at her instead of staring at the wall or the table, Rena would feel much better if he would make eye contact or just look in her direction when he spoke. He was probably doing it to keep calm, though, so she wouldn't say anything. It was easy enough to see where he was coming from; Rena wouldn't want anyone to see that either if she was him and was going to be doing the best she could to tune him out until Bowman or one of the others called for her, so she couldn't argue against that. "I know. Wouldn't you want to be there if it was one of us, though?" She knew he would, he wouldn't be their friend if he didn't. Actually, if that type of disregard had been a part of his personality they probably wouldn't have entertained the notion of having him join them. It was good thing he'd calmed down fairly quickly and showed them what he was really like, their first impression of him hadn't been a good one, not that they could blame him for it.

He managed to look at her at that question. "You know I would." Oh Tria, if it was Rena that was doing this….Ashton really didn't want to think of that, it just made it all too clear to him how much this was hurting them. It was bad enough as it was, he knew how much pressure he was putting on them just from the way they had all acted since this began; Dias had managed to be nice to him nonstop for more than a week somehow. That just didn't happen with him, you were lucky if he didn't dismiss your presence five minutes into any conversation with him until he decided that he liked you, and then you had to deal with him pushing you away and making odd threats here and there. Well, unless Rena was around. It must be that sibling-like relationship they had, she somehow managed to tone down his antisocial inclinations enough that he could almost be accused of being…well, social. In a Dias way, of course. "It's just…I'm so tired of doing this to you. All of you. I mean, just look at this. I dragged you, Claude, and Dias away from the Arlia when you should be happy, spending time together and getting ready for the wedding, did the same thing to Bowman and his wife, made him miss his birthday with her when the only thing he should be concerned about is the baby, who knows what project Precis was involved in that she had drop for this, I showed up on Celine's doorstep and made her so worried that…." He stopped himself at that, he really didn't need to go there.

He was starting to tense up as he spoke, so she stopped petting the dragons and bent forward to hug him and rub his back. "We wouldn't have come if we didn't want to." Ururun was being an Ashton hog so she couldn't really lay her head on his shoulder like she wanted to when he didn't pull away, but she still did her best to rest as much of it there as she could. They really should have done this sooner; if her, Bowman and Claude had sat him and Celine down somewhere private and talked about this they might be handling it better. Rena hoped that Claude hadn't tried to get Celine to unload without her or Bowman present, her fiancé tended to follow his gut and was too blunt most of the time and while that could work on the heraldic swordsman it had the opposite effect on the mage unless it was done just right.

If it wasn't for the way that Claude and Rena had gotten off to such rocky start with each other he wouldn't have gotten used to this. It was terrible to be thankful for that, but before Dias had joined them and they'd started figuring everything out he had been the only one she would hang off of. Of course, the dragons had been a major factor in that; between the way Gyoro and Ururun basked in her attentions and the lovely depressive spells he'd gone through when he'd first joined them, the three of them had managed to tug on her heartstrings enough that she'd spent the first two months treating him like a lost puppy when he wasn't making her testy by complaining about the demons. Well, that and the way he had always bothered her for advice about them. They'd never settled on a birthdate for them, so maybe if this worked it could be today or tomorrow depending on what time it was when they were transferred to their new bodies. "Do you remember that question I asked you in Giveaway?" She might as well get to sound out her opinion on this and he didn't think the dragons could hear his thoughts at the moment, so his choices were limited to doing it now or after the ritual and he needed something that wasn't himself to talk about until he calmed down again.

She scrunched her face at that, partially in concentration as she tried to remember which dragon related issue they'd tried to sort out there but also because he was trying to change the subject again. If this proved to be too far removed from it then...oh, that was when he'd been wondering about their birthdays. It was related enough if it was going where she thought it was, so she'd give him a pass on this one. He needed to relax a bit before they got back into it, she really didn't want him to get so upset he would start crying since he might take a while to calm down. "Did you ever figure one out for them?" He better not be getting ready to announce he had changed his own birthday for the demons. That was silly so far as she was concerned, especially since they were all technically older than they were on Expel due to the time they'd spent in Energy Nede.

He hoped they came out of this with their mental voices and different hair and eye color than his, it would be weird enough looking at the two of them and seeing his own face staring back at him. "No, but I'm wondering about today or tomorrow being theirs since they'll be in the golems if this works." The dragons had strange ways of knowing things that he couldn't grasp and they'd never faltered once throughout this entire ordeal, there had to be something to that certainty. That was what he kept telling himself, anyway.

Rena liked that idea, it showed that there was some part of him that did think everything would be okay and the date itself made sense to her. The demons didn't seem to know their real birthdays but they were getting ready to be transferred into their new bodies so it would be a birth in a strange way. Besides, they'd already decided in Giveaway that it couldn't be the day they'd possessed Ashton as that was technically the day their true body had died and they'd become possessing spirits, it was more like their 'deathday' than anything else. Ururun had uncurled himself from around Ashton to consider his host and brother, so Rena decided to rest her head where she really wanted to. She'd let the dragons answer first and save her response until they were finished talking, which had almost become a foreign experience by now since they didn't need to do so for Ashton to understand them. He must have done something to interfere with that, this was the first time they'd spoken aloud like this that she was aware of since the first time they went to L'Aqua. "I think it'd be a good birthday. What do they say?"

"They don't really understand why it should be then," he explained, shifting his attention from the dragons to her as they quieted. They still spoke aloud occasionally but it was mostly when they were shocked or upset by something, like when Dias had made his challenge. He was almost surprised that they didn't get it but then again they'd never considered themselves dead to begin with, he'd just told Rena that because Gyoro had been offended by the idea and if he had told her what he'd really said he would have been stuck in the middle of a fight, so he guessed he could understand where the confusion was coming from. "Ah, well, when you get transferred it'll kinda be like...being, um, reborn in new bodies." If they were still mentally linked like they normally were or if they were alone he'd explain it with more detail, but Rena was here. She really didn't need the mental picture that she would probably get if she heard about how the two of them and the crests were going to be passed through his body to the clay. Technically it was through his blood but he still didn't want to think about it too much, giving birth was a process men didn't typically apply to themselves considering...well, considering. They weren't exactly built for it for one thing. He turned his face away from her, blinked and stared past the dragons as he tried to get rid of the images that were forming in his mind in response to his thoughts. Why did he have to think about that? He should have blanked his mind the second they'd started going in that direction. Maybe if he hugged Rena back it would force them out and distract him until the dragons were done thinking amongst themselves.

If she'd been aware of the why for it she might not have been quite so pleased with the one-armed hug he was giving her, but she didn't so she took it as a sign that he was relaxing. Luckily for him she was a little too preoccupied watching the dragons as they silently conversed with one another to notice the look on their host's face at the moment. It took them almost an entire minute, but eventually the two of them bobbed their heads in unison, Ururun ducking down to the position he had held before the conversation had started and giving her a pleading look as Gyoro spoke aloud and leaned over to start nibbling at her hair. "Do they have birthdays now?" She'd never been able to resist Ururun's puppy eyes before and if she didn't move Gyoro might steal her hairpin and try to make a game of it, so she leaned forward on the table to put space between them and looked to their host.

"Uh, yeah." It was a good thing the demons had taken so long to make up their minds, if they'd given a simple 'yes' or 'no' right away he might not have been able to school his expression and thoughts before she looked at him. "Gyoro said it was fine, he just wished it was a warmer day." Ashton suspected that the dragon had agreed to the date so easily out of concern for his wellbeing and deference to her, he was normally adamant that his birthday should be sometime in the summer months. If Gyoro changed his mind later he would be in for a rude awakening, the Nedian beside him wouldn't let him change it now that she knew that he'd agreed to it. That was one thing he actually found himself looking forward to; with the two of them running around in their own bodies everyone would get a chance to see just what he'd been putting up with for so long. They better not start telling on him, if they did he would retaliate and drag out every inappropriate or unintentionally hurtful thing they had ever thought about the other members of their group. Like that one conclusion they'd come to after the Arms Tournament. Well, maybe not that one. Rena, Claude and Dias probably wouldn't take the news that the demons used to think that the three of them had been 'courting' each other very well and he might have to explain that Gyoro and Ururun had somehow thought that all humans were polygamous bisexuals for the first four months. That wasn't even the worst example; they'd somehow thought that he was pursuing Claude, Rena, Celine and then Precis and Opera all at the same time until Dias and then Ernest had joined them, which had left them to constantly interrogate him about the inventor and the mage. That wasn't quite right, they'd always been exceedingly curious about Celine and their relationship for some reason, even more than they had been about him and Precis. Not that it meant that they understood what had been going on with him then, because if they had that would mean that….When was it that they'd first started asking him those questions about Celine? Was it before or after–No, he didn't want to know the answer to that. "Do you want something to drink?" He needed something to focus himself on other than his thoughts, he was starting to become as spacey as Ururun.

Ashton really did need to stop that, she'd been getting ready to pass a hand in front of his face to see if he was still there until he said that, dropped his arm from around her and started vibrating his right leg like a madman. He must be getting jittery and looking for a way to work it out of his system. "Sure." He wasn't going to keep their conversation off topic much longer, the second he was looking relaxed enough she'd be right back at it. She did need to bottle some tea on the off chance that she ran through all the blackberries before Bowman decided he was stable enough for her to stop, though, so he could help her with that while they talked.

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It was going to be well past midnight before they even started the ritual going by the way this was looking, and Bowman wasn't exactly happy about that. He should have known what Claude was going to do the second he left the room but for some reason he hadn't and now Celine had gone back into hiding. She would know it was him coming this time, he'd brought his medical bag with him and was doing everything he could to make sure that it bounced noisily against his leg as he moved, so hopefully she wouldn't run when she heard him coming.

She was going to give him the benefit of the doubt, it seemed that the repeating mosaics on the walls of the temple had a tendency to turn her ex-fiancé around if he wasn't being diligent. "Bowman, darling," she called, turning her head over her shoulder so her voice would carry down the hallway better, "I hate to be the one to inform you of this, but the living quarters are the other way." Silence descended for a moment as the thumping sound stopped before resuming in her direction. Apparently he hadn't deserved her generosity, especially if he was going to abuse it in such a manner. Celine turned and found herself glaring at the wagon from her sitting position beside the entryway as she tossed another rock at its wooden base and scowled. If she hadn't known better she might have thought he had timed his little visit, she only had a few left and they were all on the small side.

The plinking sound told him that she was armed with rocks or something similar at least, but that didn't change anything; the woman was a crest mage, so long as her skin was still attached to her body she was fully loaded and ready to fire at all times. He was pretty sure that had been how Opera had put it, at least. Either way, rocks or no rocks, she wasn't going to hurt him. He wasn't Claude, for one thing. Their relationship, being the closest thing this team had to a physician and being one of the blood donors would also give her pause and even without all of that, it was Celine. The worst thing she would do is slap him or maybe send a fireball his way and then apologize for losing control of herself once she calmed down. Even if caution wasn't what the situation called for, some measure of delicacy was so when he found her by the temple entrance he leaned against the wall on the opposite side of the entryway and watched her unload what was left of her ammo on the wagon before speaking. "Been wondering where you'd gone off to."

Humming lightly at that, Celine leaned back against the stone wall behind her and looked over to him. "Is everything ready?" She wished he had come up with a better method of keeping the IV lines stable and out of the way, he'd completely ruined his shirt by the looks of it.

"I've still got to put his catheters in." He'd given Rena nearly half an hour to work on Ashton, so maybe she'd managed to get somewhere with him. The Nedian was going to be getting a least a few more minutes since he needed to get Celine up and moving before he left. "You want to come with?" If that didn't get her up physically it would emotionally at the very least.

She didn't even need to think on that. "I don't think that would be a good idea at the moment." It was a pity she'd thrown all the rocks, she didn't have anything to work all her excess energy out and distract herself with now.

He knew it. Claude shouldn't have left the two of them alone like he apparently had, whatever it was that happened then had thrown the mage again. "Want to talk about it?" If she said 'no' he had no idea what he was going to do to get her calm again. Celine worked things out by using people as a sounding board for her thoughts more than anything, it was almost like listening to her talk to herself when she really got going.

Really, of all the people that she had a history with it just to have been him that joined them. The blond hadn't told him just what this was about, he would be much less direct if he did know. "It's nothing, really. I did something I shouldn't have and he probably thinks I'm angry at him." He best not ask what that was, the pharmacist normally had enough wits about him to recognize other people's boundaries but with the situation being what it was and the stress they were all under he might have forgotten.

Bowman really didn't want to know; helping her with this was one thing, knowing the details was a whole other matter. He made thoughtful noise and cast his mind back, searching his memory for anything that Ashton had done to indicate that he thought he was in the doghouse with the mage. "I didn't see anything like that….No, wait, he hid his face for awhile after Rena woke him up. That doesn't always mean anything with him, though." So far as the pharmacist could tell it just meant that he was conscious, the same rule applied to blushing and stuttering.

"And even if it didn't I should still let him know I'm not to be sure." It wasn't as if she didn't know where that would be going, she might as well skip ahead a bit for them. The dilemma was that some part of her was angry at him, the same way she was herself, as ridiculous as that was. Still, if she didn't reassure him about this he might apologize in front of everyone during the ritual and that would be far too much. "I suppose if there's time I can drag him aside and tell him not to bother himself over it." Very quickly. They had already proven that they couldn't be trusted to behave themselves when left alone under the current circumstances, there was no need to temp fate again.

She must have been working herself to that conclusion in her head and waiting for a push of some kind to decide her for it to have gone that easily, he'd been expecting some resistance. "I'll say I need to grab something out of my room real quick and ask Rena to get the stretcher Precis made and hide it in the storage room so you two can talk." That was assuming she'd be coming with him, but if she tried to do it at another time it would be obvious what was going on and despite a few odd instances he'd witnessed she was still fiercely protective of her privacy.

Watching the pharmacist insert the catheters was not something that Celine wanted to witness, it would just be one more thing that made this situation all the more inevitable. She shook her head and closed her eyes at that, trying to come up with alternative that would be subtle and prevent the others from suspecting something. "I'd much rather not be there for that."

The mage couldn't see it with her eyes closed, but he still nodding his head at her words. "Trust me, I don't want to be there myself. None of us do. It's the best thing I can come up with, though." Tria, did he not want to be there. He had practice controlling and hiding these type of nerves from working with patients, physicians and the medical school, but he still found himself wishing that Precis would do something insane so he focus himself on her again. It wasn't like he could borrow someone's cellphone and call Nineh to talk about this, she was already stressed enough with the baby and taking care of the pharmacy on her own and Celine had held this in for so long that he wouldn't dare discuss his nervousness and uncertainty with her, it would just make her worse than she already was.

That was true enough on all counts; not only could she not come up with a suitable alternative, but she doubted that any sane person would want to witness what they were going to out of sheer curiosity. Well, except a medical student or one inclined in such a fashion, but that type of inquisitiveness was normally driven by a need to understand or help others and it typically wasn't demonstrated for them on a loved one. "I'll go, but first, I…." She couldn't believe she was going to ask this, it just asking for trouble. " I want you to be honest with me."

"Always." He had a feeling he knew what this about; it was same thing he'd been going over in his head ever since Ashton sat down in that fucking chair. This entire situation made him wish alternately in turn that he either was a medical doctor or had never opened a medicinal related text in his life, quizzing the professors and borrowing their books to study for this hadn't helped alleviate that overwhelming sense of unpreparedness he'd had ever since she called him. Maybe he should have taken Thwaite up on his offer and waited for to him to cancel his classes, suspend his research and give his team a vacation and brought him along, but none of them would have dealt with having a veritable stranger in their midst very well considering the circumstances and the professor was a frail old man to begin with, he shouldn't be traveling like this. That and the dragons or Precis probably would have killed him by now.

She desperately needed to stand for this, sitting on the floor was too passive at the moment and made her feel far too powerless. "Will he still be himself after all this?" There was something to the possibility that was more frightening than his death for her now; it was a greater unknown, something she couldn't prepare herself for. Not that she'd prepared herself very well for this to begin with, apparently, but the idea that he could be either a radically different person or just off enough to not be the man they knew for the rest of his life was disturbing.

Bowman almost shook his head at the question but stopped himself as he watched her stand; if he allowed himself to do that she might think it contradicted his words even if it was an expression of uncertainty. "I don't know." He wished he could give her a definitive answer on this, but Rena had never attempted to heal a stroke or heart attack or cardiac arrest while it was occurring and her powers couldn't repair tissue after it had died or deteriorated too much from what he'd gathered from talking to her. They could force fluid from punctured lungs, though, he knew that much from personal experience, so hopefully if they caught the signs of him having a stroke or being in cardia arrest early enough she could....Well, he didn't know exactly what it would do. "If we're lucky Rena's heraldry'll reverse any early damage and put his body in stasis until we've got his blood supply up to an acceptable level. I can't see it doing absolutely nothing, so at worse he should come out of this with minor or even just short term side effects." Then again if he had several large strokes back to back or went in to cardiac arrest and didn't respond to the resuscitation methods they had available to them he didn't know what would happen, never mind the fact that if he lost as much as Bowman was expecting him to the transfusions themselves could be dangerous. They didn't have any monitoring equipment; it would be easy for them to misjudge and have him wind up still in grade one or even two shock due to dangerously depleted blood levels or it could go the other way and he didn't know what a rapid transition from having low volume to being overloaded would do, it could put them right back to square one. That was what the cannula he was going to put in the back of his hand was for, with it in place they could drain excess blood from his system without worrying about Rena's magics. She didn't need to know that, he was going to be honest with her but he would still try to keep everything as positive as he could. "He's got an abnormally slow resting heart rate as it is, but Dias does as well and neither of them have adverse side effects so it's probably thanks to all the training they do. Between that and the dragons he might have more blood in his system than someone his size should, so hopefully with all that going for him his body will handle it better than it would otherwise." Ashton's situation was weird enough that Bowman wasn't sure typical medical expectations applied anymore; the demons had been attached to him for so long that they had obviously affected his psyche, it would be idiotic to think they hadn't done something to his body beyond the obvious as well. The pharmacist hadn't been there when he'd been possessed or for the attempted exorcism but it looked to him like Anchors should have killed the two of them when he had the chance. Okay, so part of that was just from the relationship he had with them, he could admit that, but he couldn't imagine tolerating everything they'd obviously done to their host since they'd last seen him. It must be some bizarre form of Stockholm syndrome, that was the only way he could explain the obvious affection Ashton had for them.

Celine wasn't a doctor to any degree real or imagined, so her first instinct was to assume that the abnormalities her ex-fiancé listed were not desirable to begin with. "How exactly is that a good thing?" Really, that sounded like something that just made this situation more, not less, dangerous. She didn't know why she hadn't thought of it as unusual in Cross or Clik, she'd spent more than enough time listening to his heartbeat then to notice it was rather slow but she hadn't connected it to his health in such a manner.

He should have just said he was in great physical condition, the pharmacist hadn't meant to rile her up. "It means he's got a strong heart and circulatory system." His heart was most likely larger and thicker than average too, but saying that would just deepen her concern. "It's a good thing, Celine, it means his body's adapted to handle long periods of stress. They call it 'athletic heart syndrome,' him and Dias both have it. If the rest of us had gone off and travelled like the two of them after we got back we would all probably have it by now. If you locked him in a room and didn't let him exercise for three to six months it'd go back to normal. He'd go stir crazy, lose some of his muscle mass and maybe pack some fat on if he didn't adjust his diet, but his heart would go back to normal." And then it would go right back to where it had been if he started training again, from what he'd gathered Ashton had been brought up to be a fighter so his heart had probably been the way it was for years if not a decade or more at this point given all the training he seemed to have had.

Oh, well then. Celine supposed she would never be putting him under house arrest like she had in Clik again, she rather liked him as he was once the dragons were excluded. Still, she needed to be reassured a bit more if she was going to go with him, if only so she had something to repeat to herself when she saw him again. "So you think that makes it more likely he'll be all right?"

"I think that along with Rena's powers will keep him from dying on us and'll reduce the chances of having anything else go wrong with him afterwards." That was what he was hoping, anyway. The Nedian's magics did have limits, they'd seen that with Eleanor. She couldn't cure the terminally ill or raise the dead, if he flatlined on them and they couldn't get his heart to start again by compressing his chest and injecting him with the epinephrine and atropine he'd brought or the mage before him lobbing some lightning at him then the three of them would be gone.

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Author's Notes: For anyone wondering why Bowman pressing down on Ashton's ulnar nerve caused that reaction: the ulnar nerve is what you're really hitting when you hit or bang your 'funny bone.' Hitting it where he did in real life does not cause that reaction and is an allusion to the reaction that people associate with it, so it's just more artistic license and me torturing characters again. There's several other things such as the placement of certain arteries that I'm being inaccurate about while writing this since I don't need anyone thinking that these are good or easy places to hurt themselves and having that possibility on my conscience.

ACTUAL EXTRA SPECIAL PRE NEXT UPDATE ANNOUNCEMENT: The ritual and the preparation for it is going to be graphic and as true to life as possible. IF BLOOD, THE EFFECTS OF RAPID BLOOD LOSS ON THE BODY AND MIND AND/OR MEDICAL PROCEDURES FREAK YOU THE FUCK OUT DO NOT READ ANYTHING IN THE NEXT CHAPTER THAT IS ITALICIZED AND PRECEDED BY THIS: ~****~ Seriously folks, you're getting fair warning here, I've even bolded the damn thing. And posted it twice now. Because I suuuck.