Extended Vacation~

"Okay," he relented, "I'll...see what I can do. Maybe I can have someone find out if the dreams are dreams or memories somehow? I think that's a good first step at least."

Darius hummed. "I suppose a mage would be able to help with that. I don't know about such matters. But yes, that's a good place to start."

"Okay...I'll do that then..." Aaron spent most of the day in quiet reflection, trying to decide about what he wanted to do depending on the outcome. Julian did notice something was off, and tried to make him feel better. He couldn't, of course, but they did take some time to be intimate. God he couldn't stay away. He eventually did manage to get to sleep, and while everyone was away doing their own tasks the next day, Aaron placed himself in a good position to wait for Phillipus. Eventually the mage exited the workshop that he, Lazarus, and Yui had been holed up in for quite some time. Aaron waved, "Hey there!" he flashed him a bright smile.

Phillipus smiled sleepily. "Oh, good morning. How are you?"

"I am great. Listen, I have a very weird question and possible favor to ask you. I can at least start with the question. Is it possible to somehow magically look at someone's dream, and figure out if it is, in fact, a dream, or if it's a memory? Maybe?" he felt like a complete idiot, and he was sure Phillipus would, at best, laugh at him.

"Oh! Of course it is!" He padded over to the kitchen and started brewing coffee. "There's an entire chapter of the Magiernesverband dedicated to thought and memory. I was allowed to view some of their early work, when I was in better standing."

"Neat!...So do you know how to do that then?" he followed him into the kitchen and leaned on the counter.

He nodded and sipped from a mug covered in pudgy chickens. After swishing the fresh coffee around his mouth and swallowing, he frowned slightly. "Is something troubling you?"

"Yes, actually. I have been having a pretty disturbing recurring dream. It passed over to Darius, and he's concerned it might be real, so I thought I should check it out."

"I'll gladly help. When do you want to begin?"

"Well, want is a strong word. Whenever you're free really I suppose..." he was definitely not his usual happy go lucky self at this point. This was not something he particularly wanted to deal with.

"I'm free now, but I'm sensing you're... nervous, to say the least. If it's a dream, it's a bad dream, but if it's real..." He offered Aaron a similarly befoweled cup.

"Whenever you're ready to face this, I'm here."

He gladly took the cup, smiling briefly at the chickens, "They're so fat! Anyway, I'm getting advice that I should probably deal with this soon, and that advice is probably correct. However I also don't want to ruin your day. But now is good for me if it's good for you..." he shoved some coffee in his face so he would stop rambling.

Phillipus nodded. "This is going to require hypnosis. When you are vulnerable, I will not ask you to do things that are untoward or unlike your character. This is only to reach into your memories, and I swear I will not take advantage of your state. Are you all right with that?"

He stared at him for a minute, slightly confounded, before answering, "Yep."

A nod. "Good. Close your eyes, and imagine yourself walking down a flight of stairs. Relax your body and mind, think only of the stairs, and count slowly. Breathe deep." Phillipus held his hands to either side of Aaron's head and began chanting.

Aaron did so, though it did take him quite a long time to get himself calmed down. After about ten minutes of fidgeting and shaky breaths, he was finally able to breathe and focus. He made his way down the stairs.

The stairs continued, but they seem to drift farther and farther apart, even though his steps were the same length. The walls around them slowly disappeared, and he took one last step before falling into a quiet white void. Although he was falling, it was warm and his descent was slow. Memories flickered past him as if playing on an old movie reel, too fuzzy to focus and hurt. He was a character in a play someone else was watching, a protagonist of a game for someone else to be. The burdens of time and thought were shifted to another body and mind, leaving him with the peace and quiet of distance.

In a small square, like a cheap TV screen, he watched. He saw men and women come into the bedroom, he saw himself, saw the unfocused shift of his eyes under lids from the drugs. He saw Julian laughing and mingling with the night visitors, talking as flippantly about Aaron's body as a 17th century sculpture - another thing for the noblesse to consume. There was a party, and Aaron's mind was the only one not invited.

As the picture faded, he felt a familiar fullness, a soreness. An ache and a charge - his muscles exhausted yet coursing with mana. He could almost hear the bed squeaking, see water sloshing in a glass Julian was carrying. Sounded like a bad one. It's just a dream.

The void suddenly got bigger and then smaller, colors flying in, and then a shock like a cold shower as reality snapped around him. The glass of water in front of him was real, but it was Phillipus holding it, silent fury behind his eyes.

He jumped at first, surprised at Phillipus being so close. He took the water, seeing the look in his eyes, he scrambled to apologize, "Oh god I'm so sorry you had to see that I didn't know it would be that bad. I didn't mean to upset you..." he was a little dizzy, and his words spilled out quickly as he tried to grasp for a way to make this better for Phillipus, since even thinking about the consequences of it for him personally was an insurmountable task.

Phillipus's face softened immediately. "No, I - It's not your fault. It is objectively and entirely not your fault. Drink up, sometimes the procedure can leave one with headaches." He pulled out a chair and sat next to Aaron.

"I think, perhaps, we've found out much for one day. Are you all right?"

He gulped the entire glass down, "Nope." his eyes were wide, staring off into thoughts many miles away.

"Understandable. Anything I can do?"

He laughed, "Ohhhh Phillipus. I don't even know what I'm gonna do."

"That's fine, too." The mage went to the patio door and slid it open, letting Cesar inside. He carried the beast over to the chairs and set it in Aaron's lap.

"You don't need to find answers right now. You don't need to make a plan. It's all right to process what happened for a while."

He gave Cesar roughly all the pets, "I just...did not think this through. Maybe I should have done it when Julian was gone? I don't know if I should try to confront him or just leave or..." though he was sure the chicken wouldn't appreciate it, he held Cesar tight. It was settling in how little he had. Without Julian he had no money, no transport...he didn't even technically own his clothing. Even this new group of friends he'd found, Julian had worked his way into.