You paged the room: 'So... why has it ICly taken so long, d'you think?'.
From afar, Aurelia thinks. Aurelia's had her side projects. It could be that with Danny so badly injured she's been preoccupied. She probably would've explained that he was in a really bad way.
Long distance to Aurelia: Serendipity supposes this is fair enough. That makes reasonable sense with other things too, in a way.
From afar, Aurelia nodders. I can start if you like? let's say it's late morning, rainy weather?
You paged Aurelia with 'Okay. Let's go. :)'.

It has been a drizzly morning, and Aurelia went out into the cruddy weather with a temperament to match. It's only a little over an hour or so later that she returns, clambering up the rope and into the treehouse, where she shucks her damp woolen coat and pads barefooted to the sleeping nest to plop down on it and commence with the unbraiding of her sodden hair. She seems to be in a better mood than when she left, for what that's worth.

Serendipity is still in bed; he didn't wake entirely when Aurelia rose this morning, and apparently fell back asleep and stayed there in the intervening time. He grunts a little, half-asleep, as she sits beside him, and one arm snakes out from under the covers to curl about her waist and do its best to drag her down with him, like an octopus with its prey.

Aurelia squawks as she's snagged, and her hair ribbons flutter erratically, her arms flailing for purchase on blankets, but she laughs as she says, "Nut-bag, I'm all wet." To prove it, she slips around so that she can give Ren a hug and leech from him his precious body heat.

Serendipity twists around with a playful little growl and does his best to engulf the Corax in the hug, wet hair and all. He smiles drowsily, tilting his head to give her a little kiss on the neck, just below her jaw, and murmurs, dark with sleep, "...but I =like= you all wet."

Aurelia sighs softly and curls up with Ren, nestling in amidst the blankets. "Okay, you convinced me," she mumbles, as though stealing his warmth and crawling into cozy blankets was somehow doing the world a favor. "How'd you sleep?"

Serendipity nuzzles gently at Aurelia's neck, and sighs, quiet and contented. "Mm. Lay back, closed my eyes, stopped thinkin', an' it just kinda happened," he teases, and then pauses a moment. He presses another little kiss to her neck, then, and continues, "...actually, 's not true, this time. Woke up a few times. You-" He lifts his head, half-opening his eyes to try to catch her gaze. "Seemed like you weren't sleepin' real well, beautiful."

Aurelia looks up at Ren, sleepy-eyed herself, and she smiles weakly, reaching up to tuck back a lock of his hair. "There's been troubles on my mind," she confides. "Things ain't rosy in the dreamlands."

Serendipity tilts his head just a bit so that his cheek brushes against Aurelia's hand as she moves his hair. "...yeah?" he asks, brow furrowing a little, and studies her. "...I wish so much I could help you," he admits, quietly, "I'd give... I dunno what I'd give. A lot. I hate thinkin'..." He trails off, glancing off to the side, and shifts a little, wrapping his arms around her to cuddle her closer, more protectively, as if that could help. "...'zit... those things like the one in my dream?"

Aurelia touches his cheek lightly, her smile gaining a little ground. "I know you would," she says. "But it's what I do, you know? Like you got that mission in life, and I reckon this one's mine." She hesitates, then asks, "Do you remember dreamin' about anything weird a little while ago?"

"But you could help me with mine, 'f you wanted," Ren points out, "'n' I... I dunno, I looked at a lotta stuff in the library, hopin' maybe, but..." His shoulders shift in a helpless semi-shrug, and he sighs, this one decidedly less content. He nuzzles into the side of her neck again, inhaling her scent, and then answers: "...yeah. I mean, lotsa weird shit, but if you meant one it'd be the one with the monster dog thing. 'cause you were there, an' that's not weird, but so was Danny and I never dreamed of him before. Not t' mention, it was the next day he was all sick..."

Aurelia ruffles Ren's hair and assures him, "You help me by being my kumimate. All those mornings I don't feel so good, when you bring me tea and don't make me get outta bed? That helps. More than you know, Renny." At the mention of the dream, she nods glumly and comments, "That happened. Danny... I don't know how much you know about him, but he's all tied up in dreams. We both can... well, he can't dreamwalk unless I take him with me, but I come to his dreams, and it's hard to explain, but we was there, and he really got hurt."

Serendipity shakes his head minutely in protest to the assurances, but energizes just a touch at the explanation. "Take me with you too, then. Let me help. I helped; I fought that thing a lot. Helped you make it let him go. I remember it..." He trails off, watching her.

Aurelia points out solemnly, "And since it was your dream, you had that kind of control." Her expression turns a little frustrated, though it seems directed inward rather than at Ren. "I don't doubt your heart. Not for one minute. It's just that... well, it ain't easy to get Danny to come along, and he's the only one I ever could take before. But I ain't takin' him out of his own dreams anymore, because it's dangerous."

Serendipity moves a hand from around the girl so that he can touch her face, fingertips glancing across her cheek and thumb across her lips. He looks troubled -- worried, and unsure. "...okay," he says softly, after a second, "okay... but try to take me once. Find out if we can do it. Then, if anything happens, if you need me, if there's even the faintest possibility I could do anythin' at all, at =all=..." He lets that drift off, watching her steadily. "I won't push, not more'n that. I promise."

Aurelia regards him evenly, then casts her glance aside, sighing as she says, "I'll try to come to you, but don't think I ain't doin' it just because I don't come right away. You got no idea how many years it takes to master somethin' like that. I only piggy-backed on the thing that tried to get at you or I wouldn't have gotten in at all." She chews at her lower lip, then sits up fitfully and leans over to where the burner and kettle are. "There is something you can do, and it may come to that someday, I dunno, but it ain't just dreams. This war, they done took it to the real world. There might come a day someone comes at me in this world, and I ain't all that strong."

Serendipity lets go of her enough for her to move and sit up only grudgingly, sitting up along with her so that his arms end up around her waist again, from behind now, loose but determined. "Well. I'm not 'zactly superman myself, but you know anyone tryin' t' hurt you'd hafta go through me first. Is there... I mean, they don't look like that out here, do they? Or...?"

Aurelia sets to making tea, intent on the task, but not so much so that Ren risks being dislodged. "They're people," she replies as she putters. "In the waking world, they ain't that much different from you are me. That's their disadvantage, but the advantage they got is numbers."

Serendipity nods a little, hooking his chin over Aurelia's shoulder. "So we just gotta find them before they find you, then. Any kinda way t' search 'em out? Markings, or anything like that? Some kinda asshole-detector?"

Aurelia laughs a little at the wording, shaking her head as she says, "It ain't easy. Danny and I figure there's gotta be a nest of 'em somewhere within a day's travel of Haven, but in any direction, that could mean anything. Most nights, it's quiet. They don't come every night. Just sometimes."

Serendipity's brow furrows again. "How'm I gonna know if I find 'em, then? What's a nest look like? I mean... I c'n guard your body 'most all the time, if you want, but I'm more useful offensively than defensively, if y'know what I mean."

Aurelia smiles crookedly and replies, deadpan, "Ren, honey, if ever there were a man more cut out for offensiveness..." The kettle is put on to boil, and she leans back against him, draping her arms over his as they circle her, her back nestled against his chest. "Listen, sugar, don't think of this as anything more than one more aspect of Haven's defense. There's things that come from the shadowlands and the world of flesh to work havoc, and from the dreamlands as well. What I do is just my part for the defense of the place we're calling home. If you guard my sleep, you're doing more than I've got any right to ask, and it's no small thing. I mean it."

Serendipity is very quiet for several long seconds, quiet and still, holding on to her. "...like Haven a lot," he says quietly, "Like the people here an' all. Told you b'fore, though, places aren't home t' me. People are. You are. 'm home when I'm with you. They did something t' you.... I dunno what I'd do. An' you have the right t' ask me anything. =Anything=. Maybe some things I couldn't do or I'd hafta negotiate or somethin', but. 'd do anything I can for you. Don't you know that?"

Aurelia tilts her head to look back and up at Ren, and she smiles softly as she says, "I know, Ren. That's as it should be, bein' as we're kumi. If any of them laid a hand on you, they'd pay sore. I reckon takin' care of each other's what it's all about. It's just that... I don't know. I don't even think about it most times, the fightin'. It's just what I'm s'posed to do. There's risk, sure, but I never took it personal."
"Except for once," she adds.

"...I mean it," Ren nearly whispers, burying his face in Aurelia's neck again, and then sighs, giving her a gentle squeeze. "When, how come?"

Aurelia reaches up to stroke his hair soothingly. "Ren, honey. It's going to be okay. I ain't gonna die. That's why you're here, right?" She untangles carefully as the water starts to boil, and as she sets about getting tea ready, she explains, "When they killed my granny. I wasn't there, so they came after her for teachin' me. That I took personally. That was the declaration of war. Everything else? That's just takin' care of business."

Serendipity lets her extract herself with a minimum of resistance, and watches her, just nodding silently at her answer, though he does make sure it's when she can actually see him. His expression's hard to read, sympathy and anger and other things all mixed together.

Aurelia sets the teapot aside to steep, casting a curious glance at Ren. "What's on your mind?" she asks quietly. Her own expression isn't so difficult to read. She's concerned, tired.

Serendipity rubs the back of his neck. "Just... pissed about it, that they did that, that you had t' go through that. Concerned 'n' all. 'bout them bein' around now. Y'know, nothin' earthshattering." He hesitates, and adds seemingly impulsively, "...an' how much I love you. An' that I miss you. Kinda, some. Since we've been busy. So it's nice bein' with you. Even if there's, y'know. All this serious shit to deal with." He half-smiles, looking almost apologetic. It's weird, on him. But seems genuine anyway.

Aurelia grins despite herself, though she looks a little confused as well, somewhat saddened. "I feel like my life is just goin' and it's all I can do to keep up," she admits quietly. "But still, with this fightin' -- I'm a warrior, Ren. Believe it or not, and I can't bring myself to regret bein' what I am." She hesitates, then adds, "I love you too, sugar. I... I ain't sure how it all works out, but I do."

"Know you are. 's onea the things I liked 'bout you. When I was just startin' t' know you, an' all," Ren replies. "Love your fire. An' I know you took carea your own self just fine all that time you were alone. But that doesn't mean I'm not gonna be bothered by you bein' in danger, y'know? Or that I c'n stop from wantin' to protect you." He shrugs a little, and flops backward into the blankets with another sigh. He could deflate at this rate. "...but. We got other things t'do too, at least. We gotta name the kumi. An' we were gonna go out exploring, when the thaw came, if you still wanna. An'... I think there were other things. But I dunno what, now." He turns his head so he can watch her again.

Aurelia putters, searching the pantry box for anything that might constitute breakfast, and upon finding a couple of rolls, nibbles upon one to test for staleness. Apparently, they're okay, and she offers one over to Ren before hunting down two teacups. Never one to sit still, this girl. "Yeah, I wanna explore," she agrees. "And we should name us, and see if that stupid vampire is in or out." She hesitates, then says, "Ren, I... I can tell you stuff, right? Like, personal stupid girly stuff that'll probably upset you but I gotta talk about it or I'll go nuts?"

Serendipity sits up, taking the roll, and he tenses slightly at the phrasing of the last question, a lot like someone afraid he's about to get hit. Bracing. He toys with the roll, passing it from hand to hand, and nods a little. "...yeah. There's things that- yeah. You can tell me stuff."

Aurelia comes back over to sit beside Ren in the nest, nibbling more at her own roll before she says, "I need to figure out what I'm gonna do, Ren. Because... well. There's you, and there's Danny. And I... I'm fallin' for him. And if I can't tell you that, then we better figure that out now, I guess." Her arm slips around his shoulders, and she rests her head against him as she adds, quieter, "And I love you, but it's different. Not less, not more, just... I feel like you and me, we got this thing no could ever understand. I imagine life without you in it somewhere, and that life don't seem very appealing."

Serendipity is very quiet and still again. He doesn't pull away, but he doesn't lean in, either -- he really doesn't move at all except to toy with the roll and, barely perceptibly, breathe. Eventually he says, quite softly, and apparently to the baked good if his gaze is the indication, "...already promised I'd always be in there somewhere. So. What does that mean."

Aurelia shrugs a little and says quietly, "I dunno. I guess, just... I don't want you to ever think you got no place in my life because of how I feel about anyone else." She smiles a little. "You're my Ren. Remember, we're gonna still drive each other nuts when we're old? And yer probably gonna have about a billion kids, and I'm gonna probably have a billion cats?"

Serendipity tells the roll, hardly audibly, "....I want- I wanted to have the kids with you." He bites his bottom lip, and stares at the unfortunate snack fiercely for a couple moments, absolutely not crying. "I gotta- I can't- I'll be back." It's just one remarkably swift and fluid movement for him to be on his feet again. "'m sorry, I just... I'll come back. Later, I'll come back." The roll gets abandoned in favour of his clothes, or at least his pants, stepping into them and his boots, grabbing his coat as he heads for the trapdoor.

Aurelia startles, not expecting Ren to be on his feet and moving. "But..." She gestures toward the steeping tea, then perhaps catches herself before making some insipid comment about tea getting cold when the moment is clearly well beyond tea. "You better be careful," she mumbles. "Come back to me in one piece."

Serendipity nods once without looking at her, a quick and awkward movement, hair cloaking his face. He doesn't stop to pull the strands back, find his shirt, or even put the coat on; he just gets the hatch open and is gone.