Dream a dream, take me anywhere you please~ (Takoda Vega and DoctorRed)

[DoctorRed]

Five in the morning, but here I stand, ready to retire.

He stood at the base of the building, looking up. The bag of odds and ends he'd picked up on his walk back home was swinging at his side. Groceries, to him at least.  He looked up, To the sky, where he once  had believed his home would be, high above the apartment he was headed towards. It felt like resignation. Would he never depart this place, never move forward? He lived alone, at the top floor of his building, overlooking the sprawl that was the inner-city. People came and went, tenants, girlfriends, friends. People he'd known. Family members. The faces that made up his past. So long ago he'd discarded any attachments. He'd cleaned his life of any anomaly that would spring up and surprise him the way a janitor cleans up a floor. Indifference spilled from him the way honey falls from a honeycomb.

The elevator in the building was out again. He started the trudge up the steps, taking them one at a time, lethargy setting in. He was a large man, with a decent build. Work kept him working at it, maintaining it. Never too much, but never enough to just wither up. Like a machine. He worked at a bar as a bouncer, where he rolled drunks out and ended confrontations. It was an easy job, letting people in and out in places around town. Some places were lively, and other places were just like him. Empty. Quiet. He flexed his hands as he took the stairs, dragging himself up by the railing, loathing the choice he'd made by picking the top floor. At least from there he could see the area, watch the comings and goings of the neighborhood. It pleased him to watch sometimes, just wondering about them.

There at the lobby he'd past his mailbox, sure it was stuffed with paper copies of his bills and he just let it slide. No point in checking for what was more or less confirmed to be there already, so he stood before his door, reading the letter, ignoring the pounding sounds of a still-rumbling party down the hall. He seldom encountered much of anyone. His mind wandered to the last time he'd encountered someone on this very floor and he reached out to grasp the strands of the conversation and his head began pounding.

For a moment, he'd felt... something. Ambition. Desire. He shrugged his shoulders and tore the note from his door and stuffed it into his jacket. He'd pay the rent when he woke up, probably. Whatever. There he stood in the creeping sunlight, watching the shadows sink and slither back behind the furniture and things. His apartment was sparsely furnished, nothing in it held any real value to him. The clothes he wore were plain and his things were just what he needed, not anything grandiose or outlandish. He let the door close behind him and set the bag full of dry soup mixes on the counter, leaving them where they lie, turning his eyes back to the window and watching the sunrise.

He stood there for a long moment. Wishing. Hoping. Imagining, but only for a moment. His hands fell to his sides, and the feeling slipped away. Robert Dorias was a man who had cast off his dreams and nightmares, and now nothing remained, it seemed. His ambition was just what was needed and required. He was cold, where a fire had once burned, like a fireplace long out of use and never to be rekindled. He drew the curtains shut out the burning east and let the shadows pour back over his tiny world.

[TakodaVega]

Miranda was everything that Robert was. Or at least what he used to be. Full of life, spark, and all the things in between. In fact she was there right now. That in between place scoping out her current little projects. Well she liked to call them projects. Ever since she could remember she had always been able to do this. It wasn't hard to create the dream, people's minds were always ripe for the taking for a vivid imagination like Miranda Greene's.

The party had been euphoric compared to the other mishmash of the hectic life that she had been leading as of late. The party in itself had been a "Welcome to your New Place" Sort of thing but at this moment, her attention was back into feeding and weaving the dreams that had caught her attention to life. To expand not only others, but her own, brought a thrill to her life. However, as always there was always that hollow. That door that had remained sealed to her for months now. Why she hadn't been able to tell. She had done a mental scratching at it, tried to make it burn. Nothing seemed to work to destroy whatever was blocking one of her favorite Dreamers.

From what she had gathered in his dreams, she assumed he was male simply because the content of his dreams and nightmares. He provided her fuel and she provided him the story he needed. But the darkness there was burning. However something caught her attention from the space in between. "Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrr!" Came that voice and the woman turned in time to grab her well beyond drunken friend from faceplanting into the ground. "Mirmirrr should totttttalllly try this." Looking down at her blonde haired friend, the gray eyes concerned but her lips twitched into a small sympathetic smile. "I think it's time for you to sleep, Alexis." She said gently as she put the girl to her bed before checking the other guests.

Most by now in the early light had passed out but Miranda safely checked to make sure no one was passed out with a drunken bottle in hand and within reach of a garbage can if need be before opening the door to look about. She swore she had heard a door open outside but all she could see was the mostly vacant hallway. She frowned carefully before shaking her head and locking the door behind her. Miranda brushed some of her hair out of her face before walking over the bodies to turn off the stereo and make her way back to the bedroom. Back to that space between. The Waking and the Dreaming worlds were thin there and from here Miranda felt the most at peace, even when sleep thought to claim her though she felt that gnawing coldness at the door she had been locked out of.

What could happen to a man who lost everything worth living for?

[DoctorRed]

Robert lived in a cold space. The things he'd cherished before now cast aside, he lived, a knight without adornment. There were fewer pictures in his home, fewer things that held his heart and his soul. More things were gone that had been him, and now he'd filled his home with... less. Sometimes he sat up when he got home and found himself sitting at the desk, a screen leering down at him. No special wallpaper. No games to play, just a web browser and an empty email inbox. He doodled at times by the light, trying to recall dreams he'd lost and sealed away, but rarely got more than a few shapes together before pushing the paper off his desk, to land in the waste basket. He did this for hours some days, sometimes forgetting the thought of it for weeks. It had been a while, but still the wastebasket filled with the garbage that he couldn't feel any love for.

IT didn't take long before his frustration to rise and for him to bag up the blasphemous drawings into one bag and move to the door, snatching up his keys. He could at least have a clean home, even if he couldn't recall any dreams he'd loved so dearly so long ago. Loneliness filled him as he tied the bag up and put it over his shoulder but he shoved it aside.  Just another feeling that reminded him of the dreams he no longer had. He licked his lips and threw the door open, carrying the half-tied load down into the corridor.

He deposited his confusion into the dumpster, rather than use the trash compactor and take it with the rest. Maybe out of his home, he'd think of it less. Perhaps with it gone, his heart would be less... empty. He returned to his floor only to find another of the damned things lying on the floor. It must have fluttered out. He growled and snatched it up off of the stairs and crumpled it in his fist halfheartedly, throwing it down the hallway before opening his door. He gave it a last leer before pulling his door shut, slamming it just a little before returning, but this time to push the notebook into it's drawer and head to bed.

[TakodaVega]

Miranda had almost lulled herself to sleep in that space in between, when she heard her neighbor slam his door shut. Her eyebrow twitched as she rose from the crosslegged place on her floor. It was one of the few ways she had found to put herself to sleep now was to blend the places in between the awake and dreaming. Otherwise her ideas tended to spew out and never finish their full circle in the other dreamer's heads. She glanced around to make sure none of the others awoke before going back to the door.

Creeping out into the hallway in the early morning light she saw something she had before as she glanced to the other doors and crept her way to the ball of paper on the floor. With careful hands she uncrumpled the paper and studied it carefully. The doodles weren't bad, they just needed...color. It was almost like everything was in black and white. Glancing towards the door in front of her, she frowned before she went to it. She should really sleep and not worry about a wayward drawing but something had drawn her to this particular building to begin with.

Considering it wasn't quite on the nicest side of town and way below what she had budgeted for she figured there was a reason for everything. Her gray eyes focused on the door before she took a deep breath. Still in those jeans and the tank top that sprawled 'WENCH' across her chest she went  against her better judgement, and knocked on the door. Should he decide to open it he would find himself staring at someone he had met before but not awake, and the brunette would be doing a double take.

[DoctorRed]

He'd been sinking into the bliss of his bed when he found himself stirring to the knocking. The sound of it jerked him from the passable peace he was seeking out there, though he felt... odd. It was like a blind man who squinted, or a mute who moved his mouth, wanting to talk. LIke something was missing, and it just wouldn't do to go to bed anymore. As if his Sleeper organs were amiss. He wasn't sure what to do about it, and he needed sleep, so the grey expanse he was greeted with every night was comfort enough for him. At least he told himself it was.

He made his way to the door. He'd stripped off the dark shirt he'd worn and tossed it in a heap to where the rest were, safely hampered from his path in the whispers of light that crept through the bathroom window. He wondered sometimes if he shouldn't move. Maybe to a basement, where no one would bother him, even less so the sun. Being at the top was pleasing enough when he was awake and looking out the window, wishing he could dream, but when he was trying to sleep... it was maddening. He crept along, his palm on the door as he leered out through the peephole.

A pleasing sight, no doubt, but a familiar one. He wondered a moment if he knew her from the bar, or maybe it was on the street. Perhaps she worked at the market. Maybe she was the landlady or something. But none of those sounded right as he slid the chain from his door and pulled it open, his eyes squinting in the harsh light, he breathed, a whisper of his voice. She wasn't some floozie, prancing around the bar, or someone who threw a bottle at him in a stupor. She wasn't checking him out at the market, or cashing his checks. She was the lady of his dreams... wasn't she? He wasn't sure. He knew her, he was certain, but... It was as if deja vu had struck him at the core, and torn out a part of him. He'd seen her, but not with his eyes. His eyes narrowed sharply, as he looked upon her a bit, mixed between curious and suspicious.

"...You."

[TakodaVega]

The double take seemed to go to both sides as she found herself practically staring, her eyes going from head to toe. She had never encountered any of her Dreamers, the ones she guided along in their thoughts. Never did she even remotely think that she was drawn to this place because of the one person whose door had been barred shut to her would be living here. Nor did she expect him to recognize her remotely. How long had hit been since he had dreamed? Too long. Way too long if his appearance and the drawing amounted to anything.

She mentally shook herself and tried to make it appear like she had been trying to assess him rather than openly stare. He was shirtless after all she handed him the sketch. "Found this outside your door, it's pretty good, you should add some color to it." She said gently before taking a step back, the off shoulder brunette hair seeming to move with her. "I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Miranda Greene, your new neighbor at 203. I apologize if the party was too loud." She looked away sheepishly before tucking her hands into jeans.

She was a fidgety creature when under scrutiny.

"Your door woke me up, so I came up to see the drawing outside the door..." And now she was rambling. Shaking her head she gave him a small smile, "I'll hopefully be seeing you around Mr. ...?"  And that reminded her she didn't even know his name. She didn't know most of her dreamers names, but their faces seemed to mostly stay the same, and even if they didn't their eyes always did. Though this man's eyes were dead inside.

[DoctorRed]

He was pretty amused with her form, but he wasn't sure why he'd recognized her. With the words out of his mouth, he felt stupid, like he'd said something completely outlandish and made an accusation that made even less sense than anything else before it. He ground his teeth a bit, trying to think of an excuse before she showed him the paper with the drawings on it. He flushed a bit,

He took the crumpled paper, sure to return it to it's balled up state, just the way he'd liked it best, so the vexing images couldn't bother him anymore. "It was just trash, sorry if it was a bother," he murmurred looking back into her, though his eyes were hardly looking  in particular. He listened to her introduction, his hand on his hip as he leaned against the doorframe, the paper dropped from his fist, rolling. he grabbed it with his toes and flicked it back, banishing it to a corner in the kitchen beyond, giving it a leer before returning his dead gaze to her.

"I'm Robert. Robert Dorias. I live here." he said simply, a finger indicating his own apartment number, the one on the door." I just got home, I work at night. If there was a party, I didn't notice," he informed her as he stood, wondering what he was supposed to do in this situation.

"Yeah. See you," he said. "Sorry about the door, Missus Greene." he said, offering his hand to her, his eyes still displaying only a confused recognition as he watched her, unsure if he should press on, and accuse her of being in his dreams and the other end, which was to get the hell away from the situation and bury himself in a wall of familiarity. His choices were tough as he watched her. Wanting. Hoping. Wishing. Only a glimmer, but he quashed it down all the same.

[TakodaVega]

Miranda was skittish to a fault. Even she thought it was weird seeing the dreamer who's door had been barred from her for some time now. But she also understood things happened for a reason, and there had to be a reason why his door was shut, why she needed to meet one of the dreamers whose dreams she had woven over the years. And it had been years, he had been a favorite, always so bright and filled with energy.

"Trash? I don't think so, you just need a little color for it and it would be a very good sketch. I promise you that," she wanted to shake him and ask why he could no longer see the gift he had. Did something happen to have his ability to dream stop? She was almost not paying attention as he told her his name and where he lived. Though one of those had been the obvious considering she was outside his apartment. "Alright so long as we didn't disturb you, Mister Dorias."

She was a calm creature as she gently took his hand, it was warm to the touch but she could tell that they were rough and unlike the artist like hand he had had in her dreams. From what she could remember of them. "You shouldn't loose sight of a dream you have, Robert." She said gently before pulling her hand away and running down the hall to her own apartment and carefully shutting the door behind her and putting her face in her hands.

Never had she found herself in such a predicament as she rubbed her face in her hands tiredly. He had almost seemed a hollow of himself unless he was looking at her. It was far from a hungry look a man would give a woman but more of one to hope, akin to even she was the water to the desert he was in. It bothered her and dug into her brain as she made her way through the maze of bodies and stripped her jeans in her room before collapsing into her bed. Her drunken companion turned in her sleep as Miranda was left staring at the ceiling. She threw her arm across her face and shut her eyes. "What am I going to do?" She muttered softly, trying to calm her beating her heart so that sleep, her eternal master, could claim her as it had the others.

And hopefully ignore that haunting door that floated in her head.

[DoctorRed]

He took her hand in his but didn't squeeze or shake the way most men did. He didn't feel the need to. He let her do as she would and slip away, trotting off down the hall. He heard her door shut and he turned, the paper in his hands once more. He leered down at it for a few moments before opening it up slowly and then folding it in half. He shut his door patiently this time and went back to his room, laying it on the desk, but as he stood there, leering down at the paper that sagged open, he suddenly grew wroth with it and took a book he'd read a long time ago and laid it atop it, so as to hide it from himself.

Dorias stood at the desk for a few moments before he felt his world spinning. It was like he was asleep, as he drew his palm in a swipe across the desk and threw everything to one side, the contents of the desktop falling to one side, as he ground his teeth in a rage. He stumbled a bit as he made for the bed and collapsed against the edge of it, his tongue bleeding. He'd bitten it in his fall and spat a wad of it at the wall in irritation. He drifted off, collapsed there, his room in a mess as he blacked out, his throat tightening as he gagged ont he blood, rolling to his side and falling asleep.

Nothingness pursued. When his eyes opened, he found a world burned into the horizon, just a grey place where nothing touched the landscape. He gave a start and then stopped. He frowned at the unnatural environment, where nothing seemed to exist. Only a grey sky, over the grey pavement under his feet. Unmarked, unscathed, it stretched on into the world, off far away where nothing would inhibit it. He marveled for a bit, wary of this place. Like a desert, it seemed hot, but he didn't sweat or dehydrate as he wandered. When he dug around, he found broken hunks of metal that looked to be like shards of a key, but they were just broken bits of steel now. He cast them aside, scattering the remnants as he walked. The distance stretched on, but his walking was relentless as he wandered, alone in the expanse. Nothingness, nothingness nothingness.

[TakodaVega]

Without the Dreamer the dream was a barren wasteland to all who stepped foot into it. In Miranda's dreams though she was watching from the ivory tower.  A tower that stood guiding all the wayward dreamers almost to her. The light spiraling around her by the moonbeams that reflected along the surface. She took a deep breath and sighed. This was where she had always come in her dreams to find her course to her life. To find sense to the meaningful strands that were woven so tightly to her that she sometimes lost sight of where to go next.

Now that she knew the owner of the Door that had blocked from her touch she had to find a way to make it crack before he truly slipped away. She nibbled on her thumb in thought. She had to make him remember. To remember why he stopped dreaming. What mattered to him so much that the need to stop the flow to wonder and dream so great that not even her human touch seemed to rouse him completely.

As if to further indicate her problem she saw the Door again. It was something that always hovered no matter what dream she had on her own accord. Right now it sat in the middle of the courtyard below. The odd thing about the door was it always seemed to have a decayed look about it as time went on as though the longer it took for her to open the Door the less time she would have to restore it to it's proper place.

In her head she replayed the scene in her head and all she could remember was the almost dead look in his eyes. She had to do something damn it!

Unfortunately life seemed to have other plans as the next thing Miranda knew she felt the feeling of falling and she landed on her back the sound of giggling in her ears. Groaning she sat up and glared at the alarm clock. She shouldn't complain - it was three in the afternoon and it appeared that from the most part everyone had congregated out save for Alexis and one of the other guys.

Though his excuse was evident considering his position over the trash can. Alexis reached to help Miranda to her feet, "I wanted to wake you up before I took Matthew home so that I could dose him up properly for his tummy woes. You shouldn't sleep all day!" Came Alexis' sing-song voice, Miranda waved her off, "Fine, fine I'm up, I'm up." She muttered softly before pulling on a pair of pajama pants from the pile so that she could walk without worry as she escorted them out and decided now would be an opportune time to check her mail.

Only to bump into the man that had been on her mind for weeks, even though she had just met him that day.

[DoctorRed]

In the nothingness, he wandered, never making any progress as he climbed the slight rises and walked down the slight dips, his feet carrying him across the grey, though no ends appeared. He would walk along carefully, but even if he sprinted, he knew that nothing would change. Eventually his eyes closed in the dream and opened in real life. He put his hand over his face, as if to mask the pain. He wanted... He wanted SOMETHING, he just wasn't sure what it was. He couldn't touch something that had been so familiar, so close. He ground his teeth a little as he sat up, his fists tightening slowly and then loosening before he turned to plant his feet on the floor. He hadn't slept long, and not well. He still felt exhausted and it was a long period as he leered down at the collection of discarded deskstuffs before he remembered meeting... her.

She was something, but it wasn't just that body and the look of her. She seemed familiar to him, and he knew he'd met her before, but not in person. Kind of like seeking a relative without a hat for the first time in a great many years. It was...jarring. He shuffled things out of his way, his feet pushing the mess aside as he made his way to the bathroom to vomit before he leered at his face int he mirror a bit. Was he getting older? He certainly felt like it. His body protested his leaving the bed as he moved along, his feet carrying him into the shower, where he simply stood there, a scowl on his lips as he considered last night. A grey... that needs color? A fist struck the tiles beside him, and two cracks erupted from the act. Blood stained the bathtub as he ground his teeth a bit more, shaking his head and rinsing off the maimed knuckles. He growled a little before he wrapped it up in the bandages from the bathroom. It was like a small infirmary, given his profession, so he didn't have any trouble cleaning and wrapping it.

He sat up for a while, his wet body still sitting on the towel before his alarm went off. A bandaged blow silenced it before he got up, dressing and making his way downstairs, a light jog in order. He worked out every day at the same time. He almost collided with her, the look on his face somewhere between terror and recognition. He'd pulled on cloth shorts and a sleeveless shirt. Headphones too, but he didn't have any music, it was just to make him less approachable. He stopped and skidded to a halt, wondering to himself if she'd seen him, but given his size and stature made stealth less and less of an option than most anything else. He stood there in the entryway, his eyes on her, but not speaking, his headphones still around his neck, so he'd be obviously ignoring her if he just ran by and tuned her out. He ground his teeth a little, his eyes on her, staring.  What do I do? Instead of taking action, he said nothing, his eyes on her the way they might have lay upon  someone he saw at the bar, his recognition passive... for now.

[TakodaVega]

"Hey Robert!" Came her voice when he almost collided into her. She had taken a step backwards to avoid the oncoming collision. Her gray eyes stormy though the semi-circles under her eyes showed she hadn't slept very well either. However she seemed bright and cheery compared to his boding nature. "You seemed to be off in a hur-" She blinked as she looked him over. Granted she wasn't suited in much, just the shirt the night before and some pajama pants littered with Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

"What happened to your hand?" She asked gently, concern filtering her features. She was self-conscious on some levels considering he was staring at her. He wasn't the only one staring though considering she was just as bad. "I was just on my way to check the mail, I'm sorry if I interrupted you on your run." During her exchange her friends slipped around them, waving behind Robert though Alexis was making lewd gestures to Miranda - making it hard to keep a straight face. She managed, barely, as she lightly tugged on the hem of her shirt.

[DoctorRed]

Robert blinked at the woman as she noticed him and found himself wondering idly what it would take for him to leave today and find a new apartment, far away from this place. Her  concern was pleasing in a way, the way it might be amusing for most people to simply be noticed, and affected by others. But Robert really wasn't thrilled about it. He supposed it was just something he'd have to deal with.  He leered down at his fist as if it had betrayed somehow and sighed.

"I slipped in the shower and slipped this morning," he told her, the lie falling from his lips as he watched her. He wondered when he'd learned to lie like that so fluidly. As he considered it, a bit of unease in his eyes as he did so, before he made to make his way past and follow her friends to the door. "It's nothing, really," he informed her, shrugging as he dug around in his pockets for the rogue headphones cord that seemed to have abandoned him in his hour of need, plugging it in to the small device he carried around, fumbling with it a bit as he tried to be quick about it and get out of there.

[TakodaVega]

Miranda raised an eyebrow, 'You should call maintenance if the tile in your bathroom is that sharp to cut your hand in such a way." She said gently, no condescending tone in her voice though she could tell, blatantly that he had lied to her. "If you need more bandages don't be afraid to knock on my door. My friends seem to think of me as their medicine cabinet when they need it.' She watched him carefully, it was as though her little chosen Dreamer wanted to get away from the source of his Muse as far as he could.

Reaching out she gently touched his hand, curving her hand over to take the mp3 player from his hand to slip the end in place into the headphone jack. "They just get smaller and smaller these days, have a good run Robert." She gave him a smile slipping past him to go down the stairs to the mail boxes on the first floor, leaving her door partially open considering she was simply just going down the stairs a few flights. Not like anybody would go through her things anyway.

[DoctorRed]

Robert absolutely ground his teeth as he turned away from her, plugging his jack in a bit harder, as if to make sure it was in and turning it on this time as he started off, making his way into the park and taking his frustrated soul apart as he jogged, beaded sweat coursing down his body and shoulders, his teeth grinding a bit at his embarrassment. He longed for release, but...t his world was just not enough. He growled audibly, spooking a few birds before he took the route that would take him home. He made his way back up the stairs, jogging a bit to stretch out before he pushed his own door open, stepping in and moving to shower again,

That woman... why did she vex him so? Was it something to do with work? Maybe it was someone he'd seen in the past or something. A classmate? All of those seemed logical, but none of them were quite... right. He made his pass to the bathroom and showered in a fussy manner, furiously scrubbing away the filth of his body before exiting and re-wrapping his hand, in a clumsy manner. He fumbled with that a bit as he glared at the waste bin, where his treacherous drawing had escaped from.

[TakodaVega]

Miranda could tell there was frustration that followed Robert wherever he went as he made his way down the stairs, lightly nibbling on her thumbnail in slight worry as she pulled away some of the random cards from those who had not been able to come to the party. She, in a sense, could understand his frustrations. Part of her bonded with those she wove dreams for, and considering she now could understand that he was as hollow without her guidance through his dreams she was left wondering how to crack a Door without hurting him in the process, of if she was even able to do so.

Hopefully her little nudge about the sketch earlier would help. If he actually finished it maybe she could actually get into his head when he slept that night. But that still remained if he had the drive to do so. She had never seen someone so ravaged by the lack of creative need. And that still left the reason why it even happened in the first place. Was it pills? Someone's death? Did she do something by accident and sever her link to him? She sighed as she made her way back to her apartment. Her mind lost into the thoughts as she puzzled over Robert Dorias.

She flipped on her radio and soft classical started playing. The most inspiring of music to most, to coax the muse to play and sweep people off her feet. For her it was soothing and helped her to think as she sat onto her couch in the living room. She half hoped that he would come down and pester her more. But she doubted he would see that as wise. Her wayward Dreamer...she mused lightly before blinking. Since when was he hers? Granted she guided the dreams, both positive and negative but never once had she gotten moderately attached to one. Apparently this was different.

And that was when she realized that this may be harder than she ever thought.

[DoctorRed]

Inside his apartment, he remained, leering now and again at his crumpled but still traitorous drawing, his art haunting him as he sat there, leaned back and carefully as he glared at if from his spot where he'd taken up vigil, glaring at the drawing. Hours had past, as if his day was simply melting into a hate-filled session of scowls between cleaning bouts where he tried unsuccessfully to ignore it to the best of his ability and find some solace in other things. Nothing seemed to work. He leered and raged internally, shaking his head slowly as he watched it, but refused, for whatever reason to banish it back into the waste bin, where it had been previously incarcerated.

From where he'd retreated, he rose and approached the wretched Sheet and it's treacherous Art. He leered at it for a few moments before smoothing it on the counter-top and leering down at it for another great while, the danger that he felt about it seeming to leak away, at least a little bit. For a while, he found himself staying where he could for the moment, enjoying the time away from anything too strenuous. It didn't last long, before he had the palms of Crumpling upon the paper and was halfway to crushing it once more but stopped, falling short of destroying it. He growled his fury before turning and storming for the door. A few moments passed before he had the sheet held between his thumb and forefinger, and a tiresome, sweaty many stood outside his neighbors door, his fist resounding against the wood of her portal and glaring at the peephole, his frustration boiling over.

[TakodaVega]

She was only starting to weave herself into a tendril of an idea, and ideas in themselves were contagious as to what to do when there was a furious knocking at her door. Blinking she looked up towards the door, when the knocking came again, harder this time. She was fairly certain who was on the other side of the door but the question was why. The waves of anger and frustration seemed to ooze from the door as she took the time to light an incense stick to put it on the coffee table in her living room, blowing out the flame before another set of knocks came.

He was desperate for her attention it seemed as she made her way to the door, opening it and  tilting her head just in time so he didn't knock on her head to look up at the person that currently occupied her thoughts. "Are you alright, Robert?" She asked gently, concern across her features. She could see the sweat and the agitation, and her hands ached to try and wipe away the tension that was rolling off of him. She wanted to make them go away. Yet she honestly had no idea how as she blinked and looked at was in his hand. "Did you finish the drawing?" She asked gently. Even if he didn't she was sure she would try and get in his head somehow.

Although it seemed she already was.

[DoctorRed]

"You. You were... you told me that it should be complete, that it should have color, but I don't know how to color any more. You told me that... but I don't know how to do that. I'm not.. Do you know... how to color?" he asked, his jaw working hard, as if he were trying not to speak, but another persona was struggling to beg her for help. He held the drawing in his fingers, his thick digits maiming the edges with their grip. "You seem.." he struggled and stared, almost leering at the woman, his head sweating a bit and feeling his body heat up with both embarrassment and frustrated turmoil.

"I"m sorry, I'm just..." he murmured, looking away and moving to throw the drawing, letting it drift from his fingers into the hallway, discarded just like earlier. He turned and his palms found her shoulders, clutching her in his heavy palms, staring into her eyes with a sort of desperation. She had to be something, right? This had to be... something. He was fevered, but this seemed... right. "Tell me who you are." he demanded.

[TakodaVega]

"I don't think you've completely forgotten how, I believe you just don't know which color to use." She said carefully as she listened carefully to him, watching him. She felt herself ache at his frustration. His inner muse was trapped and still there but so frail she doubted she could truly hone on the concept of bringing him back to life. She was going to try, or die trying whichever came first. It was settled for Miranda as she watched him toss the drawing again.

"Seem what?" She asked, "Why don't you bring you and your drawing inside to sit down. It might make you feel better." When the weight of his palms descended on her delicate shoulders she froze almost startled - a deer caught in the headlights. He was warm, heat practically radiated from him and part of her just wanted to pull him further against her into an embrace to coax him back to the Dreamer he was.

"I'd like to think I'm a friend, but I'm also a teacher of sorts. Come inside, Robert."