#dreaming

----Handy-Dandy Unused Room...-----
Piper catches herself before she has darted too far off. Ducking into a washroom to splash water over her face and finger-comb her hair. If one more person comments about her looking terrible today... sigh. And then she steps back out, and looks for Jonas.

And she finds him

"Jonas? Can I talk to you?"

"I seem to be far more popular for discourse here than I am anywhere else" He nods

"I don't know what's going on or what happened to her at the raid on your end, but... I'm worried about Siv. But she won't talk to me... she literally won't be in the room with me... I don't THINK it was something I did, but I don't know how I can help. I don't want to pry - but I DO want to help if I can... "

Jonas looks at her sympathetically, "Siv is seeking isolation even from me at this time. It is not you, I assure you. In fact, her insistence for you to depart is probably a sign of the affection she feels for you"

"But she's... I don't know what's wrong, but she's in TROUBLE or hurting... I can't just ignore it. I can't, and I won't..." Trolls have the gold medal in stubborn, but sometimes a goat can take bronze.

"She is worried she will hurt you, Piper. How will violating her wishes to keep you safe help her?"

"Siv wouldn't hurt me..." She shakes her head. "Not even if something has her all twisted up inside. Any maybe yeah, I shouldn't go near her, but there has to be a way I can help, somehow." A glance up at Jonas. "She was the first person who really reached out to me at River Vale. Made me feel... welcome, and like maybe being exiled to those terrible frozen wastes wouldn't be the end of all things. If she's caught up in something hurting her, I can't just go twiddle my thumbs and wait for maybe something to pass. Can you tell me that this will get better? Willl she wake up after a nap and feel okay? A dip in that special spring they have here?" She presses him with questions.

"If you can tell me it's something she just needs time for... I can try to back off." She doesn't look happy about it.

"Frankly, I am not sure. the challenges she is facing are varied and multifaceted..."

"You're smart." She says, a statement. "Can you break it down into pieces that maybe can be tackled in bits? Like a puzzle?"

A frown "Some matters are covert, and she is not open to sharing them. But she stayed near a satyr who's speciality was aphrodisia and Chicanary which he used to control and manipulate women against their nature"

"She sounded like she thought she would hurt me. But she didn't feel.... She reminded me of..." Her cheeks flush a little. "Pomegranates."

And then listens to Jonas's words, and her expression goes solemn. "...oh."

"I should not have informed you of this, " He frowns "She hides it well ,but I know her.. she has been eying women with.. " A sigh "A thrist.. and not a typical one"

She looks away. "..and the last person who could probably help is another Satyr who has a gosh-darned knack for the same." A hint of bitterness.

"Wait, what?" He stops

And speaks with direct short simple words

She takes a step back, giving him a wary look.

"You have some expertise that can assist her?" Insistent

And she can tell he is not angry at her, not distrustful, but hope?

She fidgets a little. "Yes. I know Aphro. It's what I do best. Or used to be. Got me my place in my last trag'. And it got me in trouble, but sometimes out of it. Not in a very nice way, though. And Rivervaler's are nice folk. SIV is nice." Looking unsure.

"I think.." A pause "I think you might be able to help her" Jonas says

"How?" No hesitation.

"I could... make her want me. Make her want someone. Or something. But she's already overflowing with want. I don't know how to REVERSE it."

"I think, it's the form the want takes... but.. we need someone wiser in graymare and magic than us"

"My cousin is the one who makes magic work in weird ways. He made the DeBuke's lust bomb that turned into a tree." Her eyes look thoughtful and she straightens up a bit. "He knows chicanery, too, at least a bit. ...do you think he might be able to help? I don't want to blab all over that Siv is... sick. But Zane can keep his mouth shut." If he knows what is good for him, she thinks.

"I can also help guide emotions.. I've melded it with Aphro in the past... not since before - for a long time. Wants, needs, and emotion are tied together, with music."

"it may require influencing glamour itself, but I can get him the dross to make that easier.. or easier for you depending. If you can help her, I will be in your debt, PIper. "

"Lust isn't an emotion, it's a... like, carnal, it runs deeper. It's a desire that might go further than want. But if something could hit her deep in her animal brain where she's feeling that, and maybe some surface level mental work with the right song... maybe..." And she pulls out her phone, dialing Zane's number.

Zane picks up "A phone call instead of a text? What are we? Savages?"

"I need your help. Can you come to Fenix? Bring your... book of spells, or your hat and wand, or whatever you need to do your work. There's some nasty stuff afoot... and I think you can help, maybe... ...please?"

Her cousin says "Wow. I was just talking about the Dreaming needing good wizards I didn't know it would teach me a karmic lesson by striking at the worst hours. How serious?"

A glance to Jonas, and she bites her lip. "How soon can you get here? And... there's a couple vials of Pom left from that earlier experiment. You know the one. This involves more Fallout from Those Guys. ..It's in my freezer at the apartment. Not sure if it will help, but... bring it? And the dross I have stashed under the cushion on the owl chair. Uncle C has a key..." Realizing that she's somewhat babbling. "Or just come here as soon as you can."

"On it" he says "And on my way. Relax, Cousin, Zane the mildly magnificent is on the case"

Phone clicked off and glancing back to Jonas. "He's on his way..." Softly pacing back and forth with little clipping hoofbeats.

"I had thought about it, before. I'm no scholar of magic to claim to understand anything, but... there was a mortal I met, who had an addiction. Coke, maybe. Something harder then is safe... I wondered if there might be a way to use Aphro to..." She motions distractedly, using the rhythm of her hoofbeats to try to help focus. "If an addiction is just the most severe form of a craving that is sunk too deep to avoid, why can't it be... twisted, or changed direction to something else? Maybe something less... bad...."

"It sounds like a chancey thing to play with" he says "But yes I can follow the train of thought. "

"Heatherbalm and Spring magics... I don't think they can fix addictions. Not that I've heard of. It's... something off in your brain wiring, not an illness like body...stuff. Darn it, Zane, hurry up. You get this more than I do." Half to herself, wishing she had paid attention a little more in biology. Or would it be Psychology?

"She's attracted to you" Jonas says

A bit out of the blue

"...because of what happened?" Still trying to chase down mental threads. "I guess you could be ORDERED to stop something... but once sovereign wore off, you'd be back at square one."

"No, she likes you, she suggested you for another three way ..wanted to. I'm sorry I stopped it" He admits "I feel bad for .. If I had known hwo you FELT about her more than just attraction I might have ..."

There's a knock on the door "Zane Dresden at your service"

She stops, giving Jonas a surprised look, and, "You..." Then a glance at the door. "Okay, pin in that one for later." And she goes to let Zane in. "That was quick.. thanks."

"I actually owe it to Gerd. "

"Faster than the speed of Gerd." She gives her head a shake. "I'll thank her later too..." And will explain what little she knows to Zane, then looks to Jonas to fill in any blanks he can, or is willing to add.

"I need to ken her" Zane says

Jonas puts a hand on Zane's shoulder "I believe we can trust in your most sincere and dedicated discretion?"

"I..." Zane looks up, and UP into Jonas' eyes