InsaneJournal

Who: Alistair Theirin and Zevran Arainai
What: Alistair is weirded out by the dreams. Zevran tries to help.
When: Backdated: Monday, January 20th. Afternoon
Where: Alistair's Condo
Rating: Mostly Family Friendly
Status: Complete!

Alistair had no idea what to think of the dreams. He’d seen other people talking about them on Valarnet and had thought that they’d be interesting once he started having them and they were, but then we found out that both Zevran and Maia had already known who he was when they met. He was starting to wonder now if either of their meetings had been random or if they’d somehow found out where he’d be. It made sense now why Maia had reacted the way she had when they’d met, but Zevran hadn’t shown up in his dreams yet. They’d ended shortly after Maia joined the Grey Wardens, but before the Joining.

Just that might not have been so bad, but Alistair now had a little over twenty years worth of new memories and he had to figure out how to deal with them. Everything was different in his dreams. His father had been the king and now Cailan was. His mother had been a serving maid, who he was told had died in childbirth and Goldanna was elsewhere. It was all a lot to take in and now he had to deal with Maia and Zevran and his feelings for the latter.

Knowing that Alistair wouldn’t think to call and discuss how he felt, Zevran took the liberty of paying his friend a visit. He had a bottle of wine in hand - because that was how he’d dealt with his dreams for the most part - and knocked at the door. He’d had the day off, so he was wearing a pair of baggy shorts and a t-shirt, all well fitted, but far more casual than his norm.

Alistair had been lounging on the couch, trying to figure out these dreams and staring at his phone on the coffee table, contemplating calling Zevran and asking for more explanation on the dreams, but he wasn’t sure exactly how to talk to the other man at the moment. Of course fate had other plans because at that moment he heard the knock at the door and got up to see who it was.

Of course it was Zevran and for a moment he contemplated pretending that he wasn’t home, but he knew that he’d have to deal with this sooner or later and deep down, he didn’t want to screw things up with him, even if he wasn’t completely sure that the other man wasn’t a stalker. Taking a deep breath, he pulled the door open, “Hi.”

“Hi.” Zev reached out to hand Alistair the wine, running a sheepish hand through his hair. “If you would like, I can go. I just wanted to apologize. You were a friend of sorts in the dreams, and I was ... happy to see you while awake. I did not anticipate growing ... as fond of you as I am now. We were not like this in our dreams.” Zev chuckled, remembering offering to teach Alistair some sex tips in one night’s dream.

Alistair hadn’t expected Zevran to bring over a bottle of wine, but he accepted it anyway and sighed, shaking his head, “No, you don’t have to go. I was just….” Realizing that it might be better to talk inside, Alistair moved aside to allow Zevran to come inside, “Why don’t you come in.” If Zevran was a stalker, he was considerate one.

Nodding, the elf moved inside. Leaning down to take off his shoes, he looked up at Alistair with eyes that were a bit sad. “To tell the entire truth, I was hoping you would not dream at all. They are not always fantastical.” He remembered Rinna too often, and dreamt of her too much.

Alistair wasn’t entirely sure what to say to that and instead gestured for Zevran to follow him into the kitchen where he set the bottle of wine down and went to get two glasses. If he was going to talk about this then he was going to have some wine, “Would you have told me? If I’d never started dreaming? About how you knew me?” It was one of the things he’d been most curious about ever since Zevran had let it slip that he’d had the same dreams.

“Eventually, yes. When I could be sure you would not think I was crazy. We are still relatively strangers, even though I happen to like you. Very much.” Zev couldn’t really look at Alistair; actual feelings were difficult to navigate around, especially around someone as decent as Alistair.

Alistair nodded as he searched for a bottle opener, “And when would this have not sounded crazy?” He asked, turning back towards Zevran. He was pretty sure that telling him that he knew him from dreams would sound crazy no matter what. “I mean, put yourself in my shoes. You’d be freaked out too, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course it would. And of course I would be. There is no way to make any of this situation not crazy, or make it sound better. I am sorry for that, but there is little I can do to change things.” Zev put his hands into his pockets, looking tired, more his age than usual.

Alistair watched Zevran for a moment and sighed, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be taking this out on you just because I’m freaked out.” He didn’t like seeing Zevran look so defeated, “You were probably just excited about seeing someone you’d dreamt of. Well, someone else.” After all, Zev and Maia knew one another. “I shouldn’t be treating you like a stalker.”

“I can see where you would feel a bit violated, though.” Zev worried his lower lip with his teeth, not moving otherwise. “In the dreams, we were friends of a sort. I looked after you sometimes, answered questions you had about things.”

Alistair listened and nodded when Zevran finished, “That’s good to know.” He was silent for a moment before gesturing towards the bottle of wine, “Why don’t we have a glass, it might help to settle my nerves, and you can tell me a little more about this dream world we’re from.” Alistair may have dreamt of twenty plus years in one night, but he was sure there were things about Fereldan that he hadn’t dreamt of that Zevran would know more about.

“Of course.” Zev smiled a little sadly. “It is a bit mad to dream about, but quite fun. At least for me. Mostly.”

Alistair poured the wine into the two glasses after opening it and passed one over to Zevran, “We can sit in the living room,” He said, gesturing towards the other room as he picked up his own glass and the bottle to bring with them, “How long have you been dreaming?”

“It happened after I moved here, so about a year or so?” Zev settled on the sofa, sipping the wine. “It has been difficult.”

Alistair sat down beside Zevran, turned slightly so that he was facing him, “What did you think when you first started dreaming? Did you just think they were regular dreams at first? Was there anyone else here having the same dreams at that time?” He didn’t know how long Maia had been dreaming, so he didn’t know who had started having the dreams first.

“There were many other people who had dreams similar to mine, though not exactly of Thedas.” He drummed his fingers on his legs. “And I dreamed of Antiva at first, so I did not realize I would end up in Ferelden.”

“Antiva is where you’re originally from in the dreams?” Alistair asked, taking a sip of his wine, “And did any of those people claim to know you before you dreamt of them?” He was curious if it was just him or if others had done the same thing to Zevran.

“It is. And I think Maia did, but I don’t honestly recall.” Zev leaned back, trying to think. “Perhaps Hawke. I do not know if you will dream of her, but yes. If I recall correctly, there were a few who knew me.”

Alistair nodded as he thought over his dreams and what Zevran had told him, “So, this whole thing, the dreams and dreaming of actual people, it’s common. And it’s normal?” He wanted to make sure that he wasn’t going completely crazy, but if at least two other people that he’d met had, had the same dreams then chances were he wasn’t going crazy and now that he thought of it, it was actually a comfort that there were other people who knew what he was going through and could help him adjust.

“For the people on the valar communities, yes. I am sure there are others, but I do not know them.” He bit his lower lip. “Sometimes things from the dreams bleed over, as well. My ears were not always so pointed, nor did I have any of my tattoos before I dreamed of them.” There was a reason for the pointy ears, dammit!

“Your ears?” Somehow it hadn’t ever occurred to him that Zevran’s ears were any different. How he hadn’t noticed, he didn’t know, but it could have simply been that he’d chosen not to notice anything out of the ordinary at the time. The tattoo, he’d noticed of course, because it was rather difficult not to notice it since it was on Zevran’s face, “I hadn’t noticed your ears.” Truthfully, it wasn’t Zevran’s ears that Alistair had ever been very focused on.

Tucking his hair behind his pointy ears, Zev moved closer to Alistair. “I’m an elf in the dreams,” he confessed, hoping Alistair wouldn’t see him as less of a person because of it. “What did you notice?” Zev could never help teasing.

Alistair couldn’t help but stare as Zevran moved his hair aside, eyes zeroing in on the man’s pointy ears for a moment or two before flicking back to his face, cheeks flushing slightly, “Well, I mean….I noticed your tattoo, obviously. It’s hard to miss.” As he spoke, his eyes moved back to Zevran’s ears, “Can you feel a difference? I mean, when it happened did you know right away?” He wondered what other people said when they noticed them and oddly enough, he wanted to touch them, but he kept his fingers wrapped, firmly, around his wine glass.

“I knew right when I woke up, yes. That, and they are far more sensitive now.” It was probably well known in Thedas that an elf had an extra erogenous zone.

“They are?” That only made Alistair want to touch them even more to see just what sort of reaction it caused. Instead, he took another sip of his wine, “That’s interesting.” He tried to think of another question that had nothing to do with Zevran’s sensitive ears, “So, you lived around a lot of other elves in the dreams?”

“Not really. Elves are sort of ... well, they were slaves for a long time in the dreams. There are either elves that are segregated in alienages in cities, or the Dalish who roam the wilds. I was born in Antiva to a woman who was left by a Dalish elf, but she died as I was birthed. So the other whores in the whorehouse took care of me. They were all species there, humans, dwarf, and elf alike.” Zev was a bit amused at the story, and figured it would make Alistair blush more.

Alistair recalled hearing about elves living in alienages in the dreams, but he hadn't known too much else about them, "That's awful." He said in response to the part about Zevran's mother dying, but he did blush slightly at the rest of the story, "So, you were raised in a brothel?" It sounded nicer than whorehouse.

Nodding, Zev smiled. “For a few years, until an assassin’s guild bought me. Then I lived with them and trained.”

Alistair’s eyes widened slightly, “They bought you? I suppose that world is a lot different than ours. I’ll need to remember that so that things stop surprising me so much.” He took a sip of his wine, “So then you became an assassin? What was that like?”

“I enjoyed it, if only because I had been born to a dead mother in a whorehouse. In Antiva, assassins are paid very well for their job, and respected. It is the best life someone like me could have expected.” Zev sighed. “Of course, in my waking life, I do not think I would have enjoyed it. But that is just me.”

“Why not?” Alistair was curious about what was so different from this Zevran, compared to the one in the dreams. He was curious as to why he’d enjoy one thing in the dreams, but not in real life. He wanted to understand the dreams better and whether or not things that happened in the dreams would happen in real life.

“I do not think I could kill someone,” Zev sighed. “The dreams may have imparted me the knowledge, but not the will.”

“That makes sense. So then the dreams don’t mean we’ll turn into the person we are in them?” That made Alistair feel a little better about the dreams. “But things from the dreams still affect us?” It didn’t make any sense how the dreams would change Zevran’s ears or make his tattoo appear, but they had apparently.

“They do not, no. Some people do get aspects of the dreams - such as my tattoos and my ears - others have gotten wings or vampirism or magic. But they do not change our character, Alistair, not unless you let them. Maia is much the same woman as she was before the dreams, only now she can hurl fireballs.” Zev chuckled. “It suits her.”

“Fireballs? That’s interesting. I don’t seem to be able to do anything interesting. I was training to become a Templar, but then a man named Duncan recruited me to become a Grey Warden.” Alistair leaned over and placed his wine glass on the coffee table, “Then Maia joined. That was where my dreams ended. I suppose it makes sense now, why she practically had me in a bear hug the moment she saw me here.”

“Grey Wardens are amazing,” Zevran piped up. “Sensing Darkspawn, the way you swing a sword.” Zev chuckled, shaking his head. “You are a handsome figure in armor. Not that you aren’t at this moment either, but I digress.”

Alistair’s cheeks flushed slightly at the compliment and he dropped his gaze for a moment before bringing it back up to meet Zevran’s, “Are you just naturally this smooth? Or did you have lessons?” He wasn’t as good as flirting as Zevran was, but he could try, right? With anyone else he was sure they would think he was an idiot, but he had a feeling that Zevran would just find it endearing.

“I am just good at speaking what is on my mind,” Zev chuckled. “I was like this long before the dreams. If it helps, I am even more incorrigible in the dreams. I think you tried to hit me a few times.”

“Did I?” Alistair couldn’t help but smile a little at that, “Why would I want to do that?” He couldn’t imagine wanting to hit Zevran, but then again he hadn’t met Zevran in the dreams yet, so he didn’t know exactly how he was in them.

“I might have offered you tips on how to ... last longer with a lady,” Zev giggled. He couldn’t help it; it was still funny.

“I….uh….” Alistair wasn’t exactly sure what to say to that, especially since he knew that in the dreams he was just as much a virgin as in real life, “Well, I guess I can see why I’d want to hit you.”

“I was trying to be helpful!” Zev couldn’t help it, and he started to laugh.

Alistair quirked a brow at him as Zevran started to laugh, “What’s so funny?” He hoped that Zevran was laughing because of the dreams and not because of him. because the last thing Alistair needed was to be laughed at. That wouldn’t help anything.

“I was laughing because of the dreams. You were adorable in them. But I think I prefer you here.” Breathing deeply, Zev looked at Alistair intently once his moment of being amused had passed. “Does this change our relationship, Alistair?”

Part of him wanted to ask if Zevran thought he was adorable in real life too, but instead he shook his head, “No. I mean...I don’t think you’re some creepy stalker or anything.” He wasn’t entirely sure what sort of relationship they currently had, but he knew that Zevran liked him, but this was still all so new to him.

It made more sense to reassure Alistair through actions. Moving to where Alistair was, Zevran moved to kiss him a bit more deeply than usual, sighing contentedly. “Good.”