Through the Rabbit Hole [Nocta] [Complete]

[Inouken]

Nothing was more disheartening than finding yourself surrounded by miles of desert and thinking, "Not this again." That's what first came to Leonard's mind when he rolled over and caught a face full of scalding sand, his eyes snapping open as he scrambled to a sitting position.

Sputtering and coughing, he readjusted his glasses before a quick scan of his surroundings confirmed that there was indeed nothing around to suggest a nearby settlement or civilization. As far as the eye could see, there was sand, only sand, and an inescapable heat and dryness that parched the air and his lungs by extension.

Leonard groaned, letting himself fall back into the desert with a huff of defeat. The barren landscape and pervasive sense of isolation could only mean one thing.

He was having that dream again.

Oh, joy. Oh, goody, goody rapture.

In the pantheon of recurring dreams that sucked the proverbial big one, this one was the king among beasts. It had been months since his subconscious had tormented him with this particular nightmare, but he could still remember the last time it had, and what his mother had said about it during one of their impromptu therapy sessions.

"Recurring dreams are just manifestations of your admittedly prolific anxieties," she had said, her tone of voice as bored as her expression. "Honestly, Leonard, the metaphor between your real life stagnation and you subconsciously stranding yourself in a desert is so uninspired it's practically the precipice of cliche."

She had gone on to say that the desert was where nature went to die, after all. The desert was geographical atrophy, desolation, and failure. If Leonard was having recurring dreams about wandering through such a place for miles, then it was only on par with his psychological profile and should be expected as part of his nightly routine.

Leonard had thought it prudent not to tell her the rest of his dream at that point. He didn't care to hear anymore of her professional opinions, especially considering how the dream always ended with a Shai-Hulud emerging from the sand drifts to inevitably swallow him whole.

Leonard shuddered to imagine what she would say if she knew. Probably something about the sandworm being a phallic representation of unvented homosexual desire. He could just hear it now, his mother telling him that he was repressed and frustrated and that's why he'd let a giant allegorical penis repeatedly consume him in his innermost fantasies.

Staring up at the sky, Leonard gave a low, self-deprecating laugh at that thought. Maybe if he laughed hard and long enough, the metaphorical dick would find him and shock him back to his senses, stopping this ridiculous thread of psychoanalysis. Picking apart his dream from within a dream was nothing if not pathetic. There was really no other way around it.

His mother had absolutely ruined him.

But that didn't explain why he was having this particular dream tonight. By all counts, he shouldn't be in the desert. Leonard only had the desert dream when he was down on his luck, when his work and personal life were in every way unfulfilling.

So why Leonard was now lying face up in this hellacious dust bowl, he just couldn't figure. Penny had recently told him that she loved him, and despite Leonard's current predicament, he felt a small smile form as he brought that memory into sharp focus.

For the first time since they had been together, Penny had said the words he had longed to hear. Sure, she had said them on accident, but the way her eyes had widened and met his immediately after, there had been so much emotion there, heartfelt and true even as she attempted to downplay the confession with a somewhat hasty retreat. Still, it was all the proof Leonard had needed to convince himself that they could work as a couple. Discovering that the woman he wanted to be with loved him in return had been the best thing to happen to him in a very long while.

Which only brought him back to square one of his present dilemma: Why was he in this subconscious wasteland after something so emotionally uplifting and encouraging took place?

Leonard heaved a sigh, figuring he’d drop this train of thought for now in spite of his confusion. The Shai-Hulud obviously wasn't coming to rouse him from his slumber. Perhaps he wasn't yet drenched in enough sweat and despair to really get its motor running. Well, he could fix that easily enough.

Pushing himself to his feet, Leonard swayed forward, intent on finding that damned thing so he could get this over with.

“Hey!” he called, squinting into the distance. He felt strangely unsteady on his feet, but he took a step toward the horizon anyway and shielded his eyes from the sun. “Come and get me. I’m right here, you big, stupid worm!”

He didn’t expect the wave of nausea that slammed into him after those words left his mouth, or the very real sense of vertigo that accompanied it. He staggered backwards, his head suddenly ringing as his body gave out beneath him and he slumped to the sand again.

This had never happened before. An onset of dizziness was a break in the routine of predetermined events. Something in Leonard's stomach clenched at that realization, that he was no longer dealing with a situation that was subconsciously predictable and thus capable of its typical, methodical resolution.

If that was the case, then just maybe...

Leonard sucked in a breath, clearing his head the best he could before screwing his eyes shut and pinching himself. He pinched himself hard, right on the arm and then on the shoulder, on his hand and on both of his legs. He pinched himself until the pain radiated through his entire body, but still he didn't wake.

Leonard cracked his eyes open and swallowed. His mouth had gone suddenly and impossibly dry.

Oh.

Oh, shit.

He glanced around again, taking in the expanse of desert that was every bit as real as the thudding of his own heart.

This wasn’t just a nightmare. This was a disaster. And he must have been out for hours if he was starting to experience dizziness and nausea. Leonard wasn’t a biologist, but he knew enough about basic human physiology to understand that both of those symptoms were telling signs of heat exhaustion.

Leonard exhaled slowly, the queasiness in his gut making it almost impossible to concentrate. He fumbled over his pockets in search of his cellphone, but wasn’t surprised when he came away empty-handed. It would have been too convenient to have it on him, and far too practical for a situation this bizarre.

Leonard had to face the facts. He was alone out here with no means of communication. At least that’s what he thought as he felt the muscles in his stomach tense and he locked up and threw up, hoping to god he wasn’t heaving the last of his bodily fluids into the ground.

If Leonard was going to have to walk back to civilization, he’d need all the bodily fluids he could keep, after all.

[Zaxal]

Nocta couldn't say what, exactly, had caused her to be so on edge that day. But she had woken in the early hours before even Rukbat and took to pacing around her weyr, repairing her riding leathers, anything she could manage to keep her mind occupied and quell the anxious nervousness that kept her fidgeting.

You are loud.

Nocta snorted and looked towards the arch that opened onto Ralelth's ledge. The blue dragon tilted her head from where it rested on her front feet, her eyes whirling her usual, contented blue-greens. "Doesn't hurt you to wake up early once in a while."

Nocta felt the wave of amusement rush over their connection as Ralelth stretched out in her small area. Might. Growing dragons need their rest.

"If you're a weyrling, then I'm a firelizard."

Improbable. Dragons do not bond to firelizards.

"And dragons that are almost twenty Turns old are no longer growing." Nocta pulled herself up from where she'd been working and stepped out into the warming morning air on Ralelth ledge. The dragon lifted her head and pushed it into Nocta's space, demanding silently for scratches on her eyeridges and at the base of her headknobs. Nocta obliged. "What do you say we go for a ride?"

Must we?

"No," Nocta said with a smile. "But we're going to. Get up, lazybones." Ralelth heaved out what was a passable imitation of a sigh and stood as Nocta went to get dressed in her riding leathers and fetch their harness.

Not long after, they were in the sky, headed towards the desert for some much-needed alone time. In the past five Turns, Nocta and Ralelth had often been too busy to enjoy moments like these. Nocta reflected that it wouldn't be the case for much longer and felt the familiar rush of nervousness flood through her.

Ralelth immediately tucked her wings in, taking them into a plummet. Nocta released the air in her lungs and the thoughts that plagued her, focusing on their fall and the eventual rise as Ralelth threw her wings open wide, soaring on the next wind current upwards.

Nocta laughed in surprise, patting her dragon's neck. "And here I thought you were too old to do tricks."

Too old? Ralelth's lazy voice held an edge of anger. Nocta could tell she was mostly joking, though some of the emotion was real. I'll show you. She took them into another dive, moving quickly from side to side, the sand whipping by beneath them. They skimmed close to the ground before Ralelth's wings tilted up, bringing them higher in the sky. Higher and higher they went, Ralelth's wings straining as the air began to get cold and thin.

Ralelth reared her head back, releasing a mighty trumpeting roar before the two of them began to glide back down to a reasonable height. And it was only then that Nocta looked down and spotted something amiss in the desert. "What's that?"

A person, but not a rider.

"What're they doing all the way out here?"

Holdless? Ralelth eyed the dot below warily, dipping her wing to bring them in a circle above the unknown person.

She did what any dragon who had spent Turns being polite and cordial to people she barely knew would do, allowing her voice to be heard by any in the immediate area, letting it resound in their heads the way it almost always was in Nocta's. Hello. Are you lost?

[Inouken]

Panting heavily, Leonard jerked his head up, eyebrows furrowing in what could be interpreted as pained confusion. His head was starting to smart worse than any headache Sheldon had ever induced, but over the pulse in his ears, Leonard could have sworn he heard someone's voice cutting through the relative silence of the desert.

Except he had just scanned his surroundings less than a minute ago, and guess what, Captain? No signs of intelligent life down here.

Leonard glanced over both shoulders again for the hell of it, and felt immediately foolish for doing so. There was still no one else around.

Wherever "around" was.

The Mojave Desert. Oz. Through the looking glass.

Leonard felt his stomach give another twist.

It's not that Leonard wanted to say he was losing touch with reality, but his mental acuity seemed to be like the m of points (1, 4) and (2, 1) on an x-y axis. That is to say, if m=∆y/∆x, then Leonard's sanity was beginning to look a lot like a negative slope plummeting towards abysmal.

Leonard let out a shaky laugh and wet his lips, concentrating on a small mound of sand in front of him. He had to visually ground himself on something tactile, just needing to block out as much as possible as his mind raced to piece together what the heck was going on.

Severe dehydration could lead to visual and auditory hallucination. Dry mouth. Vomiting. Impaired cognition. If he had spent days wandering around in a fugue state, it was entirely possible that he was experiencing an excessive loss of body water with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes.

Or maybe he wasn't in a fugue state at all. Maybe being Sheldon's roommate for nearly a decade had caused him to go stir-crazy, like he always suspected it would. Maybe he was still in Pasadena and all of this--the desert, the queasiness, the disembodied voice-- was just an elaborate hallucination he created around himself because he had finally gone insane. Sheldon would definitely be the person to blame if that was the case.

Leonard frowned, his postulations coming to a screeching halt.

The only coherent thought he had for a moment was "wait a minute."

Sheldon. Sheldon Cooper.

Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper. Doctor of theoretical physics.

Dr. Cooper, who was world renowned for his work in string theory and had recently taken an enthusiastic interest in particle cosmology.

In discovering parallel universes.

Leonard couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it. As intelligent as Sheldon was, opening an inter-dimensional portal was impossible with current day technology. Leonard would have to be infinitely more insane than he felt if he was considering wormhole travel as an explanation for what had happened to him.

But then again, he had voluntarily lived with Sheldon for years. If anything, that was the greatest indicator of the true, spiraling depths of Leonard's madness.

Leonard shut his eyes, willing himself to slow down, to take a breather. He was a scientist with an IQ of 173. Surely if he approached this calmly, he could remember enough of what had happened and reach the proper conclusion, with whatever was left of his mind. He pushed himself to his knees and inhaled. Exhaled. Counted each in-breath and out-breath and let his eyes slide back open.

It was then that he saw it. Right in front of him, a large shadow gliding over the sand. Leonard looked up on impulse, almost expecting a huge, scavenging bird like a condor or buzzard, but oh, what he saw instead.

Leonard fell on all fours and scrambled backwards, a strangled noise gurgling and dying halfway up his throat.

There was a dragon circling above him.

An honest to god, blue dragon. With wings.

Calming techniques and IQ of 173 be damned. There was no rational way of approaching this.

He was totally going insane.

[Zaxal]

They are not responding.

Nocta frowned, instantly concerned along with Ralelth. "Take us down." Her mind instantly raced with possibilities -- they could be hurt or lost or sick. Even if they were one of the Holdless, they didn't deserve to die in the desert. Maybe they could take the person back to the Weyr. Or at least to the river or somewhere sensible if they were going to insist on roaming alone in the middle of nowhere.

Ralelth angled her wings and brought them in a slow descent towards the figure. You mustn't panic, Ralelth began cautiously, but it seems as if they've been sick.[/i]

When Nocta immediately began to worry, Ralelth tossed her head. Worry will not prevent what has happened.[/i]

Nocta rolled her eyes and thumped Ralelth. She understood that, of course, but she couldn't help her concern. Ralelth's wings flapped several times, kicking up loose sand as she landed. Nocta loosened the straps tethering her to Ralelth quickly, wriggling free and to the edge of her shoulder as quickly as she could. Ralelth lifted her front foot, holding it up high enough for Nocta to jump down to it and be lowered to the ground.

"Nocta of Ralelth, Igen Weyr," she said, a quick, formal introduction that was done mostly for the comfort of the stranger in the desert. Nocta began to walk towards them, but found her steps slowing as she looked at the strange person whose clothes perplexed her.

He? was also currently on the ground which didn't make the best first impression, but Nocta was less of a judging person and more of a helper, stepping forward automatically though cautiously when she saw that he was obviously distressed.

We are here to help, Ralelth said where he could hear her. We can take you to a Healer if you need it.

Nocta nodded in agreement, "Or at least ferry you out of the desert." She frowned slightly, looking around, but there were no immediate signs of how he had gotten here. But, she pressed her lips together, perhaps those questions had best wait until later.

[Inouken]

Leonard swallowed around the dry lump in his throat, the sound audible as the muscles in his neck contracted and forced it down.

Not only was there a dragon in front of him, it was a polite, English speaking, telepathic dragon.

Right inside his head, somehow he had projected a cordial, mythical creature that in turn could project right inside his head.

Huh.

That was new, Leonard thought.

That was special.

Almost as special as having his own hallucination regard him with what he could only imagine to be wary vigilance. And then there was his other hallucination, the newest addition to his little collection of whimsy.

Leonard winced, the pain behind his eyes momentarily resurfacing as he looked from his special blue friend to a woman this time, the one who had been the last to speak. She seemed nice enough, as far as hallucinations were concerned. The woman was outwardly compassionate and dressed in a manner that was quite frankly out of this world.

In fact, Leonard was regretting marathoning Lord of the Rings with Sheldon last night, was how out of this world her clothing and jolly blue dragon seemed.

No offense to Tolkien and his magnum opus, but if Leonard was going to have a psychotic break, he really wished it had been based on a template that, when coalesced, hadn't hurled the protagonists through life-threatening peril for over a thousand pages.

But what the heck, Leonard figured, as he staggered to his feet. It could be worse. If his dreams were anything to go by, he knew his subconscious could be infinitely crueler, what with his dick worm metaphors and all.

Quite figuratively, a giant penis could be swallowing him whole right now instead. And just like that, Leonard couldn't help it. He let out a hysterical giggle, coughed it up, and only managed to school his expression after he realized that even his delusions looked perturbed to have ended up in his head of all places.

Leonard cleared his throat, suddenly feeling self-conscious and ashamed of his outburst. "Um, look," he said sheepishly, "Nocta, was it?" He squinted and fidgeted with his hands. It was difficult trying to recall what she had even said over the panic of how schizophrenic it was to talk to his own hallucination. "Uh, no offense, but as figments of my imagination, I seriously doubt you and your dragon could ferry me out of here. The good ship USS Not a Wacko clearly left already, and I so wasn't onboard."

[Zaxal]

Nocta watched as the man got back on his feet, looking her over as if she were the odd one here. When he laughed, a frown flickered across her face. She was almost tempted to look and see if there was someone else that he was laughing at, but Ralelth assured her, We are alone.

She nodded to confirm her name, though her eyebrows drew together at the rest of what he said. Confused, she tried to work through his reasoning, but it made little sense to her. "I'm afraid I don't understand," she began, attempting to be polite even though the last thing he had said had seemed like almost complete gibberish.

Nocta had, however, understood the basics of what he had said when he had called them figments, and it was difficult to keep her tone even and expression friendly. "I can assure you, we're as real as you are. We want to help." She frowned slightly, "You may be feeling confused, but if you let us take you to the Weyr, we can get you food and drink and a place to rest until you recover."

I could pick him up and take him home, Ralelth offered. Not the most dignified, but surely he will understand once he has gotten out of this heat.

I'd rather that he agree.

As do I, but we can't leave him out here. If the heat and obvious lack of supplies do not get to him first, there's Threadfall, and no place to hide from it here.

Nocta nodded slightly. That was true -- he'd never survive a Fall out here. "If we're only hallucinations," Nocta said carefully, "then what's the harm of trusting us for a moment or two?"

[Inouken]

Not a second after Nocta finished speaking, Leonard felt his expression falter, his first impression of her slipping away into uncertainty. She had seemed relatively harmless at first. Unwanted, but not unpleasant or deceptive in her intentions. Now, Leonard wasn't so sure.

She was asking him to trust her. Engaging a hallucination in conversation was bad enough, but actually indulging a delusion, giving it power over something as important and pivotal as trust, that would be the epitome of insanity. If he followed her lead and placed his life in the hands of a sensory deception, he was well beyond saving in his opinion, mentally cracked in a way that would have his mother validly hooking him up to EEGs forever.

He sighed, raking a hand through his hair with more distress than he intended. His hallucinations were still as vividly defined as they had been in the moment they first appeared.

"I can't trust a delusion," he said at last, letting his arm fall like deadweight as he shifted uncomfortably under Nocta's gaze. "That's all you are, the both of you. You're just," he made an indecipherable gesture with his hands, "audio-visual lies! Dragons don't even exist, for crying out loud. They're fantasy creatures that live in fantasy worlds, like in World of Warcraft or The Hobbit--"

He heard his voice crack under its own weight, felt the nausea churning inside of him again as he scrambled for the truth he couldn't -- and didn't -- understand. His mind was spinning, whirling and twirling, a flurry of thoughts too quick to process. He latched onto the loudest one, the most rational one, the one that he needed to hear himself voice to make any part of this madness seem real.

"I don't know how you or I got here," Leonard started slowly, looking at Nocta and trying to ignore just how blurry his vision had gotten, how terribly tight his throat felt. "I don't know where 'here' even is, but I know for a fact that I shouldn't be here. You shouldn't be here, so may you and your dragon find your Fellowship someplace else or something. Namárie. Goodbye."

Leonard sucked in a breath and turned his back on his hallucinations before he could see their reactions. He didn't want to know, and it shouldn't even matter. He just needed to get out of this oven before more of them appeared, before his nausea worsened or he fainted.

He swayed on his feet, squinted at the sky and the desert's endless horizon.

God, I hope I'm near Vegas, he thought dryly. He could really use a drink.

[Zaxal]

I most certainly do exist, Ralelth huffed, a tad insulted at the implication that she -- and all other dragons -- weren't real. She understood that this poor man wasn't in his right mind, but at the same time, that stung.

He's not Weyrfolk then, Nocta noted. Even if there were a collective of Holdless that had denied the existence of dragons, how could that possibly continue once Thread had begun falling again? Sweeps of dragons were a regular sight.

He is somewhat pale. Perhaps they live underground, Ralelth said flatly.

Nocta snorted a quiet, held back laugh, but was soon distracted as he continued insisting that they were illusions, hallucinations, the ones out of place when it was so clearly him. Nocta was intrigued -- and frustrated, yes, but this was new and interesting, and there wasn't any harm in letting him spin his odd web of delusions until they needed to get him back to safety.

However, the moment he bid them farewell, Nocta allowed herself a scowl, her mask of professionalism slipping. "Listen," she said, attempting and failing to keep her cool. "I can't let you wander back out there." She glared at his turned back and decided to stop playing nice. She had a duty to the people of Pern, and that meant not letting them die even if they were stupid or rude. Crossing quickly to him, she grabbed his shoulder, fingers digging in tightly and preventing him from moving unless he wrenched himself free.

"You're facing the expanse of the Igen Desert. You keep going that way, you'll hit mountains and then maybe Big Bay Hold or -- more likely -- the sea. You could maybe survive if you had supplies or the know how, but seeing as you're incredibly disoriented already, I have many, many doubts as to whether or not it's even possible."

Ralelth was a soothing presence as always, throwing water over her embers, cooling them. However, she had her own methods of not-too-gentle persuasion as well, and she allowed him to hear as she spoke, Calm, Mine. If he wishes to die, then let him go.

"No," Nocta said. "If you allow your..." She considered. "Disbelief to take you out there, I will get on Ralelth, she will pick you up with her forefeet, and we will take you back to the Weyr. Or. You can come willingly and be safely strapped in where nothing's likely to cause you to fall. Your choice."

[Inouken]

If it was morning and the sun was still in the Eastern sky, Leonard could head straight on a Western trajectory. He scrunching his eyes as his head tilted in consideration. Or was it a Northwestern trajectory?

He pursed his lips together, wishing not for the first time that he could triangulate his position using the modern day wonders of GPS technology.

He'd have to check his bearings by tracking the progression of his shadow before committing to any sort of action, but within a few minutes he could be on his way. The sooner the better, quite frankly. He could still feel his hallucinations' eyes on him, their gazes boring into the back of his skull as if they were physical beings and not the delusions of what was probably his severely dehydrated mind.

He bit the inside of his lip with irritation. If they were simply visual and auditory hallucinations, then there was no reason for him to still sense their presence. Out of sight, out of mind! That was the single thing in this scenario that he could control, that he could stop from spiraling into --

He paused, shutting his eyes with a sudden, sinking feeling.

Oh, no.

For the love of God, no.

His eyes snapped open. There, on his shoulder, was his hallucination's hand. Worst of all, he could feel it digging into his jacket, her fingers securing their hold and refusing to let go. This contact between them felt real, sharper and more in focus than the sickening haze that bogged down the rest of his senses.

What the hell didn't even begin to cover it.

Leonard's heart thudded in his chest. He didn't trust himself to move. All he could do was listen as she told him where he was, why traveling alone out here would be a fool's endeavor.

The Igen Desert. Big Bay Hold. He rifled through his mental catalogue, but couldn't place the locations from any of his favorite sci-fi/fantasy series. They certainly weren't in California, he allowed himself to think in bitter realization. Was it possible he had heard these names before and had merely forgotten them?

He didn't have time to think it over. The dragon's voice crashed through his thoughts, turning every inch of his skin ice cold.

If he wishes to die, then let him go, it had said.

Leonard felt frozen in place, unable to process that this was what his life had become. At this point, whether he was hallucinating or not was irrelevant. This place was horrifying, and he didn't doubt for a second that traversing the desert alone would only lead him to far more hazardous situations.

When Nocta's voice filtered in again, Leonard was surprised to find that it was almost a welcome relief. He turned slowly to face her, fiddling absently with his thumbs.

"So, about that whole coming along willingly thing. I'm game. I'm so down with that." He gave her a shaky grin that was more automatic movement than sincerity. "Just, please," Leonard said, his shoulders tensing, "don't let your dragon eat me."

[Zaxal]

Nocta watched his slow movements, her grip loosening before her arm fell back to her side as he turned. Something seemed different about him. No longer loudly insisting that everything around him was a lie. More... aware, she supposed. Maybe, she thought, they'd gotten him to see sense.

She took a step away to give him space, smiling somewhat apologetically for her and Ralelth's combined efforts to make him understand. Nocta nodded, prepared to tell him to climb aboard, but his second statement made her laugh suddenly, the idea so absurd that it caught her completely off guard.

I will not eat you, Ralelth promised as her rider kept laughing way too hard for someone who had been doing her best to keep herself calm throughout the ridiculous exchange. She walked tentatively closer now that he no longer seemed to be resisting. There are too many plump herdbeasts at home that I must tend to first.

"Ralelth," Nocta attempted to scold as she pulled herself together, straightening her clothes. "She won't eat you," she said to him. "I'm guessing you've never been dragonback before?" She walked closer to Ralelth who dropped her head, demanding the exact way she had earlier for scratching across her eyeridges. Nocta smiled warmly and did. Ralelth hummed contentedly, her eyes whirring brightly blue.

Something occurred to Nocta, and she turned her head to look at him again. "What's your name?"

[Inouken]

Leonard jumped when Nocta laughed, seemingly amused by his last remark. He understood that this place came with its own universal constants (i.e.: nada, zip, devoid), but considering that dragons were basically dinosaurs that had mastered the art of BBQ, Leonard would rather ride the Amtrak than get up close and personal with one.

At least this one.

He eyed Nocta's dragon warily as it promised to keep him off the menu -- just as long as there was enough food at home to satisfy its appetite.

Leonard gave it a half-hearted smile. Something about the way it spoke made Leonard think it wasn't particularly fond of him. Plus, the thing was freaking enormous. Probably had twenty stomachs that contracted so hard during digestion that they turned food to either diamonds or primordial soup.

He grimaced inwardly, only wishing he could be reassured when Nocta insisted that her dragon --Ralelth-- wouldn't eat him. Leonard knew his subconscious better than anyone. In his mind, getting devoured by fantasy creatures was always a possibility.

But then again, if the dragon ate him, there was also a strong likelihood that it would wake him up, so to speak. He could be tossed down Ralelth's gullet and tumbled back to reality within a matter of minutes.

Leonard re-weighed his options. Truth be told, riding on a dragon sounded like it was well worth the risk.

When Nocta asked if he had ever actually been on one, he just rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled. Technically, he had. Kinda. Sorta. His Night Elf had an Albino Drake mount in World of Warcraft. It was a unique mount, and he smiled fondly at the memory, circling around Ralelth as he mentally compared the two.

It was only as Nocta asked for his name that his steps slowed, bringing him to a halt. His eyes were still on Ralelth, noting how her hide was a dusty blue, so unnatural for reptilian coloration. So completely unreal.

So completely imaginary.

Leonard felt a smile tug at the corner of his lips as an idea came to him, latched on and wouldn't let go.

"My name," he said, turning completely to look at Nocta when he spoke, "is Aragorn, son of Arathorn. I am called Elessar, the Elfstone, Dúnadan, the heir of Isildur Elendil's son of Gondor."

He tilted his head up and stood a little straighter before ultimately the nausea returned with a vengeance and socked him in the stomach.

He wheezed. "You can just call me Aragorn, though."

He was too exhausted and dizzy to even think about how lame he looked, so Leonard just settled for doubling over. He rested his hands on his knees for support and groaned. Squinted up at Nocta.

"I'm good," he said, "but also ready to go whenever you are."

[Zaxal]

Was he circling her? Ralelth snorted in amusement -- he had gone from being concerned of being eaten to being sensible fairly quickly. She lifted her head again, spreading her wings slightly, preening under the observation. However, she could feel the scar on the back of her leg pulling, and she was forced to shift up, giving it relief.

"You all right?" Nocta asked softly.

Fine, she insisted stubbornly. The combination of the sand and standing about for too long was irritating it, nothing more.

The man turned to look at her again, and Nocta gave her full attention. It took a moment to process that he was speaking nonsense again, but at least she had gotten a name out of it. Whatever she had been thinking was quickly banished as he doubled over, in obvious pain.

Remembering that it was vital they get him back as soon as possible, Nocta held out her hand, offering to support him up onto Ralelth. The dragon herself lowered, laying belly-down on the sand to make it easier for the both of them to hop on. It pushed her shoulders up painfully, but it wouldn't take him long to get strapped in and then she could straighten up.

"Come on then, Aragorn." She led him to Ralelth and did her best to get him situated at the base of her neck, strapping his legs into the harness before showing him the straps he could hold onto. "Put your hands there and hold on." Nocta clambered up behind him, less at ease than she'd willingly admit to not have a harness.

I will not drop you.

I know. She patted Ralelth's neck, gripped with her legs, and held onto the bits of the harness she could reach. "We're gonna go up easy, but hold on tight."

With that warning, Ralelth allowed herself to lift, straightening out and shifting her shoulders and wings to work out the stress from holding the uncomfortable position. She gave Aragorn a moment to adjust before spreading her wings and flapping down hard. After a few more, the sand whipping around them, they slowly rose into the air, higher above the desert and into the air.

"All right?" Nocta asked gently, wanting to make sure he was as comfortable with this as possible before the next step. The quickest way back to the Weyr was a hop between, but he'd need to have enough lucidity to remember to hold his breath before they could go for it.

[Inouken]

Leonard couldn't remember ever feeling so sick, but then again, he was having trouble remembering even basic things. How to stand, for example, much less walk. He probably would have collapsed if Nocta hadn't taken him by the hand and guided him to Ralelth.

A dragon, he reminded himself, as he felt Nocta strap him into the harness.

A blue, telepathic dragon that was going to carry him away, over the desert and to safety.

Right. Leonard forced a smile. And his name was really Aragorn.

He vaguely registered that Nocta was talking, showing him the harness straps and telling him to hold on. He felt her climb on behind him, her weight pressed against his body a surprising reminder that he was still somewhat cogent, at least in whatever bizarre state of consciousness he had found himself in.

And then he was rising, flying, soaring through the skies, over the rainbow, to infinity and beyond.

He'd only been high once before so far as he could remember. In the desert, as a matter of fact, with Howard and Raj and a bag full of marijuana cookies.

Boy, if he had been tripping balls back then, now he must be tripping balls and bits and Charizards.

Leonard snorted, but was soon brought back to the present when Nocta asked if he was alright.

"Oh, I'm gooood." Leonard drew out the words. Giving a small laugh, he watched with detached wonder as the desert grew farther and farther away. "High as a kite by now..."

[Zaxal]

Nocta felt a surge of guilt at Aragorn's struggle to stay with her. She should have tried harder to get him back to the Weyr sooner. As it was, he seemed far too out of it to between safely. It wasn't a long ride back, and Ralelth was already turning, riding a thermal back towards the Weyr.

Nocta snaked an arm around his waist and held tightly onto the harness with her other. Strapped in as he was, he should be fine, but Nocta would rather be safe than sorry.

She didn't understand what he was saying -- she had a feeling that was going to be par for the course. Ralelth, have someone take food and water to the Healers. Tell them it's urgent.

Ralelth complied, speaking to another dragon who passed the message on to Theirs. Nocta spoke out loud, "We'll find a place for you until you get back on your feet. Everything will be fine."

Until then, enjoy the ride. Ralelth pushed them forward, wingbeats carrying them faster towards the Weyr, rare haste shown for the stranger from the desert who called himself Aragorn.