Alexander Donovan: Okies. Alex waits for a little while after talking to Tony, trying to decipher what wasn't said as much as what was. He finally picks the phone back up to call Aerin.

Aerin Thomas: There's a couple rings, before the phone picks up. A couple moments after before a somewhat groggy, slightly slurred voice answers. It's Aerin, and to say he sounds tired is an understatement. "Hello?" It's almost croaked out.

Alexander Donovan: "Sounds like you had a rough night."

Aerin Thomas: "Alex..." There's a moment of silence, a change in his breathing like a panic, and the sounds of his body shifting into a standing state. Several more moments, before the phone goes back to his ear. "Uhhh...yeah." He clears his throat. "Rough night."

Alexander Donovan: "Something happened with Tony." Not a question. Not a question at all.

Aerin Thomas: "Yeah." He sighs a little bit and, from the sounds of it, pulls a desk drawer open. "I'm at the X Hotel. That's...uh...fuck." Silence as he thinks, his mind trying to cut through the cloud of grogginess. "Two blocks south of my apartment. Room...ummm....134."

Alexander Donovan: "Yeah. I know where it's at. I'll be there in five minutes." And the phone cuts off, and he heads in that direction. Yeah, Aerin's gonna know Alex isn't going far at the moment. (that and he has two girlfreinds living nearby too, but Aerin might not know that part)

Aerin Thomas: He puts the phone away and re-sets the room up from the mess he left it in last night. An odd look to the crow perched on the window sill. By the time Alex is there, he's got the place mostly fixed up, with the scotch bottle sitting on the main table and a full glass next to it. Gun's on the table as well, just in case.

Alexander Donovan: He finds the room rather easily, banging on the door and standing back where he can be seen through the peephole.

Aerin Thomas: There's a couple moments before the door unlocks and Aerin opens the door, stepping back and clicking the safety back on the gun. His hair is still tangled from a hell of a night's sleep...his eyes red and tired. He nods at Alex and moves back to the table, gretting him along the way. "Hey." He takes a seat with a sigh, spine groaning in protest, before gesturing to the bird. "That's Allen. Allen...Alex."

Alexander Donovan: Alex peers at the bird for a moment.... "Lot's of A's. Like D?"

Aerin Thomas: "D's?" He raises an eyebrow, picking up the glass of scotch. "Only know a few D's, myself."

Alexander Donovan: "Another blackbird. I suppose if you're fine with him here. Nice to meet you Allen." Alex takes himself a seat, leaning forward. "He won't tell me what happened."

Aerin Thomas: He sighs a little bit and shrugs as Allen cocks his head, considering Alex. The glass is raised to the Gaian's lips, a sip drained from it. "Bliss and Mercury talked to him. I'm...not quite sure on the specifics, but it didn't seem to help. I think they specifically told him he has...mental health issues." He gives a frown. "This is why they're not therapists."

Alexander Donovan: "He sounded like.... like I hadn't spent a moment with him in the last half year."

Aerin Thomas: He sighs and nods, holding the bottle up as if to offer Alex some. "I was thinking he...the Tony persona...was suffering from Dependant Personality Disorder. I'm...not so sure. Possibly Avoidant Personality Disorder, as well as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder."

Alexander Donovan: "I haven't got my books to look those up at the moment...."

Aerin Thomas: He nods and sets the bottle back down. If Alex wants some, he'll take it. Offer's there. He pulls out a cigarette and lights up. "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a condition that follows in the wake of severely stressful, highly traumatic experiences. Things like car accidents, or being at Ground Zero when the Trade Center went down. Rape, violent attacks, earthquakes, tsunamis. All that kind of thing. Victims suffer from things like nightmares, flashbacks. Emotional detachment. Insomnia, bad reaction to triggers. Irritability. Memory loss. Skittishness. Typically, it goes away in months worth of time...but we've passed that." He takes a drag of the smoke and sighs. "He's not textbook, but there's enough that I wonder on that."

Alexander Donovan: "As long as he's been in those kind of situations.... the 'months' time might not be accurate,,,,"

Aerin Thomas: "Agreed...but it doesn't make it any less of a concern that it won't just go away." He shrugs a little, ashing the cigarette. "The avoidant personality disorder may have developed out of it...though likely, if he truly has it, it's something that developed out of his childhood."

Alexander Donovan: "Survival. If it's what it sounds like. Since they got him, best way to not get hurt was to avoid."

Alexander Donovan: "...except when on stage... that was different. Even then."

Aerin Thomas: "Kind of. It's more like..." He sighs. "Stop me if this sounds familiar. It's associated with rejection, legitimate or otherwise, by parents or peers during childhood. Victims typically avoid occupational activities because of fears of disapproval or rejection, they view themselves as socially inept, are occupied with being criticized or rejected, end up inhibited in new social situations, avoid getting involved with people, are reluctant to take personal risks or engage in new activities out of fear of embarassment, and show restraint in intimate relationships due to fear of rejection."

Alexander Donovan: "Yeah. That covers a lot of ground. His father refering to them both as slaves. Follow it up with the real thing. The later looking for any reason, or even making them up, to punish him. I am having to push a bit in order to get him involved with others... Of course, anything outside that place is a new social situation for him.

Aerin Thomas: "Yeah." He nods slightly, staring at the tabletop. "I was hoping to be able to talk to the more aggressive personality...get to know his name, at least." He shakes his head slightly, jaw setting. "Didn't work out that way."

Alexander Donovan: "Yeah, I haven't had any luck with that either. ... I don't suppose you know any hypnotists who owuldn't freak when Tony starts talking about werewolves... and other things."

Aerin Thomas: He nods a bit. "Hypnotherapy's unreliable anyway. It's just as likely to do more harm then good."

Alexander Donovan: Alex gets the sudden urge to move around, walking to the window and looking out. He won't dislodge the bird to do it when he does. There's something missing.... something.... "You know... when we say that I took him out of there, that's only part of it."

Aerin Thomas: Allen flutters away...interesting, further inside, not outside. It settles on the table next to Aerin, who looks at Alex with furrowed brows. "What do you mean?"

Alexander Donovan: "I got in easy enough. Place was a dive... but.... they didn't trust easy. I had to put on a show.If it hadn't been for Tony, it might not have stayed a show. He was Lot in Sodom and Gamora. One day, he looked at me and said I was different... and it snapped my attention back to why I was there."

Alexander Donovan: ((Bleah, know I got the wrong name))

Aerin Thomas: "He helped you out, too." He nods a little bit. "I'm not entirely surprised."

Alexander Donovan: "It's easy to see the weakness in him. He wears it like a sheild. But he was strong enough to survive. Strong enough to turn on them. Strong enough to trust one more time. Strong enough to resist that place for a long time..."

Aerin Thomas: "You're preaching to the choir, Alex."

Alexander Donovan: "Aerin.... I brought him to your attention because, what small talents I have for healing, don't extend to the mind. He spent 20 years being abused by wolves and their Kin... even if they were traitors... He didn't want this, but I convinced him it was a good idea. Now I hear the same tone. The same resignation in his voice that I did the first time he talked to me."

Aerin Thomas: He levels a look at the man. "Alex, I've had all of two nights to work with the man. Rome wasn't built in a damn day, and neither is rebuilding a fractured psyche."

Aerin Thomas: "And one of those nights, he wouldn't talk to me."

Alexander Donovan: "It wasn't built in a day, but it was burned in a night. With all the parallels between what's happening now, and what happened then... He's not allowed to leave, watched constantly... he was begging me to take the kitten with me because when he fed animals there...."

Aerin Thomas: He frowns a little bit. "What do you suggest, then, Alex?"

Alexander Donovan: Alex looks out the window for a long moment, eventually just letting out a sigh. "Nothing." Okay, he's obviously holding something back.

Aerin Thomas: He stares at the man. "I don't have time for bullshit, Alex." His teeth grit and he watches the other. "I've got to spend enough time trying to figure out what Tony isn't telling me...at least, when he's not..." His lower jaw juts out, bitterness and resentment coming to play, and he shakes his head. "When he's not saying things that have no relevance. What is it?"

Alexander Donovan: "What should I suggest? Stop spying on him? He wouldn't even beleive you now if you told him it was stopped.? To let him stay someplace that doesn't have a half dozen people coming and going? Many of whom themselves already have problems? That was already vetoed. I'm too .. abusive to be trusted having input on such things." Oh, yeah. More than a little bitter.

Aerin Thomas: "Find me a fucking alternative, Alex." His eyes narrow. "I'm serious. I have one, but you won't like it, 'cause you literally will not see him until his mind is healed."

Alexander Donovan: Alex grows very still. Not tense, but that hunter still. The 'I need to decide if I'm going to fight or run' still.

Aerin Thomas: He rises from his sitting position, watching Alex. Almost challenging. "You're defensive. And thinking like I just threatened you by merely insinuating that I would do that. Which if I was going to, I would have done it by now." He steps up to the Simba, locking eyes. "You know what's really pissing me off here, Alex? Would you like to know?"

Alexander Donovan: "Go ahead."

Aerin Thomas: "I'm still the fucking enemy." He scowls. "I have, quite literally, put my rank, my reputation, both here and at my home Sept where Yolanda is from, that of my entire would-be pack, and even my fucking life on the line, and all I've gotten from you, Tony...even fucking BLISS...is hostility and anger. And I'm about five seconds from saying 'Fuck it' and delivering him up to Serenity Manor, where other Gaians can tend to him."

Alexander Donovan: "As opposed to what? I could have stayed there. Enjoyed that kind of life. Even after he snapped me out of it, I could have torched the place with him in it... which he's now suggeting I should have done... rather than risk MY life to take him with me. My reputation IS shot. I might have gotten away with saving him. Even keeping him or bringing him back. But spending the time and effort to try to rebuild him has cost me dearly. Even other of my Kin are now in poor standing because I did not reward his loyalty by abandoning him. By giving him the choice of what to do. By allowing him to stay with me or not as he wanted. YOU can gain in standing for helping him. I'm going to have to claw my way back up because of it..."

Aerin Thomas: d10: Rage: 5,6,7,6, ((WP spent to resist frenzy)) It's easy for the Simba to notice the sudden change in Aerin's posture...the gritting of his teeth, the hunch to his shoulders as the Rage overtakes him. He grits his teeth, hands clenching tightly into fists and crossing over his chest. It looks painful. Physically, very, very painful. One body shouldn't hold that much Rage in anyway...and for Aerin, containing it twice in as many days? It's agonizing. "GET...OUT..." It's said through gritted teeth, in a strangled voice. "Now...before....GO!"

Aerin Thomas: ((Amusingly enough, he's gotten 4 successes exactly twice in his life. Both of them in the last two days.))

Alexander Donovan: "Your right, this is about him, and the conversation has derailed." Alex says that as he's already following instruction, walking to the door calm and orderly. He doesn't run, and his stance isn't aggressive. Prepared for aggression, but unready to offer it, even if it is a forced effort.