Maredrauga returned her restrained smile with one of his own, with a soft nod of his head and a motion of his hand towards a seat, added in. "Please do."
Maredrauga's eyes shifted across the varying crowd of those that had their lives stolen by the Fae. The irony of these little events being a lot like almost any other support group wasn't lost on him in the least...
"Is it strange to feel out of place?" Those eyes as black as pitch settle back to Ava.
Eyes crinkling briefly in thanks, she set her plate on the table and sank into the indicated seat. A moment of silence elapsed between them as she settled herself and leaned back, looking first to him and then following his gaze to the rest of the gathering.
At the question her own dark eyes flicked back to meet his, thoughtful. "No, I don't think so." It was a vague question, but she figured she could make a fairly educated guess as to his meaning. "I think it would be stranger if we didn't feel out of place, even at events like these; there's a certain disconnect. How can people go through what they've, we've, gone through and still hang around at a bar, eating finger food and flirting. I'm not saying they shouldn't or can't do any of those things, it's just..." She shrugged with one shoulder and shook her head, momentarily at a loss. "It just strikes me as a little surreal, is all. Though, clearly it doesn't stop me." A chuckle worked its way into her warm, low voice as she gestured toward the plate.
"Feeling out of place?" Her tone was kind and curious, lacking pity. Liberating a morsel from the plate, she nibbled it before pushing the plate toward him slightly and making a gesture that he was welcome to share, if he liked. She wasn't quite beast enough to eat her bounty in front of him without at least offering.
"Aye." Maredrauga said softly, as she obviously understood. He shook his head at the offer of food. "No thanks."
"I hope you don't mind me asking, but didn't you mention something about a Sandman at Edna's?" Maredrauga was curious when he first heard it, but up until this point he had never had a chance to ask. Part of the change of subject, though, was not to dwell on that out of place feeling...
She nodded and tugged the plate back toward herself. "Mm, I don't mind at all, and yeah, I did mention a sandman. A little while ago there was some trouble with this stuff called Daydream Gum; kids were swallowing it and falling into comas. A couple of us got asked to look into it and ended up having a brief jaunt into the dreams of a 'ling who had swallowed the gum recently. We found a sort of dungeon this Sandman had made for himself, where he kept folks, children really, locked up and fed off their emotions. We got the kids out and had a bit of a clash with the Sandman, but it was a running fight- we really weren't prepared." Ava winced and shook her head gently at the memory, certainly not a pleasant one.
"Anyway, I mentioned it at the boarding house because I'd been dreaming about it. Kind of lit a fire again to see things through, once I'm a little more prepared. And once find another lead." The fact that she had been as of yet unable to fulfill her duty as Magister of Nightmares stung her, but the thin silver lining was that it gave her more time to dig into oneiromancy.
Maredrauga tapped his finger softly, starring at the table, all the while listening with interest. "Daydream gum..." He repeated softly. "Ever find out where they got the stuff from?" He asked for a multi-fold purpose.
Ava shook her head with a small grimace. "No. There hasn't been any more of it floating around for awhile, but that's hardly comforting." Ms. Jasons had mentioned new information at the Fair, but she hadn't heard anything since and wasn't keen on badgering an Ogre who had already said she would let them know when she could; if there was silence, she assumed it was for a reason.
Plucking another bite from the plate, she took a thoughtful bite. "Have you done much Oneiromachy?"
"Aye, I have." Maredrauga cocked his head to the side for a moment with his eyes still upon the table. Deep memories of the Dream Poison that almost consumed his last Freehold came rushing to the surface; what little it did not devour scattered to the wind. He quickly stopped the thoughts and pulled himself out of the past and firmly back into the present.
"I know a trio clauses under dreams." The Darkling admitted freely to Ava, as his eyes returned to her. "Do you have any information on the children? Like anything in common; School, Social Activities, et cetera..." Maredrauga figured the best way to find whatever was calling itself Sandman, was to find some Daydream Gum. The best way to do that was to retrace the steps and find the common threads of those that did have contact with the Gum.
The Nix's eyes narrowed a fraction, measuring the man across the table. For all that he didn't hesitate to confirm his knowledge, he certainly didn't linger on the subject.
"No, unfortunately we only ever spoke to the children in the dream. They'd been set up in a special ward at the hospital, one we wouldn't have been able to get into without good reason. And, by the time we got there afterward they were all awake and their families were with them." This felt uncomfortably like a couple of conversations she had had with Mal, where every avenue for a potential follow up was either neatly clipped or outside of her power. She had no idea how to get other people's medical records, legally or otherwise, and the articles in the paper hadn't exactly been enlightening.
"As short sighted as it was at the time, we were simply trying to get them out; we weren't doing our best detective work. But, ah." Her attention wavered, caught up by Daniel's performance. A wince crept in around her eyes, but she admired the effort. The woman that followed him, however, captivated her attention completely with her movements and the welling of a sad, sweet feeling.
"That is understandable." Maredrauga reassuringly said to Ava. A finger moved to his lip, churning over the prospects. It may have appeared he was listening to the performances, though his mind was elsewhere. While he could try to dig up medical records, without knowing more, it would be the proverbial needle in a haystack.
"I guess it begs the question as to what, exactly, you were dealing with..." Maredrauga's hand drifted back down to the table. It was the Gum that was a true oddity in the situation, as there had to have been some method for it to get distributed.
"How is the Goblin Market around here?" Maredrauga head lifted as he glanced back to Ava.
"Mm?" She blinked absently as someone she didn't recognize took the stage and began to sing before she locked back onto Maredrauga. The topic of conversation raced back to the forefront of her brain and she smiled crookedly at his reassurance.
"Dangerous, but I don't know anything first-hand. I arrived in town a short while before the attack on the Freehold, by the dragon Fairweather, so I didn't get much of a chance to see things around here before they changed. Since then the local Hedge hasn't been overly hospitable. But, if you're interested, I'd suggest asking Rick- I'm not sure if he's been to the Market recently, but he's out and about in the Hedge often enough to know a little more."
After a brief pause, she added, "And, we really only call the Sandman a Sandman because the kids did. It wasn't doing anything Sandmen supposedly do, from what I know."
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