Video| In all my dreams, it's never quite as it seems

[ushahin]

[When the video opens up, Ushahin is lying once again inside his bathtub. It's about five o' clock in the morning, so at least he's only waking up the resident of Hadriel up at the crack of dawn instead of the middle of the night this time. He's considerate that way.]

Does anyone else hear it? The music? It's so lovely.

[There is, of course, no music. What he's hearing is the tune he's caught from passing through someone's mind while they sleep. It's had quite the effect on him.]

Music makes everything quiet inside.

[He starts humming to himself, tapping his fingers to keep rhythm. If that tune sounds somewhat familiar, well, it might have been your mind he was tapping into.]

Comments

[ushahin]

[Of course he's nosy. Curiosity has always been a defining characteristic of what makes him up.]

Ah, yes. Stories.

[He smiles crookedly at his friend.]

That is something I can do quite well.

[ushahin]

[The front door is unlocked. If anyone truly wants to harm him, he's got better defenses than a simple door lock.]

I like it, though I don't drink it too often.

Action

[ushahin]

[Ushahin closes his eyes, lying back in the tub as his mind stretches outward, scanning the dreams of those still asleep in Hadriel. He opens them back up when he senses the spiky head peering around the doorway.

Ushahin waves from where he's lying in the bathtub, curled up under a plaid blanket with a pillow behind his head.]

Hello, Shadow. Did you bring the coffee?

[ushahin]

[Ushahin sighs appreciatively as he curls his hands around the warm mug. Heat always soothes the ache within his bones. He sips the dark brown liquid slowly.]

That was probably a wise choice. I have had too much sugar as of late.

[It's best not to ask how many cookies he ate upon receiving his gifts from Hope.]

[ushahin]

I didn't when I first came here.

[They didn't have coffee in Urulat, lacking the plant that would make it possible. Shadow isn't wrong about Ushahin being ancient. He's an old being by anyone's standards, the Chain of Being stretched long to accommodate his unnatural lifespan.]

But I have learned much from the minds of people since the time I arrived.

[ushahin]

I have learned much of technology from others. I learned how to work this device from skimming the minds of others. Did you know there is a mind here that thinks on the surface almost entirely in numbers?

[And that was just what was next door. Hermann and company provided an endless source of thoughts. It was like being tuned into a very strange radio station.]

I have also learned about pizza. Apparently, it is a very delicious food from a place called Earth and comes in many different forms. It is grown from the pizza plant.

[So not all his details are correct. This is what comes from going into dreams that tend to run on nonsense to get information.]

[ushahin]

Yes. He is a most fascinating person. A mind full of echoes and numbers. You should meet him. [Just don't ask Ushahin to do it. He's pretty sure they're still mad at him for coming over for dinner unexpectedly one night.]

They do have their uses. I believe I have even found some here who can be taught what I know. [Losing his home and family had driven home to Ushahin the importance of passing on what he knew to those who were worthy. Then what Shadow says fully hits him.] The gods here grant requests? [Now that is knowledge worth having.]

[ushahin]

Hmmm...I wonder...

[He gets up from the bathtub, a creaking sound evident as he swings his long legs over the side. He motions for Shadow to follow him, still holding his coffee in his left hand.

The bedroom is mostly bare, the unused bed neat as a pin. Ushahin retrieves a package from beneath it. It's a thick cloth covering an object that's very precious to the Dreamspinner. He uncovers it. There's two pieces of a helmet beneath it, a neat split down right down the middle. It's made of a dark material and it oozes invisible dark energy that's apparent even to those who aren't attuned to psychic waves. This is the Helm of Shadows. He offers one half to Shadow.]

Don't let it touch your bare skin. Can you feel it?

[ushahin]

[Ushahin runs one of his long, crooked fingers down the edge of the helmet. He can stand being near it, but only after using it for so many years. He can feel the dark power calling to him. Well, Shadow had wanted a story. Ushahin would give him a good one in the form of the helmet's history.]

That is the Helm of Shadows. It was once one of the great weapons of Urulat. It was forged by Haomane First-Born and captured on the field of battle during one of the first battles by his brother Satoris Third-Born, who then poured his own energies into the helm until its purpose had been turned for his own use. I used it quite often in his service. It focuses the mind and expands it outward, allowing you to see into the minds of others. It was destroyed during the last battle fought between Satoris and his brother's forces. I took it with me when I fled them. Even broken, I wouldn't trust the helm's powers to my enemies.

I seek to have it repaired.

[ushahin]

Yes. And for someone without powers, it temporarily gives them abilities to control the minds of others.

[He has wondered what the gods' reactions would be. Ushahin doesn't trust them, not a one, and so that's why he has kept Godslayer hidden from all. But they are his only chance to repair it. Mortal hands can't do the same.]

You'd feel the pain and anger and rage of my god Satoris. He poured it all into the Helm when he was shaping it to his will.

[ushahin]

There is always a price for the abilities that can shape the world. Madness was the price for mine. The pain of my master is the price that the Helm demands.

[Not just any pain either. It was a pain of the groin, feeling as if one had been stabbed there, a wound that would never heal. Ushahin can feel a faint echo from half of the Helm he's holding radiating out even now.]

[ushahin]

[Ushahin takes the pieces of the Helm and puts them back inside the cloth, wrapping them up securely, and placing them back where he had taken them from. The coffee he had set aside is nearly cool by this point, but he drinks it anyway.

How can he explain it to Shadow? His pain, his suffering, they are all what makes him up. Without it, he would lose part of who he is. And even if his body was healed, nothing can repair his mind save another with abilities like him.]

Anger is what helps to drive you. Pain is what drives me.

[ushahin]

[It is good to have a friend that accepts him for what he is with condemning him. Too often, Ushahin has faced judgement from others. He watches as the energy flickers around the hedgehog's hands. Now there's something new.]

What is that?

[The fingers of his crooked right hand trace down the gloved palm of Shadow's left hand.]