Xaviers!

"So I can't just sweep this under the rug and get my frustrations out on the drums?"

"You could. Others have done it before you. I wouldn't advise it though. At some point, you'll need to come to terms with what happened. Maybe not right this moment, but eventually. And sometimes time makes that harder, not easier."

"I think... things didn't really get weird during this until some stuff happened with my other side."

"Or... sides?"

Melissa's mouth quirks into a thoughtful expression. "I'm somewhat familiar with the concept. Multiple... I'd hesitate to call them personalities because that terminology carries unpleasant connotations and I don't really think that's what this is, but at any rate, multiple personalities would explain you sustaining a tri-part shift."

"I know I haven't been as good with our sessions as we'd hoped. I was really going to buckle down in the new semester but... well, it's the new semester now."

"I won't push you now. You need some time to reintegrate. But I'll put some time down on the calendar soon and we'll start doing regular sessions. Exploratory, but also educational, so you can practice your telepathy and we can get a better idea of what's going on."

"That's... fair. I'll honestly make a real effort at it. I'm sorry I've been slacking off."

Melissa waves it away, "By all accounts you've had quite a bit on your plate, so don't be too sorry. But this underscores why we need to do some work."

"So can I assume you're not going to tell them I need a trip to Muir or anything?"

"Not that Muir isn't an excellent facility, but neither I nor Professor Rede would send someone to Muir unless we had exhausted *everything* else and we haven't even started yet."

"I mean, I've been there. It wasn't exactly horrible, but that doesn't mean I'm eager to go back."

"Of course," Melissa says as she stands. "I should probably let you get some rest. I'll let you know about the tutoring as soon as I get a good chance to look at our schedules."

"Alright. I'll keep an eye on my e-mail then."

The night that follows is restless. Sam just can't seem to settle down enough to really get some deep sleep. Even when she does doze off it's fitful; full of vague and confusing dreams. There's a constant feeling of being expected to do something only to be faced with an endless field of impossible puzzle-pieces that just won't fit together and even if they did there's just too many of them to satisfy the dread of not being able to finish the task set before her no matter how much she hurries and tries and fails and stumbles. The pieces all shift and shuffle, taking on faces, memories, impressions. Scenes of violence interspersed with the occasional reprieve of spotting a calm of pleasant scene. Finally one of them seems to open up around her, swallowing her whole as she falls through dark hallways of a familiar, yet unsettlingly different house. She recognizes it as the hallway between her room back home and her sister's, stretched and distorted like only dreams manage to turn something familiar into strangeness without ever losing what makes it resonate in the first place.

But worst of all, she knows this setting, this nightmare. Knows the feeling of hurrying down the hall full of worry and concern only to have any hope for relief dashed when she opens the door and is greeted with an even louder scream from her sister. And she can't make it stop because she can't put herself back together enough, the primal stuff of nightmares not letting her and only reinforcing itself. Eventually she'd fought it back down, somehow, but now she can feel the fear tear into her. The monstrous shape beginning to take hold in her thoughts instead of vice versa. Claws are made for tearing. Thick strands of sinewy muscles so easily crush the door-knob. What's about to happen is so much easier to bear if you just let yourself become the stuff of nightmares...

Before the horrible scene can play out Sam mercifully wakes with a start, her skin roiling just under the surface.

Sam bolts upright, panting and sweating, clutching her arms to herself.

"Just a dream, just a dream..."

Under one of her hands she can feel a strange gliding motion and when she pulls her fingers away the skin splits and an eye the size of the palm of her hand rolls in it's non-existent socket, aimlessly darting back and forth. She can feel the undulating, twitching movement in her arm like a spasming muscle.

"Okay, that's... really gross but... I know how to deal with that."

It's hard to tell who she's trying to convince as she steadies her breath and tries to center her thoughts on her shape as she's done before.

Slowly but surely the skin closes over the eye until it's gone. At least she can't see or feel it anymore. That bump she can feel under the skin with her fingers is supposed to be there, right? Like a regular muscle strand or something. It's not like it's standing out or anything, so surely it's not some strange eyeball sitting just under the surface.

"Alright, that's fine, aye? That's fine. I'm fine."

She lets out a long breath.

Shortly after Sam was able to catch her breath, there was a knock at the door.

"Samantha?"

"...Viv?"

She doesn't look much like she's slept well.

"I have come with gifts of baked goods and breakfast meats. Though I did leave most of the late with Tereza. Have you been cleared to eat?" She says as she slips into the room.

"Oh! You look...Shall I call the doctor?" She quickly sat the basket on the rolling hospital table.

"No, no, that's fine."

"I can eat, it's just... been a rough night."

"I see. Tereza should be along shortly, I am sure her company will be soothing for you." She rolled the table over to the bed and unpacked the basket.

"Apparently I overreached myself a bit. They say I'll be fine, though."

"You did seem to be her main focus and if they were lying you would know." She smiled and offered Sam a muffin.

"And apparently it's pretty exhausting to be more than one person at once," she says, taking the muffin and unwrapping it before having a bite.

"That I can actually imagine. Rest, my request of you can wait until you are sound of mind, body and soul."

"Planning on putting me to work already?" She chuckles.

"Not until you say you are ready. Helping me find the Lady will require us both to be at our best."

"Do you have a new lead on her?"

"There are three locations of historical significance that have been unseasonably warm in the past six months."

"Could be global warming, but it probably wouldn't hurt any of us to get out a bit."

“I had Wanda check out the locations for me, the change is localized enough over a small enough area to warrant closer looks.”

"So how far a field trip are we talking?"

"Wales. Two in north, one in the south."

"So I guess her old stomping grounds? If I remember the stories right."

"In a matter of speaking. Places of power, remote, familiar. Safe."

"I'll try to keep well... my shite on the down-low. Don't want to spook your mum."

"She may welcome you. The Morrigan had a place of great importance to the Fey, honored and necessary. If you begin to feel unwell or...unbalanced, I can approach her first. I am certain that once I am with in a certain distance we will be able to feel one another."