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Tianara's panicking subconscious didn't recognize Joshua for who he was at first. She struggled, trying to escape his hold for several seconds before going tense and still as her mind recognized his attempt to help her - for a few seconds that felt like forever, she didn't even seem to breathe.

Then, with a low cry, her body jerked and her eyes snapped open. She had finally escaped the bonds of sleep, but she had had no time to prepare her mental defenses against the Dark One. Her eyes were wide and terrified as she stared at Joshua, her brain too clouded to even remember who he was.

Darkness seemed to settle, enveloping the house more firmly. The creature sensed its advantage, and was taking it. A hint of shadow seemed to flash behind Tianara's dark blue gaze for just a breath, and then it was gone - she was struggling to rally herself and fight it off.

Clinging to the happiness that Joshua was sending her like a lifeline, she tried to pull herself back. But it wouldn't come. She was fading, and if she didn't act quickly, she was going to lose herself in the dark.

Positive, positive...

Her eyes rose up to Joshua. She remembered - faintly - what she had felt before, when she'd gone with that strange impulse. Despite what had happened after, that had been a positive feeling. Fighting the shadow that was threatening to overwhelm her for every inch, her hands rose and settled on his shoulders. She stared into his eyes blindly. Please let him forgive me.

Leaning forward, she tilted her head ever so slightly and touched her lips very lightly to his. And then a lot of things happened all at once.

The darkness vanished as if it had never been, the moonlight came back into the room, the agony disappeared from her eyes. And she collapsed.

((OOC: XD Drama.))

Tianara remained still for several minutes, her breathing so quiet it was almost unnoticeable. To someone glancing in, she might have looked dead. After a little while, though, she stirred. Her lashes fluttered, and she let out a soft, weary sigh.

"...not alone..." she whispered. Her voice had a raw, raspy edge to it, as though she'd been screaming. Had she been screaming? She couldn't remember. Nor could she figure out why Joshua was holding her up, shaking her like some kind of broken doll. There had been...something, hadn't there? She had fallen asleep, and...

Bemused and still incredibly shaken and exhausted, she looked up at him. He had helped her, somehow. Something he had done, or they had done, had stopped...stopped whatever it was.

"...Joshua?" She felt oddly embarrassed when she whispered again. Something else she had said or done had been...she didn't know. It wouldn't all come back - what had just happened had left her mildly traumatized.

Still a little frightened, she closed her eyes, taking comfort in his presence. Whatever had happened, they were safe now.

Mac got a nice helping of food, as did Mike. They both began chowing down on the delicious homemade food. Mac stayed mostly clean as he ate, while Mike was slightly messy. As they ate, Mac put one of the potions on the table in front of Aria.

"Now if you ever need to heal yourself or someone else almost instantly, this will help" he said as the tiny bottle glistened in the light. Its indigo color was very appealing to see. "This is for emergencies, so I don't have to use my powers" he explained.

Mac then continued eating, Mike only looked up once when he began talking, but then resumed eating.

As Tianara listened to what Joshua was saying, her mind was slowly piecing back together what had happened - she didn't remember everything, but she recalled enough to know what he was talking about. She frowned a little at Joshua's words. "They can't," she mumbled. "They can't ignore a challenge. They have to respond to it."

She stared off into the distance for a second, and she remembered what she had felt the need to say. "It wasn't alone," she whispered, remembering. "Something else was working with it - so I couldn't wake up. Dark Ones can't force someone to stay asleep. And they can't ignore challenges. There was something else...helping it."

Then she looked up at him, and another piece clicked back into place. Her eyes widened, and she hastily lowered her gaze again. Had she...really...? Oh God. She knew enough from what Kiro had told her to know that that had been a very, very bad thing to do. It was something important for humans. Granted, she'd been using it as a lifeline, and it might have saved her life, but...still...

Tianara shrugged helplessly. She couldn't think of anything either. There had never been a case like this that she knew of, and at the moment she was straining her magical bond with the merfolk to the limit, trying to warn all those she knew so that they could warn others. This was a distressing new development, but she was sure they could figure out something to counteract it - if given warning.

At Joshua's next words, she flushed again, shaking her head. "It's just...I...I'm sorry, Joshua. I shouldn't have..." She waved her hands around a little, unsure of how to phrase it. "The...kiss, I shouldn't have..."

She made herself look up at him, wondering if she'd just imagined that whole thing. It was possible - she'd been hallucinating about that same time, so maybe she was just crazy.

Mac and Mike had both finished their meals and cleaned off their dishes.

Mac had grown used to not having people panic under situations like these, he needed more people like that. "So, you never told me your dreams" he reminded her, "what do dream about?" he asked looking into her eyes with his sea-blue's reflecting back.

Tianara was nearly as flushed as he was, looking away shyly while he spoke. Inwardly, though, she hurt a little. Had it been that bad for him? "I just...Kiro told me that that's a special thing that humans save for someone...important. I didn't mean to...take it, like that. I..." She shook her head, and at that moment realized that she was still sitting with him, as they had been when he'd been trying to protect her from the Dark One. Embarrassed, she pulled away, curling up on the bed once again.

"I just...well, I'm sorry," she said quietly, strain evident in her voice. It bothered her that she didn't really want to apologize for it. But it had obviously embarrassed Joshua, and that wasn't good. So she sighed and rested her cheek on the pillow, watching him out of weary dark blue eyes. She hoped the merfolk were continuing to contact one another, warning those out of her range about what was going on with this new Dark One, but that was another concern, not connected to the awkwardness between them right now.