Cheshire rubbed his temples. This was exactly why he wished to appear to be so flirtatious and aloof, so no one would ask his advice with things like this. It was all so tangled up, so delicate, and Chesh's immediate response was to simply cut through the delicate threads of people's feelings and get right to the heart of the matter, but with these two, Mari and Dumas, it was impossible to ignore their feelings. That was part of what made them so much Cheshire's friends, that they had feelings and now he cared for them. Damn.<br/><br/>"Well, as for dealing with her, I'm sorry, but I'm not a psychologist. I don't know how or why this works, and simply erasing the memories might not even be possible while she's hidden away, it's all so complicated." He lifted his head before adding the next part.<br/><br/>"However," he said, "when it comes to Dumas, the last thing you need to do is apologize. He's not hurt because you hurt him, or even because Shadow you hurt him. No, he's hurt because he hurt YOU. He might have done it on accident, he might truly be free of any blame at all, but if you want to give him any piece of mind, and if you want him to be able to survive another encounter with her, you need to let him know that from the bottom of your heart you forgive him, that you're ok with what happened. And if you're not, you at least need to let him know that you don't hold him even a little responsible and..." Cheshire's signature mischievous grin returned to his face with only a hint of the sadness in his eyes, "if I'm half as good as I think I am at reading the two of you, then you need to know that telling him the truth as to how you feel about him would go a hell of a long ways of fixing this problem and at least half a dozen more Dumas has got rattling around in that shaggy head of his."<br/><br/>Cheshire then sobered up a little bit, dropping the manic edge to his smile to a simple pleasant smirk.<br/><br/>"But like I told Dumas," he added finally, "I can't make your decisions for you, telling you I have all the answers is not something I'm going to profess at having. And I can't tell him your answer, whatever it may be. But I can tell you that I personally would never want you to leave our happy little home, ok? I've grown too fond of you to get along well without."