Dorm Lobby, Laaaaaaaaaaaaate Thursday Night,
[Immediately follows this.]
Karla took a few seconds to compose herself, wiping her tears away with impatient hands. "There really does need to be a bloody phone-tree for this," she muttered, indulging in a bit of pointless sarcasm to bring her emotions back under control. She slipped the rings Raven left behind onto her finger. She wasn't sure why then had remained when Raven vanished, but they had to be important, right?
Not to mention, she just felt better wearing them. They were a connection, like a promise they'd get her back.
She made a mental list of people she had to call--and then did so, speaking directly into their minds. If they had shields, she banged on them with the equivalent of telepathic fists. If they didn't, she just swanned in and began talking.
*Wake up!* she demanded. *Raven's gone, Trigon's involved, and you lucky people get to come help me get her back.* She thought for a minute and added, *Meet me in the lobby of the dorm in twenty minutes.* Raven's room was handy, but she was calling in faculty and thought it might be weird having them here. Especially considering which faculty she was calling. *Let's go, people! I wasn't kidding about Trigon, dammit!*
Enjoy your wake-up call, darlings.
Jono
At the best of times, Jono would tell you that his own psionic range spanned perhaps the width of a room. Down the hallway at best.
And then, in moments like this, he managed to clear the dorms with no effort at all.
//Trigon!?// He was running down the stairs without so much as pausing to be certain he had all of his things. Twenty minutes. Two. Same thing, right? He'd straighten his wrappings out once he was down there. //But he's... that's not bloody possible!//
And yet.
Karla
*Really? In that case I must have gotten him confused with some other loincloth-wearing, demonic father of Raven's who seems intent on claiming me as his creepy child-bride,* Karla snarked over a psychic thread. Aloud, she was leaving messages for everyone she'd promise to call whenever she left the island on a rescue mission. She really ought to set up a phone tree for that, too.
Jono
//But... how?//
Jonothon asked only the important questions, Karla. Truly.
Karla
"We didn't really get a chance to talk shop when he had me wrapped in his fist," Karla said dryly, looking up from her phone to give him a glance somewhere between amused and exasperated. "Though I did see--" *--Arella was there with him in the Netherverse. Other than that, I've got nothing.*
The transition from voice to psychic thread was seamless as Ender's voicemail picked up and Karla started leaving yet another message.
*But you know how oddly Raven's been acting lately? I think we've finally figured out why.*
And not because Karla had poked the crazy-button. So there, Jono.
Jono
Jono settled at the bottom of the stairs, and then recoiled in shock almost as though he'd been slapped. This wasn't just the suggestion that Raven had neglected to tell them something huge, this was the realization that she'd been outright lying, sinking in now.
//This isn't stress,// he said, something more than a little stung seeping out along with his words. //Good lord, this isn't bloody stress!//
Stop yelling, Jonothon. You could hurt someone like that.
Karla
Karla rubbed her head, darting him a look. The ringing in her ears was purely mental, but rubbing was instinctive. "I know," she said, shutting her phone with a snap. "And as soon as we get her home, we can take her to task for it."
If she'd just told them what the problem was, they could have helped her long before it got to this point!
Jono
Please, pardon Jonothon for a moment, Karla. He couldn't draw in steadying breaths, he couldn't grind his teeth, couldn't scream for fear of mentally debilitating everybody within a two-block radius. But he had to get it out of his system somehow, and so he was just going to turn around, and slam his fist into the nearby wall.
... Which did his fist more damage than the wall by far, but at least he'd vented. He'd worry about bleeding knuckles later.
//Twenty minutes,// he said, once he'd pulled his shaking hand away from the wall and was rubbing at his bruised knuckles idly, //is entirely too long.//
Karla
When Karla had done something like that as a little girl, her nanny or tutor or closest servant would chide, 'That's not helpful, Lady.' Except for sometimes it was.
So Karla just reached for Jono's hand to seal the cuts with Craft if he'd let her and say crisply, "We're waiting for Max and Professor Skywalker. And that time will give us a chance to figure out how to find her, rather than run around in circles."
Jono
Jono didn't know Max from atom. But waiting for Professor Skywalker... That, he could appreciate. If there was any other one person he would trust to tear reality apart to get Raven back, it was him.
He watched the flesh of his knuckles knit, his expression almost frighteningly blank.
//Any ideas yet?//
Karla
"She left these behind," Karla said, holding up her hand with Raven's rings on them. "I think that has to mean something. I'm not sure what, but it's a place to start."
She glanced down at Jono's hands and then at the rings. It was possible that one would fit on his pinky. "Would--would you like to hold onto one?" she asked, trying to hide her reluctance at parting with even one. But Darkness knew that if she needed a connection to Raven, Jono would, too.
Jono
//I...// Jono's gaze drifted down to those rings, lingering there for a moment before, hesitantly, he nodded. //... Please.//
He was angry. He was hurt and terrified and he couldn't quite get his mind off of the million things that could go wrong with this, or the fact that she hadn't told them.
But this was something to hold on to.
He needed that.
Karla
Karla slowly drew one of the rings off and handed it to him. "Here," she said quietly, biting back the admonition not to lose it. He wouldn't. "We're going to get her back," she promised. "We're going to get her back, hug her until she has trouble breathing, and then shake her until whatever idiot part of her brain that suggested not telling us about this falls out. But we'll get her."
Jono
Jonothon nodded quietly, pulling the ring onto his pinky finger with only a little trouble, really. It was a tight fit. That was fine. It meant that it wouldn't come off unless he wanted it to.
And possibly not even then.
//We will,// he agreed, slumping back against the wall and staring numbly at his hand. //So help me, we will.//
Bobby
Bobby didn't waste any time, which meant he didn't exactly bother getting dressed beyond a pair of shorts made of material that wouldn't crumble when he iced up.
"All right," he said once he reached the lobby. "What's going on?"
Karla
And by this point, Karla didn't even raise a brow at Bobby's attire or lack of it. "Basically, Trigon moved into Raven's mind some time ago. I don't know how long, so don't ask, but he'd gotten pretty cozy there. Redecorated and everything." Her lips thinned as she remembered the netherverse covered in bones. "Arella was there, too, looking like she'd just done the Agio Grand Tour. Whatever's going on, we can safely say it isn't good."
Bobby
Bobby just barely stopped himself from saying he knew how she felt.
Having a few key differences of opinion hardly makes me evil, darling, the Emma-in-his-head piped up. And, well, he did have to concede that she still had a point. Although the fact that she was apparently still there after having been quiet for so long was... unsettling.
Still, there wasn't time to dwell on that now. He reached for Sookie's hand and gripped it tightly. She, at least, would get why this particular situation bugged him more than it normally would.
"And you said she's gone," Bobby said. "Physically? How're we going to get to her?"
Karla
"Physically," Karla said, swallowing quickly. Stupid lump in her throat. She held up her hand with one of Raven's rings on it. "This is all she left behind. I had run up to her room because I was worried and ended up linking with her. Then Trigon caught me and Raven showed herself to give me a chance to get away. Next thing I know, she had booted me out of her head and she was gone."
She might have sniffled once or twice in that recitation, but would thank Bobby not to notice.
Kennedy
"When are we ever kidding about these things any more?" Kennedy yelled as she came tearing down the stairs into the lobby, still shrugging into her jacket. "We were about due for another thing, weren't we?"
A year ago she would've sounded more excited about this. Now, she just sounded matter-of-fact, a tiny bit exasperated, and mostly resigned... but still managing to find the humor in it.
Yay, skills she'd need later in life.
Karla
"We keep going around in a circle, so that we all know the joys of needing to call out the cavalry in a time like this," Karla said absently. She was making lists of things she might need and checking to make sure she'd vanished the appropriate supplies. "You should get a head start on planning your turn. See if we can't schedule it to happen some time in the afternoon, after a light lunch and a nap."
She was teasing, but if Kennedy could arrange things that way? Karla would be forever in her debt.
Kennedy
Kennedy huffed a mildly sardonic laugh. "Who's gonna come after me? I'm just a Potential Slayer. No big there. But I'll start making calls just for you. You know, after we get back from this? Maybe I can even arrange for there to be catering right before so nobody has to go on an empty stomach."
Karla
"Potential is still potential, darling," Karla pointed out. "There are people who could use that."
Karla was just filled with happy thoughts tonight.
"Besides, who knows? Maybe your current Slayer will need some help kicking ass and you'll have to call us in anyway."
Kennedy
"You might have a point there," Kennedy had to concede, but with a pleased sort of gratitude; it was always nice when someone had her back on that, after years of getting reminded that she wasn't anything special unless she actually got called.
"At this point? I've got all our usual ass-kicking suspects on speed dial, so you'll be hearing from me then." She shook her head-- that was all sorta-fun speculation, but not the point. "Which, I take it, they're all on their way? 'cause I remember Trigon from last time, and we're gonna need the firepower."
God, Kennedy. Just assume everything's going to come down to kicking ass.
Karla
Considering Karla was mad enough to chew steel and spit tack, Trigon had better hope it didn't just come down to kicking ass. Likely as not, Karla would grab Anakin's lightsaber and use it to deliver a very thorough lesson as to why people did not grab Karla's Court friends.
"They'd better be," she muttered darkly. "I also called in Professor Skywalker and Professor Maximus, just in case."
And if they didn't behave, she would bite them.
Kennedy
For a moment, Kennedy looked like she was going to protest that they were totally fine, they could handle it on their own, but she visibly clamped her jaw shut on that objection and nodded instead.
"Good thing I didn't BS my way through the ethics final, then."
Karla
Which was all for the best, really, since protesting would have started a tirade about going up against a guy named Trigon, Destroyer of Worlds, meant they didn't really have time for ego, especially considering no one had any idea what the Hell Trigon was doing to Raven at that very moment.
See? Second thoughts get you out of pissy lectures from upset witches, Kennedy!
Instead, Karla just gave her a short nod. "I'm going to leave it to you to make sure we've got enough weapons, is that cool? You've got the most supplies and not everyone has something to use."
Kennedy
Well, Kennedy kind of liked being on witches' good side, so she might have to give this whole second-thoughts thing some serious consideration for the long run.
She returned the nod, all business, and already mentally assessing the group. "Give me ten minutes to raid my stash?"
Not that she'd be letting a few of her more prized pointy-hurty things into anybody else's hands, but she had been racking up quite the collection...
Karla
Come on. She'd just had Christmas. Her collection was even bigger now.
"You want to check with Tara, too, to see if there's anything she needs?" Karla asked. "I know her Craft works differently from mine, so while I've got stuff I think will be useful..."
Kennedy
Yes, but the point still stood that nobody was getting their hands on Joni (the crossbow, not the kitten) or the SOLDIER sword Zack had given her.
"It's not necessarily the same stuff," Kennedy supplied, understanding. "I'm so not an expert, but there is a definite... stuff element involved."
Look, for her, that was absolutely waxing eloquent about magic.
Please. Like she knew.
"Uh, Cliffs Notes version being, I'll check with her."
Karla
"You're the best," Karla said, giving Kennedy a wavering, but appreciative smile. "Thanks. Once we figure out where to go, I don't want to wait another damn second before we leave."
Warren
Warren hurried down to the lobby as quickly as he could manage, mostly because there was something spine-chilling about Karla's tone. And, okay, he didn't dislike Raven, and he wouldn't wish anything bad on her, not in a million years.
But there was one pretty important thing that he had to ask, once he made it down to the lobby.
"... What's a Trigon?"
Karla
Karla was just going to take a completely selfish moment and hug the Hell out of Warren before answering. She'd go back to crisp and efficient in a moment, but one of her dearest friends had been taken and she really just needed a hug.
Warren
Warren could wait for the answer, yes. Karla looked more upset about this than any one entity with a funny name had the right to make her, and so it was with a frown on his lips that he wrapped his arms around her, first, and then his wings.
"Hey," he said, softly. "We'll get her back."
Karla
Karla just nodded into his chest for a moment. Or many two or three moments, but who was counting? When she finally did step back, there might have been a damp patch on his shirt where her face had been, but her eyes were dry.
"Damn right we will," she said, pleased her voice didn't quaver. "If Trigon thinks he can keep her from me, he's got another thing coming."
And, right, Warren's question. "Trigon is Raven's father," she explained. "He's a very powerful, very evil demon, with an affinity for loincloths, bombastic speeches, and world domination. He's been trying to get Raven to join with him since she was born, so she could help him with his conquest thing. He's destroyed countless worlds and enslaves bunches of universes and I'd really thought we'd taken care of him last time!"
He also had a thing for Karla, but that just seemed tacky to point out.
Warren
"There was... a last time," Warren said, carefully. "That means that he can be defeated, right?"
Warren reached forward to put a hand on her shoulder. "So, it's just a matter of doing it again. We make it count, this time."
He was very, very pointedly ignoring that whole 'worlds and universes' thing, yes.
Karla
"The last time, Raven's mother sacrificed herself to close him away," Karla said softly, head bowed. "And that didn't hold him. I'm scared of what price we might have to pay to do it again. Permanently."
Warren
Okay, now Warren was kind of getting scared.
"We'll figure something out," he murmured, trying to keep some sense of bravado in the face of his insides twisting about. "We will."
They didn't have any choice. The alternative was... terrifying.
Sookie
Sookie had arrived on Bobby's heels, pulling her hair into a ponytail as she hurried down the stairs. Her shoes, slipped on as hastily as the jeans she'd thrown on under her nightgown, were untied.
But none of that mattered.
"When're we leaving?" she asked, slightly out of breath as she reached out to Karla. Panic or no, Sookie wasn't going to stand by and not hug her.
Karla
And Karla was just going to cling right back. Hope you didn't need to breath just then, Sookie. "As soon as Ana--Professor Skywalker arrives," she answered. Never mind that she wasn't entirely sure where they were going yet. Details. "He should be the furthest away. But as soon as he's here, we're going."
Somewhere.
Sookie
"Do you want me to get provisions?" Sookie offered, rubbing her back. Pff, she didn't need to breathe, anyway. "While we're waiting?"
Karla
"That would be astral," Karla said gratefully. "I expect I'll be blowing through a lot of Craft and I'll need stuff on hand to eat." Karla would have no problems destroying vast swathes of Trigon's territories to get Raven back, or burning through half her Sapphire on the off-chance something would harm him. "Plus Bobby and Kennedy, too. We're going to need some high-calorie fuel to keep up going."
Sookie
"I'll raid the common rooms for peanut butter and granola bars," Sookie said with a swift nod. "Don't take off without me, okay?"
She paused, pulling away, and added, "We'll get her back, sweetie. We will."
Karla
"Damn right we will," Karla said, balling her hands into fists. "I don't care if we have to call in every favor any of us have. I'm not leaving her with him."
If that meant calling in Bill, Eric, Alcide, and that guy from the bar, Karla would do it.
Tara
Tara had clearly dressed in haste -- her t-shirt offered scant protection against the weather, and the jacket she'd tugged over it didn't match at all.
"A demon got Raven?" she asked nervously, since to her that was more important than the fact the demon was Raven's father. "Do we know how?"
Karla
"Not entirely," Karla said, with a quick shake of her head. "All I know was that he was in her head--in her soul, even. Somehow, though, he was able to take over and abduct her. She just vanished! Right out of her room. Something with the netherverse, surely, but damned if I know how!"
That 'how' had been on the ragged edge of a sob, but Karla took a deep breath and pushed that all down. Find Raven first, cry about it later.
Tara
Oh. Oh no.
"I kind of saw that," Tara admitted hesitantly. "There was -- she had a presence I couldn't figure out, but she was still acting like herself, so..."
She shook it off for the moment. "Vanished right out of her room, huh? Did you see it happen?"
Karla
"I didn't," Karla said, shaking her head. "I was in her mind and by the time I got pushed out, she was already gone."
She held up her hand. "All that was left behind were her rings, the ones she'd gotten from Azar. I have one. Jono has the other."
Tara
"Can I see?" Tara asked, feeling an odd nagging pull toward the rings. "Maybe we could scry for her with them. Or -- something like that. If it's all we have..."
Karla
Karla reluctantly tugged off the ring and handed it over to Tara to examine. If it got them to Raven faster, then anything was worth it. "Maybe some kind of locating spell?" she suggested. "Like Morton said you did for me?"
Tara
"That's what I was thinking," Tara agreed, playing with the ring a bit. She tried it on, idly, and frowned. It was --
"Wow," she said, suddenly very spacey.
Karla
"Tara?" Karla said, a little concerned. She snapped her fingers in front of Tara's face. "You okay?"
Tara
"It's just really strong," Tara said, still sounding surprised. "Like ... her whole aura is in this ring. I think if we did a seance with these as a focal point we could maybe see her."
Karla
"You think so?" Karla stopped reaching for the ring, dropping her hand back down to her side. "Do you think we could call her back to us? Or at least be able to figure out where she is now?"
She wasn't sure what a seance was, but she was willing to try anything that had a chance to get Raven back.
Tara
"It's hard to explain," Tara said. "I just ... I get this feeling they're linked to her soul, and her soul comes out of her body, right? So if we call to her we might be able to get her soul to come and tell us where her body is."
She had a feeling it wasn't entirely her idea. Almost as if this was what the rings themselves wanted her to do...
Karla
Karla looked dubious, but was willing to go along with it, as that was more Tara's kind of magic than hers. "If you think you know how to make it work, go for it," she said. "That's not really something I'd be much use with."
Tara
"It can't make things worse," Tara said, jaw jutting in determination. "Give me a minute to ... kind of center myself? And I'll call the rest of you over when we're ready."
Karla
"Do whatever you need," Karla said, reaching out for Tara's hand to squeeze for luck. "Jono has the second, if you think you might need it."
He might protest a bit, but if Tara thought she could find Raven with it, Karla would take it back by force if she needed to.
"And Kennedy was planning on swinging by the Magic Box to get some supplies if you needed them. Just let her know."
Max
It wasn't often that Max busted out his armor, but when he showed up at the lobby he was decked out. Armored, armed, and... it looked like he'd shaved. Max looked like what he was: a very, very dangerous man.
Karla
Karla took a moment to look him up and down and then nodded once. "Thank you for coming," she said quietly. She'd never thought that he might not show up--Karla had faith Max would come whenever she was in danger--but, at the same time, she couldn't help but be aware of how much trouble she and Raven had put him through already.
Max
"You called." He wasn't sure he would have volunteered himself, but Karla had called. And in this, at least, he trusted her judgment.
Karla
"It's Trigon," Karla said shortly. "I'm calling out every big gun I can get my hands on. He took her. He invaded her mind and lived in her soul and he took her. I don't want him defeated; I want him dead."
Max
It was a good thing that Raven wasn't around to see Max's slow smile. Because it wasn't even remotely friendly.
"That, I think, I can handle." Max was, after all, very good at killing.
Karla
"Good," Karla said. "I'll hold you to that. In fact, we'll call it a belated Winsol gift."
He could give her Trigon's head! Like a planter or something!
Max
Max liked this plan. So he nodded firmly and reached down to lightly touch the hilt of his sword.
Mmm... decapitation.
Karla
It's the gift that keeps on giving?
"As soon as we figure out where he took Raven and how to get there, we're gone," Karla said. She didn't add 'and try not to fight with Anakin in the mean time,' but thought it really hard.
Max
Max didn't know that Anakin had been invited.
Which probably explained the lack of furious scowl.
Karla
They could channel their rage into killing Trigon or Karla would be happy to tell them both what she thought about two grown males who decided to have a cock-measuring contest while Raven was missing.
Go ahead. She was just itching to scream at someone.
Emma
Emma had practically fallen out of bed at the sudden telepathic assault, and she'd been reflexively reaching for the bracelet on her nightstand to help fend it off before realizing it was Karla who was rattling her metaphysical walls.
She had taken the time to get dressed properly, knowing Karla was probably trying to herd cats, and she could take fifteen minutes to prepare. Which is why it was an Emma sensibly dressed in sturdy hiking boots, jeans, and a well-worn (and loved) winter fleece that made her way downstairs, hair sensibly back in a ponytail. It was a look that none of her classmates had probably seen on her before, since all these clothes had lain, hidden, at the back of her closet since she'd arrived at Fandom. But it was January, and like hell she was going out to chase after Raven in her nice shoes.
"Are we quite sure my inclusion won't make the situation worse?" she drawled, leaning against the wall as they waited for others to arrive. "Raven's stance on me using my gifts anywhere near her has been well-documented."
Not that it would stop Emma if she needed to slap a leash on the other girl again.
Karla
"I don't give a damn if Raven wants to pitch a fit at you being there," Karla said a little shortly. "We'll have to get her away from Trigon before she can care. And you're useful, you're clever, and you're ruthless, all of which I need."
There would be no hand-holding tonight. Especially not of little empaths who hadn't bothered to tell anyone their demonic fathers were moving into their souls. Maybe if Emma had just gone a little deeper, this all could have been avoided.
Emma
"Kiss kiss, darling. That sort of flattery is going to get you in trouble eventually," Emma warned, a spark of humor twisting into a faint smile. "Now, what do you need Auntie Emma to do right this moment?"
Besides 'sit on Jonothon and keep him from doing anything stupid,' but Emma rather figured that was a given.
Karla
"Right this minute?" Karla glanced around, her eyes stopping on Jono, and then figuring that if he needed sitting on, Emma would rise to the challenge without being asked. "Could you make sure everyone has what they need so we can just go when it's time? I don't know when or where, but I'll be damned if we have to wait any longer because someone forgot something in their room."
Emma
"Consider it done," Emma replied. "Starting with you, and then I'll pester those still in their pajamas. Have you vanished all your healing supplies already? Water bottle? Tea?"
Someone had to fuss at Karla in Morton's absence before they left, if she was going to be all Queen-ish at them.
Karla
See? Karla had said Emma was useful!
"Uhh, no," she muttered, looking a trifle abashed. "I didn't even stop by my room on my way downstairs. I have my basic stuff, but that's it." She shook her head and sighed. "Sookie's gathering everything we'll need to eat, since we've got me, Bobby, and Kennedy on this trip. I don't know if she's thought of water, tea, or coffee or anything."
Emma
"Food is good," Emma agreed, "especially given how many of us have rather high metabolisms due to our powers."
She held out one hand commandingly. "Room key," she said by way of explanation. "You want to be down here, so I'll go get what you need. Just ride along in my head so I don't grab peppermint instead of...whatever."
Karla
Karla called it in and handed it over. "Thank you," she said, grateful. "Don't worry about waking Gabrielle; she'll understand. Speed is important now. Grab whatever you think looks important and check with me about anything else."
Dinah
UP! I'm up! Dinah sat upright, and looked around, bewildered, as if Raven were going to appear before her. She was even more bewildered for a moment to be in the Hotel, then remembered: visit, back, not in dorms. Oh. Got it! There ASAP!
She was there in fifteen, throwing money at the rickshaw guy as she jumped out, and calling to Karla as she rushed in, "What's Loincloth Boy done now?"
Karla
"Same old tricks," Karla growled, pacing. Her fingers were white where she had them wrapped around her upper arms. "Propositioned me again. Invaded Raven's mind and soul. Snatched her out of her own bed and from my very grasp. You know. That kind of stuff."
Dinah
There was a question that needed to be asked. Even if the answer was going to make Dinah be sick. "What happened to Arella?" Then she leaned forward and placed her hand over Karla's. You okay? Nothing worse?
Karla
"She was there, with him, in Raven's mind," Karla said, trying not to bring the image of Arella up where Dinah could see her. "She looked...bad. She looked like she's been going through her own personal Agio ever since we left her there."
Karla figured Dinah could figure out enough from just that.
*Nothing worse,* she sent, steadfastly ignoring how much it had hurt to breath while Trigon had held her. *He wasn't entirely pleased when I bit him, but he was more interested in taking Raven than harassing me. She kicked me out of her mind before he could do anything worse.*
Dinah
Go, you. Too bad there's no good way to kick him in the gonads when he's the size of a building.And God, Raven-- trying to protect you? Dinah gritted her teeth, and said aloud, "We need to get Arella out of there too. Somehow. There has to be another way to deal with Raven's dad."
She took a breath, and straightened. "Right. Do we know where he took her?"
Karla
Karla was just going to give Dinah a look for that. No offense meant, Dinah, Karla was just in a pissy mood.
"If we did, don't you think we'd already be on our way there!?"
In her defense, she was having a really crappy night so far.
Dinah
Dinah refrained from pointing out that their favorite teleporter had taken herself elsewhere, so, yeah, they might be waiting on a Portalocity vortex. Or a better suggestion, like holding Portalocity hostage.
"Breathe," she suggested. Firmly. "We're doing everything we can as fast as we can. And it will be enough, damnit."
Karla
Karla took a deep breath and then another. "We have no idea where he took her," she said, which was sort of like an apology, if you squinted and spoke fluent Karla. "She was just gone. I opened my eyes and the bed was empty, save for her rings."
Dinah
Karla's frustration was hugely evident in that small summary. "Okay, that's -- odd. Are they magic, or something that couldn't go through a Netherverse? Why leave them?"
Karla
"I don't know," Karla snarled, clinging to anger because it wasn't tears. "I don't know anything. Not where he took her or how or why they stayed behind or anything at all! All I know is that he has her and we have to get her back, but I don't know how to do that, either!"
Dinah
Calming Karla down might help-- or maybe not. Energy was good, even if it was mostly fury. "We don't know yet. C'mon. Think. We know it's Trigon; we know he's always wanted Raven to be his-- gateway, to this world." She took a breath. "He'll take her somewhere he can make her agree to it. Last time we got through from Azarath; that won't work. We'll make another one if we have to. Grab Portalocity, find a teleporter, make a channel." She stomped down on her own fear for Raven. "You've already gotten all of us here. You're doing good."
Karla
"Could you call Portalocity?" Karla asked. "Tell them we need an emergency portal on standby and we're not sure where it needs to go yet? Money's no object and get as nasty as you need to."
Dinah
"On it!"
Dinah could be heard making low-voiced threats commentary to Portalocity, along with cajoling bribes, and eventually came back with, "It's going to cost us enough to buy a jet, and they'll need five minutes start-up time to get an emergency portal to us, but they said they can do it. But we better not be bringing illegal drugs or malicious dogs with us."
Anakin
Anakin had a much longer commute than the rest of them, and was the last to arrive.
He'd still come pretty close to getting there in twenty minutes. Don't ask about how many traffic laws he'd broken to do so.
"Trigon?" he demanded.
Karla
"Thank the Darkness," Karla said fervently when she saw him. Anakin would know what to do. Both times he'd met Trigon, Trigon had been defeated. Karla was counting on him now.
"Yes," she answered. "In her mind. In her soul. Living there and looking like he'd had plenty of time to get comfortable."
How could they all have been so blind? How could this have happened under their very noses?
Anakin
Anakin didn't look all that surprised to hear it, but he growled out a truly foul Bothan curse under his breath anyway. "How did he get her to do something physically?" he demanded.
Karla
Karla had been trying to figure that out for the last twenty minutes. "My best guess is that he somehow got her to use her Soul-Self to vanish," Karla said. "He seemed completely in control of the netherverse and I know that's a portal to other places. But I don't know where or how!"
She had a pretty good guess as for the why, though. Evil, plain and simple.
Anakin
"Great," Anakin said. "I should have put a tracking device on her." He glanced around at the group gathered. "Is there a plan yet?"
Karla
"So far I've gotten 'summon the cavalry' and 'get her back' on the list," Karla said. "It's the stuff in between that's still up in the air."
She wasn't trying to be flippant, but balls and sass were all that stood between her and bursting into tears without end.
Anakin
Anakin ran his hands through his hair. "Okay. I can't track her through the...wherever it is her Soul-Self goes. Can anyone else?"
Karla
"I can't," Karla said shaking her head. "We're seeing if Tara can do a locating spell with the rings Raven left behind as a focus."
Anakin
"And Plan B?" he asked.
Karla
"Brainstorm harder," Karla said dryly. "Ask our teacher for guidance."
Anakin
"I'm not sure Portalicity travels to her home dimension," Anakin said, thinking aloud, "but I can make some calls?"
Karla
"Worth a shot," Karla said. "I don't know if she'd go back to Azarath if she had any choice in the matter--" and since they were talking about Trigon, she probably didn't "--but they might have a way to track her that we don't."
See? Already a great idea. Karla was grateful she'd called Anakin.
Anakin
Anakin pursed his lips--he hadn't been impressed by the people of Azarath--but nodded. "It's better than trying to track down the idiots who interrupted the ceremony last time."
Karla
Karla snorted. "They couldn't find their ass with both hands and a bloody map, never mind, Raven," she snapped. "I'm not about to go ask Little Miss Tap-Pants."
Anakin
Anakin made a very amusing joke in his head about how that particular one could probably find her ass, since it had been just hanging out there, but kept it to himself.
"Stupid allies are more useless than no allies at all," he declared. "We won't try to contact them."
Karla
"They're not our allies," Karla replied, somewhat stubbornly. "At best they're hindrances. They'd probably just be glad Raven was gone!"
And then Karla would explain why expressing that sentiment in her hearing was a poor plan.
Anakin
"They wouldn't have worked with Trigon to have anything to do with this, would they?" Anakin asked, eyes sharpening.
Karla
Karla paused in thought, then reluctantly shook her head. "I doubt it," she said slowly. "They think Trigon's as awful as we do. I don't think they'd ever ally themselves with him."
Tara
"Hey," Tara said, in a voice both soft and determined as she approached Jono. "Do you still have Raven's other ring?" She opened her palm to show him the ring she'd gotten from Karla.
"I ... kind of feel like if I do a spell with them, I could find Raven. Or at least her soul."
Jono
//I...// To say that Jono had been slightly distracted when Tara had approached him might have been a gross understatement. It took him a few moments, incomprehension settling over his features like a shroud, before he actually managed to backtrack, think about what she'd said, and pull himself from the blank stare that he'd directed toward the ring in her hand.
//I... do,// he replied, a touch uncertain as he moved to pry the ring from his finger. It was a bit of a wrestle. It was too small for his hand, but he'd forced it on regardless. Still, he managed to work it free, holding it out and eyeing at it somewhat numbly. //Is there anything else I can do to help?//
Gold star, Jono, for actually managing a coherent sentence.
Tara
Jono'a aura always overwhelmed Tara. Jono's aura when he was this sad and empty was ... it felt like a cold midnight everywhere around him, if cold midnights came in technicolor. Tara almost wanted to step back, though she didn't.
"I'll need you to help me in a second," she said, still speaking slowly as she took the ring and held it up to the light for a moment. "Y-you have her heart, and her heart is the best way to her soul."
She glanced up at him, managing a lopsided smile that tried hard to be comforting. "We'll get her back. Promise."
Jono
Jonothon nodded a little. She was making the attempt to be comforting, but the thought that there might be a way to get in touch with Raven, that was doing far more for him than a small smile and some reassuring words.
Jono didn't tend to put much stock in words, anymore.
//Just point me in th'right direction, luv. I'll do whatever I can.//
Tara
"I'll call you over as soon as I'm ready," Tara promised, wishing she felt more certain about all of this. (Though the rings gave her their own jolt of certainty, the longer she held them.) She slipped the rings over her thumb and retreated to a quiet bit of the room.
[Preplayed with blondecanary, brat_intraining, furious_maximus, furnaceface, icecoldfrost, justwantsquiet, life_inshadow, longislandiceme, not_a_parakeet, and sith_happened. NFI and NFB as it's after radio, but OOC, as always, is welcome.]
Karla took a few seconds to compose herself, wiping her tears away with impatient hands. "There really does need to be a bloody phone-tree for this," she muttered, indulging in a bit of pointless sarcasm to bring her emotions back under control. She slipped the rings Raven left behind onto her finger. She wasn't sure why then had remained when Raven vanished, but they had to be important, right?
Not to mention, she just felt better wearing them. They were a connection, like a promise they'd get her back.
She made a mental list of people she had to call--and then did so, speaking directly into their minds. If they had shields, she banged on them with the equivalent of telepathic fists. If they didn't, she just swanned in and began talking.
*Wake up!* she demanded. *Raven's gone, Trigon's involved, and you lucky people get to come help me get her back.* She thought for a minute and added, *Meet me in the lobby of the dorm in twenty minutes.* Raven's room was handy, but she was calling in faculty and thought it might be weird having them here. Especially considering which faculty she was calling. *Let's go, people! I wasn't kidding about Trigon, dammit!*
Enjoy your wake-up call, darlings.
Jono
At the best of times, Jono would tell you that his own psionic range spanned perhaps the width of a room. Down the hallway at best.
And then, in moments like this, he managed to clear the dorms with no effort at all.
//Trigon!?// He was running down the stairs without so much as pausing to be certain he had all of his things. Twenty minutes. Two. Same thing, right? He'd straighten his wrappings out once he was down there. //But he's... that's not bloody possible!//
And yet.
Karla
*Really? In that case I must have gotten him confused with some other loincloth-wearing, demonic father of Raven's who seems intent on claiming me as his creepy child-bride,* Karla snarked over a psychic thread. Aloud, she was leaving messages for everyone she'd promise to call whenever she left the island on a rescue mission. She really ought to set up a phone tree for that, too.
Jono
//But... how?//
Jonothon asked only the important questions, Karla. Truly.
Karla
"We didn't really get a chance to talk shop when he had me wrapped in his fist," Karla said dryly, looking up from her phone to give him a glance somewhere between amused and exasperated. "Though I did see--" *--Arella was there with him in the Netherverse. Other than that, I've got nothing.*
The transition from voice to psychic thread was seamless as Ender's voicemail picked up and Karla started leaving yet another message.
*But you know how oddly Raven's been acting lately? I think we've finally figured out why.*
And not because Karla had poked the crazy-button. So there, Jono.
Jono
Jono settled at the bottom of the stairs, and then recoiled in shock almost as though he'd been slapped. This wasn't just the suggestion that Raven had neglected to tell them something huge, this was the realization that she'd been outright lying, sinking in now.
//This isn't stress,// he said, something more than a little stung seeping out along with his words. //Good lord, this isn't bloody stress!//
Stop yelling, Jonothon. You could hurt someone like that.
Karla
Karla rubbed her head, darting him a look. The ringing in her ears was purely mental, but rubbing was instinctive. "I know," she said, shutting her phone with a snap. "And as soon as we get her home, we can take her to task for it."
If she'd just told them what the problem was, they could have helped her long before it got to this point!
Jono
Please, pardon Jonothon for a moment, Karla. He couldn't draw in steadying breaths, he couldn't grind his teeth, couldn't scream for fear of mentally debilitating everybody within a two-block radius. But he had to get it out of his system somehow, and so he was just going to turn around, and slam his fist into the nearby wall.
... Which did his fist more damage than the wall by far, but at least he'd vented. He'd worry about bleeding knuckles later.
//Twenty minutes,// he said, once he'd pulled his shaking hand away from the wall and was rubbing at his bruised knuckles idly, //is entirely too long.//
Karla
When Karla had done something like that as a little girl, her nanny or tutor or closest servant would chide, 'That's not helpful, Lady.' Except for sometimes it was.
So Karla just reached for Jono's hand to seal the cuts with Craft if he'd let her and say crisply, "We're waiting for Max and Professor Skywalker. And that time will give us a chance to figure out how to find her, rather than run around in circles."
Jono
Jono didn't know Max from atom. But waiting for Professor Skywalker... That, he could appreciate. If there was any other one person he would trust to tear reality apart to get Raven back, it was him.
He watched the flesh of his knuckles knit, his expression almost frighteningly blank.
//Any ideas yet?//
Karla
"She left these behind," Karla said, holding up her hand with Raven's rings on them. "I think that has to mean something. I'm not sure what, but it's a place to start."
She glanced down at Jono's hands and then at the rings. It was possible that one would fit on his pinky. "Would--would you like to hold onto one?" she asked, trying to hide her reluctance at parting with even one. But Darkness knew that if she needed a connection to Raven, Jono would, too.
Jono
//I...// Jono's gaze drifted down to those rings, lingering there for a moment before, hesitantly, he nodded. //... Please.//
He was angry. He was hurt and terrified and he couldn't quite get his mind off of the million things that could go wrong with this, or the fact that she hadn't told them.
But this was something to hold on to.
He needed that.
Karla
Karla slowly drew one of the rings off and handed it to him. "Here," she said quietly, biting back the admonition not to lose it. He wouldn't. "We're going to get her back," she promised. "We're going to get her back, hug her until she has trouble breathing, and then shake her until whatever idiot part of her brain that suggested not telling us about this falls out. But we'll get her."
Jono
Jonothon nodded quietly, pulling the ring onto his pinky finger with only a little trouble, really. It was a tight fit. That was fine. It meant that it wouldn't come off unless he wanted it to.
And possibly not even then.
//We will,// he agreed, slumping back against the wall and staring numbly at his hand. //So help me, we will.//
Bobby
Bobby didn't waste any time, which meant he didn't exactly bother getting dressed beyond a pair of shorts made of material that wouldn't crumble when he iced up.
"All right," he said once he reached the lobby. "What's going on?"
Karla
And by this point, Karla didn't even raise a brow at Bobby's attire or lack of it. "Basically, Trigon moved into Raven's mind some time ago. I don't know how long, so don't ask, but he'd gotten pretty cozy there. Redecorated and everything." Her lips thinned as she remembered the netherverse covered in bones. "Arella was there, too, looking like she'd just done the Agio Grand Tour. Whatever's going on, we can safely say it isn't good."
Bobby
Bobby just barely stopped himself from saying he knew how she felt.
Having a few key differences of opinion hardly makes me evil, darling, the Emma-in-his-head piped up. And, well, he did have to concede that she still had a point. Although the fact that she was apparently still there after having been quiet for so long was... unsettling.
Still, there wasn't time to dwell on that now. He reached for Sookie's hand and gripped it tightly. She, at least, would get why this particular situation bugged him more than it normally would.
"And you said she's gone," Bobby said. "Physically? How're we going to get to her?"
Karla
"Physically," Karla said, swallowing quickly. Stupid lump in her throat. She held up her hand with one of Raven's rings on it. "This is all she left behind. I had run up to her room because I was worried and ended up linking with her. Then Trigon caught me and Raven showed herself to give me a chance to get away. Next thing I know, she had booted me out of her head and she was gone."
She might have sniffled once or twice in that recitation, but would thank Bobby not to notice.
Kennedy
"When are we ever kidding about these things any more?" Kennedy yelled as she came tearing down the stairs into the lobby, still shrugging into her jacket. "We were about due for another thing, weren't we?"
A year ago she would've sounded more excited about this. Now, she just sounded matter-of-fact, a tiny bit exasperated, and mostly resigned... but still managing to find the humor in it.
Yay, skills she'd need later in life.
Karla
"We keep going around in a circle, so that we all know the joys of needing to call out the cavalry in a time like this," Karla said absently. She was making lists of things she might need and checking to make sure she'd vanished the appropriate supplies. "You should get a head start on planning your turn. See if we can't schedule it to happen some time in the afternoon, after a light lunch and a nap."
She was teasing, but if Kennedy could arrange things that way? Karla would be forever in her debt.
Kennedy
Kennedy huffed a mildly sardonic laugh. "Who's gonna come after me? I'm just a Potential Slayer. No big there. But I'll start making calls just for you. You know, after we get back from this? Maybe I can even arrange for there to be catering right before so nobody has to go on an empty stomach."
Karla
"Potential is still potential, darling," Karla pointed out. "There are people who could use that."
Karla was just filled with happy thoughts tonight.
"Besides, who knows? Maybe your current Slayer will need some help kicking ass and you'll have to call us in anyway."
Kennedy
"You might have a point there," Kennedy had to concede, but with a pleased sort of gratitude; it was always nice when someone had her back on that, after years of getting reminded that she wasn't anything special unless she actually got called.
"At this point? I've got all our usual ass-kicking suspects on speed dial, so you'll be hearing from me then." She shook her head-- that was all sorta-fun speculation, but not the point. "Which, I take it, they're all on their way? 'cause I remember Trigon from last time, and we're gonna need the firepower."
God, Kennedy. Just assume everything's going to come down to kicking ass.
Karla
Considering Karla was mad enough to chew steel and spit tack, Trigon had better hope it didn't just come down to kicking ass. Likely as not, Karla would grab Anakin's lightsaber and use it to deliver a very thorough lesson as to why people did not grab Karla's Court friends.
"They'd better be," she muttered darkly. "I also called in Professor Skywalker and Professor Maximus, just in case."
And if they didn't behave, she would bite them.
Kennedy
For a moment, Kennedy looked like she was going to protest that they were totally fine, they could handle it on their own, but she visibly clamped her jaw shut on that objection and nodded instead.
"Good thing I didn't BS my way through the ethics final, then."
Karla
Which was all for the best, really, since protesting would have started a tirade about going up against a guy named Trigon, Destroyer of Worlds, meant they didn't really have time for ego, especially considering no one had any idea what the Hell Trigon was doing to Raven at that very moment.
See? Second thoughts get you out of pissy lectures from upset witches, Kennedy!
Instead, Karla just gave her a short nod. "I'm going to leave it to you to make sure we've got enough weapons, is that cool? You've got the most supplies and not everyone has something to use."
Kennedy
Well, Kennedy kind of liked being on witches' good side, so she might have to give this whole second-thoughts thing some serious consideration for the long run.
She returned the nod, all business, and already mentally assessing the group. "Give me ten minutes to raid my stash?"
Not that she'd be letting a few of her more prized pointy-hurty things into anybody else's hands, but she had been racking up quite the collection...
Karla
Come on. She'd just had Christmas. Her collection was even bigger now.
"You want to check with Tara, too, to see if there's anything she needs?" Karla asked. "I know her Craft works differently from mine, so while I've got stuff I think will be useful..."
Kennedy
Yes, but the point still stood that nobody was getting their hands on Joni (the crossbow, not the kitten) or the SOLDIER sword Zack had given her.
"It's not necessarily the same stuff," Kennedy supplied, understanding. "I'm so not an expert, but there is a definite... stuff element involved."
Look, for her, that was absolutely waxing eloquent about magic.
Please. Like she knew.
"Uh, Cliffs Notes version being, I'll check with her."
Karla
"You're the best," Karla said, giving Kennedy a wavering, but appreciative smile. "Thanks. Once we figure out where to go, I don't want to wait another damn second before we leave."
Warren
Warren hurried down to the lobby as quickly as he could manage, mostly because there was something spine-chilling about Karla's tone. And, okay, he didn't dislike Raven, and he wouldn't wish anything bad on her, not in a million years.
But there was one pretty important thing that he had to ask, once he made it down to the lobby.
"... What's a Trigon?"
Karla
Karla was just going to take a completely selfish moment and hug the Hell out of Warren before answering. She'd go back to crisp and efficient in a moment, but one of her dearest friends had been taken and she really just needed a hug.
Warren
Warren could wait for the answer, yes. Karla looked more upset about this than any one entity with a funny name had the right to make her, and so it was with a frown on his lips that he wrapped his arms around her, first, and then his wings.
"Hey," he said, softly. "We'll get her back."
Karla
Karla just nodded into his chest for a moment. Or many two or three moments, but who was counting? When she finally did step back, there might have been a damp patch on his shirt where her face had been, but her eyes were dry.
"Damn right we will," she said, pleased her voice didn't quaver. "If Trigon thinks he can keep her from me, he's got another thing coming."
And, right, Warren's question. "Trigon is Raven's father," she explained. "He's a very powerful, very evil demon, with an affinity for loincloths, bombastic speeches, and world domination. He's been trying to get Raven to join with him since she was born, so she could help him with his conquest thing. He's destroyed countless worlds and enslaves bunches of universes and I'd really thought we'd taken care of him last time!"
He also had a thing for Karla, but that just seemed tacky to point out.
Warren
"There was... a last time," Warren said, carefully. "That means that he can be defeated, right?"
Warren reached forward to put a hand on her shoulder. "So, it's just a matter of doing it again. We make it count, this time."
He was very, very pointedly ignoring that whole 'worlds and universes' thing, yes.
Karla
"The last time, Raven's mother sacrificed herself to close him away," Karla said softly, head bowed. "And that didn't hold him. I'm scared of what price we might have to pay to do it again. Permanently."
Warren
Okay, now Warren was kind of getting scared.
"We'll figure something out," he murmured, trying to keep some sense of bravado in the face of his insides twisting about. "We will."
They didn't have any choice. The alternative was... terrifying.
Sookie
Sookie had arrived on Bobby's heels, pulling her hair into a ponytail as she hurried down the stairs. Her shoes, slipped on as hastily as the jeans she'd thrown on under her nightgown, were untied.
But none of that mattered.
"When're we leaving?" she asked, slightly out of breath as she reached out to Karla. Panic or no, Sookie wasn't going to stand by and not hug her.
Karla
And Karla was just going to cling right back. Hope you didn't need to breath just then, Sookie. "As soon as Ana--Professor Skywalker arrives," she answered. Never mind that she wasn't entirely sure where they were going yet. Details. "He should be the furthest away. But as soon as he's here, we're going."
Somewhere.
Sookie
"Do you want me to get provisions?" Sookie offered, rubbing her back. Pff, she didn't need to breathe, anyway. "While we're waiting?"
Karla
"That would be astral," Karla said gratefully. "I expect I'll be blowing through a lot of Craft and I'll need stuff on hand to eat." Karla would have no problems destroying vast swathes of Trigon's territories to get Raven back, or burning through half her Sapphire on the off-chance something would harm him. "Plus Bobby and Kennedy, too. We're going to need some high-calorie fuel to keep up going."
Sookie
"I'll raid the common rooms for peanut butter and granola bars," Sookie said with a swift nod. "Don't take off without me, okay?"
She paused, pulling away, and added, "We'll get her back, sweetie. We will."
Karla
"Damn right we will," Karla said, balling her hands into fists. "I don't care if we have to call in every favor any of us have. I'm not leaving her with him."
If that meant calling in Bill, Eric, Alcide, and that guy from the bar, Karla would do it.
Tara
Tara had clearly dressed in haste -- her t-shirt offered scant protection against the weather, and the jacket she'd tugged over it didn't match at all.
"A demon got Raven?" she asked nervously, since to her that was more important than the fact the demon was Raven's father. "Do we know how?"
Karla
"Not entirely," Karla said, with a quick shake of her head. "All I know was that he was in her head--in her soul, even. Somehow, though, he was able to take over and abduct her. She just vanished! Right out of her room. Something with the netherverse, surely, but damned if I know how!"
That 'how' had been on the ragged edge of a sob, but Karla took a deep breath and pushed that all down. Find Raven first, cry about it later.
Tara
Oh. Oh no.
"I kind of saw that," Tara admitted hesitantly. "There was -- she had a presence I couldn't figure out, but she was still acting like herself, so..."
She shook it off for the moment. "Vanished right out of her room, huh? Did you see it happen?"
Karla
"I didn't," Karla said, shaking her head. "I was in her mind and by the time I got pushed out, she was already gone."
She held up her hand. "All that was left behind were her rings, the ones she'd gotten from Azar. I have one. Jono has the other."
Tara
"Can I see?" Tara asked, feeling an odd nagging pull toward the rings. "Maybe we could scry for her with them. Or -- something like that. If it's all we have..."
Karla
Karla reluctantly tugged off the ring and handed it over to Tara to examine. If it got them to Raven faster, then anything was worth it. "Maybe some kind of locating spell?" she suggested. "Like Morton said you did for me?"
Tara
"That's what I was thinking," Tara agreed, playing with the ring a bit. She tried it on, idly, and frowned. It was --
"Wow," she said, suddenly very spacey.
Karla
"Tara?" Karla said, a little concerned. She snapped her fingers in front of Tara's face. "You okay?"
Tara
"It's just really strong," Tara said, still sounding surprised. "Like ... her whole aura is in this ring. I think if we did a seance with these as a focal point we could maybe see her."
Karla
"You think so?" Karla stopped reaching for the ring, dropping her hand back down to her side. "Do you think we could call her back to us? Or at least be able to figure out where she is now?"
She wasn't sure what a seance was, but she was willing to try anything that had a chance to get Raven back.
Tara
"It's hard to explain," Tara said. "I just ... I get this feeling they're linked to her soul, and her soul comes out of her body, right? So if we call to her we might be able to get her soul to come and tell us where her body is."
She had a feeling it wasn't entirely her idea. Almost as if this was what the rings themselves wanted her to do...
Karla
Karla looked dubious, but was willing to go along with it, as that was more Tara's kind of magic than hers. "If you think you know how to make it work, go for it," she said. "That's not really something I'd be much use with."
Tara
"It can't make things worse," Tara said, jaw jutting in determination. "Give me a minute to ... kind of center myself? And I'll call the rest of you over when we're ready."
Karla
"Do whatever you need," Karla said, reaching out for Tara's hand to squeeze for luck. "Jono has the second, if you think you might need it."
He might protest a bit, but if Tara thought she could find Raven with it, Karla would take it back by force if she needed to.
"And Kennedy was planning on swinging by the Magic Box to get some supplies if you needed them. Just let her know."
Max
It wasn't often that Max busted out his armor, but when he showed up at the lobby he was decked out. Armored, armed, and... it looked like he'd shaved. Max looked like what he was: a very, very dangerous man.
Karla
Karla took a moment to look him up and down and then nodded once. "Thank you for coming," she said quietly. She'd never thought that he might not show up--Karla had faith Max would come whenever she was in danger--but, at the same time, she couldn't help but be aware of how much trouble she and Raven had put him through already.
Max
"You called." He wasn't sure he would have volunteered himself, but Karla had called. And in this, at least, he trusted her judgment.
Karla
"It's Trigon," Karla said shortly. "I'm calling out every big gun I can get my hands on. He took her. He invaded her mind and lived in her soul and he took her. I don't want him defeated; I want him dead."
Max
It was a good thing that Raven wasn't around to see Max's slow smile. Because it wasn't even remotely friendly.
"That, I think, I can handle." Max was, after all, very good at killing.
Karla
"Good," Karla said. "I'll hold you to that. In fact, we'll call it a belated Winsol gift."
He could give her Trigon's head! Like a planter or something!
Max
Max liked this plan. So he nodded firmly and reached down to lightly touch the hilt of his sword.
Mmm... decapitation.
Karla
It's the gift that keeps on giving?
"As soon as we figure out where he took Raven and how to get there, we're gone," Karla said. She didn't add 'and try not to fight with Anakin in the mean time,' but thought it really hard.
Max
Max didn't know that Anakin had been invited.
Which probably explained the lack of furious scowl.
Karla
They could channel their rage into killing Trigon or Karla would be happy to tell them both what she thought about two grown males who decided to have a cock-measuring contest while Raven was missing.
Go ahead. She was just itching to scream at someone.
Emma
Emma had practically fallen out of bed at the sudden telepathic assault, and she'd been reflexively reaching for the bracelet on her nightstand to help fend it off before realizing it was Karla who was rattling her metaphysical walls.
She had taken the time to get dressed properly, knowing Karla was probably trying to herd cats, and she could take fifteen minutes to prepare. Which is why it was an Emma sensibly dressed in sturdy hiking boots, jeans, and a well-worn (and loved) winter fleece that made her way downstairs, hair sensibly back in a ponytail. It was a look that none of her classmates had probably seen on her before, since all these clothes had lain, hidden, at the back of her closet since she'd arrived at Fandom. But it was January, and like hell she was going out to chase after Raven in her nice shoes.
"Are we quite sure my inclusion won't make the situation worse?" she drawled, leaning against the wall as they waited for others to arrive. "Raven's stance on me using my gifts anywhere near her has been well-documented."
Not that it would stop Emma if she needed to slap a leash on the other girl again.
Karla
"I don't give a damn if Raven wants to pitch a fit at you being there," Karla said a little shortly. "We'll have to get her away from Trigon before she can care. And you're useful, you're clever, and you're ruthless, all of which I need."
There would be no hand-holding tonight. Especially not of little empaths who hadn't bothered to tell anyone their demonic fathers were moving into their souls. Maybe if Emma had just gone a little deeper, this all could have been avoided.
Emma
"Kiss kiss, darling. That sort of flattery is going to get you in trouble eventually," Emma warned, a spark of humor twisting into a faint smile. "Now, what do you need Auntie Emma to do right this moment?"
Besides 'sit on Jonothon and keep him from doing anything stupid,' but Emma rather figured that was a given.
Karla
"Right this minute?" Karla glanced around, her eyes stopping on Jono, and then figuring that if he needed sitting on, Emma would rise to the challenge without being asked. "Could you make sure everyone has what they need so we can just go when it's time? I don't know when or where, but I'll be damned if we have to wait any longer because someone forgot something in their room."
Emma
"Consider it done," Emma replied. "Starting with you, and then I'll pester those still in their pajamas. Have you vanished all your healing supplies already? Water bottle? Tea?"
Someone had to fuss at Karla in Morton's absence before they left, if she was going to be all Queen-ish at them.
Karla
See? Karla had said Emma was useful!
"Uhh, no," she muttered, looking a trifle abashed. "I didn't even stop by my room on my way downstairs. I have my basic stuff, but that's it." She shook her head and sighed. "Sookie's gathering everything we'll need to eat, since we've got me, Bobby, and Kennedy on this trip. I don't know if she's thought of water, tea, or coffee or anything."
Emma
"Food is good," Emma agreed, "especially given how many of us have rather high metabolisms due to our powers."
She held out one hand commandingly. "Room key," she said by way of explanation. "You want to be down here, so I'll go get what you need. Just ride along in my head so I don't grab peppermint instead of...whatever."
Karla
Karla called it in and handed it over. "Thank you," she said, grateful. "Don't worry about waking Gabrielle; she'll understand. Speed is important now. Grab whatever you think looks important and check with me about anything else."
Dinah
UP! I'm up! Dinah sat upright, and looked around, bewildered, as if Raven were going to appear before her. She was even more bewildered for a moment to be in the Hotel, then remembered: visit, back, not in dorms. Oh. Got it! There ASAP!
She was there in fifteen, throwing money at the rickshaw guy as she jumped out, and calling to Karla as she rushed in, "What's Loincloth Boy done now?"
Karla
"Same old tricks," Karla growled, pacing. Her fingers were white where she had them wrapped around her upper arms. "Propositioned me again. Invaded Raven's mind and soul. Snatched her out of her own bed and from my very grasp. You know. That kind of stuff."
Dinah
There was a question that needed to be asked. Even if the answer was going to make Dinah be sick. "What happened to Arella?" Then she leaned forward and placed her hand over Karla's. You okay? Nothing worse?
Karla
"She was there, with him, in Raven's mind," Karla said, trying not to bring the image of Arella up where Dinah could see her. "She looked...bad. She looked like she's been going through her own personal Agio ever since we left her there."
Karla figured Dinah could figure out enough from just that.
*Nothing worse,* she sent, steadfastly ignoring how much it had hurt to breath while Trigon had held her. *He wasn't entirely pleased when I bit him, but he was more interested in taking Raven than harassing me. She kicked me out of her mind before he could do anything worse.*
Dinah
Go, you. Too bad there's no good way to kick him in the gonads when he's the size of a building.And God, Raven-- trying to protect you? Dinah gritted her teeth, and said aloud, "We need to get Arella out of there too. Somehow. There has to be another way to deal with Raven's dad."
She took a breath, and straightened. "Right. Do we know where he took her?"
Karla
Karla was just going to give Dinah a look for that. No offense meant, Dinah, Karla was just in a pissy mood.
"If we did, don't you think we'd already be on our way there!?"
In her defense, she was having a really crappy night so far.
Dinah
Dinah refrained from pointing out that their favorite teleporter had taken herself elsewhere, so, yeah, they might be waiting on a Portalocity vortex. Or a better suggestion, like holding Portalocity hostage.
"Breathe," she suggested. Firmly. "We're doing everything we can as fast as we can. And it will be enough, damnit."
Karla
Karla took a deep breath and then another. "We have no idea where he took her," she said, which was sort of like an apology, if you squinted and spoke fluent Karla. "She was just gone. I opened my eyes and the bed was empty, save for her rings."
Dinah
Karla's frustration was hugely evident in that small summary. "Okay, that's -- odd. Are they magic, or something that couldn't go through a Netherverse? Why leave them?"
Karla
"I don't know," Karla snarled, clinging to anger because it wasn't tears. "I don't know anything. Not where he took her or how or why they stayed behind or anything at all! All I know is that he has her and we have to get her back, but I don't know how to do that, either!"
Dinah
Calming Karla down might help-- or maybe not. Energy was good, even if it was mostly fury. "We don't know yet. C'mon. Think. We know it's Trigon; we know he's always wanted Raven to be his-- gateway, to this world." She took a breath. "He'll take her somewhere he can make her agree to it. Last time we got through from Azarath; that won't work. We'll make another one if we have to. Grab Portalocity, find a teleporter, make a channel." She stomped down on her own fear for Raven. "You've already gotten all of us here. You're doing good."
Karla
"Could you call Portalocity?" Karla asked. "Tell them we need an emergency portal on standby and we're not sure where it needs to go yet? Money's no object and get as nasty as you need to."
Dinah
"On it!"
Dinah could be heard making low-voiced threats commentary to Portalocity, along with cajoling bribes, and eventually came back with, "It's going to cost us enough to buy a jet, and they'll need five minutes start-up time to get an emergency portal to us, but they said they can do it. But we better not be bringing illegal drugs or malicious dogs with us."
Anakin
Anakin had a much longer commute than the rest of them, and was the last to arrive.
He'd still come pretty close to getting there in twenty minutes. Don't ask about how many traffic laws he'd broken to do so.
"Trigon?" he demanded.
Karla
"Thank the Darkness," Karla said fervently when she saw him. Anakin would know what to do. Both times he'd met Trigon, Trigon had been defeated. Karla was counting on him now.
"Yes," she answered. "In her mind. In her soul. Living there and looking like he'd had plenty of time to get comfortable."
How could they all have been so blind? How could this have happened under their very noses?
Anakin
Anakin didn't look all that surprised to hear it, but he growled out a truly foul Bothan curse under his breath anyway. "How did he get her to do something physically?" he demanded.
Karla
Karla had been trying to figure that out for the last twenty minutes. "My best guess is that he somehow got her to use her Soul-Self to vanish," Karla said. "He seemed completely in control of the netherverse and I know that's a portal to other places. But I don't know where or how!"
She had a pretty good guess as for the why, though. Evil, plain and simple.
Anakin
"Great," Anakin said. "I should have put a tracking device on her." He glanced around at the group gathered. "Is there a plan yet?"
Karla
"So far I've gotten 'summon the cavalry' and 'get her back' on the list," Karla said. "It's the stuff in between that's still up in the air."
She wasn't trying to be flippant, but balls and sass were all that stood between her and bursting into tears without end.
Anakin
Anakin ran his hands through his hair. "Okay. I can't track her through the...wherever it is her Soul-Self goes. Can anyone else?"
Karla
"I can't," Karla said shaking her head. "We're seeing if Tara can do a locating spell with the rings Raven left behind as a focus."
Anakin
"And Plan B?" he asked.
Karla
"Brainstorm harder," Karla said dryly. "Ask our teacher for guidance."
Anakin
"I'm not sure Portalicity travels to her home dimension," Anakin said, thinking aloud, "but I can make some calls?"
Karla
"Worth a shot," Karla said. "I don't know if she'd go back to Azarath if she had any choice in the matter--" and since they were talking about Trigon, she probably didn't "--but they might have a way to track her that we don't."
See? Already a great idea. Karla was grateful she'd called Anakin.
Anakin
Anakin pursed his lips--he hadn't been impressed by the people of Azarath--but nodded. "It's better than trying to track down the idiots who interrupted the ceremony last time."
Karla
Karla snorted. "They couldn't find their ass with both hands and a bloody map, never mind, Raven," she snapped. "I'm not about to go ask Little Miss Tap-Pants."
Anakin
Anakin made a very amusing joke in his head about how that particular one could probably find her ass, since it had been just hanging out there, but kept it to himself.
"Stupid allies are more useless than no allies at all," he declared. "We won't try to contact them."
Karla
"They're not our allies," Karla replied, somewhat stubbornly. "At best they're hindrances. They'd probably just be glad Raven was gone!"
And then Karla would explain why expressing that sentiment in her hearing was a poor plan.
Anakin
"They wouldn't have worked with Trigon to have anything to do with this, would they?" Anakin asked, eyes sharpening.
Karla
Karla paused in thought, then reluctantly shook her head. "I doubt it," she said slowly. "They think Trigon's as awful as we do. I don't think they'd ever ally themselves with him."
Tara
"Hey," Tara said, in a voice both soft and determined as she approached Jono. "Do you still have Raven's other ring?" She opened her palm to show him the ring she'd gotten from Karla.
"I ... kind of feel like if I do a spell with them, I could find Raven. Or at least her soul."
Jono
//I...// To say that Jono had been slightly distracted when Tara had approached him might have been a gross understatement. It took him a few moments, incomprehension settling over his features like a shroud, before he actually managed to backtrack, think about what she'd said, and pull himself from the blank stare that he'd directed toward the ring in her hand.
//I... do,// he replied, a touch uncertain as he moved to pry the ring from his finger. It was a bit of a wrestle. It was too small for his hand, but he'd forced it on regardless. Still, he managed to work it free, holding it out and eyeing at it somewhat numbly. //Is there anything else I can do to help?//
Gold star, Jono, for actually managing a coherent sentence.
Tara
Jono'a aura always overwhelmed Tara. Jono's aura when he was this sad and empty was ... it felt like a cold midnight everywhere around him, if cold midnights came in technicolor. Tara almost wanted to step back, though she didn't.
"I'll need you to help me in a second," she said, still speaking slowly as she took the ring and held it up to the light for a moment. "Y-you have her heart, and her heart is the best way to her soul."
She glanced up at him, managing a lopsided smile that tried hard to be comforting. "We'll get her back. Promise."
Jono
Jonothon nodded a little. She was making the attempt to be comforting, but the thought that there might be a way to get in touch with Raven, that was doing far more for him than a small smile and some reassuring words.
Jono didn't tend to put much stock in words, anymore.
//Just point me in th'right direction, luv. I'll do whatever I can.//
Tara
"I'll call you over as soon as I'm ready," Tara promised, wishing she felt more certain about all of this. (Though the rings gave her their own jolt of certainty, the longer she held them.) She slipped the rings over her thumb and retreated to a quiet bit of the room.
[Preplayed with blondecanary, brat_intraining, furious_maximus, furnaceface, icecoldfrost, justwantsquiet, life_inshadow, longislandiceme, not_a_parakeet, and sith_happened. NFI and NFB as it's after radio, but OOC, as always, is welcome.]