Fast Eddie's by way of The Church of St. Sebastian, Buzzard's Bay, MA, Thursday evening
She remembered.
There were still things her mind shied away from -- Trigon and New York chief among them, for they were things she was not yet prepared to face -- but slowly her memories crept back. Azarath and her mother. Fandom. Jono. Karla. Anakin. All her friends and the time she'd spent with them and the things she'd learned. And Sebastian, who and what he was.
Drinking her blood gave him her powers, she'd deduced. Not permanently, but long enough for him to keep her emotions muddled, compelling her to love and obey him and accept the adoration of his followers. Some feared her, some loved her, and all bowed in her presence. She'd been given handmaidens who brought her food and drink and clean clothing, a white dress and cloak that Sebastian wished her to wear. She'd timidly asked for black at first and he'd refused, telling her that was her old life and she must embrace the new. Then he'd brought his power -- and what he'd stolen from her as well -- to bear on her mind, and she'd had no choice but to agree.
But she kept her returning memories locked away, not wishing him to take those away from her as well. She remembered her lessons with Anakin and how to shield herself. Slowly she began to rebuild those shields to block out Sebastian's will. And as she began to become herself once more, she made her plans to escape. She still felt too weak from her resurrection to teleport, so she had to come up with alternative means of sneaking out of the church. Her white cloak made her stand out among the red-robed followers of "Saint" Sebastian, but she was able to "convince" one of the cultists to switch clothing with her. She didn't feel good about manipulating the woman's emotions like Sebastian was playing with her own, but she was desperate. Her own revulsion at Sebastian's attention aside, she knew what he had planned now, and he had to be stopped. Her father had a contingency plan for Earth, it seemed.
She waited until nightfall to slip from the church and into the cold darkness, though she didn't get far before her ruse was discovered. Voices sounded in alarm, and she could hear the sounds of pursuit. She had to force herself to teleport. Concentrate, step between dimensions, feel her friends, let love guide her to them. Will herself to Fandom. Home.
Sookie
"Bowling will be fun," Sookie said, as though convincing herself as well as the others. She was trying really hard, though, that much was obvious. "We get to wear rented shoes!"
Karla
Karla switched her dubious gaze from Sookie to the shoes and back. Wearing rented shoes didn't sound like much fun even when she was feeling more...fun-like.
"Yay?" she tried.
Sookie
"Look, Karla, they come in blue!" Sookie offered, trying really hard. "You should get those!"
Karla
And Karla appreciated the trying she really did! Still, it needed to be asked. "What's wrong with the ones I'm wearing?"
They were also blue. And far less ugly.
Sookie
"They aren't treated for the bowling alley's floors," Sookie said wisely.
Karla
"I could always walk on air?" Karla tried.
No, seriously. They were ugly.
Sookie
"The shoes are part of the experience!" Sookie insisted. "Look, I'll wear those pink ones. And the boys have to wear them too."
Karla
Well, the blue ones were more attractive than the pink, even if only by the slimmest margin. And making the boyos wear them was appealing.
"All right...but only if we get to pick out theirs," she decided.
Fear her, boyos. Fear her.
Jono
Jonothon was terrified. You could tell by the way he quirked one eyebrow and looked like he was trying to kill them both with his brain.
Looked like. He really could kill people with his brain. He was trying not to make a habit of it.
//Like hell you will.//
Sookie
Sookie gave him a sad pout. "Please? Bobby's going to!"
Enjoy how your girlfriend just decided that, Bobby.
Bobby
"Yeah, sure," Bobby shrugged. He had been reaching for a pair essentially at random, but let his hand drop as soon as Karla brought up picking them out. "Go ahead and pick if you want."
Jono
//Traitor,// Jono mumbled, turning his glower toward the floor.
He wasn't going to win this one, and he knew it.
Karla
"Look, see how I'm not choosing the bright orange and green ones?" Karla said. Though she'd given it a moment's thought before skipping them. "I'm hurt by your lack of faith in me, Jono."
Though these yellow and burgundy ones, hmmm....
Bobby
"Can't be worse than some of the stuff I've had to wear before," Bobby pointed out.
Jono
Jonothon followed Karla's gaze for a moment, and then resisted the urge to bury his face in his hand.
What was with people and the red and yellow? Really? He felt like something that belonged on a burger, when they tossed those colours at him.
//Yes, but you'll wear bloody near anything,// Jono countered. Because he was totally one to talk.
Sookie
"Look, Jono, they make pink ones in your size!" Sookie said helpfully.
See how much worse it could be? See?
Mercifully for Bobby, she was leaning towards green and blue for him.
Jono
//... Like a bloody wolf pack,// sighed Jono. //Karla, give me th'bloody shoes you were looking at, then.//
Yellow and burgundy were the lesser of the bowling shoe evils.
Karla
"I dunno, I might be swayed by the pink..." Karla teased, even as she grabbed the yellow ones and handed them over.
Raven?
It worked. Teleporting was as natural as breathing to her, and there was a feeling of rightness when she reappeared. It had to be Fandom -- she knew that before she opened her eyes. She could feel the familiar buzz of emotions, and the keener sense of those who were dear to her close by.
Then she opened her eyes and saw them, and her heart ached with joy. She'd never been to Fast Eddie's before, so she didn't recognize the bowling alley or the lanes she had appeared in, but she did recognize Jono and Karla and Sookie and Bobby.
"I found you!" she said in relief, sinking to her knees as her legs gave out.
Karla
Karla didn't remember moving. One minute she was standing, gaping at the female who appeared in front of them. The next minute, she was crouching down at her side, arms wrapped around her sides. The female who looked--sounded--felt just like Raven.
Raven. Who was dead. Karla had watched her die. Had helped her alone. And then watched her body disappear.
"Wha--?" Words were having trouble making their way past the lump in her throat.
Jono
//Raven...// Jonothon's legs suddenly felt as though they were made of lead, themselves. Raven. It couldn't be Raven. They'd killed her.
But... everything about her, everything that his senses could pick up on, insisted that it was her. And he wanted to help. He did. Wanted to run to her and pull her into his arms and tell her about what had happened, and she could tell him that it had all just been a bad dream, and they hadn't killed her at all.
But he couldn't move. Because everything that hurt the most had happened. Because in spite of what his powers were screaming at him, there was no way that this could be real.
Raven
Raven couldn't speak for a moment, trembling in Karla's embrace, looking from her to Jono to Sookie and Bobby, drinking in the sight of them as more memories started to come back, random snippets that made no sense on their own, but she could feel them drawing back together, filling in the pieces of her mind.
("The annoying little sister is returning in this episode. It cannot bring good news." "The one who looks like a crack-addicted clown?")
("The lusts I absorbed were affecting me a great deal. That was why I...." "Wanted to tell me that the dolphin is driving a bus?")
("I am saying that maybe if you got your nubbin tickled a bit, you wouldn't be so Darkness bedamned worried about what I was doing with mine!" "...my what?!")
(//I should take yer skiing.// "But I do not wear pants.")
Her arms came up to wrap around Karla's, but her eyes were for Jono. "Your emotions...were like a beacon to me," she whispered. "I wanted to come home."
Sookie
"Jesus Christ, Shepherd of Judea," Sookie breathed, staring at Raven, her stomach tumbling and her skin going numb. "I -- but...."
A pause, as she reached blindly through her shields. "No, she feels right. Oh my God."
Raven
"Help me," Raven pleaded. She had no idea how long she'd been gone, or what they must think of her now after what she'd done to them, but she had to cling to the hope they still cared beneath all the shock and confusion that was battering her mind. "Help me, before they come...."
Bobby
"They?" Bobby frowned, focusing on that instead of the 'how is she back from the dead' part. Maybe it hadn't really been her who'd died back in New York. Or something. What mattered was that she was here now, and scared. "Who's they?"
Jono
Lots of 'or something,' perhaps.
Jono hesitated for a moment more, and then crouched down nearby, so that he could look her in the eye. Not near enough to touch her. Not near enough for her to touch him. But close enough for eye contact, which was close enough for him.
//What do you need us t'do?//
'Help' was a fairly broad request, was the problem.
Sookie"Raven, honey, what's wrong?" Sookie asked, her eyes scanning Raven's face. Her thoughts were coming in muddled, like she was only half awake, but she sounded like Raven. Sookie pressed her mind against Raven's, trying to bind them so she could see what was really wrong, possibly, but it was slippery and wrong.
Karla
"Before who comes?" Karla said, clinging to Raven tightly. Darkness, she had so many questions--how were these the most topical? When there was Raven, alive and in the flesh. "Where are they coming from? Raven, what's wrong?"
Raven
Home. Safe. Love. She was still shaking, but her fear was starting to ease. She just didn't know where to begin. "I am sorry," she whispered, still struggling with her guilt. "I have missed you all so much." She stretched out one hand toward Jono, desperately wanting to touch him.
"We have located her."
The voice seemed to come out of nowhere, and a spiral of flame appeared behind Raven. Hands of fire grabbed hold of her, yanking her from Karla's grasp. "You must come home. He calls for you, the devil's daughter. His sister and his bride."
"No!" Raven screamed. And then she and the fire were gone.
Jono
Just... just like that.
Here and gone again in a heartbeat. Fire all over again.
Jono reached out toward the place where Raven had been, as if somehow he could will her back that way alone.
And then his hand fell to his side, and he fell backward, landing on his rear, and he stared.
Gone again. Just like that...
Karla
"What the Hell just happened?" Karla asked, her voice rising towards something approaching hysteria. "Was that really her?! Where did she go?! Did anyone get anything useful?"
Her gaze darted around the faces of all her friends; hoping, praying someone could tell her something.
Sookie
"It's her," Sookie said, clearly shaken, though she reached her hands out to Karla's to try and calm her. (Calm both of them, really.) "It was her. But it was like she was asleep, or drugged, or far away, or -- it was Raven, I felt her, but something was really wrong with her brain."
Karla
"We've got to help her," Karla said, doing a terrific job of stating the obvious. "But we don't know who or where..." She clasped at Sookie's hands. "Do you think the Magic Box might have something useful? In their books?" She looked at Jono. "Or the library--?"
There was probably not going to be any more bowling tonight.
Jono
//In Special Collections maybe,// Jono allowed, in that slow, kind of faraway sort of voice that suggested that he was not, yet, fully with-it, here. //But Special Collections never much liked me...//
He clearly just hadn't offered it nearly enough pie.
Flaming hands?
[Preplayed with furnaceface, glacial_witch, justwantsquiet, and longislandiceme. This is for broadcast but NFI, and OOC is always welcomed!]
There were still things her mind shied away from -- Trigon and New York chief among them, for they were things she was not yet prepared to face -- but slowly her memories crept back. Azarath and her mother. Fandom. Jono. Karla. Anakin. All her friends and the time she'd spent with them and the things she'd learned. And Sebastian, who and what he was.
Drinking her blood gave him her powers, she'd deduced. Not permanently, but long enough for him to keep her emotions muddled, compelling her to love and obey him and accept the adoration of his followers. Some feared her, some loved her, and all bowed in her presence. She'd been given handmaidens who brought her food and drink and clean clothing, a white dress and cloak that Sebastian wished her to wear. She'd timidly asked for black at first and he'd refused, telling her that was her old life and she must embrace the new. Then he'd brought his power -- and what he'd stolen from her as well -- to bear on her mind, and she'd had no choice but to agree.
But she kept her returning memories locked away, not wishing him to take those away from her as well. She remembered her lessons with Anakin and how to shield herself. Slowly she began to rebuild those shields to block out Sebastian's will. And as she began to become herself once more, she made her plans to escape. She still felt too weak from her resurrection to teleport, so she had to come up with alternative means of sneaking out of the church. Her white cloak made her stand out among the red-robed followers of "Saint" Sebastian, but she was able to "convince" one of the cultists to switch clothing with her. She didn't feel good about manipulating the woman's emotions like Sebastian was playing with her own, but she was desperate. Her own revulsion at Sebastian's attention aside, she knew what he had planned now, and he had to be stopped. Her father had a contingency plan for Earth, it seemed.
She waited until nightfall to slip from the church and into the cold darkness, though she didn't get far before her ruse was discovered. Voices sounded in alarm, and she could hear the sounds of pursuit. She had to force herself to teleport. Concentrate, step between dimensions, feel her friends, let love guide her to them. Will herself to Fandom. Home.
Sookie
"Bowling will be fun," Sookie said, as though convincing herself as well as the others. She was trying really hard, though, that much was obvious. "We get to wear rented shoes!"
Karla
Karla switched her dubious gaze from Sookie to the shoes and back. Wearing rented shoes didn't sound like much fun even when she was feeling more...fun-like.
"Yay?" she tried.
Sookie
"Look, Karla, they come in blue!" Sookie offered, trying really hard. "You should get those!"
Karla
And Karla appreciated the trying she really did! Still, it needed to be asked. "What's wrong with the ones I'm wearing?"
They were also blue. And far less ugly.
Sookie
"They aren't treated for the bowling alley's floors," Sookie said wisely.
Karla
"I could always walk on air?" Karla tried.
No, seriously. They were ugly.
Sookie
"The shoes are part of the experience!" Sookie insisted. "Look, I'll wear those pink ones. And the boys have to wear them too."
Karla
Well, the blue ones were more attractive than the pink, even if only by the slimmest margin. And making the boyos wear them was appealing.
"All right...but only if we get to pick out theirs," she decided.
Fear her, boyos. Fear her.
Jono
Jonothon was terrified. You could tell by the way he quirked one eyebrow and looked like he was trying to kill them both with his brain.
Looked like. He really could kill people with his brain. He was trying not to make a habit of it.
//Like hell you will.//
Sookie
Sookie gave him a sad pout. "Please? Bobby's going to!"
Enjoy how your girlfriend just decided that, Bobby.
Bobby
"Yeah, sure," Bobby shrugged. He had been reaching for a pair essentially at random, but let his hand drop as soon as Karla brought up picking them out. "Go ahead and pick if you want."
Jono
//Traitor,// Jono mumbled, turning his glower toward the floor.
He wasn't going to win this one, and he knew it.
Karla
"Look, see how I'm not choosing the bright orange and green ones?" Karla said. Though she'd given it a moment's thought before skipping them. "I'm hurt by your lack of faith in me, Jono."
Though these yellow and burgundy ones, hmmm....
Bobby
"Can't be worse than some of the stuff I've had to wear before," Bobby pointed out.
Jono
Jonothon followed Karla's gaze for a moment, and then resisted the urge to bury his face in his hand.
What was with people and the red and yellow? Really? He felt like something that belonged on a burger, when they tossed those colours at him.
//Yes, but you'll wear bloody near anything,// Jono countered. Because he was totally one to talk.
Sookie
"Look, Jono, they make pink ones in your size!" Sookie said helpfully.
See how much worse it could be? See?
Mercifully for Bobby, she was leaning towards green and blue for him.
Jono
//... Like a bloody wolf pack,// sighed Jono. //Karla, give me th'bloody shoes you were looking at, then.//
Yellow and burgundy were the lesser of the bowling shoe evils.
Karla
"I dunno, I might be swayed by the pink..." Karla teased, even as she grabbed the yellow ones and handed them over.
Raven?
It worked. Teleporting was as natural as breathing to her, and there was a feeling of rightness when she reappeared. It had to be Fandom -- she knew that before she opened her eyes. She could feel the familiar buzz of emotions, and the keener sense of those who were dear to her close by.
Then she opened her eyes and saw them, and her heart ached with joy. She'd never been to Fast Eddie's before, so she didn't recognize the bowling alley or the lanes she had appeared in, but she did recognize Jono and Karla and Sookie and Bobby.
"I found you!" she said in relief, sinking to her knees as her legs gave out.
Karla
Karla didn't remember moving. One minute she was standing, gaping at the female who appeared in front of them. The next minute, she was crouching down at her side, arms wrapped around her sides. The female who looked--sounded--felt just like Raven.
Raven. Who was dead. Karla had watched her die. Had helped her alone. And then watched her body disappear.
"Wha--?" Words were having trouble making their way past the lump in her throat.
Jono
//Raven...// Jonothon's legs suddenly felt as though they were made of lead, themselves. Raven. It couldn't be Raven. They'd killed her.
But... everything about her, everything that his senses could pick up on, insisted that it was her. And he wanted to help. He did. Wanted to run to her and pull her into his arms and tell her about what had happened, and she could tell him that it had all just been a bad dream, and they hadn't killed her at all.
But he couldn't move. Because everything that hurt the most had happened. Because in spite of what his powers were screaming at him, there was no way that this could be real.
Raven
Raven couldn't speak for a moment, trembling in Karla's embrace, looking from her to Jono to Sookie and Bobby, drinking in the sight of them as more memories started to come back, random snippets that made no sense on their own, but she could feel them drawing back together, filling in the pieces of her mind.
("The annoying little sister is returning in this episode. It cannot bring good news." "The one who looks like a crack-addicted clown?")
("The lusts I absorbed were affecting me a great deal. That was why I...." "Wanted to tell me that the dolphin is driving a bus?")
("I am saying that maybe if you got your nubbin tickled a bit, you wouldn't be so Darkness bedamned worried about what I was doing with mine!" "...my what?!")
(//I should take yer skiing.// "But I do not wear pants.")
Her arms came up to wrap around Karla's, but her eyes were for Jono. "Your emotions...were like a beacon to me," she whispered. "I wanted to come home."
Sookie
"Jesus Christ, Shepherd of Judea," Sookie breathed, staring at Raven, her stomach tumbling and her skin going numb. "I -- but...."
A pause, as she reached blindly through her shields. "No, she feels right. Oh my God."
Raven
"Help me," Raven pleaded. She had no idea how long she'd been gone, or what they must think of her now after what she'd done to them, but she had to cling to the hope they still cared beneath all the shock and confusion that was battering her mind. "Help me, before they come...."
Bobby
"They?" Bobby frowned, focusing on that instead of the 'how is she back from the dead' part. Maybe it hadn't really been her who'd died back in New York. Or something. What mattered was that she was here now, and scared. "Who's they?"
Jono
Lots of 'or something,' perhaps.
Jono hesitated for a moment more, and then crouched down nearby, so that he could look her in the eye. Not near enough to touch her. Not near enough for her to touch him. But close enough for eye contact, which was close enough for him.
//What do you need us t'do?//
'Help' was a fairly broad request, was the problem.
Sookie"Raven, honey, what's wrong?" Sookie asked, her eyes scanning Raven's face. Her thoughts were coming in muddled, like she was only half awake, but she sounded like Raven. Sookie pressed her mind against Raven's, trying to bind them so she could see what was really wrong, possibly, but it was slippery and wrong.
Karla
"Before who comes?" Karla said, clinging to Raven tightly. Darkness, she had so many questions--how were these the most topical? When there was Raven, alive and in the flesh. "Where are they coming from? Raven, what's wrong?"
Raven
Home. Safe. Love. She was still shaking, but her fear was starting to ease. She just didn't know where to begin. "I am sorry," she whispered, still struggling with her guilt. "I have missed you all so much." She stretched out one hand toward Jono, desperately wanting to touch him.
"We have located her."
The voice seemed to come out of nowhere, and a spiral of flame appeared behind Raven. Hands of fire grabbed hold of her, yanking her from Karla's grasp. "You must come home. He calls for you, the devil's daughter. His sister and his bride."
"No!" Raven screamed. And then she and the fire were gone.
Jono
Just... just like that.
Here and gone again in a heartbeat. Fire all over again.
Jono reached out toward the place where Raven had been, as if somehow he could will her back that way alone.
And then his hand fell to his side, and he fell backward, landing on his rear, and he stared.
Gone again. Just like that...
Karla
"What the Hell just happened?" Karla asked, her voice rising towards something approaching hysteria. "Was that really her?! Where did she go?! Did anyone get anything useful?"
Her gaze darted around the faces of all her friends; hoping, praying someone could tell her something.
Sookie
"It's her," Sookie said, clearly shaken, though she reached her hands out to Karla's to try and calm her. (Calm both of them, really.) "It was her. But it was like she was asleep, or drugged, or far away, or -- it was Raven, I felt her, but something was really wrong with her brain."
Karla
"We've got to help her," Karla said, doing a terrific job of stating the obvious. "But we don't know who or where..." She clasped at Sookie's hands. "Do you think the Magic Box might have something useful? In their books?" She looked at Jono. "Or the library--?"
There was probably not going to be any more bowling tonight.
Jono
//In Special Collections maybe,// Jono allowed, in that slow, kind of faraway sort of voice that suggested that he was not, yet, fully with-it, here. //But Special Collections never much liked me...//
He clearly just hadn't offered it nearly enough pie.
Flaming hands?
[Preplayed with furnaceface, glacial_witch, justwantsquiet, and longislandiceme. This is for broadcast but NFI, and OOC is always welcomed!]