Sidra, Glacia, Kaeleer, THE FUTURE & One Universe Over, Saturday Morning Fandom Time
Karla was feeling wonderful as she slowly started heading towards consciousness. Last night had been amazing, simply amazing and she snuggled close to where Warren was curled up. Mmm, he was so warm and soft and...
Soft? That was not actually one of the words she would use to describe her boyfriend. Her hand crept up and--
WARREN MOST CERTAINLY DID NOT HAVE A PAIR OF THOSE!
Her eyes flew open as she bolted up, clutching the sheet to her chin. Looking frantically around, Karla realized three things:
1) She was waking up in a room that she did not recognize,
2) She was stark naked, and
3) Neither of the people she was waking up next to were the male she went to bed with.
"Hell's fire, Mother Night, and may the Darkness be merciful."
Dinah
"Sleeping," Dinah muttered. Very convinced she was dreaming. Because she went to bed by herself in 'Dite's suite, so why was Karla panicking next to her? Dream. Not real. "No. Shhhhh." Remnants of denial from the last time this happened might be in effect, too.
Then Dinah tried to crawl under the pillow, and frowned when she bumped into someone. "Wha..?"
Raven
The emotions jolted Raven awake. She, fortunately dressed in a black (of course) nightgown, sat up, staring at Karla and Dinah. "What are you doing in my room?" she said, not quite realizing it wasn't her room.
"And why are you naked, Karla?"
Karla
"Shh!" Karla hissed, waving at her. Because maybe if no one pointed out that she wasn't wearing clothes, it would somehow stop being true.
"Not your room!" she said, now using her arm to gesture around the room. "Your bed can't fit three grown females comfortably for one!"
Oddly enough, it felt like Karla's room; the most prevalent psychic scent she was picking up was her own. But there was something off about it, too. "I have no idea where we are, how we got here, where Warren is, and--"
And I'm naked!
Yeah, still not admitting that.
Dinah
Dinah was now sitting up, looking absolutely at sea. "Get out of my room," she said plaintively, then caught up to the conversation, and said, "...not my room?"
Staring around, she blinked at Karla. Then pointed. "NO CLOTHES."
Oh God, it was like the Priestly weekend! Only worse! "Priestly?"
Raven
Not her room. Not Karla's room. And not the hotel room where she'd gone to sleep with Jono. Where in Azar's name were they? And where was Jono?
But there was also something else important to focus on, like....
"Karla!" Raven said, her confusion giving way to delight. "I am no longer sensing sexual frustration from you! You and Warren have resumed your physical relationship. Congratulations!"
Karla
Karla....Karla was just going to gape at Raven for one, long, slack-jawed moment, before burying her face in her hands.
Leading to her dropping the sheet to her waist. Leading her to groan and try to hide behind her blanket-covered knees instead.
"Thank you?" she said. "I'm thrilled, trust me, but I feel like I'd be even happier if I knew where we were and how we got here."
Priorities, Raven!
...Okay, no, it was pretty awesome.
Dinah
"Way to go," Dinah said blearily, holding up her hand for a high-five and yawning. "Soooo... where are we?" She looked around. "Nice?" Then paused, and tugged on her pajama top. "Clothes."
Raven
"Karla, it is not as if I have never seen you naked before," Raven said in an attempt to make her relax about her clothesless state.
She closed her eyes for a moment, concentrating. The familiar buzz of emotions she usually felt in Fandom were gone, and when she sought out specific people, like Sookie or Bobby or Tahiri, she could not sense them.
"This is not Fandom," she said, looking around more warily now. "Someone brought us here. Somehow."
Karla
HER FRIENDS WERE NOT HELPING HERE!
Giving up the 'if we don't talk about it, maybe it won't be true' hope--mostly since her friends refused to stop talking about it!--Karla started to tug on the sheets to wrap herself in. "Raven, those were totally different circumstances!" she was compelled to point out. "You were naked, too. We all were. It's really different when you're the only naked girl at the surprise slumber party. Trust me."
Dinah
Dinah tumbled out of the bed to look around, then turned back, more awake. "Hey, so, if none of us did this, what are the odds someone here did?" she wondered. "Or did the Island send us somewhere again?"
Wait. Naked slumber party, what? OH. Right. Back when-- ah. Aha.
Turning bright red and not looking at either other girl...
Raven
Now Raven's cheeks turned pink at the reminder of those "totally different circumstances," and yes, a subject change was in order, thank you, Dinah.
"Could the island have moved and changed everything, even where we slept?" Raven said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "We must ascertain where we are, quickly." And while she was grateful to be dressed, she'd like to find something more practical than a nightgown in case there was any danger about.
Karla
Sure, just keep rubbing in the 'at least we've got nightgowns on' thing, people. That was fine. Karla was just going to sit in the middle of the bed, wrapped in a sheet, until they figured out just what the Hell was going on.
"Okay, so..." she looked around the room again. Something about the dimensions and the layout were really familiar. "I'm seeing three doors and another pair that look like they lead to a closet--" a really huge closet and no, Karla wasn't already thinking about possibly liberating something from it, really "--a window and I'm betting that's another door behind those long drapes. Like a balcony door or something. One of you guys check them out?"
She'd get up and help, but, you know. She was wearing a sheet.
Dinah
Dinah was happy for the distraction, and opened the drapes to yes, find a pair of balcony doors. "Oooooo." Opening them, she looked out over a blue, blue lake, with conifer woods snaking up the hills behind it, and a stable near the water. "Yahtzee!" Then considered. "Wait, how...?"
Raven
Raven padded over to the closet and pulled the doors open. "There is a great deal of clothing here," she said, stepping inside to browse through it. "I am uncertain any of it will fit me, however." Most of it seemed too fancy to wear as well.
Karla
Karla got up and joined Dinah looking out the window, struggling to keep the sheets around her and not catching on any of the things in the room. "What are you Yahz--"
She stopped. Stared out the balcony doors, jaw agape. She knew this view. She used to wake up to it every morning, albeit at a slightly different angle. In fact, if she went out onto the balcony itself, she could probably point to the window that she would look out of.
"Hell's fire and Mother Night," she breathed, breathing in air that smelled like pine and water and rightness. "I'm home."
Dinah
Dinah blinked at her, then looked back out the window. "Glacia?" she asked, evaluating it in light of what she knew. "But. Wait, doesn't that mean Hobart and his cronies are around her somewhere?" Bad! Very bad! Especially with people lacking clothing, bad!
Karla
Karla turned around again to look at the room they'd come from, eyes narrowed. If she ignored the furnishings and just looked at the shape of the room...
"I...I think this is my mother's old suite," she murmured absently. "The Queen's suite. Darkness, I haven't been in here since we boxed the last of my parents' things."
She prowled to one of the other doors and opened it. As she expected, it was connected to another suite, this one more masculine in decoration. And air of long disuse lay over the rooms, though they were dusted and kept clean. Still, what personal objects they contained were sparse, enough to show that someone occasionally used these rooms, but not very often.
"The Consort's Suite," she explained, pitching her voice to carry back. "Why would we end up here of all places?"
Dinah
"I don't know." Dinah was chewing her lower lip, and looking around for weapons, just in case. "But I think we should get clothed and get out of here. This is the last place in Glacia you should be, and I can practically hear Lucivar and Ben hyperventilating. Wherever they are."
Karla
"You're right," Karla said with a nod. She backed out of the room, feeling a little like she'd been trespassing, years of rules and Protocol telling her she didn't belong in that room, not to enter without permission. But it was something even more than that; the stillness, the silence...she'd felt like she was barging in on a mausoleum, almost.
"Let's get dressed and get out." She closed the door tightly behind her and stepped back into the Queen's bedroom. Hopefully Raven had found something useful in the closet. "I'm starting to get a real bad feeling about this," she said, clutching the sheet to her chest. "And not just because it's drafty as all Hell."
Prince Julian Hagen
Julian Hagen had been on tenterhooks ever since the night his Queen had gotten poisoned by a member of her own Court. He had driven Prince Sadi to the Winds himself, carrying Rook, shielding the little girl's eyes from the bodies that littered the mansion. He'd wanted nothing more to go with them, to continue protecting his Queen and her little girl, but he'd had a duty here: finish off the remaining attackers, find out how deep the treason had penetrated Karla's Court, and wait for Morton, as futile as that had been. He had a duty: protect the estate and the remainder of Karla's loyal First Circle.
In all, it had been a rough few weeks for Julian. So, when a maid came find him and tell him there were voices coming from the Queen's apartments, he was less than thrilled to hear it. He had no idea who those voices belonged to, but there were several possibilities, each more dangerous than the last.
On the other hand, he was a Sapphire-Jeweled Warlord Prince worried sick about his Queen. He was dangerous, too.
Karla
The door slammed open with a BANG as the knob embedded itself into the wall. Karla screamed a little in surprise, whirling around to see who'd come storming in. The sheet dropped again as she raised hands crackling with blue flame to fling at--
"Julian?!?"
Those same hands dropped to her chest, now, as Karla was torn between fury and mortification. Merciful Darkness, was this some kind of karmic punishment for last night? Break the Pants Rule and somehow everyone had to see her naked to the waist?
"What in the Hell are you doing?!?" she yelled.
Maybe if she stayed very still, Julian somehow wouldn't see her?
Julian
"Karla?!?"
Faint hope of that, because Julian was staring at her with complete incredulity. At least, until he realized that he was staring and what she wasn't wearing and then he was bringing his hands up to cover his face so fast that he accidentally hit himself.
Okay, possibly not the most flattering reaction, but even if she hadn't been his Queen, she was still Karla.
Clearing his throat, he turned his back to her and closed his eyes. "I mean, uhh, Lady. Right, Lady." If there was ever a time for Protocol, it was now. "What the Hell are you doing back here?!" Fortunately, Protocol allowed for a little profanity with Warlord Princes. "It still isn't safe! And where's Rook?"
Karla
"Rook?"
Karla froze right in the middle of reaching for her sheet. The shock of hearing Julian say that name was even more than the shock of him actually being polite! Rook? As in her daughter? From the future? The crazy future, where Raven was evil and had impregnated her with a kiss and she didn't have legs any more? That Rook?
"Guh-wha?" Very eloquent, Karla.
She swallowed and tried again. "Rook? How do you know Rook?!"
...Maybe she'd misheard?
Julian
"How do I know--Karla, she is your daughter. What the Hell is wrong with you?!" And with that, Julian was whirling back around to look at his Queen, clad in a bedsheet or not. Now that the shock of finding her here of all places and in such a way had worn off, Julian was starting to think again. And there were just a few things off about the whole scenario.
He hadn't become Karla's Master of the Guard for being stupid. Or slow to act.
Julian's warblade was in his hand before he finished turning. "Who are you and where is my Queen?" he snarled, holding it up to her throat.
Karla
Unexpected sword to the throat was unexpected. Even though Karla outranked him, she still wasn't looking forward to tangling with an angry Warlord Prince.
And then her eyes flicked over to the hand holding that sword. On it was a ring, but instead of the expected Purple Dusk Jewel, Karla saw a Sapphire. Julian was wearing the Sapphire. That meant she didn't outrank him anymore. An already uneven fight just got a lot more so.
There went any brilliant ideas about using Craft to get out of this. She'd have to talk to Julian and try to make him see sense.
They were doomed.
"Julian, please believe me when I say I have no idea what the Hell you're talking about." Beat. "Okay, mostly no idea. Last night, I went to sleep at Fandom and then we woke up here this morning. I'm pretty sure there's some island weirdness at play, because I certainly don't have a daughter and I don't occupy the Queen's Suite at the estate and I'm pretty sure you haven't made the Offering yet, either."
Julian
Fandom weirdness. That made a lot of sense--or, at least, it did to someone who'd spent the last decade waking up to sometimes find his Queen and her husband transformed into children, opposite genders (and wasn't that always a joy?), and occasionally different people entirely.
That would explain why this Karla was wearing her Birthright again, if nothing else. "It would figure," he snorted, not actually lowering his sword. "I pray to the Darkness to have my Queen returned and I get you."
Karla looked like she was about to protest that, when his gaze sharpened again. "We?"
Not Rook, obviously, but perhaps...Warren?
Raven
Raven had been searching for something to wear as well, and she froze in the doorway before re-entering the room when she heard mention of Rook.
This was so not good.
But Julian was threatening Karla now, and she couldn't let him get away with that. Bracing herself for his reaction, she stepped into the room. "Lower your weapon," she demanded. "Now."
Chances were that sword was going to come for her now, but at least it wouldn't be at Karla's throat.
Dinah
Dinah had now gotten used to Raven getting all stompy when people pointed things at Karla, so was largely unfazed. Also, she now had a robe! Woo! Which made her way more clothed than some people!
"Why is Purple Guy pointing a sword at you while you're naked?" Dinah paused. "There is no end to the innuendo here, is there."
Julian
Purple Guy?
There was a name he hadn't heard in years. Not that Julian was actually thinking about that. Because Raven had been right. At the sound of her voice, he was shouldering Karla aside and spinning about to face the demoness.
"You," he said, fingers tightening on the sword as he glared at Raven. He kept himself positioned between her and his Queen, his sword now in a guard position. "Come to see what else you can scavenge?"
Karla
And in one of her less well-thought out plans, Karla was grabbing for his arm, trying to hold onto it before he could decide to use that sword on anyone.
Who knew that a day that had started with a surprising naked wakeup in a world not their own could still go downhill?
"Julian, dammit, just stop!" she cried. "She's not who you think! Not yet--I mean, not ever! But she hasn't done any of the things you want to skewer her for! So just put your damn sword down!"
Raven
Raven had anticipated Julian's reaction the moment she'd heard Rook's name. She knew the Raven of Rook's world was evil, and that part of her soul was somehow housed in the little girl, and she was prepared to teleport out of the way if Julian attempted to lunge at her with that sword. But the sword was no longer poised to harm Karla, and that was what mattered.
"I am as she says," she said, projecting calm as she spoke. "I am not the Raven you know, and I certainly do not intend Karla or anyone else any harm."
Dinah
Dinah was waving her arms in front of Raven now, not wanting to set Purple Guy-- Julian off, but needing to catch his attention. "Wrong Raven. Younger Raven. See? No crow's feet. Only a teenager. Same as Karla. Same as me." She paused. "Last time I saw you, Lucivar told you to be nicer to me. And I was snarky. Sorry? Please don't stab us." Or make them break out the big guns and have to hurt him, because that just couldn't end well.
Julian
Julian bit down a comment about how this Raven was wearing about as much as the other Raven usually did, but bit that back. As much as snarky comments were an important part of belonging to Karla's Court, there were times and places where they were significantly unhelpful.
Like right now, when he was facing a younger version of the female who had been tormenting his Queen for a decade and he was struggling not to just slip to the killing edge.
"Why are you all here?" he demanded instead. He still refused to put his sword away, but at least it wasn't pointing at anyone. "Why now? On top of everything else?"
Karla
"I told you, Fandom weird--" Karla began, also not letting go of his arm any. "Wait, what do you mean 'on top of everything else.' What else?"
Julian
"This is not a conversation I am having with you while you are naked and hanging on my arm," Julian retorted, hanging on to the last, dying shreds of his authority.
Of course, it wasn't a conversation he wanted to have anyway, but hopefully phrasing it like that would focus their attention away from that.
"Why are you--never mind. I am just going to stop asking questions. I don't want to know."
Karla
"Because this is how I went to sleep," Karla said, answering him specifically because he'd just said he didn't want to know. "Had I realized I was going to make an impromptu trip to the future, I would have made sure to dress for it."
For one thing, Glacia was cold.
Julian
Yup. Totally did not want to know.
"Good to hear," Julian replied. With another distrustful glance at Raven, he vanished his sword. "You can let go of me, now."
He'd had more than enough naked Karla hanging off of him to last a while, thanks. If word of this little by-play ever got out, Warren would try to kill him. Which Julian would absolutely embrace, because not only would death remove the memory, but it would mean that they'd gotten him back, and he was in decent enough condition to try...
He cleared his throat and shook his head. "Get dressed. I'll be waiting in the study. Don't go anywhere. We have a lot to talk about."
As soon as Karla let go of his arm, he stalked out of the bedroom, slamming the door behind him.
Dinah
Dinah watched him leave, then turned back. "I miiiiiiiiissed him!"
Karla
"Yeah, well, you've always been a weird girl," Karla retorted, picking up her sheet again with as much dignity as she could muster. Which wasn't much. "Raven, you okay?"
Raven
Raven sagged back against the wall as her legs went weak. She'd felt how close Julian had been to shaking off Karla's hand and attempting to kill her, and his rage had eaten at her shields like acid.
"We are in Rook's world," she murmured. "How...why?"
Dinah
"Either we got sucked here-- and I do mean suck-- by someone yelling for help, like the vampire world. Or, the island is being wackier than usual," Dinah said, then ducked back into the closet. "Let's raid future you's closet. 'Cause I don't see toga chic making a comeback here, as adorable as you both are."
Karla
"Tell me I have real clothes in there," Karla said, trying to shake off her uneasy feelings, "and not just fancy Court stuff. Because I might stick to bedsheets if there are only stupid, fancy gowns and stuff."
Fortunately, it appeared that future!Karla was of the same opinion as Fandom!Karla, for all that her tastes were bound up by necessity. There were indeed row after row after row of 'fancy Court stuff' but also a fair amount of comfortable, well-worn, and casual outfits, some of which Karla even recognized from her closet.
"I'm not sure what we're going to be able to find to fit the two of you," she muttered. "It doesn't look like future!me's doing much better in the tit department than I am."
Sigh.
Raven
"There is a box labeled maternity wear," Raven pointed out, not without a twinge of guilt.
"Perhaps something in there will fit better." Something black.
Dinah
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Dinah bitched, even knowing she was five inches and change taller than Karla, and proportionally larger. The odds of finding pants that would fit her... "I hate wearing skirts!" Maybe she could find something that she could tuck into boots? Rummaging, she found a pair of old turned-up pants, that had to be a pair of Morton's by how long they were when unfolded. Very beaten-up, but who cared. Boots, same deal, had to be his; a corselet that probably wasn't meant to be worn on the outside, but it would work as a semi-bra, and an old blouse with paint on it.
"Sorted!" She started pulling on clothes behind a screen, and called out, "Think Morton will mind that I'm wearing his old stuff?"
Karla
"We'll have to ask him when we see him," Karla said, snickering at the image Dinah made. "I'm sure he'll be easier to talk to than Julian. I wonder where he is."
She frowned, pulling on a pair of pants. They were a little loose in the waist, but other than that, a decent fit. "I wonder where I am, for that matter. And where's War--oh."
Now she understood why the Consort's Suite had felt so empty. Rook had mentioned that Warren had been taken awhile ago, kidnapped to try to force a trade for the little girl instead.
Kidnapped by Raven.
This was going to be so awkward.
Raven
Raven had found a dark blue dress that was almost black to wear. It was loose around her waist since it had been sewn for a pregnant woman, but a belt took care of that. And it even had a matching cloak.
Awkward didn't begin to describe it. She had her shields up as strong as she could manage now, and spoke up softly as she dressed. "I do not think we simply took the place of our other selves, as has often happened in Fandom, or else I would not be here. And Prince Julian was surprised to see you here. He did not expect you."
Dinah
"Baaad feeling," Dinah muttered, crossing her arms. "Rook, older Julian, nobody here. I don't think this is a happy fun Fandom vacation time." Her expression turned grim. "Answers. Let's go find 'em."
Karla
Pulling on a pair of boots from the way back of the closet--the much-battered boots Triela had given her, which brought the sting of tears that were quickly blinked away--Karla stood up and nodded. "That sounds like a good plan. Julian is the same Jewel rank as I am, now, so I won't be able to go toe to toe with him if this gets ugly," she warned. "He's older and if he rises to the killing edge..." She shook her head. "It won't be pretty, but hopefully we'll be too dead to worry about it."
Unpleasant thoughts, but necessary precautions.
"Dinah, you behind me. Be as polite as you can, okay? With whatever Protocol you've picked up. Raven, behind us both. If things start heading precipitously downhill, you're our way out, okay?"
Raven
"Are you certain that I should be seen here?" Raven said hesitantly. She'd felt Julian's rage at her appearance, and anyone else they ran into would surely feel the same. And they might not stop themselves from attacking her, thinking her to be her older self from this world.
She desperately wanted to know what had happened to her in this place, though, and how she could avoid that fate.
Dinah
"We don't have a choice," Dinah pointed out. "If we hide you and someone senses or gets surprised by you, it'll be worse. If they have some warning, that's three seconds while they think about it...." And what had happened? She was desperately trying to remember what little Rook had said on the phone, what Karla had told her, and trying to put it together with an empty Queen's suite. She swallowed. Stupid Fandom, if that's what this was. To distract herself she said, "I can be polite. Really."
Julian
Pacing was too mild a word for what Julian was doing when the girls came out into the study. He almost looked like he was prowling, stalking about the room as if it were suddenly too small for his liking. He froze when he saw Karla, dressed like his Queen and even Dinah's ridiculous getup wasn't enough to mitigate the shock.
Then he saw Raven in a dress he remembered all too well from the nine months when Karla had been pregnant, miserable, and Craftless, while her Court tiptoed around her temper, unsure what exactly she'd give birth to, and he had to spin around, going over to a window to stare fixedly out at the grounds. Yes, it was better, easier when he couldn't see them.
"Ladies," he said, voice tight.
Karla
"Prince Hagen," Karla said, knuckles white where she'd clasped them behind her back. "You mentioned we have a lot to talk about. We're ready to listen."
Julian
"I did," Julian said, still staring out the window. "Please, sit."
He gestured towards the one of the couches clustered around a low, wooden table without looking. "You'll forgive me for not sending for some refreshments. There's no way in Hell I'm going to chance a maid or footman seeing one of you. I barely know how I'm going to explain the noises that drew me up here in the first place."
Karla
Julian sure knows how to make people feel welcome, Karla thought, keeping it under very tight shields.
She took a seat where indicated, composing her expression to one of polite interest, as if Julian was talking about the weather or the latest Court fashions and not about a possible future where everything was topsy-turvy and awful.
"I see," she said midly. "Then I take it the Queen and her family are not currently in residence?"
Julian
"No," Julian replied, the muscles in his jaw twitching. "My Queen and her daughter are currently at the Keep. The Consort is...well, Darkness only knows where Warren is. Darkness and her."
He jerked his chin in Raven's direction,
Karla
"Not her," Karla said sharply, forgetting her own admonition to stick to Protocol. "A different version of her, yes, but no more the Raven you know than I am your Queen."
Her words held a challenge in them. Either he could admit this Raven was not the one he knew, or he could accept Karla as his Queen. But he'd have to choose one.
Julian
He hadn't thought it was possible, but Julian managed to go even more rigid at Karla's words. He slowly turned to face her, this girl who challenged him, his blue eyes rapidly chilling to the color of ice. He was pleased to see her blanch when she met his gaze, but she did not waver, merely tilted her chin up and gazed back.
She was not his Queen, no. But there was a part of her that still called to a part of him, however much he might like to deny it. Her grip was not as steady or as sure on his emotional leash, but he felt its presence there even so. "As you say, Lady," he replied. "I will not confuse the two again."
Let her figure out which he meant.
Raven
"I am not that Raven," Raven insisted, looking sharply at Julian. "I do not know why she has become what she has become, but she is not me. I love Karla, and I would never harm her or Warren."
She almost said she'd die first, but in this word she had died. And come back again, but this time wrong. Sebastian again, somehow? She had to find out so she could stop it.
Dinah
Why had Karla been telling her to be polite, again? Dinah glared at Karla, then reached out and sent calm to Raven, and said carefully, "We know we've put you in a bad position, Julian. Prince Hagen, I mean. We get that we're kind of at your mercy, here." She drew a breath. "To a point. We don't know why or how we got here. But. We don't want to make things worse. What do we need to do, to keep things... contained?"
Karla
Karla decided right then and there that sitting everyone one down and making them learn Protocol was going to be a priority for the summer.
...Hey, she was allowed to ignore Protocol. She at least knew it when she was doing it!
And right now, she was following Protocol and staying quiet to let Julian answer. Because she wanted to, not because he was scary. Really.
Julian
"As soon as we're done here, I'm sending you all to the Keep," Julian said crisply. "In no small part because I do not get paid enough to deal with this kind of headache, and believe me, this is a matter I intend to address with my Queen as soon as she returns home."
Not that there was enough money in the world to deal with two Karlas bent on being difficult. It was the principle of the thing.
"There was an incident here at the estate a few weeks ago," he continued, keeping his voice calm and even and not sounding like he was reliving a fight for his life and the lives of everyone he held dear; his Queen shielding herself and her daughter from five attackers, even as the poison she'd ingested made her scream herself hoarse. Nope. Julian was totally cool. Totally. "Lady Angelline and Prince SaDiablo removed Karla and Rook to the Keep, and then summoned the rest of her First Circle to attend her there. I remained behind to...facilitate the clean up."
The predatory gleam in his eye did not suggest he had suddenly been demoted to janitor.
Raven
Raven tensed, wanting to teleport to the Keep immediately. "Were they injured? Are they in need of healing?" she said, forgetting for the moment that she was the enemy here.
Julian
Here, Julian hesitated. "Rook is fine," he began slowly.
Really, though, that said it all, didn't it?
"As for Karla...I haven't heard anything since they left. There has been no word from the Keep."
Which was true enough, by itself. But it left a lot open and unsaid. It was true that Julian hadn't heard anything from the Keep. But he had heard from the High Lord. He knew Morton was dead.
What he didn't know was how much he should be saying. Karla always made a huge fuss about timelines. He'd never paid much attention, failing to see how that would affect him. Now he was wishing to the Darkness he'd hung on her ever word.
"Jaenelle will know more."
Dinah
50-50 chance in Karla's future. There were in Rook's. Bad things happening. Oh, God.
Dinah looked over at the other two girls and said carefully, "Any reason we can't go there? Now?" And avoid anyone wanting to kill Raven, hopefully?
Julian
Well, they weren't really going to find a shortage of people wanting to kill Raven--or, at least, a Raven--at the Keep, but Jaenelle would keep the coven and the boyos leashed.
Probably.
"The sooner the better," Julian said, relieved he wouldn't have to try to convince them. "In fact, as soon as I get you three decent cloaks--" well, two, Raven already had one, "--I'll bring you down to the Coach and drive you myself. It shouldn't take more than a few hours on the Sapphire Wind."
Raven
"We do not need to wait," Raven said. "I will teleport us there."
She didn't have the patience to wait, and she suspected neither did the others.
Julian
"I don't know if that's the best idea--"
Karla
Karla gave Julian a sympathetic smile. "Think of it as saving you the trip," she said, taking her friends' hands in her own.
And then they were gone in a cloud of black smoke that dissipated even as Julian reached for it.
[NFI, NFB, OOC is love! Preplayed with the amazingness that is blondecanary and trigons_child. Coded with the amazingness that is whateverknight's preplay coder. Warning for spoilers for Queen of the Darkness.]
Soft? That was not actually one of the words she would use to describe her boyfriend. Her hand crept up and--
WARREN MOST CERTAINLY DID NOT HAVE A PAIR OF THOSE!
Her eyes flew open as she bolted up, clutching the sheet to her chin. Looking frantically around, Karla realized three things:
1) She was waking up in a room that she did not recognize,
2) She was stark naked, and
3) Neither of the people she was waking up next to were the male she went to bed with.
"Hell's fire, Mother Night, and may the Darkness be merciful."
Dinah
"Sleeping," Dinah muttered. Very convinced she was dreaming. Because she went to bed by herself in 'Dite's suite, so why was Karla panicking next to her? Dream. Not real. "No. Shhhhh." Remnants of denial from the last time this happened might be in effect, too.
Then Dinah tried to crawl under the pillow, and frowned when she bumped into someone. "Wha..?"
Raven
The emotions jolted Raven awake. She, fortunately dressed in a black (of course) nightgown, sat up, staring at Karla and Dinah. "What are you doing in my room?" she said, not quite realizing it wasn't her room.
"And why are you naked, Karla?"
Karla
"Shh!" Karla hissed, waving at her. Because maybe if no one pointed out that she wasn't wearing clothes, it would somehow stop being true.
"Not your room!" she said, now using her arm to gesture around the room. "Your bed can't fit three grown females comfortably for one!"
Oddly enough, it felt like Karla's room; the most prevalent psychic scent she was picking up was her own. But there was something off about it, too. "I have no idea where we are, how we got here, where Warren is, and--"
And I'm naked!
Yeah, still not admitting that.
Dinah
Dinah was now sitting up, looking absolutely at sea. "Get out of my room," she said plaintively, then caught up to the conversation, and said, "...not my room?"
Staring around, she blinked at Karla. Then pointed. "NO CLOTHES."
Oh God, it was like the Priestly weekend! Only worse! "Priestly?"
Raven
Not her room. Not Karla's room. And not the hotel room where she'd gone to sleep with Jono. Where in Azar's name were they? And where was Jono?
But there was also something else important to focus on, like....
"Karla!" Raven said, her confusion giving way to delight. "I am no longer sensing sexual frustration from you! You and Warren have resumed your physical relationship. Congratulations!"
Karla
Karla....Karla was just going to gape at Raven for one, long, slack-jawed moment, before burying her face in her hands.
Leading to her dropping the sheet to her waist. Leading her to groan and try to hide behind her blanket-covered knees instead.
"Thank you?" she said. "I'm thrilled, trust me, but I feel like I'd be even happier if I knew where we were and how we got here."
Priorities, Raven!
...Okay, no, it was pretty awesome.
Dinah
"Way to go," Dinah said blearily, holding up her hand for a high-five and yawning. "Soooo... where are we?" She looked around. "Nice?" Then paused, and tugged on her pajama top. "Clothes."
Raven
"Karla, it is not as if I have never seen you naked before," Raven said in an attempt to make her relax about her clothesless state.
She closed her eyes for a moment, concentrating. The familiar buzz of emotions she usually felt in Fandom were gone, and when she sought out specific people, like Sookie or Bobby or Tahiri, she could not sense them.
"This is not Fandom," she said, looking around more warily now. "Someone brought us here. Somehow."
Karla
HER FRIENDS WERE NOT HELPING HERE!
Giving up the 'if we don't talk about it, maybe it won't be true' hope--mostly since her friends refused to stop talking about it!--Karla started to tug on the sheets to wrap herself in. "Raven, those were totally different circumstances!" she was compelled to point out. "You were naked, too. We all were. It's really different when you're the only naked girl at the surprise slumber party. Trust me."
Dinah
Dinah tumbled out of the bed to look around, then turned back, more awake. "Hey, so, if none of us did this, what are the odds someone here did?" she wondered. "Or did the Island send us somewhere again?"
Wait. Naked slumber party, what? OH. Right. Back when-- ah. Aha.
Turning bright red and not looking at either other girl...
Raven
Now Raven's cheeks turned pink at the reminder of those "totally different circumstances," and yes, a subject change was in order, thank you, Dinah.
"Could the island have moved and changed everything, even where we slept?" Raven said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "We must ascertain where we are, quickly." And while she was grateful to be dressed, she'd like to find something more practical than a nightgown in case there was any danger about.
Karla
Sure, just keep rubbing in the 'at least we've got nightgowns on' thing, people. That was fine. Karla was just going to sit in the middle of the bed, wrapped in a sheet, until they figured out just what the Hell was going on.
"Okay, so..." she looked around the room again. Something about the dimensions and the layout were really familiar. "I'm seeing three doors and another pair that look like they lead to a closet--" a really huge closet and no, Karla wasn't already thinking about possibly liberating something from it, really "--a window and I'm betting that's another door behind those long drapes. Like a balcony door or something. One of you guys check them out?"
She'd get up and help, but, you know. She was wearing a sheet.
Dinah
Dinah was happy for the distraction, and opened the drapes to yes, find a pair of balcony doors. "Oooooo." Opening them, she looked out over a blue, blue lake, with conifer woods snaking up the hills behind it, and a stable near the water. "Yahtzee!" Then considered. "Wait, how...?"
Raven
Raven padded over to the closet and pulled the doors open. "There is a great deal of clothing here," she said, stepping inside to browse through it. "I am uncertain any of it will fit me, however." Most of it seemed too fancy to wear as well.
Karla
Karla got up and joined Dinah looking out the window, struggling to keep the sheets around her and not catching on any of the things in the room. "What are you Yahz--"
She stopped. Stared out the balcony doors, jaw agape. She knew this view. She used to wake up to it every morning, albeit at a slightly different angle. In fact, if she went out onto the balcony itself, she could probably point to the window that she would look out of.
"Hell's fire and Mother Night," she breathed, breathing in air that smelled like pine and water and rightness. "I'm home."
Dinah
Dinah blinked at her, then looked back out the window. "Glacia?" she asked, evaluating it in light of what she knew. "But. Wait, doesn't that mean Hobart and his cronies are around her somewhere?" Bad! Very bad! Especially with people lacking clothing, bad!
Karla
Karla turned around again to look at the room they'd come from, eyes narrowed. If she ignored the furnishings and just looked at the shape of the room...
"I...I think this is my mother's old suite," she murmured absently. "The Queen's suite. Darkness, I haven't been in here since we boxed the last of my parents' things."
She prowled to one of the other doors and opened it. As she expected, it was connected to another suite, this one more masculine in decoration. And air of long disuse lay over the rooms, though they were dusted and kept clean. Still, what personal objects they contained were sparse, enough to show that someone occasionally used these rooms, but not very often.
"The Consort's Suite," she explained, pitching her voice to carry back. "Why would we end up here of all places?"
Dinah
"I don't know." Dinah was chewing her lower lip, and looking around for weapons, just in case. "But I think we should get clothed and get out of here. This is the last place in Glacia you should be, and I can practically hear Lucivar and Ben hyperventilating. Wherever they are."
Karla
"You're right," Karla said with a nod. She backed out of the room, feeling a little like she'd been trespassing, years of rules and Protocol telling her she didn't belong in that room, not to enter without permission. But it was something even more than that; the stillness, the silence...she'd felt like she was barging in on a mausoleum, almost.
"Let's get dressed and get out." She closed the door tightly behind her and stepped back into the Queen's bedroom. Hopefully Raven had found something useful in the closet. "I'm starting to get a real bad feeling about this," she said, clutching the sheet to her chest. "And not just because it's drafty as all Hell."
Prince Julian Hagen
Julian Hagen had been on tenterhooks ever since the night his Queen had gotten poisoned by a member of her own Court. He had driven Prince Sadi to the Winds himself, carrying Rook, shielding the little girl's eyes from the bodies that littered the mansion. He'd wanted nothing more to go with them, to continue protecting his Queen and her little girl, but he'd had a duty here: finish off the remaining attackers, find out how deep the treason had penetrated Karla's Court, and wait for Morton, as futile as that had been. He had a duty: protect the estate and the remainder of Karla's loyal First Circle.
In all, it had been a rough few weeks for Julian. So, when a maid came find him and tell him there were voices coming from the Queen's apartments, he was less than thrilled to hear it. He had no idea who those voices belonged to, but there were several possibilities, each more dangerous than the last.
On the other hand, he was a Sapphire-Jeweled Warlord Prince worried sick about his Queen. He was dangerous, too.
Karla
The door slammed open with a BANG as the knob embedded itself into the wall. Karla screamed a little in surprise, whirling around to see who'd come storming in. The sheet dropped again as she raised hands crackling with blue flame to fling at--
"Julian?!?"
Those same hands dropped to her chest, now, as Karla was torn between fury and mortification. Merciful Darkness, was this some kind of karmic punishment for last night? Break the Pants Rule and somehow everyone had to see her naked to the waist?
"What in the Hell are you doing?!?" she yelled.
Maybe if she stayed very still, Julian somehow wouldn't see her?
Julian
"Karla?!?"
Faint hope of that, because Julian was staring at her with complete incredulity. At least, until he realized that he was staring and what she wasn't wearing and then he was bringing his hands up to cover his face so fast that he accidentally hit himself.
Okay, possibly not the most flattering reaction, but even if she hadn't been his Queen, she was still Karla.
Clearing his throat, he turned his back to her and closed his eyes. "I mean, uhh, Lady. Right, Lady." If there was ever a time for Protocol, it was now. "What the Hell are you doing back here?!" Fortunately, Protocol allowed for a little profanity with Warlord Princes. "It still isn't safe! And where's Rook?"
Karla
"Rook?"
Karla froze right in the middle of reaching for her sheet. The shock of hearing Julian say that name was even more than the shock of him actually being polite! Rook? As in her daughter? From the future? The crazy future, where Raven was evil and had impregnated her with a kiss and she didn't have legs any more? That Rook?
"Guh-wha?" Very eloquent, Karla.
She swallowed and tried again. "Rook? How do you know Rook?!"
...Maybe she'd misheard?
Julian
"How do I know--Karla, she is your daughter. What the Hell is wrong with you?!" And with that, Julian was whirling back around to look at his Queen, clad in a bedsheet or not. Now that the shock of finding her here of all places and in such a way had worn off, Julian was starting to think again. And there were just a few things off about the whole scenario.
He hadn't become Karla's Master of the Guard for being stupid. Or slow to act.
Julian's warblade was in his hand before he finished turning. "Who are you and where is my Queen?" he snarled, holding it up to her throat.
Karla
Unexpected sword to the throat was unexpected. Even though Karla outranked him, she still wasn't looking forward to tangling with an angry Warlord Prince.
And then her eyes flicked over to the hand holding that sword. On it was a ring, but instead of the expected Purple Dusk Jewel, Karla saw a Sapphire. Julian was wearing the Sapphire. That meant she didn't outrank him anymore. An already uneven fight just got a lot more so.
There went any brilliant ideas about using Craft to get out of this. She'd have to talk to Julian and try to make him see sense.
They were doomed.
"Julian, please believe me when I say I have no idea what the Hell you're talking about." Beat. "Okay, mostly no idea. Last night, I went to sleep at Fandom and then we woke up here this morning. I'm pretty sure there's some island weirdness at play, because I certainly don't have a daughter and I don't occupy the Queen's Suite at the estate and I'm pretty sure you haven't made the Offering yet, either."
Julian
Fandom weirdness. That made a lot of sense--or, at least, it did to someone who'd spent the last decade waking up to sometimes find his Queen and her husband transformed into children, opposite genders (and wasn't that always a joy?), and occasionally different people entirely.
That would explain why this Karla was wearing her Birthright again, if nothing else. "It would figure," he snorted, not actually lowering his sword. "I pray to the Darkness to have my Queen returned and I get you."
Karla looked like she was about to protest that, when his gaze sharpened again. "We?"
Not Rook, obviously, but perhaps...Warren?
Raven
Raven had been searching for something to wear as well, and she froze in the doorway before re-entering the room when she heard mention of Rook.
This was so not good.
But Julian was threatening Karla now, and she couldn't let him get away with that. Bracing herself for his reaction, she stepped into the room. "Lower your weapon," she demanded. "Now."
Chances were that sword was going to come for her now, but at least it wouldn't be at Karla's throat.
Dinah
Dinah had now gotten used to Raven getting all stompy when people pointed things at Karla, so was largely unfazed. Also, she now had a robe! Woo! Which made her way more clothed than some people!
"Why is Purple Guy pointing a sword at you while you're naked?" Dinah paused. "There is no end to the innuendo here, is there."
Julian
Purple Guy?
There was a name he hadn't heard in years. Not that Julian was actually thinking about that. Because Raven had been right. At the sound of her voice, he was shouldering Karla aside and spinning about to face the demoness.
"You," he said, fingers tightening on the sword as he glared at Raven. He kept himself positioned between her and his Queen, his sword now in a guard position. "Come to see what else you can scavenge?"
Karla
And in one of her less well-thought out plans, Karla was grabbing for his arm, trying to hold onto it before he could decide to use that sword on anyone.
Who knew that a day that had started with a surprising naked wakeup in a world not their own could still go downhill?
"Julian, dammit, just stop!" she cried. "She's not who you think! Not yet--I mean, not ever! But she hasn't done any of the things you want to skewer her for! So just put your damn sword down!"
Raven
Raven had anticipated Julian's reaction the moment she'd heard Rook's name. She knew the Raven of Rook's world was evil, and that part of her soul was somehow housed in the little girl, and she was prepared to teleport out of the way if Julian attempted to lunge at her with that sword. But the sword was no longer poised to harm Karla, and that was what mattered.
"I am as she says," she said, projecting calm as she spoke. "I am not the Raven you know, and I certainly do not intend Karla or anyone else any harm."
Dinah
Dinah was waving her arms in front of Raven now, not wanting to set Purple Guy-- Julian off, but needing to catch his attention. "Wrong Raven. Younger Raven. See? No crow's feet. Only a teenager. Same as Karla. Same as me." She paused. "Last time I saw you, Lucivar told you to be nicer to me. And I was snarky. Sorry? Please don't stab us." Or make them break out the big guns and have to hurt him, because that just couldn't end well.
Julian
Julian bit down a comment about how this Raven was wearing about as much as the other Raven usually did, but bit that back. As much as snarky comments were an important part of belonging to Karla's Court, there were times and places where they were significantly unhelpful.
Like right now, when he was facing a younger version of the female who had been tormenting his Queen for a decade and he was struggling not to just slip to the killing edge.
"Why are you all here?" he demanded instead. He still refused to put his sword away, but at least it wasn't pointing at anyone. "Why now? On top of everything else?"
Karla
"I told you, Fandom weird--" Karla began, also not letting go of his arm any. "Wait, what do you mean 'on top of everything else.' What else?"
Julian
"This is not a conversation I am having with you while you are naked and hanging on my arm," Julian retorted, hanging on to the last, dying shreds of his authority.
Of course, it wasn't a conversation he wanted to have anyway, but hopefully phrasing it like that would focus their attention away from that.
"Why are you--never mind. I am just going to stop asking questions. I don't want to know."
Karla
"Because this is how I went to sleep," Karla said, answering him specifically because he'd just said he didn't want to know. "Had I realized I was going to make an impromptu trip to the future, I would have made sure to dress for it."
For one thing, Glacia was cold.
Julian
Yup. Totally did not want to know.
"Good to hear," Julian replied. With another distrustful glance at Raven, he vanished his sword. "You can let go of me, now."
He'd had more than enough naked Karla hanging off of him to last a while, thanks. If word of this little by-play ever got out, Warren would try to kill him. Which Julian would absolutely embrace, because not only would death remove the memory, but it would mean that they'd gotten him back, and he was in decent enough condition to try...
He cleared his throat and shook his head. "Get dressed. I'll be waiting in the study. Don't go anywhere. We have a lot to talk about."
As soon as Karla let go of his arm, he stalked out of the bedroom, slamming the door behind him.
Dinah
Dinah watched him leave, then turned back. "I miiiiiiiiissed him!"
Karla
"Yeah, well, you've always been a weird girl," Karla retorted, picking up her sheet again with as much dignity as she could muster. Which wasn't much. "Raven, you okay?"
Raven
Raven sagged back against the wall as her legs went weak. She'd felt how close Julian had been to shaking off Karla's hand and attempting to kill her, and his rage had eaten at her shields like acid.
"We are in Rook's world," she murmured. "How...why?"
Dinah
"Either we got sucked here-- and I do mean suck-- by someone yelling for help, like the vampire world. Or, the island is being wackier than usual," Dinah said, then ducked back into the closet. "Let's raid future you's closet. 'Cause I don't see toga chic making a comeback here, as adorable as you both are."
Karla
"Tell me I have real clothes in there," Karla said, trying to shake off her uneasy feelings, "and not just fancy Court stuff. Because I might stick to bedsheets if there are only stupid, fancy gowns and stuff."
Fortunately, it appeared that future!Karla was of the same opinion as Fandom!Karla, for all that her tastes were bound up by necessity. There were indeed row after row after row of 'fancy Court stuff' but also a fair amount of comfortable, well-worn, and casual outfits, some of which Karla even recognized from her closet.
"I'm not sure what we're going to be able to find to fit the two of you," she muttered. "It doesn't look like future!me's doing much better in the tit department than I am."
Sigh.
Raven
"There is a box labeled maternity wear," Raven pointed out, not without a twinge of guilt.
"Perhaps something in there will fit better." Something black.
Dinah
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Dinah bitched, even knowing she was five inches and change taller than Karla, and proportionally larger. The odds of finding pants that would fit her... "I hate wearing skirts!" Maybe she could find something that she could tuck into boots? Rummaging, she found a pair of old turned-up pants, that had to be a pair of Morton's by how long they were when unfolded. Very beaten-up, but who cared. Boots, same deal, had to be his; a corselet that probably wasn't meant to be worn on the outside, but it would work as a semi-bra, and an old blouse with paint on it.
"Sorted!" She started pulling on clothes behind a screen, and called out, "Think Morton will mind that I'm wearing his old stuff?"
Karla
"We'll have to ask him when we see him," Karla said, snickering at the image Dinah made. "I'm sure he'll be easier to talk to than Julian. I wonder where he is."
She frowned, pulling on a pair of pants. They were a little loose in the waist, but other than that, a decent fit. "I wonder where I am, for that matter. And where's War--oh."
Now she understood why the Consort's Suite had felt so empty. Rook had mentioned that Warren had been taken awhile ago, kidnapped to try to force a trade for the little girl instead.
Kidnapped by Raven.
This was going to be so awkward.
Raven
Raven had found a dark blue dress that was almost black to wear. It was loose around her waist since it had been sewn for a pregnant woman, but a belt took care of that. And it even had a matching cloak.
Awkward didn't begin to describe it. She had her shields up as strong as she could manage now, and spoke up softly as she dressed. "I do not think we simply took the place of our other selves, as has often happened in Fandom, or else I would not be here. And Prince Julian was surprised to see you here. He did not expect you."
Dinah
"Baaad feeling," Dinah muttered, crossing her arms. "Rook, older Julian, nobody here. I don't think this is a happy fun Fandom vacation time." Her expression turned grim. "Answers. Let's go find 'em."
Karla
Pulling on a pair of boots from the way back of the closet--the much-battered boots Triela had given her, which brought the sting of tears that were quickly blinked away--Karla stood up and nodded. "That sounds like a good plan. Julian is the same Jewel rank as I am, now, so I won't be able to go toe to toe with him if this gets ugly," she warned. "He's older and if he rises to the killing edge..." She shook her head. "It won't be pretty, but hopefully we'll be too dead to worry about it."
Unpleasant thoughts, but necessary precautions.
"Dinah, you behind me. Be as polite as you can, okay? With whatever Protocol you've picked up. Raven, behind us both. If things start heading precipitously downhill, you're our way out, okay?"
Raven
"Are you certain that I should be seen here?" Raven said hesitantly. She'd felt Julian's rage at her appearance, and anyone else they ran into would surely feel the same. And they might not stop themselves from attacking her, thinking her to be her older self from this world.
She desperately wanted to know what had happened to her in this place, though, and how she could avoid that fate.
Dinah
"We don't have a choice," Dinah pointed out. "If we hide you and someone senses or gets surprised by you, it'll be worse. If they have some warning, that's three seconds while they think about it...." And what had happened? She was desperately trying to remember what little Rook had said on the phone, what Karla had told her, and trying to put it together with an empty Queen's suite. She swallowed. Stupid Fandom, if that's what this was. To distract herself she said, "I can be polite. Really."
Julian
Pacing was too mild a word for what Julian was doing when the girls came out into the study. He almost looked like he was prowling, stalking about the room as if it were suddenly too small for his liking. He froze when he saw Karla, dressed like his Queen and even Dinah's ridiculous getup wasn't enough to mitigate the shock.
Then he saw Raven in a dress he remembered all too well from the nine months when Karla had been pregnant, miserable, and Craftless, while her Court tiptoed around her temper, unsure what exactly she'd give birth to, and he had to spin around, going over to a window to stare fixedly out at the grounds. Yes, it was better, easier when he couldn't see them.
"Ladies," he said, voice tight.
Karla
"Prince Hagen," Karla said, knuckles white where she'd clasped them behind her back. "You mentioned we have a lot to talk about. We're ready to listen."
Julian
"I did," Julian said, still staring out the window. "Please, sit."
He gestured towards the one of the couches clustered around a low, wooden table without looking. "You'll forgive me for not sending for some refreshments. There's no way in Hell I'm going to chance a maid or footman seeing one of you. I barely know how I'm going to explain the noises that drew me up here in the first place."
Karla
Julian sure knows how to make people feel welcome, Karla thought, keeping it under very tight shields.
She took a seat where indicated, composing her expression to one of polite interest, as if Julian was talking about the weather or the latest Court fashions and not about a possible future where everything was topsy-turvy and awful.
"I see," she said midly. "Then I take it the Queen and her family are not currently in residence?"
Julian
"No," Julian replied, the muscles in his jaw twitching. "My Queen and her daughter are currently at the Keep. The Consort is...well, Darkness only knows where Warren is. Darkness and her."
He jerked his chin in Raven's direction,
Karla
"Not her," Karla said sharply, forgetting her own admonition to stick to Protocol. "A different version of her, yes, but no more the Raven you know than I am your Queen."
Her words held a challenge in them. Either he could admit this Raven was not the one he knew, or he could accept Karla as his Queen. But he'd have to choose one.
Julian
He hadn't thought it was possible, but Julian managed to go even more rigid at Karla's words. He slowly turned to face her, this girl who challenged him, his blue eyes rapidly chilling to the color of ice. He was pleased to see her blanch when she met his gaze, but she did not waver, merely tilted her chin up and gazed back.
She was not his Queen, no. But there was a part of her that still called to a part of him, however much he might like to deny it. Her grip was not as steady or as sure on his emotional leash, but he felt its presence there even so. "As you say, Lady," he replied. "I will not confuse the two again."
Let her figure out which he meant.
Raven
"I am not that Raven," Raven insisted, looking sharply at Julian. "I do not know why she has become what she has become, but she is not me. I love Karla, and I would never harm her or Warren."
She almost said she'd die first, but in this word she had died. And come back again, but this time wrong. Sebastian again, somehow? She had to find out so she could stop it.
Dinah
Why had Karla been telling her to be polite, again? Dinah glared at Karla, then reached out and sent calm to Raven, and said carefully, "We know we've put you in a bad position, Julian. Prince Hagen, I mean. We get that we're kind of at your mercy, here." She drew a breath. "To a point. We don't know why or how we got here. But. We don't want to make things worse. What do we need to do, to keep things... contained?"
Karla
Karla decided right then and there that sitting everyone one down and making them learn Protocol was going to be a priority for the summer.
...Hey, she was allowed to ignore Protocol. She at least knew it when she was doing it!
And right now, she was following Protocol and staying quiet to let Julian answer. Because she wanted to, not because he was scary. Really.
Julian
"As soon as we're done here, I'm sending you all to the Keep," Julian said crisply. "In no small part because I do not get paid enough to deal with this kind of headache, and believe me, this is a matter I intend to address with my Queen as soon as she returns home."
Not that there was enough money in the world to deal with two Karlas bent on being difficult. It was the principle of the thing.
"There was an incident here at the estate a few weeks ago," he continued, keeping his voice calm and even and not sounding like he was reliving a fight for his life and the lives of everyone he held dear; his Queen shielding herself and her daughter from five attackers, even as the poison she'd ingested made her scream herself hoarse. Nope. Julian was totally cool. Totally. "Lady Angelline and Prince SaDiablo removed Karla and Rook to the Keep, and then summoned the rest of her First Circle to attend her there. I remained behind to...facilitate the clean up."
The predatory gleam in his eye did not suggest he had suddenly been demoted to janitor.
Raven
Raven tensed, wanting to teleport to the Keep immediately. "Were they injured? Are they in need of healing?" she said, forgetting for the moment that she was the enemy here.
Julian
Here, Julian hesitated. "Rook is fine," he began slowly.
Really, though, that said it all, didn't it?
"As for Karla...I haven't heard anything since they left. There has been no word from the Keep."
Which was true enough, by itself. But it left a lot open and unsaid. It was true that Julian hadn't heard anything from the Keep. But he had heard from the High Lord. He knew Morton was dead.
What he didn't know was how much he should be saying. Karla always made a huge fuss about timelines. He'd never paid much attention, failing to see how that would affect him. Now he was wishing to the Darkness he'd hung on her ever word.
"Jaenelle will know more."
Dinah
50-50 chance in Karla's future. There were in Rook's. Bad things happening. Oh, God.
Dinah looked over at the other two girls and said carefully, "Any reason we can't go there? Now?" And avoid anyone wanting to kill Raven, hopefully?
Julian
Well, they weren't really going to find a shortage of people wanting to kill Raven--or, at least, a Raven--at the Keep, but Jaenelle would keep the coven and the boyos leashed.
Probably.
"The sooner the better," Julian said, relieved he wouldn't have to try to convince them. "In fact, as soon as I get you three decent cloaks--" well, two, Raven already had one, "--I'll bring you down to the Coach and drive you myself. It shouldn't take more than a few hours on the Sapphire Wind."
Raven
"We do not need to wait," Raven said. "I will teleport us there."
She didn't have the patience to wait, and she suspected neither did the others.
Julian
"I don't know if that's the best idea--"
Karla
Karla gave Julian a sympathetic smile. "Think of it as saving you the trip," she said, taking her friends' hands in her own.
And then they were gone in a cloud of black smoke that dissipated even as Julian reached for it.
[NFI, NFB, OOC is love! Preplayed with the amazingness that is blondecanary and trigons_child. Coded with the amazingness that is whateverknight's preplay coder. Warning for spoilers for Queen of the Darkness.]