Room 218, Friday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

Karla was puzzling over the letter she'd gotten from Jaenelle. Okay, puzzling might not be the best word for it. She was downright confused and that confusion hadn't lessened any on this, her fourth time reading it.

...Dujae? Banard? Lady Ash? Mistral? Rainier? Karla, who are these people you asked about and why do you assume I would know them? Is this some kind of silly Fandom thing, like the time you thought you were Prince Skywalker's adopted sister? One of these days, I hope that strangeness strikes while you're here and we all get to see!

Anyway, we missed you at Winsol. Tersa came, as did Lady Sylvia and her boys. She shared Uncle Saetan's cup, much to the raised eyebrows and poorly hidden smirks of all of us...

Her letter continued, filled with pages and pages of gossip and news, but Karla's mind kept whirling. How did Jaenelle not know who Dujae was? She'd been a fan of his work since she was tiny and now he gave them art lessons at the Hall! And Ranier was their dance instructor! Lady Ash was Smoke's mate and Mistral was Kaetian's colt, likely to be the next Warlord Prince of Sceval! And Banard had been making jewelry for the SaDiablos for years.

What in Hell was going on?

[Open for visitors and phone calls and the like]

Comments

[endsthegame]

Ender hadn't talked to Karla in a long time. He'd been too busy, and too distracted-- two conditions that never helped when you tried to keep up with your friends.

And thus, he came knocking. Quite literally.

[glacial_queen]

Fair. And it wasn't like he was the only one. Karla had been falling behind on her friends for a few months now.

"Come in," Karla called, still staring at the letter in her hands, trying to figure out if the world had gone mad or if it was just her.

[endsthegame]

"Karla," Ender said, slipping easily into the room. "Hey." His eyes flicked over her, and then to the letter. "Bad news?" he asked. "I don't mean to interrupt."

[glacial_queen]

"Not bad, exactly," Karla said, drawing up her knees so Ender could sit on the bed if he wished. "Just...confusing. I asked after some people in my last letter home. And now Jaenelle is telling me she'd never heard of half of them."

[endsthegame]

That immediately put Ender on high alert, and he came up closer. "The same thing has been happening to me," he said. "Some of my friends have fallen completely off the radar."

[glacial_queen]

"Comepletely-completely?" Karla asked. "As in, all traces of their existence have been wiped away and no one remembers it otherwise?"

[endsthegame]

"Valentine remembers," Ender said, taking a seat opposite Karla. "But no one else seems to - there isn't even a paper trail."

[glacial_queen]

That seemed ominous. This world had paper trails for everything, and it was even worse in Ender's time. "Like who? Anyone in particular? Is there any kind of...of link or connection or anything?"

[endsthegame]

"People that I know, or know of," Ender said. He produced a wry, not exactly mirthful smile. "But that simply means 'anyone I've been capable of staying in contact with on a regular basis'. It says more about what I've been able to hear than about what's actually going on."

[life_inshadow]

After talking to Wesley on her lunch break, and then making herself spend the afternoon in the Magic Box, Tara swung by Karla's room By then, she'd checked her email, and it wasn't just Kennedy she was worrying about.

And so she stuck her head in the door. "Hey, got a minute?"

[glacial_queen]

Karla nodded, trying not to frown. She didn't want Tara to think she was frowning at her, when really Karla was frowning at the entire situation. "Yeah, I do," she said, waving Tara inside. "Come in?"

[life_inshadow]

"Sure," Tara said, with a matching frown about the whole situation. "So ... not exactly the best day ever, huh?"

[glacial_queen]

"It started off okay, but suddenly took a turn for the bizarre," Karla said, holding up the letter she'd gotten. "It's like people from home have suddenly developed selective amnesia. Things are just gone. Like...this painting that's hung in Uncle Saetan's study has vanished and been replaced by--" she looked at the letter and scowled, "--wall sconces and no one notices anything different."

[life_inshadow]

And Tara's frown deepened. "Karla, this is seriously not good," she said. Because that wasn't obvious.

"Kennedy's whole dimension is gone or something. I can't find it with magic, and it's not in the Portalocity computer. If people in other places are vanishing ... I don't know. Maybe it's not connected." She sighed. "Sorry. Didn't mean to dump everything."

[glacial_queen]

"No, no, dump away," Karla said, gesturing for Tara to take a seat. "I know I hadn't heard from Kennedy since...what, Homecoming? But I thought she was just busy."

But if it was more than that...

"It's not just you. Or me, even. Ender came by and said he's going through the same thing. People are just...vanishing. Without a trace."

[life_inshadow]

"Vanishing?" Tara said. She wasn't really in touch with anyone from home on a regular basis, so she'd missed that part of the weirdness. "Just ... poof, gone?"

She shook her head. "Kennedy sent a text saying she was going to the Hellmouth a couple weeks ago and since then ... nothing. Her phone's dead."

[glacial_queen]

"Vanishing with no trace they ever existed in the first place," Karla confirmed. "People don't know them, remember them, even things they once made are gone. Like Dujae's painting and Lady Ash's pups."

Karla had gotten Kennedy's text, but hadn't really noticed the lack of follow-up. Which was especially weird considering... "Doesn't time pass a lot faster for her than us?" she said. "So, if it's been over a month for us..."

Yeah. Kennedy should have sent something by now.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

*riiiiing*

Someone's been out of touch too long.

[glacial_queen]

Someone had. And it wasn't just Dinah.

"Dinah, do you remember me talking about someone named Banard?" she demanded. Hellos were for other people. "Or Dujae? Ranier? Lady Ash? Mistral?"

Dinah had been to Kaeleer. More than anyone else, actually. Dinah would know if Karla was crazy.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Dujae's the artist. He's demon-dead," Dinah said, her heart sinking, already suspecting why Karla was asking. "Mistral... I can't remember who that is, but I remember you mentioning the name. One of the unicorns, maybe? And isn't Banard the cool jeweler?"

Hellos were for times of less fear.

[glacial_queen]

"Yes, yes, and more yes," Karla said, still wringing her hands a bit, but feeling much more relieved. "Thank the Darkness. I just--this might sound crazy, but--I'm glad you remembered them. Jaenelle doesn't."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"It's affecting Jaenelle?" Holy crap. Dinah was now even more worried. Because if the Witch-Queen of Everything couldn't remember stuff that used to be there, they were really in trouble. "Karla, people have been vanishing here. I'm the only one that remembers them. You remember me mentioning Poison Ivy?"

[glacial_queen]

"Poison Lipstick Lady," Karla replied promptly. "She was the one who controlled the guy who fell off the building with you. Right?"

Uh-oh. Not just her. Or Ender. Or Kennedy.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Yup. Except Barbara and Helena remember it as being the Penguin's guys, and have never heard of Poison Ivy." She set her jaw. "Barbara believes me, but she doesn't know what to make of it, or what to do about it. About a third of the people in Jump Club and my classes have disappeared too." She sighed. "It's Priestly and Momoko too." She rubbed her eyes. "Damnit, I thought it wouldn't happen to you because you're in Fandom!"

[glacial_queen]

"I don't think anyone on the island's disappeared," Karla said, trying to think. "I mean..." Her voice dropped. "Bobby left school, because his dad got really hurt, but no one's inexplicably vanished."

She paused, a horrible thought coming to her. "But would I know if they did?"