glacial_queen | The Territory of Sceval, Kaeleer (Saturday Afternoon, Fandom Time)

Invitations had gone out, letting people know that Karla was planning to take a trip back to Kaeleer. Nothing special, just a short day-long trip, complete with picnic.

Of course, that was nothing special if you didn't know about the kind of picnic Mrs. Beale was capable of putting together with a bit of notice. Or if you weren't impressed with visiting unicorns all day. Whichever.

The portal opened up at the Hall, where the staff was packing up a single Coach with all of the supplies a group that size might need: sweetfeed, sugar cubes, apples, carrots--and provender for the picnickers, too. Guests would find themselves ushered into other Coaches; large wheeled conveyances that were powered by Craft and could be drawn by horses on roads or powered by Craft to travel over the Winds. Karla, Jaenelle, and Lucivar were not there to greet the Fandom folks; the latter two had gone ahead to ready everything on Sceval's end, and the former had vanished that morning, offering apologies and deliberately vague explanations of an errand that needed running.

Not that anyone at the Hall was going to let her absence slow down their timetable any. As soon as the last person was seated and comfortable and the last basket stowed, the Coaches took off, catching the nearby Opal Wind to speed them along.

The ride was on the longish side, lasting about an hour--apologies had been made, but Sceval was a closed Territory and portals were not permitted--but soon enough they were touching down again. This time, there was no extended hike through the woods, the Coaches landed in a large open meadow, next to a cheerful brook. Large blankets were already laid out, and the coachmen clambered down to open the doors and then begin unpacking the mountains of food they'd brought.

There were two people waiting for everyone when they climbed out. One was Karla, the other was a solemn dark-haired girl who looked about eight or nine. She gave the assembled group a tremulous smile and clutched Karla's hand tightly. Karla gave her a fond smile before looking up at her assembled friends.

"Welcome to Sceval," she said, waving with her free hand. "Lucivar and Jaenelle are already out visiting the herd, which you're welcome to do. There's food to eat if you're hungry and plenty of places to explore if you get restless. I didn't, uhh, plan any activities, so hopefully there's enough here to keep you entertained!"

[NFB for off-islandness]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

trigons_child

"Then I hope this trip will be a relaxing one for you," Raven said. "Please let me know if there is anything I may do for you. Will you be staying the entire weekend? I intend to return to Fandom tomorrow, for I have neglected my duties in the library, so I wish to be there on Sunday."

She hoped Belle would be there so she could apologize for missing two of her shifts.

From:

furnaceface

Jonothon's shoulders hitched a little bit, maybe a touch awkwardly.

"I've got things I need to return to the island for tomorrow," he replied. "Deadpool and I do the Sunday radio broadcasts now, and our rehearsals are on Sundays... So... busy."

Two whole days per week, Jono was busy. He'd take a few more if there was anything else for him to do around that little island, but for the most part, Monday through Wednesday and then Friday and Saturday were just spent thinking too much.

From:

trigons_child

"Would you like to do something tomorrow evening, after the rehearsals and I am done at the library?" Raven asked, just a touch hesitantly. "I have missed you, as I said, and would enjoy spending some time together."

From:

furnaceface

"We haven't really done much of that lately, have we?" Even before she'd run to Azarath with a voicemail message behind her, he hadn't exactly been so great at reaching out to people, Raven included. Jono swallowed, and then shrugged his shoulders a little. "Did you have anything in mind, luv?"

From:

trigons_child

"It is your company I have missed, so I do not have anything specific in mind as of yet," Raven said. "We could have dinner, or see a movie, or just stay at your apartment and get take-out and watch something there. Or if you felt comfortable leaving the island, I could try to find something for us to do on the mainland."

She could use her time at the library tomorrow to see if there was a concert or something she thought they might enjoy.

From:

furnaceface

"Little too bluish-grey for the mainland these days, luv," Jono mumbled, bunching his shoulders up a little so that his coat collar rose up a little higher over his face. "My old 'burn victim' excuse doesn't hold so well these days, and pleading gangrene tends to give people the wrong impression."

That his face was in the process of going septic and rotting off, say.

From:

trigons_child

"I meant a world like my mother's perhaps, where such things are not uncommon," Raven said. She couldn't guarantee no one would stare, though, and she didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

"But remaining on the island is fine. Do you have any preference about what you might like to do? I would not mind either going out or staying in."

From:

furnaceface

Hell, people stared at him in his own reality and even back on Fandom island. Even if weird faces like his weren't uncommon, they were still different, and different tended to make people look.

"... Not sure," he admitted, finally. "All I've really done these days is go to the bar. I'm... I'm here in a half-arsed attempt to get some fresh air, get out more, clear my head, but, well..."

He shrugged, not actually certain where he'd been heading with that.

"I'm no good at... I don't know. I just mean, I... Some nights are less... Maybe dinner."

From:

trigons_child

"You are not alone in feeling awkward," Raven murmured softly. Even though many of the people here were friends, part of her still wanted to run back to Fandom and hide, and her shields were practically itching from the emotions around her after being unnecessary for half a month.

"Out or in for dinner?" she asked. She was asking difficult questions, Jono. "If we stay in, I could find a movie for us to watch. Or we could go somewhere and then just go for a walk or something if the weather is nice enough."

From:

furnaceface

"Walking would be... perhaps," Jono replied, because that was totally an answer to questions like that. Because he said so, that's why. "I mean, I normally don't wander far from the park when I go out, but that's for... reasons."

And such like that.

"... Why are you feeling awkward?"

God, she hadn't been brainwashed and slaughtered hundreds of innocents while she was gone too, had she?

From:

trigons_child

Raven turned her head away, looking out the window on the opposite side of the coach. "You have enough troubling you, Jono. You do not need mine as well."

She was better than she had been before she'd panicked and fled to Azarath, but she hadn't banished her troubles.

From:

furnaceface

"And knowing that there's something eating at you that I can't help you with, never mind have you feel comfortable talking to me about?"

He shrugged a little.

"I can't make you talk to me," he muttered, "but you already took off for weeks with no warning, to do something that you'd asked me to be with you for. What am I here for, if not to be there for you?"

It certainly wasn't because he looked good with one arm hooked around her elbow when she wanted to impress people, at least.

From:

trigons_child

Raven wrapped her arms around herself, tempted for a moment to say she was fine and it was truly nothing to worry about, but it would be a lie and he wouldn't believe her for an instant. "I...it is only that the day before I left, it had been a year to the day that I died," she said quietly. "And it made me realize I had never truly dealt with it. When I returned I wanted nothing more than to pretend it had never happened. I could not entire swallow all my fears and guilt, of course, but most of it.... I did my best to pretend to be as I was. I avoided going to Azarath because it would be an undeniable reminder of what I had done. And I think all of this was affecting me on some level that I did not consciously understand."

She shrugged her shoulders a little. "I think I have not been truly myself in some time. But I want to be a better person and a truer friend. I ran to Azarath to try to face myself and learn to be that again."

From:

furnaceface

"I... do wish you'd said something before running off like that," said the pot to the kettle. "At least to explain that it was something you felt as though you needed to do on your own. I spent the last few weeks... worrying. That maybe I wasn't... I don't know. Doing enough."

A little. Lot. Quite a bit. Something.

From:

trigons_child

"And I am so sorry for that," Raven said, squeezing herself and struggling with her guilt and sorrow. "It is the last thing I would wish to do, to make you feel that way. The last time we had talked I had upset you, and I did not wish to do so more, but I panicked and was not thinking clearly. I left messages for you and for Karla, but I could not even explain to myself what I was feeling, and I did not know how to do so to you or to her. I promise I will do not such a thing again."

From:

furnaceface

"Raven... you... you promised that you wouldn't run off before. A year ago, Fandom time, wasn't it?"

Jono bit the inside of his cheek, and then shook his head.

"I'm not looking for more promises from anybody. I don't really take much stock in promises these days, for all that they're worth. I just... wanted to make certain you knew."

From:

trigons_child

"I did not break my promise," she protested feebly, ducking her head to hide the tears that were welling in her eyes. "I told you where I was going. I told Karla. I just needed time away.... Please, forgive me? I am truly sorry for worrying you."

From:

furnaceface

"Azarath is supposed to not worry me? Ruins and bodies?" Jono sounded maybe a touch incredulous for a moment, there. And then he ran his hand through his hair and shook his head. "Never mind. This is probably just me being... something."

He hadn't exactly been the most stable of individuals himself these days, after all.

From:

trigons_child

Raven drew in a deep breath, trying to compose herself and reign in her emotions. That had been part of what she'd tried to do in Azarath; face them but not let them control her. And to deal with those bodies and give what remains there were a proper burial. And Jono had seen enough death already.

Lifting her head, she exhaled and tried to relax. "All the same, I am sorry," she said. "What can I do to make it up to you? I had hoped spending some time together would be a start."

From:

furnaceface

Jono's shoulders hitched up a little bit in a shrug. He didn't know what would make up for it. Hell, aside from the fact that he'd been worried and left feeling both responsible and helpless, he wasn't completely certain that he could put a finger on what was eating at him in the first place.

"I just feel very... old, right now," he said, finally. "And like I... perhaps don't know anybody any more. Not the way I thought I did, myself included. Maybe some time together would be good for that. It has been years with... only a few visits here and there, when either of us could manage it."

From:

trigons_child

Raven shifted in her seat, turning sideways so she could look at him. She lifted one hand and touched it to his shoulder. "I think it would be," she said softly. "No pressure or expectations. Just time to be ourselves with one another."

From:

furnaceface

"No expectations," Jonothon echoed, softly. "Are you terribly certain you want to see me being myself, though?"

The thing was, he didn't particularly care for what he was like when he was himself, either. And they'd had some... awkward conversations already, as a result of him making the attempt.

From:

trigons_child

Raven nodded. "I am certain of that," she said. "And while I may not be entirely sure of who I am right now, and you may feel the same about yourself, there is one thing of which I am very certain. I love you, Jono, and I always will. That is not a promise. It is a fact. Wherever you are, however you look, however you feel -- I love you, and I will be there for you, however you need me."

She felt like she'd been failing him in that of late, but now she was determined that she would prove her words true.

From:

furnaceface

Jono had no idea what to say to that. An 'I love you too' seemed obvious, at least, but even facts that sounded like promises were just predictions based on emotion and little else. So he... nodded a little, looking down at his knees.

"We probably have a lot of talking to do," he said, instead. "Preferably when there are fewer people around."

From:

trigons_child

"Yes," Raven said. "Tomorrow evening, then? Shall I come to your apartment after rehearsals are done? Unless there is a time or place that you would prefer. The only commitments to my time are the library on Sunday and my classes on Wednesday morning and Thursday afternoon."

She was hoping for sooner rather than later, though.