JGOB [Tuesday afternoon]

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

After cleaning himself up and spending some time brooding collecting his thoughts, Max decided he needed to get out. Feel the sun on his face, the wind in his hair, and all that stuff.

Also, he needed to acquire a large quantity of pastries. So he walked over to JGOB and ordered two of everything. The glare he'd given the poor girl behind the counter when she hesitated was enough to get a stack of large boxes filled without any comment.

He then stomped strode over to a table and set the precarious stack of boxes on top of it. His emotions were still roiling, but his stomach had settled enough to eat.

And junk food was always comforting.

[Open for any pastry and/or Max needs.]

Comments

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Especially for Raven," Max said, as if reading Karla's mind. "There's a lot of anger, a lot of rage... She wants to hurt people, Karla. To lash out." He wasn't going to give her any details on that.

"She's still there, underneath it all. Something's keeping her from really letting go of herself, but... She's a goddess. Raven is..." Still an innocent in so many ways.

Max wasn't sure the girl could take all of that and survive it. Not as herself, anyway.

[glacial_queen]

"I mentioned something similar to her last night," Karla agreed. "She says that emotions just pass right through her, but 'Dite feels everything so deeply. I don't know if they'd act the same way. And when she was in the grip of them, she'd want to lash out as well. I don't know if she'd forgive herself if she hurt someone." Karla gave a humorless little laugh. "So, of course, she suggested we tie her up."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max blinked, then grimaced. "What is it about that girl that makes her think she has to be the one to suffer?"

This was a job for someone else.

[glacial_queen]

Karla arched a sardonic brow. "To give you a break sometimes?" she snarked.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max's eyes hardened at the unintentional reminder of the previous night. "Do I look like I go out of my way to suffer to you?" Something in his tone suggested that now was not the time to point out that the answer wasn't always 'no'.

[glacial_queen]

"No, Professor," Karla said, tensing a bit. See? This is what happened when you strayed from Protocol. "But that you would step in the way to prevent someone else from suffering, is all I meant."

...Sorta. But that sentiment was real enough anyway. And if he wanted to take issue with that, fine.

Eep.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

That was apparently the right answer because Max's shoulders loosened slightly and he nodded minutely. He'd accept that, even if he didn't believe it.

"Raven won't be doing that," Max declared. "Even if she survived it, holding that much violent rage at one time would warp her. Once you've experienced a feeling of that magnitude, you can't go back. It may not break you, but..." It might, and even if it didn't, you weren't the same again.

"Besides, I'm not sure it would work. There's enough of 'Dite left that she can come back, but only if she sees a reason to. I don't think the absence of rage is going to be enough to show her one."

In fact, he suspected the rage was some sort of defense. It acted as a buffer, to keep whatever had happened while she was away at bay.

[glacial_queen]

"I didn't think it was a particularly great idea myself," Karla agreed, reaching for her third pastry. "Though...if absence of rage won't be enough to give her a reason, we could try to combine it with something else. Something she'd have reason to care about, normally."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"True. Calm her down enough to let the real her see something she can't ignore..." The idea had merit.

Karla, Max had to admit, was a rather smart young woman. And she'd been that way even before she'd become his student.

[glacial_queen]

Hard to believe, huh?

Karla nodded, growing thoughtful. "That gives us something to work towards, at least," she said. "Something more than just 'Oh no, oh no, what ever do we do.'"

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max's eyes grew hard and he nodded. "No. We're not helpless. We're not going to sit around wringing our hands."

"We're going to get 'Dite back." Max's tone was one that he didn't use a lot on the island. He didn't have reason to. But he was a good soldier, and a good Cursor, and he wasn't going to give this one up.

[glacial_queen]

Karla glanced over at that tone, filing it away, but didn't say anything about it directly. It was one she recognized, from Andulvar, from Lucivar, from her mother's Master of the Guard.

"I agree. We're not helpless. But we need a decent plan, or we run the risk of pushing her away." Karla stood up, holding the box of pastries. He gave them to her, dammit. "I should get back to the dorms," she added, conscious of how dirt-streaked her face and clothing were. "Clean up after a long day of gardening. I'll give it some more thought? But I won't take any action before talking to you, first."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max nodded. "You're right. We need to be careful. We'll talk again soon."

[glacial_queen]

Karla nodded and headed for the door, the first stirrings of an idea already in mind.

The problem?

Neither Max nor Raven were going to like it one bit.