The Beach [Wednesday morning]

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max was not pleased about being on the beach today. Not because he didn't like the beach, but because he was pretty sure it was going to be a disaster.

He looked out over the water, pondering just how bad an idea this was. Really, he should know better than to let his pride push him into things. But after dealing with Anakin's idiocy last week, and then having Raven accused him of abandoning her, he'd been upset enough to agree to... well, this.

Well, at least there might still be time for the weather to turn bad. Maybe there'd be a tornado or a hurricane or something. Even if it didn't look remotely likely, this was Fandom, so it could totally happen!

But for some reason Max rather suspected it wouldn't.

[Expecting one, but open to anyone who wants to distract Max from the upcoming disaster... Or just hang out on the beach.]

Comments

[trigons_child]

"What do you mean?" Raven asked, actually glancing up to look at Max's face.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Most of us are forced to change in ways we don't want by things we don't choose," Max elaborated softly. And... knowing some of the people he did, Max rather suspected that Raven wasn't the first girl to be forced into craving sensation.

[trigons_child]

"Were you?" Raven said curiously. Her shaking was starting to stop now as concern pushed aside her own fears.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max shrugged vaguely. "What does it matter?" He'd made his peace with it long ago.

[trigons_child]

"It would lend more weight to your words if I knew you spoke from experience," Raven said. And she just had to know now. Your pain, give it to her.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Did you know that I can tell when someone is lying? Or even just trying to mislead me?"

Well. Sometimes. If he paid enough attention.

Or if they were obvious.

[trigons_child]

"You can?" Raven said. "That is certainly a useful ability. I can often tell if someone is lying merely by reading their emotions. Though I do not lie myself." Leave things out, bend the facts, maybe.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max snorted. "A good policy. As long as one doesn't confuse it with absolute honesty." Max was a spy. He knew how the game was played.

[trigons_child]

"I always wish to be as honest as I can be," Raven said. "Why are you speaking of such things now?"

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Did she really not see that...?

Max sighed. "You wanted to know if I've suffered some trauma. If I've been changed against my will. But I suspect that knowing whether you should trust my advice is not your primary reason for asking."

[trigons_child]

"I am not lying," Raven said, somewhat offended. "Though, yes, I often wish to know of other's trauma so that I might heal it."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"You told one little truth in order to hide the more important ones," Max clarified 'helpfully'. "And what do you do if they do not want your healing? Or if the trauma can't be healed at all?"

[trigons_child]

"I have been refused many times before," Raven said, ignoring, for now, Max's comment about hiding truths. "It is disappointing, but I accept it. But there is very little I cannot heal." Which, of course, only made her think of Jono again, and she ducked her head and looked back out at the water.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Raven," Max's voice was gentle, "I can name a dozen things you can't heal without even thinking about it." That was how life worked.

[trigons_child]

"You cannot say that for certain," Raven said. "Not if I have not tried. I cannot heal death. And I cannot heal mutations. I know that now. And old wounds that have already healed naturally...but anything else I would not say I could not until I tried." She refused to fail again.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"You can't heal the pain of a child who's lost her parents," Max suggested.

[trigons_child]

"I could," Raven insisted. "I could take that pain away."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

While he wasn't entirely sure it was a good idea, Max relaxed control of his emotions so that Raven could sense the horror he felt at that suggestion.

Then he waited to see if he'd just made a big mistake or not.

[trigons_child]

Raven recoiled, taking a step back. "I understand that people need to grieve and deal with their pain," she said. "I would not do such a thing unless it was necessary, if it was consuming someone."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max shuttered his emotions again, appearing calm and collected. "And if it wasn't consuming them, if it was just a normal need to grieve, and they asked you to take it away anyway?"

[trigons_child]

"If they asked I would do so," Raven said. "I would never turn away someone who wished me to heal them."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"But you know that they need to grieve and deal with their pain," Max pointed out.

[trigons_child]

"Not all people have the same needs," Raven said. "Not everyone needs to stubbornly cling to their pain to grieve so much."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Have you ever thought that it was better to let someone live with the pain? To learn from it?"

[trigons_child]

Raven shook her head. "No. I do not agree with that."