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

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Why does pain concern you so much?"

Max pursed his lips thoughtfully. "It seems that whether or not something is causing pain is your primary criteria for deciding what you will take."

[trigons_child]

"I do not wish to see people suffer," Raven said. "There is usually no need to take away such things as love and joy." Even if she was tempted sometimes to claim it for herself. "And ever time I take away someone's pain, I defy my father."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"I suspect..."

Max sighed and shook his head. He was pretty sure that Raven didn't want to hear what he was thinking.

[trigons_child]

She was going to ask anyway. "What do you suspect?" she said.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Before I answer, I've actually got a quick question," Max decided. "When you take someone's pain... what happens to it?"

[trigons_child]

"It depends on the writer is banished to the netherverse," Raven said. "I take it into myself and then purge it." At least that was how it was supposed to work. She'd been having a few issues since Kaeleer, but none she was ready to admit to yet.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"So you only feel it for a brief time?" Max asked.

[trigons_child]

"It depends on the severity of the pain," Raven said. "But eventually it does pass, yes."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"What about your own pain? If you are injured does the same thing happen?"

[trigons_child]

"I am able to heal myself," Raven said, wondering what Max was getting at. "Sometimes it is harder because my own body is in shock and not prepared for the pain, but I am able to purge that as well, yes."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Is the same true of emotional pain?"

[trigons_child]

"That has proven somewhat difficult for me to rid myself of," Raven said softly. "When I began to learn emotions, I could not merely learn the good and refuse the bad."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Good." Max actually found that reassuring.

[trigons_child]

"Why do you ask all this?" Raven had to know.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Since you refuse to stop using your powers, even temporarily, I am trying to understand how they're affecting your judgment."

[trigons_child]

"They are not affecting my judgment," Raven protested. "They are part of what I am. It is not possible for me to simply turn them off."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"But they change the way you understand emotions," Max pointed out. "Your powers skew everything you do." Which was okay, just... something to take into account.

[trigons_child]

"Because the emotions of others affect mine at times?" Raven said.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Yes. And because you can... eliminate certain emotions with your powers. That is bound to skew your experience with them."

[trigons_child]

"I know I can recognize when emotions are truly my own," Raven said, though she started to feel a little doubt creep in. What if what she felt for Jono and Karla wasn't truly her own feelings but something she'd picked up from someone else and adopted as her own?

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max nodded. He believed that.

"But sometimes you wonder? Doubt?"

[trigons_child]

"Not until you tried to make me do so," Raven accused.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"I did?" Max asked. Was this him, or the vampire?

[trigons_child]

"Just now," Raven said. "By saying my emotions are skewed and that I cannot trust them."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Do you disagree?" he asked. He was sorry to make her doubt herself, except that he was pretty sure she needed to. She seemed... far too sure of herself with so many unknowns.