fandomtownies | Dite's Decadent Delights, Monday Afternoon

She's going to be a little distracted though.

[You might want to specify whether the conversation takes place before or after her phone call.]

Wesley came in before Karla's phone call to Dinah and looked very uncomfortable with being surrounded by... adult things. But he knew she worked here on Mondays, so here he was. Not looking at the back wall. Or any of the walls, actually.

"Er. Hello."

"Kiss kiss," Karla said, her greeting lacking the usual effervescent cheer. Though she did set her phone down and give Wesley a brief smile. "What can I do for you today?"

If Wes was here for things for Katniss, Karla would probably just give them to him. Mostly out of gratitude for not bringing up the...whatever was going on.

So, so not looking at the walls. This was awkward. "This may seem a bit of an odd question," Wesley prefaced, "but I was wondering, with your, ah, Craft -- have you noticed anything, er, odd going on? Mystically, that is?"

Sorry, Karla. This sort of outranked sex on his list of priorities. You know, today.

Dammit, dammit, dammit.

She had been really hoping for a nice, brainless chat about sex. Thanks for nothing, Wes. ~~Bet that's what Katniss said. BURN!~~

The smile she'd been clinging to fell off at his question, to be replaced by a slow nod and a solemn expression. "It's getting worse," she said. "I don't know if it's because I'm paying attention now or if it's because things are speeding up, but all my prophetic senses are starting to thrum. Something is happening, that's obvious, but I'm not getting a clue as to what. Even my dreams aren't being all that helpful. They're all--formless and chaotic. Things melting or fading away, I think. Cracks that get bigger. It's all hard to remember."

Whereas Wes had really been hoping that she would say that no, everything was fine, and Willow's sudden amnesia could simply be attributed to #hellmouthproblems.

...hey, he could dream.

"Blast," he muttered, shaking his head. "I -- I can't figure out what's going on. I've been through book after book, and things back home are... nonsensical, and I can't seem to make sense of it."

"People, maybe even places vanishing with no one having a recollection of them ever existing?" Karla asked. "That's what happened to me, too. And Dinah, and Momoko, and Ender. Priestly's world is missing the country of Japan."

Oh, how that would hurt in a little bit when she realized exactly what else from Priestly's world was missing.

"I need to get home for a bit if I can," she added. "There's something in our history that behaved similarly. Maybe there's a connection there. Or answers."

"That's exactly it," Wesley said with surprising intensity. "I was trying to get in touch with, ah, a former colleague of mine, and not only was his number not in service, but a close friend of his didn't remember him. And what's more, she couldn't remember someone else either, someone who's -- actually rather integral toward the functioning of my universe."

Buffy was sure to be flattered, Wes. You know, if she'd ever existed.

"A connection from your home world?" he asked, to check. "Are you sure it's, er, safe to travel at this point?"

"I've asked Raven to bring me," Karla said. Which didn't necessarily translate out to an answer to his question, but Raven was a Hell of a lot more reliable than Portalocity right now. And nothing had gone wrong when they'd gone to Jono's world.

That weird jolt and unpleasant feelings were nothing, right? Totally!

"Once, thousands and thousands of years ago, an island vanished overnight. And everything associated with it disappeared, too: people, books about the island or written by the inhabitants, everything. But it happened all at once, and people remembered it. It wasn't until centuries later, once the people who had known of the island began to die and fade into the Darkness that most of the population forgot about it."

Wesley leaned forward, fascinated and trying to see how that might connect to what was happening here now. "And -- and the people who witnessed its disappearance, they never recorded anything?" he wondered. "Or didn't they know that it had disappeared?"

"Nothing ever stayed," Karla answered. "The writing at the top of the page would fade as they wrote the bottom. Or, so I believe anyway. There may be something in the Keep. Or perhaps Draca or Geoffrey will have more information. They were alive back then as well. They probably know more about what happened than anyone else."

Wesley nodded, taking that in. Finally he ventured, "It's just that I'm not certain all the physical evidence truly has disappeared. I still have belongings of mine that I wouldn't have had if not for the people who've gone missing. And -- whatever's erased them, it doesn't seem to have done so cleanly. There's someone who ought not to remember me, given the disappearances, but she does."

Damn you, Nothing.

"It's like..." Karla paused, trying to figure out some semblance of an explanation. "It's like it's getting erased backwards, almost. As if it started with where they are now and then went back to the beginning. Does that make sense at all?"

"It does," Wesley agreed, but he felt a headache coming on and pressed his fingers to his temples to try to work it out. "But by erasing any individual, surely it would have to erase other ties as well." Sensing he was doing a poor job of explaining this, he tried, "All right. For instance, in my world, the Slayer's gone missing. She maintains the order of the Hellmouth, prevents it from becoming too... well, too much of a bloodbath." He winced slightly at the unintended visual, then carried on. "Now, according to her best friend, she's never existed. Yet from all the research I've done, the Hellmouth's functioning just fine. No unexplained deaths -- in fact, it seems even more orderly than usual. Therefore whatever this is -- whatever it's done -- it's eliminated more than simply individuals. It's altered the entire structure of my dimension."

...always one for the big pronouncements, our Wes.

Edited 2011-11-22 06:52 (UTC)

"On the one hand, that's huge," Karla said, shaking her head in disbelief. "But on the other, it's almost...shoddy? Instead of painstakingly going through and unknotting all of the threads of the erased people's lives, it's just kind of cut them out. The cause is gone, but the effects remain. Powerful, but crude."

That's right, Karla. Critique the Nothing.

[[totally meant to click "post comment" four hours ago, oops]]

Wesley nodded. "Precisely," he agreed. "It's as though it has such an enormous amount of power that it isn't troubled with the details, when it can just wipe out everything."

Which was, you know, kind of terrifying.

"I think it'd be best to hold some sort of meeting," he suggested. "Figure out what's known, what's happening in people's home dimensions..."

"Bump the Reserves back to Wednesday?" Karla said with a speed that suggested her thoughts had been trending along the same paths. "There's the holiday on Thursday, but we might be able to get folks before they leave."

If they even could, with Portalocity behaving the way it was.

"If nothing else, maybe we can get the people who have no idea that anything might be wrong to keep an eye out while they're home."

"Good idea," he agreed, nodding. "I'll send out an email, try to encourage people to show up. We might use the community center, so that the, ah, 'townies' can come as well if they'd like."

"Perfect," Karla said, running her hands through her hair. "This isn't something that should be kept just among the students. I'm betting whatever this is it's hitting people pretty indiscriminately. And I'm not willing to turn away anyone who might have some kind of idea about what this is or how to fight."

"Anything would be helpful at this point," Wesley agreed. "I've been through every book I have, and -- nothing useful. The wider the net of people we hear from, the more likely it is that we can learn something, at least."

"I'll see if I can't bring some things back from the Keep's library back home," Karla promised. "Several million years of collected history should offer us something, right?"

Please?

"One should hope so," Wesley said, with more conviction than he felt. "And if not..."

Huh. He really should've come up with an end to that sentence before he said the beginning part.

"...perhaps someone else will have something?"

"That's what I'm hoping," Karla said with a deep sigh. "With all the universes connected here, it's impossible to believe that no one would have an idea of how to take care of this thing."

"Or knows someone who might," Wesley added. "The considerable breadth of the alumni network here surely must include someone familiar with -- this. Whatever this is."

Edited 2011-11-23 00:32 (UTC)

"So, Step One is get the words out, and Step 2 is brainstorm for ideas, right?" Karla said. "And hopefully a plan will fall together somewhere around Step Three."

"With any luck, yes," Wesley agreed. "And until then... there's a slight chance I may be living in the library."

BOOKS WERE HIS ONLY FRIEEEEEEEEEND.

Karla took a deep breath and called Dinah. "Hey, hon," she said, trying to swallow back the coppery taste of fear. "Got your text. What's up?"

Dinah checked the Caller ID, and took a breath. "Hey." Her voice might have sounded hoarse from all the crying. "Thanks for calling." She grit her jaw and tried not to shake. "I got a voicemail from Priestly this morning. Um." She took a breath. "He's not there any more. The phone won't connect."

Silence. Just silence for a moment.

"Are you sure?" she asked, voice cracking. She paused and cleared her throat. "Sorry. Of course you are. You wouldn't have called if you--" She swallowed loudly. "He's just...gone?"

Dinah's voice was ragged. "He sent me a photo of what he could see. And said he knew I'd ... find someone to help." I love you. "And now, now his number doesn't even go to voicemail, and neither does Jen's and Barbara and Helena don't remember him and..."

Sorry, Karla. That's as strong as she could be.

Edited 2011-11-21 19:40 (UTC)

"Send it to me," Karla commanded, shoving aside her own grief. Dinah needed her now. Priestly needed her, wherever he was or whatever happened. The more people who knew and saw, the better the odds of stopping whatever this was and getting him back.

"I remember him, Dinah. And we'll find some way to get him back. We'll find this and fix it and get him back."

Photo sent, Dinah fought to get a grip on herself. "He was in Hong Kong. I just talked to him a few days ago... A psychic he knew had closed up shop in Santa Cruz. Put up a sign that said 'closed for the apocalypse.' Why didn't I make him come here? Why didn't I go get him?" How could she be so stupid, staying in denial, arguing with Portalocity for a ticket they woudn't give her, but not really believing something would happen to him?

"Because if Priestly really wanted to get there, he would have," Karla said quietly, not letting Dinah shoulder the blame for all of this. "He's your friend, not your child. Staying was his choice, Dinah. He knew that if he ever wanted to run, you would have made it happen."

Not that this was Priestly's fault, either. Deep down, Karla hadn't really believed that he was in any danger. He was from Fandom, protected by that weird bubble of grace.

Until he hadn't been.

"If you blame yourself, that's valuable energy and brainspace that could be devoted to figuring out what's going on. And we need that more than ever if we can't count on Helena and Barbara to help."

Which made Dinah want to be angry with Priestly, but she couldn't right now, not yet. "They want to help. They believe me. But they don't remember stuff, and I don't know how long they'll remember this, me telling them and showing them the photo...." She nodded, biting her lip to feel the sting. "I know you're right. I just don't know what to do. I can't think."

"Start by sending me that picture," Karla urged. "I'll make sure that it gets around Fandom. To smart people, like Ender and Ben and Anakin. People who were raised to think tactically."

She stood up and started to pace. Sometimes moving helped her think.

"Can you start getting in touch with other alumni?" she asked. "You know more of them than I do. See if you can't maybe collect more information? Who's being affected? Who isn't? Any commonality among either groups? Maybe making some kind of list will help us find something."

Dinah sent it, then came back on the line.

"Okay. I can do that. I have to tell some of them about Priestly anyway." Even though she so, so didn't want to have to. "Can you break the news there? To anyone else who knew him?" Dinah bit her lip. "It's a lot to ask, but I don't think there's too many people left...."

"I will," Karla promised. "If you don't mind, I'm going to tell more than the people who knew him. I think this is something everyone should see. Should know. Maybe we'll figure something out--a way to get him back."

She just wished she could feel more confident when she said it.

"Okay." Dinah swallowed. "I texted Francine, Jaime and Momoko too. So they'll have copies. And know what's happened." Her head was pounding. Everything still felt unbearably raw. But she was starting to think again. It wasn't entirely a blessing. "We have to undo this."

"We haven't lost yet," Karla reminded, clinging to that hope with teeth and fingernails. "No matter how ugly things get, we always pull through somehow. Why should this time be any different?"

"Yeah," Dinah whispered. With a tiny flicker of hope. She didn't dare hope too hard, not yet, because she couldn't stand another disappointment at the moment, but... "I'll text you tomorrow. You call me too, hon. Please stay safe."

"I will," Karla promised fervently. "But only as long as you do, too, hear me? Stay safe, Dinah. It's a rule. And you don't disappoint a Queen, dammit. It's not polite."

You listen to her, Dinah! Listen good!

"And if it starts getting dangerous, come back here, okay? Please?"

"Okay," Dinah promised. Wondering how she'd know. When would it be too late? How would she talk Barbara and Helena into this? Maybe just kidnap them in the middle of the night. Alfred would help. Yes. "I promise. I love you, hon. And ..." She swallowed. "It's your loss too. Even if we're not going to let it be permanent. So I'm sorry. Sorry I had to t-tell you about Priestly." God, she had to get off the phone so she could just cry again. And be ready to talk to anyone else.

"I'm--well, not glad, exactly, but--I'd rather you did than me not know," Karla said, her own voice catching. "And if I had to hear it from someone--having it be you is the best I could ask for. I'm just sorry you had to."

She was biting her lower lip now and trying not to cry.

"Love you, big sister."

"Love you, little sister." Dinah closed her eyes, tears welling up again. "Talk to you very soon."

She forced herself to disconnect before the next crying jag became audible.

Might be for the best.

I HAVE ALL THE SADNESS

*HUGS YOU VERY HARD*

Dite's Decadent Delights, Monday Afternoon

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