The Perk, Thursday morning

[trigons_child]

Raven had finished packing up her room, which took a lot longer than she ever could have imagined when she first arrived in Fandom since she'd come with little more than the clothes she'd been wearing. Once packing was accomplished, she'd ventured out into the cool morning grey to take a walk and visit some of her favorite places on the island. It wasn't like she would never be back, it but wouldn't be the same at all.

One of her last stops was the Perk so she could get some tea to warm herself a little. She'd handwavily let friends who still remained on the island know where she'd be and that she was leaving that day. Gotham awaited.


[Raven's last post. Woe. Content of threads with Jono and Karla are NFB, please, but that they were there is fine.]

Comments

[furnaceface]

Jono hadn't headed back to New York again this week. He was still reeling from that other Fandom, still half-wishing that he was back there instead, and he was confident enough that the New Warriors would let him know if they were going out to do anything more than foil bank robberies and the like.

And so he'd gotten Raven's message, and had steeled himself to go and give her a few final words of encouragement before it was time for her to leave.

... A lot of it was probably going to be more 'do as I say, not as I do,' in nature. Which would surprise exactly nobody.

"Ready to go, are you, luv?"


[Going to be slow, as I'm about to dash out the door for work, but I had to.]

[trigons_child]

Raven glanced up from her tea with a faint smile. "As ready as I believe I will be," she said. "Everything I own is now packed and ready to be taken to Gotham."

[furnaceface]

Jono smiled faintly as well, not bothering to order anything before taking a seat nearby.

"Excited? Afraid? It's a big move for you, isn't it?"

All nothing terribly new for either of them to discuss, true, but... it was words. Who knew when they were going to get the chance to exchange those again, between her school and his... teaching and directing and running off to play idiot superhero in another reality?

[trigons_child]

Raven nodded. Her fingers were still cold, so she kept them wrapped around her mug to warm them, trying to will the heat to the rest of her body.

"Yes," she said. "I have been both. But I am trying not to let my feelings overwhelm me."

[furnaceface]

"You'll be fine," Jono replied, trying his best to sound as reassuring as possible. "You'll have Dinah there with you, and anyone else is just a phone call away. You... know you can call me if you need anything, right? Even... just to talk, or... whatever?"

He had a mouth, now! Using phones was so much easier with one of those things.

[trigons_child]

"I know," Raven said. "And it is only a year. The time will pass quickly, I am sure. This past year certainly has."

She bent her head to study her mug. "I have never been very fond of phones," she said. "I suppose it is because I cannot sense the emotions of the person I am speaking to."

[furnaceface]

"Puts you on an even playing field with the rest of us, then," Jono mused, still smiling faintly. "Means you have to understand the inflections in people's voices, trust that they mean what they're saying."

He shrugged a little, tracing little circles on the tabletop.

"For what it's worth, I'm a bit out of practise with phones, myself."

[trigons_child]

"People often do not mean what they say," Raven said. "Either they speak out of too much emotion, or they are hiding their true feelings for whatever reason." She had to pause for a moment to wonder just when she'd become cynical, then shook her head to cast that away.

[furnaceface]

It was entirely possible that time spent around Jonothon was contagious. If cynicism was an Olympic event, Britain would have gotten far more golds the other week than it had managed to.

Jono was silent for a moment, and then he lifted his shoulders a little, shrugging.

"If they're hiding, perhaps they're afraid of being hurt. Or of hurting somebody else," he ventured. "Or what they're feeling just doesn't have words for it, yet. Not every emotion has a rational explanation to it, luv."

[glacial_queen]

Last night had been a lovely interlude, but, in a way, that only made today harder. Today was a day of goodbyes and considering the nature and quantity of those goodbyes...

Yeah.

But best to put those emotions aside for right now. She'd gotten Raven's message (as if she hadn't known, ha!) and was coming by the Perk to say...well, not goodbye. 'Farewell' maybe, or 'See you soon.'

Focusing on the little guy on her shoulder so she'd have some positive emotions to share, Karla ordered herself a warm apple cider and plunked herself down at Raven's table.

"If you need help moving in or anything this weekend, you'll call me, right?" Hellos were for other people. "Though if you'd rather wait until you're all set up before inviting me to come see, I understand."

The important point of all that was that Karla was coming to visit.

[trigons_child]

Raven had been staring at her cold mug of tea for some time. She looked up as Karla sat down, but her eyes were empty of any warmth.

"Hello, Karla," she said, almost as if she didn't see her. "You are welcome to come visit whenever you wish, of course."

[glacial_queen]

"I..." Karla's plan for happy prattle was thrown as she took in the female in front of her. "Yeah. Gonna visit. Lots. And stuff."

She set Nemi down on the table with a bowl of cool water and reached for Raven's hands. "Something wrong with your tea?" she asked.

She didn't mean the tea.

[trigons_child]

Her shields were at full force, keeping her rage and pain safely within, but her hands were almost ice cold. She let Karla take them, numbly glancing from her tea to their hands.

"The tea is fine," she said. "I am fine. It is nothing." She was trying to will it into nothing, at least. It wasn't working very well.

[glacial_queen]

"Which one of us are you trying to convince?" Karla asked. She didn't need to run up against the bulwark of Raven's shields to know that something was wrong. "Because I'm not buying it."

[trigons_child]

Raven stared blankly at her for a moment. Even just breathing hurt, so making words was hard, and forming ones that made sense was even harder.

"Jono," she said, finally forcing the name from her dry throat. Just saying it made tears start to threaten, and she had to blink furiously to hold them back.

[glacial_queen]

Ah. Two syllables and a world of clarity. "I'm so sorry, darling." She stood up, crossed over to Raven's chair, and hugged her tightly. "So sorry."

[trigons_child]

Raven flinched, not sure she wanted to be touched now. She was stiff and unresponsive in Karla's embrace, but it cracked her hold on her emotions just enough to let some of her pain creep through.

"He...decided that an appropriate farewell gift was to destroy my heart," she said. "What better way to send me on this next step in my life? His timing leaves much to be desired. There would have been many better times to tell me these things, not here, not in public to humiliate me, on my last day on the island. But he is too much of a coward, and the only pain he can feel is his own. He clings to it like a blanket, and the wounds fester and ooze. He is right. I am better off without him. He is poison, and he never loved me half as much as I did him. I was ever in second place, no, third, and I was fool enough to think that was enough."

[nothornlessrose.livejournal.com]

From now on, Cassidy had decided that she was going to hate Thursdays. Thursdays were taking two of the closest people to her away and she no longer liked them.

When she had gotten the message from Raven that she was leaving today, she had hid in her room in order to get her emotions under control. She had needed to cry after saying goodbye to Ender and she didn't want to say goodbye to Raven with all of that sorrow still holding onto her.

Shielding her emotions and her mind as best as she could, she stepped into the Perk and looked around for her friend.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?"

It was a silly question, but Cassidy felt she had to stay cheerful and make inane comments right now.

[trigons_child]

[OOC: before the two threads above]

Raven looked up at Cassidy with a smile. "Of course not," she said. "Please, sit with me. I am glad to be able to see you before I go."

[nothornlessrose.livejournal.com]

Cassidy smiled and sat down with her.

"I will have you know that I have decided that Thursdays are very bad things." She shared. "Thursday is the day that you leave and I have to say goodbye to someone who has been such a close friend to me."

[trigons_child]

"I wish I did not have to go," Raven said. "But none of us can stay on the island forever. And I will be back to visit, of course."

[nothornlessrose.livejournal.com]

"I know," she said softly. "And I have no right being selfish and holding my friends back from whatever they may accomplish away from school."

She gave Raven a wobbly smile. "I have some gifts for you before you go."

She called in a small box and handed it to Raven. "This part (http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0152/8093/products/Blue_Rose_Rollerball_Pen_grande.jpg?1743) is from me."

[trigons_child]

Raven opened up the box and pulled out the pen. "Oh, Cassidy, this is lovely," she said. She uncapped it and drew a few swirls on her napkin.

"Thank you. I will write all of my letters with this."

[nothornlessrose.livejournal.com]

Cassidy smiled when she saw that Raven really liked it."The rose reminded me of you, Raven."

She called in what looked to be another small box and then handed it to Raven. "This is a picture (http://site.sbsconcreteproducts.com/tuscano/SK1973.jpg) of what Poppi made for you. I did not know where to ship it, so it is in my room. When you are ready, you can give me your address and I will get someone to help me send it to you." She met Raven's eyes. "You do not get to say no, Raven. Poppi said that he wanted to make you something that would remind you of the Blood whom you have helped and befriended. And if you don't be difficult about letting him do this for you, I will tell you a secret."


[[OOC: If it wasn't for the damn price, I would want it.]]

[trigons_child]

Intrigued, Raven opened up the box and looked at the picture. It did almost come immediately to her lips that it was far too fine a gift and she did not deserve it, but she managed to refrain. Barely. "It is beautiful," she said. "And small enough that it should fit in my dorm room without any problem. I will send you my address as soon as I know my room number. Thank you."

She set the picture and pen down and gave Cassidy a curious look. "What secret is this?" she said.


[Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant. :) ]