fandomtownies | JGoB, Saturday afternoon

Boaz and Lasumi had found JGob for breakfast and after a morning of exploring and play, decided muffins and cupcakes were just as healthy for lunch as they were for dinner, and so headed back.

As soon as they came through the door, however...

"Aaaaaalleeeec!" Lasumi broke from Boaz's grip and ran to hug his cousin. "We had brekfes an' played lots and now is lunchestime!!"

Boaz broke into a run after her new little brother and when she reached the table, gave the other girl a small wave. "Hi again!"

"Hi!" Alec said, hopping down from her chair to give Lasumi a hug and to wave back at Boaz. "I have some more cupcake if you want some! Wanna color with me?"

"Hello," Raven said, smiling at Lasumi and Boaz. "Would you like some hot chocolate or something to eat?"

Lasumi looked up and beamed happily. "AUNTY!!!" and sorry Raven, but she now had a three year old boy and a stuffed monkey trying to climb into her lap. "I wanna donut anna cupcake anna milk anna other donut! Pleease!"

"You have CRAYONS!! I like drawing! Can I help?" Boaz had moved to see the colouring book, but looked up when addressed by the grown up. She narrowed her eyes slightly, trying to think why she looked familiar. "We have money, but if you want to buy us something, miss, that would be very nice of you."

Raven didn't mind the three year old climbing her, and she laughed and gave him a hug. "Why do we not start with a donut, and see if you are hungry after that," she said. She figured it couldn't hurt to spoil the children for just one weekend, though she might pity their true parents when they returned home high on sugar.

She smiled again at Boaz. "You may draw with Alec, if you wish," she said, "and I would be happy to get you something to eat. It is only fitting if I am your Auntie as well. Is Momoko your mother?"

"An one for MonMon?" Lasumi asked, using his mother's BIG eyes as he held up the stuffed and slightly grass-covered monkey. "I'll halp 'im eat it, though cause he's little!"

Boaz was feeling a bit troubled. There was something about this person that she seemed to remember, but couldn't quite place.

She nodded, though. "I'm Boaz Akatsutsumi and I'm six." She pointed at Lasumi. "That's Lasumi. He's my new little brother." Because she wasn't going to admit he wasn't until she felt comfortable with the stranger.

Still leery, she pulled a chair next to Alec. "Can I share your crayons? Mine are at home."

"Sure!" Alec said cheerfully. "But the red one's mine." Don't touch her red crayon or she'll shock you.

Raven stood up and carefully set Lasumi back down in a chair. "Very well," she said. "MonMon may have one, too." She headed over the the counter to get some hot chocolates and donuts for the children, then returned to the table.

"It is very nice to meet you, Boaz and Lasumi," Raven said. "Your mother is a friend of mine, so I am puzzled why you do not seem to recognize me, Boaz." She could sense the girl's confusion. "I am Raven."

Could she sense the sudden and intense fear?

"RAVEN!?!" Boaz gasped and threw the crayon she'd reached for at the woman. and a few more. Sorry Alec.

But NOW Boaz remembered! Her mom had shown her a picture once and always told her to be careful! Although mom said Raven looked different now, so it was a little weird... the eyes were wrong, for one thing. Still, Raven was mom's arch enemy! "You're evil! Leave us alone! I'm not scared of you! I'm gonna go get my mommy!"

She sank quickly under the table and grabbed Lasumi's leg, pulling him underneath with her before he could sink a bite into his donut. Which he complained loudly about and tried to climb back into his chair after it.

Boaz didn't let go, though it was a struggle of strength powers against strength powers. "Alec," she hissed loudly. "Come on! We gotta escape!"

Edited 2013-04-07 21:53 (UTC)

Raven held up her hand to deflect the crayons, staring at Boaz in shock. "Child, please, I will not hurt you," she protested, confused and more than a little alarmed by her reaction. She knew worlds existed where she'd fallen to her demon side -- Rook had been ample proof of that in the past.

"Hey, stop that!" Alec yelled, little sparks coming from her fingertips. "Leave my mom alone or I'll zap you!"

"Alec, no, do not threaten," Raven said, gentle but firm. "She is frightened and no doubt has reason to be so. Boaz, I promise you, I am not the same as the Raven you fear. I will not harm you." She sent a gentle pulse of reassurance, trying to calm her down.

"She can't be your mom, Alec, she's evil!"

Three years of hearing her mother talking about Raven and how many times watching her mother leave to chase after some rumour of a sighting, many times coming home bleeding and tired, meant Boaz would need a lot of reassurance.

Not to mention any experiences she didn't remember that may have happened before her Fandom sent a three year old Boaz to the other Fandom to get adopted.

"I don't believe you! Mom says you lie and have powers and wanna catch me and so I gotta stay away! LASUMI! Stay HERE!"

"Leggo Boz!!" Lasumi was going to kick in a moment! "I wan'my donut! Aunty! MonMon is eating my donut!"

"Boaz, you are scaring your brother and Alec," Raven said, keeping her voice soft, crouching down and spreading her hands non-threateningly. "If you would feel better to leave, please wait for your mother to come? Do you have some way to contact her? Perhaps she can reassure you I am not the same Raven as the one you fear. What can I do to prove it to you?"

Boaz frowned, reaching for her power compact-shaped phone. "Just because my phone's broken doesn't mean I can't call her! She'll save us and finally defeat you!"

"It needs to be charged, dummy," Alec said, snatching the phone from Boaz. She screwed her eyes shut and concentrated, blue-green energy arcing from her fingers as she fixed up the phone.

"There," she said, handing it back to Boaz. "It works now."

"Alec, do not call Boaz names," Raven scolded gently, not taking her eyes from Boaz.

Boaz, for some strange reason she didn't even think about, trusted Alec. And so when she got her phone back she flipped it open and pressed the speed dial for her mom.

"Hello?" And got the wrong mom, the video screen lit up with the one from here, long hair and everything. But still, this mom was still mom, right?

"/Mom mom mom!! You gotta come quick and save me! Raven's here and she's got Lasumi and Alec! Hurry!/"

Momoko's face went through a million emotions, finally settling on worried relief. "/Raven's there? Good! Where are you? What's the problem?/" Was Boaz... under a table?

Duh! "/RAVEN'S HERE! At the doughnut place! Hurry!/" Boaz frowned and hung up. "See! She's on her way!"

Raven sat down at the table apart from the one Boaz had dragged Lasumi under. "I will sit over here, where you can watch me and make certain I do not do anything bad," she said. "Why do you not get back up and sit down and enjoy your hot chocolate while you wait? There is no sense in being uncomfortable."

"I'll let you use the red crayon," Alec offered, trying to coax her back up.

Boaz watched her move away and only let go of Lasumi after Raven was seated, the boy scrambling up into his seat to grab his donut and lecture his monkey for "taking some of it".

Boaz herself made sure to climb out on the opposite side and sit. She had to protect Lasumi and Alec until her mom came, after all.

Which didn't take long, since Momoko was a little worried about Boaz. She'd looked so scared...

Momoko gave a very confused wave to Raven as she headed over to the table with her daughter and son. And nothing scarier than a pile of donut remains being pounded into a stuffed monkey's face. "Boaz! What's wrong? You should know better than to call and scare me like that!"

Boaz got up and ran around to her mom, hugging her even as she looked around to stick her tongue out at Raven. "See! Now she's gonna defeat you and save us!"

"Defeat... who?" Momoko looked around to try to see who Boaz was talking about.

"I fear your daughter comes from a world where...I am not myself," Raven said sadly. "One where her mother often does battle with my other self. She thinks herself in danger from me. I have tried to reassure her, but perhaps she will listen to you."

"She's Mom, she doesn't hurt anybody," Alec piped up, rolling her eyes.

"Oh no." Okay, that totally confirmed where Momoko thought Boaz came from. "Of course she wouldn't, Alec. Your mom is a very awesome person and my very good friend."

She knelt down and hugged her daughter. "Boaz, it's fine. She's not that Raven. Remember how I said it's a different time here? For this Raven, nothing bad happened to make her evil. I've taught you that, yes? That people aren't ever born evil?"

Boaz nodded, but was obviously having trouble understanding; she was only six, after all. "But you always say she is evil and she and you are arch memeses!"

"Nemeses," Momoko corrected. "Boaz, in your world, Fandom Island had a bad person in charge who hurt lots of people. Including your mom and your miss Dinah and... Karla? Do you know her?"

Boaz nodded, and Momoko sighed a breath of relief. Karla had apparently ended up okay there. Other!her had lost track of things near the end, not that she could be blamed.

"Good. When Raven got there, something bad happened to her that made that Raven turn evil. But none of that happened to any of us here in this world. Here, this Raven is my best friend. She lives in New Gotham and goes to college with Miss Dinah."

Boaz frowned. "So she's not evil?"

Momoko waved Raven over to join them at the table. "Not here. And not Alec's mom. When you get back home, yes, she may do evil things. But you need to talk to your real mom more. She needs to explain it better to you."

To Raven, who hopefully heard all of that, Momoko simply said, "Umbridge Fandom".

Raven had guessed as much, once Momoko had mentioned the bad person in charge. She wasn't that Raven, but she remembered being that Raven, and she understood why Boaz would be so afraid.

"I am not that Raven, I promise," she said, standing up to take a step closer to the table, but not too close. "That Raven...she was very hurt by the bad person who was in charge of Fandom Island. Your mother tried to help her, but she was very sick. You are right to be afraid of her, and I hope that your mother can someday help her."

"Ooooh, Mom went all" -- Alec made a rarring noise and held up her hands like they had claws -- "in your world? She's not like that here, promise! My stupid grandpa Trigon came once and tried to get me but I made a satellite fall on his head and he went away and he hasn't bothered us since."

Boaz was so very confused! But Lasumi was off his chair and reaching for "Aunty Raven" to beg for more donuts "because MonMon ate them aaaallllllll!" and Alec and mom were both saying it was okay...

She looked up at her mom. "You're a hero here, too, right? You're still Blossom?"

Momoko nodded, not sure where Boaz was going with that. "When I need to be. See?" She pulled her compact from her belt and let Boaz hold it, then wiggled her hand to show off the activator ring she was wearing.

Boaz flipped open the compact, relieved to see the familiar (and off limits) rainbow buttons and dials that made her mom's power compact work.

"Okay." If this mom was still a hero and she said this Raven was okay, then Boaz would have to believe her. Mom didn't lie, at least not to her; she'd promised.

She looked up at Raven with a slightly less scared look. "I'm sorry, Miss Raven. And Alec. For throwing your crayons."

Raven scooped up Lasumi and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I will get you another donut," she promised, signaling the person behind the counter to bring more. Preferably chocolate covered.

Lots of chocolate.

She smiled at Boaz as she set Lasumi back down. "It is all right, Boaz," she said. "I understand your concern, and commend you for your caution. It is better to be prepared for possible danger than too trusting. The Raven of your world may wear my face, but until your mother says it is all right, you should not trust her."

"Okay." Boaz nodded, handing the power compact back to her mom. She gave her another hug, leaning heavily against her. "/I'm confused./"

Awwww! Momoko stood, lifting Boaz with her and holding her tight as she took a seat at the table. "/It's okay, sweetie. It's a lot different here, that's all. Different worlds have different rules, okay?/"

Lasumi clutched at Aunty Raven, his lip wobbling. "Why's Boz crying?"

Raven sent a gentle pulse of comfort to Lasumi. "She is confused," she said. "This world is very different from hers. But she is safe here, and so are you. You and MonMon should have another donut. And why do you not help Alec color?"

Alec brandished a blue crayon at Lasumi. "Yeah, help me color!" she encouraged. "You can use the Karla blue crayon. It's a special blue."

Raven carefully sat down at the table as well and gave Momoko a grateful smile. "I am sorry I have frightened her," she said.

"She's okay?" Lasumi was totally used to getting emotions from his Aunty, so he accepted it willingly and easily. He climbed into the chair next to Alec and reached for the crayon. "Why's it special? Cause it's named after Aunty? Is there a mommy crayn? Is it lellow?" He reached for a donut. Yes, with the crayon in his hand.

"She's mostly confused. She's only six." Momoko rubbed Boaz's back as the little girl cried into her shoulder. "It's probably been building this whole time. She's apparently only ever come to Fandom to visit, uh, her namesake's grave, and well, I guess her mom still has Island issues to deal with."

She shook her head and smiled warmly at Raven. "I'm sorry you had to be reminded like this about that time."

She gave a very slight nod in the direction of the other two at the table. "And of, uhm, that time."

"That's Auntie Karla blue," Alec said. "It's different from other blues, like Jono blue." She nudged another crayon toward Lasumi, pink like Blossom's uniform. "That's the Momoko crayon," she declared.

Raven gave Alec a strange look, then turned her attention back to Momoko and Boaz. "It is all right," she said. "I must remember such times, because to forget would mean lowering my guard against the danger of it happening."

She glanced Alec's way again and smiled. "And that is not a hardship, either," she said. "It is nice to know that in some world something beautiful came out of that awful situation."

Lasumi leaned over the table to look at the rest of the colours, dripping donut all over the colouring book. "Momomama crayn! Unka Jono? Does it colour in singings?" What? Alec made things do fun stuff sometimes alla times! Maybe her crayns did fun stuff too! "Where's Sin? An' MonMon! I wanna MonMon crayn!"

"We got you back out of it," Momoko smiled, trying not to feel guilty that Alec's aunty Momoko hadn't saved Raven in time. "That was beautiful for us. But yes, she is. And you raised her totally awesome. Well, except for the part where she had me totally convinced she was mine. She's got a sneaky streak."

She nodded at the little boy. "That's Lasumi; did they introduce themselves? He and his big sister Sin apparently belong to Dinah and me, together." She shifted her shoulder slightly. "And you know Boaz's story."

At her name, Boaz buried her head in further into her mother's shoulder, trying to stop her crying and managing to get it down to sniffles.

No, Alec couldn't make the crayons sing, but she could squint up at the overhead light and make it start playing music. It sputtered out opera for a second, then rap, then classic rock, which met with Alec's satisfaction.

"Here's the MonMon crayon," she said, passing a tan one that matched his stuffed animal. She still had a few that hadn't been assigned to her extended Fandom family.

"I think perhaps she picked up sneakiness from one of her aunts," Raven accused good-naturedly. "That surely cannot be my fault. But a mischievous streak is natural in a child, and she seems well-adjusted about everything, even her father's fate."

She raised an eyebrow at Momoko. "You and Dinah together?" she said. At the same time, she sent a gentle brush of comfort to Boaz, trying to reassure her everything was all right.

It definitely met with Lasumi's, who giggled happily and immediately accepted the MonMon crayon. He began colouring on the page closest to him... Did Alec mind if the sky was MonMon coloured?

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Must be her Aunt Dinah. Yes." Momoko's face showed complete and utter shock at Raven's suggestion. Really. Totally. Momoko is innocent, Raven. Innocent.

"She's also very comfortable with her powers and your family. I wonder if she really did drop a satellite on your father? I hope I saw it, if she did." Momoko chuckled as the music started. "Apparently they're making sure that's all she got from her dad, so I'm glad for that."

"And yes. We don't know how it happened or exactly how together, but we're raising the kids together and I've co-adopted Sin." Some of that sneakiness that Momoko totally didn't have popped up: "And Lasumi is biologically both of ours."

Boaz's sniffles were coming slower, Raven's comforting taking effect on the now-tired little girl.

"I think I hope I saw it as well," Raven said, trying to imagine Trigon being thwarted by a wee tiny girl.

Now she hoped they'd filmed it so she could show Karla.

"These glimpses into possible futures are certainly...interesting," she said, carefully reaching out a hand to gently stroke Boaz's hair.

Boaz didn't do more than shiver lightly at the touch, calming back down as Raven continued the stroking. Her sniffling was mostly done, now and she was to the point of just wanting to be held.

Which Momoko really couldn't deny her.

"I don't know about you," Momoko agreed, "but it's nice to get to see futures where I'm happy despite things going not as I expect, not as I hoped. I... was sure that if that could happen."

"I fear the happiest futures I have seen are ones that are no longer a possibility," Raven said with a sad little smile. "But who knows now where my path may lead?"

"That's what I was thinking, too," Momoko nodded, her feelings for Jaime bubbling over for a moment. "But I'm beginning to wonder again. To raise kids like these... We can't just be pretending to be happy. We can't have settled and be just living; something happened that we could be happy in a way we didn't even realize."

She turned red a little, her grin embarrassed. "Or, that's what I'm hoping. Boaz doesn't have a father and lives in Tokyo City, where I'm still a hero. I didn't think that was possible, even in THIS timeline. And Lasumi and Sin... well." She was WITH-with Dinah in New Gotham. Momoko had never even considered that one.

Dinah and Sin hadn't found Laurie anywhere-- but they'd had a good time looking around the town, and talking. And now there was food.

And, well, everyone else.

"Hi, guys!"

Momoko waved from where she was just standing up from the table, Boaz still clinging tightly to her. "Hi! Uhm. we'll be right back? Someone needs to wash up a bit. Raven can explain..."

"No problem," Dinah was saying, and Sin was already heading over to the table.

"You went without me," she scolded her little brother in disapproval as she walked by. "You aren't supposed to do that." She would have glared at Boaz, but the little girl looked like she was upset about something. "Hello, Aunt Raven. It is very nice to see you again."

Edited 2013-04-08 04:39 (UTC)

"Hello, Sin," Raven said with a warm smile. "It is very good to see again as well. I hope you have been doing well."

Alec waved a crayon at Sin. "Come color with us!" she said.

Sin sat down and took one of the green crayons, smiling at Alec. "I am fine. We have been having fun, and I didn't spoil Alec's joke on the moms."

Lasumi waved his latest donut at his sister. "Siiiiiin! I missssed you!" and then he clamboured down and ran to climb his mommy. "I slept with Momomama and Boz an' Boz took me for breffast and to the park and we met Ellie and had slides and MonMon went reaaaaaaaallly fast an' I saved you some!"

He paused his climbing and reached into his pocket to bring out a handful of crumbs. His face went from ecstatic to SrsBizns. "Ah! Sin! Someone ated your muffin when no one looked! Itsa mystery, mommy! Gotta solves it!"

Dinah started laughing, and picked up Lasumi, tickling him under his chin. "Oh no! Who could do it? Do we have any clues? Do we have any guesses? Do we have any muffins?"

Sin was giggling and coloring already, and said, "I wonder who would do that. Unh-hunh."

"Hmmm." This was work! SRS BZNS! No giggling, Sin!

"Alla clueses gotta be at th'park, mommy." Lasumi decided. Someone thought he was subtle, yes. "We gotta go find em or Ellie's gonna eat em aaaaaall up an' Sin will be sad jes like Boz! SIN! Sin! I can jimnastys! Wanna see? Boz showed me!"

"Hmm, Ellie's your new friend?" Dinah put him back down, and grinned at the little redhead. "Hi Boz. Any hugs for Aunt Dinah?"

Momoko had finally emerged again, this time leading Boaz by the hand instead of carrying her. Boaz's eyes were still a little red and swollen, so it was obvious she'd been crying, but her face was freshly washed and her hair combed and done up in a ponytail with a bow to match her mom.

She didn't run, but she did move a little faster and wrapped her arms around her 'aunt'. "Hi Miss Dinah."

Momoko was extremely proud of the fact that Boaz had walked by and not around Raven! They'd spent some time talking in the bathroom and the six year old was feeling better and slightly less confused. It had helped that she remembered that she knew a different 'Miss Dinah' existed in 'Mister Jaime's' world, too, though it had taken her a while to remember that.

"Sorry Dinah. We're back." Momoko rejoined the group at the table, giving Raven a thumbs up to let her know things should be good, then turned to the girls. "And Sin! Good morning! Ooooh! Are you colouring, too? Can I see?"

Sin held up a meticulously colored picture with extra designs and cross-hatching, then said, "Momomama, can I go here to school when I'm big?" She might have been asking Dinah that earlier, and getting a lot of hemming and hawing.

And Momoko was looking back at Dinah with a look of horror on her face. How was she to answer that?

"Uhm. Maybe we should talk about it when you've already gone to lots and lots of school? Then you can decide which you like better."

THERE? WAS THAT GOOD PARENTING OR WHAT?

Edited 2013-04-10 18:34 (UTC)

EXCELLENT PARENTING. Way better than Dinah going "no no no no no" because unless they had a *really* good reason, like getting Sin out of New Gotham and away from some threat, she couldn't imagine letting her kids go to school here.

"You might change your mind and all," Dinah said very helpfully.

Sin gave her a narrow-eyed look of suspicion. "Uh-hunh." Um, no, Sister, she didn't do that changing-your-mind thing.

JGoB, Saturday afternoon

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject