JGOB, Friday morning

[trigons_child]

Raven had decided to do some holiday shopping in Fandom, and she had several of her charges in tow, as they had clamored for a chance to go to the island. Karina, Finn, and Tilda had all been in Fandom for Halloween, but this was Jens's first trip.

They'd arrived the night before fairly late, so Raven had gone directly to the hotel. After tucking the children into bed, she'd crawled into her own, and soon fell into a restless sleep.

Her brothers stalking her dreams wasn't uncommon; she'd had nightmares frequently once she'd broken their connection to her. But that night, for some reason, they were more vivid. Her brothers surrounded her, blood calling to blood. She struggled against them, but they overpowered her, and their darkness forced its way inside her, drawing out the demon within her, even as she writhed and screamed and begged them to stop.

She awoke to a small hand on her arm and wide blue eyes staring at her. Panting, she sat up, looking around the room, terror having not yet faded. The other children were still asleep, but Karina had awakened and come to her bedside.

Raven quickly calmed herself, banishing the fear. She smiled at Karina and scooted over in the bed; the girl immediately crawled in beside her and wrapped her arms around Raven. "I am so sorry, dear one," Raven said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. The poor girl was shaking with fear, and Raven sent her a gentle pulse of love and comfort. "I have nightmares, too. But it was only a dream."

Karina relaxed enough to fall back asleep, but Raven stayed awake through the rest of the night. Come morning she was exhausted, but once the children had woken up, she sent a text to Karla to let her know their plans, then took them out to breakfast. And tea for herself, lots and lots of tea. The unease hadn't entirely faded, but she was smiling as she sipped her drink and watched the children try to decide what pastries they wanted.

[Open for all your pastry or Raven needs!]

Comments

[glacial_queen]

With Nyles and Cora spending the week with Saetan and Jaenelle and Warren visiting Lucivar to keep him out of a heavily pregnant Marian's hair for a few days, Karla had leapt at the chance to grab Kayla and accompany Raven for a trip to Fandom.

After a night of dreams that seemed to dredge up every last horrible thing that had happened to her, however, Karla was less than thrilled to be here. "Bloody everlasting Hell--o children!" she said, her snarl turning into something a little more age-appropriate. She knew how quickly little ones were to repeat what they'd heard. There were some words that Kayla just loved to trot out around company. "Raven," she added with a smile that was more than three-quarters grimace, "we have a problem."

[trigons_child]

"What is wrong?" Raven said, motioning for Karla to sit. The children were debating the merits of donuts versus danishes, and weren't paying attention for the time being. There was a danger of sugar highs in the near future.

"You look like you did not sleep very well, either," Raven said, concerned.

[glacial_queen]

"That's because I didn't," Karla said, practically dropping into the chair. Kayla, conversely, looked fresh as a daisy, wriggling around in her mother's lap to take in the whole building. Whatever the children were getting, she was going to demand one as well. "The problem is, those weren't normal dreams."

Dreams were a Black Widow's specialty, after all. "They're not true dreams, either. Not prophetic or whatever, but there's...intent there," she said, trying to make her tired mind come up with the right words and concepts. "It feels a lot like the dreams we have when the rock is summoning the dead. Dreams brought about for a specific purpose."

[trigons_child]

If Raven hadn't been trying so hard to not think about her dream, she might've come to that same conclusion, that it was not merely a normal dream. A sick feeling washed through her, and without even thinking about it she strengthened her shields.

"I dreamed last night as well," she said softly, not wanting to alarm Kayla or the others. "I dreamed of my brothers. That is not out of the ordinary, for they sometimes haunt me there. But this dream...it felt different."

[glacial_queen]

"There was intent behind it, not just the murmurings of your subconscious," Karla agreed. "But Kayla slept well. How about the children?"

[trigons_child]

Raven glanced over to her charges. Karina had settled in a chair by herself with some sort of chocolate-covered pastry, but Jens and Finn and Tilda were currently trying to see who could shove an entire donut in their mouth. She was going to have to tip the staff extra for all the crumbs and frosting now on the floor.

"They slept fine," Raven said, her attention returning to Karla. "I woke Karina because of my own nightmare, but she fell back into an untroubled sleep quickly enough."

[glacial_queen]

"So, probably just a Fandom-denizen thing," Karla said, drawing the wrong conclusion entirely, but hey, it was close enough. "I dreamed some of our greatest hits, in fact. Trigon, the jhinka, vampires, the Arena in Panem, Hobart, radscorpions, that maenad...If we fought it, I probably had a dream about it."

Her hand fell to her stomach, tracing the line of the scar in her abdomen. "I guess if whatever it is limits itself to just dreams, we should be okay."

Karla highly doubted it would limit itself to just dreams. But, hey, hope sprang eternal.

[trigons_child]

"But if it is an omen of some sort, perhaps it would be best for us to remove the children from the island," Raven said, fretting. Fandom's random wackiness she could let them deal with, but dangers, not so much.

"Unless it is only you and me? A warning to do with just us?"

[glacial_queen]

"It's awfully late in the year for Fandom's usual winter madness," Karla agreed, frowning. "Oh, hey. That's one I didn't dream about. The labyrinth, with the goblins." She held Kayla a little more tightly. "Okay, so we let them finish up having treats while we try to figure out what's going on?" she suggested. "And if it turns out that Fandom's gone dangerous again, we gracefully exit stage left?"

[sharp_as_knives]

After a rather uncharacteristically restless evening, Hannibal had woken, indulged in quite a bit of coffee, and headed for his office - the trip cut short when he encountered some rather unsavory looking beings.

He blinked and looked for the nearest cover, then smiled when he spotted Raven and headed in. "Hello, Raven. How are you?"

[trigons_child]

For a moment, Raven wasn't sure how to respond. It had been well over a year for her since she'd last seen Hannibal, and she had feared his silence meant that he was angry with her for what she'd done to Jono while under her brothers' influence.

"Doctor Lecter," she said, inclining her head politely. "I have been well, thank you. I hope the same is true of you."

[sharp_as_knives]

"It is." Hannibal held out his hands to her with a smile. It hadn't been nearly so long for him, and he was pleased to see her. "It's been too long. The children are keeping you busy, I see."

[trigons_child]

"Very much so," Raven agreed, her tone affectionate. "These four had wanted another visit to Fandom. Some were here for Halloween. Finn" -- she pointed out the boy with white frosting smeared on his face and in his blond hair -- "was dressed as General Starsmore, hero of Glacia."

She looked at Hannibal's hands, still a little uncertain, then set down her tea and rose to her feet. "It has been quite some time," she said. "I...I had feared you did not wish to speak to me anymore."

[sharp_as_knives]

"I was upset," Hannibal acknowledged, "but once we determined that you hadn't acted entirely of your own will, and once you apologized to Jono for what part you did have, my anger passed."

It didn't mean he wouldn't be a bit more wary in the future, but Hannibal was nearly always wary anyway.

"I still forget at times how much longer it is for you than for us here. Forgive me?" he asked with a smile.

[trigons_child]

"My brothers twisted my emotions and turned them dark," Raven said, nodding. The sick feeling she'd had upon waking from her nightmare of them still lingered, growing stronger when she mentioned them.

"I would never willingly harm Jonothon. Or you."

She blinked rapidly several times, trying to keep her tears unshed. "And of course I forgive you," she said, finding her smile.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Good." Hannibal smiled but cocked his head at her curiously. "That isn't all that's troubling you, is it?"

[trigons_child]

"I did not sleep well last night," Raven admitted. "I experienced troubling dreams."

She wasn't sure she should mention just who they were about to Hannibal, because that last thing he'd probably want was her having unconscious demonic urges again.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Nor are you the only one, it would seem." Him, Jono, Karla - it could all be related to Raven if she were having difficulties again, but the fact there were creatures on the island... "Hm. Those things outside, are you familiar with them at all?"

[glacial_queen]

"Hannibal!" Karla looked up at his entrance and gave him a bright smile. It almost canceled out the dark circles under her eyes. "Hello, darling, it's been too long. Tell me, how did you sleep?"

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal turned to her and smiled. "It has been. It's good to see you." He raised an eyebrow. "That's quite an opening. Why do you ask?"

[glacial_queen]

"What, I can't just be curious?" Karla teased for a moment, though her heart wasn't in the banter. "Raven and I were just talking about how ill we slept," she explained. "I'm trying to see if the island is just mad at us for not visiting sooner--" the sad part was, she wasn't even joking about that possibility "--or if it's more of an island-wide thing."

[sharp_as_knives]

"I can't speak to its wider nature, I'm afraid." Hannibal shrugged. Jono having nightmares was, after all, nothing new. "But my own dreams were less pleasant than they usually are. And there are things about that look rather dangerous, if you haven't encountered them yet."

[glacial_queen]

"Fff--" Kathy looked down at Kayla was was watching her with curious blue eyes and switched over to swearing in Eyrien instead. If Kayla decided to repeat any of that, only the family would know what she was saying. "Well then," she said when she was finally cursed out. "That's good to know. Looks like we'll need to cut this visit short, then. I'm not going to endanger the children with whatever shenanigans Fandom's cooked up."

She called in her bladed sticks with a slight grimace of pain. If there were dangerous-looking things about, Karla needed to be prepared to defend the children. "Bloody timing. Stupid rutting island."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal saw that grimace, and his gaze sharpened. "Are you injured?" Physically or mentally?

[glacial_queen]

Karla flushed. "Ah, no," she admitted. "But I won't be using Craft this weekend. Or for awhile, actually."

Yeah, this was very much not the way--or the when--she'd been hoping to tell people.

"Kayla's going to be a big sister come this summer," she told him.