The end of the Boardwalk, near the lighthouse, Saturday morning

[tigerundercover]

The portal opened without fanfare, spitting out a blue, scarred woman. She flexed herself into a roll despite the awkward position she was launched out in, and came up in a defensive crouch. Her gold eyes stared wide and terrified around at her surroundings, shock holding her frozen for several long moments.

She recognized this place. She had no idea why or how. She was torn between her instinct to shift and run, and a curiosity that told her to explore.

Finally, the Raven Woman began to slowly straighten. She'd escaped the Colony, and there was no telltale chatter of exes in the distance. Maybe, just maybe -- she could be free.

[open! Raven is a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittle messed up.]

Comments

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison had heard that some version of Kathy had made it to the island. As soon as he'd heard that, he couldn't help the hope that Raven had somehow done so, too. He'd looked through the party, trying to spot her (an impressive trick, considering she was a shapeshifter) and when he hadn't spotted anyone with the tell-tale flash of gold in their eyes (and had made a fool of himself to a few people in the process), he started searching the island.

"Raven?" he called, wandering through the streets. "Yo, Raven, where you at, girl? I find out you didn't shot up to the reunion, I'mma be ticked as hell!"

...More likely he'd be sad, let's be real.

[tigerundercover]

Raven's first instinct was to bolt, and she very nearly followed it. But something about that voice was triggering memories, things she hadn't thought about in a really, really long time.

She shifted into a squirrel and skittered around the man in a circle, checking him out from every angle, then shifted to match the memory she had of this person.

"I know you."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"You do," Hardison agreed, looking himself in his much-younger face. "But it's been about twenty years since I seen you last, mama. Your idea of me's gonna have to be updated if you wanna be convincin'." He looked at 'his' face again. "Also, I was much handsomer. You gotta up the hotness level by at least ten percent you wanna be accurate."

Kathy had filled him in on some of their encounter so at least he was prepared. Ish.

[tigerundercover]

"Sorry," Raven said. She wasn't used to teasing anymore, and didn't recognize it when she heard it. She shifted back to her natural shape and stepped back. "I'm out of practice."

The Colony hadn't liked her shifting for fun. She never worked out how they actually stopped her from doing it, but she'd learned to stick to pre-approved shapes, over the years.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"That'll come back with time, little mama," Hardison said. "Yo, you hungry? I didn't see you at the mixer. Pretty sure the diner's still open if you want a bite? We could sit at a booth, catch up, all that?"

[tigerundercover]

Part of her hated herself for it, but Hardison was easier to deal with than Kathy was. She'd liked him -- he'd been one of her favorite teachers, filling in the hole Drac had left when he went back to home to Transylvania -- but she didn't have the same overwhelming, visceral memories of him as she had of Kathy.

Her memories of him were quiet. Calm. Happy.

She hadn't had a whole lot of that in her life.

"Don't want to sit," she said. She'd done enough of that at the Colony. "But -- food's good."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Don't even tell me you wanna be like Eliot an' go runnin' around the whole island eatin' a sandwich," Hardison mock-groaned. "I mean, I'll do it just so we can keep talkin' but I'mma complain the entire time."

Just so you knew what you were getting yourself in for, Raven.

"An', so, what you want?" he asked, looking her over critically. She looked thin. Underfed. He didn't know anything about where she'd been, but he wasn't liking what it was all adding up to. "Sky's the limit, little mama. Almost anythin' you want an' it's yours. Let's make the staff at Luke's work for it."