fandomhigh | Library, Sunday 07/08

"A few," Evan replied, smiling brightly. "I mean, there's Frank, in poetry class. He's the one who liked my poem. And Jack, my roommate? He stared a little at first, but he's pretty okay. And Karla, even though she isn't going to be around much over the summer, I guess. And you!"

... Evan needed to make more friends.

"Karla will be back when the fall classes start," Raven said, nodding. She hadn't had a chance yet to talk to Karla about Evan yet, but she hoped to do so soon.

"May I hear your poem?" she asked. "If you have it with you, or memorized."

"It was short," Evan cautioned, tilting his head a little. "Professor Romeo had us write haiku, instead of just doing the usual introductions, so it really isn't all that impressive."

He scuffed his toe against the floor a little, shrugged, and then gave Raven a sheepish smile.

"But, um...

"I am who I am.
Not who they say I should be.
Who am I to you?"

He hesitated a moment, and then decided to share his follow-up haiku, too. Because that had been part of his introduction, and why not?

"Evan, by the way,
Still growing into myself,
I'm still just a kid."

Another smile spread across Raven's face as she listened. "A very good introduction," she said. "I could have made a similar one myself when I first arrived."

"I bet there are a lot of people who can," Evan decided, smiling and rocking up onto his toes. "There are a lot of people who don't entirely fit here, huh? But everyone fits, too. You don't see that often."

Edited 2012-07-08 17:45 (UTC)

"Many of us have come from worlds where we felt we did not belong," Raven said. "But Fandom became our home, and we forged bonds with those who dwell here. I learned how to laugh and to love in Fandom. I never would have had I never come here."

She wondered sometimes if other Ravens had learned as she had, or if they were still emotionless and alone. She hoped not.

"Never say never," Evan offered lightly, quoting some cartoon or other that he'd watched as a kid. "Maybe you were just always meant to be compassionate, and you just didn't know because of the way you were raised. But you would have figured it out all along?"

For some reason, Evan was ever-fascinated by nature versus nurture arguments. He smiled as he found a seat for himself.

"When you smile, it looks like you should be."

Raven got up from behind the desk so she could take a seat closer to Evan. "Even before I knew emotion, I always wished to use my gifts to heal, so I think you are right about compassion," she said. "It was always there; I just could not acknowledge it."

But enough about her. "But I wish to know more about you, if you do not mind," she said. "What is the year where you are from? That is a question you only hear in Fandom."

Well, not only in Fandom. Evan had a teacher who was a time-traveller, back at the Jean Grey School. And Hope had been raised by Cable, and...

"It's 2012 back home, just the same as it is here," he replied easily, with a shrug of his shoulders. "I've met a couple of people who weren't from now, but I'm not one of them. Which I guess makes it a bit easier if I have to write the date on assignments or something."

"I think the majority of people here are from the present, or close to it," Raven said, "though I have never tried to figure it out to be certain. There have been people from the distant past or magical worlds who struggled for a time with the technology here, and some from the future who consider it primitive. I suppose it is somewhat easier to settle in when you are familiar with the cellphones and laptops and the like here."

She'd been a little baffled by them early on due to Azarath's lack of tech, but she'd quickly caught on, and now you'd have to pry her phone and computer from her cold dead fingers.

"Probably," Evan agreed. "I mean, at least I know how to call my uncle to talk to him if I need to. I guess there are a lot of people who would have to worry about compatibility issues. But at least most people have a written language? I mean, if the post office here is any good?"

"I have never sent much mail, but what I have seems to reach me without problem," Raven said, glancing over her shoulder at the college materials she'd left on the desk. "And there is something about Fandom's phones and email that make it easy to reach people when they graduate and must leave the island. I am grateful that I can still keep in touch with people who have returned to their own worlds. I would not want to lose contact with my friends." She'd hated the time when they'd been unable to reach Kennedy.

She tilted her head, curious. "Have you spoken to your uncle since you arrived here?" she asked. "Is he pleased you are settling in?"

Evan wrinkled his nose a little and shook his head.

"I haven't been able to get in touch with him yet," he admitted. "Uncle Cluster is kind of busy... like... really often. So I only really get to talk to him when he gets in touch with me. But he calls me whenever he can, you know?"

If Evan knew what Uncle Cluster did when he was out of touch, he'd probably take issues with it, mind.

"Perhaps he'll be able to visit during Parents Weekend in the fall," Raven said, though without knowing more, she couldn't be sure that would be a good idea or not. "It is an opportunity for families to see what life in Fandom is like. Sometimes, of course, they are quite surprised."

"He might, if I'm around that long," Evan agreed, perking up just a little. "Maybe if he likes the island, I'll get to stay, instead of having to go back to the Jean Grey School?"

A beat. And then Evan grimaced slightly.

"Not that there's anything wrong with the Jean Grey School. It's just... people here are way nicer."

"If you want to stay here, I am certain there are people who can help make that happen," Raven said firmly. She'd found she couldn't help but feel protective toward Evan. "Principal Winchester and the teachers here will give you aid in making such arrangements and convincing anyone who might need convincing."

She shook her head and gentled her tone. "But that is not something to be concerned with now," she said. "Have you explored much of the island outside the school yet?"

"Not much yet, no," Evan admitted, looking a little sheepish. "Mostly I've just been in my room, reading. Frank suggested that I should probably get more than one pair of shoes, at least. And I was thinking of checking out the town to see if they have a sports supply store. There has to be someone around here who likes baseball."

"There is a store called Nast Sporting Goods, I believe, though I have never been there," Raven said. She'd seen it across the street from 'Dite's shop, however. "It is on the east side of town."

She bit her lip, trying to figure out to best say this. "There is one place you should probably not go, at least not now," she said gently. "The Boards. It would be wise to avoid that place." Though that wouldn't stop some accidental meeting elsewhere, like the Perk.

"Well... what's at The Boards?" Evan bit his own lip for a moment, tilting his head curiously. "That's the theater here, right?"

That wasn't where they kept the elephant graveyard, was it?

"The theater, yes," Raven said. "For live performances -- there is another theater for movies. The person I mentioned to you last week, the one you resemble...he lives and works at the Boards, and he might have an adverse reaction to your appearance...because of the other person you both look like."

Maybe she was meddling too much and should just let whatever might happen happen, but she wanted to protect both Jono and Evan, and it was hard to know what the right thing to do was.

"I... oh..."

Honestly, Evan had really been hoping for the elephant graveyard answer, there.

"I can try to avoid that part of town, if you think it might help...?"

The Boards were sort of smack dab in the middle of old Fandom Town, so it would involve a bit of extra walking in order to get... pretty much anywhere... But if Raven thought it was for the best...

"You are surely going to encounter each other sooner or later," Raven said. It was a small island, after all. "But it might be best if it were later." Azar, she hated this.

"I am sorry," she said softly. "I wish I could tell you no one will ever have a problem accepting you as you are here. For the most part it is true. Jono is a good person -- but he has been through some very difficult experiences. It is not your fault. I have only known you for a short time, but I can sense you have a good heart, and I wish I did not have to tell you anything so troublesome."

How was it that one handful of sentences bunched together could simultaneously pick Evan up, and make him feel like never leaving the dormitory grounds again?

The good heart bit... that was nice to hear, at least.

"I don't want to cause anybody any problems," he murmured, trying not to look as stung as he felt on the inside. "I wouldn't want to seek him out or anything, if it would hurt him or anything. I... Guess maybe I'd ask him some questions, if I could. Or even just... feel better, knowing that a face doesn't mean that you're doomed to become something you're not... But I can sit tight. That's okay."

Raven felt awful. Maybe honesty wasn't the best policy. "Perhaps in time," she said, still hopeful of that.

She sent a gentle pulse of comfort toward Evan. "I know your face does not mean you are doomed. I struggled with that myself. My father is a demon, and my fate was to destroy my world. It almost did happen, but with the aid of the friends I made here, it did not. It is not always easy, but I have rejected my so-called destiny."

Evan sighed a little, relaxing slightly and nodding as he listened to Raven. And then, a moment more, and he was glancing up at her curiously.

"Is that... you, doing that?"

The inexplicable feel-better feelings that he seemed to only get around her when they were talking about things that he got down on himself about.

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Re: Talk to Raven [Library 07/08]

Re: Talk to Raven [Library 07/08]

Re: Talk to Raven [Library 07/08]

Re: Talk to Raven [Library 07/08]

Re: Talk to Raven [Library 07/08]

Re: Talk to Raven [Library 07/08]

Re: Talk to Raven [Library 07/08]

Re: Talk to Raven [Library 07/08]

Re: Talk to Raven [Library 07/08]

Re: Talk to Raven [Library 07/08]

Re: Talk to Raven [Library 07/08]

Re: Talk to Raven [Library 07/08]

Re: Talk to Raven [Library 07/08]