fandomhigh | Library, Sunday 07/08

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Library, Sunday 07/08

After taking care of returned books and going through the shelves to make certain all the books were in their proper place (the US Space Program books seemed a little melancholy and needed some cheering up), Raven settled at the front desk with the course catalog for Gotham U. She was at least going to try to narrow down her choices from the overwhelming number of classes the school was offering for the fall. Maybe she'd give Dinah a call to see if they might end up in any class together.

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Raven reached for Evan's hand. "No, Evan, it is not you," she said. "Whatever he or his followers did is not your doing." And it wasn't Jono's, either.

"Do you by chance have a tattoo?" she asked. "On your chest or elsewhere? A red marking?"

"A... a tattoo?" Evan blinked at Raven, letting her take his hand. "No. I don't have anything like that. The only marks I have are... are just those lines running up from my mouth. My parents never would have let me get a tattoo."

She gave his hand a gentle reassuring squeeze. "I know that Akkaba marks their members in such a way," she said. "Willingly or not. It could have meant that you were related to someone who once served Apocalypse. But I have been told that there are very few of Akkaba left."

She knew Jono had thought he was the last, but obviously there was more than just him left.

"So... maybe it's just a really weird coincidence?"

Be a little more hopeful about that one, little Sabah Nur. Go on.

"I wish I could say for certain and allay your fears," Raven said, her heart breaking a little at the hope in his voice. "But I can say for certain that even if you bear his blood or mark, no matter what anyone else tells you, no matter what you fear, your fate will be yours to make. It may not be an easy path, but it will be yours."

"A path all my own..." Evan bit his lip, white teeth against tar-black flesh. And then he nodded a little. "I was raised to be a hero. That's the path I want to follow. That's who I want to be."

No matter what anybody said. He wanted to do right.

Raven smiled. "That is the path I wished to follow as well," she said. "I made mistakes. I thought to protect my friends from what I feared, and that was the wrong choice. Please, do not ever be afraid to ask for help if you need it. I for one will happily give you aid when I can."

"I don't want to get anybody hurt or anything, though," Evan noted, tilting his head thoughtfully. "I mean... I'm not really expecting trouble or anything, either. And I'm sure people around here can handle themselves just fine! That's not what I meant. I just mean... I don't know what I mean."

Sometimes, even Evan couldn't parse Evanese.

"And I pray it will never come to that," Raven said.

She shook her head with a light chuckle. "I am sorry if I sound so dire," she said. "My own experiences will hopefully not be yours." No matter how much she empathized with him.

"Just believe in yourself," she said. "That will take you far."

"I think believing in myself is going to be a lot easier now that I'm surrounded by other people who believe in me too," Evan decided with a little smile. "And... if something does happen that I can't handle, I'll ask for help. Promise."

"Good," Raven said. If he did turn out to have more of a connection to Apocalypse than just appearance, and Apocalypse started trying to influence him, she didn't want him to try to handle it on his own, as she had foolishly done.

"But hopefully you will have nothing more serious than gremlins to worry about here," she said.

Fat chance of that.

"I haven't stopped staring at my ankles since someone warned me about gremlins," Evan admitted, smiling sheepishly. "The Bamfs at my old school could drive a person crazy, but they never literally made anybody lose their mind."

[Bedtime! Sp?]

"Fortunately it is a temporary insanity," Raven said, glad for it. "And usually harmless, except to one's pride." Although that wasn't entirely harmless for her.

She gave Evan a curious look. "What is a bamf?"

[SP! \o/ Night!]

"They're little, blue," Evan demonstrated with his hands about how tall they were, something that was maybe knee-height if it stood on its tiptoes, "they have tails and they look sort of like people and they go, uh, bamf."

Evan probably could have found better ways to explain what they were.

"They run around my old school, they're pretty much everywhere, and they steal stuff and spray-paint walls and lock doors on people and just generally get into trouble all over the place. They're harmless, I think, but kind of a pain."

"They sound very much like gremlins without the bite," Raven said. "I do not remember seeing such things when I visited the school in the past -- it is still in New York, is it not? They did not relocate?"

The building hadn't been in the greatest shape last she'd seen it, but it certainly could have been rebuilt.

"It's the same building they used to use, I guess?" Evan shrugged a little. "I think the bamfs are new, though. I guess they've never really had problems with them before?"

There were a lot of things that were new to this particular incarnation of the school that hadn't been there before, though.

"Technically, that's what they are," he added. "Inter-dimensional gremlins. Vice-Principal McCoy left open some sort of dimensional gate for a while, and they slipped in when nobody was looking."

"And there is no way to lure them back through the gate?" Raven wondered. Bamf bait? "Or is that gate closed for good now?"

Would that it were that easy to get rid of the gremlins on the island. She'd be tempted to sweep them into the netherverse except they'd bite her and that would only end in tears.

"I don't think they want to go through the gate," Evan mused. "I'm sure Dr. McCoy could open it again any time he wanted, but the bamfs are everywhere, now. Rounding them up would be... um... not easy."

Not even for a kid who could stretch, no.

"Well, then I hope they do not cause too much trouble," Raven said, "but that is probably as helpful as hoping the gremlins here do not."

Still, she'd take gremlins over vampires or some of the other things Fandom had thrown at them.

"They're not all bad, I don't think. I mean... they're annoying, and kind of destructive. But I hear they helped save our Headmistress and Broo, once. So maybe it's okay if they stick around."

Keeping big evil scary blue alien scientists from killing people that were actually nice to Evan? Totally won the bamfs some bonus points.

"And the gremlins once gave aid to Fandom when it was needed, I believe," Raven said, nodding. "This is their home as well, and they do not wish to see it destroyed."

She wrinkled her nose. "They would merely be a nuisance were it not for the loss of control they can cause." And humiliation, which bothered her even more for obvious reasons.

"Maybe... they don't do it to be mean? I mean, the bamfs do stir up a lot of trouble, but I don't think they really mean it maliciously."

Evan chewed on his lip for a moment. "Do people ever get hurt when they go all... gremlin-crazy?"

Raven thought for a moment. "Mostly it seems to affect people in non-violent ways," she said. "It is much like drunkenness in a way, so there is the possibility for inadvertent harm, and it is always possible for some sort of altercation to break out. But in many of the cases, the person affected by the gremlin's venom is utterly convinced they are someone else. It can be very silly to watch."

Like her and a few friends singing in Caritas in their underwear. Fortunately no one had seen that.

"So... harmless, but embarrassing, mostly, unless something goes wrong," Evan concluded. "And still something you'd probably want to steer clear of."

If it was like being drunk? Evan was going to steer clear anyhow. His parents would kill him if they found out that he went and got himself drunk.

Or... something like it.

"It wears off in time, though how quickly varies from person to person," Raven said. "I am afraid it is not something I can easily cure, for if I attempt to heal a bite, the venom then affects me."

Which she'd learned the hard way.

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]

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]