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 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.

"Oh, wow... You've had that happen before?"

Evan, it was rude to smile while saying that.

But the topic was fascinating!

Raven's cheeks pinked slightly. "When I heal, I draw the injuries of another into myself," she said. "So when my friends were bitten by gremlins, I attempted to heal them. But then it was as if I had been bitten as well."

Evan then went from smiling to frowning thoughtfully at Raven, mulling that one over some.

"It... hurts you, to heal people?"

"It does," Raven admitted. "But I consider it a small price to pay for being able to help those I care for, or anyone in need of my aid. And the pain passes quickly."

"How quickly?"

He'd never think to ask her to stop healing people. Helping people seemed to come as naturally to her as his own desire to do the same, in his own way. But he still didn't like the thought of one of his friends being hurt, either. Better to ask questions and understand than to sit and fret, right?

"It depends on the severity of whatever I am healing," Raven said. "A few minutes...longer for a poison like a gremlin's bite." Or safframate.

"If it is a truly life-threatening injury, it can take a little longer to work out of my system. I just need to rest and I will be fine." She gave him a reassuring smile; she knew it worried her friends when she took pain into herself, so she sometimes glossed over how it hurt her. But she'd never stop.

"I'm a pretty quick healer," Evan offered, "so you don't have to worry about me, at least."

See? No need to patch him back together after a fight or anything! Not that Evan got into many fights. His total overall was sitting at... two... But! In case!

"But it's good... I mean, that you don't feel it for long. You shouldn't have to keep suffering after someone else gets hurt, either."

Raven would be the judge of that, Evan. Your pain, give it to her. But she was glad to hear quick healing was one of his abilities, though she hoped he never had to use it.

"My gifts come from my father's blood, and were meant to cause pain rather than heal it," she said. "To be able to reverse that, to use them in the name of goodness and compassion...is it worth any pain that I might feel."

It could be like a race! See if Raven could get to Evan before he could pull himself back into one piece!

"I can imagine," Evan replied with a little smile. He didn't have to grow up with the shadow of Apocalypse looming over him, but he was getting a bit of a taste for how hurtful it was, being accused of genocide before ever even thinking about doing wrong. "Doing the right thing is its own reward. Saving lives, making people happy..."

It felt good to do that.

If he was ever in more than one piece they were going to have a serious discussion about avoiding that, young man. Raven would not approve.

"I am motivated in part because I wish to prove that I am not my father's daughter," Raven said, nodding. "But it is so much more than that. To help my friends, to heal someone, there is no word to truly express how much joy it brings me."

"It kind of makes you feel like you're... you're more real somehow, when you know you're making some kind of difference in someone else's life," Evan offered. "I mean, a good difference. Even if they don't know it was you."

Beaten and bleeding at the hand of the villain, the first time he'd ever heard the name Apocalypse, and it had been... been Angel, but someone entirely different, throwing feathers like knives and leaving him crumpled on the ground, and Evan hadn't won. He hadn't. But it had been enough. The day had been saved and it was poison and knives and electricity ripping through his body and had hurt more than anything, but it had been so vibrant. Like everything before then had been a dream, had been perfect in that way that only dreams can be, and his world had faded away and that one moment had been the first real thing he'd ever done.

"It's like the whole world comes together in a way it never did before, when you do something that really, really matters."

"In Azarath, my home, I studied, I learned how to use my gifts, but it was rare that I had need of them," Raven said. Not to mention it was hard to feel like she was making a difference when most everyone shunned her.

"But since coming here, yes, I do feel like I have made a difference. I have made some mistakes, but I even more I have helped my friends, healed them, protected them from harm. It has made me believe in myself instead of what others may have told me."

"So... here's a good place for that. For proving that you're who you decide you are."

That made Evan smile a little. Yeah, he liked that. He liked that a lot.

"I'll prove it, you know. I'll prove it to everyone. That I'm me, I'm just me. And nobody else. Just like you did."

To the people at his last school. To people who were upset because he existed. To anyone who ever called him 'Kid Apocalypse.'

He was Genesis. He was Evan.

"I have no doubt that you will," Raven said, remembering how she'd been so determined to do the same, and mentally wincing at little at how she'd almost screwed that up by trying to handle things on her own. She hoped that if Evan ever had to face such a situation that he would know his friends would stand beside him.

If. She hoped even more that he wouldn't have to deal with something like that.

Of course he wouldn't have to!

Right?

... Right?

"Thank you, Raven," Evan murmured, still smiling that little smile of his. "It's easier to believe that when there's someone else there who believes it, too."

"It is," Raven said. Her friends' faith in her gave her strength, and not just because she feared disappointing them. Just the fact they believed made her feel stronger.

"And I will always believe in you, Evan, I promise you that," she said. She hadn't known him long, but she didn't think his earnest nature could be feigned. And he was a kindred spirit in a way.

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Library, Sunday 07/08

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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]

Re: Talk to Raven [Library 07/08]

Re: Talk to Raven [Library 07/08]

Re: Talk to Raven [Library 07/08]