poly_chromatic | ♠ first encounter ♠

[ Panic sits heavy in Raven's throat, drips into her heart like the water currently falling from her uniform. She'd had to pull herself from the water immediately, the shock of cold and lack of breath breaking only when the survival instinct had kicked it. But it's not seawater, she knows that much, knows as she sits on the steps of an unfamiliar building and watches the flooded streets with an unfamiliar horror that she is no longer on the beach. Had the teleporter brought her here? And what of her brother, of her friends?

Raven doesn't like feeling lost.

But she found the device easily, sitting awkward against the leather of her uniform. It had taken moments for her to figure out the buttons and now she stares at it. The device barely catches a flicker of blue before it settles on to the image of a blonde girl, a worried crease settling between her eyebrows. She's wearing some sort of uniform, yellow and black leather that hugs her tight and looks like it's made for protection more than anything. But it's maybe a little strange to see a girl who looks so young in something like that. ]

Is this a camera? [ Turning the device in her hands. ] I don't --.

[ She doesn't know what it is or how to use it and all she can think of is the last thing she said to Charles before they came to the beach, before they had to fight. It makes her want to cry but she knows she can't. With an exhale of breath and a disappointed sound, she talks almost to herself. ] Always falling to peices, c'mon.

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[Charles peers at the change in setting around his sister.] You found Mrs. McGee's establishment, good, I know exactly where that is.

I'm fine, though I won't say I haven't managed to get into a few things, because the last time I did everything promptly went awry the next day and I'd rather avoid that right now.

[The elevator drops him in the lobby of City Solutions and Charles looks around, frowning.]

With the streets flooded it will take me a moment to get there, so I can give you the short version now: we've been removed from a frozen point in time, back home, and nothing is happening while we're here. So everyone is safe, essentially, and when we go back - which is not something we have any control over - we'll return to that moment. Or at least, that is the general understanding I've found.

We live in a place called The City, because those who run it are lacking in the name creativity department but enjoy thinking up other trials for the residents to suffer under. It's a bubble universe that manages to avoid most logical methods of anything.

Someone said something about curses before. [ But she's not really taking any of it in, hadn't been because of her worry for his safety, and now because he's here but not here. ]

Well, a lot of people said a lot of things but I didn't really know what to believe so. [ She fidgets, slightly, worried for him and worried for herself and everything they've been through recently.

Now she knows he's alive it's hard to settle in her thoughts. They'd been angry with each other. ]

Edited 2013-02-14 17:37 (UTC)

Most of it, I'm sorry to say.

[ He notices the fidgeting and knows his sister well enough to know why. He's not sure if he'd rather she be upset and emotionally displaced or still full of righteously steadfast anger at him.

Well, actually, he'd rather she be happy. He can take her being angry at him, he thinks, as he manages to wave down a gondola.]

I'll be there soon. We're a resilient pair, aren't we? [Charles gives her a smile but is beginning to be as frustrated with mobile communication as she is, so his next response settles in Raven's head, familiar yet hesitant.]

I've missed you so much -- and I have a great deal to apologize for. You'll always be my sister and I love you dearly, you do know that?

Not everything you said to me was untrue.

[ Her eyes widen to a fraction but it's almost comforting in it's own way. But there's a sad cast to her features - as though she's so much older than the girl who was just in England with him, her faith rocked in an unnameable way. ]

I'm okay. [ She could speak with her thoughts, she knows he could if he's in her head already, extending his reach to her. But Raven needs to ground herself in the physical aspects. ]

And I said a lot of things. [ Her mouth twitches downwards. ] Just ... don't drown getting here.

Ye of little faith. [Charles shakes his head and manages to flag down a passing gondola. He and Raven need to talk and he doesn't want to do it in public - nor does he want to bombard her with all of this immediately, while she's still adjusting.] I wouldn't dare drown, you would then have to dive in and find me and I'd never hear the end of it.

[Charles smiles at her.]

I'm up the street from you now. We have an apartment here, for the moment - should we go there? [Does he hold the gondola, that's the real question.]

I'd hate getting my hair wet.

[ She offers up another fleeting smile, the ghost of an impression of the girl she used to be. A lot of things have changed and Raven knows without a doubt she has to work on it, has to decide who she is but something like this has the unfortunate timing wherein she's ... scared almost, wrong footed, unsure of herself. ]

You have an apartment? [ Miming a slight shudder. ] Is it full of antiques and cobwebs already?

If, and only if, the record player and typewriter count as antiques. Here, they may, considering how technology has advanced to the sleek and nearly minuscule. [ Which is fascinating, but. He likes his typewriter, damn it. ]

Cobwebs, well. There are scattered papers thick enough to make their own, lest you imagine for a moment that anyone else lives there. I'll have you know I also have a position, two in fact, and a room just for you.

♠ first encounter ♠

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