Raven loves waffles more than life itself (ofevilsfire) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2020-04-09 16:16:00 |
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Raven knew that she was still off ever since New York and the death of Ruby. She was more reserved and more likely to just throw herself into her work or patrols. But with Dick actually back in Orange County, she was forcing herself to be better about that, to interact with friends. He had enough going on, he didn’t need to worry about her as well. Which meant she was making sure to actually keep non-work engagements like her weekly dinners with Kory - even if she had just been in New York the night before for Seder with her grandfather.
Though it was also clear to Raven that something was wrong with her friend. So since they had gotten situated once she had shown up, the empath just looked to the older woman and tilted her head to the side.
“You seem distracted. Is everything okay?”
So said the pot to the kettle. But it was a good way to distract from her own guilt and pain, plus there was always the concern about Kory’s sister and well she didn’t need a mental link with the other woman to know there was something going on. She was one of her people after all, Raven would always be able to tell when they were upset or otherwise distracted.
Kory had a lot on plate, working on the new line, setting up the show, but dreams had started to happen and she couldn’t make sense of it all. She sighed as she picked at her food, then looked over at Raven when she asked her if everything was okay. “Yeah, sorry,” she offered a small forced smile.
“I just have a lot going on at the moment, with new line and things…” which was partly true, but she moved to put her food down, “I started to dream, before you ask, I have no idea what is going on in them, because I….well...I have no memories in my dreams.”
That was...definitely a new one. Though Raven was also pretty certain that others had mentioned amnesia in their Dreams before. Or had they? It was hard to tell after dealing with these things for so long. What she did know though? None of her Dreams had ever involved Kory not having her memories. Circumstances may be different, but this? This was definitely a new thing.
“Huh.”
Leaning back some, the empath contemplated it.
“But I’m guessing even with the not having your memories in the Dreams, you at least know what’s going on in I guess what we can refer to as the present?”
Because Kory clearly knew she was having them, she just...apparently didn’t know what had led to the circumstances or something.
“For the moment,” she told her with a nod, “but I’ve read about people's dreams and I’m kinda worried,” she should talk about the fire but she’ll wait. She shook her head, “Just ignore me,” she told her, “I’m just in a mood, I’ve been working to get some prototypes finished of my new line and just…” she was just in a mood.
“You know,” she offered, not really sure how to explain any of it, “I’m just...hoping, it’s just dreams and nothing more.”
Well that was something at least, Kory’s dream amnesia was just retrograde and not the ability to form memories. That would make life even more difficult. But she also understood the frustration and how the dreams could impact waking life. No matter how used to certain things from the Dreams Raven was, she still got thrown off guard depending.
“It’s fine.”
It wasn’t like Raven was the most forthcoming of people on a good day and she’d been in a mood ever since… Right, not thinking about that. But maybe she could fix this. Even though she knew Dream related issues were more tricky when it came to trying to heal someone.
“You can usually tell the difference.... Tell me what you do recall from your Dreams, maybe I can help sort things out? See if it is just a dream or the Orange County version.”
Or see if there was a magical fix. No one said Raven was rational when it came to her people and her need to help them.
Taking a deep breath, “I woke up in a car, it was badly wrecked, shot up, when I got out there was another car speeding toward me, shooting at me.” She shook her head, “I had no clue what was going on. I grabbed my purse, hid in the woods, then found a gas station, went through the purse and found out my name, Kory Anders, like how did I not know my name.”
She sighed, “I ended up in a hotel, germany maybe? Not too sure, but I know the language. I had the whole top floor...it was strange..” She leaned back, “oh and I had a guy locked up in a closet talking about some girl they found.”
Letting Kory talk, Raven tilted her head to the side some as she took in what was said. None of this was adding up to anything she herself had dreamt. But after five sets of Dreams, Raven knew that it was entirely possible that there was yet another set of Dreams that would be similar but not the same.
“My guess is the car accident caused retrograde amnesia, so that’s why you can’t seem to remember anything from before it in the Dreams.”
But knowing the language wasn’t too shocking, though she could see why it would be strange. The fact there was some girl that was involved...or somehow involved.
“Did you get a name for the girl?”
She shook her head, “not a clue,” Kory replied, “I have no idea who she is or why I’m looking for her, but honestly it was all a bit sketchy. Maybe I’m in the family business in my dreams?” she tsked with disapproval, “one thing I always tried to avoid her.” Kory looked over at Raven, “it was very off putting and I don’t need my dreams while I’m trying to work, it’s kinda just..congested things.”
Pushing some hair over her shoulder, “the car crash could have caused that,” she nodded her head in agreement. “I just wish I knew more.”
Raven 'hmmed' at the answer. Obviously if it had been Raven, the older woman would have picked it up, but if the girl were going by Raven's legal name? She might not make the connection. And it didn't seem like the Teen Titans - in any variation - had formed yet.
Or she was wrong and Kory Anders wasn't going to dream about being Koriand'r more commonly known as Starfire. Raven doubted that though.
"I can't see that happening." Though Raven had seen plenty in her own dreams. But she had always struggled with her demonic nature and Trigon. Starfire always seemed to be quite sure of herself.
She could also understand wanting to know more. And maybe it was going to be a mistake to offer to try and help because Raven knew the Dreams, often you couldn't fix things from them, they just had to play out. But she was also drowning in her guilt at not being able to save Ruby. So she had to at least offer.
"I can try something that may help unlock your memories...I'm not sure it will work just because often the Dreams reveal things or the like in time. But it couldn't hurt to try if you're willing…."
Kory head snapped to look at her, “if it’s Western medicine, you should know I don’t believe in it. Trances or what’s it called, hypnosis?” She sighed, “but I trust you.” Ravenn had saved her life how many times? “So sure,” Kory nodded her head, “lets see what happens.” She picked up her wine glass and downed some of it, “cause it would be nice for something to make a little sense, you know?” she asked Raven.
Honestly, she didn’t think whatever Raven was going to do would work, Kory saw everyone on the network talk about their dreams, they all went through their dreams differently, but the one thing everyone had in common was they dreamed it.
"Not exactly…" She had mentioned the whole half demon empath thing before, the teenage superhero thing but none of the specifics about her abilities, of magic, let alone provide tangible proof of them crossing over. Baby steps and all of that. "But yeah, I definitely get wanting things to make some sense."
The world was complicated enough as it was, no need to add the uncertainty from the dreams to that. Especially given the concern Kory had about the family business. This would have been easier if something similar to the amnesia had happened in one of the sets of dreams Raven had already dealt with, but she would just have to go in blind.
Letting out a breath, the empath turned to fully face Kory then placed her hands to her temples and closed her eyes and focused on trying to locate the injury to heal, a purple glow enveloping them and…
Interesting, there was something there. A block that could be the amnesia from the car crash or whatever had caused it in Kory's dreams, where the information was locked away. Maybe she could fix this after all.
Kory sat there, she trusted Raven, even if all of this was insane for her. She closed her eyes, unsure what she would even feel as the younger woman touched her temples. There was a ripple of something, Kory wasn’t even sure what to call it. She let out a slow breath through her nose, she body shifted slightly, but suddenly she felt very warm.
It wasn’t a feeling, something she hadn’t felt before, she made a small groan, “what is it hot all of the sudden?” she asked softly, her eyes open up and her vision had an orange hue. She jerked back without thinking, her hand reached up and she could see the hue flooding her body, “what the fuck!”
As for Raven? She was focusing on the issue at hand, at helping Kory get the information she was missing since it seemed there was something she could do, and how this wasn’t just going to end up being a matter of wait and see. Some sort of peace of mind that she wasn’t going into the family business.
That was the plan at least. The empath was vaguely aware of a shift, could hear the question but there was just that one more lock that seemed to be blocking the memories from Kory, the lock keeping the answers from her. Just as she broke it she could feel a hand around her throat and Raven’s eyes flew open in shock.
“Kory?!”
Orange glowing skin, green eyes. Yep. Starfire. But she didn’t have time to process much beyond the shock and pain as she could feel a burning sensation where Kory’s hand was grasping her throat.
“Kory, stop!”
There was no stopping, memories started to flow in and out, she was on Tamaran, her home planet. There were talks of a girl and how she was assigned to earth to destroy a powerful demonic entity known as “the Raven", part of the ancient prophecy. She was tasked to avert the inevitable return of an inter-dimensional demonic conquerer and this was how - to kill the girl.
Kory blinked but was still stuck in her head, her hand tighten on Raven's throat, her breathing became uneven. Memories flew in and out of her searching for the girl, she wasn't in Germany, she was in Austria when she was in the accident. Jerking back from Raven, releasing the hold, Kory went up into flames, her hand shut up and suddenly there was a blast, the television didn't stand a chance from the heat that was swarming her.
And there really wasn’t all that much time to get a response because suddenly the pressure and burning on her throat was even more crushing and breathing wasn’t a thing. Which was bad as it meant her panic, fear and pain had spiked, bringing forth the part of her that she kept buried. Eyes flashing red and the glamour faded. Pushing the demon side back into place as well as the spike of her emotions, the empath just reacted - or more it was her soul self that reacted and pushed Kory back even as her grip released and quickly swarmed around Kory to keep the solar flare from doing anymore damage.
Now across the room from Kory, Raven just focused her breathing as her soul self kept the solar flare in place. Once that was done, then they could work through whatever it was that had just happened.
The flame was bright, hot, but than it started to slow down, the flame started to smoother, and than it was just Kory there, looking at the funnel of Raven soulself and she just sat down. Kory was freaking out, this was weird and who the hell was she...who was Raven? She inhaled a few quick breaths and her eyes went back to normal. “WHAT THE FUCK!”
It was the only words she could muster for the moment, “I….” she was a princess? Alien princess, “I’m supposed to kill you?” she looked up, Kory covered her mouth, “Did I hurt you? Raven!!”
Once the solar flare had disappeared and it seemed that things were a semblance of normal, Raven’s soul self all but flew back into the empath, though remnants of the energy seemed to crackle in the air. Especially since it wasn’t like they knew if it would act up again and Raven needed to be prepared just in case. Her throat was raw from the momentary strangulation and burning but she ignored it to focus on her friend who was clearly lost in confusion. Which..made sense given what had just happened and whatever had been unlocked.
“It’s fine, I’m fine.”
Mostly. Raven compartmentalized, even the pain despite her voice being hoarse and quieter than usual.
“But huh, that’s new. You were sent to Earth to kill me? I mean, fair…”
Perhaps not the most expected of answers, but Raven knew who her father was, she knew the threat and while that had never been how Kory had shown up on Earth before, it clearly meant that there might just be another version waiting for her to Dream.
Kory sat there, stunned, at her own actions, Raven actions, and now at Raven’s words, “fair?” she peeped out, “you’re a child, the destroyer of worlds is a child, you didn’t ask to be...how is that fair?” She took in a long breath and shook her arms as she slowly released it, “okay, none of this makes sense.” Her eyes looked around, the television blasted to bits, “these are just dreams, I must be dreaming now…” she had to be right?
“I...you,” she pointed to Raven, “I need more wine,” with ease she stood up, her eyes checked out her arms, no burns…”this is insane.”
For someone who really didn’t do emotions on a more visible scale, Raven knew that it was probably best to let Kory get it all out before she said anything. Was it fair that she was nothing more than a pawn for Trigon? Just a means to an end? No. Of course it wasn’t, there was nothing she could do about that, just try to live her life and do what was right. To make up for it. But for someone to come after her, to stop her before Trigon came through? Totally fair in Raven’s mind.
She waited until Kory got her wine before she decided to say anything.
“The gem was born of evil’s fire, the gem shall be his portal. He comes to claim, he comes to sire, the end of all things mortal.”
Which of course didn’t make much sense.
“I told you I was a half demon with severe daddy issues, it’s because of that. In the Dreams, my father is the demon Trigon, dimension and world conqueror. He just needed a foothold, me. So no, it’s not fair the circumstance of why I was born, but for you to come to Earth to stop that from happening?”
Shrugging, Raven folded some hair behind her ear.
“They’re more than Dreams. Like I said, I’ve had five sets and there’s always some similarities. And you don’t get the abilities of an alien princess from Tamaran if they’re just dreams….”
Raven had a point, the television proved that point, but Kory wasn’t really sure if she was ready to see that point, even if it was staring her bluntly in the face. She took a long gulp of her wine and sighed, “He wants to destroy more than Earth, you were labeled the Destroyer of Worlds, Earth was a stepping stone.”
Gulping down the rest of her glass she sat the glass down and moved back over to sit down. “Oh Raven…..” she sighed as she touched her face and curled up her fingers under her mouth. She was unsure on what to even say, Raven being through five sets of dreams...She tipped her lips and then straightened herself up, “Starfire...I just thought it was a nice edgy name for my line..”
It could take awhile for things to settle in, when you couldn’t deny the truth anymore. The problem was the extent of Kory’s abilities. Raven knew from experience that they didn’t just show up at full strength or all at once. But that also could be dangerous on another level. She’d have to figure something else out for that before she left.
“It wouldn’t be the first time.”
It was probably a bad thing that she wasn’t more thrown by that fact or bothered. But five sets of Dreams and things like that? Well, they didn’t catch her off guard and she just took it in stride.
“Surprise?”
Her eyes slid over to the younger woman, a small smile on her lips, she chuckled, “one hell of a one.” Kory then looked down at her hand, she wasn’t even sure what she was trying to do, but nothing happened for the moment. She sighed, shifted back into the cushion, “this is going to get worse before it gets better, huh?”
“It’s the Orange County way.” It was the easiest explanation. Not much of one, but still one all the same. It was all anyone could really do in Orange County. Surprises tended to be massive like that and there was only so much that could be done about it. It wasn’t like hiding away and not living your life was an actual option.
“It is, but you’re not alone. And I can help you with your abilities and a way to keep them from happening at random.” She’d just spell a bracelet before she left to go reassure Dick that she was fine thanks to the mental link alerting him to her brief moment of panic and his overprotective ways, especially as of late.
“Either way, you’ll get through it just fine. I have faith in that.”