Room 509, early Wednesday evening

[trigons_child]

After Magic Reserves, Raven retreated to her room to meditate. She thought she had buried the part of her that longed so much for love, but apparently not deep enough, and she was projecting her desires again. It at least had made sense when she had affected Jono, and even somewhat so for projecting on her fellow students, but Max? First of all, he was a teacher. Secondly, she still panicked a little around him because of what his vampire self had done to her. She would never want to encourage his affections, but he'd professed his love in the park. Katchoo made more sense than Max, and she made no sense at all.

Raven sat cross-legged on her bed, calling on her Azarathian training to purge herself of the wayward desire, and on the training Anakin had given her to shield herself and stop projecting. She had no idea neither were necessary.

[ooc: for a special delivery or two. Door is closed but not locked; post is open.]

Comments

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Knock knock knock knock knock, knock knock!

It's a good thing Dinah had TK to lift all these flowers, which were following her in a conga line down the hall. And a little onto the stairs. "Delivery! Hi Raven!"

[trigons_child]

Raven recognized Dinah's voice, though she wasn't expecting any sort of delivery. She rose from the bed and opened the door. "Hello, Dinah," she began to say, and then she stared at all the flowers.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Aren't they awesome?" Dinah gushed, gleeful, and floated two big vases in, followed by two more... and two more... and two more.... "Someone's got a sweeeeeetie!"

[trigons_child]

Raven found her voice again. "They are beautiful, but...I cannot accept them," she said. "It is not right." Her powers were truly out of control to induce Max to make this gesture of his love.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Yes you can," Dinah said, dragging in more, and putting a few on dressers. And chairs. "It's not like it's an obligation! Just an expression of affection, you know?" She beamed at Raven, emotions cycling between Happy, Happier, and Downright Gleeful. "But, you know, if you think that this is really nice, mayyybe you should think about the person who gave them to you, and tell them how much you appreciate it!"

[trigons_child]

"I will speak to him," Raven murmured, low enough that that "him" might've easily been mistaken for a "her" or "them." She was totally going to be thrown out of school for her powers being out of control...again.

"You are very happy," she said, pointing out the obvious.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"I'm in love too!" Because of course, it was only a matter of time before Raven was in love herself. "It's so awesome. We have so much in common, we're both tall, and I really think he cares about me too!" Twirl!

[trigons_child]

"I am so very happy for you," Raven said, pleased to focus on something other than Max's unwanted affections. "It is a wonderful feeling, is it not?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"It is!" Dinah grinned at Raven, radiating her delight with the universe in general. "And I'm pretty sure he feels the same way, even though he hasn't said it yet. We're supposed to meet up today, thought, so maybe, maybe..." She hopped in place. "You know, you just take time to get used to the idea, and suddenly, wham! Love!"

[trigons_child]

Something Francine had said to her earlier clicked in Raven's mind. "Love," she repeated. "With...Sam?" But Sam had just lost his boyfriend, and Dinah, as far as she knew, had been dating Jak. She remembered what she had told Anakin Tuesday in Aeryn's class, that all she wanted was for her friends to be safe and happy. And love was truly happiness. So was she making her friends feel false feelings for one another so they would be happy?

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Unh-huh!" Dinah gleeee'd at Raven for Just Getting It. But then, she was an empath, she would, right? "Sam and I just clicked last night at the play, and it suddenly all made sense. And then we had such a great time at Caritas afterward, and, well..." She turned pink. "I can hope, right? And if it's too soon, I can wait! I can wait forever!"

[trigons_child]

She had to stop this, but she didn't even know how she was doing it. "It is wonderful to see you happy," Raven said, "but...please, do not rush into anything."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Francine said that too," Dinah said, a tiny sliver of sanity peeking out. "I swear, I won't do anything too dumb. True Love means you can wait and be patient and... what was it, kind?" Trying to remember whatever verses she'd heard at weddings before, she sighed at the romance of it, totally missing Raven's worry. "It's so nice. Sometimes I wondered if I'd ever feel like this, you know? And now I do!"

[trigons_child]

"It is the most wondrous feeling in the world, is it not?" Raven said, more than a touch envious. Except for the pain that came afterward, but she hoped to sort this out and spare Dinah and Sam and Karla and Merlin and even Max that pain.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"It is!" Dinah spun in place again, and TK'd a rose over to her, looking hopeful. "Can I have this one? To give to Sam?" And oh! Another moment of TK. "And this one for Jak? He's going to be Best Guy. It's going to be Super! Oh, oh oh you have to be bridesmaid too! You'll look so pretty! You and--" She snapped her mouth shut and slapped her hand over her lips, giggling from behind her hand.

[trigons_child]

"Of course," Raven said, smiling despite herself. "You may take as many as you wish."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Two's fine! The rest are all to make you happy." Dinah danced over to hug Raven tight, and smiled and smiled. "So you think about that, 'kay?"

[trigons_child]

"I will do so," Raven promised, hugging Dinah back. "Thank you."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Welcome!" Dinah pulled back, and smiled. "Byeeeee, Raven!" And then she was nearly skipping out the door, flowers in hand.

[glacial_queen]

After coming back from the woods with Mat, Karla had headed up to the roof again, but paused at the sixth floor, unwilling to really go on. Without Mat being there, she really was in to mood to socialize. She turned to head back to her room, but was arrested by the scent of flowers.

Which made her think of Raven. Which made the floor shift under feet again and a wave of confusion overtake her. When she steadied herself, her mind was once again fixed upon a single point: Raven.

She was knocking at Raven's door just a few moments later, giddy with hope and excitement and burgeoning love. "Kiss kiss!" she called.

[trigons_child]

Raven really wanted to talk to Karla about what was going on with her and Merlin. "Karla," she said, opening up the door. "I am happy to see you."

[glacial_queen]

Karla couldn't be happier to hear that. "I'm glad," she said, giving Raven a big smile. "I'm happy to see you, too. Very, very happy. Can I come in?"

She glanced around and saw all of the flowers and her smile grew even broader. She wondered what Raven had thought of them.

[trigons_child]

"Of course," Raven said, gesturing inside. She still had no idea Karla sent the flowers.

"I wished to speak to you about you and Merlin," she began to say.

[glacial_queen]

Karla waved that topic away, coming in to sit down. "You don't have to, Raven. I see now that what we shared wasn't real. It wasn't true love. It was a mistake on both our parts and I'm grateful now that Arthur took him away."

Now that she remembered what true love was, here with Raven.

[trigons_child]

"Oh, good," Raven said with a sigh of relief. "I was worried that I had somehow accidentally done something to cause you to feel attracted to him."

[glacial_queen]

And soon Raven would realize that she sighed too soon.

"Oh no," Karla assured her. "It wasn't your fault that I thought I was in love with him." She reached out to clasp Raven's hand, bringing it close to her chest. "But I owe you everything for helping me realize what true love really is. Raven, I love you so. Do you think there's a chance for us to be together? It would be my fondest wish to make you happy."

She grinned and gestured at the flowers. "Like with these, for example. Did they please you? I hope so. Dinah worked hard to make them worthy of you. She's such a great friend to me!"

[trigons_child]

"The flowers are from you?" Raven said, mentally facepalming. "Oh, Karla, I care dearly for you, but what you are feeling...it cannot be real. I think I am making you feel this way, like I did to others before. I wish to know love so much that I am projecting that need onto others, like you."

[glacial_queen]

Karla stubbornly shook her head. "Raven, please. I would know if someone was manipulating my emotions. I've been trained in Craft and shielding my whole life." She clasped Raven's hand more tightly, willing Raven to feel the depth of her love. "No, believe me. What I feel for you is true and deep and enduring."

For another few hours, definitely!

"You must give me the chance to prove it to you!"

[trigons_child]

"I do not doubt that you care for me as I care for you," Raven said, squeezing Karla's hand. "But this is so sudden, and I have influenced people with my gifts before. I have tried to stop myself, but not well enough."

[glacial_queen]

Yeah...all Karla heard was 'I do not doubt that you care for me as I care for you.' The rest of it was lost in asudden rush of OMG--JOY! at her words.

"You do care!" Karla said exultantly. "I knew it! I knew a love with deep and pure could only be reciprocated! Oh, Raven, you con't know how happy you've made me!"

Tears gathered in her eyes and she swiped at them impatiently. "You'll see! We'll be together forever and I'll never let anything harm you again. Not your father, not your fears, nothing!"

[trigons_child]

Raven really really really hated that she was doing this to her friend. But she smiled with affection and said, "Just promise me you will do nothing rash? We should take this slowly, should we not?"

[glacial_queen]

"Of course!" Karla assured her, turning a smile of extreme happiness Raven's way. She was almost worried that Raven would drown under the waves of happiness that were pouring off of her. "We'll go as slow as you want. The last thing I'd want to do is push you or hurt you or anything like that."

Not that the promise of slow stopped Karla's imagination in the least. "I can't wait till we get home to Kaeleer. I'm thinking a small ceremony, something tasteful...Oh! You'll get to meet Jaenelle! She's the most important person in the world to me--other than you, of course..."