The Park, Friday Afternoon

[trigons_child]

Raven was feeling somewhat better after speaking to Anakin the day before (and the muffins had helped, too). She decided to take advantage of the pleasant weather to go outside and soak in the sunshine, choosing a quiet corner of the park today instead of the preserve as a place to find peace and meditate.


[For one, please.]

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[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

While he was technically still in the military, and while he did keep up with his physical conditioning, Max really enjoyed doing... nothing. There were lots of ways to do nothing, and he didn't really prefer any single one over the others.

Today's particular bit of nothing was an aimless stroll through the park. Max wasn't a huge nature-lover, but he could enjoy it. His aimless wanderings today happened to take him into a quiet corner of the park.

[trigons_child]

Raven had settled on the grass to meditate, but when she saw Max she sprang to her feet, taking several steps back before her legs refused to obey her urge to flee. The fact that it was full daylight out, though the trees provided copious amounts of shade, did nothing to hinder the memories of what the vampire had done to her from playing themselves out again in her mind, igniting fear but also want.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max had noted the girl, but she had been quiet and still, almost emotionally invisible, so he hadn't really paid attention to her.

The sudden movement, not to mention the spike of emotions, caused him to pause and turn his attention to her. A part of his brain noted that she was a good looking young woman, but she was probably a student so he pushed that aside.

Max's eyes scanned the area, looking for threats. Because obviously the girl had spotted one...

[trigons_child]

And obviously, he was looking around to see if anyone would witness it if he took her prisoner again.

She finally forced her voice from the tightness of her throat. "Do not come any closer," she said faintly.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max, basically unable to consider that she might see him as a threat, continued looking around to see who she was talking to.

He took a couple of careful steps closer, preparing himself to defend her from... whatever it was.

[trigons_child]

"No!" Raven yelled, her voice stronger this time. "You will not touch me again!" Instinct and terror made her lash out with her gifts, sending a blast of pain and fear at Max as she tried to drive him back.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max stumbled backward at the blast, head whipping around wildly. Since he didn't know the girl she obviously had to be lashing out at something else and he'd just been caught in the blast.

"Calm down," he told her, trying to sound soothing. "I'm here. I'll help you."

[trigons_child]

"I remember your help," Raven cried. "I remember what you taught me. You destroyed me!" She'd refused to blame Liir or Tahiri or Anakin for anything that had happened to her in the other world, but now Max was providing a convenient target for her rage. She began to gather more pain from inside her, drawing on her memories of her time with Max.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

It was at about this point that Max picked up on the fact that she was looking at him.

"... what?" he asked in confusion.

[trigons_child]

"I will not allow you to touch me again," Raven said, her pacifist nature warring with the desire to fill him with pain. She knew she was on the verge of losing control of herself again and becoming slave to her emotions, which ironically was what the vampire had wanted. Her blood thrummed with the urge to unleash the pain she had gathered, and she struggled not to give in to her fears and lose herself again.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"I've never touched you," Max objected with a frown.

Because, yeah, he'd remember that.

[trigons_child]

"You did!" Raven accused, pointing at him with one hand, touching the other to the phantom marks on her neck. "In the other Fandom. You twisted my gifts. You made me your slave!"

The other Fandom, that was the key. She tried to remember what Anakin had been teaching her and began to overcome her fear enough to put the pieces together. This couldn't be the same man as the vampire who took her. The vampires had all been destroyed, and it was daylight out now. Liir and Tahiri had been changed completely but that world, so perhaps this man had as well. But that did not mean she could trust him -- or herself.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Other... Fandom?" Max frowned, shaking his head. "I don't think I've been to another Fandom. Besides," he scowled, "I'm not really into slavery."

Well, not for real. Though there were some fun games you could play with it...

[trigons_child]

"You were there," Raven said. "You were a vampire. You took me prisoner and made pleasure and pain one and the same in my mind." She hadn't relaxed yet; even if this man wasn't the vampire, he still most likely had the same powers to use against her.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Pleasure and pain," Max repeated. He tried to keep his voice flat, but... Max was still Max.

That wasn't me. You know that, right?

Because as it dawned on him what must have happened, what that other him must have done, he was beginning to feel sick to his stomach. He should probably walk away, really, leave her space, but he needed to know that she was okay. (Yeah. That was g oing to happen.)

[trigons_child]

She could sense his distress over what his other self had done, and that allowed her to release some of her own tension. He would not feel that way if he were like the vampire she had encountered. "You are not he," she said quietly, trying to make herself believe the words. "I am sorry. I should not have attacked you as I did. When I saw your face it made me remember what he...what I...."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"No need to apologize," Max insisted with an attempt at a grin. Not a very good attempt.

"I suppose I was pretty good at it, huh?" Yeah. He was thrilled to know that some version of him had used all the experience he'd accumulated to break a girl. He could see why. She was rather pretty. But that only made him more upset at... well, himself.

[trigons_child]

Raven pushed her emotions down deep inside her, trying to detach herself from the experience. "You were quite skilled," she said tonelessly. "Your mastery over your powers is much greater than mine. It did not take you long to make me submit."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max growled softly. Not a good kind of growl.

"I wish I could kill the bastard," he said softly. "I don't suppose it'll mean much, but I'm sorry."

[trigons_child]

"You truly did not know anything of this other Fandom?" Raven asked. "Some of us were drawn there and found it overrun by vampires. You were a vampire there. Most of them have now been destroyed, and...I cannot say that I do not hope that your other self was one of them."

If Max was trying to read her emotions, he would find that she could not keep all her pain and despair contained, though she was trying hard to do so. The memories were still to fresh to ignore completely, and so was the lurking desire for revenge.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"I'd heard some of it, but..." No one had told him that he'd been there.

He wasn't even reaching out to feel what she was feeling, but Raven was an empath and she was upset. Not without reason, he had to admit, as he tried to keep from delving deeper. And he couldn't help it, but his mind was already running through what that other him would have done.

"You're an... empath." He thought that was the word. And an inexperienced one. "He turned that against you." He knew exactly how he'd do it. Not that he ever would.

[trigons_child]

"Yes," Raven whispered, looking away. "He made me want...he made me crave what he did to me." And she still did, much as she wanted to deny it. She wanted to feel the sensations again.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"It left a mark."

Max couldn't keep looking at her. He didn't know the details, but... the general outline was something he could figure out.

"I'm sorry," he said again, not that it would help.

[trigons_child]

"It has," Raven agreed in a soft voice. "But it is not for you to apologize. You are not the vampire. You do not feel the same as he did, and if I had not been so blinded by fear, I would have realized that immediately."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"I can tell. And I'm still sorry."

His eyes were dark. "I can... guess what was done."

A young, obviously inexperienced young woman? Especially a good looking one? It wasn't hard to mess up someone like that by accident... to do it on purpose. Max's stomach roiled at the thought.