Raven

After storming out on Dinah and Momoko the night before, Raven had retreated to the netherverse, but she found little solace there from the chaos of her emotions. It wasn't like it had been with her father trying to influence her. That she had known was wrong, and she'd fought it as hard as she could. This was more subtle and insidious, as Eric preyed on her own desire for affection and acceptance.

She knew Dinah and Momoko would never hurt her. But neither would Eric. He couldn't be fooling her empathy, could he? Desperate for answers -- and comfort -- she went directly to Eric's apartment once she emerged from the netherverse.

[For those who know who they are. Warning: extremely dubious consent issues. Also imminent but well-deserved violence.]

Raven was nervous about her not-date with Eric, particularly after he appeared at her dorm room door with a bouquet of roses for her. She could sense his obvious interest in her, of course, and she didn't want to give him a false impression of hers. But her thoughts of that faded when she saw the fancy vegetarian restaurant he brought her to for dinner. "How did you know I was a vegetarian?" she asked, pleased with his selection. "I do not remember telling you that."

Eric smirked. "You are? I'm one, too, and this place has got a lot of great dishes. It's one of my favorites."

"Really?" Raven said, surprised. "I would not have guessed that. Most of my friends are not vegetarians."

He made a face. "Sometimes I think about goin' all the way, goin' vegan, but I don't know if I can do that. But eatin' meat, yuck." He gave an exaggerated shudder.

Raven couldn't help but smile at that. She didn't at all begrudge her friends who enjoyed eating meat, but it was refreshing to dine with someone who shared her aversion to it for a change. "I was raised a vegetarian," she said, "but milk and eggs and cheese were not forbidden." Leather hadn't exactly been common in Azarath, either -- she'd developed that weakness in Fandom, and sometimes had to wrestle with her conscience about it.

"C'mon, babe," Eric said, taking her arm and escorting her through the door. "Anything you want tonight, it's yours."


[Continued in the comments. Emotional manipulation, ahoy!]

The good thing about not declaring at major at Gotham University meant Raven could pretty much take any course that caught her eye. This morning she had "Charms, Rituals and Speech Acts: Theories of Magic in Performance," and she settled in for the lecture, welcoming something to focus on other than Fandom and Triela (and the headache she'd gotten from shielding out all the drunken partying in the dorms last night for some sort of sporting event -- she'd been so terribly confused at first at people hollering out her name).

The room was large enough to allow her to sit by herself as she generally preferred, and she was surprised when someone actually sat down right next to her. And even more surprised when the person said, "Hey, gorgeous."

Raven glanced up from her notes. The owner of the voice was someone she'd seen in class before, usually cozied up to another female student. He looked to be a few years older than her, a senior perhaps, with dark hair that reached his shoulders and blue eyes that -- and she'd tell herself she was silly for thinking that later -- for a moment seemed to see right into her soul. "Hello," she said, unable to help but blush a little.

"You always look like you take good notes," he said, grinning at her. "I missed the last class because I was sick. Can I borrow yours and copy them?"

She had to fight an instinctive urge to ask him if he wanted her to heal away any lingering illness. No one at Gotham University but Dinah knew she could do that. "My notes? I -- yes, of course, I would be happy to assist you in learning what you missed," she said.

"Is that an offer to tutor me?" he said, grin growing. "Because I don't know if I'd be able to focus on studying with someone as hot as you teaching me."

Raven blushed even more and ducked her head, focusing on flipping through her notes to hide the redness of her cheeks. "I believe this is what you require," she said, pulling out what she'd written down during the last lecture. "Please return them to me at our next class."

"Sure, thanks, babe," he said. "Your name's Raven, right?" At her nod, he caught one of her hands in his and lifted it to his lips. "Eric Forrester," he said, kissing the back of her fingers.

"It is nice to meet you," Raven said, flustered by his attention as she pulled her hand back. She was relieved when he got up and moved to another seat a few rows behind her. Then the professor began class, and she put it all out of her mind.


[Establishy but open for text/phone calls/anyone who happens to be on the Gotham U campus.]

When Sebastian's power had pulled her back to the church, Raven found herself quickly bound to a tilted stone wall beneath the church, leaning over a pool of blood, the very one she'd been resurrected in. More blood dripped from the ceiling, both from sacrifice and the willing donation of Brother Blood's followers. It sickened her, but she didn't have the strength to try to teleport again.

She'd been so close. She'd wait and regain her strength and try to escape again. She had to get back to Fandom. The looks on her friend's faces when they saw her -- how long had she been gone? What did they think of her now? She had to apologize for how she'd hurt them....and stop Sebastian from succeeding with his plans for her and unleashing hell on Earth.

( ''She's beautiful,'' Sebastian said. )

[NFB, but OOC is welcomed!]
 

She remembered.

There were still things her mind shied away from -- Trigon and New York chief among them, for they were things she was not yet prepared to face -- but slowly her memories crept back. Azarath and her mother. Fandom. Jono. Karla. Anakin. All her friends and the time she'd spent with them and the things she'd learned. And Sebastian, who and what he was.

Drinking her blood gave him her powers, she'd deduced. Not permanently, but long enough for him to keep her emotions muddled, compelling her to love and obey him and accept the adoration of his followers. Some feared her, some loved her, and all bowed in her presence. She'd been given handmaidens who brought her food and drink and clean clothing, a white dress and cloak that Sebastian wished her to wear. She'd timidly asked for black at first and he'd refused, telling her that was her old life and she must embrace the new. Then he'd brought his power -- and what he'd stolen from her as well -- to bear on her mind, and she'd had no choice but to agree.

But she kept her returning memories locked away, not wishing him to take those away from her as well. She remembered her lessons with Anakin and how to shield herself. Slowly she began to rebuild those shields to block out Sebastian's will. And as she began to become herself once more, she made her plans to escape. She still felt too weak from her resurrection to teleport, so she had to come up with alternative means of sneaking out of the church. Her white cloak made her stand out among the red-robed followers of "Saint" Sebastian, but she was able to "convince" one of the cultists to switch clothing with her. She didn't feel good about manipulating the woman's emotions like Sebastian was playing with her own, but she was desperate. Her own revulsion at Sebastian's attention aside, she knew what he had planned now, and he had to be stopped. Her father had a contingency plan for Earth, it seemed.

She waited until nightfall to slip from the church and into the cold darkness, though she didn't get far before her ruse was discovered. Voices sounded in alarm, and she could hear the sounds of pursuit. She had to force herself to teleport. Concentrate, step between dimensions, feel her friends, let love guide her to them. Will herself to Fandom. ( Home. )

[Preplayed with furnaceface, glacial_witch, justwantsquiet, and longislandiceme. This is for broadcast but NFI, and OOC is always welcomed!]
 

[Follows this.]

Trigon had risen, his strength now restored. He was too late to save his daughter, and her death filled him with anger. She would be avenged.

"I FEEL THE POWER NOW, FOUR BILLION SOULS ALL IN MY POSSESSION," he said, relishing the suffering all around him. "I FEEL THEIR ENERGIES AND THEY GIVE ME STRENGTH. THEY CRY OUT TO ME, PLEAD WITH ME. THEY WANT DEATH AND DISSOLUTION, BUT I GIVE THEM NEITHER. I HAVE NEED OF THEM. FOR CONQUEST OF THIS WORLD WAS BUT A MEANS TO ACHIEVE MY TRUE GOAL."

He gazed down at the figures on the street below. ( ''My name is Trigon the Terrible. You killed my daughter. PREPARE TO DIE.'' )

[WARNING for character death and assorted acts of violence. Preplayed with blondecanary, brat_intraining, furious_maximus, furnaceface, glacial_witch, icecoldfrost, justwantsquiet, life_inshadow, longislandiceme, not_a_parakeet, and sith_happened. NFI and NFB but OOC, as always, is welcome.]
 

[Follows this.]

Raven felt the tides of each dream turning, and smiled coldly. "I am victorious!" she gloated to Tara and Arella. "One by one, they give into their dark sides. And one by one they fall under Trigon's sway. Trigon has won!" The ground around them began to shake, and stone exploded into smaller shards as a bolt of lightning struck the ground where those trapped in nightmares lay. ( When the resulting cloud of dust dispersed, they were all standing, eyes gleaming red. )

[WARNING for character death and assorted acts of violence. Preplayed with blondecanary, brat_intraining, furious_maximus, furnaceface, glacial_witch, icecoldfrost, justwantsquiet, life_inshadow, longislandiceme, not_a_parakeet, and sith_happened. NFI and NFB but OOC, as always, is welcome.]
 

[Follows this.]

Raven teleported herself atop a building that overlooked her former friends, watching over them as they laid upon the ground, bodies thrashing as they fought against their darkest fears. She smiled and drank it all in, savoring their suffering. Soon they would be hers. Soon they would serve her father. ( Just as she did, they would have no choice. )

[Preplayed with blondecanary, brat_intraining, furious_maximus, furnaceface, glacial_witch, icecoldfrost, justwantsquiet, life_inshadow, longislandiceme, not_a_parakeet, and sith_happened. NFI and NFB but OOC, as always, is welcome.]

[Follows this.]

Black storm clouds roiled overhead as the group appeared on the streets of New York, and thunder boomed as lightning split the sky. All the people around them were looking upward in confusion and fear when Raven appeared floating in the air far above, red and terrible.

"Humans, hear me now!" she shouted. "They call me Raven -- and though my mother was born of this earth, my soul belongs not to this planet, but to him who sired me. Universe after universe has fallen before his might. No one who has opposed him has ever survived. Lay down your weapons! Submit to his will or this pitiful planet will soon be little more than a wasted, lifeless husk! He comes, humans! He comes!"

She threw back her head, and her Soul-Self, red now instead of black, rose from her shoulders, growing in size until it dominated the skies. Trigon stepped through it and loomed above the city, straddling two tall buildings. Raven hovered beside him, continuing to speak. "From this moment forth he expects your total subservience and your complete obedience. You will view him with the respect he demands! And you will accept that he is your god, for your meaningless lives are his to play with. Now, bow before your god! Bow before Trigon the Terrible! For if you do not submit, this will be your fate!"

Trigon raised his staff above his head and the world became transformed. The streets shuddered and split, holes appearing to swallow vehicles whole, and buildings groaned and crumbled, their facades turning to cracked stone. Grotesque faces and clawed hands erupted from the stone to decorate the buildings like enormous demented gargoyles. But worst of all, the people, every living being except those who had just arrived from Azarath, became twisted together into living columns of flesh, bodies contorted in agony and faces frozen in silent screams.

Above it all, Raven smiled, arm outstretched as she soaked in the pain and suffering her father had just created. Trigon himself gazed impassively around at his work, then moved to sit atop the former United Nations Secretariat building, which had been reshaped into a throne. ( He closed his eyes and was still. )

[Preplayed with blondecanary, brat_intraining, furious_maximus, furnaceface, glacial_witch, icecoldfrost, justwantsquiet, life_inshadow, longislandiceme, not_a_parakeet, and sith_happened. NFI and NFB but OOC, as always, is welcome.]

[Follows this.]

Those inside Temple Azarath were not fighting, of course. They chanted and waited as demons tore the roof off the temple, creating an ever-widening opening through which they would soon come. Arella, Raven's mother, was among them, tears in her eyes as she waited and listened.

"It is time, it is finished," the woman who led the ritual declared. "Azar summons us now, and we go to meet our destiny!"

( The woman who spoke turned to look at the new arrivals, stretching out a hand to Tara. )

[Preplayed with blondecanary, brat_intraining, furious_maximus, furnaceface, glacial_witch, icecoldfrost, justwantsquiet, life_inshadow, longislandiceme, not_a_parakeet, and sith_happened. NFI and NFB but OOC, as always, is welcome.]