75 Godiva, Sunday evening

[vdistinctive]

There wasn't anything quantifiable that Eliot could nail down, but he could tell when Fandom managed to shake off its latest evil invasion. It was like an enormous, evil weight had been lifted from the world.

It was an enormous relief, but mostly Eliot kind of wanted to take a nap. Again. Apparently freaking out as hard as he had took a lot out of a person, more than sleeping a good 10 hours straight thanks to the medication Hardison had dug up.

"Right," he said. "So . . . what. We should be good through, like, March now, right?"

[ooc: for the family, especially, but can also be open!]

Comments

[tigerundercover]

"Hi," Raven said, slightly less patiently than the last half-dozen times. She'd been tiny and blonde for a whole day now, and she wasn't used to disguising herself for this long anymore. She was tired. "Don't suppose you have instructions on you somewhere for what to do when you're done saving everyone?"

[godilovedthis]

Kathy looked down at her arms. "I don't know," she said. "Maybe?"

Though she didn't see anything that seemed appropriate. "Maybe Dante or Anders will know. They know everything. Or maybe Star...somebody. Or Carthage."

Beat.

"Hannibal. That's on my arm."

[tigerundercover]

"The old doctor guy?" Raven frowned. "Does it say why?"

[godilovedthis]

Kathy shook her head. "No, I just never remember his name. I always think it's Carthage." The link between 'Hannibal' and 'Carthage' was long gone. "He and Star...smore--" yes, she had to check the name on her arm for him, too, "--are around a lot and it's rude to call them the wrong name."

[tigerundercover]

"I guess maybe we should find them, then? I know where our version of them usually hangs out, but I don't know about your version."

[godilovedthis]

"Starsmore volunteered to go into the cave along with other-me," Kathy said. "I don't know where Carth--Hannibal is." She scratched another graying patch on her right shoulder.

[tigerundercover]

"What's, um." Raven pointed, then grimaced. "What's going on with your skin?"

[godilovedthis]

"What?" Kathy asked, then looked at her shoulder. "...Oh."

And at once, the vacant happiness was gone, replaced by a deep sadness.

"That."

[tigerundercover]

"Oh god, it's something horrible."

[godilovedthis]

"Always is in our Fandom," Kathy said quietly. "I'm...changing. It's what happens after we hollow out. We turn into monsters."

[tigerundercover]

"In Mr. Spencer's living room," Raven said, rather despairingly. "You're not even in your Fandom!"

[godilovedthis]

"But it's been happening for months," Kathy said. "Years, really. It's been just a matter of time for the last couple of weeks." She gave Sarah a sad smile. "But I got to help before it did. Well, sorta."

She hadn't really done anything, had she?

[tigerundercover]

"You totally helped." Maybe? Sort of? "You did real good. I'm proud of you."

You couldn't cry when you shifted your tear ducts shut!

[godilovedthis]

"I did?" Kathy's smile forgot to be sad. She didn't remember one way or another, so if Sarah said she had, it must be true. "Yay! I'm glad! I wanted to help this world after they helped me." She leaned forward to scoop Sarah into a hug.

[tigerundercover]

Raven hugged back, tighter than her tiny arms should have allowed. "You're the best big sister Sarah could possibly have had," she said softly.

[godilovedthis]

That brought tears to Kathy's eyes for reasons she didn't understand. They came from deep within her, a sorrow she didn't remember but was too great to vanish entirely. "I'm your sister," she said softly. "Even if you're not Sarah."

[tigerundercover]

"You are," Raven confirmed. "Even so, it's been real nice being Sarah for a little while."

[godilovedthis]

"Thank you for being Sarah for me," Kathy said softly. "I hope the me here knows how good a sister you are."

[tigerundercover]

"She does. She even reminds me when I forget."

[godilovedthis]

"You don't have the memory plague, do you?" Kathy asked, looking anxious.

[tigerundercover]

"No no," Raven assured her quickly. "Just . . . regular people memory. Sometimes we can be pretty hard on ourselves."

[godilovedthis]

"Are you hard on yourself?" Kathy asked. "Why?"

[tigerundercover]

Raven took a deep breath. Well. It wasn't like this Kathy would remember long enough to tell anyone else.

"The other me, the one from your world. She's -- really not nice. And I'm pretty sure we share a lot more parts than anyone else knows about."

[godilovedthis]

"But you're nice!" Kathy said. "You're very nice! So you can't share that many."

She thought about it and added, "But sometimes you have to do not-nice things if you want to survive. The world doesn't always reward nice."

[tigerundercover]

"And I lived for a while in another really not-nice world." They needed a better term than 'nice'. "When you do something often enough for survival, it gets kinda . . . easy. So sometimes you want to keep doing it, even when it's not totally necessary."

If Kathy had more of her brain cells left, she might marvel over how weird a conversation this was for a ten year old to be having. At least, to be the one doing the explaining, anyway.