creator_raven | (no subject)

There is no knocking.

There is coming in abruptly and pacing. This is Ace in full-worry mode. You do not have the right to remain silent. Anything you do and do not say can be used against you in the court of Ace. If you do not have a lawyer, all for the better. And no one particularly cares if you understand your rights.

"Why didn't you tell me Blodwen was the one that hurt you?" She snaps, clearly furious.

Raven looks up, startled.

"Because I am a cagey bastard, perhaps?"

Or, you know, because he is vain and arrogant and hates admitting weakness. Whichever.

"Yes. You are. If I'd known..." Well, she would have tried to blow Blodwen up, but that's besides the point. "Raven, I told her you're my brother. You should have told me!"

"You are, I think, not so good at lying. And I, perhaps, am not so good at seeing the future. And that one, I think, is very very bad at keeping her temper."

Raven's gaze is level, though he does tilt his head.

"I could have avoided her altogether." She points out. "But anyway. She's got Mary, Raven. She's just a little girl!"

No, Ace sees nothing wrong with sudden topic shifts. It might be best for Raven's continued well being that he doesn't see anything wrong with sudden topic shifts either.

"You think that likely?"

Forgive Raven if he looks a little doubtful. He knows his sister well, and he knows they are not entirely dissimilar. And he never could leave well enough alone.

"As to Mary, she is young, yes. And yet there are things I will not do."

There is a pause.

"Not without an invitation. Otherwise it does not end well."

Raven does not get his head ripped off.

It is a near thing.

Ace is rather protective of Mary.

"Then who can?" It's not a question of 'if' there is someone who can. Telling her there isn't anyone is very much the wrong answer.

"Merriman, I think, or Will, or Bran. They have long opposed her, I think, and the war with her, such as it is, is theirs."

He shrugs.

"There are others here who stand hard for the Light. They, too, would help, I think. If you can find them."

She nods. Some of those names she recognizes. Hadn't realized they were quite as powerful as all that, but at least she doesn't need to go beg perfect strangers for help.
"Good." She finally stops pacing, leaning up against the wall by the door, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

Why must it always be so hard?

Caring is a bitch, really. In some ways.

"I certainly think so, here and now."

"I just hope this doesn't set her back. She's been doing so well." She can't fault Mary though - after all, Ace had fallen for the same trick. If Blodwen had been out to get her, she'd be well and truly caught.

"She is a very fierce girl, as I remember. Though such things always leave a mark."

He twitches faintly, and goes quiet.

For rather a long time.

"I am not so good at comfort, perhaps."

"No." It's not an accusation. Just the truth.

Her shoulders slump. It's one thing to fight and be beaten. It's quite another to know you are lost before you even start.

Raven settles more comfortably beside her.

"I would regret that, did it not change everything else."

"Would you?" It's an honest question.

Not a particularly nice one, but honest all the same. She's studying her hands.

Raven considers, frowning.

"Perhaps. Though it is too easy, I think, to turn comforting to coddling. That has yet to end well."

"Begins t'feel more like a cage." And she's already pinned enough, by all the things she's unable to do.

Raven twitches again.

"Yes. And that is never a kindness."

"Nope."

There's a long pause.

"After this is over... I think I'm going to have to go, for a while. Find some problems I'll actually be able t'help with. Maybe it'd help. Something."

"You help here, too, I think."

Raven watches her carefully.

"But perhaps it is not in ways that are satisfying to you. It is, perhaps, understandable."

If he squints.

"I don't. Not really. I'm the one people worry about, and that is not helping."

She pauses. She doesn't want to go, really. It's lonely out there. But it's become a choice between being lonely or being useless.

She's stood being lonely before.

"I'll... come back..." Even she knows she can't promise that. But she can try.

Raven stills, eyes gone fierce and bright.

"Blodwen did not manage to chain me because of you, I think. Because you are my sister, and you are here, and you are so fiercely yourself that I cannot forget that."

His nostrils flare, just a little.

"It is possible I am very stupid, but that, I think, is very much 'help'."

Someone, it seems, is miffed at how lightly Ace counts herself.

"You're not stupid." She can't argue the logic, it's solid.

"But I've just been sittin' here, an you're hurt, an' Mel's hurt, an' Faith's gone, an' Alanna's worried, an' Mary's trapped, an' Wash is hurt, an... all I'm doing is sittin' here. I'm not cut out t'be a bloody mascot." The hunter in her has been baying for blood long before she knew who was doing the damage, and now that she does know, her palms itch. It's torture keeping her head down.

"It does not always have to be a fight, I think."

His grin is both wry and mischievous.

"Not the straightforward kind, at any rate. Sometimes patience is best."

Raven is oddly rather good with that.

"It is a hard thing to wait until you can be best used, perhaps. But still it is better, so."

"I never have been patient." She replies, her accent clipped. "Besides," she adds, "I have duties I've been ignoring."

For all of a few weeks. Yes.

"Well, then."

Raven's gaze is still level, but tinged with wry affection.

"If that is the way of it. Duty and life are difficult to balance at the best of times, perhaps."

She ducks her head, ashamed.

She's not running to duty, she's only using it as a handy excuse to run away from a situation she's too weak or flawed to take anymore.

Raven merely reaches over and ruffles her hair.

"You will do well, I think. And you will come back. And should I grow impatient, I will find you, perhaps. It is not so difficult a thing."

He grins.

"The wings are very helpful."

She smiles at him, a weak sort of trembly smile. She's still not flying level, and probably won't, while she's allowed to sit and stew.
"I don't deserve you."

And while part of Raven flinches at that, because he truly is not a safe thing, the rest of him just smiles, and hugs his sister.

"I do not deserve you, either, perhaps. But, on occasion, luck is very kind."

Ace is notably fond of not-safe things. Much to the dismay of various persons.
"Yeah, an' t'think. The first time I metcha, I did all but tell y'flat out t'bugger off."

Raven laughs softly.

"It is wise to remember that, perhaps. 'All but' telling me off has never worked yet. It is the almost that causes problems, I think."

"Yeah, but I bet actually tellin' you does very little good either." Ace points out pragmatically.

"It is a marginal thing."

Someone is smirking.

It might be Raven.

"... What, do you ask for a demonstration or sommat?" What? With Raven, it's a logical question.

Raven considers.

"It is an interesting idea, that. Mostly laughing serves as well."

"Mmm."

She considers this.

And very suddenly he is glomped. Blame it on the instability.

"I'm sorry I can't stay." She can see how it would be. It could be fun, and good... if she had the wherewithall to stick it out.

Raven hugs her back, not quite bone-bruisingly tight, but for a moment it is very close.

"I do not build cages, Ace. You do what you must, and I shall do what I can, and we will meet in the middle, yes?"

"Yeah. I'll look forward to it."

There's a pause.

"An until I go? I'll be the best bloody mascot y've ever seen."

Mabe she can't do it long-term. But as a temporary thing, where it's needed? She can do.

Raven's arm tightens again momentarily. He is, at times, grateful for what he can get.

And he would rather not see her trapped, so.

"I do not doubt it, Ace."

It is enough.