Outside the Dorms, Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate Monday Night/Early Tuesday Morning

[glacial_queen]

Karla fled towards the dorms, running as if there were Hell-hounds flat on her heels. Just a little bit further, she thought. Just a little bit faster… She was flagging, and quickly, but she reached down deep in her reserves and dredged up enough energy for one last little burst of speed.

Too bad it was impossible to outrun one’s own fragmenting mind.

The last two days with Janelle had been wonderful. Freed of her nightmares, Jaenelle had begun eating again, putting on enough weight to make it possible to go downstairs again and see the family before Karla’s portal arrived to bring her back to Fandom. But as nice as it had been to spend time with Jaenelle, as good as it was to see her laughing and eating again, Karla had been keenly aware of how quickly the insulating cocoon she’d spun around Jaenelle’s memories had been unraveling. The last few hours in Dhemlan had been nerve-wracking, as the more she tried to buttress the threads, the faster it had seemed to unspool.

But the threads had held until she’d left Dhemlan behind. And now she was struggling to get back to the dorms and the safety of her room—or possibly the locked room on the sixth floor—before the safety net collapsed completely. Damn the portal for dropping her so far away! But there! She could see the lights from the windows, feel the outer edges of thoughts and emotions from the students therein, laughing, studying, watching the teevee…enjoying the blessed normalcy of everyday life. Sooo cloooose…

And the final thread snapped just as the dorm itself came into view.

Karla fell as the memories took hold. First came the gut-wrenching horror as she saw once again what happened to Marjane and Dannie and Rose. Then the fear as she was brought down to the ‘playpen’ and dosed with safframate, and dressed in a skimpy lace nighty by rough and uncaring hands. And then came the pain, the searing, tearing pain that had her biting her hands to keep from crying aloud. Except—she couldn’t bite her hands, could she? They were bound….

What was different this time, however, was the rage that followed. Perhaps a defense mechanism from her own mind, the icy, freezing cold fury allowed her to remember who and what she was. A wave of physical cold washed over and through her and her tears fell as ice chips to the ground.

It was a very different Karla who regarded the dorms. A predatory whirlwind of murderous fury. She stood up, took a step forward, and stopped. No. Not here. The part of her that still cared, could still feel wouldn’t let her continue on. She had friends there. Innocents. She would go elsewhere to hunt tonight. Somewhere where her youthful looks would be a beacon for bastards like the Briarwood uncles.

She wouldn’t spill blood in Fandom. But anywhere else was open game. She spun on her heel and was gone.

[ So starts the plot of Crazy! Open for reactions from anyone inside. Psychics, empaths, telepaths, people prone to odd dreams, random people up at stupid o’clock in the morning—anyone can react to the waves of emotion. Karla herself is not available for interaction. Further posts can be found here and then here. These posts are NFI, save for Plot-slaves Team Rescue! WARNING: MORE DARK THEMES AND CREEPINESS AHEAD. POTENTIALLY TRIGGERING. AFTERMATH OF VIOLENCE, PARTICULARLY SEXUAL AND AGAINST CHILDREN. I WARN BECAUSE I CARE.

Yes, my canon is MADE OF WRONG.]

Comments

[trigons_child]

The sudden shock of fury jolted Raven from her sleep. For a moment she was confused, trying to figure out where the feeling was coming from, and then she felt a familiarity with the source and realized she knew who it was. "Karla," she said, rising from her bed. Somewhere outside, but she needed a moment to contain the feeling and stop it from affecting her before she could find where she was. She pulled a cloak around herself and stepped out into the hallway.

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine thought the wave of badhurtangrybrokenWRONG that made her sit up with a gasp was the end of a nightmare she couldn't remember, for just a moment, but it was still there, as she tried to catch her breath, and still there as she blinked in the dark, and still there as she heard footsteps outside in the hallway and stumbled over to the door to look out. "What's--- Raven? What's happening? Something's wrong!"

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Francie?" Katchoo was up a second later, and a step or two behind getting to the door thanks to nearly tripping over Clocky on the way. "What's goin' on?"

She smothered a yawn and continued, "If you're goin' off on some crazy rescue mission thing again, you're not doing it without me this time, got it?"

[trigons_child]

"It is Karla," Raven said, pressing one hand to the wall to keep her balance as she tried to contain the anger and pain. "She is somewhere close...hurt and enraged."

[thatsamilkshake]

"I felt that. It woke me up." Francine was shoving her feet into the shoes by the door, which would work better if she picked the pair that was actually hers. "I'll come with you. I might not be able to do anything to help her, but the heck if I'm not gonna try."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Katchoo needed those shoes, okay? As soon as she could get to them, she was jamming her feet in, which was easy when they were as battered as they were.

"So what's the holdup? We're gonna do this, let's haul some ass already."

[trigons_child]

Raven turned to speak to Emma for a moment, then looked back to Francine and Katchoo. "I can teleport us to her," she said. "If you are willing to travel that way."

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine had traveled by portal, by gate that needed her blood to work, and if you counted trips into Karla's spell-land, by unicorn. She was getting scarily used to just nodding and wondering if she'd be revisiting her dinner afterward. "Okay. If it'll get us there faster."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

From the discomfort on Katchoo's face -- well, an empath like Raven probably didn't need to see that to know she wasn't thrilled with the idea (Portalocity still made her queasy), but Francine was going.

That was pretty much all she needed to swing the decision.

"So everybody shut the hell up and let's go, geez."

[thatsamilkshake]

"Um. Chewie?" Francine coughed and tapped her on the shoulder.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Halfway through stepping out into the hallway, Katchoo smacked the heel of her hand into her forehead and turned to look at Francine.

"What?"

[thatsamilkshake]

She pointed down. "Pants?"

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

. . . oh yeah.

WHATEVER.

"FRANCINE! F$^K A BUNCH OF PANTS!"

Look, she'd already gotten her shoes on, okay? Geez.

[thatsamilkshake]

"I don't care what you do with the rest as long as you wear at least one pair," Francine said, rolling her eyes. "It's cold out."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Fine, fine." Katchoo reached into the closet and snagged a pair of sweats, and she did not almost fall over trying to get into them, and if you implied she did there might be a punch in the arm waiting for you. "Now can we get a move on? Since you woke me up for this . . ."

[trigons_child]

[To here]

[icecoldfrost]

Emma wasn't a heavy sleeper for a number of reasons, and she was up and out of her bed almost the second Karla slammed against what few shields Emma could manage while sleeping, hands slapping over her mouth to keep from crying out.

She quickly slipped out of the room to keep from waking Leonard, waiting until she was in the hall to breathe again, and quickly zeroed in on Raven. "You heard it too, didn't you?"

[trigons_child]

"Karla," Raven said, pressing her hands to her temples, trying to focus through the rage. "She is hurt and angry. We have to find her."

[icecoldfrost]

"I got that part," Emma replied tartly, cracking the door just enough to reach back in and grab her shoes, slipping them on. "Do you know what happened?"

[trigons_child]

Raven shook her head. "No," she said. "Just sudden mindless rage waking me." She closed her eyes, concentrating. The anger was so blinding it was hard to get a lock on her. "She is close, but moving away, quickly."

[icecoldfrost]

Emma's eyes went unfocused for a moment as she tried to reach Karla before shaking her head. "Not answering," she said shortly. "But she's headed out. Away. I think she's going for the Causeway."

[trigons_child]

"I can get us there quickly," Raven offered. "And Francine and Katchoo, they wish to come as well."

[icecoldfrost]

She looked down at her pajamas and grimaced. There wasn't any time to change; they had to go now before Karla got over the Causeway.

"Do it," she said simply, looking up at Raven. "Whatever it takes."

[trigons_child]

Raven wasn't much better dressed in her nightgown and robe (in black, of course), but there was no time to change.

She beckoned to Francine and Katchoo to come closer to her and Emma. "This will not hurt you," she said, "but you may find it easier to close your eyes. It will also be cold."

She lifted her arms, and the black shadow wings of her Soul-Self spread out from her body, wrapping around the other three women and enveloping them in darkness. If they didn't close their eyes, it would seem like they were standing on stepping stones in a vast cosmos, but only for a brief moment, before they appeared on the causeway.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah was having a nightmare. Karla's nightmare. Karla's waking nightmare... and then she was awake, shuddering, cold cold cold Karla oh God--

She dressed as fast as she cold, grabbed her keys, and ran out the door, running down the hall and taking the stairs three steps at a time.

[furnaceface]

It wasn't easy for Jonothon to sleep at the best of times. Not with someone else sharing the room and a constant need to wrestle back the psionic flame that made up most of his very being. Being hammered with a wave of emotion while he was halfway to something resembling rest was not particularly helping.

Perhaps this was the one instance where it was fortunate that Jono was never going to get up the nerve to actually develop his psychic potential. The feeling hit him something like a battering ram and lingered there, but he had no idea what it really was, or where it had come from.

And so he grumbled something in the back of his mind that was entirely incoherent, threw a pillow at the wall in a sleep-fogged effort to show whatever it was who was boss, and rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.

[intraspective]

As it happened, Ino was sleeping but not particularly restfully—reliving what she'd done to Kinjo Sae over and over, a thousand times over, while her mind added new twists to the story each time; twists that alternately reveled in it—the control, the power, the power over life and death—and reviled what she'd done—a girl who'd watched her with trusting eyes, a man who'd expected his loving mistress.

No, Ino's sleep hadn't been restful for a while now, and she was already tossing and turning when unnamed--nameless rage/pain/fury/hunting--slammed into her shields already weakened by sleep and sent her spinning into worse nightmares, everything amplified, everything sharpened until even the most innocuous scenes bit into her mind, tore through the barriers and excuses and blocks she'd erected around her job, around her missions.

Ino woke up screaming, but completely unaware that her dreams had been influenced by an outside source. She sat, doubled over, clutching her head and breathing raggedly for a long while before all but falling over the edge of her bed and groping for painkillers in her nightstand.

They were from her world. They were stronger.

Dry swallowing two, she slumped, half on the floor, twisted around in a position only a teenager could maintain, and stared blankly up at her ceiling, struggling to find her equilibrium.

[momslilassassin]

Ben wasn't asleep--he was on his bed working on his experimental Thor hat for Jono--when Karla's emotions hit him with the force of a crashing landspeeder.

He curled into a ball, forgetting for a moment how to breathe.

[endsthegame]

Ender's eyes were drawn to him immediately, reflexes jumping into action. "Ben?"

[momslilassassin]

Jacen's rage had been a cold, controlled fire, terrifying and implacable. This was different--it was more like how Ben's father had described ice storms on Hoth: unreasonable and deadly.

"Karla's back," Ben finally said, taking gulping breaths of air. "And she's pissed."

[endsthegame]

"Above and beyond?" Ender checked, swinging his feet over the edge of the bed to settle down on the floor.

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded, reaching into the Force to yank his boots and cloak over. "She's scaring me," he said quietly. "She's out of control."

[endsthegame]

Ender nodded, snagging a pair of pants for himself and his boots - he was already wearing an old t-shirt anyway. "Can you tell where she is, exactly?"

[momslilassassin]

Ben closed his eyes for a second. "Heading into town," he reported, shivering as he stood up. He tried to cover that reaction by shrugging into the Jedi robe.

"We have to stop her."

Somehow. Move now, plan later.

[endsthegame]

Move now, plan during. Ender was still a Battle School brat.

"Any idea if she's tapping into her magic?" Ender asked, boots now solidly on, his hand moving to brush against Ben's arm once - a determined hurry up more than anything so low as comfort - before he was headed for the door. No time to bow to emotional feedback now.

[momslilassassin]

"Not yet," Ben said, following Ender out the door and racing for the staircase. "But I wouldn't count on that lasting."

[endsthegame]

"Then I'd say speed is our thing right now," he replied, and hurried down, out of the dorms.

[weetuskenraider]

If Tahiri felt anything at all, it was another roar in the distance, another unsettling and unfamiliar presence in the usual nightmare landscape. She stirred in her sleep, but that reaction wasn't distinguishable from the rest of her restless tossing.

Tahiri would have wanted to help, if she'd known. The only problem here was that at the moment, Tahiri wasn't in charge.

And Riina had other things to focus on.

[wantstodirect]

In Tony's dream, he was laying on the beach on a towel next to Henry and discussing the new, superstrong sunscreens. Lee, Dinah and Jack Priest were playing volleyball against a team of gremlins.

Then Karla's emotions hit and in his dream, a wave swept over the beach and tore him away from all that, from his friends and safety. The wave tossed him and spun him and he couldn't breathe; couldn't swim to safety because he couldn't even tell which way was up. Then the wave flung him out and he hit dry land but he was back on the streets of Toronto, cornered, frightened, with nowhere to run and no one to help him if he screamed...

He didn't wake until morning.

[justwantsquiet.livejournal.com]

Sookie was yanked out of a pleasant summertime dream, where a rosy glow tinged everything from her hair to the lemonade her grandmother gave her.

The second the emotions hit her from elsewhere, she was thrust into a chilled darkness, and she was seized with the same sort of little-girl terror she had experienced when her Uncle Bartlett came to visit.

She spent horrifying seconds in her dreamscape before gasping awake, eyes wide, and spent the next few hours quietly keeping her mind elsewhere as best she could.

[likethegun]

Sam was full from grabbing snacks with Andy after their radio broadcast, so he hadn't had any trouble falling asleep. When the rush of emotions hit the dorm though, he didn't have any trouble waking up either, and all he could do for a few minutes was lie in bed and try to figure out if that was his nightmare, or someone else's.

[walks-two-paths.livejournal.com]

Savannah had, surprisingly, been in a fairly calm sleep. Her dreams had been pleasant and in this particular one, she was with Johnny, dancing and playing on the beach of their island.

When the emotions tore into her dream, everything went dark and she could feel herself being yanked away from Johnny -- heard him yelling for her. Each direction she turned was darkness and all she could feel was a fear she had spent half of her life trying to hide from.

When she managed to wake herself up, she just lay there, shaking in her blankets until the sun came up.

[bitchy_smurf]

Illyria had been in the middle of a calm, restful--- ahahahaha.

Illyria had been in the middle of sitting on the roof listening to the plants not sing. When the wave of cold, murderous, frustrated rage washed over her, she glanced up briefly and rolled her eyes. "Amateur."

Then she went back to, you know. Sulking.

Just for youuuuuuuuu.