closed

[sophos]

Characters: Annabeth & Korra
Date: mid-october
Location: Eva's Safehouse
Situation: taking korra to check on a comatose eva
Warnings/Rating: will edit/add as necessary

Is it really a risk, taking Korra to see Eva, when completely ignoring a possibility would do nothing to change the status quo? A couple days after Annabeth's chat with the so-called Watcher, she contacts Korra, and arranges the trip out. She shows up outside Korra's suite in Metal with Mrs. O'Leary, and before long, the three are shadow traveling across the city. The hellhound slides out of the shadows in the Wood sector, in a mostly empty of population area. She directs Mrs. O'Leary to do a bit of a sweep, but there's no one around out of the ordinary.

"The house is up the street," she says, sliding off the hellhound, and giving the dog instructions to come back in about an hour, but to do a little more shadow traveling in other sectors along the way. Throw people off.

So far, Annabeth's only gone to the house invisibly - but she only has one hat. If she makes Korra wear it, well, she's already revealed that she knows where Eva is; someone could easily track her to it. If she wears it herself, there's obviously no following an invisible person. But something hits her with that thought - something Korra said once, about the gift she'd gotten from Asti.

"Asti's gift. It lets you see through magic, right?" She's pulling out her yankees cap at the same time, though she waits, before setting it on her head. It's her secret weapon and trump card, but it's not like Korra's going to use it against her. "Like, invisible things too?"

Comments

[ironwood]

Initially, Annabeth's attempts to restrain her only make it worse. But her voice does eventually break through the haze of panic and she starts to slow, her shoulders hunching forward. "Annabeth? Where are we? What's-- no, the Palace. It's not just the Palace!"

[sophos]

She expected that, having been roused from her own rounds of nightmares before; she'd definitely punched Percy in the face, at least once.

But she knows how to be the supporter, too. When Eva slows, Annabeth watches her carefully, her grip firm but calming. "We're in a safe house. It's hidden from most eyes."

She frowns. It's not a question she wants to ask right now, but the answers she could get might be more open than if she waits. "What's not just the palace?"

Something tells her she's not going to like the answer.

[alphatar]

Korra furrowed her brow, flicking her eyes between Annabeth and Eva. The only thing she knew about the palace was what Rex had told her before he returned home, and what little she gleaned from his notebook.

But it didn't fit with her claim of the palace.

A single motion sends the water back into her waterskin and she took that half-step forward to be back where she was. Last Korra had seen of the palace was when she spent her last moments with her hatchling's body. She looked at Annabeth, the look on her face let her know this wasn't going to be good.

[ironwood]

Eva lifted a hand and pressed it to her temple as if fending off a scathing pain there. "When the barrier around the Palace broke, it knocked me out. But not before I saw where he has been hiding. He's been in Tu Vishan."

She had no way of knowing, having been unconscious, that much had already been made abundantly clear by Malicant himself.

[sophos]

Annabeth flinches at the revelation, which isn't as big a bomb drop anymore. She steals a glance at Korra, then looks back to Eva.

"Someone else found that out too. Dropped it over the network. You've been out... for some time." To put it mildly. "How did you see it? Do you know?"

But she glances at Korra again with a somewhat urging expression, should she want to add on any of her own questions.

[alphatar]

As much as Korra wanted to tend to Eva's abrupt recovery, she knew how important this was. She exchanged that glance with Annabeth and had to ask the main question.

"Can we pull him out without hurting Asti?" The direct approach was always her go to.

[ironwood]

"Some time?" Eva repeated, startled. "I saw it when I was trying to keep the barrier from breaking. It was an old, old spell that likely cannot be cast anymore and it weathered even the Palace's possession. But I couldn't keep it from shattering and the backlash..."

She sighed, running a hand down the non-burned side of her face, and looked up at Korra. "That's not a question I can answer right now. I--"

A faint grimace. "I don't seem to have my magic at this exact moment."

[sophos]

Something hard and cold slams into Annabeth full force. She should be more concerned about the fact of it and what it means on the upfront, what it means for Eva herself to be without magic - but for over two years now, Eva has been Annabeth's core hope for getting home. If her magic is gone, what does that mean for her goal? Is it permanent? It's probably selfish, but Keeliai keeps taking and taking from her, and she's so tired.

For a second, her faces flashes with that very real fear, before she gets it under control. And then her rational thoughts take over, and she tries to go on straightforwardly. Logically. She needs to get the facts.

"Is it - drained? Like when Asti was sick, or is it something else?"

[alphatar]

"I don’t think so." Said unsurely since she had little to go off of aside from how everything suffered from it last time, even the foreigner’s powers and abilities. Though she gave an apologetic shrug at Annabeth before looking to Eva. "I’m not sure it would work, but I could try to restore your magic if it’s been blocked off."

Magic and bending were two different things as far as she thought, even though others have said differently. But she could at least off that.

[ironwood]

Eva is keeping her voice level, so it's hard to discern exactly how the magician herself feels about it. "I don't think it's entirely removed," she says. "Seeing as how I'm still breathing and all. But I can't feel it either. Sealed might be a better term for it."

Then she looked at Korra; she didn't know the Avatar as well as she knew Annabeth, but she trusted Annabeth and that was therefore partially extended to Korra.

"Might as well try. Will you two catch me up on what's been going on?"

[sophos]

"If it's sealed, that means it can be broken." And she really hopes Korra can help that along too. The Avatar managed to wake her up, after all.

She nods at Eva, even though the mage already gives her own consent for the attempt.

Annabeth grimaces though, at the prospect of explaining what's happened. But one of Korra's turtles was lost, so she takes the lead there, explaining through the announcement Malicant left over the networks with the bodies in tow. "I tried to contact you after... it obviously didn't work."

But she has some other questions. About Watchers. And if Korra hears it, the more the merrier. "You had a visitor, while you were out. He called himself Wlodislaw." A beat, because she can't help herself. "He was kind of a jerk."

[alphatar]

Korra was curious on magic being what keeps Eva alive, but she didn’t have time to entertain the thought.

"Never heard of Watchers or anyone called Wlodislaw, looks like I’ve got some catching up to do too." She gave an uncertain look as she got closer to Eva.

"This won’t hurt, I promise. Here’s hoping this works like it does back home." She reached out to place one thumb on Eva’s chest and the other directly in the center of her forehead.

Her eyes become flooded with light as she tried to bend the life energy within Eva to unblock her use of magic and restore her back to full capacity.

[ironwood]

"That's what I'm hoping, or we're all in a fair bit of trouble," Eva said grimly, and that expression turned even more ashen when Annabeth described the carnage Malicant had wrought on the hatchling turtles.

"And Evandau too..." she muttered with a shake of her head, her mouth firming into a tight line. "He and I may have been at odds over many things, but he didn't deserve such an end. He might have been a strong Emperor one day."

She sighed at the mention of Wlodislaw. "He is," Eva agreed with Annabeth's observation. "What did he say?"

Despite Korra's assurance that the energy-bending wouldn't hurt, the magician's scarred face tensed, obviously feeling something at the attempt, and she did her best to keep her voice level. "Now there's an odd sensation... like someone's taking a meat hook to my magic."

[sophos]

She looks at Korra. "He was here, checking on Eva, just after I told the network about her condition. We exchanged a few words." Suddenly she looks kind of grumpy.

"He was a condescending jackass," Annabeth hisses, without really thinking about it. But anyone who's known Annabeth long enough knows how much she hates being talked down to. It spoils her views of the person, until they can prove themselves otherwise.

But then she looks over at Eva a bit more seriously, a bit more expectantly. "He said you were the Watcher of Life. Among other things."

If she sounds annoyed, it's only because she hates information being withheld. It feels like something she should have been aware of much earlier than now.

It lessens a bit, when Korra seems to have done something with Eva's magic. She wants - needs - it to work, badly.

[alphatar]

Korra's lips thinned in concentration at Eva's words. Reaching out with her own chi, grabbing a hold of Eva's magical energy was new and yet similar to restoring one's bending. The new part was Korra energybending to release Eva's magic and her eyes narrowed when she was sure she had a firm grip. Breaking the block wasn't easy, but Korra was set on forcing her energy to flow freely once more. This would be a good example of how magic was different from bending, but putting it into words wouldn't exactly be easy.

Whatever kind of energy struggle she was doing internally, it looked like nothing more than Korra being completely still and staring at Eva through glowing eyes.

Until she closed them and lowered her hands from Eva.

Korra's eyes opened, baby blue and as normal as always. She gave an encouraging nod. "See if your magic works." She didn't miss the Watcher of Life part and she shot Annabeth a raised eyebrow. It's nothing she'd ever heard before.

[ironwood]

"I don't disagree," Eva replied to Annabeth. "But he also has more knowledge than anyone else I know, and I don't say that lightly. As for being a Watcher..."

She sighed a little, contained a wince at what Korra was doing, and gathered her thoughts. "It's not something that I mention because it's not something that I wanted. Did he mention that he press-ganged me into it? Probably not."

She was interrupted as Korra lowered her hands, evidently finished with what she was doing. Yet when she tried to pull some of her magical energy forward, it was almost as though it slid sideways, out of reach. Blocked differently, more elusive, but it was progress.

"You did do something," Eva confirmed for the Avatar. "It might take me a while to get a handle on it."