tushanshu_logs | November catchall | and every city was a gift

Entry tags:

November catchall | and every city was a gift

Characters: Raine Sage, others!
Date: any November
Location: Keeliai, specifically apartment, Healers' Guild, and others
Situation: a few!
Warnings/Rating: none yet, will update if that changes

A | the usual suspects

Raine can usually be found either in her apartment in Earth sector, usually in the evenings or early afternoons of her few off days, or at the Healers' Guild. She doesn't vary her routine all that much, having relaxed a little from the worries of earlier months.

She's normally happy enough to greet people, though if you go to find her at the Guild she may be in her office and rather engrossed in administrative duties or magical research. Or both, where applicable. She is, however, easily roustable for emergencies.

B | others tba as necessary, inquire to Makari

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The fact that she seemed mostly unaffected by Raine's answers meant two things: (1) she did know the importance of practice. On her own terms, of course. (2) she didn't have any immediate intentions of studying directly under Raine.

"How many students do you have right now?"

"Directly, and full-time? Five." Raine splays the fingers on her full hand by way of illustration. "Those who simply drop in from time to time, or study with other healers, or only assist but don't choose to study or teach-- it's harder to keep track of. There's always work to do, at least."

She nodded. Impressed.

"Not bad at all. You mentioned other healers, though--is Milyn affiliated with you lot at all?"

"Somewhat. This place originally reverted to Milyn, after all, and it was she who ceded it to me." Raine smiled a little, thinking back to the utter confusion following Milyn's declaration. "She assisted me in getting things running, and we cooperate on a variety of things, but technically Milyn is her own sovereign entity."

That she is.

"It's kind of funny how that works out around here. Stick around long enough, and you end up in charge of who knows what? You, with the Guild here. I remember one of the Foreigners is in charge of the Hotel now too. And, of course, there was the Welcome Center. Jack inherited that years ago from...an old friend."

Raine made a sound under her breath-- a quiet, neutral sort of a sound. Thinking. "The Midnight Hotel came with Anton," she said, filling in context. "My theory is that he put so much of himself into crafting it that his soul is somewhat entangled with it-- unless the building itself has a soul, but that's slightly less likely." She'd genuinely considered the possibility, however. "But I don't think you're wrong, either. Many of us have been here long enough to simply be folded into the city like any other."

Not that it didn't still bemuse her, sometimes, when kedan she saw every day greeted her like they were friendly, but it was less and less strange as time went on.

"An old friend?"

"Ah, so that's how it happened."

She had always kind of wondered. Just not enough to ask; there were far too many explanation that would have made sense to her, no matter which one was given.

"Yeah. More Jack's than mine, but she was still really sweet. Her name was Pepper Potts--you know, kind of like the one who's here now, only she was a lot older. She and an older Tony were...umm, how did Jack put it again?" She thought back to the old 'joke' between the three. "His 12% Parents? I think that's what they called it. None of them ever fully explained where that came from to me."

Raine couldn't honestly think where twelve percent came from; it didn't have any immediately obvious mathematical basis. "An inside joke, I suppose," she said thoughtfully, more interested by the other Pepper Potts. "Older? The same woman in the future, or a-- a version of her from a different universe or reality?" It would certainly involve some timeline gymnastics if the former were the case, and she was more inclined to think the latter.

"I'm honestly not sure I remember enough of the older Pepper to say one way or the other. I just remember she was a lot older, just like Tony was back then, and she was super professional. Very business-like."

How that compared to the Pepper they knew now...well, it wasn't unseeable.

"It's not impossible," Raine said, considering the same thing Zatanna was. "I would expect that an older Pepper would remember both iterations of her time here, so she would either have to be exceptionally close mouthed about it, or not the same person. Unless, of course, her memory was altered to ensure no alterations to this timeline..."

Raine was better versed in the walls between worlds than the vagaries of time. "It's impossible to be sure," she said finally, reluctant to put the problem down but seeing no way to find a concrete conclusion.

"...you do know that the whole memory altering thing has been proven to happen before, right?"

Raine tilted her head at Zatanna, looking briefly genuinely alarmed, before her expression cleared. "You mean when we return to our own worlds our memories of this place are removed, correct? I was aware of that much, yes. However, people have regained their memories upon returning once more, haven't they? Are you aware of an occasion where that didn't hold true?"

She nodded.

"Yeah. It's happened a couple times. At least once, with a friend from home. He left, and when he came back again, he...didn't remember anything. I know it's happened to other people before too."

"That's... concerning." Raine bit her lip. If even the memory magic of this place didn't always work as promised, what could she possibly hope to do about it? "But if that's the case, then there really is no way to be sure. She may be a younger version of the Pepper you knew, or a different Pepper entirely, and there's no telling which is which. Nor, perhaps, a practical difference for us."

"That's...pretty much how things work around here. How they've always worked."

You don't know. You never know. Just when you start to get a handle on how the world worked, things would get switched up on you. Think there's a pattern to who goes home and who doesn't? Bam, have more exceptions to the rules than actual rules themselves. Relationship with the kedan okay? NOT ANYMORE.

"The only way to get used to it is to accept the fact that you'll never get used to it. Just go along for the ride. Way less stress that way."

Raine frowned at Zatanna. "I can't accept that," she said after a moment, shaking her head. "Even here, even with the Dreaming, there is usually an underlying logic to the world. Things don't happen for no reason, no matter how random some of what's happened here may appear. It's simply that we haven't found those reasons yet, and so for now, some things must seem senseless to us."

It might be less stress to subside, but she couldn't. Questions were her nature.

"Are you saying you're not going to stop until you find that reason?" The question came out fairly neutral, especially for her. No judgement. Not even a joke or quip. "You do realize that's going to take a while."

"I'm aware," Raine said, just as neutral. "It may not be my first priority, certainly -- the safety and health of the people in this city must come first -- but I intend to keep looking. As long as I'm not returned to my world, after all, I'll have a while. And if we can come to understand the way the Dreaming and the spell intermingle, then perhaps we can also understand how to change it."

She was also aware no one had stayed longer than a few years, but as Zatanna had said, there were anomalies. Right now Raine had a great number of perhapses, and little more.

"Fair enough. I guess, in that case, I should wish you luck. Let me know if you do figure out anything?"

"I shall." Raine gave Zatanna a smile, pleased that they could understand each other despite the differences in their points of view. "Is there anything more you wish to see of the Guild, while you're here? Or things that you would like explained?"

"Mmm...no, I think I'm good for now. I'd hate to overstay my welcome. Thanks for the tour, though; it was actually really informative."

And she meant that.

"All right. If you have other questions, I'm happy to help, and if you want to help... well, I can always use extra hands." Especially with many of the other healers gone now. "It's been good to see you, Zatanna."

"You too. We should do this again sometime."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

November catchall | and every city was a gift

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