(no subject)

[shadowchaser.livejournal.com]

Who: Ray and Amy
What: DOOM. Or, you know, not.
When: Thursday afternoon, July 1st
Where: The Kellogg's apartment, Heatherfield
Status: Complete




Ray had been thinking about coming to Heatherfield for the past few days; she simply hadn't, until now. Partially, that was because she'd gotten herself distracted with research, about the Corridors of Light and other magic spells - she'd have to start working on Reflect, soon. The only other excuse for putting it off she had was that she was using the time to figure out what to say.
But now, here she was, staring at the door. The time to think about it was gone; it was time to say it, and she wasn't exactly looking forward to it. Finally, taking a deep breath, she knocked.

Amy had gotten rid of Jalen earlier that afternoon, and it had been made easier by her wonderful gran. Addy had been wanting to see some romantic comedy or other for the last week, and since Tim was busy with the store, she'd asked Jalen to go with her. Amy had simply smiled innocently at him when he'd turned to her for help. Served him right. The knock on the door distracted her from the book she was trying to read, and she flung it over the back of the couch with a resigned sigh.
"Doom's come at last, Eli. Remember me as a loving mom, okay?"
There was no response from the sleeping baby on the floor, and she snickered, heading over to the door to pull it open.
"Hi how are you don't kill me please."

She stared at Amy for a moment, a bit startled by the unorthodox greeting. The woman must have been dreading this or something. Honestly, she wasn't that bad, Ray thought with a sigh. She gave her a strained smile and said, "I'm not going to kill you. Jalen just asked me to talk to you, and I wanted to see Eli, anyway."

There was a moment of awkward silence before Amy laughed a little, stepping back from the door.
"Sorry, I make things into bigger deals than they have to be, given enough time to worry about it. C'mon in, the holy child's asleep on the floor."

"And I gave you plenty of that," she said dryly. "Good to hear it. Sounds like this is a nice place to have a family. Especially with sanctuary so close by."

"Yeah, it is. Gran's actually talking about leaving us this place when they die, but I told her we didn't need to talk about that now. I mean, really, they're not even ninety yet and practically in perfect health." She shivered a little before closing the door. There was more than one reason she wanted to put off that conversation.
"You want a soda or something?" She drifted into the kitchen without waiting for an answer.

"Uh, sure," she replied weakly as her host wandered off. She sat on the floor awkwardly, watching Eli with a small smile. At least he had a good family to grow up with, even if the multiverse wasn't perfect. "So where is everyone, anyway? I thought there'd be more people here."

Amy dug out a couple Cokes and went back into the living room, plopping down next to Ray with the can held out.
"Granddad's down in the store, and Jalen took gran to the movies." She grinned evilly as she said the last, then popped the tab on her soda. "Jalen trusted me not to try and run off before you got here. 'Bout time, he hasn't let me out of his sight in days."

Ray laughed. Jalen, at the movies with Amy's gran. That had to be one hell of a sight. "Heh, well, I can't say that I blame him. He did say something about you ignoring Heartless, what, a week ago?" She popped open the soda and took a sip before eyeing her friend warily. "What's with that, anyway?"

"...Bet I can't get away with changing the subject with you." She sighed, playing with the tab as she watched Eli sleep.
"I dunno. I just didn't want to see them. I wanted everything to be okay, so I didn't acknowledge them. I mean, if the thing had come any closer, I would've pulled out my sword, I'm not suicidal. Eli was-" She stopped abruptly. Telling Ray that Eli had been with her that day was a sure way to get smacked.
"Jalen freaked and decided I needed supervision when outdoors." She shrugged and took a drink.

Ray listened, and let it sink in for a few seconds before she said anything. She didn't miss the hesitation, either, and it was easy enough to put the pieces together.
"Amy, you can't do that. I know it's easier to pretend that they aren't there and all, but you just... can't. It's not safe for you, or Jalen, or Eli. You could get yourself or your family killed by doing that." But Amy knew that already, she knew. "You don't have to be active in helping us fight the Heartless, or figuring out what's going on, but you have to at least acknowledge them."
Ray looked up, meeting her eyes as her voice dropped to a near whisper. "You can cut yourself off from us and live your life with your family all you like, Amy. But don't blind yourself like this, please. A lot of us are worried about you."

"You and Song are worried. I doubt anyone else is." Setting the can off to one side, Amy pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them before resting her chin on her knees.
"I want to help. I want to do something, but- there's nothing I really can do. Can't run off to fight, can I, with a five month old? Can't leave him with his father unless there's a million bottles of breastmilk in the fridge." She snorted at the image.
"God, this is stupid. I can't just be happy like this, can I? I think this is what I want, but then it turns out not to be."

She gave Amy a sharp scowl. "You know that isn't true. Once a refugee, always a refugee, remember? We're a family, and we look out for each other. So just because Song and I are the only ones who've come to try and snap you out of this funk does not mean we are the only ones who care about you. Don't you dare doubt that, ever."
Her features softened again quickly enough, and she scooted a little closer to her friend. "You know what you can do to help, Amy? You can take care of your family. You're one of the first to bring us the second generation of refugees, and we're glad for it. We want him," she shot a smile at Eli, "to be safe, and you guys with him. And honestly, this may be one of the best places for it, with - what was the name? Meridian? - nearby and easily accessed.
"Besides that, you can do research that none of us can. You have friends here that we don't, and from what you've said about this place on the network, it seems like a great place to start. I don't know much about this world, but you can use your connections to figure some things about how it works. That kind of information could turn out to be useful, you know."

The scowl made her cringe just a little, but she nodded at Ray's words. Hadn't she said almost the same thing to Song, when she'd asked her if she was going to quit?
"I can take care of them, all right. I'll kill anything that even looks at them wrong. And at least we can get away if we have to, but..." She bit her lip for a second, trying to keep the waver out of her voice.
"I don't really want to raise him here. I want to go home. It's good here, it's like a second home here, but I just want Radiant Garden. I want Eli to grow up in Rainbow's End with Ashlyn. What if no matter what we look at, we never figure this out? What if everything eventually just goes to hell?"
She glanced over at Eli again, watching his little chest rise and fall. She had to at least try though, didn't she? Song was right, she was making a mistake, going about things this way.
"I'll talk to Will again soon. Maybe there is something. At least...at least the next time a world starts to fall, we can evacuate better. She'd probably be happy to help with the Heart of Kandrakar."

Ray nodded. "I think all of us would like to go back. Especially the Restoration Committee; this is the second time around for them. But right now, we can't, so we have to deal with what we've got." She heaved a sigh. "And don't think like that. If you do, we won't figure it out. We need to try and keep our hopes up, hard as it is. And who knows? Maybe Song will even figure something out when she talks to What's-His-Face the Nobody, and we'll finally have something to work with."
She smiled, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Good to hear it. Just don't give up, okay? We have to keep going until we find out what's going on. And if it all goes to hell before we can... Well, we've found our way back from hell before, right? We can damn sure do it again."

"Yeah...dude, Eli's gonna hear the best stories ever, growing up. Plus his scrapbook's gonna traumatize him- wait, Nobody? When did I miss this?"
She blinked in confusion, trying to remember in recent posts when this had been mentioned. Nothing came to mind, so it must've been locked, but Song was going to see the guy that had had Roxas, and she didn't trust him anyway-
"I knew it!" Her exclamation came out louder than she intended, and Eli woke up, fussing.
"Crap. Well, I didn't know that, but I knew something was wrong. Then again, most of us did. I knew I should've fought harder to go with her."
Amy shifted position and lifted Eli off the blanket, cuddling him before grinning at Ray over his head.
"Wanna hold your student, oh wise master?"

Ray stared blankly. "Uh. I. Um... Sure?" She took him gingerly, trying to hold him in what she thought would be a comfortable position. Clearly she wasn't used to being around kids this young, let alone holding them...
"But, uh. Nobody. We went to pick Roxas up, but when I saw the dude who had him, he didn't have anything where his heart should be. I didn't see anything there, at all. So I figure, he might be our first new higher Nobody." She started bouncing Eli without realizing it, preoccupied with her thoughts. "I'm glad Sora's going with Song for that chat of theirs, but I really don't like it. We can't trust him, especially if that theory's right."

"That's just perfect. What else could it be? I would've insisted more, but yeah...you're bouncing my reason why not." Eli was enjoying the movement, babbling at Ray as he tried to reach for her hair. Amy giggled, grabbing her soda again for a long sip. She lowered the can and played with it, considering.
"If the theory's right...maybe Song'll be able to bring him over to the Light side." It was only a half-serious remark. She knew how dangerous this could be, and was just as glad that Sora'd be with her.

"You know she'll try," she said dryly, letting Eli grab a lock of hair to play with. "Between her and Sora, maybe they will get him to help us out."

"We can only hope, I guess." She watched her son, trying not to grin at his fascination with Ray's hair.
"So...I guess I should apologize for being an idiot. I'll do better from now on, promise. And thanks for helping...and not yelling at me." She did grin then, setting her soda down. "I need to tell Song I'm sorry too. I know I hurt her."

Ray smiled, both at Amy and her son. "No need to apologize to me. I understand. Song might appreciate it, though. And as for not yelling..." She grinned deviously. "I'll save that for the next time you're an idiot. It'll be fun, I promise."

"Oh sure. Jalen told me what you said to him. Why do you think I was so nervous?"
Amy reached out and stroked Eli's hair gently.
"I was thinking about the magic thing this morning, and how maybe I should let him learn sooner than ten. Then I thought about a seven year old running around, flinging spells right and left, and changed my mind." She was teasing, she knew Ray'd keep a tighter leash on him than that. Eli was more likely to turn out that way if she taught him. Remembering the dresser she'd once set on fire trying to light a simple candle, she shuddered. Ha ha, no.

"He'd know best." She chuckled. "That would be fun, wouldn't it? Mabry would have a fit if he did that at Rainbow's End..."

"A fit is probably an understatement, Ray."
She laughed, shaking her head. Nope, Eli definitely wasn't learning any magic for a long while. At least, it felt like a long way off, but...
"You know, ten years seems like forever, but he's five months old already, and I'm wondering where the time went. It was the same way when I was pregnant, too. Wasn't it, ladybug?"
Eli turned his head at the nickname before tugging the strand of Ray's hair into his mouth. Amy snickered.

"Ladybug? No, this is the grasshopper." Ray grinned and had to lean closer as he pulled on it. "Don't choke, kid," she chastised softly. "And yeah, I've heard time does go by fast, when you have a kid. Just wait; in a month or so he'll be ten."

"No, ladybug! He's even got pjs that match." She reached over, gently pulling the hair out of his mouth. "No Eli, let her have it back...There. Come here baby."
She lifted him out of Ray's arms with a grin. "If that happens, he'll be Jalen's problem."

"Hey, if we're going with a motif and he's going to be my student someday, I have the perfect excuse to call him grasshopper," she said with a laugh, brushing her hair back when it was free of the baby's clutches. "Why's that, then? Jalen isn't already planning to give him swordfighting lessons, is he?"

"Hmm, good point. Okay, you can call him that...as if I could stop you." Amy shifted Eli around and cradled him, tickling his nose as he laughed.
"Practically. I've caught him up in the middle of the night, leaning on the crib and telling him about his brothers, and all the stuff he'll teach him as soon as he's old enough to hold a stick. Then he leans down and adds, 'As long as your mother doesn't catch us.'"

"And already they've been busted. Not very good at stealth, are they?" She chuckled and rose to her feet. "I should probably go ahead and get out of your hair. I've got some more experimenting to do, anyway... It was nice seeing you guys, though," she said with a smile.

"Maybe they'll improve with time? Wait, lemme get up...um." Amy frowned for a second as she contemplated trying to get to her feet with an armful of baby. Her balance was good, but somehow not good enough for that. Yet, anyway. She gave up and lay him back on the blanket, then jumped up to hug Ray.
"Try not to blow anything up, huh? And thanks again, and drop by whenever you want, and- Yeah, I'll just stop being emotional any second here."

She tried not to laugh at Amy's minor dilemma, and hugged her when she finally solved it. "It's not the explosive sort of experimenting," she explained. "But I get what you mean. And I will, thanks. Sap."

"I can't help it, it's Jalen's fault. Okay, maybe not entirely, but whatever. It's easier to blame him." She let go and headed for the door.
"I'll let you guys know what movie he got dragged to. I'm sure it was something embarrassing for him. I'm not the only one who blushes easily, given the right situation, anyway."

"I look forward to it," she giggled, following her to the door. "I'll see you guys later. Take care. And don't forget to talk to Song." With that, she slipped out and vanished in a flash of light.