Archive World of Darkness: The Academy - Chapter 11: Beasty Boys and Girls

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan looked around like the others did, here especially his eyes were still important in ways that Rydar could not cover for. The eye watering yellow of the house, the lush verdant green of the surroundings, all of these colors would be lost if he had only Rydar to work with. He took in every detail, every nuance as best he could, fixing it in his mind, trying to commit the place to memory, to ensure that he knew this place. Not just what the house and it's grounds looked like, but the place itself, it's location in space.

Ryan's stomach grumbled loudly, he was hungry again, which was no shock. The others were saying that they were back home; even the old manther guy said that the house was the house in India, which meant Earth. Home. Ryan was only half a planet away from a junk food binge. Five Guys or In-n-Out, he wondered. Or maybe some Pizza! Ryan's mouth started to water and his stomach grumbled again as exclamation to the thought. So lost in thought about what food he wanted to scarf down first he missed some of the conversation, coming to only when things got awkwardly quiet for a moment and one of the girls with Lucia turned deep red. Huh?

At Autumn's question Ryan burst out laughing, "Nah, I bet he jus' likes goin' commando!" Ryan elbowed Ravi with a grin, "Don'cha buddy?"

[Ravi FitzCoventry]

Ravi smiled a little at the interplay between Ren and Lal, and scowled slightly at Lucia's mention of baby pictures and at the discussion of his post-Change nudity, but he was glad of the distraction of his friends right now. His grandfather's confession that he, Ravi, had been considered to be nothing but breeding stock, together with being here, back on Earth and on the ancestral estates in India had been a one-two-punch that he was still trying to process, especially as he'd actually felt nauseous at the same time, doubtless from the stress. Could it have been Dalton, or more specifically the Academy's proximity to the Door, that had made him Change?

No, he told himself, narrowing his eyes. I spoke to my Other self. I felt it flow into me where it belonged. I'm not a 'should-not-be'. Their tests are inaccurate.

"I most certainly do not enjoy going commando." he said with a faint smile quirking his lips upwards. "It just so happens that the clothes I have ruined so far in my Changes have, for the most part, been expensively tailor-made. I was really fond of one of those shirts in particular. Something of a high price to pay for a little cheap exhibitionism." He let that hang in the air for a second, then grinned. "If I wanted to run around naked, I simply would."

That last (together with an 'angels-will-fall' grin) was directed at Autumn, who found her face suddenly hot enough to fry an egg on as she remembered their second meeting. The coffee-skinned aristocrat simply pretended that Autumn wasn't blushing from her neckline to the roots of her hair and addressed Lucia.

"Baby pictures will probably be guarded by my aunts and grandmother. I feel certain," and here he rolled his eyes a little. "that... Rosa's... need to coo over my baby pictures will be more than satisfied." The emphasis he placed on the name of Lucia's friend made it plain he believed that Rosa wasn't the only one interested in such things. With a wry smile, he regarded Simran and Lal. "It's good to see you, cousins." he confided with some warmth, even for Simran, snotty cow that she could be - she was still family, and family meant a little more today than it had yesterday. Lal grinned at him, and Simran nodded with what was, for her, practically warmth.

"Grandfather, I apologise for my outburst." Ravi said semi-formally as he fell into step with the older werepanther. "It's been a trying week or so."

"No doubt." Amrit FitzCoventry replied. To those following, it was plain that the two of them possessed the same relaxed, straight-backed grace as they walked. "We truly believed you were not part of our hidden world, Ravi." It was perhaps as close as the older man would come to apologising.

"I think you should know that the faculty at Dalton know of us, that is, the family. They wanted me to attend there so they could study me - at least one of them believed I would Change. Perhaps the tests are inaccurate, grandfather." he suggested respectfully.

"Or perhaps the world is changing." Amrit suggested with calm authority. "Either is possible, but right now irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. You are one of us now, and there will be things you need to know."

"That'd help." Ravi said wryly. "I've been getting by on instinct and reason so far. Though I haven't done badly." He winced as he remembered a few mishaps. "I have a lot of questions, but Autumn raises a good point - do all werepanthers except me keep their human clothing when they shift?"

[SalmonMax]

The look Renata gave Lal was surprisingly convivial, though she rolled her eyes at the 'hunting women' line.

"Yeah, and are you all manthers, or are there manlions, migers and man-bears too? And do people start turning into manthers if you bite them, but don't actually kill them?"

She sniffed and quickly added, "And is that basmati I smell? Oh my god. Did I mention I love Indian food?" She looped an arm around Mari's shoulder and said with faux confidentiality, "You are in for a treat."

[Sylvia Dorn]

"I can't help but agree with Miss Hodges," Sylvia proclaimed, her own stomach rumbling at the delicious scents carried on the humid breeze. "Accepting your generous offer of a meal, Mr. FitzCoventry, is at the top of my list."

She looked to Ravi, then back at his grandfather, considering whether to push further on particulars near and dear to her. "Afterward, if it wouldn't be intruding," she finally ventured, "I would very much like to sit in on a discussion of the finer points of werepanthers. My own change was as recent as your grandson's, and every bit as unexpected."

[Dawn OOC]

“Today is October 2^nd, Gandhi Jayanti’s birthday,” Lal supplied.

Ravi groaned slightly. “No meat?”

“Not a fiber.” Simran said stiffly. “You’ll be fine until tomorrow.”

“Do werepanthers really observe Gandhi’s birthday?” Ravi asked, his expression hopeful.

“We are still Hindi, Ravi.” Amrit’s tone allowed no argument.

Swan frowned at Sean. “What is a world?” she asked, her dark eyebrows rising.

“A planet. Like India and Colorado are on one world.”

“You can walk from one door to another, sometimes.” Swan tilted her head, her black eyes watching him closely. “Is that what you mean?”

Ahvia and Lucia’s exclamations were added to the general buzz surrounding the group as they figured that they’d been gone one week – pretty much exactly the time they’d been in the Chideran lands. “But… then how did Ray disappear for a year?”

“Ray, what year is it?” Simran asked.

“2010.” The student’s response was immediate; after the moment of silence, he asked, “Isn’t it?” Simran spread her hands as if to make her point. “Is it not?”

“It’s 2011,” Mari told him. “You’ve been missing a year.”

“Oh, man!” Rosa chirped. “Your parents are going to ground you for life!”

Ravi and Sylvia were only marginally aware of the conversation behind them. Instead, they were soaking up lessons on werepanther life. “My clothes remain with me because of a trick we call Naṅgē āvaśyakatā'ēṁ. It allows us to transform clothing and items with us on our change.” He smiled at both new werepanthers. “I will answer all of your questions privately. You have many things to ask, I’m sure.”

They had entered the house; now an older Indian woman walked toward them, flanked by younger women. They were wearing saris and carried a jug and glasses. As Ravi folded his hands and bowed his head, the women mimicked the gesture. More and more people were arriving, until it appeared that the entire house had arrived to greet them. Though Ravi was greeted with the most warmth, everyone was offered water and made to feel welcome.

In the chaos that followed, somehow everyone found their way to a room where they were given a bed. Then they were ushered down to the dining room where, despite the odd hour of the day, there was a large meal waiting for them. It was extremely green, without a hint of meat in sight, and it all smelled super-spicy. “Come, be seated and join us.” Amrit was at the head of the table and his wife at the foot, but there seemed to be no seating arrangements.

[Ryan Jackson]

"Well tha' 'splains why I'm so hungry, I ain't eaten real food in like ah week," Ryan said, dismayed. His stomach protested as well, adding punctuation to the comment. "Waitaminute ... did you say 'no meat'?" Ryan looked suddenly horrified, as though his worst nightmare were coming true, "But ... how can ya have any puddin' if you don' eat your meat?" He sniffed regardless, "Smells all spicy like. I guess it might be ok." He followed along in the others' wakes, drifting around the group like a leaf caught in the eddies and whorls of a stream passing over rocks. "The cimmerians said this was tha world o' tha manth- ... err, were-folks. Are there others, ya know, like y'all, but all diff'rent like? Like, I dunno, monkeys an' bats an' dogs an' such? Or izzit go manther or go home?"

[Jeremy]

Missing a year. That somehow felt like a lump in his throat, cold water dumped all over Ray now. At some level, since the arrival of his classmates and teacher from Earth, the talk of time differential and such had given him the impression that it was Narnian, that he could slip back in, only a few days later- and growth aside, he could probably slide quietly back into life somehow.

Except now that clearly wasn't the case. Questions were going to be asked upon their return, and thus things would be coming too a head. Either they were going to have to convince the school administration and authorities of what had been learned and discovered... or more likely- a different kind of trouble. With that, the comment of 'no meat' meant nothing. It didn't mean much anyway- Chiderans were hunters and warriors, not farmers- but that was beside the point.

Well, food could distract him for now.

[SalmonMax]

"Chiderans," Renata corrected Ryan impatiently. "Not Cimmerans. And they probably just didn't know any better. This is Earth, not were-world. But you know, if the Chiderans went through that door, they'd wind up right next door to Ravi's house here, which is crammed full of manthers...so they probably just thought the whole world was the same way."

[Dawn OOC]

“The Bagrasha control this door way. The Balam in South America have their own. There seems to be a Door on roughly every continent, though I confess I only knew of our two before you told me of Dalton’s.” Amrit waited for each of them to try a bite and made some mumbled sign of approval, no matter how half-hearted. The meatless fare was filling but felt lacking to the young Western-world students. Even the Beast-Skinned seemed less than pleased; only Ahvia and Rosa seemed to have any gusto regarding dinner. Lucia knew that Rosa preferred to eat less meat while Ahvia’s culture was inclined toward vegetarianism.

“The Beast-Skinned began here on Earth,” Amrit told them. “We fit into the ecology too well. But at some point, we left. No one knows if it was because we could shift, or if the shifting came after our people moved. But there was another world, a hunter’s paradise of wilderness and wild. The Beast-skinned – all of them, not just the panthers – spread far and wide in this wilderness. And then the Caramine came demanding tribute. We fought them and drove them off, easily. More came; more died. The Door limited what could come through at once. It is possible to hold a world with only a few brave warriors.”

Amrit’s gaze was distant as he said, “But the Caramine found another door on our world, one unknown and undefended. They brought troops through; the built an army and boats, like a cancer in our world. They built a city, a fortress, and when they were sure they were ready, they attacked. And those Beast-skinned who wouldn’t flee would die. Our people were brave; only the thinkers, our elders, and the nursing mothers with their cubs left. Everyone else died. They came here, to Earth, found their ancestors and rejoined them. We scattered to where our people fit ecologically, determined to not make the mistake of standing out again. And we have been here ever since.”

[SalmonMax]

Renata listened to the tale, chewing and eating as she did. She certainly didn't disapprove of the vegetarian fare, though she would have liked some meat to go with it. She did have a question, one that had been bugging her for awhile now.

"I don't get it. What makes the Caramine so tough? I mean, okay...from what you said it's not that they were tough...they just found a way to build up first. Okay. But here's the thing. On Earth, LOTS of people have tried to conquer the world, right? And it NEVER works. They go and go and go...and hit the point where they just can't control things anymore. The empire goes to hell, then collapses, and they never even get close to controlling the world."

"So now there's these Caramine, who control LOTS of worlds, which are connected by a few tiny doorways and nothing else. How do they keep control? Nevermind keeping the natives down. How do they keep their empire from just...breaking up into little..." she wiggled her fingers, having arrived at the edge of her vocabulary. "...sub-empire...things?"

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan was clearly of two minds about the food. On the one hand it tasted good. On the other it lacked meat. It was a conundrum wrapped in a riddle, coated with mystery sauce, and baked with essence of enigma. Every bite made he wonder if they were truly on Earth, because if this was Earth, and things without meat could taste this good, then his entire culinary worldview was right out the window. It was a delicious, scrumptious even, paradigm shift. A crisis of faith of the most edible kind.

Lost in his meditations on food he drifted on the conversation until Renata asked her question. "Oh! I think I know. See I betcha tha Caramels are all like drawed ta each otha, like bugs or sumthin', ya know, like a hive. An' then they get all stucked together from some kinna common thingy. I's like when you get a box of Sugar Babies at the movies and you open it up and they are all congealated into one big semi-blobous super Sugar Baby; 'cause they're all sticky n' stuff, on their own I mean, an' so they like ta stick together. So, like, they don' break down inta arguing little Caramel bites again, 'cause they don' think like we do. We're all ind'vid'al an' all, but they got tha hive mind thing goin', like ants. An' like Sugar Babies."

Ryan realized that everybody was staring at him. He blinked and looked down at his shirt and then at Sean, sitting next to him, "Do I got sumthin' on my face?"

[Jeremy]

Ray had been chewing his vegeterian fare with moderate pleasure. When Ryan expounded his novel idea, Ray clearly had to bring his napkin up to avoid unseemingly spitting out his mouth-load of food. When he had safely contained the reflex and swallowed, he told Ryan. "We are just stunned by your logic. No, they're quite individual, Swan is proof enough." Just how idiotic are you?

"Renata, to my knowledge, they aren't trying to raise their flag from sea to sea on each world. It seems more like the Mongols. They set up colonies and install tribute collectors or so. The Caramine colonies control the Doors, which is probably much of the reason they stick as an empire. I've fought Caramines on the battlefield. There's usually one Caramine to a dozen subject warriors, and believe me, I'm sure all of them would have turned on the Caramine if they weren't too afraid. The colonies probably need the rest of the empire for support if the local populations revolt. Oh... and one of the complaints about old Wilbur Dalton and the first group of 'Daltonites'? Because of them, guns got into the hands of the Caramines. Modern firearms are always a game-changer on the battlefield if you have them and the other side doesn't."

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

What the Hell is a Sugar Baby? Some sort of Gummi Bear? Even as Ray made his snarky comment to Ryan, Sean turned to face him, a piece of naan bread hanging from his mouth and stared. Ryan seemed oblivious to the clear 'Are you being serious?' look. Sean quickly stuffed the naan bread in his mouth and chewed it down, shaking his head. "Dude! I think if Swan wazzah part of'a hive-mind, she might've mentioned it already, eh?"

Sean cocked his head to the side, considering that, along with the memories that had been stolen, then turned back to Swan, his dark brows crinkling. "You're not, are you? Or weren't, I mean. Part of a hive-mind thingy?"

The puzzlement was obvious in her solid, black eyes. "Hive... Mind... What is this? I do not know this word."

"Er, like, you guys share your thoughts - every Caramine knows what every other Caramine knows." Sean shrugged a shoulder in Ryan's direction. "Like he said, like ants and bees and bugs like that."

Swan arched a brow, a small smirk on her lips, clearly thinking the two boys very odd, and perhaps a tad touched in the head. "It's true I'm missing many of my memories of how I can to be aligned with you, Sean, and you, Ryan, and the others, but I don't recall anything of the sort. We conveyed our thoughts much as you do, with words, and actions, and body language, and such."

"So, yeah, no hive-mind, buddy."

Sean mostly tuned out the talk about the viability of the Caramine Empire, turning back to the food. He listened to the news some, and he could barely follow Canadian politics, let alone the insanity in the US. He could hardly understand why countries didn't implode as is. He was satisfied that there was indeed a Caramine Empire and that it was indeed a threat. That was enough to deal with.

Well, that, and this meatless meal. For a meat-and-potatoes man, any meal lacking meat hardly deserved the name. On the other hand, he was raised that when you were a guest, you ate what was served. Unfortunately, though he liked spicy wings well enough, this stuff was so spicy, it was clearing his sinuses of shit from the third grade and he was afraid he was getting blisters on his tongue. He wasn't sure if he was actually sweating, or just felt like he was, but he wipe his forehead with his arm every time he took a bite of bread or a drink of water to sooth his tongue. Yet, he still ate enough to make up for the lack of meat.

"Whew! So, uh, Mr. FitzCoventry, d'you know if you can go through one Door and come out another one on the same world-planet-dimension or whatever?"

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan frowned, "It ain't like ah cell phone er sumthin'. An' maybe Sean broke it when it broke yer pig sticker Swan." He jabbed at Sean with a butter knife, "Unless you think dat got all esplody 'cause ah yer manly muscles? Duh, it wuz all magic an' stuff." Ryan shook his head and looked around the table, "Y'all gotta be a little less sciencey, an a little more freaky magic an' crazy powers guys, cause we ain't in Kansas no more. " He looked directly at Ray, "'less you can 'splain magic doors an' time travel, an' everythin' else?"

[Dawn OOC]

Amrit was watching their animated discussions with a slight smile on his face. When Ryan leveled his challenge to Ray, the werepanther raised his eyebrows and glanced at Ray. However, before the boy could speak, Amrit said, “Yes, Sean, the Door will work across individual planets. You can use our Door to travel to Dalton, or to South America.” A corner of his lip curled. “If you are still experiencing trouble using the door, you might wish to go to Brazil and have the Balam arrange for you to go home.”

“What if we don’t want to go home?” Rosa’s voice was hesitant. “What if we want to go back out there?”

“Then you may use our Door, so long as you do not give the Key to the Caramine. We do not wish to fight them on our lands. We take the fight to them.” Amrit replied. “You are, of course, always welcome here. I offer the hospitality of our lands and anything else you might need. Including a phone to call family members.” It was probably the nicest “call your parents” order any of them had gotten.

“But what about the Caramine?” Ray asked. “What do you know about their structure, their culture?”

“Those foot soldiers are loyal to them. I’ve never seen a foot soldier turn on their handlers.” It was Simran who spoke this time. Her pale brown eyes were hard as she glanced around the table. “We used to take out the Caramine commanders first. It didn’t matter. That’s magic for you.”

“If it’s magic.” Lal’s rejoinder sounded like an old argument.

Amrit made a low rumbling noise that came straight from a zoo. It seemed to be designed to stop the discussion and it did. Ravi and Sylvia found that they understood the sound to mean shut up. “The Chideran always complain about ranged weapons.” Though it could be dismissive, it didn’t seem to be. “Revolvers are not so frightening against magic. The Caramine are going to use whatever they have against us, regardless of whether it’s a gun or a spear. Perhaps they have a hive mind.”

“No. I had no such feelings or hive thoughts before Sean broke the sword.” Swan shook her head. “If I remember, I will tell you.”

“What if remembering makes you go all evil Caramine again?” Lal asked the question causally but his eyes were intently focused on the turncoat Caramine.

[z022]

At the not-so-subtle instruction to call home, Lucia found her already low appetite for the spicy Indian fare disappear completely. She stood with as much balance and grace as she could muster and murmured a quick, "Excuse me," before retreating from the dining hall. She couldn't sit still. They'd come here expecting a new world, a new people that might offer some insight into the Caramine and more information about the Doors, and instead they were back on Earth and no closer to her mother than when she'd spoken to Yasu in the forests around Dalton.

She paced through the hallways, tracing back their path since they'd arrived until she was back outside, staring past the backyard gardens to the forest where the Door was. She was standing on the last slep down to the gardens, frozen. She shouldn't have left dinner, it was rude. She couldn't just go running off to the Door; she only knew five keys. Two of them were for Earth, one for Ahvia's world's giant door, one to the Caramine world, and one to the Chideran world. The Chiderans had told her everything they knew; she wasn't going to find her mother on Earth, and Ahvia didn't have any more understanding of Yasu's cryptic words than Lucia had. The Caramine might know something, but they'd probably just end up taking her as tribute, whatever that actually meant. Being a captive of the Caramine wouldn't find her mother. Not that being free seemed to be doing much good either.

Her mind wouldn't stop running in circles, trying to find a way out, something she'd missed, something hidden somewhere in her mind that would put the pieces of her life back together. She slid down until she was sitting on the sitars, her head leaning against the ornately carved stone on the sides and her breath coming in quick short gasps as the world tilted around her.

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Swan's eyes tightened, growing harder than obsidian as she elevated her chin in determination. "The woman I was will be tempered by the woman I have become," she responded to Lal, in a voice as firm as her eyes. "I will not revert to what I once was if I recover my old memories as long as I keep the new." Her chin lowered as her lips pressed into a tight line, holding Sean's hand in a tight grip under the table. "If I should lose those, I would ask Sean to kill me."

"Yhouff wanphm mphg to whath?! *Kuff! Kuff!*" Sean exclaimed, choking on his chickenless chicken-and-rice. He guzzled half a glass of water to clear his throat, taking a deep breath of relief. "I'm not goin' ta kill you!"

"Sean, please!" She faced him, her strong, fine-featured face almost pleading. "I... do not wish to return to what I once was. I rather be naught than that."

Sean met her eyes levelly, knowing he sounded sappy and like a tool as soon as he started speaking, but plowed on stubbornly. "I'm not goin' ta kill you." Stormy grey-blue eyes darkened tempestuously as he looked around the table. "Nobody is. If anything like that happens - and it won't! - but if it does, well, we'll just have ta, uh, restrain you or sum'thing, 'til we get the chance ta convince you ta change again. You changed once, you can do it again."

Swan didn't say anything, only smiling a little smile and giving Sean's hand another squeeze before looking back towards Lal. "Satisfactory?"

Leaning back in his chair, Sean shook his head. He was a football player and a boxer, a competitive athlete, but Jeez! People were bloodthirsty! Gnawing on another piece of bread - Don't cats have a shitty sense of taste? That must be why they spice the crap out of their food with fire - the brawny teen pondered what they elder FitzCoventy had revealed.

More Doors on the same world. Could make for some interesting plays if they needed them. Would be even better if they could find more. Like one in Europe or Australia - places he was more interested in for vacations. Speaking of vacations... He frowned. With Vena and his sisters with the Chiderans, he wasn't even sure if his father realized he had been missing while on his preemptive honeymoon with Candy. But there was still Candy's sister Blaise, too.

"You're right, sir. I prob'bly should give my dad a call," Sean said. But he was thinking more along the lines of Rosa. He was more inclined towards traveling the Doors too, even with all it entailed, especially for him. "At least to give 'im the heads up."

[Frida Ricci]

"You should contact your father first, Sean.. before the rest of us. I am interesting in finding out if the school has bothered to notify our parents of our disappearance, considering the upper-administration is aware of what's going on. And since your father is aware of the presence of the doors, it will at least let us gauge the situation before the rest of us call our parents. Though if it's been a week I will have missed my parents' weekly phone call, and they will be concerned about my whereabouts regardless, unless the school has fed them some sort of lie."

She hesitated, her eyes flickering towards the door where Lucia had hurried out. She was considering going to check on her, but she was uncertain whether she would welcome her interest. The other girl had seemed upset, but Frida was always hesitant about approaching people who were in emotional distress.. they rarely seemed to respond well to her presence. Perhaps she didn't know the right things to say, although it was more common for her to say little before she was told to go away, that they didn't want her help (although it was rarely said quite so politely). But there was another reason for her hesitation. The Chiderans hadn't any answers to her questions, but this might be her only opportunity to speak with Ravi's family, with other people knowledgable about the world beyond the gates. Though she would have preferred to ask her question privately, she wasn't sure what would happen after this dinner - whether they would immediately travel to South America, or whether they would be lingering here in Ravi's childhood home for awhile.

"Mr. Fitzcoventry, you're very gracious in allowing us to assault you with such a barrage of questions. I hope you will pardon if I have another one for you?"

"Yes, of course..." The elder Fitzcoventry paused as he realized that he hadn't heard this girl's name referenced before. None of the other students had spoken to her directly, and the only time he'd heard her speak was to compliment his grandson on the beauty of his home. "What is your name, my dear.. and your question?"

"My name is Frida, sir. Frida Ricci. And I was wondering if you had heard of a group of people called the Janin?"

As a reminder Carv, Frida has one dot in Fame: Art Society. In the off chance that any of Ravi's relatives present are big art collectors or afficiandos or anything, it's possible they might know the name. Mind you, I'm not expecting it. But it hasn't come up before, and his family IS rich, so I just wanted to jog your memory in case it's relevant.

[SalmonMax]

Renata, for her part, was too busy polishing off her seconds to chime into the conversation. She wasn't especially eager to call her folks either...but she grudgingly acknowledged to herself that it was probably necessary. By this time they'd probably assume she'd run away or something. Which really wasn't that far from the truth.

The question of what to do next was troubling. Return to Dalton and this would probably disappear. The door there was blocked, probably courtesy of Pritchard. Renata doubted their time of absence would be counted as an excused trip, so probably another expulsion. She had no idea what her dad would do at that point... Disowning seemed a possibility, except that might look bad in the press, and she now had some ammo to use against him as well. Probably just shut her up in the house and hire tutors until she was eighteen and could be turned loose.

Not really how she'd envisioned spending her last year in high school.

On the other hand, she wasn't sure if she was ready to just duck out of reality and start wandering around in doorways to other worlds. That would take...some planning. Going to another world struck her as being a little like visiting a new country, or climbing a mountain. You didn't just do it on the spur of a moment, or at random. You tried to find out what to expect first, if you could, and prepare for it. If you couldn't find out, you prepared for...anything. Because who knew if that door would work the same way on the other side? Or if your powers would work? Hell, if the air was breathable.

She reached over and patted Mari's hand to get her attention, then said, "I'll be right back."

Then she was up and heading out after Lucia. Thinking of the dangers of door travel reminded her of the other girl's story of being trapped for ages in an alien world. Renata thought she might have a different perspective on the idea of just chucking it all and jumping from world to world.

It didn't take long for her to realize that she was never going to find Lucia in this ginormous old house, full of long twisty hallways and unused rooms.

"Lucia!" she called out. "Where are you?"

Not hearing an answer, she decided to check outside. Maybe she had wanted a breath of fresh...albeit hot and humid...air.

"Lucia?"

And there she was, sitting on the stairs by the railing. Renata grinned, relieved...but then hesitated. Lucia was kind of huddled over, and it didn't take a flash of insight to realize something was wrong. Was she crying? Didn't SOUND like it, but some people cried quietly.

"Uh...are you okay?" she asked awkwardly. "I can...if this is a bad time..."

[Jeremy]

The 'call your parents' comment really struck Ray quiet after his one question. The fact was, an actual year meant more to answer for than anything- and he had no reasonable expectation of convincing them of his experiences. Still, one did not simply ignore the words of a Beast-Skinned patriarch. Finally, he leaned over to Lal and whispered, "Could you please tell me where the phone is, precisely?"

Lal gestured for him to get up, and Ray was ushered into a sitting room with a phone with it. Left alone, he tentatively picked it up. For a minute, he found himself pressing 1, and then hanging up, as if dumbly, the year with the Chiderans had removed his knowledge of how to operate a phone. "Enough, you big baby." Ray thought out loud, before punching in the number for his home.

Each ring seemed to last far longer than it actually did. Finally, his mother's voice came on. "Hello?" Ray's voice cracked as he spoke. "M-Mom?" "R..Ray?! Is that you?" She still recognized his voice, and the shock was clear. "Yeah- it's me. I'm fine." he replied. "Where are you? You- we heard you vanished from Dalton, there's been no sign..."

"I know Mom." He doggedly said. "It's... a bit complicated." She gasped. "I need to tell your father, he's in the living room right now... we thought you ran away because you found out." Ray blinked, not understanding her subject. "Found out what?"

"Well, you were adopted, Ray." Those words hit Ray and he stopped breathing for a moment. "Whuh-What?" His mother seemed almost overcome with a hidden relief, and seemed yet despite her clear confusion hidden behind the words seemed exceedingly calm to Ray's bewildered perception. "When you were a baby, back when we lived in Philadelphia ... some strange lady came to our front doorstep and left you there with us. She wanted us to take care of you, practically begging."

"Did she have a name? What did she look like?" Ray was starting to speed up in speech as a haunting frightened feeling descended on him. "It was seventeen years ago, Ray. She didn't give us one... dark hair... dark eyes, medium height. Had lots of bracelets on her... I remember your clothing and blankets we have in the attic, soft woven- I wouldn't say it was cloth, but it was dark green."

Ray finally gathered enough of his wits to give his 'mother' a request. "Look, can you get them out, take pictures, send them to my email, please? Right now? I'll talk to Dad." Somehow the word for his male parent seemed to catch in his throat. "Alright, sweetie. I'll put him on." It was sounds of talking and frantic conversation beyond distinction before his father's cautiously overjoyed voice came on.

"Ray?" "Hey." Ray said. "It's good to hear your voice, son. Are you alright? You've been gone-" "For a year." Ray admitted. "We've been scared to death. What happened, Ray? Where are you?" Ray took deep breaths as he faced the facts. He didn't know what to say anymore, with the fears lurking in his head. And he knew there was no point in trying to explain the truth to them. "You wouldn't understand... Fuck it. Just gonna say I'll come home."

He slammed the phone onto the receiver with unnecessary force. A grunt caught his attention, and Simran was staring at him. "Sorry." Ray apologized, flushing. "Look, can I use a computer." She pointed to one on a desk nearby. "Use that one, there's a guest account."

Slowly becoming numb, Ray nodded, giving a "Thanks." and slipping into the chair, his hands typing at the keyboard. It was a perfect freaking Star Wars moment. The protagonist's parents were not as they seemed- hell, Obi-Wan's 'certain point of view' line fit in here. Ray did intend to go home- he didn't think the Venkman house counted as home any longer. He just didn't know what home was- or what he was.

Am I even human? Or something partially or fully from another world that's human-shaped?

[Dawn OOC]

Amrit watched the others leave before glancing at Frida. “The Janin are rumored to be ghosts. Literal ghosts.” Intense green eyes watched her closely as he continued, “They are said to be the former dead who have found a new way to live. That they live and breed somehow, that they can speak to and command the dead.” He let the information sink in, then asked, “Do you seek them?”

“Yes.” Frida’s eyes were large and surprised but her voice steady.

“Then you will be given a Key to their world, or what is rumored to their world. I warn you, it is said to be a difficult place to go – a land of darkness.”

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan silently threw his fist up in mock victory, nobody had it in them to refute magic because there was little else to explain the insanity of the past few weeks. The victory turned bittersweet as the others went to call parents and loved ones. Ryan made no move to do the same, knowing that unless the school called them his parents wouldn't have noticed his disappearance; he only spoke with them on holidays and only barely them. He wondered what it was that made him like Beccor, and if the distance his parents seemed to have always had could be explained by it. Maybe I'll ask him later. Maybe not. Ryan frowned at the table, not sure if he wanted to know the truth.

[Dawn OOC]

Ray sat up a bit straighter as his email indicated a new message. Hurriedly, he opened the email, his heart twisting sharply. The email had a short message from his mother, saying that she loved him because he was her son in her heart. He skimmed it, too emotional to really absorb it. Instead, he opened the image.

It was somewhat disappointing. It was just an image of a green baby blanket. It was clearly woven of something and looked both warm and soft. The color was a far darker than he’d ever seen in baby blankets before.

Ray noted his mother had attached second image and opened it. This was a close up of the blanket border and he silently thanked his mother as he took a closer look. Whomever had made the blanket had woven symbols into it. It was a little hard to see in the picture, since it was all done with the same thread.

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Sean watched Lucia leave, followed by Renata and Ray, while still munching away on dinner - it wasn't favourite, but he had been raised that when you were a guest, you ate what was placed in front of you, and besides, he needed more to make up for the protein-rich meat it was lacking. He engaged in some idle small-talk with Swan and the others still at the table, absently nodding at Frida in agreement.

Like the others, parents just made this whole situation worse, whether they were aware of the Door and what was on the other side of it or not. How the Hell was he supposed to tell his dad he was a Goddamned were-Amazon? That he had reconciled - after a fashion - with his mother and sisters, all it had taken was becoming a girl.

Now he was in Somewheristan, India, on the other side of the world from home, and he wasn't even sure he wanted to go back. Despite the... awkwardness (or the oddly-not-so-awkward-now) of his circumstances, he was still excited to explote the Doors and was determined to stop the Caramines, for his and his friends sakes, and for Swan too. It might have been preposterous, arrogant even, to believe so few of them had a chance to confront a multi-dimensional empire, but from reading the stories of the Adventurer's Club, his father and mother, he knew even a small group could have a profound effect, for good or ill.

Sean nodded at Ravi and Amrit as he stood up, and placed a reassuring hand on Frida's shoulder. "If you want company or help to find these Jani-folk, count me in, Frida. Least I could do. Ravi. Mr. FitzCoventry, thanks for dinner, but now, I think I got a call of my own to make..."

Swan made her own soft excuses and joined him as he returned to the room they had been given. He frowned at the phone on the bedside table then began rooting around in his packback sitting at the foot of the bed. He couldn't remember the long-ass international phone for his Dad's and Candi's hotel in Venice, but there might be a way for him to get it.

He pulled out his cellphone out of a side pocket - he had brought it along out of habit, rather than for any practical use - paused a moment, then switched it on. It was older model, battery not all that good, but it had been off the entire time and still had some juice left, the diplay lighting up with a pale, green glow. He scrolled through the phonebook until he found the number of the hotel, then moved over to side on the edge of the bed.

Swan sat down in a chair, watching him, the way his well-built shoulders tensed and flexed.

Sean looked at the ornate, rotary phone uncertainly - it looked old, expensive, and fragile - then picked up the receiver and began to dial. On a rotary phone, it was a bloody chore, and he swore when he missed a number and had to restart. Finally, it began to ring...

"Ciao, Aqua Palace Hotel. Come posso servire?" The voice was professionally cheerful.

"Um... English?"

"Sigh... yes. This is the Aqua Palace Hotel, Venice. What can I do for you?" The voice grew slightly cooler with a vague distaste.

"Er, thank-you. Room 706, please."

"A moment."

Irritatingly soothing music played while Sean waited with baited patience for someone in the room to pick up. Finally!

"Hey, Da-"

"Ciao! Oh, Sean! Nice to hear from you," Candi chirped in her sexy, playful voice. Her voice became muffled for a moment. "Dean, it's Sean. Is everything alright?"

Sean ground his teeth, biting back what he was going to say. Since their dinner, he thought they were cool, mostly, but there was no way he was gonna tell her about the Door and that on the other side of it, he was nearly as well endowed as she was. He wasn't even sure how he was going to tell his father. Besides, either she wouldn't believe him or think he was insane. Or far worse, she would believe him. He didn't even want to contemplate that!

"Er, stuff is fine, just fine, Candi, just need to ask Dad about something."

"Sure, hon. Just give him a moment, 'kay?" She giggled throatily, causing Sean to shift self-consciously on the bed. The sound was still sexy, and he was afraid Swan had made him make very similar noises. "He just needs... a shirt."

"What's up, sport?"

"Dad!" He dropped his voice, not wanting Candi to hear through the phone. "Dad, did the Academy call you? It's been a week"

"A week? Already?" Dean chuckled, looking over at his fiancee. "Can you believe it, baby? A week. How the time flies when you're having fun." He chuckled again, raking Candi's curvy figure with eyes as he turned back to the phone. "Nah, they didn't call? Why, something happen?"

Sean ran his fingers through his short, dark hair. How was supposed to do this? "Uh, well, I guess you can say that. Dad, I haven't been there... for an entire week! We went through the Door. The Door door. I saw Cassandra and Savannah. I found mom, and where she came from! And-" He just couldn't say it. Like how Vena had focused more on the girls, his Dad had focused more on him. How was he supposed to tell his dad he was a girl too - sometimes at least - and would be again, when he willingly went through the Door? "And... we're in Somewheristan or Nowheristan India now and will probably be going back through the Door, looking for allies or anything to help us stop the Caramines. We heard what you did, some of it. They're back."

[Jeremy]

Ray didn't really have the focus to get the import of his mother's message for now, and, hand wavering, he printed out the two pictures. Not the best quality, but they showed everything he'd seen well enough. He logged out, folded up the two sheets and tucked them into a pocket of old clothing. It was his intention to show them to Mr. FitzCoventry, but Ray just was too overwhelmed at the minute, and aimlessly wandered off.

It was a little later when Lucia and Renata in the gardens saw Ray progress in, face pained and remote, moving sluggishly before he slumped down onto a bench. And for Lucia, it seemed a moment of near-telepathy, that his behavior and body language was so reminiscent of her own struggles...

[z022]

She hadn't said anything for several minutes after Renata came upon her. She heard the other girl, she just couldn't get her mouth and throat to work together to make sounds for her. Finally she managed a creaking, "No, I'm not okay." She scrubbed at her face with her hands, rubbing away the tears and leaving her eyes red and puffy. "But that's just how it is, isn't it?"

She tried to laugh, but it didn't quite make it that far; she rubbed her face before she started crying an panicking. "You...you needed something?"

She caught sight of Ray out of the corner of her eye as he trudged through the gardens and slumped on a bench. "Somehow I don't think this was the homecoming people were hoping for."

[SalmonMax]

Renata nodded, still feeling awkward. Partly, not coincidentally, was because of how unspeakably hot Lucia was right then. The tears added a hint of vulnerability to her otherwise kind of frosty ice-queen/beauty queen look that made her more human and more...hot.

"I just wanted to talk," she said, reaching back to scratch the back of her neck. "It's nothing important. It can wait. Uh...what about you? Anything I can do to help?"

She glanced over at Ray, but kept her focus on Lucia.

[Dawn OOC]

There was a long silence from Dean. “Sean… wait, slow down.” Sean could almost see his father struggling to catch up on the information, though he had blurted quite a string of details there. “Hold on, babe. Not you, Sean. Candy, I’m going into the other room.” The door shut and then Dean asked, “The… Caramine?”

“Yeah, they’re back. The treaty ran out.” Sean struggled to give his father small pieces of information rather than dumping it all on him. Swan rose and moved behind him; before Sean could ask what she was doing, her strong fingers began to work into his tense shoulders.

“Where are you?”

“India, but Dad, it’s all right, I’m with friends.” He hoped. Sean remembered what Ravi looked like when he was pissed, and he was in a houseful of Ravi’s.

There was a deep breath. “Well, I should have known that your mother would go crawling back to her furs and mud hut. Look, just stay where you are, if you’re really safe. I’ll make arrangements and we’ll get you into another school. Problem solved.”

---

Though most of the students had left the dining room, Amrit set aside his napkin and said, “Ravi, we should talk. Then I will arrange to send your friends and you wherever you want to go. If you’d like to be returned home, we could probably manage that, though the lack of passports will be an issue. But for now, there is much to tell you and little time to speak in.”

“Can I come?” Mari’s voice cut through the air softly and Amrit glanced at her for the first time.

“This is for Ravi’s people alone. You will remain.” Ravi cast her a gentle smile that promised he’d make this up to her before following his grandfather deeper into the house. It was only after she’d gone that Mari realized Ravi had never introduced her to his family. They didn’t even know her name yet. Feeling hurt, she left the table, finding her way to the Sulk Gardens, where she added to the downer attitude there.

“Soooo… gotta ask – how hard is it ta bar the door like Dalton did?” Ryan’s question interrupted the quiet eating that those at the table had continued after Amrit’s departure.

“It requires great magic,” Lal said, glancing at Simran.

The female ‘manther’ huffed a sigh and complained, “You could just research this yourself, Lal.”

“I just like hearing you complain about having to explain it.” Ravi’s male cousin grinned broadly.

Simran rolled her eyes before turning to address Ryan. “It’s very hard but simple. Magic’s like that. You need to have all the right tools and the tremendous will to do it, but once you have learned the ‘recipe’ for whatever you’re trying to do, then it’s just repeating the spell as needed. Barring the Door is temporary though; the Doors resist being restrained and altered. However, anyone who could learn magic could do it.”

[Sylvia Dorn]

Sylvia, who had been quietly listening to the conversation between Ravi and his extended family, spoke up when they made to move off to a more private locale.

"Not to be intrusive, but I think I qualify as one of Ravi's 'people'. You may not be my blood relatives, but you're of my kind, and I'm every bit as in the dark on these matters as is Ravi." She looked around at the various students, then said with lowered voice: "It's never easy for a teacher to admit, but I'm in dire need of some lessons."

[z022]

A strangled laugh escaped from the darker girl. "Not unless you know where my mother is and how to get to her," she answered miserably.

"Sorry," she mumbled after a heartbeat of awkward silence. "I'm not really good company right now. I'll be...better...in a bit." She glance over at both Ray and Mary and commented, "Seems like this is the place for feeling like....like shit." Lucia couldn't remember the last time she'd cussed, but it was definitely well before she'd come to Dalton, but there was an anger building from the coals of her despair and it was better to cuss than accidentally strangle someone with shadow-tentacles or something.

[SalmonMax]

"Right..." Renata said, not sure what to say. She gave Mari a quick smile and motioned her over.

"Well, I guess I'm in the wrong place then. I'm sorry...about your mom. If I had some way of finding her, I'd totally help. Ravi or the professor would probably be better for that with their cat-noses and all."

As Mari came over, giving Lucia an inscrutable, vaguely worried look, Ren put an arm around her shoulder. A possessive gesture.

"Anyway, seems like we're bothering you, so we'll head off. Just...we'll work it out. I mean, we travel to other worlds, and have weird magic powers...piss off giant empires full of Star Trek aliens. I'm pretty sure we can find your mom." She grins and nods.

"Seeya around."

[Jeremy]

Ray finally raised his head and looked at Lucia, pained too. "Well, at least you have some more inkling of who your parent or parents really are. My phone call revealed that I was adopted. 'Mysterious woman gives baby to couple and asks them to take care of the kid.' That cliche, except it's real now."

The implication was that he wasn't so certain now. "I have a picture or two of the clothing and baby blanket... but heck if I recognize anything like it. Heck, even though I developed my powers, I just thought it was a strange though useful fluke. I never consider I might not be human." His own identity was in question, as he quietly admitted. "This is the place for feeling shitty, I'd agree."

[z022]

Lucia gave a small shrug. "I never knew who my father was. My mother...well, I just learned not to ask her. Then Yasu tells me that she found me...somewhere...and lied to everyone because....something." Her tone darkened, "He was real helpful."

"And now she's missing because she went looking for me wherever it was that she found me and that's somewhere out...there...beyond the Doors and no, he won't tell me where, or who else I could ask and I should just let my mother stay lost or taken or something!" She'd worked herself up by the end and took a deep breath, not wanting to turn into some darkness-monster at Ravi's family's home. She tried to smile, but it didn't get very far. "So, we can be orphaned aliens together, I guess."

[SalmonMax]

Having lingered to hear Ray, Renata just stared at the two, frankly astonished to find two people who had families more fucked up than her own. Way more. What was her deep dark secret? She was gay. Whoopty fucking do. If her mom hadn't been hyper-Catholic, or her dad a politician, no one would have cared...and plenty still didn't. So she had no idea what to say to the two maybe-humans.

"Yeah well...going by the human track record, maybe not being human isn't so bad," she points out finally. "I mean, it's not like you're not people."

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan nodded slowly, a very serious expression on his face, "An' to open 'er back up again?"

"More magic one supposes," Simran replied. She looked at Ryan, who had only so recently proposed the maybe-not-ludicrous idea that the Caramine were interconnected in some way, "Why do you ask?"

Ryan grinned, "Cause tha door ov'r at Dalton wuz open ah week ago, an' now she's locked 'er up tight. If'n it ain't gonna hold tho ..." Ryan shrugged and slurped some curry off his finger, "If'n it ain't gonna hold, tha' jus' means tha' it's wasted effert. Tha Caramels, they mean ta cause a ruckus, an' barrin' tha door fer a week or a month, or a year, it ain't gonna stop 'em."

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

"Problem not solved!" Sean countered, voice growing sharp as one of Swan's thumbs dug at a particularly tight knot in his back. "I'm not just gonna 'bandon my friends and run when trouble's brewin', no matter how fucked up it is." He sighed, rubbing his forehead with the heel of his palm, hand tightening around the telephone handset. "It's... it's not that simple, dad."

"It is, Sean," Dean protested in a low, intense voice. "I've been there. The adventure, exploring other worlds... We were young and thought we were invincible. Evil Empire? We can stop it! I thought we could and I tried." Sean heard a tired sigh through the phone. "I was wrong. This isn't a game, Sean. It's real and it's dangerous. Deadly. I know, I lost friends. I have a lot of regrets - not meeting your mother and not you or the girls, despite what happened between me and Vanessa - but the others... Trust me, son, forget about the Door and what is on the other side. You'll be the happier for it. Your friends too."

Sean closed his eyes and reached over his shoulder to give Swan's hand a squeeze. His heart was hammering inside his chest. "I... can't, dad. We can't. Whatever you guys did back then, or maybe jus' through a damn fluke, that legacy has been passed down to us. Ms. Dorn and a friend are Goddamned were-panthers! Another has x-ray vision or radar-vision or something. A girl can move shit with her mind, another made a light from the sky, while another wears shadows like a shirt. One can see fuckin' dead people, dad! And me?"

His heart pounded even harder, his throat tight - there was no way he could forget about the Door, pretend he had never heard of it. "I met mom's people, the Chiderans. Cassandra and Savannah seem happier there. And furs and huts and snow and all, it really wasn't all that bad. Vena and the girl's were actually welcoming and warm to me. Okay, mother and Savannah was."

Sean barked with bitter and resigned laughter. "Know what the funniest thing is, dad? I'm one of them too. A Chideran."

"What do you mean, you're a Chideran?" Dean said in a quiet tone Sean had never heard before.

"I've been to the HeartStone - Vena was proud. I can feel the SoulFire in me now. I'm stronger and faster and tougher. I heal in minutes, have a pair of magic spiky boxing gloves, and--"

"What do you mean, you're a Chideran?" Sean's father repeated.

"I stepped through the Door and turned into a fuckin' girl, Dad!" Sean whisper-shouted into the receiver. "No cock, tits and legs and voice, everything! A girl. If you saw me and Cassandra together, you'd think we were twins. Mom told me how much of a freak she thought I was, being born a boy when Chiderans are all female - was she ever thrilled seein' me, her long lost daughter returned. And then I stepped back to this side of the Door and bam! Boy again. But I can still feel the Soulfire in me."

The silence on the other end of the phone was thunderous.

Sean snorted again, bitter and wry. "Even if I have to run around with boobs bouncing around in front of me, I'm not backing off doin' what I can to stop these assholes. Besides, my former-Caramine girlfriend seems to like 'em. You taught me to stand up for your friends and family, dad, so you can help us - even just telling us what you know - or stand out of the way. Just wanted you to know, in case you start hearing things from Dalton Academy. What do you say?"

[Frida Ricci]

Frida murmured her thanks to Sean for his offer to accompany her, and then quietly drifted into the background again. Though the others continued to talk (and eat), she sat quietly at the table, mostly sipping her glass of water thoughtfully.

“The Janin are rumored to be ghosts. Literal ghosts. They are said to be the former dead who have found a new way to live. That they live and breed somehow, that they can speak to and command the dead.”

But how can that be? Mother and Father aren't strange, not like I am. Nor is Caro. I mean, we are all talented artists, but I am the only one who is.. unnatural. Wraith-like.

Suddenly she stood, startling the few remaining diners. She had been so quiet since her discussion with Ravi's grandfather that the others had, for the most part, forgotten her presence. She laid her napkin down as she stood, and slid the chair back into place.

"Please excuse me.. I believe I have a phone call to make as well."

She made her way down the hall to the office. This room, while still decorated artfully in a traditional manner, was obviously more utilitarian. A laptop sat on the large wood and leather-inset desk, powered-down and plugged in to charge. Along the back wall behind the desk was a built-in combination of bookshelves and filing cabinets. Quietly, Frida walked over to the desk and picked up the modern-looking cordless phone. Then she sat down in one of the large reading chairs, and began to dial. Unlike Sean, she knew her parent's international cell phone codes, for the Ricci family traveled often and everywhere, and not always in one unit. She listened nervously as the phone rang, and drew in a deep breath as she heard the line connect.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Mum."

"Frida! How lovely to hear from you darling, is everything alright?"

"Yes, Mum. I'm.. I'm sorry I missed your phone call Saturday."

"Did you? Oh my - darling, I don't think you did. I absolutely meant to call, and I must have gotten utterly distracted. I'm so sorry! I hope you're doing well?"

Frida paused for a moment, surprise flickering across her face, though her mother couldn't see it over the phone. In all her time at Dalton, her mother had never missed a weekend phone call. How unlikely it seemed that the weekend she was away would just happen to be the weekend her mother didn't call.

"Th-that's alright, Mum. How are you?"

"I'm just fine, dear. Where are you calling from, by the way? This isn't your number."

"A friend's phone, Mum. My phone is charging. He's.. from India."

That should hopefully explain the international code, at least.

"Oh that's lovely! Such a beautiful place, we really should take you and your brother to visit. You'd love it there. Is he handsome?"

"P-pardon?"

"Your friend - is he handsome? I've never heard you mention him before, you so rarely make close friends, Frida. Is this young man good-looking?"

Frida felt the flush creep up her cheeks at her mother's question, and glanced around to make sure no one else was near the office before answering. It would be her luck that Mari would be nearby and would overhear, for some reason. Best to get her mother off the topic quickly - and to keep her from getting her hopes up too high.

"Yes Mum, but he's just a friend."

"Oh." She heard the pause, the doubt in her mother's tone, even with that single-word response. "Well, I'm glad to hear that you're making friends, darling. Feel free to invite any of them to the penthouse this summer if you'd like, we'll be in the city till at last July, your father has some business to attend to before we can vacation."

"Thanks, Mum."

There was silence for a moment as Frida turned the question over and over in her mind, trying to figure out the best way to ask.

"Frida love, I do hate to cut this short, I'm so terribly sorry. But we have reservations tonight, so I need to--"

"Am I adopted, Mum?"

"--what?"

"You heard me. Am I adopted?"

[Dawn OOC]

Amrit paused, peering at Sylvia for a moment. “You are not one of Ravi’s people, but as your own have not cared for you, you can become one of his people.” With that statement, Amrit motioned for her to follow and turned. The three of them walked through the open areas of the house until they came to what was clearly a private area; the furnishings became simpler and more comfortable instead of ornate. Amrit didn’t stop here, leading them outside again into a sheltered, walled garden.

Panthers lounged in the pools of sunlight or snoozed on branches; yellow eyes cracked open long enough to see who was there before sinking shut. Only one cat stirred; a female rose and came to Amrit, rubbing her great head on the man’s thigh. When he sat down on a stone pad under a tree, she laid next to him and put her head on his lap.

“She likes you,” Sylvia said, smiling at the cat.

“Yes.” Amrit smiled at her, stroking her head gently. He turned his green eyes to them. “What would you like to know, first? I fear we do not have the months it would take to give you a full instruction of your people, so let me ask what you’d wish to know.”

---

Lal shrugged. “Sometimes people put their faith in foolish things. Believing that they can hold a Door forever is one of them.” He leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table and addressing all of the Daltonites left. “Here’s a better question: what are you all doing now? Grandfather will see you home, if you want. But do you want that? Or are you going back out and going to war?”

Simran snorted. “Boys and their fighting. If Amrit doesn’t at least push them to go home, he’s facing legal issues.” Green eyes stared at Ryan. “I don’t want your parents suing my grandfather over you. No offense.”

---

Dean was quiet for a long moment. “Sean, you can’t be a girl. You can’t change. The Door doesn’t work that way! You’re my son, and that’s all there is to it.”

Swan rolled her eyes and snatched the mobile from Sean. “I am proof of your son’s words. Vernit akiec tedo’i. Adi kalay cernit.” She handed the phone back to Sean. “He should be more willing to believe you.”

“That was…” Dean sounded on the verge of panic. “That was Caramian!”

“Yeah, Caramine girlfriend, I mentioned that,” Sean replied, wondering if his father was going to be able to handle all of this. “Can you speak their language?”

“Ehh… only the insults. Tedo’i… means, uh, idiot. And ‘kalay’ is roughly ‘I vow’.” Dean inhaled sharply. “Jesus, Sean. What’s the plan then? If you’re going to do this… I’ll do what I can to help.”

---

“Frida… whatever made you ask that?” Her mother’s voice was suddenly taut but infused with a hint of laughter. It was nervous laughter, and Frida knew the answer.

“Why didn’t you tell me, Mum?” Frida’s voice was calm, but her hand clenched the receiver tightly.

There was a sigh. “Because it didn’t matter to us. We couldn’t have a child, and there was a private adoption open to us. We accepted because we wanted children.”

“And Caravaggio?” Frida wasn’t sure if it would better or worse if her younger brother were adopted, too.

“He’s… not.” Helena sighed. “We were told we couldn’t have children. And then we had Caravaggio. I’m not sure how. But you… please don’t think that we don’t love you. You are our daughter.”

[z022]

Lucia gave a hiccup of a laugh at that, then started giggling and couldn't stop. There was something just absurdly funny about everything at the moment, even if she felt like she was about to pass out, too. She curled back up on herself, caught between laughing and sobbing again.

"Fuck," she muttered between giggle and gasps. "Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!" She didn't usually cuss and so far it was the only sentiment that came close to describing the state of her world at the moment. But hey, at least she was still a person, according to Renata. She curled up tighter as that thought touched off another round of hysterical giggles.

[Ryan Jackson]

Simran snorted. “Boys and their fighting. If Amrit doesn’t at least push them to go home, he’s facing legal issues.” Green eyes stared at Ryan. “I don’t want your parents suing my grandfather over you. No offense.”

"I doubt my 'rents care one way or th'other. They sent me ta Dalton ta get rid o' me." Ryan shrugged, apparently unbothered by that fact. "I don' think we got a lotta choice. If tha door can't be shut fer good, then we gotta face tha Caramels eventually." Ryan pushed a hunk of something through spicy curry sauce before jamming it into his mouth, he was unlikely to stop eating just for conversation. "Everythin' is changin', not jus' us, but this whole thing." Ryan gestured with a fork full of rice and veggies, "Mebbe you wanna help us out?"