11084/Ravens and Ruminations

Ravens and Ruminations
Date of Scene:	09 May 2022
Location:	Main Room - Titan's Tower
Synopsis:	Rachel Roth is distressed over loss. Running into Troia only puts it in sharper, pained focus.
Cast of Characters:	Sarah Rainmaker, Rachel Roth, Donna Troy

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Sarah Rainmaker has posed:
She's heading towards the throne room. At least, where she thinks it is. Sarah Rainmaker is looking at something on her phone once more. Whatever sort o fthing it is, she seems to have settled on something. For better or ill. She would let her hand charge over with power to it and sizzle the circuits. So wiht that done.. Now, her stride has a litlte more relaxation to it. A little more sense of finality. Of something having settled. For better or ill.
    Now.. Now she'll have to talk things over and figure it out for herself. For the worse. For the better. Sarah Rainmaker has, at least.. Come to a conclusion after a lot of thought.

Rachel Roth has posed:
    It's been some days since Raven was informed that the woman she loves was replaced, surreptitiously, by a Troia from another universe. Much of the mythology had been understood- the dual meaning of the term 'The Last Titan'. A prophecy by another name. Raven hadn't understood everything- and has spent exactly none of her time trying to understand it, as the part she did glean was... Disconcerting.

    Ever since the Titans' return, they've caught Raven in a number of conditions that she would normally not have shown the rest of the world. Her mind fractured, for one, necessitating what one could call an Adventure if they were feeling somewhat gratious, to pull her out of her own soul-self. She's been found furious, she's been found happy, and she's been found wearing nothing but one of Donna's shirts.

    We're about to finish the gamut of states Raven can be found in. (For anyone playing Raven's Mental State Bingo, the free square is calm.)

    It's worthy of note that Raven has avoided the throne room at all costs lately, going between her room and the kitchen for... Whatever reason. She hasn't stopped to talk to anybody, and much less has she endeavored at all to seek anyone out. Today, however, she wanders into the throne room, clad in her hoody- which she hasn't worn since Tartarus, unless it was actually cold out- with the hood pulled up around her features.

    What's very, very different now is that Raven has an empty bottle hanging limply, just barely in the fingers of her left hand- The bottle itself is kitschy and has markings in cyrillic. She fingers this for a moment, seeking a place that she can dispose of it for a moment, and simultaneously trying to find the fridge.

    Eventually, where she is hits her properly, as if there's a significant delay.

    "Oh. I went to the... The wrong one."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "I would think /you/ would know how to navigate the maze." It's Troia's voice, so familiar, but it's not the Troia Raven knows so well. "You possess a sufficient mental discipline to get here through the labyrinth," she continues, fading into existence in her regular seat, with oddly a bow held in one hand, which she is studying with some curiosity. "...or indeed to avoid coming here, when you so wish. You must have allowed your mind to wander."

    Troia looks up from the bow, first at Raven, then at Sarah. "It's strange to me too, having visitors wandering in here the way you all keep doing. It was certainly not my intention for this to happen. Nonetheless, until I have figured out how to undo this, you are welcome here." Her eyes go back to Raven. "Or welcome to stay away, if that is more comfortable for you."

    Troia sits back, resting the bow across her lap, and studies Raven a few moments longer before returning her attention to Sarah. "You at least perhaps intended to come here?" she asks. "Have you been giving more consideration to the problem we discussed?"

Sarah Rainmaker has posed:
Sarah Rainmaker would turn her head over to give a bow, "Ah, hello Troia. I'm sorry for having disturbed you." She would turn to glance at Rachel over, a frown on her face. Then looking from Rachel to Troia and back again, parsing what Rachel said.. And then remembering what she had observed in those quiet times she had seen not-Troia and Rachel together. Her cheeks would darken just a litlte bit as she would go..
    "Oh."
    Then she would quietly look at Rachel and close her eyes. "It is nothing pressing that cannot wait." She would reply quietly. "And nothing worth distracting oneself for the moment." She would look over at Rachel.. Trying to figure out what to do here. And definitely -not- wanting to say 'I' msorry' or 'can I help'.

Rachel Roth has posed:
    Raven just sort of lingers there in the room, slumped over somewhat, perhaps purposefully to keep her hood up over her features, such that her face is harder than normal to see, which leaves her difficult to perceive at all, aside from the pale hands, one of which is holding the bottle that she takes a moment to weigh, as if making sure that it's empty.

    "Yeah." she finally responds, in Troia's direction. "I was headed to the kitchen." There is no context given to that, as to where her mind might have wandered, or why- but those with sensitive noses can smell the alcohol coming from her, even at this distance. It's painfully clear why Raven wasn't able to navigate the labyrinth. Her hand waves Sarah off for a moment- a much more dismissive thing than she would normally be caught doing. She's lacking some degree of coordination, that wouldn't be obvious save for her company. She's also meaner in her dismission of Sarah's concern than she would normally be. "No no, go on ahead."

    There is a pause that accompanies her attention moving back to Troia, though it takes a moment for her eyes to focus properly. "I don't have anything to say to /you./" There is real venom in her voice, there. She's quite angry, indeed- having placed all of that securely, in her state, on this Troia's head. Despite that the other woman didn't have anything to do with it- and Raven knows that.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "I am not sure you are disturbing anything Sarah," Troia tells her. "As you see, Raven does not appear to want anything to do with me. I am not the person she wishes I were, so she tries to avoid me. I do not blame her for this. I understand that from your perspective, all of you who live in the place currently linked to my home, I appear to occupy a space in your realities that was previously occupied by your friend Donna. I understand Raven was particularly close to this Donna. Thus she resents my presence here, even though in fact she is the one who has entered my home."

    Troia gives a shrug, and settles into a more comfortable position in her seat, the bow on her lap simply vanishing. "Much of my time I spent studying the situation that has occurred. Trying to understand it and to reverse it. I hope that eventually I will be able to return your Donna to you, Raven. It is not a simple matter though. I see, but I do not fully understand. Attempting to reverse what has happened without understanding it fully could have unforeseen consequences you may like even less, so it may take me a little time. There are none of my family left I can turn to for advice."

    She nods her head in Sarah's direction. "But I can try to offer advice on other subjects, if that is why you are come here."

Sarah Rainmaker has posed:
The amount of venom coming off Rachel is audible. But the scent of alcohol on her is as well. Sarah can pick that up. Even if she didn't have some power over water.. She grew up on a reservation. HSe knows what soemone with alcohol on thier breath is like. She would close her eyes and look over. "Rachel, I.. Don't presume to know you." Or be a friend. She's definitely not.
    And there's not as much use going to try to speak to someone who is drunk. And mourning. Saying anything would just be flat and empty. Going to slowly twirl her legs together underneath, looking over her shoulder with concern.. Finally she would turn back to Troia, sadly.
    "I.. have come to the conclusion that if the opportunity presents itself I.. Will try and stop my siblings." By the way she says 'stop' she's settled on something final with them. "There's nothing left of them. I'll be putting them out of their misery." There's rising venom in her own voice there. That she's not even aware of.

Rachel Roth has posed:
    Raven regards Sarah for a moment, and nods once. "Yeah. You don't." The words are quicker in some ways than their syllables will allow- like she's decided what to say before her mouth can properly adjust to saying it. It's the closest Raven comes to any manner of slang, and it's what amounts to the slur to her words. Very subtle, but for someone with so much control over herself, to lose anything to alcohol is certainly of note.

    She must be /very/ intoxicated.

    There is a snap of her attention to Troia, as she starts speaking again, there's deep venom, a loss of control over the volume of her speech. "Nono, you don't GET to get off on a TECHNICALITY." she shouts, practically, her free hand coming up to point at Troia with fervent accusation. "YOU'RE the invader here, YOU'RE the reason she's GONE and I'm not going to have you PRETEND that it has nothing to do with you. Like you're some kind of SAINT and this isn't your FAULT."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Troia tilts her head sideways as she considers what Sarah has said. "How have you concluded that there is nothing left of them?" she asks. "Have you acquired more information that assures you of this? Or are you rather allowing your despair at the situation to guide you to believe they are truly gone, because that is an easier truth to accept, even if it may not be the real truth?"

    As Raven starts her tirade, Troia raises a hand to her in a stop gesture, not caring that it does not stem the tide. However Sarah will find that after the first few words, the volume of sound reaching her ears is suddenly muted -- not inaudible, but quiet enough that Troia's words aren't drowned out, in Sarah's ears at least. "I suspect that making a decision ahead of time is less wise than deferring the decision as long as you can. Being prepared to stop them may be a necessary, but being determined to stop them seems like something that has the potential to bring you grief in the future."

    She lowers the hand and turns to look at Raven. "I can send you back through the labyrinth to where you intended on being, if you desire," she says calmly. "Your thought processes are disturbed by chemical intoxicants and emotion, both. I cannot remove your grief, but I could remove the chemical intoxicants to help you think more clearly. Were you able to think more clearly you might recognize the inappropriateness of your words."

Sarah Rainmaker has posed:
    First going to Troia, Sarah Rainmaker takes a breath, "I've.. Seen some things they've done, there's no forgiving or going back from.. It goes well beyond anything. Doing it for fun or for amusement or enjoyment.>" Then she's going to cut herself off as Raven is going on she's looking over her shoulder at the woman. That she knows very little on.
    And there is often very little one can do when someone is suffering and drunk. Sarah is not a friend. It is not her place. But given the fact of who Rachel is and hwat she can do.. Sarah feels like hse has to do something. She just hasn't the slightest idea of what to do.
    Finger going out in front of her as she would speak quietly, "Troia, please. This isn't helping." Then at Rachel. "You will get her back. Everyone will." She's moving to ever, ever so slowly move to put herself between hte two.

Rachel Roth has posed:
    Were Raven in her right mind, adding violence to this situation would be further beneath the last thing she'd ever do. However, today, she is not in her right mind. To even be where she is, she'd have to be courting a final decision, a state of depression that she hasn't been anywhere near in quite a long, long while. It is a mix if desperation and hopelessness: Of knowing what she has to do, but not being willing to do it.

    For instance, even in her state, Raven knows what she has to become in order to get Donna back.

    There's only a small delay after Troia's hand goes up, the arcane mind behind Raven's eyes taking ever so long to put two and two together such that she understands that Troia is turning her down, like the dial on a television, even if only selectively. There is a mild lurch in her body just before Sarah starts to move, as with surprising strength- something that Donna has helped her cultivate in various ways and through various methods- Raven hurls the empty bottle she's carrying at Troia.

    "FUCK you. Stop acting like you're some sort of PEACE EMISSARY. You're not DIANA. You never WERE." she calls, taking a simple step forward. "I know what you had to DO to become what you ARE. I know more about YOU than YOU do."

    Again, she's pointing at the woman, though it seems to have sapped a lot of coordination to have chucked the bottle. When Sarah steps in between them, Raven doesn't quite stop herself from practically walking into the woman, her feet a bit unsure of themselves at the moment.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "You speak about the people they are now, Sarah. Not the people they used to be. If you kill the people they are now, then unless you are certain the people they used to be are already gone forever, you risk also killing the people they used to be. Would you wish to kill the people they used to be? Ask yourself what lengths you would go to not to."

    If there was more to her advice, it is interrupted by the bottle Raven throws, which does not hit Troia but rather slows down its passage through the air to a crawl and starts to disintegrate in a flare of brilliant light that passes from one end of the bottle to the other. Troia lowers her eyes, but continues to speak calmly. "Raven. Although I accept there are... troubling similarities between myself and your Donna, we are different people. You know nothing about me. You have not cared to ask. You are too lost in your pain to care about anyone else's, so you lash out at those around you. Especially at me, but even those who should be your friends and a comfort in trying times. This is not wisdom. It will not help you get your Donna back."

Sarah Rainmaker has posed:
Any sort of further followup on the advise that Troia is given to Sarah Rainmaker is interrupted as Rainmaker gives her full attention over on Rachel. She's put herself between the two and is ready to brace.. Until Rachel is tumbling forwards just a bit, and Sarah tries to help catch her if she could. Offering an arm to try and steady the other girl on if needed and guide her to something to sit on.
    "Breathe. Do you need something to drink? It would help to get some water in you. Are you cold or hot?" Sarah ready to offer assistance if needed.
    Looking over at Troia for a moment and let out a sigh. "And can you sit as well please? Just join us over here if you're comfortable with it. If you don't mind my giving you some thoughts?"

Rachel Roth has posed:
    Raven is well aware that it was pointless to have thrown the bottle in the first place. Even if it had hit Troia, it wouldn't have done anything except shatter. That it gets disintegrated midair is about what she expected. She's breathing heavily, her feet taking a moment to remember that they have to be under her while Sarah provides enough leverage that they get the time they need.

    There is a long pause, as Raven considers Troia, considers rushing forward, pushing past Sarah, doing something she won't have time to regret. She's always /wanted/ it. Just a little bit. She's always been desperate not to be what she was made to be. Now's the time! It'd be so easy!

    Except that, like many others, she doesn't have the strength. She slumps for a moment before with some effort throwing Sarah's arm off of her, and resuming stumbling. Her feet catch her, dutifully piloted by nerves that have been overwhelmingly dulled.

    "Yeah. Good advice. I need a drink." Her first few steps are harder and less coordinated, but unless she's stopped, she'll storm away in her- well, frankly, drunken stupor. Once she disappears from the throne room, she won't reappear... But the next person to make their way to the kitchen will find the freezer open, and a bottle-shaped hole in the ice pile.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Troia does not make any attempt to stop Rae. Or indeed to delete her from existence. She's not a hundred percent sure why she's being so tolerant of these mortals. They come to her home uninvited. They sit on the thrones of her aunts and uncles. And this one comes in yelling and blaming her for things she is trying to /fix/ for them. Part of her mind tells her that this would be the normal and correct etiquette for dealing with such troublesome mortals. Yet... it seems wrong to her.

    Instead, Troia just watches Raven's departure in silence, before returning her attention to Sarah. "She is hurt by this more than the rest of you, it seems," she says. "If you wish to give me your thoughts, please feel free to do so, Sarah. I will listen."

Sarah Rainmaker has posed:
Sarah Rainmaker wouldn't stop Rachel from departing. Just watching her go. "She needs one of her friends to talk to her.." Which Sarah is not. And having someone chase after her in this state that she doesn't trust will make the situation worse. Sometimes all one can hope for is that she can go sleep it off and process it later. And that someone else can be ready to talk to her. Sarah Rainmaker goes to fileit away to check on later.
    "All right. Humans are emotional creatures. Emotions do not lend themselves way to logic or analysis. YOu can speak of them i nsuch ways.. But is won't be taken as that. Your words to her, intended or not, made teh situation worse as it would have been taken as belittling her. Humans are emotional. We can be messed up. You can't bring logic into it all the time."
    She would look up at Troia, "And I'm guessing that the.. Titans are ones that think of such things logically. If that's an all right presumption to make?"

Donna Troy has posed:
    Troia blinks at Sarah a few times. "I think the way I think. If you think that I do not respond to the world with emotion, you would be very wrong. From the discussions I have had with all of you, it does seem that you mortals lack clarity in your thoughts. You think things that don't make sense, and are unaware they do not make sense. You draw conclusions that do not follow from the precedent. This is not the same as feeling emotions, though."

    "I could have altered here emotions, but I do not thing that would have been the right thing to do. Instead I attempted to help her to see with greater clarity. If I did not do this in a way that a mortal mind is best so aided, then please understand -- this is not a familiar thing to me. I have no experience of mortals before meeting all of you."

Sarah Rainmaker has posed:
Sarah Rainmaker would go to sit, "I'm not saying that you don't. I'm saying from our perspective, the way you necessarily interact doesn't lend itself to the way that most social events go. And.. Thank you for your restraint on that. And.. Please don't ever do that with anyone around here. That would not go well or engender trust. And humans can be bad with conclusions. Among other things."
    She would nod at Troia. "And I understand. A lot of these are.. Humans act differently. If you're not with them a lot it can be disorienting. Might I make a suggestion then?" Seh would wait for permission to be given. Happy to be able to -not- discuss her own issues now. A distraction was quite welcome.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Troia's brows furrow together, and she shakes her head. "Sarah, it is not my intent to learn to socialize on human terms. I am not one of you. I have no intention to put you to any unnecessary discomfort, but keep in mind that my intention is to figure out how to close off this labyrinth, and when I have done that, you will never see me again and I will never see you again. This -- none of this should have happened. I will not be spending time with mortals in the future, once this is all resolved, so I do not think it matters a great deal."

    "Nor do I need to earn anyone's trust. Had I the trust of Olympus, things might have been different, but it is far too late for that now. I am a threat to no-one, and no-one is a threat to me. You understand?"

    She gives a small wave of one hand, to indicate that all that is now said and can be moved on from. "However, if you wish to make a suggestion, I will listen to what you say."

Sarah Rainmaker has posed:
Sarah Rainmaker would fold her hands together, "Fair enough. What I was going tos uggest was along those terms of interaction. I would suggest that you come out and spend some time with the individuals who live and gather here. At the very least it would help you coordinate somewhat better. I presume that Caitlin's fields of references and knowledge base are limited to some degree by her experience in the affairs of the Titans. Her knowledge of the way wormholes and portals work is also vast and an asset to helping resolve this. There are others amongst the Titans that are knwoledgeable as well. Going out and.. Interactingw ith them helps you understand them."
    Shew ould stand up. "And helps us understand you. Which lets us all work together more efficiently and resolve this more readily since we understand one another and see ourselves as friends. Yes, that's a very human thing, and not necessary. But it would help aid things."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "You don't really understand the nature of what has taken place here," Troia says, taking a deep, slow breath. "None of you do. I am not sure how to explain things to you more clearly. All of you keep using the word 'here' to indicate the place you have /left/. There is only one person who lives /here/, Sarah. That's me. You are no longer on the Earth. You are on New Kronos. If you were to look out of the window, one of the stars in the sky you could see would be your own Sun, so distant that the light you observe left your own system more than three hundred years ago."

    She raises a hand, and a metallic orb drops down from the darkness of the ceiling far above to float just above her palm. "You see this? This is the means by which I would visit your world if I chose to. It's called a travel-sphere. Although it is small enough to fit in my palm, a hundred people could enter it and find it spacious enough for them. I could pilot it simply by thinking of the place I intended it to go. That distance, which light would take three hundred years to pass, I would pass in a few minutes."

    She shrugs her shoulders, and the travel-sphere rises back up into the darkness. "Caitlin may have a good grasp of wormhole technology by human standards, but I have access to the knowledge and power of the Titans. When humanity first learned to smelt metal, the Titans had dismissed wormholes as primitive tens of thousands of years previously. I do not say this to insult you, it is simply a fact. If I had the knowledge of those who built this place, who invented these things, I could resolve this problem with east. But I am a very /new/ god, Sarah. I have been alive less than one tenth the time that sunlight has taken since it left your world. I did not have time to learn all I should have learned before my family was killed. The help I need... it doesn't exist any more. Or perhaps it does in Olympus, but they would not help me. I will solve this eventually, but you and your friends... I have yet to find a way to convey what is even happening here to them. How can they help?"

Sarah Rainmaker has posed:
Sarah Rainmaker would look over at Troia thoughtfully. Her mind trying to find a familiar frame of anchor to this then for reference. Finding none. Instead she just goes on with it, making a handwave of accepting it. "Then it pleases me to meet you, New God Troia." Her tone is just a gentle tease over and jibeness. "If I were to go outside then would the air feel the same? THe weather? THe winds? THe rain? I've always wondered what they're like on other planets. How they feel. If they speak to me at all the way they do here." She would muse over and glance at it.

"And small, can take you anywhere, nearly instant technology and works? There are familiar points of reference to that. I don't presume to understand them myself. But there are points of equivalency with technology. Do not.. Immediately think that no one would know such a thing, if I might make that as a suggestion. Some of them might very well know things. Or have a grasp of it in ways that I cannot necessarily convey myself." She would bow her heahd over to Troia.
    And stand up. "So.. At least consider approaching them. You might find they have capabilities that you had not thought of. Or that they have frames of reference. There are others that they know that could help. I would think.. That you are very, very alone here on New Kronos, Troia. So you might find doing something different would aid you. Just come out and get to know people. Yes, we're humans, not Titans. But you might surprise yourself. And imagine the gossip that will be made from it. You'll be teh talk of the family for centuries to come."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Troia smiles softly and steps over to Sarah, to rest a hand lightly on her arm. "You have a good heart, Sarah. You mean well. But the time of the Titans is past, and it is better that I am forgotten, rather than gossiped about."

    She stares out of the great window at the landscape below. "If you were to go outside, you would find no weather, no winds. No air. The moon this place is built on was destroyed in a great collision millions of years ago. If it ever had an atmosphere it is long gone. Outside of these buildings is the emptiness of space. I do not recommend you try it, though I have created a barrier in the window as one of your younger friends has shown an interest in it that worries me. I do not want her to die trying to explore the moon."

    In that great scintillating flotilla of stars, so much brighter than the stars as you see them from Earth, a faint yellow dot blinks lost in the glare. In that dot of light are photons that have seen Daniel Defoe writing the pages of Robinson Crusoe, have reflected from the keys of Johann Sebastian Bach's piano as he composed concertos for prince Leopold, have seen the first buildings of New Orleans constructed in the land of New France.

    "There is one of you who might be able to help," Troia says slowly. "Perhaps. One who might know enough about... not your sciences, but about the nature of reality and how it may be breached. The one who just left this room."