Rm 217 late afternoon, Saturday

[fantastic_torch]

Johnny woke, found Savannah's note, and groaned. Half an hour later he got up long enough to take a hot shower, then laid back in bed, Desitny curled up on his chest. He knew he drank too much last night but at the time, that was exactly the point. Things had been sort of rocky with Savannah, ever since Wednesday and he more or less needed the respite in the form of alcohol.

Just today he was paying for it.

Where was Ronan when he needed him?

[Door's open as is the post.]

Comments

[blackmagic-eve.livejournal.com]

Eve poked her head into the room. She'd actually been looking for Savannah, but hey. Johnny was just as good. "Hey," she greeted cheerfully. "And no, I'm not the girlfriend, just in case you were confused."

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

"I wasn't," he said low from his prone position on the bed. "Savannah's not here."

[blackmagic-eve.livejournal.com]

"Just making sure." Eve leaned against the doorframe. "You look like you got run over by a truck or something, man. You okay?"

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

"I'm fine, or will be. Spent the evening at Caritas," he told her as Destiny bounded off his chest and towards the edge of the bed to bark at Eve. "Destiny, hush."

[blackmagic-eve.livejournal.com]

"Gotcha." Eve grinned. "She's just saying hi. Aren't you, girl?" She moved over to hold a hand out to Destiny. She set the big leather diary in her other hand down on the bed to give Destiny a proper scratch behind the ears.

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

"What is that?" he asked, indicating the leather book as he moved to prop himself with pillows at his back. "For Savannah?

[blackmagic-eve.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Eve said with a nod. "It's a grimoire I've been keeping for her for a while. Well, since I first got here. It's got all the darker spells I know, including some that not even Benicio might've found for her." Having been a dark witch had its perks. "And a lot of notes on them. How to prep for them, details on the building blocks, anecdotes about how they work, stuff like that. You might like that stuff, actually." Said casually, as she focused on Destiny's head. "Was going to drop it off with Savannah, but hey, why not drop it off with you?"

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

Johnny did not just get an entirely wicked thought in his head. "Yeah, I'll make sure she gets it," he said casually. He still was not sure on the whole learning of the dark spells that Savannah was talking about. Maybe checking out the book first would be a good idea.

[blackmagic-eve.livejournal.com]

"Thanks." Eve hesitated. Did she want to bring this up now or not? Ah, hell, she was gonna go for it. "Listen, I wanna talk to you about something Savannah mentioned to me yesterday."

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

Ah, hell. Johnny inwardly groaned. He was more that certain this couldn't be good. "I'm all ears."

[blackmagic-eve.livejournal.com]

"Well... she said you feel like an outsider when it comes to magic."

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

Johnny took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "It's no secret that I don't know it, can't do it - so yeah, I might feel that way. Why is she telling you this?"

[blackmagic-eve.livejournal.com]

"Because I'm her mother and she's always been able to tell me anything and everything," Eve said. "And because I know exactly how she feels about a lot of things. Not this particular situation, granted, but a lot of things."

She ran a hand through her hair. "And because she thinks it's important that I make sure you know I don't want to exclude you or make you feel like an outcast. Which I don't, for the record. I'm glad that you want to be there for her during her practice as much as you do."

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

Lowering his eyes, he felt the slightest bit of tension creep up on him. Admitting to Savannah this fault (because he did see it as such) was one thing, but having to speak about it to her mother was something else entirely. He wasn't comfortable with it and the slight shifting of his body might have indicated that.

"I have to be honest with you Eve, whether or not you mean to exclude me, doesn't really concern me. If Savannah wants me there, I'm there. If not," he shrugged. "I'm not. You're her mother and I respect that, and I also appreciate your acceptance of me during those times, whenever they may be. But really, it is her and her feelings I care about."

[blackmagic-eve.livejournal.com]

He wasn't the only tense one. Eve went stiff. "So you don't want me to do everything I can to make you feel comfortable with this and not feel like an outsider. Okay. But you're the one who gets to tell Savannah. Because she's the one who asked me to say this."

She took a step back. "I don't know what problems you have with this, or even if you have any with it at all. That's something only you and Savannah know and it isn't my place to butt in. Which, okay, I just did. And I am sorry for that. But she asked me to. It is so important to her that you not feel like an outsider. I said I would because I want her to be happy."

She shrugged. "I don't know. Just... tell her I came by."

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

Johnny was just not popular lately was he? And he kept sticking his foot in his mouth and yeah... god dammit.

He sat up. "Eve, wait, jesus. Okay, okay... this stuff isn't easy for me, you know? Thinking she might go out there and try to learn these new, darker spells and possibly hurt herself. I'm mixed up here about that and it's leaving me acting like a dick lately." He ran his hands back through his hair. "Put yourself in my shoes - would you feel like an outsider were you me?"

[blackmagic-eve.livejournal.com]

"I'd feel like the biggest outsider in the history of outsiders," Eve said. "And honestly? That's kind of why I added some of the stuff in the grimoire. 'cause I knew you'd probably be looking through it to see what she was getting into. I wanted you to be able to understand at least some of it."

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

"That's about how I feel right now. Between you, Sean, and Savannah. I feel like... " not a superhero, that's for sure "...well, helpless describes it pretty well."

"I'm sorry Eve, I know you're trying to help me, at Savannah's insistence, and I do appreciate it. I was going to read through that book before I gave it to her." Johnny studied her, his eyes intense. "You wouldn't give her something, allow her to do something, if you knew she could hurt herself beyond repair, would you?"

[blackmagic-eve.livejournal.com]

"Fuck no," was Eve's succinct reply. "Later in her life, maybe. When she's twenty-five or thirty and has had more time to harness her power and understand it and work with it. But not now, when she's still so new to it all."

She looked at him. "And that's a total maybe. I promise I'm not intending on showing up on her doorstep in a decade with that kind of spell. I'm just saying, if I were of a mind to give it to her, it wouldn't be now."

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

He nodded. "Thanks. I needed to know that, from you."

Johnny shook his head, his look almost rueful. "Savannah, she's got this mind of her own and I think that scares me the most. I think she thinks she's stronger than what she is, and attempts to handle possibly more than she can control."

[blackmagic-eve.livejournal.com]

Eve couldn't help laughing. "Um, yeah, she gets that from me. All of it. Even stronger than it is in me, if that's possible."

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I believe it," he replied, chuckling.

"Just so you know," his tone grew serious, "I've warned her; someone touches her, I'll kill them."

[blackmagic-eve.livejournal.com]

"Oh, not without me getting in on the action." She heartily approved of the 'kill anyone who hurts Savannah' plan.

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I'll make sure to leave an untorched piece, just for you," he smirked.

[blackmagic-eve.livejournal.com]

"Excellent." She gave a thumbs up.

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

He laughed. "You wanna hang around or you want me to just tell her you stopped by?"

[blackmagic-eve.livejournal.com]

"You can tell her I stopped by." Eve smiled. "And Johnny? I'm glad we had this conversation."

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

"Will do," he said, smiling. "Yeah... I know."

After Eve

[walks-two-paths.livejournal.com]

After the scene on the beach, Savannah somehow managed to get herself to the dorms and then up to the room.

She pushed on the door and stumbled into the room, almost falling. There were tears on her face that seemed to be mixed with some blood and dirt. Her eyes were wide and dark, her face was pale and she didn't look good.

"J-Johnny?"

Re: After Eve

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

He was up off the bed in a heartbeat, reaching for her. "Oh my god what the hell happened to you? Baby? Savannah?"

Re: After Eve

[walks-two-paths.livejournal.com]

"A-attacked me... he... hurt... and then he didn't..." Savannah was shocky and started shaking. "Beat me..."

Re: After Eve

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

"What... who? Who did this to you?" Johnny was getting hot, the temperature of his skin, literally. "Who did this to you?"

Re: After Eve

[walks-two-paths.livejournal.com]

Savannah was bleeding and her eyes were full of hurt when she tried to hold onto him and keep focused. "W-Wyatt... he and Chris... fight... hurt... said horrible... W-Wyatt kill..."

Re: After Eve

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

Johnny went perfectly still and he moved her towards their bed, making her sit down. Kneeling before her, he caught her chin in his hand and made her look at him. "Who touched you? Who?"

Re: After Eve

[walks-two-paths.livejournal.com]

"Wyatt."

Re: After Eve

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

"Savannah, listen to me very carefully. You stay here. Lock the door behind me. When I get back, I'm taking you to the clinic, all right?" Johnny stood up and began to change into his firesuit.

Re: After Eve

[walks-two-paths.livejournal.com]

She watched him from the bed. "W-where are you going?"

Re: After Eve

[fantastic-torch.livejournal.com]

"I'm going after that son of a bitch," he said and came back to her where he bent and kissed her brow. "Stay here. I won't be long."

And he was gone, quickly.

Re: After Eve

[walks-two-paths.livejournal.com]

Savannah buried her face in her knees, trying to ignore the physical pain she was in as she fought with her emotions.