Baking is therapy! (Open RP, canon updating--SPOILERS)

[my-soul-itches.livejournal.com]

So here's a thought exercise.

You've decided to go back home to help out your friends, because maybe you've had a long enough rest and it's time to use what you know. You get kicked out of the city you thought would accept you, and end up living off-shore on a resurrected fake asteroid that used to belong to a really bad guy who is now living with you and maybe one of the good guys. You're dealing with that, and one day you get kidnapped by demons who use your own powers against you and your friends. You find out that your parents aren't who you thought they were--and you aren't what you thought you were.

And then, just when you're starting to accept that, your mentor gets killed, and you get ordered to go back to hell to rescue the evil psycho she-demon who ripped out part of your soul. Yeah. Good times.

Megan came back to Hogwarts, less bloody and concussed than last time, but somehow twenty times more beaten-down. There was a limit, and she had just about reached it.

Moping was not going to help her. If she started thinking about it--any of it--she might very well start screaming and never stop. Instead, after 'porting back, she slipped very quietly into the kitchens and enlisted the help of several house elves. They tried to do all the work, but she needed something to do to keep her in constant motion, something to keep her from thinking.

After a sleepless night, she set out trays with heaps of baked goods in the Great Hall, all with the lumpy appearance of genuinely homemade treats. She taped up her sign ("Free! Guaranteed NO HEXES OR POTIONS!") and sat back with a sigh, wings folding neatly behind her and a slightly too-desperate smile on her tired face.

Comments

[rat-bstrd.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, yeah I think she likes you." Some of the awful pressure in the room went away as the girl perked up. "So, I'm Rat. Or did she tell you?"

[my-soul-itches.livejournal.com]

"I think she mentioned you? It's been a while. It's nice to meet you, though." She settled down, picking at some lint on a sleeve. "So I've been away for a little while. A couple of weeks, I think. Have I missed anything big? Another baby sun, maybe?"

[rat-bstrd.livejournal.com]

"Nah." He relaxed very slightly. "None of that crap. It's been insanely quiet around here. I haven't done anything except training."

"You were off...doing something?" Something very unpleasant, he suspected.

[my-soul-itches.livejournal.com]

"Oh? Training for what? If you don't mind me asking, I mean. I was looking into a lot of Defense Against the Dark Arts stuff before I went back to San Francisco, for all the good it did me."

She tried very hard not to think about it. There was a lot to think about, though, and it didn't work all the way. Her smile went frozen for a second with the effort of shoving it back. "I went to help out some friends. Things got... I needed a break, so I came back here. Anyway, it's nice to bake again."

[rat-bstrd.livejournal.com]

"Nothing in particular. Just...training." Rat was paranoid, he didn't need a reason to train.

"Baking's good" he agreed, "I can't bake for shit." But he couldn't help poking at the sore place, even if it hurt. "So, you're from San Francisco? That's cool. I thought you might be from another planet, or something."

[my-soul-itches.livejournal.com]

"No, I'm from Wales. I was just kind of in San Francisco for a while. There was this school that I went to before here, and it used to be in New York except we got attacked all the time and after it was blown up we were all sent home, but then we were all called to San Francisco, but we were kicked out and lived on a floating metal asteroid for a while... So not really another planet, really." She leaned her head back. "Though it sounds really insane when I say it all out loud, doesn't it?"

[rat-bstrd.livejournal.com]

"Nah, not crazy. So you're from the future? Lots of people attacking, hmm?" His hands made involuntary fists again and he twitched a little.

[my-soul-itches.livejournal.com]

"No, I'm from now. Except maybe not now here. It's all sorts of strange, Hogwarts. But yeah, there's lots of... well, lots of people don't like mutants." She tugged at the point of one of her ears and wondered if she still counted as a mutant if she was only half of one. It counted, right?

[rat-bstrd.livejournal.com]

"Ah." That was all he could say. "Well that's cool."
He paused. "Uh, actually no it's not that they hate you, but you know. At least you're here now."

[my-soul-itches.livejournal.com]

"Yep." She leaned back, exhaling slowly. "I'm back." Now she just had to hope that no mutant-bashing, soul-stealing, mentor-killing, friend-murdering, brainwashing, elder-god-raising, genocidal lunatics came after her. "Good old Hogwarts," she muttered. "Want another biscuit?"