1.5 Atom and Eve

Raveena: "He keeps saying he didn't do anything to her."
Chase: "Maybe that was the problem."

Raveena, Jade, and Gabe head to Deaver's apartment. Raveena proceeds to rearrange Deaver's fencing room into a training room while Gabe and Jade go through this books. Gabe looks for information on Phillipi around 1688. Jade looks at occult books. Jade comments on poor Chase who's stuck on a date with Geoff. Raveena is kinder to him.

A swanky bar (for Augusta). Chase and Geoff discuss the circus. After an awkward pause, Geoff says he's been dying to visit a particular place in Augusta, if she's game.

Behind the state capital is a rollerblader's paradise. Streetlamps light the hill leading to the parking lot and hilly paved ditches, but don't dim the beautiful skyline. Geoff pulls Chase's skates and a change of clothes out the back, and pulls on his own skates. They skate for awhile and Geoff loosens up, more graceful on skates than on his feet.

Kalissa: "Friends? Aren't we just a group of people who hang out together out of loneliness and boredom?"
Gabe: "Sounds like friends."

Deaver's 8:00am Intro to Physics. He talks a million miles an hour, leaving his sleepy students (including Raveena) in the dust. Once panic has awakened them, he begins again, slowly.

Geoff drops Chase off. They look like they had fun. He stands by her at the door for a few seconds. Smiles. Says goodbye. And turns to go.

Back at the end of Deaver's class, he asks, "If you fire a gun in the air, would it be safe to catch the bullet? Explain why or why not for homework." And class is dismissed. Raveena stays behind, but notices someone else does as well. A prim woman about Deaver's age approaches, and he greets her. She says she was in the area for a conference and wanted to say hello. Deaver invites her to join him and his friends at Lone Star's that night, and she agrees to do so.

Geoff: "She's evil." (The gang looks at him.) "She's young, pretty, and..."
Kalissa: "...Dancing with Deaver?"
Geoff: "Uh... and when's the last time we fought a demon?"

Chaes and Raveena arrive first and chat about the date. Chase declares Geoff too uptight, but potentially moldable. She just doesn't seem to be sure he's worth it. Gabe arrives and declares Jade off on Daughters of Hecate work. Gabe asks Shannon about the lack of country music tonight, it being Thursday. She points to the Latin band at the front and says that they were in town from Portland, so she thought they'd do something different. Raveena reveals the conversation with Deaver, and they ransack Deaver's past for the potential, and lack thereof, for love stories.

Back at Deaver's place, he goes through old photos of himself and the girl from his room - Janet. They were clearly a couple for quite awhile as well as being lab partners. He notices the time and quickly puts his stuff back.

Back at the Lone Star, Deaver enters and sits with the gang. About then a small commotion erupts beside them as a petite Spanish girl tells a drunk boy that she can't dance with him anymore because she's promised the first tango to...(turning and pointing at Deaver) him!

With a smiling "Ojala que ven al diablo rapidamente," she deftly avoids a butt slap and attempts to pull Deaver onto the floor. After a protest, the gang gets him to stand up and join her (she needs saving after all). On the dance floor she starts teaching him to tango, and he doesn't do so badly.

Back at the table, Geoff arrives and notices the confused stares in the direction of the dance floor. He follows their gaze.

On the dance floor, they introduce themselves as Alex and Nikki. Deaver tells Nikki about teaching physics and she tells him that she has family in town and things are a little overwhelming over here. The song comes to an end and she asks for another dance.

The hair on Gabe's neck stands on end, and he turns to see a woman in a cloak. She gets to the edge of the dance floor, says "Part," and the dancers part all the way across to Deaver and Nikki. Gabe gets up to get everyone's attention. The cloaked one yells, "Whore!" and Nikki goes flying against the wall.

Chase: "Do you make tables move across the floor?"
Nikki: "No."
Chase: "Then we should leave."

Raveena launches from her chair and onto the dance floor. Janet (the cloaked witch) says, "I come here to share my triumph with you, and you're with someone else." Deaver bumbles over English while Janet gets even angrier.

People are watching. Shannon decides to hit the fire alarm. Sprinklers go on and the room starts chaotically emptying out. Shannon ducks behind the counter. Nikki stands up and starts yelling at her in Spanish and English. Janet opens her palm and goes Pyro. Nikki dives behind a wall as Janet throws.

Raveena reaches Janet and begins a throw down, but isn't used to magickal fighting. Gabe keeps her busy by telekineticaly throwing a table at her, then wigs at what he just accomplished. Chase gets a bottle from Shannon and a lighter from the table and manages to light Janet's cloak on fire before running over to check on Nikki.

Geoff ushers Shannon out of the dancehall. Janet incants something and Deaver begins to exit, robot-like. She puts out her cloak and Raveena topples Deaver, trying to get him to stop. Kalissa notices a gaudy necklace that Janet wears and attempts to divest her of it. Janet shoots black magick badness at her and she falls to the floor.

Meanwhile, Chase unsuccessfully attempts to get Nikki to leave. Back at the fight, Geoff reenters and pulls Kalissa out of the way. Janet waves at Raveena, and pales. Deaver stops trying to get up. Janet looks around the room, almost fearful, and flies up into the air, running outside about three feet off of the ground. The gang watches her go.

Gabe: "Careful guys, she's seriously magick."
Chase: "What, like throwing people against walls wasn't enough to figure that out?"

Deaver explains that Janet Tinto [I let the group come up with a name and I get a label off the wine bottle. Geez. ;) ] was a colleague and girlfriend of his back at Urbana-Champaign doing the same research he was on fermions - the basic building blocks of matter. He believes that they found a previously undiscovered base particle that may account for some of the universe's "missing mass."

He continues to wax poetical on physics [and the director gets lost even though he explained it to her before]. He says that she wasn't a witch back when they were dating, and it would be impossible for her to become that powerful that quickly. The group can't figure out why she left right when she had the upper hand, but they can figure out that by the way she acted that her motives are all about Deaver.

They decide to research the necklace. Nikki is introduced to everyone. They ask if she's all right. She's a little singed, but it was the most interesting thing that's happened since she's been here, so she's happy. Flying tables don't totally weird her out since her mother could do some stuff like that, even though she can't. People throwing fire, on the other hand, fall into her weird category. Before Raveena walks her home, she looks at Deaver and says, "I hope to see all of you again soon."

The gang heads to the fifth floor to research the necklace. After nothing finding, Deaver breaks down and tells them about his lab partner post-Janet breakup, Ross. The two of them managed to create enough of this new particle to be seen by the human eye. While trying to capture it, it hit Ross. Ross became melting boy as everything he touched morphed in a Dali fashion. Deaver managed to get him home and to bed. The next day things weren't any better, but Ross tried to drive. He and the car wrapped themselves around a pole and Ross died.

Deaver: "She wasn't evil when we broke up!"

They call the hotel Janet is staying at in an attempt to contact her, but she isn't answering her phone. They decide that Raveena will sneak into her room and see what she can find.

At the Smithe Hotel, she has problems getting past the front desk and finding any information about Dr. Tinto, when Nikki shows up. She's staying at the hotel, too, and she manages to sweet talk the front deskman into telling her where Janet is staying. She brings Raveena up like their old friends, but out of sight of the deskman, she decides to go back to her room, as Janet is the last person she wants to see again any time soon. She reminds Raveena to visit any time as, "It would be nice to know some nice people here."

Outside Janet's room, Raveena listens but hear's nothing. She picks the lock and gets inside. Janet sleeps on the bed, the necklace still on. Raveena approaches quietly, eyes on Janet and the necklace. The chain isn't long, but it's thick, and the clasp is behind Janet's head. Raveena slowly turns the chain around Janet's neck, looking for the clasp. She places a finger on the jewel and shivers - power rush. She quickly unclasps it, but as she starts to lift it, Janet awakes. Janet pummels Raveena with black energy, nearly throwing her against the wall. Raveena tries to reason with Janet as Janet reclasps her necklace, but she can't seem to get through Janet's bitterness. After a few comments about Deaver's social life, Janet darkly tells Raveena to get out...now. Raveena quickly complies.

Geoff: "We have our own Laura Croft."

Raveena gets back to the fifth floor where Geoff, Deaver, Gabe, Kalissa, and Chase are researching. Raveena expresses her certainty that Janet's power is tied to her necklace and that Janet is after Deaver.

About then, Janet enters through the secret entrance. She is through with games, and she raises her arms. Gabe attempts to remove the necklace telekinetically. The necklace doesn't come off, but the jeweled portion is pulled off of her body. Raveena knocks her out with a kick and quickly divests her of the necklace. Kalissa asks for rope, and Raveena produces some from her tool belt.

Deaver examines the necklace - two rubies and a crystal. The others gather to examine. Deaver touches it and gets an uncomfortable sensation and quickly lets go. They convince the already wigged out Gabe to touch it, and he gets a rush of power mixed with loneliness. The group decides to do scientific research on the item before witchy research, as it was created by science. Deaver takes the necklace to his lab, and Chase and Geoff take Janet to the hospital.

After some research, Deaver realizes that the necklace is powerful but unstable. He also comes to the conclusion that it was made with information gathered from his and Ross's experiment, meaning Janet is the only one that could've made it, she being the only other one who'd gotten a good look at their research. Deaver finally realizes that the item is not safe and would be better destroyed.

Chase and Geoff get Janet into the hospital. When she wakes up, Chase questions her, first with basic concussion questions, then with more leading ones. She claims no knowledge of the necklace or the events at the Lone Star, asking Chase what legal charges she actually thinks she can bring against anyone. Deaver arrives, and Chase and Geoff leave.

Janet and Deaver have a heart to heart. Janet is clearly bitter over the breakup, bitter over her treatment in the department, and bitter over Deaver's brilliant but rejected work. She tells him that she's as sorry as he is over Ross and had nothing to do with it. She also has trouble understanding why she got so angry at the dance hall. She then tells Deaver that he has many beautiful friends, and he needn't worry, as she won't come back to McKennit.

Kalissa: "Valentine... like the fat naked baby with the arrows."
Raveena: "Well, that was kinda me as a kid."

Chase returns to her apartment and her roomie Julia greets her with a grin. "That guy," she bubbles, "the cute one from the med school, the one who totally digs you? He came over and brought you flowers! And a present!"

Chase grabs a beer from the fridge and heads back to her room at Julia's urging, a little nervous as she didn't think Geoff was the flower and presents type. As she enters, a sea of lilies and roses greets her. Chase opens the card that sits on a rectangular gift box. It's an invitation to a masquerade party next week, signed with a personal note:

"Hope to see you there. ~ Kevin."

Playlist Highlights

Complicated - Avril Lavigne

Lay back it's all been done before
And if you could only let it be
you will see.
I like you the way you are
When we're drivin' in your car
and you're talking to me one on one but...

Objection (Tango) - Shakira

It's not her fault that she's so irresistible,
but all the damage she's caused isn't fixable.