DC’s Dawnstar: Consciousness

“I’ll just pull the curtains to!” Mabel said as Ryan and Kate sat on the sofa in the living room and George settled back into his chair. “George, flick the lamp on so we can see what we’re doing.”

The gentle light made little difference to the light that also came into the room through the golden curtains, but Mabel smiled. “That’s better. We can’t have anyone looking in.” She sat herself down beside George and looked over to Kate.

“You seem a little pale, Mrs G, and a bit flustered. Are you OK?” Kate asked, concerned.

“Ooh, I’m fine, love. Just a bit bothered, is all. I asked our Ryan to call you as you might be able to ‘elp. ‘Ow are you doing with your fillyfallying?”

Kate opened her mouth and turned to look at Ryan. She didn’t speak. Ryan laughed. “She’s asking about your studies, Kate, from when you wanted to be a metaphysicist.”

“Oh!” Kate realised. “I didn’t finish that course. I moved over to biochemistry.”

“Ooh, bother!” Mabel sighed, putting her head in her hands.

“Mrs G, what’s wrong?”

“’Ave you seen today’s news, love?” George asked.

“That factory closing’s a bit of a blow.” Kate commented. “My uncle works there.”

“No, not that,” George continued. “The end bit… the explosions over here.”

“Oh, the meteorites?” Kate smiled. “Yes, they seem to be making a big thing about that, aren’t they? They’ve closed the full length of Riverside Walk. I had to drive all around the houses to get through to here.”

“We’ve got one upstairs.” Mabel said through her hands.

“A meteorite?” Kate asked.

“And our Ryan’s killed ‘er.”

“What?” Kate looked at Ryan again.

“I didn’t kill her. And it isn’t a meteorite. Come on upstairs. It’s best you see for yourself. You’ll understand better that way.” Ryan stood and gestured for Kate to follow him. George and Mabel stood afterwards and followed them out of the room and up the stairs to the bedroom.

“Oh, I really like that throw!” Kate said, looking at the feathers draped over the side of the bed, “How unusual.”

“See, our Ryan? Kate noticed first off.” From the top of the stairs, Mabel watched Ryan roll his eyes from just inside the doorway.

Kate walked into the room and saw the figure on top of the bed. Dark hair, parted in the centre of her head had fallen across her face, but revealed a large golden star on her forehead. She was wearing a type of pale yellow swimsuit with sleeves, and the same colour boots with a frill around the top. Her knees were raised with her ankles crossed.

“Ry?” Kate asked, noticing the charred saucer on the bed.

“That was sage and onion stuffing.” Mabel explained. “She needed it to get to her architect’s plain, or something.”

“Architect’s plain?” Ryan asked.

“Oh, I can’t remember!” Mabel replied. “It’s all ‘appened too quick. This is why we needed your ‘elp, love. This is Dawn.” She looked at Kate.

“How could I help?” Kate asked. “And Ryan’s killed her? You want me to help cover it up?”

“No!” Ryan said. “I haven’t killed her. I just shook her and this happened. Apparently, she’s an alien from those explosions last night. Nan thought with your metaphysics you’d know what they would be looking for, and what they would do if they found her.”

“An alien?” Kate asked. “You expect me to believe that? She’s our age, Ry. She isn’t an alien. What’ve you done to her?”

“Nothing!” Ryan repeated.

“Look at the roof of my shed, love.” George pointed out of the window. “She fell through that last night. We found her and brought her in. She was hurt.”

“Well, now she’s dead!” Kate said, without thinking.

“Oh…” Mabel whimpered.

“Don’t worry, Nan. We’ll sort this out.” Ryan lifted one of Dawnstar’s wings. “They are real!” He laughed. “How many people our age have wings, Kate?”

“Wings? I thought that was the bedspread!”

“Wait a minute!” Mabel said. “She needed the sage and onion to meditate into her architect’s plain. She said if she were disturbed, she’d get ‘erself stuck there. That’s what’s happened. Our Ryan hasn’t murdered her, he’s just trapped ‘er inside her meditation.”

“How can we get her out of that?” George asked. “I can’t even get into a meditation.”

“George, you’re always meditatin’!” Mabel laughed. “Sleeping.” She said to Kate, who smiled. “Could you recommend a way to wake her up?”

“I don’t know.” Kate answered. “Maybe trying to recreate the environment she was in before she went under might help.”

“Ryan!” Mabel shouted. “Quick. Run downstairs and fetch that open box of stuffing and some matches. Bring a fresh saucer as well.” Ryan started to walk down the stairs. “Oh, and pour another cup o’ tea. That was all she ‘ad. Stuffing and tea. George, you get round that side of her, and I’ll lift her on this. Get ‘er sittin’ up again.”

“By ‘eck. She’s heavy, isn’t she?” George heaved as he lifted Dawnstar back into her sitting position. “It’s a wonder them wings can carry ‘er!”

“Ooh, George!” Mabel tutted. “Good job she can’t hear you. She can’t hear ‘im, love, can she?” Mabel looked over to Kate who looked puzzled at the foot of the bed.

“Erm… I dunno…” Kate answered, full of thought.

Ryan soon returned with the items.

“Right,” Mabel said. “Ry, set fire to the stuffin’ and ‘old it under her nose. Kate, you stand round by George with the cup of tea. She’ll probably need a sip if this works.”

Ryan struck a match and placed it burning into the stuffing mix. The granules charred slightly, although more smoke came off the match. He held this under Dawnstar’s nose and waited. He saw the winged girl breathe in the small flume of smoke. “Well, she’s breathing!” He said to Mabel, who sighed in relief.

Dawnstar opened her eyes and began to flap her wings forcefully.

———-

This is the ninth instalment of my fan fiction tale based on the DC Comics character Dawnstar.

The first part can be found here.
The second part is here.
The third part here.
Part four is here.
Part five is here.
Part six is here.
The seventh part is here.
Part eight is here.

Dawnstar was created by Paul Levitz and Mike Grell. All other characters are of my own creation.