My Fiction. My Blog. My Life:After braving the vast world of the internet with fanfictions, I've decided to expand my portfolio with short stories, blog posts, and snippets of my novel.
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Chapter 10Raven had decided to play it safe this weekend, and as the weekend crew started to show up, she had removed herself to the nearby rocky out crop for some extra meditation. While the newer and younger titans were beginning to give the “old folks” a bit of a reprieve during the few days they stayed, it was still more people, more emotions, and sometimes more disasters. A lot of them were still coming to terms with their powers, or what it meant to work on a team. And many were still learning what it meant to handle the role of a superhero. Raven imagined the maturity level was possibly higher than a normal group of young teenagers. But always assumed she had been much more advanced when she was their age. Opening her eyes, she scanned the surroundings. It was a desolate place. The closest green thing was several yards away, and even that was just a small bush that had somehow managed to randomly pop up here. The air was pleasant today, not too hot, and totally free of anything man made. It was clean. Taking in a deep breath, she caught what she assumed was the smell of the sand. She had already been out here for a few hours, but bet it was only about 10 am. Gar had surprisingly been up when she left. His eyes had flickered over to her from the window as she was leaving. His eyebrows pinched together, slightly concerned as she got closer to the door. Though it seemed like he wanted to ask something, he had kept quiet. She felt something she didn’t quite grasp flow from him. It seemed like he wanted to know where she was going and for how long. And it frustrated her.
“I’m going out.” She announced a bit harsher than she had meant. Though he had turned around to resume his watch. He had glanced back to give her a confused smile and light shrugged. “Ok?” Raven had been halted by his answer. Her guard had somehow flared up without her meaning for it to. She didn’t want him to be her boyfriend, needing to know her whereabouts or whom she was seeing. And in her half-awake mood she had let it get the better of her. Calming herself she kept walking. “Hey,” he called back, “will you be back when Quill gets here?” Raven stopped and turned. The look on his face had made her stomach drop in remorse. He hadn’t been trying to play the dominating male because they slept together. He hadn’t wanted his friend to leave in his time of discomfort. It hadn’t really left him since he had learned someone wanted to talk to him about his parents. Rubbing her eyes, she had tried to push away the sleepiness and her obvious disregard for his emotion. “Of course,” she said in an almost cheerful voice. “I’m just a poof away.” She had tried to give him what she thought was fun wink, though it felt a bit awkward. But at least it had gotten her a larger smile from him. Taking another deep breath in she reminded herself that she really did need this meditation. Obviously, she wasn’t in the best of moods to be receiving guests. And slowly the world once again slipped away from her for a while. The communicated on her waist rung lightly, pulling her gently from her concentration. She had been expecting it. “Hello?” She answered, floating it open before she had even managed to open her eyes. “Hey,” Gar’s voice was mellow and her eyes flashed open to see him trying his best to mask it. He took a deep inhale before continuing. “Quill will be here soon. If you want to meet her?” They met new people all the time now. Though, he was never nervous about it. He usually thrived in being the center of attention from all the new hero’s. But none of them ever expected serious moral conversations from the silly light hearted titan. They all came in wanting someone to joke with, to forget these new troubles they somehow threw themselves into. He was use to that role. Raven and Victor took the brunt of the depression, anxiety, anger, and sometimes self-loathing. “Yeah, of course, Gar.” She said, much more for him than the actually girl in question. The receiving bay was in an odd hush as Raven appeared near the back. Apparently, Tim and Conner had been sent elsewhere to not crowd Quill. Victor waved as the plane started its decent into the room. The hiss of the landing gear momentarily washed over the room with a windy gust. Raven caught Gar’s back stand a bit straighter as the door opened. Jinx walked out first. She only walked a few steps off the ramp before turning to face the young woman. She looked thin, Raven first thought. The girl hadn’t had much of a home since she became an orphan. Her brown eyes stayed almost fixed on the floor as Victor approached her. His arms rose, intending on a hug. “Hey there,” he cheered, but when she didn’t raise her eyes he lowered his voice. “I mean, good morning Ms.Quill.” He offered his hand, and kept a polite distance. Her slender hand reached out and her eyes finally raised to meet his. A small smile finally graced her lips. Raven glanced at Gar to see if he was reading anything from the situation. They had been letting more people into the tower, but it didn’t mean she didn’t keep her guard up. Hard lessons learned were not easily forgotten. Gar had smiled lightly when Quill had, and relaxed his shoulder lightly. Raven looked back as the girl squeaked out a ‘thank you’. A small noise caught everyone’s attention and Jinx glanced down at the device on her waist. “Sorry. Gotta go. Quills?” Jinx looked at the girl who gave her a slightly larger small than Vic had managed. “I’m fine.” Quill nodded. Jinx gave her a quick hug and ran back up the ramp. After a cautious step, Victor lightly grabbed Quill’s arm and pulled her back away from the turning plane. Her eyes widened at the contact, but understood and followed him back to stand next to Gar and Raven. Gar did his best to catch her eye, and she rewarded him with a small smile. Raven noticed she barely got a quick glance, but didn’t linger on it. Quill’s light blue hair slid off her shoulder and fell down her back to hang low from her high pony tail. Leaning back, Raven tried to get a good glance at the young girl. But she was a few inches taller than Raven, and turned totally away from her to shake Gar’s hand. “Welcome Quill, we’ve been looking forward to meeting you. Sorry you can’t stay longer, but we’ll have a good couple of days.” His smile warmed and Raven could see his discomfort slipping away as he became his natural out going host. “Thank you,” Quill replied, gradually gaining her voice, “I really appreciate it.” Victor slipping in, forgetting the poor girls discomfort and put his hand on her shoulder, almost pulling her into a side hug. “Yeah, and we’ll show you around town, around the tower, whatever you want to see!” He had found his more enthusiastic voice again. Raven could see her pony tail move as she nodded. Keeping her distance, as she normally did when new people showed up, Raven watched the girl as Vic showed her the spare room she would be in. Gar was pointing out the window towards the ocean when Raven leaned on the doorframe. “And even further, there’s a pretty cool drop off about half a mile past that.” He explained, getting more excited as he was talking. “I can show you if you want.” The more he talked the more fear Raven could sense washing over the girl. Her eyes watched the ocean with a bit of reverence and longing but she was hiding an even deeper emotion. Raven had to admit, she was good at covering up her emotions. Gar should have picked up on some sort of signal, if she had been sending out the right ones. But even at what Raven guessed was sixteen, she was hiding it well. Whatever she was showing was masked as purely being shy. The girl smiled politely and nodded as she watched the ocean roll in and out. Raven reached her hand behind her and quietly knocked on the wall her back rested on. Even she could barely hear it, but she caught the quick twitch of one of Gar’s pointed ears before he turned his head slightly. With a quick shake of her head he stopped talking of swimming. She wasn’t sure if he knew exactly why he needed to stop talking, but he did. “Or, how about some lunch? Have you eaten?” Quill nodded, not looking away from the ocean. “Alright, um, how about video games?” “I use to play with my dad.” She whispered. Gar’s eyes instantly widened in apology, but she turned and cut him off. “I haven’t played in years, so maybe something easy?” She asked. “Um, yeah of course.” He agreed, obviously relieved. A small twitch popped in Gar’s arm as he stopped himself from wrapping an arm around the girl as they turned to leave the room. He was trying to keep his distance, but it was going against his very nature. However, he didn’t stop himself from lightly tickling Raven’s side as he grabbed her arm. Victor and Quill had already passed by and couldn’t see his subtle touch. He gave her a quick wink before his eyebrows rose in question. Glancing at the passing members, Raven flashed Gar an over dramatic scared face. He nodded and let go of her arm, smoothly joining the group as Victor turned around to ask his opinion on dinner plans. Raven had stuck around while they played. But Victor had left to talk with Conner and shoo Tim away with another trivial task. She stayed close enough for support if it was needed, but far enough away she could peacefully read. The girl had started to add to the conversation after about an hour of playing. Insignificant things like food preferences and favorite bands. But it was a start. Raven passed by the group to get tea, as they had started a break. Gar easily slipped by her to run down the hall, leaving her and Quill in the large room. Quill skirted the side of the couch, and ran into the silent floating woman. “Sorry,” Raven said. The girl staggered back a few steps, and stared at Raven. She looked apologetic but didn’t say anything. “How are you doing?” Raven asked, trying to comfort her. “I’m um, I’m ok.” She stuttered quietly. “Beast Boy said you have some orange juice.” She added, a little hesitant. “Uh, yeah,” Raven floated to the side. “Help yourself.” Quill lowered her head and passed to the kitchen, well around Raven. To give her room, Raven floated the kettle over to herself to refill her cup. A light touch on the base of her back caused her a slight jump as she watched her cup fill. Their eyes briefly met as Gar went to grab a cup for Quill. Placing the cup on the counter, Gar stood only a few inches taller than the slender girl. Quill smiled, thanked him, and filled the cup. The tension in her shoulders has eased and she looked up as he began one of his absurd fruit jokes. By the time dinner had finished, Raven noticed a small bit of ease had also relaxed the face of the girl. She had stayed closer to Gar the whole night, and well away from Raven. But after a long dinner of Victor and Gar asking her questions, or trying to cover up their intrusive questions with embarrassing stories about each other, Quill quietly excused herself for a shower. Placing her dish in the sink, Raven turned to notice Gar was also gone. Lost in the thought of where he could be, she accidently stopped in the middle of the walkway. Causing Victor to almost run into her, as he walked up with a high stack of pots and pans. “What do you think?” he said, edging around her to place the dishes in the sink. The team had always talked in private, one way or another about the new comers. Each member had grown in their abilities to pick up on subtle things. And together they gave each other enough comfort about the latest titan to at least get some sleep. Raven was a little surprised Gar had stuck around to add to the conversation, but maybe he had already made his decision on the girl. “She’s scared.” She said, grabbing her cup to refill it with tea. “Hell, everyone is when they first get here.” The sink quickly filled with water as he began scrubbing out the pots. “Yeah, but this is more. She’s afraid of herself.” Raven caught the wet pan from Vic’s out stretched hands and floated the towel over to dry the whole thing midair. Quietly sipping her tea, she thought about what they should do tomorrow. All the while floating dishes in the air to dry them. She liked doing chores like this, it practiced her ability to multitask. “I was thinking of taking her to see the course tomorrow. I mean not run it, but maybe just see it?” He asked without turning around. “Yeah, I think she would feel better if we told her she wasn’t allowed to run it. Then she wouldn’t feel pressured at all.” “Not a problem.” He agreed. Raven glanced around her again. Gar was still nowhere to be found. Victor didn’t seem to notice and Raven couldn’t bring herself to ask. Once they were finished, she would go searching for him. He had seemed to shake his melancholy, but still felt a bit concerned for him.
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AuthorI am split between a world of fantasies and science. {Blog}
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