Raven loves waffles more than life itself (ofevilsfire) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-09-11 09:11:00 |
|
|||
It was late. Too late, probably, for a girl to be wandering around at night. Especially not while carrying a basket filled with bottled water, wrapped sandwiches, and with some cash tucked safely in her pockets. She wasn’t armed, not obviously, and she hoped she wouldn’t have to use the weapons that were a part of her body. Not because she wasn’t willing, but because she’d never popped her claws in anger before.
And that was a line she hadn’t crossed yet. The one separating Laura from her dream-self.
She found three runaway girls, gave them water and food, and directed them to a hotel. Even if that was all she accomplished, it was enough.
Raven knew that there wasn’t anything she could do about her physiology or history. She knew that dwelling on it, along with what ifs and could haves wasn’t going to do her any good. She was what she was, and she fought to remain in control all the time. But between dreams of Malchior, traumatising Dr. Light twice to the point of him wanting to go to prison to avoid her and her abilities, to just the prophecy in general, it wasn’t that easy.
Which was why she was out late at night, regardless of the supposed danger. She’d be able to defend herself. Okay, so she didn’t know just what she was planning to do on these late night excursions. Be a Teen Titan and help? Call Dick or the police if necessary so as not to delve into vigilante mode or risk losing control like she had in the dreams?
It was how she came across Laura, helping the runaways. Hmm. That was an option. She wanted to help. She wanted to be more than a portal of evil. You’re the most hopeful person I know. While she understood Robin’s intent and that he even believed it, she still found that incredibly hard to believe. She just wanted to balance out the evil and darkness which ran through her blood.
It was this path that Laura had chosen. In her dreams she’d been a murderer, an assassin. She’d killed men, women and children. And it had been all she’d known for so long that even when she was on the side of ‘good’, she still helped the only way she’d known how. By hurting people. But when awake, she relied on walking that line. Logan helped her, sometimes. Furiosa too. It was as though they knew how easily she could cross the line.
She still had some cash (thanks to Logan) and some sandwiches. But now she wasn’t alone. She could hear someone nearby, lurking. Smell them, but the scent wasn’t an alarming one. She called out, “Hello?”
It was scary how easy it would be to cross over certain lines. Raven knew that it was within her to do so. There were times her thoughts went that way and she had to remind herself that it wasn’t going to do much good. Even if it meant she felt useless in a crisis because she was often overlooked or kept out purposefully because of her age, at least she hadn’t crossed over some moral event horizon.
Interesting. She’d been noticed. No matter, it wasn’t like Raven actually cared. She was more just keeping an eye on things, or attempting to. And also it wasn’t like she was a threat or planning anything nefarious and secrecy was super important. She was just used to being invisible. So she just stepped out of the shadows (or more like materialised from the shadows) and nodded.
“Hi…”
Laura maintained a wary stance while she studied the other girl, then tucked some hair behind her ear as she relaxed. Dream her never would have relaxed…Waking Laura was more curious as to what she was doing out here and how she’d seemed to come from nowhere. Coming from nowhere would have been handy when she had to kill- “It is dangerous to be out here alone….how did you do that?”
Wary was smart, especially given where they were and what time of night it was. Wary kept people alive. She might have abilities to defend herself as well as people to call if she really needed help (or not because then she would probably get an earful because of concern and the like), but wary was the way to go. And then a comment on said dangerousness, as well as curiosity about how Raven had done what she just did.
“I could ask you the same thing.” Which she could, but then she shrugged. “I guess its just something I picked up.”
The girl looked familiar, and her energy felt….different. Not what she would get from normal teenage girls. So probably a dreamer. “Ever dream?” Either it was an explanation, or it was a random question. But those were the best way to figure these things out.
“Yes,” Laura answered honestly. She nodded as though she understood. By way of .. accepting? Agreeing? Sympathizing? She held up her hand and popped her claws. They gleamed in the dim streetlamps, until she sheathed them again. Then she rubbed her knuckles. “I’m Laura. I’m trying to…” She gestured around them. “I was homeless. I was almost like them. I wanted to help.”
And that explained it all. The familiarity. How she had noticed her in the shadows when most people wouldn’t. Nor was it like there was anyone there to see them, which was why Raven temporarily dropped her glamour. There were a lot of things she had gained from the dreams. Without using her abilities, appearing like herself without the aid of magic was the easiest way to go about it.
“Raven.” The explanation was met with a small nod. She could appreciate that. “I feel I need to do good to balance out what I am. So….” here she was, trying to help even when she had no idea what she planned to do.
"Did someone make you?" Laura asked. She took a few steps, then stopped in front of Raven. The other girl was taller than Laura by several inches, so she had to look up a little. "I understand. Wanting to do good. The people who made me...her..." She waved her hand, trying to separate herself from her dream self. "...used me to hurt others."
“Not really…. but I’m half demon.” Sighing, Raven just repeated the prophecy which would forever haunt her. This was her life here, she didn’t have to be that girl from the dreams. The prophecy didn’t have to even come true (but given the nature of dream bleed over, well… she would always worry.) “The gem was born of evil’s fire. The gem will be his portal. He comes to claim, he comes to sire. The end of all things mortal.”
Such a thrilling and uplifting prophecy there. And it was why she always wanted to try and help, as if desperately. She knew it ended up working out in the dreams, but what if something happened here? There may be more options available to them here with different types of magics, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t happen or would be easily stopped. The capability and threat of being the portal was always there and it terrified her. “So yeah.”
Laura nodded again, as if that wasn't something absurd. But then, half-demon was something she'd met in her dreams. Dealt with. Logan had been possessed, before. She'd met literal angels and aliens. Raven almost belonged among them. "You are human enough. That matters. You fight it. That matters."
In her dreams she'd gone on a journey to discover herself, to determine if she had a soul. She didn't know the end to that. "We do not have to be what those who brought us into the world want us to be. We have choice."
They had to have choice. Laura felt that was the only thing she had to cling to after she dreamed. She fished around in her pack and pulled out sandwiches. "Do you want to help me?"
“So I tell myself.” And she tried. Jack had helped with that when she’d been particularly dark on her destiny and the dreams. Zatanna did what she could to let Raven live a normal life and be a normal teenager, something she had been missing not just in the dreams, but in life as well. She appreciated it, but it also sometimes felt stifling in that she wanted to help and do more than be a normal teenager. She was relieved and even shocked that she’d been included in research yet had been unable to help. The nature of dream bleed over most likely. That and the whole being crushed by stone and healing herself in a coma and waking up in a cage, only to have to throw her best friend into a portal because he was affected.
Then Laura was handing her sandwiches and Raven nodded.
“Yeah, I do.” And she meant it. She hadn’t anticipated this to be the way the night would turn out, or be given a notion of something she could do to help that wouldn’t push her over some moral event horizon that seemed to loom over her, waiting.
“I hope we do not encounter any resistance.” From her dreams, Laura had first hand knowledge of how some people could get about what they considered their property. “But it is a warm night. The water helps, and the food. I have a little cash left, I helped two girls get a hotel room…”
Nothing asked for, no favors, no promises, just help. Laura felt it was important to just to help with no strings attached.
“Same.” Not that Raven held much hope in that regard. Because the second you said you hoped there wasn’t something, the thing would occur. It was the way of life. So while she did hope that their going around and finding runaways to try and help would go smoothly, Raven wouldn’t count on it. Not normally and especially not in Orange County.
“That’s good.” People were always so opportunistic. There was always something expected in return for kindness. It was the world they lived in and that was just depressing.
Laura nodded, going silent and starting to walk. She didn't look back, expecting Raven to follow her. This neighborhood got worse the farther they went in. A car slowed down, and then sped up past them. Laura eyed it warily, before crossing a street and peering into an alley.
A man was shoving a teenage girl roughly against the wall. Laura reacted by throwing a water-bottle at his head.
Walking in silence was good. It wasn’t like there was much to discuss. At least, not initially. But then there was someone shoving a girl against a wall and…. Raven blinked, her eyes narrowing as he turned to look at them. One, this was dangerous. Two? She recognised him and she knew that he was much more dangerous than just some jerk who shoved girls around.
Already she could feel the power in her crackling. Most times she was better at keeping in under control but this man, the ties to her father’s world, they made her boil and she had seen the damage he had done. Was he one of the ones who had shot Dick? She didn’t know. But she did know that conventional methods wouldn’t work, shadows seeming to grow from her to grab him.
Laura flexed her wrists, fighting the instinct to pop her claws. Her eyes turned to Raven, to the energy crackling around and the way the shadows moved through the air. She'd never seen anything like it. She looked between Raven and the man. Instinct kicked in and her claws popped in both hands, little droplets of her own blood dribbling from her knuckles. She'd rather be prepared, than not. Concern tinged her voice. "Raven?"
“Make sure the girl is okay.” Her voice was strained, but she was still enough in control that she knew that getting the girl to safety was the most important thing. As for the jerk they had come across? He wasn’t going to be so lucky. The glamour seemed to fade and darkness and shadows were coming from beneath her cape. Eyes seeming red. She was done with men of her father’s ilk hurting people. He was a criminal.
Stop it.
Even in the dreams, this amount of power had scared her, but that voice was currently quiet underneath it all. Her eyes hadn’t gone double or red yet, so that was good. But she was focused, glaring at the man who seemed ready to strike. He either didn’t recognise her, or didn’t care. Didn’t matter to Raven.
Laura looked at Raven again, her claws retracting. There was anger radiating off of Raven and Laura knew enough angry dream people to know when to step aside. She grabbed for the girl, pulling her aside. "Slip under the third rib left side, angle up. Straight to heart."
She was mumbling that mostly to herself. Then she put a hand over the girl's eyes. "Do not be afraid, we will protect you."
With the girl protected, the tendrils of shadow and her soul self raced out and grabbed the man as he reached for something to fight back with, knocking the gun to the side without ever touching him. Then he was grasping the ground as he was pulled towards her, Raven seeming to grow in size and up as he went under the now billowing cape, demon eyes visible as the glamour had vanished.
There were no words. No taunting. At least not verbally.
It took a flicker of lightning in her mind to realise just what it was she was doing and she quickly lowered to the ground, the darkness releasing the hold of the man who was curled up and trembling, pale.
“So dark. So cold…” The words were spoken in Russian, broken up and Raven just stared at what she had done.
“Turn yourself in.”
Her voice was detached and it didn’t quite feel like it came from her, glamour reappearing. Moving her hand, the man seemed to get up and stumble towards the closest police station. She wouldn’t need to follow to make sure he would do it. He would and a part of Raven really didn’t care about what she had just done while the other part of her was horrified. It was buried beneath her normal facade, but it was horrified.
Laura watched this, one hand still over the girl's eyes. She doubted that she'd even really remember what was happening - it was bizarre enough that maybe she'd think she'd been tripping. It would be best that way.
As the man ran away, she was tempted to follow to make sure, but Raven didn't seem concerned. She gave the girl some money and a sandwich and shooed her off to a motel.
Raven's transformation had been disconcerting and a few months ago she might have been more afraid. "Dark and cold?" She asked, stepping close. She left space - she wouldn't want to be touched just now, and she doubted Raven would either.
Being touched was definitely not something she wanted to deal with. Even on a normal day, she wasn’t thrilled by the idea of physical contact. Right now? Definitely not. Though she was intrigued that Laura seemed to understand Russian. No matter.
“He was encased in darkness.” That was the simple explanation. Raven didn’t really know how to explain it even if she wanted to. She just knew that she had taken him into a void of darkness and that it left them cold. There weren’t exactly words there.
"I see." Laura didn't really, but there was no point in pressing the issue. She hadn't had to hurt anyone with her claws, and it had been handled with relatively little violence. She considered that a win. "Are you okay?" It seemed appropriate to ask.
If Raven believed that Laura actually understood? Well. Who could say. She was extremely good at masking her emotions. Sometimes an annoyed look or eye roll. But she usually didn’t press and it didn’t actually matter one way or the other. What did matter was that someone who was a very dangerous man, who did much worse than what they had come across, was turning himself into the police and that no one was injured.
In theory.
There was then the fact that she had done something that even in the dreams terrified her because it was so much the demon part of her, the daughter of Trigon. She used her powers for good, but did it matter when that was the outcome? Did she care? Should she be more upset?
“What?” Because she hadn’t heard the initial comment and then shook her head. “Yeah. I’m fine.” She just...wouldn’t mention it. To anyone if she could help it. That would just cause far too many problems.
"Okay," Laura said. She accepted that answer, even if she didn't quite believe it. "I think that maybe we are done." She looked down the alley again, feeling as though maybe they weren't done but she didn't want to get involved in another fight with someone. But she didn't want to go home yet. "Do you want to get breakfast?"
Getting involved in another fight was definitely not a thing Raven wanted to do. So she was fine with them being done for the night. Or Laura could ask about getting breakfast which caused the teen to pause. It was still dark so she didn’t have to worry yet about being back home. So she nodded. “Sure.” Waffles. Waffles sounded really good.