Sunshine On A Cloudy Day

June 12, 2018:

A first-time meeting between Impulse and Raven doesn't end terribly.

Titans Tower

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions: Red Robin, Zatanna Zatara,

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

DARKNESS.

…Well, not that dark. There are still lights visible from the water, but it doesn't bring about the harshness daylight tends to have on the scenery. Instead, there's a welcome serenity to it, one dot of calm among the beginnings of city nightlife.

Here in the darkness, Raven is away from the distractions New York tends to have on and off of its streets. The Tower isn't exactly what she would call home, but she doesn't make it a habit to stick around despite Red Robin's help the last time she stopped in without much of a warning.

But today has been a day. To return and sit in silence a few feet off of the ground makes her feel much better than staying around a torrent of emotion she experienced hours ago. Breathing in, the raven-haired girl pauses, holding that breath until she goes over what has occurred, until feels ready to exhale.

The fading light and the low visibility to go with it isn't anything to thwart the resident Speedster of the Titans from a run. His tinted goggles are equipped with the latest night vision and heat signature tech-ery as only Red Robin likes to provide, but even without such fancy upgrades, high speed reaction times and the ability to vibrate through obstacles make collisions and close-calls the least of Impulse's problems.

All in all it's been a relatively quiet night in New York, if there are even such things to begin with. Help stop a few shoplifters, get a couple of teens out of the way of a speeding car that ran a red light, that sort of thing. Topping off his patrol with a quick trip to the market, its with arms laden with a couple of bags that Impulse makes his way back to the Tower. There's no need to wait for the ferry to cross when you can just run right across the water, and no reason to slow down until he reached the door.

Except that tonight there is- a curiosity if nothing else. His hyper-senses catch the outline of a warm-blooded body on the manmade island as it overlays his tech-enhanced vision. Raven might feel a slight breeze, but then that's only when the Speedster backtracks to investigate, stopping some several feet away from the floating form in dark clothing. A couple plastic bags of meat packages hang from one arm, a large bag of cat litter under the other.

The breeze is a good indicator that she should breathe again. Raven's eyes open, blinking twice when she realizes the breeze is slightly out of place. She also notices the presence nearby, but no hostile feelings are attached to it.

To make sure, she turns her head, the hood moving with her as she looks in Impulse's direction.

No. Not hostile. Just bags of stuff.

And she sits like that for a while longer. "…Looks heavy," she comments, indicating the loads in his thin arms with a nod.

Amber eyes blink from behind the yellow goggles. "Huh?" Impulse follows her glance to his load as though he'd completely forgotten about it.

"Oh! Ah, maybe a little. It's not too bad. Um. So who're you?" He manages to jump back on track with what he'd intended to ask, his head tilting to the side. "Did'ja need to see someone at the Tower? Or you just um… Meditating? Looked like you were meditating." At least that's how Max would always do it, except there'd be a lot of flashy sparks.

"You sure?" By her tone, it's rhetorical; she doesn't expect an answer, especially when he skips over to asking who she is. Allowing herself to turn fully, the gothy teenager in her full cloak remains in the same cross-legged position. "Raven," she replies, reaching up under her hood to brush a few stray hairs from her line of sight. "You're not wrong - I was meditating." There's a light shrug. "Kind of. Nothing flashy about it.

"I've already met someone here before. Two someones." Her gaze flickers over toward the Tower, returning shortly to Impulse within the same beat. "But you obviously were not one of them."

Impulse nods anyway, and for a brief moment seems to consider setting them down. He looks at the bag of meat. Oh, maybe shouldn't forget about that. "Neat trick," he still has to comment as the girl turns about while still in a seated position. "One second."

Maybe even less. In any case, he just about seems to vanish from the spot he'd been standing, the briefest of blurs about the only trace of his even moving. When he reappears, he's without groceries.

"Raven, huh? Nice to meet you. I'm Impulse," he greets, smiling. "Who'd you meet? I'll bet one of them was Red Robin. He gets pretty antsy about uninvited guests otherwise."

Despite the shadow of her hood, Raven's eyes widen. The speedster makes it look like a trick of the eye, the blur effect wobbling before it clears again. Sort of like staring at one of those 'Spot The Difference' pictures. "…Huh. I could say the same of you."

So she sounds like she's unimpressed. It's really the opposite.

Even without Impulse's smiling, Raven can definitely feel this lightness about his person. A proverbial ray of sunshine? Not quite literally, but he's climbing the imaginary tolerance scale already set in place. She nods. "Red Robin was one of them," she confirms. "Zatanna, I think, was with him at the time. I met him earlier, but I saw how alert he was when I first arrived here unannounced. I didn't really have the chance to call ahead of time."

Her comment has him grinning even more, even if Raven's tone is less than lackluster.

"Ah! So Robin and Zee." He nods. "Are you joining us? -wait, so you did show up uninvited? Huh. How'd that go? I mean, I'm guessing things got cleared up if you're hanging out here." Beat. "…unless you're waiting for someone to invite you in."

As he talks, Impulse wanders around her. It's probably of no surprise that he can't stand still for long, and he's still interested in how she's hovering like that, even if it's not an original trick.

That point on the tolerance scale is steadily climbing.

"I- " Raven is interrupted by both Impulse's chatter and her own thoughts, her brow furrowing as she continues, "-Well, it could have been worse. Next time there should be less surprises and better first impressions." Less antagonizing the magician and vice-versa. They were civil enough, but still. Poor Red. "But Red Robin said he and the Titans help people. I suppose it factors into his way of saying I was welcome here."

She stays in place as Impulse circles her, hovering in the same spot without being too wary of his actions. This is pure curiosity on his part. "I'm okay being out here, though," she says. "It's been a long day and it's fine if you have some business to take care of."

"Yep! That's what we do. It's a hero thing, I guess you could say."

Impulse reaches out to poke at her fluttering cloak. "But good. I'm glad! I mean, well, it's not like I'd punt you off the island or anything, otherwise." He straightens, finally stopping in front of her. "Oh no, I'm done with patrols for the night and put the groceries away, so I've got loads of freetime." Isn't that great?? "So how are you doing that, exactly?"

The cloak continues to flutter, almost ruffling like feathers on a bird's wing. Or maybe that's just how it appears to look. Other than that, it's just a cloak. Raven can't help but smile a little at the young man's admission, but she does stare up at him when he says he's done for the day. "Oh. Okay."

Oh boy. Oh boy. Company.

Ah, but a question about her levitating. That's something she can focus on. "…About an hour?"

That's a neat effect, that therefore is reason enough to receive further prodding. If Impulse has caught on that Raven may not be quite so ecstatic about having company, then… Okay, given how much expression Raven reveals, he has absolutely no idea.

"No," he says, shaking his head with a chuckle. "Not how long, like… how? Can you fly? Is it like magic?"

Oh. He meant 'how' as in 'how,' not a timeframe. "It's magic," Raven replies, rephrasing the question as a statement. It's simplified by the conciseness of her tone, but it fulfills the need. "I can use it to fly when it's necessary. And given the circumstances, it's pretty frequent."

"Guess that explains how you got here, then," Impulse says. "Don't get me wrong, but you….don't exactly look like the type to take a ferry. -unless you did, in which case that's perfectly fine!"

The explanation of it being magic seems to satisfy him. And why shouldn't it? Zee does magic all the time. "Do you needa talk backwards when you do magic?" That sounds like an odd thing to ask if one doesn't know how Zatanna Zatara casts spells.

Raven almost laughs. Almost. It's more of a chuff that begins to sound like a laugh, but she reels it in quickly. "I won't deduct points for that assumption. Ferries aren't really my style." Because ferries also cost money. She spends enough on food as it is.

While she's grateful he's easy to please with such short answers, she does have to lean back a bit at the next question he comes up with. "-Backwards? No, no, I don't do that. That's weird."

Impulse peers at her, then smiles lopsidedly. "Knew it."

While Raven doesn't laugh, he certainly does after the girl gives her opinion on backwards talking for magic. "Heh! It kinda is, but don't tell Zee that." He doesn't know that his sorceress friend already had some qualms about the floating cloaked guest, but it probably wouldn't help to possibly insult her either.

Such brightness. Such cheerfulness. It's not that bad. Raven appreciates Impulse's opinion, not bothering to hide a smile that tugs on the corner of her mouth. That's something she didn't know about Zatanna's magical expertise, after all.

Not like it's too weird. Spellcasting comes in different shapes and forms. It's just another example of how complex the magical world is. And it seems Impulse is on good terms with Zatanna. "Don't worry. I won't." She figures it may be best to not bring up the tension between the girls.

Taking Raven's word for it, the Speedster nods, and leaves it at that. "Soooo…" And he's still talking. But then Raven's not shown any sign of being annoyed at his presence.

"You said you'd been at this floating, meditating thing an hour now, huh? Did you need anything from someone in the Tower? Just chilling? Ooh, are you hungry? I totally meant to heat up left over pizza but I forgot 'cuz you were here, but we got snacks and stuff too."

If they were playing poker, Raven would be very good at bluffing. She's had practice, and Impulse isn't as annoying as some people tend to be around her. For now.

But as he offers sustenance in the form of junk food, the goth immediately lifts her hands up. "Oh, no, I was all right with hanging out here. By myself. I'm- "

Grooooowl goes her stomach.

The silence that fills the space after that gives rise to some embarrassment. "…Fine."

That's a familiar sound if ever there was one. If there had been any doubts about whether or not to entertain this floating, soft-spoken guest, the sound of her stomach banishes them immediately. Impulse leeeeeans towards her and then straightens again, laughing.

"C'mon. There might even be some Hot Pockets left. I can even pick up more pizza, no big deal. The longest part is waiting for them to finish making them."

Defeated and betrayed by her own humanity, Raven's mouth turns into a thin, straight line. She then sighs in annoyance. "All right," she concedes, levitating a little higher so that she can unfold her legs from their crossed position. "Lead the way, Impulse. There's no need to go out again, I can handle a Hot Pocket."

"Cool. Hot Pockets it is!"

Spinning around, Impulse starts at an exaggerated jog, a bounce in his step as he heads for the path leading to the Tower. He turns to face her, still jogging backwards, his hair flopping about.

"Oh yeah, in the possibility that I get attacked by a giant pink cat when we get there, don't panic- it's just Clawminator Destrucat Mark Two."

If more of an explanation is expected no further is given as Impulse about-faces again and jogs on for the Tower.

With that, Raven nods, drifting after Impulse as he keeps talking. But she has to visibly pause, tilting her head at that non-sequitur about Clawminator Destrucat Mark Two.

"Giant…pink cat…?"

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License