exsiliumlogs | it's what we do.

Entry tags:

it's what we do.

Date & Time: 9/24, evening
Location: City gardens
Characters: Raven and Jericho
Summary: Typical superheroing kind of day - a bit of repose and a lot of chaos
Warnings: just things explodering later

Well, things weren't going to puzzle themselves out, but...Jericho wasn't the best at puzzles. Not on the fly, anyhow. He needed time to think. To step back, recollect, and take a look at the problem with fresh eyes and mind.

So Robin wasn't...really Robin? Or not the one he knew. But was it all that weird for there to be more than one? Time was funny, things split off...Or so some said. All of that was a bit over his head still; he wasn't much of an academic. He'd figure it out. Or...he'd have help figuring it out. Either way...Either way, he needed to just. Just find his own space, own piece of mind!

Thankfully, Sollux had helped him secure one outlet; a bit of saving and snooping had secured the other. And so, scattered over the rain-washed rubble of old monuments, pages and a pair of notebooks, one for words and one for pictures, things held in place by (mostly) clean stones, pencils and pen settled together in a little pile by his feet where he sat cross-legged, strumming out some sequence with no beginning or end. It's how he always played – stream-of-consciousness, working out notions or problems through sound and melody.

The acoustics weren't what a mountain could give, but wasn't that better? He wasn't alone anymore, not in this city.

And sooner than later, not in that particular spot, either.

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Raven liked those guardens as well. They were one of her favorite places in time for meditation. Still whenever she came here to find that somebody else was already there, her instinctive reaction was to leave. But not this time. Joey's aura was easy to recognize and he was her teammate. Besides over the few months they had spent in Exsilium, Raven had learnt to enjoy his company. More and more everyday.

She quietly levitated closer to him but stopped a few feet away from him, watching all the notes scattered around him and listening to the music. She would wait until he noticed her to speak.

The same trio of notes found themselves on loop, as Jericho wound up stuck for what was to come next. He opened one eye, mouth scrunching up to the side opposite as he ran through the not-even-half-baked melody a fourth time before his own motion brought Raven into his peripheral. He startled, quickly leaning back enough to see with big, unblinking eyes. Always gotta be prepared to jump, right?

But, in a couple seconds, he found that unnecessary. His shoulders sagged, and the expression on his face doubly impressed his relief. Whew...!

Of course, that was short-lived, too. His next thought sent his eyes darting toward the pages, still exposed to the open air, sketches and all. He was still terribly shy about sharing his drawings, figured those way too crude or poorly thought-out to show to anybody. It wasn't like music; music was easier to engage people with and exchange. He could kind of manipulate his playing to suit the tastes of others. Not like drawing.

The strings made a zipping, squeaky sound as he ran his hand up the neck of the guitar, stifled sharply as he squeezed his fingers down tight. He looked back up at Raven, face pink, and forced the smile back. His other hand lifted in a wave.

Being an empath was not really that much useful when it came to someone like Joey. Every little emotion was betrayed by his facial expressions and whole body language.

She walked closer to him as he waved at her, eventually sitting down next to him. After a few seconds she pulled a piece of paper from under her cloak and unfolded it, before laying it onto the ground in front of them. It was the drawing he had anonymously given her. No, she had not thrown it away. Maybe because she had guessed who it was from quite a while ago. She was said to be one of the smartest of the Titans with reasons. Robin was not the only one with deduction skills.

She waited a few seconds before saying in a completely calm and detached voice.

"You forgot to sign it."

And in those seconds, Jericho's stomach twisted into tight, guilty knots. She'd not been too happy to have gotten it – at least, anonymously. And...with all the time gone by, things happening, he never thought to bring it up. After bungling up so badly before, he thought it best to just try his best not to cause any more problems.

He shrank where he sat, sagging over his guitar. His waving hand retracted, settling on the back of his neck to emphasize his discomfort more than anything while he stared at the old drawing. He shouldn't have made it, he thought.

The fact that she kept it should have reassured him. But when she sensed his discomfort, Raven realized he needed more than that. So she laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"I probably wouldn't have reacted the same way if I had known it was from you. ...And despite that pun on my name, it's a pretty good drawing."

He couldn't have gotten any redder unless he'd faceplanted into a tomato patch. Of course, there was a shade of relief in his breath; at least she wasn't angry at him...or, at least, not outwardly. He was pretty good at reading faces, but Raven was especially unyielding. The contact helped, too; he lifted his head back up and smiled weakly, the gratitude and apology blended in together.

"Music, drawings... I didn't know we had an artist among the Titans." A slight smirk. "But I think we definitely missed one." She squeezed his shoulder lightly before letting go. "Do you write poems as well?"

She looked up at the sky, it really was a beautiful day so far.

The praise was a little hard to accept, but was hardly unwelcome. It was nice, though...however he expected his talents to be received, the reality was better than his imagination. Superheroes were supposed to be more tough and rowdy, right? What'd it say for someone like him to try and fit in with all that?

Maybe it wasn't so outlandish after all. Missed one, huh? That was a pleasing thought.

But poems? Man...he wasn't about to head-on plunge into all this exposure! He nodded, but didn't appear too eager to do so. Those were way too personal to be shared with others...yet. Or maybe ever.

Baby steps.

He straightened up out of his slouch, sliding his fingers up the neck of his guitar to find a chord. Tentatively, he let it sound, finding his footing, as it were, to something worth hearing.

Raven hadn't really expected an answer to the 'poem' question. When he started strumming on his guitar, she smiled a bit. She wasn't looking at Joey, but she didn't need to. As days went by, she felt they were truly becoming as close as she was with her teammates. And it felt good to have him in this crazy place.

She pulled out a book from under her cloak, opened it and started reading. She almost always carried a book with her. Whenever she went out.
Usually she wouldn't read if the place wasn't quiet. But she liked Joey's music. So she didn't mind.

It was pretty darn idyllic – the music, the peaceful atmosphere, a good book...it was only natural for it to be ruined sooner than later. Of course, Jericho barely noticed the growl of distant engines between chords until they were quite close to the city, and even then he was a bit too absorbed in his art to pay much mind.

But it grew too loud, too strange to his ears...Airplanes weren't much of a thing in Tibet. He stopped mid-strum and opened his eyes, squinting as he looked up at a gray and unyielding sky. Was he imagining it...? Or– no, it was getting louder, wasn't it?

Wasn't it? He looked over at Raven to see if she'd noticed anything.

Yes, those idyllic and peaceful times were always short lived when you were a Titan.

When Jericho turned to look at Raven, she had already closed her book and was looking at the sky with a determined look on her face. Those airplanes were flying unsually low. This wasn't something that was normally allowed above a big city like this one.

She got up. "I don't like that."

Since Robin wasn't here, she supposed it was her role to take the lead and decide of a course of action.

"Come. Let's see who send those planes and what for."

It might be nothing important. But as they say, better safe than sorry.

Jericho had already begun to move, lifting the guitar off his lap with his eyes hardly leaving the sky, growing more concerned. He nodded at the command, getting up to his knees, barely to his feet when the first bomb fell and caused the ground to rumble. He wobbled, gasping voicelessly as he planted his hands on the ground for security.

His head shot up quickly, though, staring at Raven with a very plainly readable face.

This is trouble, isn't it? His brow knit, mouth pursing with resolve. We gotta get there fast, don't we?

Raven gave a start and her eyes widened as the first explosion occurred. They were... bombing the city? She doubted the Initiative would do this to their own island. So she guessed the government of United Earth was to blame for that this time. ...Unless there was yet a third party she had never heard about. But there was no time to wonder about this. They had to act fast.

She nodded at Joey. "The break's over. Time for us to get back to work."

With a twist of her wrist, Raven created a large disc of black energy next to them. She hopped effortlessly onto him and beckoned Joey to join her. There were only two Titans left in town but they had to make it count. With or without Robin here to shout 'Titans Go!'.

He couldn't help but hesitate a little; it was a new way to get around to him, that was for sure. But there wasn't much time to waste, was there? No. Jericho hopped up, putting his hands on her shoulders to keep himself balanced, bent a little to give himself a better sense of balance.

He nodded, holding his next breath. Let's go!

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it's what we do.

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