A fair breeze washed over Lei Colmosna, causing the various banners and loose pieces of cloth on the ends of the many stalls to flutter about. The scents of the almost absurd vendors for food were spread about, drawing the attention of nearly every person in the area who was even slightly hungry. On the top of a nearby building stood a woman, long black hair that shifted to an intense red that reached all the way to the ends of her hair, bangs covering the right side of her face. Her clothing was of the same black as her hair, it covered her arms, the sides of her body, breasts, before reaching a buckle at her waist, which the suit returned to cover her long, slender legs. She wore high heel boots, two bands on each of her arms, and only a small amount of make-up adorned her face, with her lips glossed. Her left eye acutely scanned the market and the surrounding rooftops, while her right foot tapped the rooftop she stood on, rather impatiently waiting for her other half to meet her here.
Kat, Hekseville's Gravity Queen, told her that a new food stall had opened up, and she wanted to meet Raven, once renegade turned heroine, at the market to try it together. But it had been at least ten minutes past the supposed meeting, Raven chalked it up to Kat getting involved in some random, probably even bizarre, task by some random individual on the way to the area. It got to the point to where Kat would even leave anywhere from ten to twenty minutes earlier just to, hopefully, arrive on time. "Come on Kat, where are you?" She scanned the crowd over again, and let out a sigh when there was no tell-tale sign of Kat's blonde hair, and she was nowhere to been seen in the sky, dyed a starry crimson whenever she began using Dusty's power.
Xii let out a caw, breaking his own Shifter from her thoughts, it's now been over fifteen minutes past time, and for a moment Raven considered just going to the stall herself. While Kat didn't specify exactly which stall it was, the rather large amount of people that seemed to congeal over one of the food stalls was, without a doubt, the new one. The starry raven gave his owner a pointed look, "Perhaps we should at least she if she is around the area." A sweep over look wouldn't take but a few minutes, with Raven being the faster of the two Shifters. Drawing upon the gravity powers Xii gave her access to, Raven began glowing a starry midnight blue and she fell through the sky, clearing the floating island the market was placed on with ease, the task didn't even take a minute. "Might as well check the surrounding ones, too." Starting north and heading clockwise, Raven fell through the sky, checking rooftops and the walkways below. Though it wasn't until the third island when she finally saw her, stopping to talk to people while holding out the camera Syd obtained for her. Creators, what was she doing? With a sigh, Raven sped towards the area, landing with a practiced grace and stood a few feet from Kat, arms crossed with a frown on her face.
"Ma'am? May I take a picture of you?" She heard the Gravity Queen stop and ask an older woman. The woman shook her head 'no' and Kat sighed, "Alright." Raven took a few steps closer to the Shifter and cleared her throat. Kat jumped in place and turned around, "Raven?!" She had a sheepish smile on her face.
"What exactly are you doing?" While she might have been visibly aggravated, internally she was smiling, prepared for whatever outlandish tale the younger Gravity Shifter was about to tell her.
"Oh, an old man wanted me to take pictures of women so he could drive evil spirits away..." Kat rubbed the back of her neck, "I still got time, right?"
"It's at least half an hour past the time we agreed on." As if punctuating her point, the taller Shifter's stomach growled. Her face grew slightly red at the action. "Surely he can wait ten minutes, right?" Of course, Raven didn't believe it for a second that that is why this 'old man' wanted the pictures, but better to play along to get things moving faster than arguing such logic to Kat.
"But I just need two more women!" She frowned and let out an exaggerated sigh... then she smiled, "Hey, Raven..."
Oh, she didn't like the sound of how she just said her name, "...Yes, Kat?"
She was tapping her fingers on the camera. "Hoooow about I take a picture of..."
"Nope." The taller Shifter shook her head, "I'm not about to be a part of this old man's picture collection."
"But Raveeen..." she pouted, "I really want to finish this first." Raven didn't seem to budge, "Pleeeeeaseee?" Another pause, "I'll get us some ice cream afterwards... and skewers." Kat gave Raven her kitten eyes.
"Creators, Kat." She conceded, "Just... make it quick. Before I change my mind."
"Yay! You're the best, Raven!" She practically dragged the other woman to a small clearing. Kat posed by pulling Raven by her side while having that ridiculous smile on her face. Even considering how this situation fouled her mood somewhat, Raven couldn't help by have a small smirk on her own face due to the overflowing positivity that flowed through Kat. The shutter went off and Raven nearly immediately moved away to prevent more eyes from staring at the two of them, "Syd?" She heard Kat ask.
Raven stopped and sighed. "What does h..." She was stopped mid sentence by a face full of Kat, her eyes closed, and the feeling of her lips on her own. Shocked by the suddenness of the situation and the fact that she started this in public kept the older Shifter from reacting immediately. She felt her cheeks burn at the thought... and then she heard the shutter go off again.
"Yes! I finally got it!" Kat squealed, very clearly proud of herself.
"KAT!" Raven yelled, no longer caring about the people around them, her face felt like if was on fire, it was probably as red as her hair right now.
"Yeeeees?" She was currently admiring the picture.
"Creators, that picture better not be going to that old man."
Kat had a mischievous smile on her face, "What old man?"
"The one..." Raven paused, "You planned this out, didn't you?"
"Yup." She stuck her tongue out. "And now to show it..."
"Oh no, you're not showing that to anyone!" The older Shifter's cheeks burned at the thought.
"Aw, but Cecie would love to see this." Kat pouted.
"Give me the picture, Kat." Raven held out her hand.
"Can I just say one thing, first?"
"What?"
"Lunar." She grinned as her Lunar Style activated and leaped away.
Wait, why didn't she just Shift? Raven jumped and began chase, only to land back on the ground. "Xii?" Behind her she heard Dusty's distinct meow. She turned and saw Dusty sitting on a trash can with a rather accomplished look on his face. Then the trash can shook, Dusty jumped off and out popped Xii from the trash, looking about as pleased as Raven was at the situation. Dusty dispersed into a cloud of black motes and Raven gave chase. Thankfully, Raven was the faster Shifter of the two,and she managed to keep pace with Dusty, even as he tried to weave in and out of stalls. "That's right, lead me to Kat." She muttered to herself. Then Dusty did an immediate 180 degree turn and made a right down an alleyway. Raven sighed in frustration as she changed direction, that's the only thing Dusty had over her, she had to take time to change direction... unless she tapped into her Phoenix mode, not that she would do that in such a populated place, just to chase down an astral familiar.
"Come on, Dusty!" She overheard Kat say.
Raven did a short burst of speed to get her before she could slip away, only to find the area completely absent of the blonde haired Shifter. "Where did she..." Then she saw the cover of the manhole shift back into its place. Raven sighed in defeat, Kat could be literally anywhere now. While calming herself down, she remembered the time Kat tried to teach her how she traveled through the sewers.
"Come on, Raven! It isn't hard." Kat prodded her as the two sat in their sewer home.
Raven was baffled when Kat told Raven about her 'fast-travel' system, it didn't make any sense! But the proof was shown, Kat once asked her to meet her at the Clock Tower in Vendecentre, and let Raven get a head-start. Raven scoffed at the idea of Kat somehow passing her, but there she was, eating an ice cream while waiting for Raven to get there. "Fine." She conceded.
Her face brightened into a smile, the same kind of smile that reminded how lucky Raven was to have her. "All right, we'll start easy, we'll go from the pipe house to the fountain almost directly above us."
It was easy, it was supposed to be easy, how could you get lost going up? But somehow, as she was following directly behind Kat after a sharp turn, the blonde Shifter was nowhere in sight, and Raven ended up next to the destroyed Stormshield Tower in Endestria. It took her a moment to gather her bearings to realize just exactly where she was. Alright, simple mistake, so Raven backtracked from the same path she swore she took. But then she ended up at the Clock Tower, Kat didn't exactly let her live that down.
It was enough to convince her that this system worked, but how did Kat end up where she wanted to be, when Raven came out in a completely different section of Hekseville?
A grumble from Raven's stomach reminded her about the food Kat and her were supposed to share. "I'm going to the stall without you, Kat." Not that she could hear her.
Thankfully, the crowd around the new food stall was dwindled greatly, and Raven could properly see what the chef was offering. It seemed strange at first glance, combinations of pasta, veggies, and meat, but considering how much business it got... and that there didn't seem to be any unsatisfied customers, was a clear indicator that the food had to be good.
After deciding to try at least half the menu, which was not exactly saying much since it only offered about a dozen different things, she walked up to the stall, to which the man's face seem to light up. He had a rather lean build, slightly taller than Kat, and sporting dirty brown hair. Other than that, he seemed like any other person, nothing spectacular struck out. "You're one of the Gravity Shifters, aren't you?" He was in awe.
Unlike Kat, who enjoyed the popularity, Raven preferred to keep to herself, "Yes, I'm Raven." She smiled, and making a point not to glare, "I would like the first six options of the menu, please."
He seemed surprised, probably wondering where she was going to put all that food. So he knows about the Shifter's reputation for their heroics, but not their appetites. "Of course." Raven pulled out her gem pouch but he waved her off, "The Gravity Queen herself stopped by and handed me a large sum of gems, telling me it's for Raven's order."
"Kat?" She asked before she could stop herself, of course she knew who the 'Gravity Queen' was.
"Yes ma'am, none other than Kat." He smiled as he was working the grill, fryer, pot, and making conversation all at the same time. For someone who looked so usual he certainly had talent.
How? Raven had her eyes on this stall the entire time! How did Kat slip by her? "When did this happen?"
"Oh, a minute or two ago."
"Manholes..." she muttered to herself.
Kat hummed to herself as she re-arranged the pictures in the pipe house, "This one here... move that one there... aaand, done!" Kat stepped back and admired her work, using her previous pictures that included either one or both Shifters, she made a heart formation, with the latest picture of her kissing Raven, in the center. "What do you think, Dusty?" The starry cat looked up and meowed... before getting his food bowl. "Hmph." She pouted, but grabbed his food anyway. "I sure hope Raven likes this... and that stall. I wonder how the food tastes." She poured the cat's food into his bowl. She pre-paid the man working there, because she guessed the other Shifter would stop by after Kat used the man-hole to get back home.
"Maybe Raven will bring some back?" The blonde Shifter doubted it, Raven would return empty handed, but hopefully calmed down.