(Titans Tower)
Tic… toc… tic… toc…
The steady, soft sound of a small table clock was only thing that was being focused on as the girl sat down at the chair, flipping a small remote control in her hand a few times before she set it down.
Glancing around the room, she narrowed her green eyes at the sight of it all. Though she had a large room, she also had an excessive amount of books that had been stacked chaotically in dozens of columns around the room. Books on human anatomy, herbal remedies, healing practices, animal anatomy, medicines, surgical techniques new and old, and various other things like magazines or notebooks where strewn throughout the room. Some of them where open, left sitting at the tops of it all.
The shelves of the room where completely empty.
Turning back to the table in silence, the red head glanced blankly down at a fresh pad of paper and a pencil, thinking for a moment before she picked them up and put the pencil to her lips.
"That's pretty good. To… the poor little guy." She smirked, putting the pencils point back onto the paper and making her best attempt at cursive. Continuing with her letter, she took a moment to jab her pencil into an electric sharpener on the other end of the desk. The sound of it grinding the wood away from the point made her wince a little, but she pulled the pencil back and simply went back to writing, her lips twitching as she did so.
As you've probably heard, I made the cut and I am an actual member of the team now. I can only say that I have no idea how I managed to do it, but why stop to think about it? The others here seem so hardcore about everything that I have a bit of trouble fitting in with them. Robin and Raven are especially tricky. I'm getting ahead of myself, though. Let me explain a few things.
First off, I'll be calling myself Pearl from now on. I can't use my name anymore, and I won't write yours here either. From now on I have to be concerned about the safety of those that actually like me but don't have super powers. Who knows what would happen if some bad-tempered asshole decides to get ahold of this letter, but I agree with Robin. I won't take the chance, and you shouldn't either. It's sad, but I can't exist as who I was before for as long as I do this.
It will give me a complex in a few years, don't worry about that.
I should also tell you that I've dyed my hair recently because of this type of thing. I've gone from being a blonde to having a nice, fiery shade of red. I'm not sure if it suits me yet, but I'm willing to leave it like this for a little while at least. It makes my eyes look greener, though. You'd love it.
As for the outfit I've decided to go with: like my name, it isn't quite the same as something you would expect from a 'super-hero' like myself. You'll see a picture of me in it soon enough, but I want to tell you about it. I've decided to go with a more typical approach, so I used it as an excuse to get myself in a white skirt and blouse. I tried not to make it too much like a sailor outfit, and it isn't really 'sexy' anyways. The material is some kind of lightweight armor that's supposed to be able to stand up to knifes or small caliber weapons, but I have no idea how it could. I don't trust it by itself, so I had Robin make me a pair of stockings out of the stuff too… so my legs would be covered. Don't get too many ideas, because those are white as well. I want people to be able to associate me with my powers, and be able to pick me out of a crowd if I'm needed. More likely they'll be trying to catch a peek up my skirt, though.
Robin also gave me a white and pink jacket that has almost everything I would need to use jammed into pockets all over the thing. I just need to memorize which pocket had a surgical blade in it, and which has a painkiller. (Front breast pocket, and inside shoulder pocket. See, I'm learning it!)
Stopping for a moment, Pearl tapped the eraser of the pencil down onto the remote, pressing down on the power button. Instantly there was a click on the other end of the room from behind a stack of magazines, and a soft sound filled the air. Spinning the pencil in her fingers, Pearl leaned to the side slightly as she continued.
I had a talk with Robin earlier today about my job here, and I found out that it isn't quite what you would expect. I may have the ability to heal a lot of things, but I have to be just as effective in combat as they could be. At the same time, I have to know when not to jump into the fray and start swinging. Robin and Raven basically want me on the team because I can handle what happens to everyone else in the world when the Titans are taking down robots with machine guns. I have to learn how to balance this out. I have to be able to help my team, and help anyone else that gets hurt. It's not going to be easy, and Robin definitely didn't sugarcoat it.
I can't just hang back in the Tower and play doctor when the Titans limp back with broken arms and black eyes. I have to be there with them.
Cyborg let me choose what weapons I could use to defend myself or use in a fight if I needed to. I chose a gun. It's not a normal gun, though. It fires energy instead of bullets, like Cyborg's gun arm. It uses short bursts, though. It's kind of like those blasters you see on sci-fi movies, and I can even set for stun.
The fact that it can be set for 'kill' is something I still don't think much about.
Pausing for a moment to put the pencil down and flex her hand, Pearl leaned back in the chair and listened to the soft music that was playing from the far end of her new room, from the small radio she'd recently bought. Shifting in her seat as she glanced down at herself, she frowned a bit as a pang shot through her gut, followed by a heavy grumble.
"Ugh… that does it. Time to get something to eat." Pearl sighed. She would have to get back to writing in a moment. Sliding out of the chair, she went over the hallways in her head, trying not to forget how to even get to the fridge.
She'd only just gotten out the door when she came face to shiny metallic chest with one of the other Titans: Cyborg. She halted herself just in time to save her nose, and looked up at him curiously. He was standing frozen in place, his hand raised up to knock on the door.
"Hey! Saved me from having to buff my hand again." He said with a smirk, taking a step back as he lowered his hand.
"Hi Cyborg." Pearl smiled, not caring if her hair wasn't in a ponytail like before. It was getting late, after all, and it was time to start winding down and relaxing a bit. "Please tell me that you guys ordered a pizza or something. I'm feeling ravenous right now."
"How'd you guess? We've got about five pizzas sitting there for everybody."
"Did you get a veggie?" Pearl asked, her eyes widening. "Please say yes."
"We got two of them. Beast boy talked us into it. Why?"
"No time!" Pearl exclaimed, suddenly breaking into a sprint, racing to the end of the hall before she stopped and looked around. The hall went off in two different directions, and she wasn't sure which way to go. It all looked the same: red carpeting and windows. "This or that? This place is too big!"
"Um… it's left." Cyborg answered with a shake of his head.
"Oh! Thanks!" Pearl answered, before she dashed to her left.
"Yo! My left! My left!"
Screeching to a halt, Pearl looked around and realized she had been running towards a dead end up ahead. Her face turning a bit red, she turned back and went the other way, Cyborg casually walking ahead of her.
"I hate doing that." She sighed, running a hand through her hair as she tried to ignore the emptiness in her stomach. It was a bad idea to run like that, so she'd have to walk their or be carried. Walking was preferable.
"So you had a blonde moment." Cyborg hinted, his human eye winking at her.
"I'd take offense to that, but my stomach doesn't care what my ears hear." Pearl answered back, shrugging her shoulders, a slight smirk on her face.
(Soon)
"Save me some garlic dip." Pearl asked, taking a seat next to Raven as the others took their places at the circular table.
This area was normally reserved for playing cards at, but with so many people all coming to the same spot to eat, it was a lot easier to sit here than it would be on the couch. Besides, this wasn't a frat house.
"What'll it be, Pearl? Plain cheese?" Beast boy asked, looking at her curiously.
"Give her a slice of the double pepperoni. Don't tell me about vegetables. "
"I don't suppose you two could let the girl make up her own mind, could you?" Raven stated, plucking a breadstick out of the box and eyeing it, looking almost disgusted.
"Yeah! Give me the veggie. The whole thing." Pearl asked jokingly, reaching over to Cyborg's spot and snatching his can of soda.
"Hey now! If you're gonna come in here and steal my drink, you gotta eat the pepperoni." Cyborg said, trying to look stern. "Or at least do the dishes, for crying out loud."
"Cyborg, I'm a vegetarian." She answered, raising an eyebrow at him as she opened the can of pop and took a quick gulp. "Don't ask a healer like myself if they eat flesh. We just cut it open. And I already thought I was going to do the dishes."
"You're a vegetarian too?" Beast boy asked, suddenly getting a grin on his face. "I like you on the team already."
"Beast boy's standards are very low, you'll find." Sighed Raven.
"Seems that way. Where's Robin and Starfire at, by the way?" Pearl asked, looking at their empty spaces as she reached over and grabbed two slices of pizza and slapped them down onto a paper plate.
"They went out on a date a while ago. They should be getting back sometime soon." Cyborg answered, looking from her to Raven. Turning back to her, he was just about to say something when everything was interrupted by a very familiar sound. An almost annoying alarm began to wail, making everyone at table sit up in alert.
His arm raising quickly, Cyborg eyed the details showing up on the screen on his arm, glad he linked himself up to the Towers systems.
"We've got a fight on our hands. Somebody brought back that fire elemental, inside of the freaking city. Looks like you may get to show your stuff, Pearl. It's setting fire to anything it comes across." Cyborg snorted, shooting up from his seat. "Get the lead out, people!"
Pearl simply groaned, eyeing her pizza in disappointment as she pushed herself up from her place, her stomach complaining at her again.
"Pearl, grab an energy shake from the fridge over there!" Beast boy called out as he rushed off. "It'll give you a boost for a while."
"Right!" she answered back, hurrying over to it, almost on automatic pilot at this point.
She grabbed three of them before she made a break for the doors, intending to guzzle as much as she could without making herself sick from it. She still had everything she needed, and all her equipment was ready to be used.
There was a hope she wouldn't need to do much tonight, though. Between the Titans and herself, she should be just fine.
Her mind told her otherwise, though.