The scene entirely in italics is a flashback of sorts. My apologies about the lengthy time in between updates, but I found myself at a standstill on what to do, so I decided to write this in time for Christmas. Not sure when I'll be able to update again, as I have family visiting right now—which is like a live reality tv show, and many of us agree that it could easily be made into one.
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"You're…" Holly pointed an incredulous finger at the woman standing a few feet away from her, who was dressed proudly in the Kyoshi Warrior's garb.
"Ty Lee!" The corners of the acrobat's eyes scrunching as she smiled, blurring the face paint that now adorned her face.
"And you're…" Holly was silently hoping that this was a dream.
"A Kyoshi Warrior!"
"What the hell…Suki!" Holly called out over her shoulder, and a dozen feet away Suki tore herself away from her chores and came over.
"Issue?" Their leader asked, unconsciously placing herself in between the two women.
"When did this happen?" Holly said, waving her finger dramatically at Ty Lee's face paint.
"One, maybe two weeks ago."
"…But How?" Holly said as she exhaled, her voice defeated.
"The other Warriors met her in prison. They knew she could fight well and she did betrayed the Fire Nation. Not only the Fire Nation, but Azula. We were impressed, and they asked her to teach them while they waited for the war to end. Eventually they bonded, and we asked her to join us when we realized she didn't really have a home to go back to
Holly's face dropped even further as her former leader spoke. "Prison? They were in prison? A…A camp or a prison?"
"A POW camp. They're all fine, nothing happened. No worries."
"Oh…Thank the spirits." She let out a breath. "But really, what the hell, Suki? Has she even been to Kyoshi before this? And what happened to 'Kyoshians only'?"
Ironically, yes, she has been here before… Suki thought, but dared not to say. "You sort of broke that trend yourself."
"Hey, no reason to be mean about it…" The acrobat pouted at Holly before Suki interrupted them:
"Think of her more as an ambassador. The war is over, Holly. The Kyoshi Warriors have to change if we don't want to disappear."
"Change?"
"Yes. We still exist to protect Kyoshi, but we can't do it by fighting on our island and turning our back to the rest of the world anymore. By isolating ourselves."
Holly stared at Suki, expecting more of an explanation.
"We've become reasonably well known since the invasion, at least among the generals and the White Lotus. So we were considering becoming body guards to get started. For the royalty and the likes, maybe Zuko. Y'know, help gain a few friends should we ever need them. It won't be easy with Kyoshi being its own nation now, and not just a rogue territory anymore." Suki finished, looking past her Holly at Raven, who was approaching.
"Holly, I need you for something. And Suki, the spare cabin isn't being used, right?"
"No, it's not. It's ready to go if you're expecting guests."
"Thank you." Raven bowed slightly in respect, and towed Holly off towards the circle of the Warrior's cabins.
Ty Lee waited until the duo was well out of earshot, before exclaiming: "Who was that?"
"Raven—Holly's girlfriend."
"Her aura…it was black. And everything else, but all separate and messed up."
"Messed up?"
"Yes. It's hard to explain unless you can read auras, but I've never seen something like it before. It's scary."
"Hmm, interesting. She is a half-spirit of sorts, after all."
"A half spirit? An evil one?" Ty Lee burst out before Suki could stop her.
"Well, yeah, but it's nothing to worry about."
"You living with an evil spirit and there's 'nothing to worry about'?" Ty Lee was muffled by Suki's hand, now clamped tightly around her mouth.
"Honestly, you're overreacting. And if I were you, I would drop the subject."
"But…"
"None of the Warriors would be alive if it weren't for that woman. And we haven't seen them in quite some time, so I don't want leaving prematurely because of something foolish."
"But what if she hurts someone?"
"Then they had it coming." Suki said with certainty, hoping it would end Ty Lee's questions.
"But…"
"No. We all trust her judgment, and you should too. There's no reason to think she would do something uncalled for."
"O-okay." Ty Lee said in a small voice, reminding herself that Suki was now her superior, and that she should trust her decisions.
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"I was hoping for peaceful vacation with my close friends and family. So why, exactly, is he here?" Raven glared at Beast Boy as she spoke to Cyborg; who had a guilty look on his face as he edged behind the mechanical man.
"C'mon Rae, it's the holidays! Y'know, reconnecting with old friends, forgiving…" Beast Boy trailed off.
"There's nothing to forgive, Beast Boy. I left the team and that's it. End of story." She tore her eyes off of him and looked at Cyborg. "You took him through the portal? If he wanted to see us that much, we could have just visited you guys back on Earth."
"But would you have?"
"…No." Raven averted her gaze away from him.
"Oh yeah, Rae, Robin will hate it knowing that it was you who stole the transporter…" Beast Boy stated with a new excitement.
Raven shot a look at Cyborg, who promptly put his hands up to her, proclaiming his innocence as Raven's eyes flickered red. "And are you going to tell him?" A thin and snake-like tongue slipped out of her mouth and flicked across her lips as she spoke to the changeling.
"N-no. Never. Of course not. So, when do we decorate? This place is pretty bland for the holidays."
"We weren't planning on decorating—Christmas isn't a holiday here. Regardless," she gestured for the two Titans to follow her. "Your cabin is this way. It should be sufficient for you time here. And Beast Boy, you might take interest in the local fauna."
"Hey, How the leg doing?" Cyborg stayed back while Raven led Beast Boy to their cabin.
"Wonderfully. I can't thank you enough for everything you've done."
"I'm flattered, but I should be saying that. It's good to see Raven like this. I used to think she'd never change out of her old ways."
"Well she is her old self most of the time. But she has opened up more." Granted, she still hates most of the general population, and now has a job interacting with them daily—so that isn't helping.
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Holly remembered a time not too long ago, during a particularly busy weekend for the bookstore. She came home late that Sunday and immediately sat herself on the couch, her head laying heavily on the back cushion. It was written across her face that she was working too hard and for too long, often staying late to stock new shipments and organize the books the customers left out or shoved into any random spot on the shelf. And only taking one weekend off since she started working there, being that the owner's health was getting progressively worse, and Raven was the only other employee, hadn't helped her situation.
"When's dinner tonight? I forgot to eat my lunch again today." She said from the couch, to Holly, who had stayed up waiting for her.
"As soon as you'd like. The kids already ate and are up in bed. Except for Timmy, he hasn't been sleeping well recently."
"Something quick would be nice, then."
"Sure." Holly went back into the kitchen, pulling a phone off the table and quickly dialing a number before she opened a cupboard and rummaged through the boxes for something to make.
Fifteen minutes later, Holly came out with two plates of rice and two bowls of soup.
"C'mon, off the couch if you want your food." Holly leaned over the back of the couch, where Raven hadn't moved an inch, and poked at the sorcerer's cheek.
The two sat down at the cramped table, one half of which was filled with a mess of papers and drawing supplies that Holly had yet to clean up. After powering through three-quarters of her rice, and sliding the other portion into the soup, Raven stopped and looked across the table for nearly a full minute.
"What's up?" Holly glanced up as Raven stared at her.
"Thanks for cancelling the reservation at the restaurant tonight, I really did want to go out. It was a nice thought, though."
"How did you know about that?" Holly put down her silverware and swallowed the rest of the food in her mouth at once. She was referring to the reservation that Holly had made earlier that day before at a nearby restaurant, hoping to surprise Raven with a night out—which she decided against after seeing Raven's state.
"Empath?" Raven tried.
"That's just reading emotions."
"You talk too loud on the phone, too. But I would be up for that next weekend."
"Great. I'd like that." Holly said with a smile before starting to eat her soup, which had just started to cool off.
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Holly shook her head at the memory. She works herself far too hard sometimes—and all for us. For me, and for the children…
She followed Cyborg to his and Beast Boy's cabin and stopped at the entrance, waiting for Raven to come out before returning to their own home on Kyoshi.
"Beast Boy did have a point. This place is pretty bland." Raven mention, shutting the door to the boy's cabin as she came out. "Starfire made a tradition of decorating the tower to an extreme, even if she didn't believe in the meaning behind the holiday."
"So you want to decorate?"
"Well I don't particularly care either way…"
"So you don't."
"But it was a tradition for the kids…"
"Okay, forget that for a second. Why are we celebrating in the first place?" Holly asked.
"Because it was a tradition for the kids, and I'd hate to take it away from them."
"What kind of holiday was it originally, anyway?"
"A religious one."
"That became a tradition."
"Yes."
"So we're going to celebrate it for no other reason than the fact that they did before. That does bring me to another question, though." Holly pointed out.
"Go on."
"How are we going to raise the kids? In regards to a religion, that is."
"Well neither of us follow one, I think. I figured we'd let them decide on their own when they grow older."
"That works for me. So are we decorating?"
"I suppose. We could just let them do it with Bobby." Raven thought for a moment. "Who was that other Warrior you were talking to earlier? I didn't recognize her."
"Somebody that the other Warriors met in a P.O.W. camp and became friends with. I guess she can fight well."
"I see. The kids seem to like her, you want to ask her to help them?"
"Rena can ask her, or Melvin."
"Jealous of her much?"
"No—"
"Empath. You're jealous, and a bit envious. Accept it."
"…No." Holly shook her head in refusal.
"I'm also sensing concern." Raven gave her a questioning glance.
"Well yeah, I don't know anything about her; of course I'm concerned. What if she can't pull her own weight?"
"The war's over and Kyoshi is a free state. I honestly think the Warriors will have easy sailing from here on out. Relatively, that is."
"Maybe. But Suki mentioned doing body guard work for Zuko, that'd be dangerous in itself."
"If something does go wrong, we can both get here in minutes. You should trust the Warriors, they can handle themselves."
"I know, I know. It's…well, they're family to me. You know that."
"And they are to me, too. On a side note, I heard from Ko that the new Fire Lord is planning to shut down a lot of those prisons, or investigate them for abuses at the very least."
"Good to hear." They reached their own cabin and they ducked through the low door. "Akiko, Yuna. You two can take a break," Hollu called out as she entered. "Thanks for—where's Yuna?"
"Out back with Melvin and Rena." Akiko said softly, handing Teether over to Raven as Holly stepped back outside and circled behind the cabin. She was met with the sight of Yuna hanging upside down several feet in the air, suspended by Bobby's firm grip around her ankles.
"Holly, have you tried this?" She waved in between laughs. "It's great!"
"I'll pass. I'm surprised Bobby opened up to you, though. It took me three weeks of talking to thin air before showed himself."
"He said he thought you looked funny doing it." Melvin's voice squeaked as she shouted down from Bobby's shoulders.
"Hey!" Holly complained to the giant, who gave her a guilty grin. "Anyway, Yuna, we can handle them for the rest of the night."
"Nah, I think I'll stay for a bit, if you don't mind."
"You have these two covered, then?" Holly said, referring to Rena and Melvin.
"Sure, I'll get you whenever I leave."
"Alright, sounds good. Thanks again."
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"At least half of this is coming down." Holly whispered as she looked in disapproval at her cabin. "It looks like an art store vomited on it."
"I don't mind the wreath too much." Raven commented. A few feet away from them stood Ty Lee, Beast Boy, and the children, all with stupid grins on their face after just putting the final decorations on the cabin. "Hey, Raven whispered, "Ty Lee seems really tense, did something happen?"
"Not that I know of." When Holly glanced over at the usually giddy woman, she saw her stand straight up, rigid, with her hands at her side, and wipe the grin off her face in an instant. "But yeah, she's acting weird. More so than Beast Boy."
"They're both scared shitless, Ty Lee especially." Raven noted, expanding the range on her empath abilities for a few seconds. "Are you sure nothing happened between you two?"
"I don't think so. Should we talk to them about it?"
"I'd let Suki talk to Ty Lee. And don't bother with Beast Boy, he's just nervous. "
"Alright. So how are we going to take some of these decorations down?"
"We'll take down a couple of smaller things each night. Can't touch the larger ones, but they shouldn't notice the small ones. And if they do, we'll just say it must have fallen, then let them put it back up.
"You've thought this through, I see."
"I did the same thing with Starfire when she tried to decorate the hallway outside my room in the tower."
"Poor girl."
"She never noticed, so no harm done."
"We start tonight?"
"Definitely." Raven said with a nod.
