Still in love with all your sins
Where you stop and I begin
And I'll, I'll be waitin'
What you fear is your desire
It's hard to deal
I still love the way you feel
Now this angry little girl
Drowning in this petty world
Swallow all your bitter pills
That's what makes you beautiful
You're all or naught
I don't need what you ain't got
- Big Machine, Goo Goo Dolls
Apache is brought to awareness at an offended gasp, followed by gurgling with some unsavory words peppered in. She doesn't dare give away that she is awake.
A hand taps her shoulder firmly, to which she bolts up with a growl at. It didn't hurt at all, but still.
"You see this?" Jinx points at the half dried puddle. "No. You don't do that again. Now up, I'll take you outside." She moves to get herself dressed for the day, still being in her oversized shirt and no shorts. Her hair is a tangled mess.
Apache rises, shaking herself out.
She would really have to be vigilant. The second Jinx slips up would be her opportunity; and would also most likely be her only opportunity. She gets more sick to her stomach.
At this point she just wants to go home, wherever that be. She doesn't want to deal with this complicated mess anymore. Her head hurts, her body is sore, and she just wants a hamburger with extra cheese and onion and some barbecue Lays for god's sake! Was that too much to ask?
Apparently so. She sighs.
She knows the first thing she's going to do when Raven figures out how to turn her back is beg the Titans to take her to either Applebee's or a good mexican restaurant. Either would do. Mexican food or stir fry or a hamburger; there's just so many choices!
She lays back down. She'd been depressed, severely so, before. She had worked so hard and had pulled herself out of it before with the help of her girlfriend. But now, she can feel herself slowly slipping back into it. She's tired, she feels heavy, and she knows she just about does not want to do anything anymore. The homesickness isn't helping one bit. As awesome as the Titans are, they're just not normal for her or family.
The kicker for her though is she doesn't even know exactly what she's supposed to be missing. Her girlfriend that she couldn't even remember the face of? Her unknown to her mother? What about her dad?
That makes the feeling in her stomach worse. So obviously her dad must be a touchy subject.
She sighs deeply.
She looks back up as Jinx steps lightly down the hall in her usual platform boots, a ratty old white towel draped over her arm. Apache is surprised at the high ponytail she adorns, her bangs fluffed out adorably. What doesn't surprise Apache is the bright pink leggings stretched over her legs, red and black stars decorating the sides of her thin calves. Apache is also a bit surprised at the black sweater with pale pink "Monterey" sewn into the front.
Jinx drapes the towel over the puddle then turns to the key panel. Apache cant tell what shes punching into it, though she already knows.
When the panel slides open, Apache's body is again cinched up at the wave of Jinx's hand. Jinx climbs up the rungs and Apache's body follows. If Jinx would just let her she could probably figure out how to climb the latter herself.
Unlike last night, though, she is immediately released upon their arrival to the surface. Jinx picks up a dusty length of what looks like the remnants of a black rope that was sitting along the side of a rusted machine, which is about five feet long. Apache lowers her ears as Jinx grasps her collar, looping the rope through it and into a knot. She grasps the spade shaped tag, twisting it through her nimble fingers.
"Apache, huh?" Apache glares up at her in challenge. "Where'd they get that from? The Native American tribe?" Her lips quirk upward. "Have I got an idea."
She pulls Apache along and out into the overcast outside world to the dogs hesitation.
Jinx casts Apache a rose quartz glance. "I've always wanted a dog, y'know? Being in the Academy never really allowed me to, though."
Apache rolls her eyes. If she was taking Apache from the Titans in desperation, doesn't she know there are shelters full of dogs that need homes? Millions of dogs to choose from that need homes yet she takes Apache? Either she isn't thinking, or she never really considered it.
She trots ahead of Jinx and to a patch of heavy weeds. She glances up at Jinx with her ears flat, but squats among the overgrown patch anyway. If Jinx wants to watch her pee so be it.
She follows hesitantly after Jinx as she makes her way back the way they had came into the city. Apache wrinkles her nose at all the garbage in the streets and the smell of oil and rubber wafting off the asphalt.
Apache is certain the Titans are still looking, so if they haven't scoped out wherever Jinx is planning to go, maybe they'll be seen. This causes a small flutter of hope to bloom in her belly and her tail to lazily wave. She keeps in stride with Jinx easily as they meander past the occasional person. Apache catches sight of a cat in an alley, a fuzzy black and white body that disappears behind a dumpster. Her ear sets itself back as she turns her gaze elsewhere. Mainly to the sky in hope.
They don't actually go far, to Apache's disappointment.
It's only a few blocks before Jinx walks up to the side of an earth colored building, a window for walk up guests available on one side and a drive through on the other.
Its a Starbucks.
Apache tilts her head at the spectacle. She didn't take Jinx as the $5 coffee type. Even she only got Starbucks on special occasions. She couldn't even afford a Panera Bread latte for heaven's sake.
The drive through is extremely busy, the walk up window less so. There's only one person in line ahead of them, a homely looking man in scruffy clothes
When the man receives his ordered beverage, Jinx steps up to the window, a goofy winning smile on her lips.
"Hey, there dear. What can I get for you?" a teenaged boy has his hands folded in the window as he asks. Apache can just see him. His blond hair is shaggy, his brown eyes gleaming with mirth.
And... He's got a little bit of makeup on!
Apache inwardly chuckles. So he's into drag? That or he's gay. Either way he's got the features to pull it off and Apache isn't judging. She wags her tail furiously.
"Well, dear, how about a grande oreo frappuccino?" Jinx sounds sickly sweet, her emphasis on dear dripping sarcasm. The boy doesn't take notice and flashes her a winning smile.
"Comin' right up, gorgeous. That'll be $5.75. Name?"
"Oh, uh..." Jinx hesitates as she hands the boy a $10 bill. "Maya."
With a nod the boy disappears.
Maya? Is that her real name or an alias?
Apache is full blown curious now. Maya would just fit her perfectly as her true given name with that cotton candy hair and eyes of hers.
A few minutes pass by, Jinx taking no notice as she people watches and gazes down at Apache every so often before the boy reamurges, change and a cup in his hand.
"Here's your drink and change. Have a wonderful day, gorgeous."
Jinx thanks him snidely before turning on her heel, instantly sipping her frappuccino.
"The one thing I'll pay for an' some pretty boy has to make it weird." Jinx grumbles when they're a block away from the busy establishment. Apache chuckles in her head at that.
They meander their way through the busy afternoon streets. Apache doesn't know what to think, and she can't escape tethered to Jinx like this.
Well, unless her collar somehow broke, but she isn't that lucky.
She inwardly snorts. If Jinx is such bad luck then how hasn't Apache been able to find an opening yet? Well, she supposes that would be Apache's bad luck, not Jinx's.
She does know one thing, the thief next to her has some pretty big balls to go out in public with her only after a few hours of taking her from the Titans.
Her ears shoot up at something grasping her fur in a death hold. She turns her head to find a young boy, maybe three, grasping her fur in one hand, the other encased in his mother's much larger one.
"Dog!" he says happily. His mother turns around with a gasp.
Jinx only notices when the rope loses all of its slack that something is different and turns around.
"It wont bite him, will it?" the mother instantly says in a panic without thinking, trying to detach her son from the dogs soft fur.
"Now why would she do that?" Jinx grins. "If she was gonna bite him she would have already, don't ya know anything 'about dogs?"
"It's a pit bull! Of course it would bite him!" she turns to her son. "Let go right now!" When he does, the mother pulls him away into the crowd. Apache drops her ears as her eyes follow them until they disappear.
Jinx tugs them along, continuing their meandered pace down the sidewalk.
"What a dumb lady. Some people just don't know anything," she sips her frappuccino again, catlike eyes calculating.
Apache is just realizing just how expressive this girl is, especially next to Raven's guarded demeanor. She's an open book. Not the best quality for a master criminal.
Apache is trying to script what to say to Jinx in her head. It might not work, but then again it just might. If Jinx's heart isn't quite as into being a criminal as Apache is assuming, it shouldn't be too hard to get her to transfer over. She just needs a good reason and a purpose and someone to stand behind her to make it not so hard.
She's thinking of every situation in which Jinx would be a valuable asset. The fight with Trigon certainly qualifies as number one. The Brotherhood and H.I.V.E. would definitely weaken if not fall apart without its master student.
"Nothin' big I can do but solo heists and sit around until the boys get back, huh, pretty girl?" Jinx pats Apache's head. Apache rolls her eyes. If this is how her dog feels when she talks to her like this she really needs to quit. If she ever sees her dog again...
They're heading back the way they came. Looks like Apache might not get her chance today.
She huffs in irritation, glaring at the nasty old rope she's tethered by.
T.E.E.N.T.I.T.A.N.S.
Raven is usually never one for getting too attached to something. She knew how badly it could hurt to have something she cared about ripped away from her.
She's also very prone, despite herself, to unknowingly get attached to things.
These people she's come to call 'friends' and would never admit otherwise, are actually her family. The only family she's ever known at that. With the threat of Trigon a few months away, she knew it wasn't good to be attached to them, or them be like family to her.
It makes her emotions go unstable, thinking what would become of them October thirty first.
But now, Apache has to be factored into the picture. Raven doesn't know for sure, but if what Apache told them is true, she has a small sliver of hope. Situations like this don't just happen.
Azarath comes to mind first. For who else could be more powerful in all the dimensions to send a being from one dimension to another than the head priest of Azarath?
And not only that, but completely mask the aura and mind of said being from her until direct contact of the minds caused the spell to be lifted. All animals have auras and minds, no doubt, but Raven finds them easiest to block out. Their human counterparts are enough of a weight on her mind.
Azarath, she knew, wanted rid of all the demons that wanted to destroy dimensions. This could be their contribution to destroying Trigon. Her hypothesis of this of course wasn't concrete. She didn't know what had become of Azarath since she left all those years ago and she couldn't just go back and ask the head priest if he has been behind this entire ordeal. No one just gets to sit down and question the head priest.
So here she sits, finally after a long day in the infirmary, meditating and trying to lock onto a specific aura. One that felt different than the rest.
Every universe has a sort of aura spectrum. The people of this earth have a variety of auras, each one unique, yet they all have a distinct core. This is the universe they call home.
The aura she's looking for is going to be sickly with a different core from the others.
There's a period of rest when a person enters a new dimension. Their auras suffer under the pressure of the new universe. There have been occasions when weakauras crossed dimensions and they couldn't survive acclamation. It takes about a month for an aura to begin looking sick, and it only gets worse from there.
Acclamation generally takes fifteen to twenty-two months, and once that period is over, its difficult to go back to the auras original universe. The core of the aura stays the same, but it's a completely separate acclamation to go back home. And with an already weakened aura from the acclamation before, it could be lethal even for the strongest of auras.
She hadn't been aware of Apache's aura long enough to lock onto it like she could with any of the other Titans, so she has to rely on Apache's distinct core and the state of her aura, which would be slightly more difficult and time consuming.
She's already combed the west and north sides of the city, and is frustrated.
Not even the Academy held the one she's searching for.
She takes a calming breath, then resumes, this time on the east side of the city.
She'd been at this for five hours, it is beginning to get dark. She would have to stop and meditate soon.
Before she can begin combing the slums, a sick aura sticks out like a sore thumb to her. She can't pinpoint it, but it's there. It has a different core as well. Its strong, especially for a sick aura. Even terminally ill people's auras are stronger than usual, as they were getting ready to either reincarnate, or move on. She's confused at a weaker aura, almost nonexistent, that is attached to the stronger one. It seems almost... Animal like. Never had she experienced bonded auras, she'd only ever heard of them from ancient Azarathian texts. She's confused by this, but is certain nonetheless that that is Apache.
Shes faintly aware that it might be Jinx's doing that she can't pinpoint Apache directly, but it's a good starting point.
She pulls her soul self back to her, gracefully dropping out of her meditative form. With an elated huff, she picks up her communicator, dialing Robin's line.
"What's up, Raven?"
"I have an area for us to keep watch on for Jinx and Apache."
"Yeah? Whenever you're ready meet us in the common room to start mapping it out."