Moonjava- Thanks for reviewing. I liked the chapter, even if not much happened- a few chapters really only set up for the next, to make sure everything makes sense. Besides, everybody needs a little humor.
They-Call-Me-Orange- Sorry if it gets a bit confusing. It is supposed to have a little of that air- they have no idea what's going on, the castle makes about no sense, and the architecture is really monotonous. I love Dovey, and wish I had an emotion like her. She only gets better- I hope, at least. I think I have my updating groove back- I'll cross toes. I don't need those for typing.
Celsie- I'm glad that there's a bit of suspense for you.Yes, the jokeswere a bit off-color, but she would have a morbid sense of humor and a kind of . . .unique imagination. Besides, everything I said was innuendo. I don't think I've ever gone past innuendo in writing- people can imagine scenes beyond kissing, I don't write that. This is rated Teen, so I hope a few little details like in the last chapter won't offend anyone too horribly. The original fairy tales weren't for kids- they were all that disturbing.
XPhoenixX- That was a later detail, which is why I write ahead of where I type. I heard that version a few years ago, and I've known the real Little Mermaid since I was eight (where the mermaid dies). I blame that for my insanity, aversion to normalcy, and obsession with writing. Besides, it had to be something unexpected but likely to free trapped emotions, all while doing a bit of forcible shoving to get the two together.
YumeTakato- Thanks. I need all the good luck I can get. No homework for today, so that's the use of luck. My teachers probably are conspiring to make tomorrow terrible, but at least there'll be a chapter today.
Thank you to all reviewers. You have all kept me motivated in doing this story instead of doing something along the lines of taking a nap on the couch and completely wrecking chances of sleeping later. Just a quick poll, with no relevance to the story, just out of pure curiosity- if Rae had a baby (with BB as the father- technically, he wouldn't have a baby), would it have green eyes, violet eyes, or some other color? The most votes wins the place in a joke later in the story! and glory points. I'll put the results up and everything. Oops- too much rambling. I'll start the story up again now. (The question was bolded in case people wanted to skip over it, not that you would, person reading this insanely mundane author's note. I'm shutting up now.)
They found Wisdom without any real incident, if two wrong turns, hazy directions in counted bricks, brief spats between Rude and Envy, continuous mutterings from Rage, and the many times Gar and Raven had to reassure Timid of safety, with Gar translating for Dovey as well as himself, and the lack of facilities for a bathroom or snack break weren't counted. Other than that, as Gar joked, it was a pleasant walk. The identical glares from Raven and Rage stopped a weak smile. Between those two, he really would like to run the other direction. He still remembered what Rage had done to a few straggling demons in the Trigon incident, as Raven's eighteenth birthday was known.
Wisdom was frozen. That was the best term besides a term that would only be understood among the very literate of Azarath to describe what had happened. Rime covered her, concentrated on her face, and swathed her completely in a layer of ice that was cold to the touch. Rude's remarks at Gar's surprise are best not printed, and his response was equally prone to being deleted by the conscientious writer.
Everyone promised not to watch Gar. Even Dovey did, and she was blind- he was being that much of a prima donna. Kissing Raven was one thing guaranteed to make him nervous- he had received far too many threats that sounded mortal from just telling her a joke. Having an entire company of Ravens watch would be a little more nerve-wracking than visiting a gene specialist interested in replicating the effect some medication had taken. Despite their promises, the instant he was distracted, they watched. Raven knew she could have been teased about this, but he was more embarrassed. When he was this likely to turn an interesting shade of puce when someone even made a certain face, she knew that she was safe from taunts. Besides, it was politically incorrect to tease the girl who had a dragon in her head, right?
Wisdom stumbled forward until Rude caught her. The orange emotion only sneered when Wisdom thanked her, instead firing off a question about how Malchior had trapped her in the middle of a hallway much too small for a dragon. Wisdom had, ignoring the sarcasm in the question, decided that Knowledge would know. Wisdom was her usual distant self, deciding that she would take the lead, doing so with a brown cloak billowing behind her. Knowledge was usually in charge of theatrics, but she shared a few characteristics with wisdom.
"You know," Raven remarked as Wisdom consulted with Dovey through nods and how-many-fingers? games about the relative safety of a corridor, "this is really going to quite the story, if it ever can be told without you blushing. Even with you turning a bit orange, actually- it's a very . . . interesting effect."
"Okay, time to blatantly change the subject. Why didn't you just come visit us some time? You wouldn't have stayed away for five years just to make some point about being friends. You better believe I would have asked Rachel out if I wasn't still waiting on you, or I'll- well, you're better at making up dangerous-sounding threats than I am."
"You have that right." She bit her lip, thinking more seriously. "You've met the emotions I had left after just a few months of being on my own. Dovey was still not talking to anyone, Rage was a bit subdued after Trigon but willing to hold a grudge against everyone for fearing me- she was that desperate for expression- no, don't have a fit, Rage, it's the truth, Rude was mad that I wasn't prank-calling you daily, Envy was furious you'd opened up so fast to Terra- she's never gotten over that, and Timid was the strongest of the bunch. Because Timid was strongest, she was expressed most often. The emotions started leaving a few days after I left- while you were chatting with Dovey, I caught up with Timid on all the details."
That was quite possibly the longest lecture she had ever given him without a threat. Well, the first sentence had been an implied threat of threatening, but that was in response to something he said, but- just keep thinking, Gar, he told himself. "You were too shy?" Raven? Shy? Something didn't compute with that statement.
"Basically, when not jealous, rude, or angry."
"Rae-"
"I'm over it. We're not going to angst over a few lost years like cartoon characters in some show about superheroes that basically amounts to a soap opera, and I highly doubt I'll die some nobly tragic death that will make you spend the rest of your life in a clichéd solitude, ruing the day I left the tower."
"I was going to say I felt the same way about everything. I guess I just did. I'm done now."
Raven smiled. "You know, I forget how pragmatic you are sometimes."
"Pragmatic?"
"Practical. However many compliments I will ever manage to give you, you always fish for the insult. You need to work on your vocabulary and literary allusions."
"Why use pragmatic when you can say practical?"
"Why resort to a smaller vocabulary to suit others? I won't dumb myself down."
"And I won't serious myself up."
"That's probably for the best." She let her words sink in during a pause for emphasis. "I might have to look farther for something to criticize."
"Well, at least I don't eat birds."
Raven laughed louder than she meant to, sending echoes down the unchanging halls that Wisdom navigated easily enough. "That is your idea of a comeback. B, I have to let you know- it takes two to have witty banter."
"I'm a wit," he protested.
"A half-wit, certainly."
"We found Knowledge," Rude interrupted. Wisdom stood aside, taking Dovey's arm. The blind emotion didn't like to be left alone, and Rude was not at all likely to do it.
"Go on, Gar. Who would've thought- a green guy has finally been cast as Prince Charming. Remember- the instant she's able to talk, you'll be buried in questions. Curiosity's part of knowledge in most people, after all, and that goes double for her."
"You admitted I'm charming."
"Watch the ego, charming. I need you now, but later, you'll be completely dispensable."
"Never."
"Always. Now, we can fight about this, or Knowledge can be mad at you and dredge up all memories to use intellect, logic, and creativity to put together the most devastating prank you could ever hope to see, with a bit of collaboration from Rude."
"Have no fear; the Charming Prince is- ow!" He had fallen flat on his face. He glared at a gray-cloaked figure cowering behind Rage. Recovering his wounded dignity, he stalked away before he could notice the real perpetrator wore a violet cloak and a smug smile. Sometimes, people just need to be shocked out of self-worship.
Starfire sat on Raven's couch between Cyborg and Robin. She couldn't move her right arm. Cyborg didn't mean to take up so much space, but even the slimmest of robotic limbs equipped with sensors, scanners, and a sonic cannon was larger than the arm of the average human bodybuilder. She wasn't about to say anything, even after a few minutes when she started to lose feeling to the arm. They had only been in Raven's apartment for just under an hour, and she had only taken the small space in the center of the couch a few minutes before.
She heard a low rumbling echoing strangely. "Robin? Cyborg? Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Robin quieted for a minute. "I don't hear a thing, but you're the girl with good enough super-senses to give Superman a run for his money." He was pretty fast and pretty strong for a human, but she was a completely different class of hominid altogether.
"There's something in here," Cyborg said, checking his scanners. "The audio won't give a location, but the heat scan places something right on top of us." He looked at the ceiling. The cover of the air duct was missing, just like the empty gap in the wall. "Is that supposed to be-"
Later, Robin claimed that Cyborg had let out a scream that wouldn't have been out of place coming from a six-year-old girl. Starfire disagreed. She claimed that no girl could reach that octave, and that he had sounded like a castrated ziflitb. Showing years of learning, Robin had nodded thoughtfully instead of commenting.
The cat landed on Cyborg's shoulder, claws out. As his shoulder was made from metal, the resulting sound made Robin cringe. Starfire shrugged. Nails scratching on a chalkboard had always reminded her of Tamaranean folk music.
The cat experimentally nudged Cyborg's arm, then batted at him with a blunted paw. Deciding that he was acceptable, the cat nuzzled herself under his arm. The earlier noise had been a growl, discernable only because the cat was now purring contently, kneading soft paws without a trace of talon-like appendages into his leg.
Starfire cautiously offered a hand to the cat. The cat sniffed the alien before butting her head against Starfire, graciously receiving a few strokes before pulling away. She would tolerate Starfire, but had obviously chosen Cyborg as the primary receiver of feline affection. The cat was only nine inches from nose to rear, excluding a lashing gray tail that matched a tabby face. The cat sliced Robin's hand open when he imitated Starfire, choosing to exercise her feline right to be exasperatingly picky.
Starfire laughed, excusing herself gravely to her teammates and especially to the cat before making a second search of the kitchen. As she predicted, Robin had missed a clue. Between cereal and tea, Raven had several cans of canned cat food and a bag of dry kibbles tucked neatly against the back of the cabinet, separated from her tea by a wall of cereal.
Starfire found a cap opener with a post-it note still attached with a quick note to some previous cat-sitter, declaring feeding time would be sometime after midnight each day. From the very clean state of the cat's bowl, Star guessed the cat would be hungry. She opened a tin labeled "SUPERB SALMON." Once the bowl was on the ground, the cat was standing in front of it after a few astonishingly quick leaps. Her new friend came second to food. Starfire was nudged almost affectionately, Cyborg's ankles were twined around, and Robin was hissed at.
"Anyone know the hellion's name?" Robin asked.
"You can ask Raven about the little queen," Starfire suggested, watching the tiny grey tabby strut across the kitchen to the water dish. "All female cats are queens, all males are toms." She knew Robin wouldn't know, even if he would be too proud to ask.
"I never thought Raven was a pet person, but a cat is the closest fit to her personality." Cyborg was watching the cat, ignoring Robin's mutterings as he bandaged his gashed hand.
"Cats provide companionship while keeping independence."
Robin sighed, leaving the room. There was no use in talking to cat people.
Happiness had joined the group, nearly giving Gar a heart attack. Even with his high activity levels, low cholesterol, and habits of eating tofu, having a pink-cloaked Raven somersaulting at you to deliver a hug aspotentially bone-crushing as Starfire's would be enough to do that. Raven's smile was already wider.
Pinkie, as she liked to be called for reasons she would happily (how else?) explain for hours to anyone foolish enough to ask, was only too pleased to respond to Gar's question. Rude saved Gar- she didn't want to listen to the litany. Wisdom and Knowledge were acting like twins again, acting exactly alike even if the thick glasses Knowledge wore (Rude teased they, with a few dabs of tape, would look like something out of Harry Potter) changed looks the slightest bit. Envy, Rage, Rude, and Timid were closer after the long ordeal of having no one else to talk to. Dovey stayed close to Gar, and Pinkie was catching up with Rae. She decided that the years Raven described wouldn't be so bad to miss.
"Where's Bravery?" Pinkie asked, catching everyone's attention. Wisdom, Knowledge, and Dovey had been quiet on that subject.
"She was caught after me," Wisdom said. "Knowledge, too. We just know that she fought. She's been guarded more carefully than the rest, so she couldn't slip away for just an instant to let you know what was going on."
"Dovey, tell Gar where I can find Bravery. Once we have her, I'll be able to join up, Gar's out of here, I fight Malchior once and for all, I go back to the real world, go to the reunion, and we stay up all night talking about the good old days like a bunch of retired old fogies."
"Well, Dovey?" Knowledge asked, poking her sister. The emotions had long ago decided they would be the Nevermore sorority. Raven knew that she never should have read that college brochure.
"That's the problem," Dovey told Gar. "Bravery came to tell me what was going on. She didn't get caught by a long-distance freezing spell. She stopped me from telling Malchior things- all sorts of things. She was frozen there, right in the middle."
"Where is there, exactly?"
"The center of the castle, somewhere in the middle of the open courtyard," Dovey said miserably. "And I have no idea where."