Chimera
by Ironraven
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Raven sipped at her tea, smiling as the soothing warmth slid down her throat. She was perched on the edge of her chair, her cape down over her arms and body, hood up. She normally didn't go out, but she needed to relax after the past few days, think. Even if it was just her and Beastboy in the Tower, she just needed to get out.
It was her first time visiting here, but she'd read nothing but good things about it. The poetry wasn't supposed to start for another hour, and it was already more than three quarters full. Despite the crowd, it was fairly quiet, thier minds disciplined. She cound sense the slightest flash of recognition from some of them, but no one had asked her for a photo or sign a part of thier body. That really annoyed her.
Raven looked into the dark, brownish-green tinted fluid in the white mug. A murky, darkened reflection looked back. I could get to like it here.
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Jinx strutted through the door of the coffee bar, sniffing carefully. She murred softly at the scent, the silence, the low, heavy light. It felt wonderful. It helped to take her mind off the indignity of the day. After an hour long shower, scrubbing, she at least felt human, even if she didn't think she'd get the slight scent out of her hair for a while. If only her back would stop-
HER! There, in the corner. It was her. How dare she show her face. She was going to pay for humiliating her like that!
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Before Raven's lips touched the mug, she felt it, the buzz, then a familiar flash of anger. Jinx was close, very close- HER!
Raven slid to her feet, moving quietly, quickly, hoping to get Jinx out of here before any bystanders got hurt. She dodged around a taller man. Two sets of eyes, darkest violent and brightest pink touched, locked. Two female voices broke the calm- ""You!""
They each took a step forward, seeing the obsticals, the ways out of here. Seeing a clear shot, they both took it, a bolt of blackness and a wave of pink striking eachother. The innocents around them mostly ran, except for those who took cover under tables. Three steps each brought them close enough to land the first physical blow. Raven focused as she pulled them both through the shadows.
Jinx snarled as they reappeared in the safety of the alley behind the coffee bar, aiming a ripple of curse at the cape. "Stop doing that to me!"
With a shrug of her shoulders, Raven swung her cape out of the way. "You don't really expect me to fall for that twice in one day?"
Pink hair flying, Jinx rushed her shorter opponent, leaping up with a flying kick as Raven dropped, planning on sweeping at the ankles that were no longer there. Raven rolled sideways, rising to her feet, as Jinx flipped herself in midair, the soles of her boots scraping to a stop. Both breathed heavily, looking at the other. One low, legs spread with a hand touching the ground; the other crouched, both hands reased; each girl sheathed in the aura of her respective magics. Silent but for thier breath, they stared, waiting for one to blink.
The sound of a something, maybe a chip of brick, falling made them both blink. Magic, hands, feet flew rapidly, two young women dancing, weaving from the other.
---
Crouching on the roof of the building, Kimmer looked down, kneeling, her hands on the edge of the roof. She watched intently, studying thier indvidual styles, feeling the magical splash, as she chewed absently on her braid. Blow after blow, blast after blast, some landed, some evaded, equally matched. She could see herself in them. She had Jinx's height, but Raven's curves, but just as fast as each of them. She could see her fighting style in both of thiers', both halves of her magic in them. The power, the grace, watching it made her own heart race, her breathing quicken, as if she was both of them. She rarely felt this alive, this aware. She could feel every stitch in the seam of her clothes, every hair on her head, the tinest of air currents stroking her legs through the leather of her boots, the fear of those below her in the cafe, the dreams and hopes and hates and joys of the hundreds of minds within a few blocks of her location. The energy whipping up through the alleyway was like a windstorm of magic, she could feel it almost trying to lift her physcially. Her skin start to flush, the heat flowing through her limbs, reddening her face, the force of energy and emotion overwelming. She bit down on her beribboned length of hair in her mouth, muffling the soft moan that rose from her throat as her fingers clutched at the bricks.
---
"You dumped me in that muck; can't you give me some slack? I'm not breaking any laws!"
"What?" Raven blocked a blow on her forearm.
Pushing on the blocking arm, Jinxed shoved her opponent aside, breaking the snap kick that had been aimed at her knee. "Don't tell me you don't know! You grabbed me off the street, froze me, and threw me in that compost pile!"
"Don't give me that! You broke in, then ambushed me. You tried to drown me!"
"Bull! Tell me that wasn't you the other night. You stole my hex!"
"What? Someone attacked us. How did you shadowstep?"
Both crouched, on the ready, lungs fighting for air, hair wild, hearts pounding. And stared. Witch and sorceress, empath and con artist, protector and thief, they knew the other spoke the truth. ""What? Then who?""