Chapter 8: Glycerine by Bush
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Gar opened his eyes slowly and looked around. Everything was blurry, but stark white.
"Oh great, I've been abducted." He muttered to himself.
"Not really, but a good guess." A female voice said in a pleasant, cheerful manner.
As his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw a woman in dark clothing with dark hair sitting in front of him, but he still couldn't make out anything beyond that and her short hair.
"Raven...?" Gar asked,unsure.
"Ehh, no, sorry about that." The woman said calmly. As his eyes adjusted, he noticed two things. It was not Raven, she was roughly as slim but her hair actually was black, and messy, tangled every which way. She was in full goth attire; baggy black jeans, loose fitting boots, a black tank top and an ankh necklace hanging from her neck. Her skin was incredibly pale and her eyes were black in the iris, the right eye having an Eye of Horus symbol around it. The second thing that he noticed was that she was sitting cross legged about three feet off what his brain was telling him was the ground. Not floating, like Raven does, sitting. As if the air was completely solid.
"...okay. Can I comment on how weird that is?" Gar nervously stared at the space between where she was sitting and the ground.
"You just did but go ahead." The goth woman was smiling pleasantly.
"That's fucking weird." Gar said flatly.
She chuckled. "From your perspective, I guess it is."
"So...going to ask now, to keep me distracted from...that; Who are you and where am I?" He asked, looking around at, well, nothing but white.
"I'm Death, and you're...well, dead." Death smile diminished only a little.
Gar turned to look at her quickly. "I'm-what?!" He blinked, looking at his hands and then at himself as much as he could, not noticing any difference. "I'm...I'm...dead?"
"For the moment, yes." Death replied succinctly.
Jump City:
Donna and Raven sat in the infirmary, a silence falling between them after Raven's confession.
"You know, everything makes a bit more sense now." Donna said finally.
"I would assume so." Raven said flatly, making a cup of tea quickly before resuming her watch of Gar's slow breathing form.
"So, if you're in a mood to keep being honest with me...how did it all...well...start?" Donna asked hesitantly.
Raven sipped her tea before starting her story. "...Well...it's really hard to say. Because at first...it didn't. I did not want anything between us to happen, so nothing did."
"So you finally ready to be honest about your feelings about me, Rae-Rae?" Gar leaned over the back of the couch, raising an eyebrow at her, giving his best fanged grin. This was maybe the...fifth time since the hallway clean up. Two weeks ago.
Raven snapped her book shut, face red as she pushed down the thoughts of liking that damn smile; "There's nothing to be honest about, so stop fucking asking!"
She immediately clapped a hand to her mouth. She didn't curse. She'd never curse. How did he make her curse?!
Gar stared at her wide eyed. "You said a swear." He said in the same manner as schoolboy. "I'm telling Robin." Gar grinned again, "Though, I do like a woman with a dirty mouth."
One swift movement, Gar was flung across the room as Raven faded into the floor to escape this...this...torment.
"But like I said the first time you and Jinx pried..." Raven smiled softly, face tinging red, "He's relentless."
"Wait, what?" Beast Boy's whole rhythm was thrown off. He had a flirt all set up and everything.
Raven half glared at him, face red. "I said if you want to date me ask me properly. No more of this bugging me sh-stuff if I go on a date with you right?"
Beast Boy stood, frozen. Raven thought she may have accidentally triggered whatever part of him was deer.
"So, for a while, I humored him. Or at least that's what I told myself I was doing." She turned to look at Donna, face falling slightly, "This was before everything with my father happened...so I guess part of it was me wanting to be happy with someone, to see if it would, if it could happen...before I...before my father's plan for me occurred. And for a while, though I hated to admit it at the time, I was." She finished quietly with a small smile.
"Please tell me you didn't pick another horror movie?" Raven did her best to make herself comfortable on one of the beanbag chairs in his room. It was almost clean; she ignored that a lot of junk was shoved under his bed, and other pieces of furniture.
"Actually I found a documentary on the Codex Gigas, I figured a movie about a book would be more up your alley?" BB was still unsure if it was a good choice.
Raven stared at him. My god. He was genuinely trying. She hoped it was dim enough that he couldn't see her cheeks going red. "I guess that should be okay."
Beast Boy gave that damnable fanged grin. He knew that was as close as one could get to "I'm very interested in this." from Raven.
"And...after?" Donna, pouring herself a small cup of tea as well.
Raven sighed. "That's where things get complicated. He wanted to pick back up where we left off, I was still reeling from the revelation of having my own life belong to me that I really, really didn't want to settle into anything until I was ready."
Raven was exasperated; it'd had only been few weeks since...since she defeated her father. A phrase she never thought would appear in her mind. And Beast Boy had yet to relent. Yes, earlier it had been endearing. But right now? Right now this tension headache was threatening life on this half of the continent. She breathed in the fresh air as they stood alone on the roof.
"What part of 'give me time to think about it' are you not getting?" She said through gritted teeth.
"But you've had time, a bunch of time! I just thought...y'know you would've...I dunno..." Beast Boy was slowly begging to spiral back into an awkward ramble.
"Beast Boy." Raven cut him off as sternly as she could. "The time I need isn't measured, or quantified. I don't know how much I'll need. I know you miss...all that..." Some small part of her mind, way in the back reminded her that she's missing it too, "But I just...literally went through the biggest change in my existence. Can I...Can I just have that for a while?"
Beast Boy stood in thought. Not many, beyond probably the core Titans and the Doom Patrol would recognize the look he had as thought. Most looking at him would wonder when the wind would start whistling through his ears.
"I'm sorry" He said after a long moment, "I...I get it. I...I know I usually need someone there for these things, but...I get that you don't; and I don't mean that in a negative way just that...I just get it. I'm sorry, Rae."
"It's okay, Beast Boy." She replied softly.
~~~~~~~
"After explaining that to him for the...it must've been the fiftieth time it felt like, he finally agreed to let me have my space for a while. And have it I did. I opened up a bit over all, but I did my best to keep to myself at home more, hiding from the team when I could and more importantly, him. I don't know why, maybe just that part of my brain that still refused to admit that I liked him. That still kinda put him in this place of not being serious. Not just himself as a person, but the entire relationship we had. We were kids, having a kid's relationship. Puppy love. Nothing more than that, right?...and then...I started feeling lonely. Not, alone mind you, I mean, I spent plenty of time with the team. I had my friends. But something was missing. And Gar knew it...in a weird way."
Raven blinked as she heard the knock on the door. She must've passed out reading, she was face first in the pages on her bed. She rolled off and stretched as she stood and went to the door. It slid open and she was greeted with green.
"Hey Rae, was getting ready to head to the park, wanted to know if you wanted to come?" BB was in his civies, calm as could be. Externally. She could feel the waves of his 'don't freak the hell out' energy he has when he's nervous.
She raised an eyebrow at the question, "Why do you think I want to run around the park?"
"Who said anything about you running around? You can just read if ya want, It's more to see if you wanted outta your room for a while." BB shrugged.
Raven stared, contemplating. "Sure, why not?"
"Gradually, he started working himself into my spaces. Asking me what books I was reading, asking me to teach him how to meditate, anything he could to spend time with me. And, weirdly, a few days before the war with the Brotherhood started, he flat out asked me on a proper lunch date."
"Just outright?" Donna blinked.
"Well, it was just the two of us, he made sure no one else was around, but yeah. No hesitation. And...I dunno, I guess I was in the right mood and said yes." Raven smiled to herself, remembering the day.
Beast Boy's face was almost as red as it got. Raven lacked his enhanced hearing but she swore she could hear his heartbeat. She could sense his 'don't freak out' sensation like it filled the empty hall they were in. The one with the bad patch job from a few years ago.
"Okay, where did you want to go?" Raven finally replied.
"I got the perfect place!" Beast Boy did his grin. That one with the fang that he knew she liked.
"I'm guessing it went well...?" Donna smiled, taking a sip of tea.
"Clarify your definition of 'well'." Raven raised an eyebrow, before inhaling slightly, going into the story...
An uncomfortable teenage girl stood in front of the cafe, arms folded, foot tapping. She blew her must've-been-dyed dark purple hair out of her almost purple blue eyes impatiently. She was dressed in a black tank top and tight, but comfortable looking jeans with large boots, which was fine enough; she had a feeling her currently fifteen minute late date was not dressed any better. The girl looked at and almost fiddled with a large, bulky ring on her finger but decided against it. She folded her pale arms again, and huffed again. 'Don't know how the bastard's late; he recommended the damn place.' She grumbled internally.
The goth girl jumped a little at a thud and groaning noise from an alley next to the cafe. She then sighed, watching as a young, slim, slightly tanned teen boy stumble out of the alley, trying to smoothing out an open wrinkled white and dull green plaid shirt. Underneath, he wore a black shirt with a "N7" logo on it, whatever that was, and baggy blue jeans with sandals. He looked around the sidewalk in front of the cafe before walking towards her, scratching the back of his head awkwardly, ruffling his already messy light, must've-been-dyed green hair. She looked him up and down and noticed something in his hand; a crumpled bouquet of flowers. Despite herself, she smiled softly.
"Hey..." He started awkwardly.
"Rachel." She said smoothly. He quirked an eyebrow at her, as almost to say "Really?". Rachel raised an eyebrow at him unexpectedly.
"Oh...uhm...Garmfhtlyd." He muttered the last part under his breath, looking down.
"What?" She leaned in, face skewed in confusion. He mumbled something even more incoherent this time and she glared at him.
After a moment of silence, he sighed, buckling to the pressure, "Garfield."
Another moment of silence hung in the air. Unlike him, Rachel lacked the restraint, "You're shitting me."
"I really wish I was." Garfield sighed. "Just...stick to Gar, okay?"
She smiled and nodded. "I'm going to have fun with that name, you know that right?"
"Wouldn't expect anything less, Rachel." Gar said with a wide grin. It was her turn to look down and grumble. "Oh! These are..." He held up the crushed, bent bouquet of flowers. "completely destroyed." Gar's face fell. Said destroyed flowers were why he was late. He let his shoulders drop along with the bouquet. He muttered "Sorry."
Rachel sighed, before reaching down, and taking the bouquet from his hand gently, removing the solitary untouched flower from the center of the group deftly and held it up. She smiled softly, face tinted red. "Thank you."
Gar blinked and then grinned widely. "Welcome." They stood there, her smiling softly holding the flower and handful of former flowers, him grinning like an idiot, before he coughed quickly. "Uhm, well...shall we?" He did a slight sweeping gesture with his arm to the door of the nearby cafe that Gar had picked out.
"Might as well." Rachel said in a flat tone. As they walked towards the door, she casually tossed the crushed flowers behind a bush in front of the cafe, still holding the one good one. Gar looked sideways at her, raising an eyebrow, to which she shrugged. "Would you rather I hold on to the reminder of your fail, or your win?"
"Win. The win is good." Gar said quickly as they entered the cafe. It was like some bohemian combination of a log cabin and 1950's diner. An eclectic combination of memorabilia adorned the walls above the near individualized booths, the tables appearing to be lined with covers and images from classic pulp novels. They stayed mostly quiet as they walked in and stood by a "Wait to be seated" sign. A kind-looking middle aged woman appeared in front of them, smiling broadly
"Just two?" She asked happily. They nodded awkwardly. She continued to smile, slightly more knowing, as she grabbed two menus and led them to a booth. "Alright, here you go, kids, Jean will be with you in a minute." As she turned, she winked at Gar, whose face went probably a deeper shade red.
They sat there in awkward silence for almost a solid minute, not looking at their menus.
"Do you think she knows we're on a date?" Rachel asked finally.
"No, 'course not." Gar said grinning. This got a small smile out of Rachel, with the tension broken, they both began looking over the menus.
"Well I see why you picked this place." Rachel said flatly, looking at an entire menu page dedicated to vegan specialties.
"Did you see the teas?" Gar's eyes didn't move from the page, but he raised a questioning eyebrow.
Rachel looked at him skeptically, but turned to find an impressive selection of teas, organized by brew type, ingredients and purpose. "You truly are a man after my heart." She said with as much sarcasm she could use to mask her inner joy.
"Kinda the idea." Gar replied with a grin. They fell into a less awkward silence as they read over their choices. The waitress finally came up, young woman, probably barely in her twenties, long brown hair wrapped up in a bun save a few strands.
"Hey, my name's Jean, I'll be takin' care of ya. Nice to see you again, Gar." She smiled at him, then at Rachel tilting her head slightly and raising an eyebrow. "And what's this? Brought someone with you this time."
At this point, it seemed that both Gar and Rachel's blushes had synchronized damn near completely. Jean looked between the two of them, smiling still. "Well, I know what you're getting." She pointed at Gar, who held up a finger to protest, before dropping it, realizing Jean was right. Jean looked at Rachel, "What would you like, hon?"
"Uhm...I think I'll just get the hibiscus tea for now." Rachel said softly.
"Alright, I'll be back with your drinks, and Gar, we'll get your order started." Jean replied in a chipper manner, near snatching Gar's menu and walking away.
After the next awkward pause, Rachel finally asked "How often do you come here and what is your usual?"
"Like...once a week if I can help it and a vegan grilled cheese with fries." He said quickly. Rachel quirked an eyebrow at his usual, and he just shook his head. "It's damn good. Like. Heavenly. They add spinach, tomatoes. All the good things."
"I'll take your word for it." Rachel began to eye the menu again. "Almost wanna get a burger to taunt you."
"Man, don't pull a Cy-Vic." Gar corrected himself quickly.
"Smooth." Rachel said flatly.
"Look, I'm usually here alone, so it's weird. Keeping cover and all in conversation. I mean, how often do you talk when you do your run abouts?" Gar raised an eyebrow at her.
Rachel lowered the menu enough to return the eyebrow raise, "How do you know about my days on the town?"
"Besides the fact you just told me?" Gar grinned as Rachel huffed slightly, raising her menu back up. He sighed, "You can't just be spending all that time in your room and suddenly have new books and stuff. There's magic, then there's hoping in everyone else's gullibility."
Rachel lowered the menu again to make eye contact at him, "You've followed me, haven't you?"
"No intentionally. Not many people keep that shade of purple and make it work, even pretty goth chicks." Gar grinned again as her face begin to tinge red as she lifted the menu again quickly. "I was out getting a game in holo, and just happened to see you at the mall. Admittedly recognized you first another way but...yeah the hair was kinda a give away."
"How did you initially recognize me?" Rachel asked, keeping a flat tone as she internally was frantically trying to find something to eat, or at least focus on the menu.
Gar looked off to the side awkwardly. "Uhm...I'm not so sure that's important, Ra-chel." He corrected himself again.
There was another long pause as Jean came back with their drinks, Rachel's tea and a water for Gar. She looked at Rachel with a grin, "So, made up your mind?"
"Y'know, I'll just make things simple, I'll have what he's getting." Rachel responded, maintaining a careful monotone as she handed the menu to Jean.
"Can do, it'll be a bit, we're still wading through the lunch rush so you kids have fun." Jean smiled, winking at Gar and wandering off again.
Rachel raised an eyebrow at this, then at a beet red Gar, deciding to take the moment. "So unless you want me to ruin your day remorselessly over that, how'd you first figure out it was me at the mall?"
Gar shifted in his spot, leaning his head down and crossing his hands in front of his face, grumbling something.
"I can't hear when you mumble." Rachel gave a small grin, finally glad to be on the offensive end of the conversation.
"Isorhemkinghsmeldthtiwsyu" was mumbled through Gar's hands.
"So what was with the winking?" Rachel asked, grin a little wider.
"I sorta kinda smelled that it was you." Gar said just barely at an audible level.
Rachel blinked, then here eyes narrowed at him slightly. "You can identify me by smell?"
"I can kinda identify everyone in the tower by smell." Gar said with a small frown.
"That's a little uncomfortable." Rachel sipped her tea.
"Says the girl who can read peoples emotions through walls." Gar sipped his water.
"Point." Rachel said, thinking for a second before grinning. "What do I smell like?"
"I am not going into this." Gar put his water down, and near buried his head in his arms.
"Is it really that bad to describe? Or do I just smell that bad?" Rachel teased.
"No it's just...weird to. It's like you having to explain what peoples emotions look like, I think. Different smells for everything that a person is really, and for different...uhm...moments. Like I said, it's weird." Gar said, looking up and resting his head on his arms as he looked at Rachel.
Rachel looked at him thoughtfully for a second. "It's like that for emotions. Just different...colors."
"Colors?" Gar raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, but not like the ones for my emotions, that's just how they've divided over time, it's...like the color spectrum for emotions. It's weird to think about but that's the easiest way to explain it." Rachel said simply, before taking another sip of tea.
Gar took about sip of his water, thinking it over. "Hrm. You know, I didn't think we'd be talking work on this."
"We're not, we're talking about each other. Unfortunately, I think work just kinda follows us sometimes." Rachel said in her usual flat tones.
Gar shrugged "Eh, as long as it doesn't interrupt today-"
Then work interrupted.
"MUMBO JUMBO!" Was shouted as the obnoxious blue magician appeared in a cloud of smoke and glitter, waving his wand menacingly at the cafe. "Now, now, nobody get up at once, just a routine robbery by your average amazing magical thief, so if everyone could kindly start emptying their purses and the like, I can keep moving down the street.
Rachel and Gar quickly went under their table. In their cramped space, they looked at each other, both frowning near face to face.
"You had to say something." Rachel grumbled.
"It's not my fault the universe hates us." Gar said sadly.
"Right, well, how should we do this?" Rachel asked
"I guess teleport out, drop me outside on a building so I can swoop in and you teleport in, nobody knows, right?" Gar suggested.
Rachel stared at him. "That's actually a decent plan."
"I have my moments." Gar grinned, before kissing her on the cheek quickly.
Rachel went wide eyed as the bulb in the lamp above their table popped. "What was that-?"
"Luck." Gar kept his grin. "Should probably get movin'."
Rachel nodded before they were both enveloped in a small covering of black energy.
Mumbo had heard the lamp pop and it caught his attention. "The devil was-?" He began to ask before a rough circle of black energy came up from the ground, disappearing to reveal Raven. This got a grin out of Mumbo. "If it isn't my favorite nemesis!"
"I really don't put you that high on my list, so I really wish you wouldn't." Raven said flatly.
"What's the matter, all by yourself today?" Mumbo asked, pointing his wand at her before the window to the cafe crashed, as a green bird flew through and then shifted into Beast Boy, rolling to a stop next to Raven. "Or maybe not!" He then looked at the two, waiting a second, looking at the door and window. "...Is it really just the two of you?" He asked, confused.
Beast Boy nodded; "Really, dude, not worth the entire team. That and we were in the area."
Mumbo raised an eyebrow, "Just the two of you? In the area? Really? Why?"
Raven's hood went a little lower and Beast Boy shuffled a little. "Look, that's not important. What is important is kickin' your butt!" Beast Boy shifted into a wolf, jumping at Mumbo, who simply held up his hat, which sucked in the green wolf in less than a second.
"Really, you'd think you kids would learn by now." Mumbo said with a chuckle. Raven held up her hands to attack him before Mumbo pointed his wand dangerously at the hat. "Ah ah ah, wouldn't do that now. Besides, I've been wanting to do this trick with him for a while. Hocus Pocus!" He shouted tapping the hat. There was a fizzle of energy, before Mumbo smiled widely. "And now, a dead rabbit!" He went to reach in but seemed to find nothing, frowning. "Hold on." He said to a stupefied Raven and cafe. Mumbo reached his arm entirely into the hat, feeling around for a minute before pulling it out and scratching the top of his head in confusion. "That's weird, he should've been right-" A green gorilla hand reached out of the hat and grabbed Mumbo's arm. "Oh hell." Was all Mumbo got out before being dragged into his own hat. The hat then proceed to bounce and roll around of it's own accord, being watched with a bit of amusement on Raven's end and trepidation on the part of the gathered cafe goers. After about a minute, the hat finally stopped, rolling on the ground slowly. Raven walked over, picked it up and shook it a little, and Mumbo was thrown roughly to the ground as a green humming bird buzzed out, shifting into Beast Boy, who grinned.
"He has terrible aim for someone firing into his own hat." BB said cheerfully.
"Obviously." Raven replied dryly, looking at the beaten form of Mumbo on the ground, who was groaning in pain. "Looks like the show got cut short today."
Mumbo began to mumble "I would've gotten away with it if it wasn't for you-" he was cut off by Raven kicking him in the side of the head, just hard enough to knock him out.
Beast Boy looked up at her, raising an eyebrow. Raven shrugged. "I hate that show."
"Okay." BB replied simply. He then looked around at the gathering crowd, then at Raven who gave a shared look of "we need to get out of here". He coughed quickly, "Well, the cops should be here for him a in a minute, we got to get going, we were on the trail of..."
"Killer Moth." Raven interjected in a bland manner.
"Yeah, so we better get back on that, glad you're all safe." Beast Boy grinned and they both disappeared in a black burst of energy before anyone could get closer to thank them.
Rachel and Gar popped up in the back of the crowd, trying to look through. "What happened?" Gar asked Jean who was taking a picture of an unconscious Mumbo.
"You didn't see?" Jean asked, jaw dropping.
"We kinda, uhm...hid under the table the entire time." Gar said, scratching the back of his head. Rachel nodded, both of their faces tinged red.
Jean raised an eyebrow but then shrugged. "Well, the crash was Beast Boy bursting in, and Raven had teleported in just before that. Titans, in the cafe I work at! It was awesome!" She said excitedly.
"Damn, wish we hadn't hid." Gar said, grinning. Rachel elbowed him in the rib when Jean didn't look at them to take another picture.
After a bit of clean up, the cafe resumed it's normal lunch pace, apparently a few of the cooks had kept going during the robbery. One of them had told Jean, which she relayed when Gar asked as she brought their food that "Robbery, yeah, whatever, fuck it. I'm not missing another order and havin' the chef yellin' at my ass over some cracked out blueman groupie."
They took a walk in a large nearby park after the lunch, still having an hour or so before they had to sneak back to the Tower.
"I'll admit it, that was a damn good grilled cheese." Rachel said flatly, allowing him to hold her hand as they walked.
"Told ya." Gar said with a grin.
"Tell the others and you're dead." She added quickly.
"Thought that was your main rule about this anyways." Gar raised an eyebrow at her.
"True." She sighed. They settled into a nice silence as they walked aimlessly down the paths of the park.
Gar finally interrupted it, pulling her over into a quick hug, catching her off guard.; "Lavender and various middle eastern spices I can't hope to identify with the barest hints of brimstone."
Rachel blinked in surprise but didn't pull away. "What took so long for you to answer?" she grinned at him slyly.
"Wanted to make sure I got it right." Gar grinned back at her. "So, what colors am I?"
She looked him in the eyes, thinking for a moment. "Green, blue and violet." She began leaning towards him a little.
"I have no idea what that means." Gar said softly, leaning towards her as well.
"I'll explain it later." She said quickly before the building kiss connected passionately.
Donna smiled softly. "That sounds like it went well to me."
"Yeah. I guess it did." Raven sighed, looking sadly at Gar.
Another lull entered the conversation, filled only with the soft beeps of the monitor.
"What color is he now?" Donna asked softly.
"No colors, he's not awake, and I can't really pierce the emotions of dreams, too abstract. Just a dull white right now." Raven replied quietly.
Metropolis:
"Yeah, Wally, I'll be heading there as fast as I can, going to see if I can get a hold of Kal, see if I can get the watchtower to teleport me there. Dick said he's gotta wrap up something in Gotham, didn't say what though. Yeah I know, it scares me too. Hopefully see you in a bit, dude." Cy's internal display moved the phone symbol down, hanging up the call as he finished packing what the small amount of things he needed for the trip back to the tower. This is not really how he wanted his trip home to end. Maybe earlier in the summer but...well, now he actually wouldn't have minded a few more days. He and his father had bonded over work, his dad impressed by Vic's ability to adapt new information in, and Vic simply being impressed by his dad being...well, a dad. That and they had probably put the prostheses assignment a solid year ahead of schedule between the two of them.
Cyborg grabbed his small overnight bag that he had brought and looked around his old room for moment; taking in the difference of how it had looked when he arrived and how it looked now. Initially, it had been almost a sealed shrine to his old self, football trophies that he had left behind, pictures of him from local papers and from team photos. As the weeks had gone by since his return, it slowly had been taken up by computer parts, a modified work bench, and covered in small blue prints. Vic looked at the room and sighed. It was starting to feel comfortable again, like home but...duty calls. As he headed downstairs, he looked at his dad, sitting in the a chair in the living room area.
"Hey, dad...I'm...gettin' ready to head out." Cyborg said quietly.
"'Least you're telling me this time." Dr. Stone said calmly.
"...Dad, did you just make a joke?"
"No. You must have heard me wrong, or something. Get your ear's calibrated when you get back home, okay?" Dr. Stone smiled wryly as he stood up.
"I'll make sure to." Vic smiled back before giving his father a light hug. "I'll try and make sure to call at least once a week. To check on the project, of course."
"Of course. Oh, and I hope you don't mind but I went ahead and put a call in for you." Dr. Stone said as they broke away from the hug. Vic stared at his father confused, before hearing a knock at the door. "That's probably him now." Dr. Stone said casually, walking over and opening the door, allowing Superman to walk in.
"Dr. Stone, Cyborg." Superman said calmly, nodding at the two. He then smiled at Vic. "I heard you might need a lift."
Vic grinned. "Something like that." He looked over at his dad, "Thanks, dad. I'll...I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"Sure thing, son." Dr. Stone smiled softly.
Vic and Superman left out the door swiftly, disappearing in a teleportation beam rapidly afterward. Dr. Stone sighed, walking back into the living room and settling down back down, looking at an open envelope and letter from the clinic. 'I'll tell him in a few weeks, I guess. After his friend's better.' He picked up his tablet and began reading the book he had been reading before Vic came downstairs.
?:
Gar was sitting on the ground now, somewhere between tears and confusion. "How did I...why did I...what the fuck happened?!"
Death sighed softly, unfolding her legs to stand up and walk towards him. "You took a tumble, hit your head. As for the why, don't go there, sometimes I feel it's above my head and I am Death.."
He looked up at her saddly. "We didn't fix anything. We never talked anything over. It just...ended." Gar collapsed to lay on his back, staring at the white nothingness above him. "That just doesn't seem fair."
"You act like I said your were truly dead. I said you're dead for the moment." Death said forcefully.
"What does that mean?" Gar grumbled.
Death sighed. "And I thought you were clever. It means, you're dead right now, for, if I remember correctly a little less than a minute. You're going to be revived and out for a bit, but you have more life in you before I pick you up fully."
Gar took it in, and sighed. As he continued to stare at the "ceiling" he began asking the first thing that went though his mind. "This feels way longer than a minute."
"You're a spirit right now, you don't have any need for time." Death said cheerfully, examining her nails.
"Wha?" Gar's face skewed in confusion.
Death sighed again. "Seriously, listen to your girlfriend more. Spirits and the like don't have an understanding of time because that's something really only attuned to the physical world. Where you are now, even if it's for only 30 seconds or so, feels longer because you're not in the physical universe as a whole, you're separated, thus, time doesn't really exist here."
Gar's face continued to be skewed in confusion as he looked up. "I think I get it, but that really hurts my brain."
"I'd get into why that doesn't apply either but I don't want to confuse you anymore." Death smiled.
He leaned his head to look at her, raising an eyebrow. "How thoughtful of you."
Death simply continued to smile.
"So why are you even bothering to talk to me, or show me any of this if I'm only dead for a minute?" Gar asked, deciding to continue to lie on the "floor".
"A few reasons. One, I always like to check on and make sure your kind are doing well. Two, you actually have an active higher spiritual awareness thanks to how you were healed so this is sort of a happy accident." Death counted off the reasons on her thin fingers, and then smiled happily after finishing the explanation.
"Your kind?"
"Heroes, heroines, what have you, people marked by Destiny to do great good. I try to do my best to police your spirits during these moments, make sure he doesn't set up a link. Usually finds a way the longer someone is separated, mostly because I can only be everywhere at once for but so long." Death sighed.
"He?" Gar was put further in confusion.
"Don't worry about it, you hopefully won't even have to think about him ever. Better that you don't actually. Wouldn't want him getting any ideas." Death said sternly.
"Oooookay." Gar decided to drop prying on that subject further from the deity or whatever she was. Picking and prying from Raven and the others is one thing, the embodiment of Death is completely another. But she was answering the simple questions, so he asked another; "When you say higher awareness...you're talking about my connection to Raven, right?"
"I was actually referring to your connection with the cyborg, but sure we can go with Raven." Death leaned over him and grinned.
"After all the shit today, she still went and healed me..." Gar sighed.
"Of course she did, she loves you." Death looked at him confused. "Why wouldn't she?"
"Well...it's just...been weird for a while." Gar said awkwardly. "This is really weird to talk about with you. Not because your a chick or anything but because you know, you're...death. Hell, shouldn't you have like a cloak and scyth or something?"
"You want to base how you think I should look off of images done from Europe at a time when people's biggest health idea was wiping shit with one hand and eating with the other?" Death quirked an eyebrow at him.
"Good point." Gar shrugged. "...so...uhm. How much longer am I going to be here?"
"Until my brother picks you up. Then your in his realm and...uhm...for lack of better word, 'care'." Death said the last word with a bit of struggle.
"You don't seem to confident in using that word." Gar picked up on that quickly.
"It's not that Dream is uncaring he's just..." Death seemed to be grasping for words again.
A black raven landed next to her, opening it's beak and then talking in a scratchy voice. "Mopey."
Gar jumped, and rolled up and away from the raven.
Death looked down at the bird smiling. "Yeah, that works, thank you Matthew."
"Welcome." Matthew the raven tilted his head at Gar's reaction. "What, never seen a talking raven before?"
Gar blinked. "Actually..."
"Well there ya go then." Matthew preened himself for a second than looked up at Death. "The boss is on his way, just had a minor nightmare hiccup."
"He's gotten bored with the old ones, now?." Death raised an eyebrow at the bird.
"Meh." Matthew responded.
"It was less boredom more...fine tuning as it were." A male voice said before it's owner appeared. He was like Death in the sense that he was paper white pale and had a mess of black hair on his head. Unlike her, he was tall, gaunt and his black eyes had a distant shine in them, like a black sky with stars hung far away. He wore a loose black robe over himself, which had a moving image of fire dancing around the edges closest to the ground. The stars settled on Gar, appraising him. "Hrm." Gar simply stared back, unable of what to say or do. He felt very confident in the fact he was out of his league on this one. The gaunt man's face frowned and he looked at Death skeptically. "Why am I supposed to work with this one?"
Death sighed, before leaning over and grabbing the gaunt man's cloak to pull him down to her height so she would whisper in his ear. Gar did not hear the words, but the harsh tone and the pale man's admonished expression was more than enough to tell him that this might be blackmail of some sort. Death let go of the robe, letting the man stand back up, slightly frazzled, and raised her voice enough to be a volume that Gar could hear. "And he might teach you a thing or two about how not to be a selfish asshole, little brother.."
Matthew let out something akin to a low whistle "Wow, I didn't know Death knew that many curse words."
"Indeed, she does, thank you for your commentary, Matthew. Well." Dream's eyes settled on Gar. "Let us be on our way."
Gar nodded; "okay, so what do I-" His question was cut off as they both disappeared in a large poof of smoke.
Death waved the smoke out of her scrunched up face. "Drama queen." She sighed, before fading out of the space she had made to talk to Gar.
Gotham:
Kory woke up later in the evening, having slept through Dick's various calls. She initially padded out for him in the spot next to her, finding a note placed near exactly where her hand first landed. She smiled; it was a skill that Dick had mastered within a few months of them being together, as she usually slept in later than him. She lifted up and read the note, face falling dramatically. She jumped up, floating in the room to find her clothes as quickly as possible and then flying out of the door and down towards the Batcave. She flew over Alfred as he was dusting a vase, which was blown over as she flew by. Alfred caught it deftly and put it back in place, continuing to dust it casually.
When she made it to the cave, she found Dick and Bruce staring at various windows full of notes and pictures on the large screen in the Batcave. She was slightly taken aback by Dick wearing his new suit, which was sleek black and a simple blue line in a vague bird shape going across the chest and down his arms. The mask was the same though, which was comforting in a way. Kory instantly walked over and hugged Dick, who wrapped an arm around her instantly. She did her best not to tear up as she asked "How is Friend-Garfield?"
"He's alive, busted up pretty bad but stable. Raven's been draining herself trying to heal him and look after him, so Vic's going out to make sure she rests and take over for her." Dick said softly as he hugged her.
"Are we not going out there as well?" Kory looked at Dick with confused green eyes.
"Not yet." Dick sighed. He then looked back at the screen. "Someone's been trailing us on patrol, and I want to figure out who before we leave. I don't want anymore...surprises for our trip home."
Kory blinked, then nodded, staring at the screen. "Have we any idea of who has been doing the stalking?"
"Someone skilled enough to find him on patrols after I randomize your patterns but not skilled or caring enough to stay hidden." Bruce interjected calmly. "They seem to mostly hide better in this area." He circled a 5 block radius of upscale apartments in a border area of Old and New Gotham.
"Is it...Slade?" Kory asked hesitantly, remembering his patterns of stalking Dick like prey.
Bruce shook his head. "Deathstroke knows both to stay out of Gotham and also he's been in...seclusion since Trigon's defeat. Not quite retirement but staying away for the moment. That and he's too dramatic, would've shown himself by now, even just for a sparring match. He can never really resist fighting worthy opponents, which Gotham is full of."
Dick tilted his head slightly, folding his arms. "Why would he stay out of Gotham?"
"Gentleman's agreement." Bruce said simply. Dick and Kory raised their eyebrows, and he sighed, caving and telling the short version of the story. "He and I had a...run in, year or so before we started working together." He nodded at Dick. "After a few fights, most ending in no clear winner, we decided to have a duel. No weapons, no gadgets, just hand to hand. I win, he stays out of Gotham. I loose, he'd kill me and collect the bounty on my head at the time. Needless to say, he's stayed out of Gotham, honoring the terms."
Dick blinked for a second. "Seems he still had a grudge though."
"So it would seem." Bruce replied simply, tapping away at the computer, trying to get clearer versions of the pictures Dick had been taking discreetly during patrols to try and catch the follower. He frowned. "Whoever this is, he has enough of an idea on how small digital camera's work to stay enough in the dark to blend into what becomes the pixel fade."
Dick narrowed his eyes in thought. "So, not just a stalker, but a clever one" He looked at Kory. "I had to be so lucky."
Kory tilted her heard at the screen again. "And we are sure the stalker is just after Boyfriend-Richard because...?"
"They've been following me since I started patrols solo." Dick stated simply.
"Hrmm" Kory frowned. "And you did not tell me because...?" She asked tersely.
Bruce smirked at the screen as Dick coughed uncomfortably behind him.
"Well, I...uhm...didn't want to give them...erm...a heads up that I...uhhh...knew they were following us, so Iyyyyy...just kinda...kept it to myself?" Dick finished nervously.
Kory's eyes narrowed at him. "And you thought I would give this knowledge away why?" The question was reasonable. The tone was dangerous.
Dick struggled under the weight of the question. "I uh..well, you see I wanted to...uhm...well it was kinda like-"
Bruce was tired of watching him drown, so he cut him off "He wanted to see what they would do before chasing after them, which you, Miss Starfire, would have done in an instant."
Kory stood for a second, going through several reactions at once. She huffed up, anger rising, then deflated, realizing the point that they had made was true and then anger again at the assumption that she would've been unable to be "down on the low", and another moment of deflation that in a following situation, no she probably wouldn't be able to. She then settled on simple huffing out of the cave. "Well, when you boys are done studying Richard's admirer from afar, I shall be waiting to track them down upstairs." She punched a hole in some of the rock on her way out to let out a bit of the extra anger, and also as a warning that Dick was in trouble later. And so was Richard.
Bruce chuckled as Dick winced at the crunch of rock. He looked at Bruce as pieces of rock and dust continued to fall to the ground in a slow trickle from the hole, "Thank you, Bruce, I'm now a dead man."
"Not my fault you couldn't say it yourself." Bruce replied simply, beginning to tap away at the computer to narrow down locations for them to check on patrol.
Jump City:
Wally was staring at the ceiling of the common room, while laying on his back on the couch. Every now and then, he felt the need to do this, stay still and just think. It helped that his head was in Jinx's lap, who of course was trying to distract herself by reading. It didn't do much as it was a book loaned to her by Raven, who still had refused to move from BB's side. It was lovely to see the dedication and honesty, but she wasn't sure if Raven had really slept the past day. And no one could, or was willing to move her.
Both of them jumped as a white energy beam formed into two distinct figures in the common area, one the familiar image of Cyborg, the other the familiar but rarely seen in person from of Superman himself. Wally and Jinx sat up, not really meaning to stare but did so anyways at the conversation they were wrapping up.
"If you run into anything you can't fix, just give us a ring. We have doctor's who specialize in meta-human care at the Watchtower for this kind of thing." Superman patted Vic on the shoulder while giving him a handshake.
"Thanks, Kal. I'll let y'all know after I do a full check up. I'm honestly not sure how healed up he is after Raven's healing so we'll see."
Superman nodded, then looked around for a second. "May I use the elevator? I think I'm going to fly back, maybe stop by home for a bit."
"Uhm, sure." Vic blinked. Most powerful man on the planet, still politely asks to use an elevator.
"Thanks." Superman walked past the still slightly shocked Wally and Jinx, nodding at them on his way to the elevator. "Wally, Miss."
"'Sup." Wally said lamely as he and Jinx waved at the same time, almost exactly as the door closed to the elevator.
Jinx punched Wally in the arm. "You see Superman and you're only response is 'sup'?!"
"I've met him a buncha times before. Besides, I wasn't prepared and at least I said something." Wally rubbed his arm.
"Whatever." Jinx rolled her eyes then looked at Vic, keeping a slight frown. "Hey, Vic. Sorry you had to come home early."
"S'alright." Cyborg sighed,then looked around. "The doc still around?"
"As soon as she determined that Gar was stable enough for the basics to be handled by us, she bolted. Raven put the fear of...something, in her every time she went near Gar." Jinx was trying her best not to smile at how quickly the doc had excused herself from the tower.
Vic rolled his eye "Raven still in the infirmary?"
"Hasn't moved." Wally answered.
"Well, guess that's the first thing I'll fix." Vic said calmly, striding past them to the hall. When he walked into the infirmary, he noticed it was just Raven and Gar, the machine beeping the only noise in the room. Raven's head lifted at the door wearily, tired expression not changing as she looked at Vic, nodded curtly then looked back down to watch Gar. Vic set his small bag down next to the door, before sitting down next to Raven quietly, chair creaking slightly as he did so. He looked at the machines, his internal interface reading all the information from them in less than a second. Vic hesitated, then spoke softly "It seems like he's doing fine right now, everything's stable."
"I know." Raven replied simply.
"That means you can go lay down now." Vic said less softly.
Raven shook her head. "Not until he wakes up."
"Rae, we don't when that's going to be yet. And I know you're running off of nothin' right now. You need sleep, half-demon or not." Vic almost regretted saying the last part. Almost, he had to break her stubbornness somehow.
Raven winced, continuing to stare at Gar, not looking up at Vic. "I need to be here when he wakes up."
"And the second we figure out when that happens, you will be. But right now, you need to get some rest." Vic said sternly. After a pause, he added. "I am willing to carry you and use the override codes to lock you in the room and gas it, just so ya know."
"Good to know you still care, Vic." Raven smirked a little. She sighed, taking one last look at Gar, before standing up unsteadily, and slowly walking to the center of the room.
"Rae, do you need a hand?" Vic's eyebrows raised in concern.
"No, I'll be fine, I'm just going to phase right to my room." She shook her head, still a little wobbly.
"I don't think that's a good-" Before he could finish,Vic watched Raven become outlined in black energy, then watched it pop away from around her as she fell backwards onto the floor with a very tired "Oof".
A minute passed as both registered what happened.
Vic finally spoke up, "I'm goin to get Jinx to help you to your room."
"That would be a good idea." Raven monotoned.
The Dreaming:
The next thing Gar was truly aware of was that he was standing in what looked like an elongated version of the Tower's hallway. He blinked, staring around for a second before jumping as the gaunt man appeared next to him. "Gah!"
The star like eyes examined the area around them, observing it the same way a painter would look at a previous work of theirs. Dream made a low "Hrm." as he was piecing together the workings of this place
Gar looked around himself a bit more, slightly confused. "Why are we in the Tower?"
"This is how your mind organizes it's connection to the Dreaming, my realm. These connections are usually unconscious recreations of familiar, more comfortable settings." Dream explained while continuing to look more around Gar than at him.
Gar raised an eyebrow at his gaunt companion, "You know, you really don't have to be here if you don't want to be..."
"My sister made a point of me being here; Your circumstances, while not entirely unique, are...relevant to some queries I've been making into aspects of my past behavior." Dream huffed.
"Emotional blackmail?" Gar said quickly.
"Of a manner that you cannot fathom." Dream replied grumpily.
"Figured. So I guess these doors are my dreams?" Gar said, looking at the hall.
"Very astute." Dream sounded unimpressed.
"Well, I guess" Gar walked over to the nearest door and pressed the open button. "Let's see what's behind door number one."
"That is not entirely the best id-" Dream started to say before being cut off abruptly by a series of low moans echoing from the doorway, which was emitting a light white from inside. Gar's eyes went extremely wide, face getting as red as it could. Dream was...bored?
Matthew fluttered in front of the door "What do we have he-woah." His head titled at the scene. "Well, that looks fun." The door shut abruptly as Gar near punched the close button.
Matthew titled his head to look up at Gar, "A blonde and violet haired lady, eh?" Gar said nothing, face beet red.
Matthew continued on, "You've never had one, have ya kid? There's, like, a billion ways that would not have worked that way, physically and...diplomatically." Matthew titled his head the other way in thought, "Though how the hell do you know if the violet's carpet matches the drapes-"
Gar cut him off "Alright, no more random doors, and for the love of God does that damn bird have a mute button?" Gar's thumb jabbed in the direction of the raven.
Dream stared at Gar for a moment, eyebrows furrowing as slight confusion crossed his face "Mute...button?"
"He's askin' if I ever shut up." Matthew landed on Dream's outstretched arm.
"Ah. I see, 'mute button', very clever." Dream seemed to absorbing the idiom, before turning back to Gar. "No, I am afraid he does not."
They began moving further down the hall, Dream casually observing each door, shifting through the images behind them. There was a specific dream here, that he knew would be the key to the young man's issue. But it may take time to find, unfortunately for him, this young green fellow had a vivid imagination, so his connection to the dreaming was...vast.
"Don't know why we're going this way, we're passing the fun doors." Mathew grumbled, giving a quick shake of his feathers.
"Please...please shut up." Gar covered his face with his hands, not wanting to inadvertently share anymore of his perverted dreams.
"If you would like, we can return at a later time, Matthew but for now, there is work to be done." Dream sighed. Matthew gave a mildly contented caw at this.
Gar looked up from his hands. "Wait, you can just...look at any of my dreams at any ti-"
"Let us be on our way, young Garfield, we have much ground to cover." Dream pressed on, leaving Gar to quickly scramble to catch up to him.
Gotham:
Nightwing jumped and leapt from building to building as Starfire hovered high in the air above him.
"How is the new suit,Rob-Nightwing?" Starfire asked into her communicator.
"It's a bit lighter, and really, I never knew how much faster I'd go without the damn cape. Hopefully, I'll never wear one again." Nightwing said with a grin as he twirled over the side of a building, catching the side of a fire escape on the building next door and quickly climbing up back to the roof.
Starfire smiled above him. "I do not understand how anyone can to begin with but it worked for you." She watched him flip from her vantage point in the air, then looked back forward, face tinged red. "It did hide your posterior, though, and that was a shame."
Nightwing almost messed up his landing. "I guess that's a plus."
"I would very much like to think it is." Starfire grinned.
"Alright, let's focus. Batman said they should be actually living in this area, given the way the pattern mapped out." Nightwing said with a small cough.
"This is a large collection of buildings of apartments, do you know where the best point of beginning is?" Starfire looked across the area.
"I was thinking about running in a circle until they showed up." Nightwing said with a grin.
"That would be an impractical strategy, wouldn't it?" An electronically modulated voice said off to Nightwing's right. Instantly, Nightwing stopped, raising a birdarang (guess he was going to need a new name for these at some point...) up to throw in the direction of the voice. The voice chuckled "Did I spook ya? Totally spooked ya, didn't I?"
Nightwing couldn't see any movement in the shadows, but he could tell someone was there. They were good, or at least good enough to keep really still. "What do you want?"
"To talk mostly, but also for your Tameranean girlfriend not to kill me right now. That would not be cool. Probably the opposite actually." The voice answered.
Nightwing looked up at Star, who's hands were glowing with fire, waiting for the word from him. Nightwing made a hand lowering motion at her, then a gesture for her to come over to him. She stared at him puzzled for a moment, before the fire left her hands and she flew down to float behind him. Starfire folded her arms over her chest, settling on the most threatening expression she could maintain.
"Yup. Totally feel safer." The voice said, sarcasm dripping through the modification.
"What did you want to talk about?" Nightwing asked impatiently.
"This and that, Mr. Grayson." The voice said confidently. Starfire and Nightwing's expressions did their best to maintain a stoic look, but shock did leak through, which caused the voice to chuckle. "Change a costume, but can't change those moves. Or the girl."
"But I can cut off the change in your voice." Nightwing decided that the time for gaming was over, holding up a small device and clicked the button.
"What does-" Without the modulation, the voice was that of a young kid. "Oh, damnit! Of course he'd have something like that! Stupid..." He grumbled in frustration, the shadows moving for a second as a crunch of plastic and metal was heard.
"Only going to ask once before Star flies in and grabs ya, step out where I can see you." Nightwing folded his arms.
"Yeah, okay fine." The owner of the voice stepped out of the shadows, revealing a boy in his early teens with shaggy black hair and blue eyes, wearing a black jacket zipped up over a red shirt and jeans.
Dick tilted his head at the kid, "Huh. Almost didn't see that coming."
Starfire had also tilted her head in the same direction. "I did not, in fact."
Dick suddenly have a flash of memory; he watched the bus boy walk back towards the kitchen, noticing he seemed a little young to work here. "You're that busboy from the gala."
The boy grinned. "Good memory, Richard. Or Do you prefer Dick? That's a genuine question, by the way."
Nightwing quirked an eyebrow. "First tell me your name, kid."
The boy bristled at the word kid, "My name's Tim Drake, and I want to talk to you about Batman, or rather, Mr. Wayne."
A/N: Okay, so I wanna indulge in something real quick; if you don't wanna read it that's fine, it's just a thing that popped up in my head when writing the flashback of Raven cursing for the first time and it's too short to make it it's own thing. It came from my wife and I going back and forth on which of the Titans would curse off the bat and who'd just eventually pick up the habit. Obvisously Dick and Victor are the first two prime culprits; Vic just from being older and probably already in the habit of it, Dick because Gotham is in New Jersey annnnnd he spent many, many years in the worst parts of it so. He knows some words. Next is Gar, who I see trying his best not to repeat the words he learned from Cliff and Larry but eventually just starts. Raven was raised by monks, so she probably didn't learn any words til she got to Earth, and even then refrained until...pushed. And Kory probably never curses. In English.
So anyways, the fallout of Raven cursing at Gar:
The team prepped for the morning meeting in the common room. Robin was standing at a small podium in front of the TV so he could use the screen to go over today's patrols and plans. His coffee was so far untouched and it showed. The rest of the Titans were already sitting around the couch, save Beast Boy. He was late. Again.
"Guess we'll just have to wait a bit." Robin said, mildly unenthused but secretly a little happy. Now he could down his first cup of the day. Just as he began to sip, BB rushed in, hopping over the back of the couch into the space between Cyborg and Starfire. He immediately raised his hand like he was in school.
Robin took a small sip from his coffee while he raised an eyebrow, then slowly put his coffee down. "What's up, Beast Boy?"
"I just wanna say that Raven swore at me yesterday." He was trying not to sound proud of himself, aiming for accusatory. It did not work. Raven's face instantly went red as she tried to shrink into her cloak. Cyborg, who was relaxing next to her gave a teasing grin. Starfire just looked confused.
"Just what did those monks teach you?" Cy began.
"What did she swear? Was it an oath of some sort?" Starfire asked genuinely.
"Were some of them sailors before going to the monastery or something?" Cyborg continued ruthlessly, as Raven began to pull on her hood to get it to cover more of her face.
"Was it a pact of some sort?" Starfire leaned over, looking from Beast Boy to Raven, still very confused.
Robin had not had enough caffeine for this. He rubbed a hand to his temple, eyes closed in great annoyance. "Beast Boy, just shut the fuck up."
"Hey, that was it, how'd ya know?" Beast Boy said excitedly.
There was a long pause in the room, before Starfire broke the silence.
"How does one shut up a fuck?" She tilted her head in thought.
It left his mouth before he could even think.
"Usually with a gag of some sort." Beast Boy said in an almost academic manner. Immediately after, what he said caught up to his ears and he went beet red.
Cyborg turned from Raven to Beast Boy. "Woah! Where the hell did that come from, dude?!"
"Seriously, man?!" Robin just gawked at Beast Boy.
"I'd rather not talk about it." It was Beast Boy's turn to try and shrink in place.
Raven took advantage of the distraction to tele-noped her way back to her room.
Starfire was just upset that she wasn't getting a proper answer.
A/N: If you made it through that, thanks for indulging my silly bullshit. Just didn't think I should post it anywhere disconnected from the initial moment earlier in the chapter. This chapter had the most rewriting thus far; mostly Dream and Matthew's dialog. See, the key difference between my original writing of the fic and now is that I've actually read all of Sandman, and have a much better feel for Morpheus' character and speech. Alright, down the merry road we go, y'all. Thanks for reading, please review if you can. Peace - Tearlach