Disclaimer: Characters here are property of their owners, none of which happen to be me.
Initial note: Not set during any other of my continuities. A day in the life. Mundane, but hers.
A Cup of Sugar, pt.3
"Unngh." Cracking an eye at the rising light, Jinx flinched and buried her head under the coverlet of her bed further. Shifting, she tried to get the small itch in her side before it... woke her up. "Somfabissh." Sitting up suddenly, she blinked blearily at her room, her mind still in that dazed half-sleep state.
Posters littered her walls and ceiling, making the room a chaotic sight. Most were of various movie or anime themes, popular things she'd picked up while in the dormitories back in the Hive. Never having the opportunity to decorate a room beyond a few odds, the sudden canvas of an entire condo was too much temptation. One wall was devoted to maps and prints of some of her favorite art pieces, the maps detailing trips to museums and exhibitions she'd attended. Being only a second year, first semester student, she'd not had the opportunity to see much, but it had made an impact.
Yawning, the pale Thief scratched at her side and looked around to the windows, shuttered blinds slanted to allow the morning sun in, but keep her space private. Making a regular pattern on her carpet, the sun's light made her squint, eyes not used to the brightness quite yet. "Too. Early," she muttered, sliding out of bed with a groan.
Mornings were routine, if not typical. Fighting the urge to sleep in, that slothful voice in her head went quiet quickly once she began her morning ritual. The bar over the bathroom door, which had been removed early on, creaked slightly as she reached up and bent her weight to it. Counting out the repetitions, she halted at thirty, holding herself half-poised as her muscles screamed at her.
Releasing the bar, she stumbled and simply fell to the floor, braced on hands and toes. Pushups, speedy and concise followed, as her mind came up to speed with the activity of her body. Lips pursed at the tension in her stomach, but she had a system. Bathroom was after exercise, unless alcohol was involved. It got them done faster. By the time she was done with the pushups, her arms were well and thoroughly warmed and worked, and her bladder pleading with her, so without pause she began on her lower body.
The guest bedroom was a small inside joke to her, as she doubted that with her history, she'd have many. True, after her disappearance from the limelight, and the money she'd spent on scrubbing her record, few would recognize her, but old habits die hard. Trust wasn't fast, or easy. The casual friendships she made at the college were only that; they existed there, stayed there. Flipping on the computer there, she loaded her usual morning session, letting the browser parse a few news feeds, keywords in memory filtering out pages into a separate window. Mail and her college homepage followed, with the latter informing her of any schedule or activity changes. All this went on unattended, as she'd learned a few things from an old roommate back in the Academy. Currently, her focus was on the treadmill, and the burning in her legs as she increased the speed of the thing, the timer counting down minutes beside the accelerometer. When the ding sounded that she was done, she let the track slide her to the floor and retreated to the bathroom and the relief she needed.
Starting the shower, she listened for any of the more strident alarms keyed into her computer, for urgent mail or other points of interest. Hearing one, she muttered and slowed the hot water to a trickle, wanting it ready when she was, but not wanting it emptied. Padding back to the spare room, she keyed the windows open and looked for the schedule frame, the alert there being the one she heard.
"Afternoon lecture canceled, morning lecture canceled – eh? Oh. Holiday," she muttered, rolling eyes at her own forgetfulness. "Hm, maybe I can get some lab time in... bah. Closed." Keying in a search for available facilities at the university, she came back with limited results. "Mm. After shower," she murmured, turning off the display and returning to her bath.
Hot water settled the tension in her muscles, the warmth seeping into her bones and finishing the process of her waking. Each morning she drove herself through the same routines she'd picked up in the Hive, despite being neither criminally active, or doing anything to justify such activity.
It was just part of who she'd become.
Some people needed coffee, some a shower first thing. She had the shadows of her morning training calls. Soap and shampoo followed, a she inspected her hair, pulling some strands before her eyes. Grinning slightly she swept it back, her mind turning to the few times she'd tried to figure out the hows and whys of her peculiar coloration.
Being a natural pink was a bit odd. She wrote it off with her classes and professors as being a trend thing, but the eyes were harder. She'd tried contacts for a while, but frankly they didn't make them with the right pupil aperture. Her vision suffered, and the migraines were too much, so she just went without. In time, people just stopped asking, as her look stayed the same. Other people who tended to extreme changes in appearance tended to change them over time, but when she didn't, it became normal. That she wasn't actually changing her appearance never seemed to be a question. People assumed her toned muscles and "dyed" hair just a statement of her lifestyle.
Clean and awake, she shut off the hot water, counting to twenty as the cold came in force, making her grit her teeth. Shutting the tap off with a screech she hopped out, the sudden temperature change invigorating, if a bit harsh on tenderer parts. Wrapping her head in a towel, she went back to the spare room and finished her morning reading.
More news of registration legislature in various states. Metagene suppressing 'inoculations' being tested in less restricted countries. Grumbling she closed the usual news feeds and went to the newsgroup threads.
A few hits followed her delicate searches, her way of keeping tabs on her old friends. It was awkward, this dance. She kept tabs on them, not just to keep in the know of their wellfare, but also to keep abreast in the event someone was getting too close.
As much as Jinx missed her friends and Hive cell, she wasn't looking to be in the crosshair of a betrayed friend. Perhaps they'd not be bent against her, with the the utter disbanding of the HAEYP and Hive, but better safe than sorry.
Besides, a confrontation with any of them would likely end up with repair bills to her condo. She liked her condo.
Finding the rest of the feeds useless hits, she closed them down, but recalled one that caught her eye. "Titans East Worries: Teen Terrors?" Blinking at the screen she pulled up the article and read through, brow furrowing as she did so. "Hmm. Seems the next set of kid crusaders is an apple a few feet too far from the tree," she murmured, reading about rumors of violence and riot tactics. Shrugging and secretly happy to be far from DC, she shut down the machine and made her way to the first floor, the second part of her morning calling.
"Breakfast is the best part of the day," she lilted, flipping on a radio in the kitchen as she dug into the idea domestic. The result was a tasty fruit smoothie, some oatmeal and a few slices of whole grain toast she could take with, on the way to class.
If class were on today, she reminded herself with a grumble. "So hard to break my routine, heh." Shaking her head slowly, she settled into at her dining room table and pondered the day.
She could go find Yoko, and work on some of the library projects. There was always something to do there, and she liked helping out where she could. There was her own home projects... she'd considered tearing out part of the garage and putting in a jacuzzi but the whole thing seemed silly. Sure, it'd be nice. But all that for just her seemed too much. She already felt like a queen in a castle with the condo itself, gilding the lily seemed excessive. Perhaps she'd...
A stray thought gave her pause and she blinked, realizing she'd nearly forgotten last night. Raven. Recalling the night, she stared off into the dark of her living room, rarely used. They'd watched some late night television, eating the simple oatmeal cookies Raven had preferred. After spending a good half an hour laughing at a particularly lewd comic, they'd talked about what subjects to focus on, and what they needed to do, timewise, to manage it.
They'd decided to mostly meet in the library, that being her comfort zone, and also considering her connections, the best resource for material. That, and it was a library.
Leaning on a hand, she debated calling the Titan and seeing if she'd be up to getting an early start on things. Checking a clock, she twitched an eye, realizing her typical morning routine usually started at sunup and only took half an hour. That made it 7 AM. Fairly sure no one sane would be up so early, the bad luck charm filed a phonecall to Raven for later.
For now, she was on her own. Gathering up her pack, she went back to the her bedroom, intent on going out. Books were removed, the pack set aside in preference for a smaller messenger bag. She redid her hair in a pair of tails, unmanaged bundles sprouting where her horns usually were, swept back and tied with a pair of cute skull-decorated bands. Tank top in black, skirt with enormous belt, oversize soled boots and some far-too-tall socks and she was ready to go. Tossing a few things in the pack, she grabbed her keys and phone, and said goodbye to the condo.
The residential area she lived in was something unusual for her. The larcenous activities she grew up doing were usually against targeted situations, rather than residences. When they were, it was always to retrieve some vital research, on someone's home computer or private access. Places like this were unknown to the Thief, and she felt out of place outside her home. Exposed. Alien.
Speeding her walk, she adjusted her sunglasses and tuned out the surroundings, her mind turning back to her recent trains of thought. Raven, she surmised, wasn't as her professor had observed, lacking focus or prone to loose it, she simply had little in the way of reference to work from, when it came to educational systems.
They'd talked briefly about past experiences with school, and to Jinx's shock, Raven had never attended anything like a school. Monastic tutors were the closest she'd had, and that was a far cry from an institution like Stanford. It was little wonder she was bombing classes left and right.
What Jinx had decided, walking home in the gloom last night, was that tutoring Raven would be likely the hardest thing she'd ever done. Not only did she need to help the former hero pick up and run with the topics she'd decided on, she had to teach the girl how to learn.
Either that, or teach her how to cheat at college.
Stopping at the crosswalk that led her to the rail station near her neighborhood, she looked back and regarded her block. Far from the all but coincidentally, the one dorm complex Raven called home, it struck her as odd that the Titan would have wandered by one day, randomly. True, she could have picked up on her name and address from a concerned friend or professor, but still.
"Why me?" she voiced quietly, eyes narrowing in the early morning sun.
Bells rang out distantly, and she turned into the rumble of the arriving train. "Mass transit is your friend," she murmured, smirking. It wasn't like she could waltz into the DMV and come out the other side with a license. With the intimate tie to the police, someone somewhere would notice, and there would be noise. Hard to tell what kind, but she imagined bad for her, would be standard.
Still deciding on a course for her day, she picked up a daypass ticket and found a seat lacking stains or stench, and waited for the train to depart. This route led to downtown, so she could likely find something to occupy her. Wrinkling her nose, she figured it'd be some time yet till she could think of something other than her task with Raven, so she gave in to her musing again.
It was a daunting idea, teaching the nearly twenty year old young woman how to handle classes and studying, but beyond it were other questions. How did she get admitted in the first place? Stanford has some rigorous testing requirements. For her part, she'd falsified some history, but taken all the tests needed on her own time. She didn't know that she'd do well, but when her results were excellent, she felt confident the school wasn't beyond her. After that it was a matter of taking placement and competence tests and convincing deans of the various college departments she could indeed rise to task. It'd not been too difficult, but how did Raven manage? Was there some hero educational program out there? Some analogue to the military one?
Blowing an errant strand of hair from her eyes, the Thief let her mind wander, the landscape passing by at speed. Downtown was walking distance from her home, but it was far enough to make it a day-long activity if done so. Planning on doing something later that was productive, she didn't want to be tied up with walking so much. As for what...
A smile crept onto her face, as a thought took root. She needed to do one of two things, to get Raven on track. One was teach her how to learn, how to forget what she knew and embrace new ideas, then take them and make them part of her knowledge. The other was how to read, observe and then play her professors like harps.
Perhaps, she reasoned, she could do both.
I oOo I
The bookstore wasn't open when she arrived, but after a small trip to a nearby coffee shop and a warm tea, she started phase one of her plan. Reference material.
"Excuse me, where is your... Science fiction?"
Phase two was a simple matter, and she pulled the list of Raven's classes from her pack and looked around, asking questions that made the shop keepers blink at her in surprise.
"We can order some of these, but they're limited print. It'll be somewhat expensive. Also, if they aren't available publicly, you'll need to speak to the archivists in the relevant university libraries themselves for custodial release of the material," the clerk told her, used to odd requests from students. Given, few were as specific as hers.
"That's alright, just get me what you can, I'll manage the rest," she reassured the woman, annoyed at the lack of resources she'd have to work with initially. "Also, um. Next day what you can, cost irrelevant."
"Yes Ma'am."
Eighty percent of her reference material was available to her, the other she'd need to acquire through a bit of social networking. Simple enough. But later. Phase three would come next.
Phase three was a trip to a local chocolate shop, where she knew one of the employees. "William! Hey! Loose the apron and come over here."
"I'm on shift, Jenny, what is it?" William was currently the shift lead at the small franchise shop, something he'd taken great pride in, being a culinary student. Planning on being a dessert chef, the position was a godsend. If a bit messy, he'd told her.
Grinning, she traced some patterns on the table, leaning over her hand, "I need some trade secrets, been doing some baking."
Rolling his eyes, the man sighed and regarded her. "I don't know, it's not really proper..."
"Oh pssh. I'm not selling them, I'm making my own. I'm sure you do the same in fact... or actually. Forget trade secrets, Willy. Let me borrow your notebook," the Thief lilted, her smile threatening to evict her ears.
Blanching, the chocolateer drew back, shaking his head slowly, "That's not really something I can do, I mean those are just rambled ideas. Some probably taste horrible-"
"Bullshit, and you know it," she countered, leaning closer. "I know you – you're a pro. I need some study snacks, for a massive project, and if I don't get to make them myself, then I'll be forced to go to... MalMart." Supressing a giggle at William's scandalized expression, she knew that clinched it. No self respecting baker, cook or craftsman of any sort would abide someone resorting to mass-produced generic fare when they could help it. She may as well have had a gun to his head.
"Alright, alright. I'll get you some recipes. What do you want?"
Smiling, she reached up and patted the cornered man's cheek, making him blush slightly, "You're a dear, Willy. And as for what I need...
"What do you have, for cookies?"
Skipping from the shop, the ex-Thief basked in the morning sun, feeling more alive than she had in some time. Perhaps it was having a goal, something other than college, or perhaps it was the idea of the method she intended to re-educate the young Miss Roth. Extortion also tended to make her feel rather accomplished, she remembered with a grin. "Poor Willy... never had a chance. Got some wicked ideas though. He's going places," she said quietly, hopping onto the lip of a small fountain in the downtown fairway.
Pretty enough, the fairway was the default neutral area of the shopping district. Benches, a fountain, nearby snack and oddity shops, as well as being central to the strip made it a bustling hub normally. At 9 AM, though, not so much. Having the place more or less to herself, she skipped about, mind a-whir with planning and ideas.
One thing bothered her though. Slowing as she considered it, she had to admit a few things actually fell into the 'bothered her' category.
First of course, was Beast Boy. If he was serious, they'd butt heads again. Probably sooner than later, as she had to assume he had either watch on the former Titan, bugs in the house which could possibly be him, she noted with disgust, or even the more direct method of simply being in contact with her. Any way he did it, soon he'd likely show up again.
Question was, what would she do about it? His agenda was fairly transparent, that being Raven's failing out of college and return to the Titans, she had to assume. If she would simply fade off and live a life away, he'd likely not have confronted her. Whatever he assumed or observed her doing, it was counter to his own ideas, so she had to assume it tied to her tutoring Raven.
What or why was fine, but she was thinking about a Titan here. The bottom line was she didn't need any attention from them. A few whispered words, some attention in the right places and her delicately built glass house would be falling around her ears. She had to shut him, or in the worst case, them, down ASAP.
Muttering, she fed a quarter to a nearby newspaper stand, deciding to catch up on the local yokels in the way it was easiest.
Heroes, despite all their ranting and dodging, loved publicity she believed. Without positive public opinion, they were little better than dangerous psychos, preying on supposed foes. With the backing of the public, they were empowered.
If the Hive had been working as an arm of the local government, in suppressing outside interference or subversion of the local way of life, they'd have been labeled hero too, regardless of the extremity of their actions. Villainy, she'd learned early on, was all a matter of perspective and public opinion.
"Titan's Foil Drug Shipment" the headline read, and she checked the current roster. Robin, but not the one she knew oddly, was on point. The team seemed to have undergone a few changes, in her absence. "Lesse then... there's Robin of course; one of them anyway. Some sidekick or cousin to Wonder Woman, complete with bondage gear," smirking, she sighed at the unimaginative nature of these next generation heroes. Villains had to constantly be in flux, dealing with all the things attacking them, from every angle. Supplies for materials, lack of help, the fact almost everything about them was frowned on in some way, and the result was a very flexible, very adaptive individual. Heroes, it seemed, suffered a fatal flaw Darwin had found early on.
Overspecialization. Carbon copy miniatures of current heroes, weren't going to fare so well when the villains they faced knew what was coming, just from the cut of the costume. She continued, noting the larger number of team members than she was used to. "Big "S" on that one's chest, probably a Supercousin. Hello Stone, nice to see you're still grinding around," smirking, she shook her head slowly, looking over her old friend's photo. Bitter memories followed soon after, and she moved on with a sigh, that nearly choked her on the next face in the picture. "Well well. Wally West. You're back in town," eyes narrowing the Thief kept scanning the photo, despite a distinct urge at that moment to hurl it away from her.
History was history. Kid Flash had been the catalyst to her betraying the Hive, leaving her life, and trying to find a new one with the Titans. All told, it hadn't went well. Sure, she was sometimes credited with being the driving force behind the Hive's downfall, even the routing of the Brotherhood in the Bay area. Afterward, she'd found that rather than open arms, she was watched with baited breath. Once a traitor, after all... It seemed they were waiting for her to turn on them next, something that stung more than she'd imagined.
Kid Flash had never mentioned that, in his idyllic monologues.
In the end, all it got her was a lonely few resulting years rebuilding her life, a target on her back the size of New Jersey, and a few more wrinkles from all the peering around corners.
Rounding out the new team was Beast Boy and a girl she didn't recognize, but seemed familiar. Standing away from the others, she was armed to the teeth, and wore what looked like scaled body armor. Shrugging, Jinx refocused on Beast Boy, sitting on a bench as she mulled the changeling's photo over.
Older, as she'd noticed the previous night, he also seemed... grim, she decided. He looked unhappy, not his usual self. Arms crossed, he had his back to the bulk of the team, only really facing Cyborg at all. Still, he was shorter than the rest which she assumed was just his frame. Regardless, he had to have some time on the others, which would add to his standoffish posture. "Thousand words," she murmured, running a finger from the line of his gaze, off the edge of the picture.
Shaking herself from introspection, she stuffed the paper into her pack and started on the way home, by way of her own library. The Titans issue would work itself out in time, there wasn't much she could do from just a newspaper. But at least she knew a bit more, and had a bit more insight into Beast Boy's particular issue.
As always, she found Yoko manning one of the busywork posts, this time organizing the shelving for when the library reopened. "Sweety, do you ever take a day off?"
"Only when you're not looking," the slighter girl replied, a slight grin on her lips. Noticing her state of dress, she let out a low whistle, grin growing slightly. "Day on the town or day out?"
"On the town, solo if you must know," Jinx answered, putting down the pack she'd hauled all over during her shopping. It wasn't heavy yet, but it was getting damn close.
Yoko laughed, shaking her head slowly. "Shame to waste that skirt. Oh well. You'll settle down someday," she quipped, dodging without looking as Jinx tossed a bookend at her. "Probably with a cotton candy machine, at that."
Growling, Jinx tackled the slight girl, the pair disappearing behind the desk. One of Yoko's feet flailed over the edge, followed by a slight shriek. "Not the ear again!"
I oOo I
"So you need Professor Middlefield's thesis work, and his undergraduate report," Yoko asked, a confused look evident on her pretty features. "I don't get it."
"S'ok, it's kinda hard to explain," Jinx murmured around a grin, toying with one of her ponytails. "It'd make sense, but I don't want to shift you any further to the dark side. You're just too sweet for it."
Sniffing, the shorter girl shuffled a few more softback books into her shelving. "Is that why you keep on latching onto my ear after the choke hold?"
"No, that would be the moaning and writhing, actually," the former Thief added smoothly, giggling when Yoko's eyes went huge and she toppled forward, forgetting she was holding an arm full of books. "Y'ok down there?"
"Peachy," was the muffled reply.
Smirking, Jinx made her way around the library, pulling out copy and adding it to a cart she tugged around. Satisfied, she sorted and discarded a few of the books and collected reports, focusing on relevant material rather than bulk. "Why is she teaching... oh nevermind." Grimacing, she scooted an entire stack of material to the side, finding it useless. "Have to use method one on her. Oh well, can't win them all," she quipped, stretching in her chair. The clock caught her eye and her stomach responded, lunchtime closing in. "Hey Yoko, what are you doing for lunch?"
The little Asian girl paused, blinking. "Hadn't thought about it. You?"
"Was thinking of asking that someone I mentioned to lunch, but I don't know. Do I come across too strong?" Fidgeting uncharacteristically at her belt, Jinx watched as her friend considered her quietly.
"Well, I know you. And aside from your fetish for biting ears, you don't tend to send mixed signals unless you're looking for something. Which is, admittedly, most of the time..." dodging the mate to the earlier bookend, she went on, smiling slightly. "If she knows you as well as you say, I don't think she'll get the wrong idea."
Jinx considered this, then perked up slightly. "Do you ever get the wrong idea?"
Yoko smiled at her, her eyes somewhat veiled by her bangs. "Constantly."
The pink haired Thief blinked, blushed then buried her nose in a book.
"Jinx."
"Yeah, Yoko?"
"The book is upside down."
"Oh shut up."
I oOo I
The phone had rung a few times, and Jinx was debating just hanging up and letting this lark go, but there was a click and pause, and the ringing stopped. Waiting a few heartbeats, she was about to write it off as a phone error when she caught the tail end of what sounded like a yawn. "Hello? Raven?"
"Morning Jinx, what's up?" Raven's quiet reply wasn't so much disturbed sounding as just sleepy, something she was trying not to laugh about.
"Well, actually it's early afternoon... sleepyhead. I was going to see what you were up to for lunch, but we can always make it breakfast," she teased, wandering somewhat aimlessly as she chatted, prone to walk as she used her cell. The quad was sunny and cool, the perfect weather for being outside. Figures, she mused. Perfect Bay weather, as always.
She heard shifting from the other side, and a small sound of what she had to assume was Raven stretching, before the Titan answered. "Uh. Sure, I guess. Where should I meet you?"
"I was thinking that place on the corner of Arbor and Second? It's roomy, and we'd not have to yell over people." Jinx liked the place well enough, though they're menu was limited. Sandwiches, tea and coffee, some small portable pastries. The real draw of the place was in their location, central to the university and shopping center, as well as space. It was one of the few two-story cafes in the area that she'd found.
The long pause from the other side of the phone had her chewing her lip till the Titan sighed, answering, "I don't think so, actually. It'd take me a while to clean up, I just woke up. I'd rather not make you wait for me. Maybe I'll take a rain check."
"Hrm. Ok, well how's this," she offered, just letting impulse lead her on. After all, it didn't always backfire... "Get some clothes, and toss on a coat. Come to my place and use my shower, and I'll cook. We'll huddle up on the books after, and put my ill-used living room to use."
Another pause. "I don't know, I don't want to impose..."
"Pssh. I'm too hungry to care. You'll be doing me a favor, as I have some recipes I want to work on anyway. Besides, I saw your shower."
She regretted the quip immediately, as Raven's tone went icy, "I like my dorm fine, thank you."
"I just mean... nevermind." Running a hand through her hair, Jinx leaned into the wind and sighed. "Sorry, I just... hate to see someone so cramped I guess. Ahm. You know, nevermind."
"It's... alright. It really is somewhat cramped," the Titan replied, quietly. "How about... is half an hour ok? I don't want to come by looking like a hobo."
Jinx stalled, nearly tripping on her own shoes at the idea of Raven looking like a hobo, a paper bag on her head and huge denim coat around her shoulders. Laughing suddenly she sat hard on the ground, unable to keep her balance.
"What? It wasn't that funny..."
"No! Sorry, just... hah. Ok, half an hour. And if you have a denim jacket, don't wear it! I'd die."
She could imagine Raven pulling the phone away from her ear to stare at it, and bit her lip hard to keep from laughing again. "Uh. Alright. No idea why, but sure. Not that I have one."
"Awesome. Uh! What do you eat? Almost forgot to ask." Cursing her own tendency to forget details, Jinx shuffled to her feet and started on the small trip to the bus stop, skipping slightly. Things were coming together. She always perked up when a plan was looking up.
"Mostly, I eat food," Raven replied in a droll tone. "I've gotten used to about anything." Pausing, she added hastily, "As long as it's not blue and furry, or suspended in gelatin, anyway."
"Uh," Jinx replied astutely, pondering where that last comment had come from. "O-ok."
"I'll see you in half then. Bye"
"Later," she replied, closing her phone as the bus pulled up. Hauling her pack up, she winced, the strap abusing her shoulder. Lugging the growing thing around for the last few hours had taken it's toll, and she muttered quietly about her packrattish tendencies.
Sighing, she toppled into a seat, sprawling rather unladylike as she settled. Setting the thing's strap to the side, she considered the overstuffed messenger bag and mumbled, "Note to self, hire Oompaloompa to carry that thing, sometime soon."
The older woman across the isle from her raised a brow at the former Thief, the look not missed on Jinx. "What? They go with everything this season, duh."
The woman decided it seemed, that this was her stop after all. Jinx grinned and kicked her heels up into the now-vacant seat. "Mm, comfy comfy."
I oOo I
"Coming!" she called, waving her potholders frantically to cool them, the pan she was trying to turn in the oven being stubborn. "Or, you can barge in unannounced and surprise me, that works too!" Grumbling, she cocked her head at the oven and shrugged, kicking the door shut with a flourish. Turning, she noticed Raven peeking around the corner, brow arched. "Heya, make it over ok?"
"Mhm, and so you know, I don't really 'barge' and all that," she answered quietly, before yawning behind a hand.
Shrugging, Jinx scampered over, taking Raven's backpack and leading the still lethargic girl to the second floor. Raven seemed to survey the condo as they went, quietly taking in the décor and layout as she went. "This is really a nice place," she said finally, as Jinx rounded the corner where the hall door to her bathroom was.
Smiling, Jinx looked around happily. "Yeah, it's home. Ok! Side door in there is my bedroom, there's soap and shampoo and all that in the shower, also some under the sink. I got a bunch, in case I change my mind and all," she added, grinning. "So, take your pick.
"Oh, and if you want to stay warm after, turn the room heat up. Bedroom door is um. Well it's not there," laughing slightly, she shrugged, heading back down the hallway. "I'll be in the kitchen, doing that domestic thing again."
"You seem fond of it," the Titan added, a slight grin on her features.
Spinning in place, Jinx faced the Titan again and grinned, "Eh, it's still new to me. But yeah, I kinda like it. See you in a bit!"
Nodding, Raven looked after the perky witch and then back to the shower, blinking slowly. "How'd I get talked into this again...?" Shrugging she started her shower, closing the hall door.
A/N: Review responses posted as a review to chapter two. Some may not find this very appealing, this chapter, it being just a 'day in the life' one. Regardless, I like it. It helps me define and feel out Jinx. Additionally, it adds depth, location, and color.