Human Behavior
Chapter Three: Downward Spiral
Raven inhaled slowly and deeply, sighing. There were very few moments where everything seemed to fade away, not mattering in the slightest; very few moments where everything felt right in the world. Where time stood still; when sound and color blended into the vibrant atmosphere of 'perfect.' The cynic inside fought the idea tooth and nail; perfect didn't exist, it was all just rationalization—but she never could keep that peaceful sigh from escaping.
Jinx nuzzled closer into the Titan.
"I love you, Raven."
The empath smiled, kissing her forehead, "I love you too."
The two lay in blissful silence for a little while longer before Jinx abruptly sat up and off the bed, jostling the day dreaming bird a bit. "Holy crap!"
"What?' Raven stared with brows raised in slight confusion as the feline stood beside the bed.
"I just realized that I've been in your room at least two dozen times and I haven't looked at all the neat stuff you have."
"That's probably because every time we come in here it's to either sleep or—"
"—What is this thing?" Jinx reached out to grab an odd looking bottle resting on one of the shelves of the bookcase. The glass was opaque and black as night. Obviously hand blown, it twisted out and around itself like tendrils leading up to the sterling silver stopper keeping whatever the bottle contained inside. It was marvelously designed and out of the ordinary, leaving even the most casual of glances wondering what it was.
"Don't touch that!" the empath launched herself across the room, smacking the reaching hand away. Her eyes immediately inspected the vial to ensure it remained undisturbed and motionless.
Jinx blinked, surprised initially by the speed in which Raven had gotten from the bed to the opposite side of the room; then by her reaction to trying to touch the object…
"Did you just raise your voice? Damn…please don't tell me this is some vortex that will cast us all into oblivion or something as dramatic and depressing."
"Close."
Jinx stared at her girlfriend for a few silent seconds. "Usually this is the part where you tell me what it is…"
Satisfied, Raven looked back to Jinx. "I'm not telling you what it is; only that you can't touch it."
Pink eyes pleaded for a moment with unmoving violet before drifting back to the bottle. There it sat, inanimately in all its mysterious glory. An onyx, twisting, shiny something filled with endless possibilities to which the horrendously curious mind of the feline pained to discover. A corrosive chemical perhaps? Soil from hallowed ground? Bath salts? Oil? A stash of whiskey—the possibilities were endless.
"You, miss, are the devil."
"No, no. I'm only his daughter," she produced a small smile.
"Close enough in my case," Jinx poked the tip of the psion's nose. "Alright. If I can't touch that…thing…" her eyes narrowed momentarily, "what can I touch?"
Raven shrugged, seemingly indifferent; but the thief knew better. Raven was smiling on the inside; probably more than any normal person would in this situation.
"Well, I see lots and lots of books," Jinx trailed her fingers across the spines as she moved down the shelf. "But they don't really interest me, especially since the last one I saw tried to kill me."
"Not every book I own contains a disgruntled sorcerer, you know," Raven pulled out a dusty tome, flipping through it idly while the feline prowled across her room.
"Let's see…candles, odd metal sculptures…various jars filed with unknown substances…" Jinx picked up a glass container, unscrewing the lid and taking a whiff of its contents, immediately regretting having done so. The scent of centuries-old rotten eggs burned her nose like fire.
"Oh, that's sulfur," Raven quipped between flipping pages.
"Why on earth do you have that just lying around?" Jinx shoved the container back on the shelf, moving along after Raven's disturbing reply.
"You never know…"
The feline just stared and shook her head. God knows what other dangerous articles that girl had horded in this room of hers. She decided to look for things slightly less menacing than the various unlabeled bottles scattered haphazardly across the room. Her eyes landed on an odd little plush bird, its feet dangling off the shelf. "Why do you have a stuffed…crow?"
"It's not a crow, it's a raven."
"My mistake; raven then. Why? I mean, it's kinda…creepy. It has two sets of…eyes."
Raven smiled a little at fond and irritating memories from a trip with the tin man and green boy. "It came from inside my mind."
"Inside your mind…alright, you need to lay off the pot for a while."
"And you need to stop staring at that," Raven turned the girl's chin away from the forbidden bottle.
"There's a genie in it, isn't there?"
An exasperated sigh answered.
"…Is that where you keep your mood-altering substances?"
Death glare.
"Why won't you tell me!?"
Raven just floated over, sitting down on the edge of the bed; her face blank aside from the obviously smirking gaze.
Jinx huffed then growled. "You suck."
"Come here…" Raven cooed softly, beckoning the sorceress closer with one index finger.
Jinx begrudgingly obliged, shuffling over with a pout. In a split second she had shoved the empath backwards and was straddling her supine form with a triumphant grin. "I'll figure it out eventually, and when I do…I'll…do…something."
"Well that was a disaster…"
The glare Jinx sent her did nothing more than make the girl chuckle. So instead, the sorceress hushed her with a kiss. "You're such an ass."
Raven grinned, running her hands up and down the feline's sides. On the second caressing pass, she paused on a rather odd lump in the back right pocket of her cargos. Jinx normally didn't carry anything in her back pockets, so this object was cause for some curiosity. Before the girl could protest, Raven retrieved the paper-like item. One brow rose as she held a wad of fifty dollar bills. Her eyes drifted questioningly to the thief's.
Jinx also raised her brow, smiling a bit. "What? It was payday yesterday," she lied so coolly even she believed it.
It was obvious by her expression that Raven wasn't as believing. Her eyes examined the folded currency with slight distrust. She thought back to the new, expensive blue jacket the girl sported when she arrived. Jinx made decent money at the café, but not so much that she could purchase an overpriced The North Face jacket and still have three hundred-some dollars lying around. Maybe she saved up for the jacket—why am I even questioning this? "Why did you put it in your back pocket instead of your wallet, then?"
Jinx shrugged. "I dunno. I'm a little absentminded sometimes."
Raven slipped the money back, the odd expression still lingering.
"What's wrong?" Jinx pouted a bit, leaning down.
Raven grew silent for an eerily long while, during which her violet-blue eyes held Jinx in a soul-grasping stare; the sorceress felt her stomach clench and her mouth went dry.
Having grown used to the girl's mannerisms, the stare itself wasn't what was making Jinx uneasy; it was the little bit of guilt mixing with that omniscient aura Raven gave off. As quickly as her playfulness came, it vanished in a blink, replaced with a frigidity once reserved for mortal enemies. The empath felt as cold and hard as stone beneath her—had Raven figured it out? Or was she just assuming and denying herself at the same time, growing more irritated and angry by the second?
Jinx sat back a little, concern now written clearly across her pale face. "Raven?"
"You'd tell me if anything was bothering you, right?" She finally spoke, so quiet and low Jinx barely caught it all.
"Of course," she furrowed her brow, laying down beside Raven and enveloping her in a hug; one that was only half-heartily returned. "Of course I would, you know that," she repeated quietly.
Raven pick up the sadness in the other's voice, feeling a tad bit awful for jumping to uncertain, though quite possible conclusions. "I know, I'm sorry," she closed her eyes, leaning in to rest her head on Jinx's shoulder. "I'm just tired."
"Then let's take a nap," Jinx pulled the comforter up over them, snuggling closer.
Raven, in all honesty, wasn't the least bit sleepy. She just had this creeping feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. Something was off, her brain was sending up red flags and she wasn't completely sure why. Of course I know why. She scolded herself for ever doubting Jinx. But the rationality of the issue at hand was a suspicion not unlikely to pass; once a thief, always a thief. No, I need to be more trusting. Violet eyes stared at the ceiling. God I hope I'm wrong about all of this.
Jinx slammed the front door shut and immediately took up pacing her flat back and forth, every now and then pausing to stare at the cell phone cradled in her hand. She chewed on her thumb nail, staring off into space; turmoil surged through her veins uncontrollably. Her fingers deftly flipped open her phone, only managing to stare at the illuminated numbers and screen in the dim light of her apartment. The sun was setting, yet she hadn't switched on her lights. Not that she really noticed; distraction was surpassing all else.
With a growl, she closed her phone and cast it on her couch, heading to take a shower. Maybe the hot water will clear my head. Unlikely, but… she sighed, running her hand through her hair. I'm so distracted I can't even finish a…I don't remember leaving my blinds open. Pink eyes stared at the far western window that seemed slightly out of place. The normally closed blinds were pulled up halfway, faintly crooked, with one of the plastic sections flipped the opposite way.
Jinx walked over, feeling a cold draft fluttering against her bare feet. The window was slightly ajar. She ran her fingers over the locking mechanism.
"It's broken."
Instantly, she whirled around, heart pounding, eyes wide with anger and fear. There was a fire escape leading up to that widow—anyone could have climbed up from the streets below and broken in. Was someone still here? She surveyed the open expanse of her loft. Her closet door stood wide open, nothing was missing; no one was there. There wasn't anywhere for someone to hide. No where, that is, aside from behind the closed bathroom door.
She blinked; tuning all senses on the possible intruder lurking. Conditioned training immediately taking over, she slowed her breathing, controlling her body with mental precision that would turn a Buddhist monk green with envy. She swallowed once and slowly crept closer. Her ears strained to hear anything as she silently advanced. Scenarios played over and over in her mind; what if they had a gun?
Who could it be? Why would they be hiding? How long had they been there? She'd only lived there for a little over a week now, why would they break in? She didn't have any valuables yet, just some clothes and a few odd pots and plates. What if there wasn't anyone at all? She was quiet capable of leaving the window slightly open and forgetting she had ever opened it in the first place.
No, something doesn't feel right.
As she inhaled, some odor filled her nostrils, sending a myriad of chemical signals across her brain; bringing up memories. She knew that scent. Only two feet separated her from the old wooden door; she could hear slightly muffled movements, every now and then a drip. She felt the humidity coming through the cracks. They…took a shower? What the fuck?
Her heart was pounding in her ears as she watched her hand reach out for the brass door knob. She held her breath; in a split second the door was shoved open and pink eyes stared in wide-eyed.
Beast Boy looked up from his dinner for the forth time, still finding Raven staring at her meal with such intensity he was quite certain her food would catch fire. She'd been like this since Jinx left a few hours ago; he wasn't completely sure that she had remembered to blink in the past five minutes. While he was chewing a mouthful of delicious soy based calzone, he tossed a carefully aimed hunk of bread at the girl. The offending projectile stuck her dead between the eyes.
He, like the other two mature male individuals at the table, giggled. That was until the blazing leer locked with his green eyes; he shrunk back a bit. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea…
"What did the food ever do to you, Raven?" He laughed; a slightly nervous one.
"Perhaps she was afraid of ingesting your sub-par meat-substitute," Starfire suggested while poking her calzone with a fork.
"Looked more like she was cursing it with her voodoo magic," the green titan wiggled his fingers a bit, gesturing over his plate; completely missing the alien's obvious insult.
Raven raised a brow. Voodoo? A second later her half-eaten plate slammed into his laughing face.
He grimaced, wiping the sauce from his eyes. "Jesus, what the hell's your problem today?"
The empath got up from the table, heading for the door after shooting him a menacing glare. Just before she reached the doorway, he snorted.
"Must be girlfriend problems," he muttered while scraping the mess into a pile.
Robin saw the Psion cringe before the door slammed shut. He exchanged glances with Starfire and Cyborg, frowning.
"Nice, B," the humanoid rolled his eyes.
"What? It's not my fault she has issues—look what she did to the meal I slaved over a hot stove to make for everyone!"
"You mean the meal you got out of the freezer and put in the microwave?"
"Not everyone is appreciative of your childish humor," Starfire giggled as a glob of calzone fell off the green-skinned titan, "which is apparent by the reciprocation."
"Just trying to get her to talk, she never talks to us anymore," Beast Boy grumbled, mashing the thrown food with his fingers.
"You never hear her talk because you're usually far too engrossed in video games or TV. Then you always bother her when it's quite obvious she's in a bad mood; and yet you never learn… Just leave her alone, Gar," Robin sighed, running his hands through his hair.
The changeling slumped in his chair.
Jinx took a step back, completely at a loss for words. There, standing with a towel around her neck was a lean and slender girl. Tight fitting black leather pants hung low around her waist; a blue-black corset conformed to her shapely figure, accented with gothic touches of black ribbon and steel. Outrageously red hair jutted out wildly, still slightly damp. The young woman turned from applying eye liner; icy blue eyes glared.
"Goddamnit, Jinxy, don't you knock? I could have jabbed myself in the eye!"
The girl's voice confirmed her identity in an instant; arrogant and sharp, with a faintly Australian accent. Jinx furrowed her brow, confused and irritated, yet glad she wasn't a burglar looking through her medicine cabinet. "…Selinda? What—how did you find me?"