Well. Good news and bad news
Good news: I managed to get into the local community college and I am really enjoying it! The class times make sense, I only have an hour of class on Tuesday and Thursday, I have an hour between my classes. And I get to spend either 40 minutes, 160 minutes, or 280 minutes with my grandparents each morning!
Bad news: I have been having difficulty figuring out the plot. I know what's going to happen, but there are a lot of details I need to iron out beforehand so once I get a writing schedule there will be a lot of updates for my less infinite-multiverse-ey stories. Maybe.
"Can I stay here for a while?"
Honestly, that was not what I expected, on a scale of 'Box Ghost saying beware' to ' Clockwork not being cryptic', this was about a seven. And this is what made the following events so awkward.
"Yeah? I mean, sure thing Rachael. Here, let me luggage your get-I mean get your luggage!" I somehow managed to stutter out as I grabbed the handle of her backpack from her hands. I stepped away to let her into the store and proceeded to close and lock the door behind us.
"Well, Allons-y!" I said as I opened the door that led down to my home. I wish that was it and nothing more than my fumble with my words was the worst thing to happen. It wasn't. On the way downstairs I tripped on the straps on her backpack and sent the both of us down my stairs. Luckily we were only a few steps from the bottom and I somehow managed to catch her on the way down and twist us so we landed on my back. But that's not all that happened.
When we hit the ground her pack went sailing over us and the overstuffed backpack ripped open along the zipper. And surprise surprise, it just so happened to be the pocket with her underwear in it. In a clothslide of pink and blue and stripes and bows her panties fell out of the bag. Luckily here is where I caught a break; instead of trying to pick them up and make it more awkward I offered to go make up some tea for the both of us. She agreed immediately.
"Here you go. You get the mug." I said with a kind smile as I sat down beside her.
"What do you mean?" Rachael asked, no doubt curious as to why there was only one mug.
"I don't get many visitors so I never really got more than one mug. Tell you what. Tomorrow I'll go out and get some more mugs. One for you, one for Vlad, one for Daine, and one for Dani." I said happily.
"Well, now that the most important thing has been taken care of I'll let you go get to sleep. That's the bathroom," I said as I pointed out a door with a small moon and sun engraved at head height. "That's the bedroom," I said as I pointed to a door with three Z's engraved on it. "That room. Is locked for a reason and I would like you to respect that. Proprietary company info and prototypes and whatnot," I said as I pointed out a door with rivets at the edge and a small wheel in place of a door knob. "And this will be my bed for the foreseeable future. No, don't argue, it won't change a thing. Now go on and get your beauty sleep, not that you'd need it." I said, gesturing to the couch and then gently directing her to
A gasp and a muffled thump woke me up the next morning. Were I a betting man, and I was, I'd bet that Rachael was spooked by waking up somewhere that wasn't her bedroom and fell out of bed. I was proven right when a disheveled Rachael walked out with a small bruise on her forehead.
"Bedside table?"
"Bedside table."
"Here, let me get you an ice pack." I said as I did a nosferatu sit-up and hopped off the couch, much to the ire of my bruised houseguest.
After getting her the ice pack I got to work cooking up breakfast with a comfortable silence hanging between us. Until I broke it, that is.
"So what do you have planned for today?"
"Not much, I'm going to visit my family and look in on how well the repairs are going."
That's a good idea. An old friend asked me to go to a party he's throwing in some old warehouse. He's good with outdoor bouncers but he wanted someone to work the inside and stop any potential fights before they can stop. If you like you could come along after you're done visiting your family?"
"I don't know, I'll think about it."
"That's all I ask. Now, who wants pancakes!"
"How did it end up like this?" Raven asked herself as she watched one of her closest friends being arrested by the Centauri Moon Police.
Storidae Writtenicus: Flashback!
Upon arriving at the Titans Tower Raven immediately began to search for Cyborg; the Titans 'Eldest Brother*' and resident carpenter, plumber, welder, and mechanic. After a long and exhausting search through the labyrinthian lower levels filled with dead ends and cluttered workrooms which had to be meticulously searched through for the semi-autonomous teen crime fighter. After two passes through the entire lower levels the Dark Titan promptly gave up the ghost and decided to adjourn to the main commons area at the heart of the tower.
"Cyborg, how long have you been here?" Raven asked in a dark monotone upon finding the person she had spent so long searching for eating nachos and watching a How It's Made marathon, which was currently showing the process of how a match is dried after the phosphoric head is applied.
"Hey Rae, what's happ-" Cyborg's cheerful greeting was promptly cut off by the dark miasma leaking off of the sorceress in ominous swirling fog banks.
"How long." The dark Titan ground out, resulting in a high pitched squeal from the six foot teenager.
"Aboutsixhours!" The poor man shouted out in utter terror, his voice an octave or two higher.
After spending a few minutes working off her justified anger in her mindscape by smashing floating rock platforms together with Brave and Rage, during which her body just stood there in the thickening miasma glaring at Cyborg, who was quickly being reduced to a quivering puddle of semi-sentient jello and machine parts. Raven sat down next to the pitiable puddle and gave him a few minutes to pull himself together and recongeal.
Once cyborg was back in his right mind, though markedly paler, she asked how the repairs were going on her room. Just as Cyborg was about to respond a loud explosion resounded through the tower, and a small green object was seen to be falling towards the ocean through the big bay windows in the commons area.
"They're going well, yesterday I figured out the best way to get rid of the ambient bad luck." Cyborg responded as he pressed a button on his arm which shot a floatation ring on a long rope at the green speck in the ocean.
"How?" Raven asked, even though she already had an inkling as to how the magic was being removed.
"Simple, just toss the most unlucky person we know into the room and the bad luck will be drawn to him, cause an accident, and be dispelled. Wash, rinse, and repeat." Cyborg said while Beast Boy was dragged up the bay windows by the rope and ring, resulting in a long and annoying squeaking noise.
Raven was about to respond to her oldest confidant when she was suddenly interrupted by a loud voice which carried a great deal of well suppressed hatred which was immediately picked up by the only empath in the room.
"One hundred and twenty meters! That's the farthest Beasty has been launched today!" The voice said.
Raven turned around to find a pale skinned ebonette version of her polar opposite and best friend Starfire. And, despite the subtle seriousness of this initial interaction, deep within the reaches of her mind, Love, Lust, and Curiously enough Wisdom were growling to themselves; "Who does this person think she is, there's only enough room for one gothic tsundere in this group."
"...Who are you?" Raven asked once she overcame her surprise over how her emotions were reacting to the newcomer.
"Blackfire, I'm here to visit my little sister Starfire. And, since there are only two girls on this team, I'm going to guess that you are Raven!" She replied as she slung an arm over the slightly shorter girl who immediately phased through the floor only to reappear behind Cyborg, not wanting to be too close to the unnerving and tainted aura of the dark Tamaranien.
"...Anyway, I heard earlier that there was going to be a rave in town today, and I say that we should all go! Raven and Kori already agree!" The ebonette girl said as Beastboy dragged his sorry carcass through the, thankfully, sliding doors.
"Well, I guess it's okay, and Beastboy could use a break from... luck baiting? Luck exercising? Yeah, he could use a break from Luck Exorcising." Said Cyborg who was feeling reluctant to toss the green youngster back to the lions. Top where this was figurative or literal he couldn't tell, seeing as there appeared to be claw marks on one of his arms.
"It's fine with me. Danny said he could get me in for free." Raven mumbled as she healed The worst of Beastboy's injuries.
"Danny?" Asked Robin and Cyborg, who jumped at the sudden appearance of the dynamic Titan.
"He's the one who's putting me up while my room is being repaired. He lives In an underground apartment connected to his bookstore Turn The Page on main street. And apparently is a genius guessing by all three of his AI's and the bodies he built for them." Raven said as she soothed an abrasion on the small of Beastboy's back.
"Does he know who y-" Robin started before he was cut off.
"No Robin, we first met when I was in my civvies. He's housing Rachael Roth, not Raven." Raven said as she healed a zebra patterned bruise of Beastboy's left arm. How that happened she could not imagine.
"So that means..." Robin trailed off, knowing Raven already knew what he was going to ask.
"So that means if you want to interact with me you'll have to go in your civvies." She said as she finished healing Beastboy who was extremely excited to be going to a party, seeing as he never got the chance to go to anything like that due to his previous team leaders strict, stick-in-the-mud attitude.
In the end they decided to go in their hero uniforms, seeing as it would be difficult when Blackfire referred to a seemingly random girl as her sister, and that she would accidentally refer to the other titans incorrectly. Though Raven chose to go as Rachael so she could get out of the limelight.
"So why did your friend ask you to keep the peace at his party? You don't really seem that scary to me." Rachael asked as she and Danny rode through the streets of Jump in his black 1967 Cadillac DeVille.
"Think about it, I'm seven foot three, dressed in my grey-blue RAF greatcoat, blood red tie, and my Nathaniel Jump boots. Not to mention I'm carrying a pair of Death Eagles. And to top it off my glare can make a man flinch at fifty paces." Danny said as he easily navigated his way through the streets of the city.
Raven was about to reply but was cut off as Danny spun the car around on the empty street, flinging it into a parallel parking space it wouldn't have fit in otherwise. While she sat stunned in the passenger's side Danny hopped out of the car, slid across the hood onto the sidewalk, and opened her door with a hand held out for her to pull herself out with.
"Th-thank you." Raven said with a stutter after the sudden spin had thoroughly derailed her train of thought, with the sudden stop effectively flinging the poor train over the horizon.
"Velkommen." Danny replied as he walked up to the front door with Rachael leaning against him to keep her shaky legs from collapsing underneath her.
"Hei, Sven, hvordan familien?" Danny said to the Viking-like bouncer in a friendly tone before he shook the slightly shorter man's hand.
"De er gode, og hvem er dette?" Sven asked as hello ok'd down at Rachael, flexing the now pained hand that had just been released by Danny.
"Min nye leietaker, Rachael." said Danny as Sven opened the door for the black haired pair. They both walked through the threshold with Danny letting out a 'Mange Tusen Takk' as the door closed, getting a good natured laugh out of the blonde man.
"So, how do you know him?" Rachael asked, no longer leaning on Danny now that she had gotten her strength back.
"He used to be a heavyweight boxer but he got his jaw shattered fighting for the world championship. He gave up and spiraled into a deep depression. A few years later I found him on a trip across Scandinavia, brought him here, and supported him until he was the man you just saw. I also introduced him to his wife and the two children they adopted as well, seeing as he is sterile." All Raven could do was stare in awe as her impression of Danny skyrocketed at how he made such amazing and drastic improvements to a man's life, as well as the lives of two orphans, seem like an everyday thing.
"How did you manage to do that?" Rachael asked as they walked through the building.
"As it turns out, he's damn good at othello. Not as good as me, but still pretty damn good. Funny, it seems like all of the really strong martial artists play othello. Apachai Hopachai, Akisame Koetsuji, Kensei Ma, and Hayato Fūrinji all love to play Othello. Weird, isn't it?" Danny said, trailing off into thought about the possible othello conspiracy that might somehow have evaded him.
Raven was going to continue the conversation but was interrupted when the door in front of them opened suddenly and deafening rock music hit the both of them upside the head like a brick. A brick that was going at sixty miles per hour.
Danny looked over at Rachael who was hunched over slightly in pain. He immediately pulled a pen and paper from one of his pockets and wrote a question down and handed it to his tennant.
"Want a pair of earplugs?" It said. Rachael nodded so quickly that Danny worried she might have gotten whiplash from it. He pulled two pairs of earplugs from his pockets, as well as a pair of dime sized stickers. He handed a pair of plugs to Rachael and once they both had their ears protected he pressed one of the stickers to his throat. Then his voice came clearly through the earplugs.
"They're like walkie-talkies with a noise canceling system included. This patch," Danny held up a second circular patch. "has two microphones in it, one that takes in surrounding noise so the plugs can work as noise canceling earplugs instead of noise muffling earplugs, though it still leaves a bit of outside noise, just enough that we won't have to yell and can hear each other. And on the inside there is a tactile microphone on the inside to pick up what your saying and transmit them to a set of plugs within a prescribed earshot, two meters in this case." Danny said, animatedly talking about one of his most recent projects.
And so they talked to one another for almost three hours straight, breaking only when Danny went to refill their drinks. Danny learns that Rachael is an only child who never really know her father, and whose mother was rather distant. That she currently lives with a small group of friends in a small apartment complex; the five of them rented out all six rooms in the small complex, splitting the pay on the last room to use as a guest room slash rec room. And that she was taking online courses at the local college on a host of rather esoteric courses. And Rachael discovered that Danny is both a single father, widower, and orphan due to an undisclosed accident a few years back, and that his six year old daughter is living with his adoptive parents in Wisconsin and going to school there as she didn't want to leave her friends, as well as bond with her grandparents Vlad and Daine. That he was the head of a few large companies and used his own personal funds from work to fund the bookstore and all of its host of small and large charity events in Jump. And that he was apparently planning to open up a larger bookstore cafe on the other side of town at the junction between the warehouse and commercial districts. Apparently it was going to be reminiscent of a YMCA with an assortment of artistic and athletic rooms and areas, which is why he was doing it at the juncture; he needed the space and open plan of a warehouse to get everything set up correctly. And that, funnily enough, the first reason he wanted to do the move was that he wanted to have enough space to have a garden, but not have to buy a suburban home and subsequently have to drive to work every morning.
But as time went on the entire reason Danny was there reared it's ugly and annoying head when he heard two teen antagonizing a young girl who, from the sound if the argument, had just recently learned English and despite a wonderful grasp of the language, was unable to understand the local colloquialisms and slang terms judging by her wondering if she should have brought a shovel when one of the teens asked her if she was digging the party.
"Well, unfortunately it would seem that I have got work to do now. I'll see if I can't finish it as soon as I can Rachael." And with that Danny stood up from the table in the corner the two of them had claimed as their own and walked into the crowd. She could see the glare he had told her about earlier in action as the densely packed amorphous group of human bodies parted swiftly like the Red Sea before his piercing gaze.
(With Danny)
Unbeknown to the two idiots teasing Starfire, Danny was standing right behind them. All that could be seen was a shark-toothed grin and glowing eyes shining ominously from the curiously dark shadow cast by his hair. A pair of pale hands clothed in a pristine white button up dress shirt parted the once blue-grey, now pitch black, greatcoat and settled heavily on the shoulders of Starfire's antagonizers, pressing down so heavily that it was all they could do to just stay standing.
"Nice party we've got here." He stated in a dark voice, promising pain.
"Y-yeah." The shorter and more rotund of the two managed to squeak out.
"It'd be a shame if, oh, I don't know, two idiots decided to antagonize a beautiful young lady because she hasn't come to grips with the older colloquialisms. And then offer for her to come to their place so they could "teach her" the new slang."
"R-r-right. Yeah" the taller, scrawny one answered, secretly terrified and wondering how this horrifying demon of a man knew what they intended to do.
"Now, the two of you can either take the easy way and vacate the premises under your own power, go home, call your mother, and tell her exactly what you had intended to do. Or you can resist and be thrown bodily out of the nearest exit, be it a door or window, break or fracture a bone or two, and have to pay your hospital bills from your own pocket."
"Hey man," the fatter one said, seeming to draw upon the total courage of the both of them, "We don't have to do what you say!"
"Option two it is. Oh, and look! The nearest exit is a window! I do love a good defenestration." Danny said in a disturbingly cheerful tone. He then proceeded to pick the two up by the backs of their shirts, and chuck them out the open window onto the sidewalk outside. Luckily it was a first story window so all they got were a few scrapes and scratches.
Danny sighed, despite the joy one can gain from throwing idiots out of windows, he knew that he wasn't done yet. People as trusting and heart-on-their-sleeve as Starfire would need some form of consoling and he knew none of her teammates would be doing the consoling seeing as cyborg was busy chatting with the DJ, Raven had most likely stayed home, and Robin and Beastboy were, well, Robin and Beastboy. So, being the kind hearted old man he was inside, Danny subtly followed the wayward Tameranian up the stairs and onto the roof.
"Hey kid, what's wrong?" Came a voice from behind Starfire, scaring the poor girl. She looked back cautiously and found a grandfatherly smile gracing the face of the man who had saved her from her antagonizers.
"Nothing is wrong sir. I am merely..." Here Starfire trailed off, not knowing how to express how she was feeling.
"Confused?"
"Yes, confused. I am afraid that I do not understand so much of this worlds culture. So much is confusing and different compared to Tamaran."
"Ouch, that sounds like homesickness to me, and a bad case of it as well."
"But that is not even the worst part. My sister is visiting from home and she can play the games of video with friends Beastboy and Cyborg, and shares the dark poetry with friend Raven, and can do combat with Friend Robin, and I am sure she knows when people are truly speaking of shovels."
"And you're afraid that she's going to take your place on the team because of this, am I right?"
Her silence was all the answer he needed.
"Listen Starfire, you are irreplaceable. You-" but just as Danny was about to reassure the girl a pink tentacle shot out of nowhere and wrapped around her.
"CMPD Capture Drones? What're they doing here?" He thought as he stood up. He stands still, contemplating his next moves moves carefully. Then, in an instant his fob watch is open in his hands. Snapping it shut he quickly walks off to the stairwell that led to the roof and disappeared without a sound.
Reappearing two minutes before he left he hurries out from behind the puller he had reappeared behind. Standing again his full height he stood head and shoulders above the loud crowd. Using this vantage point he searches for the rest of the Titans, at least the ones that are actually are at the party, that is. Once he spotted Robin he glared at the crowd before him and it parented like the Red Sea before the horrible feelings he practically exuded.
"OI!, Boy Blunder," he shouted, easily being heard above the sound of the party, "your girlfriend just got captured by some flying pink tentacle monsters. I've read enough hentai to know where this I'd going so it would be a good idea for you go go help her." Robin stared at him angrily for a second, still caught up on the boy blunder comment before the rest of the sentence caught up to him and he shot off like a bullet from a gun, completely forgetting to contact cyborg or anyone else.
'Its a damn good thing I hopped back a few minutes, otherwise the rest of the titans would be left behind.' He thought with a sigh as he prepared to find the rest of the heroes, as well as their guest.
He walked to the center of the crowd and let loose with his killing intent, immediately cowing all the partygoers and making the DJ forget what he was doing in his terror.
"Titans, your little orange teammate just got captured by some pink tentacle creatures. I told the little bird and he just ran off without telling you," Everyone, the titans included, just stared at him blankly. "Well? Go on! Save her! I'll provide what ground support I can." He said as he pulled out a pair of pistols with curiously small barrel openings. At this the titans snapped out of it and ran outside, taking Blackfire with them, as Danny hurried his way upstairs to get a better angle on the drones he knew had just arrived, timing it so that he would arrive upstairs just as the past him disappeared.
once on the roof Danny looked out towards where he knew Starfire and the rest of the team would be, took aim, and fired.
"Oh crap!" Muttered Robin as he watched a pink tentacle from one of the pink squid things reaching for Starfire, who was too far out of his reach for him to help. Then, all of a sudden, the limb developed a large hole in it and was thrown heavily away from his crush.
That seemed to set the precedent for the chase. For the next twenty minutes or so everyone but the civvied Raven would follow behind Starfire and do their best to keep her safe from the squids, while Danny would remove the occasional limb from the equation whenever it managed to get too close to Starfire. Luckily Blackfire managed to get a good shot in on one of the squids and blew it up, revealing its mechanised innards to everyone. From then on Blackfire tore through the rest of the squid-bots with a curious efficiency.
Once all the squid-bots were defeated starfire landed near them, eying the pile of relatively trashed robots with a wary eye.
"Are you okay Star?" Robin nearly shouted as he ran over to his crush and began looking her over for any injuries she might have sustained in the chase.
"Yes Friend Robin, I am fine. But I am curious as to why these creatures seemed so intent on capturing me." She said, enjoying Robin's closeness.
"Yeah, I was wondering tha-"Started Cyborg before he was cut off by a curious sound."
"It's said his blade weighed half a ton," It was a relatively familiar voice, echoing a song down the dark alleyway they had found themselves in.
"What's tha-" Beastboy began to ask before he too was cut off by the mysterious singer.
"O' Spanish steel, christ how it shone," The voice sung once again. Underneath the singing the Titans and Blackfire heard what sounded like leather scraping on the ground and a quiet sparking noise. But then any thought of the sound was cut off as a fire axe spun through the air with a whistle, shooting right by Starfire. Then with a loud thump it embedded itself in the last moving tentacle of the only squid-bot that was still somehow functioning.
"With a whistle and thump yer dash were done," Sang a tall dark figure ass it made it's way closer to the group.
"And the axe cared not for who you were." The figure finished as it walked out of the shadow and into the light, revealing the one and only Danny Fenton.
"Sorry about that kiddos, I love the song and I just couldn't help myself. Anyway you kids should be getting home, its past your bedtime no doubt. And don't worry about your mess, I'll let the cleaners know where to be." And with that Danny walked off, singing the song to himself as he left, though the Titans could only hear one verse.
"He kept a cell below the tower,
Where he signed the cross every half an hour,
With a calfskin drum and a rattle tat taa,
The Jolly Executioner."
Well, here it is. I would have added more to it but its been so long and this was a wonderful stopping point. You're all probably mad at me for coping out half way through, not to mention the long and unintentional hiatus. And I totally deserve it all. I had plenty time I could have written but chose not to. I've lost grip on the plot; I can't quite remember what already happened, or what has already been established, and I'm neither brave enough, or in the right frame of mind, to go back and reread those trainwrecks I call chapters that came before this, so if you notice anything feel free to berate me. Though anything new and different is likely to be treated as cannon for my story.
I'd just like to apologize for being such a horrendous writer.
Anyway, Next car crash can be expected anywhere from a week, to a month, to a year from now... at the very least. I do promise that I'll try to write more often.
*The Titan family is as follows: Cyborg is the kind and caring, but gruff big brother. Raven is the wise, intellectual big sister who comes off as cold but secretly has a heart of gold. Beast boy is the youngest and dumbest brother and part-time pet. Starfire is the youngest and endearingly naive sister who loves nothing more than her family, and is also their unofficial mascot. And robin is the emo and antisocial dunce of a middle child who everyone follows because the youngers look up to him and the elders are humoring him.
The song is The Jolly Executioner by The Rumjacks
Welcome
Hey, Sven, how's the family?
They are good, and who is this?
My new tenant, Rachael.
Many thousand thanks