Sunset had said that research was nice but maybe it was the fact she hadn't had a project in so long that made her forget just how much work actually went into it. On her second though time passed slower, words on the screen blurred and she found it harder to focus.
It'd been a week since her last gig and she was getting lower in funds than she'd like. This part of town was getting known for "pickpockets" too so that was getting more difficult too.
She groaned quietly to herself when she felt a shiver run up her spine. She fought the urge to look up immediately and did it as naturally as she could.
"Well hey there Raven! It's been a while! What brings you by?" She could hear Clara's enthusiastic voice was toned down a bit more than usual and she understood a bit when she heard "Raven" speak.
"A place to relax. Cyborg is testing his new speaker system." Raven replied. Her voice was low and almost drawled. It was definitely the voice of someone who would appreciate a quiet night with a book.
But more importantly that was the girl who chased her the night she got shot at! With a name and a better look she could put it together. Raven, another member of the Teen Titans. Possibly one of the more dangerous due to her versatility and raw power potential. Sunset felt even more lucky to get away.
Clara hummed and looked around "We're a little packed but there's an empty chair across from Sunset over there. She's a quiet girl so if you ask I'm sure it'll be fine. I'll throw a free drink on the house since there's no empty spot for you. Sound good?"
Sunset desperately hoped that Raven would reject it. She looked back down and heard Raven say her name. She assumed Clara pointed her out. "Over there. She's keeps to herself. Actually, " she spoke louder "would that be fine Sunset?" Then back to normal volume "She has really good hearing"
Sunset sighed and looked up with a placating smile "What's that Clara?"
"Would you mind sharing your table with Raven?"
Dammit. "Not at all." She minded a lot.
Raven seemed to unintentionally tease Sunset as she hummed and thought about it before shrugging "Sure. I'll have my usual. I can't really go back to the tower until everything stops shaking."
"Coming right up!"
Sunset internally screamed but physically just gave a polite nod before looking back at her screen. Great. How amazingly, horribly nerve-racking. She was looking up how to plan her next heist right in front of a superhero. Maybe see should type in code. It wouldn't be THAT much work to create a font for Equestrian, would it?
She focused on her screen while Raven simply took her seat. Neither spoke up and Sunset could feel her nerves fray. The awkwardness made her very much want to say something, anything. But, Raven had come here to get away from the noise. The last thing she wanted was to get on her bad side by annoying her.
~~~
Raven closed her eyes and enjoyed what silence she could. The girl who she shared the table with was thankfully without questions. Looking at her, she was probably the one who told Beast Boy off. The lack of typing meant she probably felt awkward. That was unfortunate but it was something Raven was used to. There were only a handful of people who weren't awkward around her for some reason or another.
"Here ya go, dear!" Raven opened her eyes and saw her usual drink set down in front of her. At the same time she heard the sound of keys lightly tapping. It seemed that whatever awkwardness Sunset had was either gone or her work took priority. She could respect that.
She took a sip of her drink quietly and let out an equally quiet sigh. It wasn't the quiet of her room but she wasn't distracted by every little thing like when she was young. Her emotions weren't a constant battle. She still needed to keep them in check to an extent but she allowed herself to enjoy things more than she used to.
Raven enjoyed the relative silence with her eyes shut. She took another sip but heard the clearing of a throat that could only come from nearby. She cracked an eye open and saw the bright teal eyes of her table partner looking at her. “Hey. Sorry to bug you. I just have one quick, non personal question.”
She sighed and waved a hand, indicating for Sunset to continue “Great! So. I’m looking for somewhere with a good work/life balance in the city but I need to have a better understanding of the risks. The city, much like Gotham and the like have high rates of superpowered crime, though this one is thankfully less lethal on average. But, my question is, outside of the obvious, like outside of town, are there any areas where supervillains don’t really hit? The kind where it’d be safe to settle down, at least for a while? I already have a pretty good idea based on a number of graphs I looked through but, I couldn’t pass up a professional opinion to add to it.”
That was… actually a pretty good question. “Huh. Well outside of town is, like you said, pretty safe but a few bad guys make their bases there. Out of the way and all. Inside town, you might think that the lower end areas would be good for it since there’s nothing to steal. But that’s another big area where bad guys make themselves at home. So while they might not be attacking there, it’s still not the safest. Then you have normal crime there too.” She hummed in thought before shrugging “Probably the suburbs. Areas with only people. Like you said, there’s not much lethal focused crime in the area, so big villains who take entire neighborhoods hostage don’t really happen around here. There has been one or two situations where we have had to go out there, but rarely did the fights stay there.”
Sunset nodded as she listened along. “Gotcha. Thanks for the information. It’s tricky enough to find a place in a city, let alone one with so much going on.” With that she went back to her laptop. Actually looking at it, it was an old model. Very old. It must be a pain to do research on that. But it didn’t really involve her so, Raven simply went back to her drink and what quiet she could get.
~~~
Sunset internally sighed. That was a waste. She’d hoped that Raven knew of some area that she could hit later on that would be safer (Obviously much later or she’d be the first suspect) but it seemed that unless she wanted to put on a raccoon mask, carry a sack and practice her lockpicking spells, she’d have to keep with her current focus of stores and stations.
She stayed there for a little longer before getting up and taking her leave. She looked as casual as possible but internally she was panicking.
“That was dumb, that was dumb, that was so, so dumb!” she thought as she tried to look as casual as she could until she got to the alleyways and started to run. Initially she talked to Raven for fact finding and the hope that she would come off friendly but not impactful at all so that they’d have a very vague but positive thought of her. But as she sat in silence afterwards she realized how stupid that was. She should have just stayed quiet. Said nothing. She already caught attention. Her hair and skin used to be so normal in Equestria. How she could forget that it’s out of the ordinary here was beyond her.
She kept running until she reached her little home far, far away from home, slamming the door behind her. “Dammit!” She cursed as she sighed and leaned against the wall for a moment before slamming her fist back against it again as she stood. She was just frustrated that she’d done that. She could have easily just sat there and stayed quiet. But, no. She got overconfident again and didn’t think of anything beyond her own assumptions again!
She took a deep breath and pushed her frustration down. Maybe Raven didn’t care. Maybe it went exactly how she hoped. Maybe she was still just sitting there, enjoying her drink. She sighed and shook her head. She doubted fate would be so kind to her.
~~~
Raven took another sip of her drink with a sigh. This was nice. Peaceful- well, as peaceful as a public coffee shop could be. Even Sunset’s question had been a nice change of pace. It wasn’t a fan, not an enemy. Just a normal question that treated what she did like a job. As if she was an office worker or something. Though she could never imagine herself in a suit and tie. At least not a normal suit and tie. Something nice looking with some purple. Probably not something that would be allowed in an office.
She pushed the thought away. It didn’t matter right now anyway. All that mattered right now was finding out if she could go back.
She brought out her communicator and checked. No messages. So the test probably wasn’t over yet. Robin was supposed to message her when it was done. She really hoped she wasn’t going to end up here all night.