2494/Raven's Dark Secret

Raven's Dark Secret
Date of Scene:	17 September 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Raven, Stardust, Aqualad

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Raven has posed:
Raven does not subscribe to the usual hours of operation for Titans Tower. After all, unlike several of the other regular patrons of the place, this isn't some weekend getaway that she occasionally lingers at. For Raven, this is home. She lives here.

However, sometimes that does mean sharing it with other people. As such, Raven is somewhat stereotypical. If she does sleep- and nobody can confirm that she does- she does so during the morning and afternoon hours. At night, once the sun has gone down, Raven is awake and active. Her monitor duties are always red-eye shifts. Her recreation in the twilight hours.

That is the case now, as Raven has apparently scheduled her time in the gymnasium proper for two in the morning on a Monday. Why she does it, exactly, is a mystery. However, this -ridiculous- hour is clearly great for exercising alone.

It isn't hard to guess why she likes exercising alone, though.

Raven likely works hard to maintain the aloof, almost metaphysical perception she garners from people. As such, the state she's in during her workout goes so heavily against that it's almost laughable. Here she is, dressed not like some erstwhile vampire- but rather, like an absolute gym rat. It's all there: Yoga pants, almost uncomfortably tight top tanktop... She might actually look like a regular person were it not for how incandescently pale she is.

She doesn't have the rock-hard body of someone who obsesses over the gym- she's built thicker than that. All the same, though, she's going through some physically taxing weighted yoga routine that looks like it's pulled from the repertoire of a soccer-mom.

The first person to walk through the door is probably risking their life, though. The lengths to which she'll go to hide this from the world is unknown- which might be frightening, if Raven were some sort of gritty anti-heroine.

Stardust has posed:
"So basically," Colette voice can be heard chattering to Kaldur as they head into the gym, "I don't really know how to fight. At all. I mean mostly it's not a problem. I can punch pretty hard. Not like Cassie hard, but hard. And I'm very hard to hurt. Where it gets inconvenient is where I have to pull my punches, you know? You don't want to accidentally punch a random mugger's spine right off them."

As usual, Colette is blithely chatting away. Less usually, she's not in her Stardust regalia-of-the-day. Though her costume changes all the time, it always retains the pale white and gray color scheme, but today she's rather colorful. Her gym outfit is similar to Raven's, but brightly colored with a sky-blue top and pants in a rainbow patchwork pattern.

  As Colette turns a corner and Raven comes into view, she stops in surprise. It's rather late for people to be training. Colette had been bringing yet another bit of broken robot to the tower late at night and found Kaldur still awake, and suggested a bit of sparring. Another occupant is a surprise.

The bigger surprise takes a moment. That person training there is... Raven? Surely not!

Colette comes to a sudden halt, and backs slightly around the corner. She holds her hand out, giving the traditional 'stop' hand signal to Kaldur.

  Obviously she's seen something dangerous in the gym, something that requires stealth and caution.

Aqualad has posed:
"It is a matter of training and technique," Kaldur suggests. "You should consider some alternate methods of defense; strikes are not the only means of hurting someone," he tells her. "There is a martial technique based on the octopus that--"

He is abruptly stopped, and silenced, by Colette's hand. The Atlantean wears black tights and a sleeveless shirt, his customary apparel for training, and pauses on the edge of the door.

A puzzle frown crosses his stern features at the dangerous sight of... Raven. Exercising.

"<<What is the matter? Is something threatening Raven?>> Kaldur asks Colette, telepathically broadcasting his thoughts to her in silence.

Raven has posed:
Raven is normally a diligent individual, and were it anything other than being caught unawares in the gym, she would be more attentive. However, the Tower's alarm system is hooked into whatever is broadcasting to the tiny buds in her ears, so if there were an emergency, she would hear it.

Which means that the music she is playing is quite loud, and since it is quite loud, Colette's chatting doesn't really draw her attention.

In essence, Raven is about to be quite startled.

Stardust has posed:
Telepathy and Colette is a confusing mix. As well as her actual mind (what there is of it) she's got a few hundred psuedo-minds knocking around in there. Most of whom are very alien minds. Thus Kaldur receives an unhelpful thought in reply: <<Agra n!ap djekus'a kun.>>

Useful.


Did Colette even receive Kaldur's message? It's uncertain, but she responds anyway, hissing a whispered "Are we sure that's Raven? She's not gothy enough. Does she have an evil twin?"

Colette peers around the corner, watching Raven closely. "Something isn't right here," she whispers, stepping cautiously out into the room. Perhaps being a bit more concious of surface fashions than Kaldur is, alarm bells are ringing in Colette's head. Not necessarily the right alarm bells, though.

"HI RAVEN!" Colette calls out, making the assumption that the best course of action is to not be standing to close to Raven when she's startled.

Aqualad has posed:
Kaldur seems baffled as to why everyone's so afraid of Raven. She's creepy, sure, but she's nice to him! The Atlantean prides himself on his instincts around people.

It's not impossible his instincts are dead /wrong/, but... Colette seems a little over-prepared. Kaldur stands apart from Colette, giving Raven's... unusual outfit a conspicuous once-over.