#nnonachopsis

it's probably, in retrospect, a little funny. the silence that falls over his kitchen (aside from the boiling of the soup, of course!), the way her head tilts to the side once she opens the drawer and comes face to face with a voice modulator mask.

or the stretch of silence is a little terrifying, and goes on a little too long. OH WELL! she's closing the drawer, whirling around to face him, back pressed against the offending drawer. she blinks, easy smile. warm.

"Hell don't scare me-" The words came out so easily, as though she had thought that sentence long before she said it out loud. There was truth behind it, nothing seemed to scare her anymore. The girl who had held so tightly to her fears had lives through a NIGHTMARE only to come back on top, or so she liked to think. No, she liked to believe that now she was more terrifying than hell if given the opportunity to be.

"YOU DIDN'T TELL MAMA AND DAD THAT I'M HOME, DID YOU?" so what if she was eavesdropping on his phone call? she doesn't see anything wrong with it, clearly. venus promptly plops herself down next to him on the couch, arms crossed over her chest. feet propped up on their coffee table, and will not care if she's scolded for it!

she swears.

without invitation, he's barging into the mechanic shop. and without invitation, he's propping himself up on a table not meant for weird science experiments to prop themselves up on. but whatever! he's kicking his feet, and orpheus grins at jason, making his weird little fucked up eyes squint with the enthusiasm of it all.

cleo knows what fear is; she knows what it smells like. sour, slightly acidic, heavy in the air. humans can't smell it. but she can, with the animal senses she inherited from her parents --- both of them are mostly animal too. and right now, the fear she smells in the night air is her own. a sharp tang against the smog of gotham.

she, like her father, is not a fan of heights. which means that scrambling up the side of this building to get to the roof isn't exactly enjoyable, even if she's decent at climbing. she looks up at jason with her red eyes, squinting against the wind, ears flat against her skull, and she knows the anxious expression on her face is betraying her. her claws grip the crumbling bricks more tightly and she scrabbles upward the last few remaining feet, letting out a slight hiss of relief once she's over the edge of the roof. only birds and bats belong up here. she prefers to stick to the ground and the sewers below.

" thanks for the biology lesson, captain obvious. " cleo huffs at jason, smoothing her fur and attempting to regain her composure. " i hope you brought me up here for something good. "

her eyes flicker from the movement of riley's hands up to their face, brows pinching together. she could big sister this, she thinks. tell them that they're absolutely right, and people get what they deserve in the end. they both know she would be talking about the workers in the labs, of course. she thinks they both know that she would be lying, if she said that.

she shrugs. OBVIOUSLY SHE DID. what the fuck? does she need to do it again? presses her hands to her own chest, as if she's defending her action, explaining herself. winnie looks like she'll deny it.