afraid of the dark?

          It wasn’t that she wanted to be there, it was just that she was beginning to feel too cooped up in her apartment. It had been okay at first because she did enjoy the solitude, but after a few days went by the silence began to make her itch. There was no Robin listening to his music at an eardrum breaking volume. No Beast Boy and Cyborg playing video games. There was no Starfire asking to spend time together. She hadn’t realized how much she missed them until she was actually missing them. 

     That was how Raven found herself standing at the entrance of Amusementland. 

     Her cloak wrapped tightly around her body, the teenager hesitated on whether or not she really wanted to subject herself to the inevitable onslaught of emotions that would undoubtedly overwhelm her on the other side of the gates. Did she really want to deal with that kind of headache just because she was feeling a little bored?

     She sighed. Of course she didn’t.

     Just as she was about to turn and go back home, a familiar head of fiery-red hair caught her attention immediately, and she spared no second crossing through the gates and into the park. She almost lost her in the crowd, but broke through the throng of people before the Tamaranean disappeared completely.

              Raven found that keeping a hold of her emotions was becoming increasingly difficult as the days went by. Whether it was because of the sudden change of environment, because she missed her friends, or because this entire place just seemed to enjoy making things difficult, the heroine couldn’t be sure. What she was sure of was that she’d yet to find a place peaceful enough to meditate.

     Sure, she lived alone, however the apartment walls were rather thin and it was difficult to concentrate on herself when she could hear her neighbors conversing. So she set out to find a place quiet enough to simply be on her own for a while. Unfortunately for her, this was the catalyst to a rather frustrating series of events.

     The teen had never had trouble navigating through anywhere. She remembered trails and streets rather quickly --- it was just never an issue. However, just because she was good at remembering set paths didn’t mean that Wonderland would allow a single path to remain for longer than a couple minutes. Because of Wonderland’s whims, she found herself deep in the Arburlan Forest.

               She was still familiarizing herself with the land. 

     Raven had settled in the quieter town of Belinia. She found a place to stay in the Clamaway Apartments and had enrolled in the local school because as much as hadn’t wanted to, she figured it would give her something to do eventually. She’d also found a part-time even as a server --- if the other Titans could see her now. That being said, though she’d secured somewhere to live in Belinia, she still needed to be able to navigate through Cestrelle without getting lost.

     That was how she found herself in Jokeo. As she roamed the district, she couldn’t help but notice that it was rougher than the rest of the town. The local apartments stood tall, albeit a little run down, but there was a part of her that thought of Jump City while she looked up at the building. Briefly, she wondered if it was too late to move here. Her thoughts were cut short, however by a commotion turning the corer just as she was. 

     Quickly, she swiveled and pressed back against the building wall as a rugged looking man darted past her with a brunette haired girl hot on his trail. It didn’t take her long to put two and two together --- the man had stolen something and was running out of one of the many bars that were scattered throughout the district. Hero instincts took over and she shot after the pair, catching up to the girl quickly.

i just realized i never posted an intro so i’m gonna do that now while i’m fighting the urge to open up and play sims-- my name’s rae and it’s been a few couple of months since i’ve been on tumblr because of how it is work, so i’m pretty excited to dip my toes back on in it. i haven’t written raven in a while so bear with me lol tbh i’m not 100% what else to say... go ahead and hmu for plotting and nya’ll are more than welcome to just pop into raven’s askbox to start any kind of interactions. 

The streets weren’t too busy. It wasn’t that uncommon for this time of the day. Haruhi didn’t mind the lack of people. The best comforts included less noise. Less worries. There was nothing that she needed to worry about when there were less people around. Except, that wasn’t always true. But it was how the girl’s mind worked.

As Haruhi wandered around, some person had approached. It wasn’t quite common seeing somebody in a dark cloak. With all the random people Haruhi had met here, she wasn’t one to say if something was strange or not.

“Um, Cestrelle?” Haruhi said, raising an eyebrow at the random question. “More specifically Jax.” The question had caught Haruhi off guard and she didn’t know how to respond. It didn’t seem entirely common for somebody in a cloak to be asking where they were.

And then realization hit Haruhi. “Oh! I’m sorry,” she apologized. How could Haruhi be so daft. “This may seem ridiculous, but you’re in Wonderalnd.”

               Her dark eyes roamed over the buildings that surrounded them as she waited for a response before landing stark onto this stranger. Cestrelle? Jax? Obviously, Raven knew she was no longer in Jump City, however what the brunette said next caught the Titan off guard. Immediately, Raven’s eyebrows skyrocketed on her forehead for the briefest of seconds before pulling downward into a frown.

     Without a doubt, this person was messing with her. 

     They’d probably seen her reading the classic novel before the book had been snatched away from her, and now they were trying to convince her that she was in Wonderland of all places. Unfortunately for the stranger, Raven wasn’t really one for going along with jokes.

     For a long time, for what felt like forever, she was falling down the hole that had opened up so suddenly beneath her feet. She couldn’t summon the power to fly and while that had made falling that much scarier worrisome at first, that fear worry slowly shifted into nothing until she came crashing onto grassy ground. Then there was sharp pain where she’d collided.

     Raven pulled her hood away from her face as she stood. Rather than Jump City was something else entirely and it became glaringly obvious that she was farther from home than she’d originally intended. With a huff, she began making her way toward the city that lay ahead of her. 

“Seems fair, but don’t you think being silent with a poker face is a bad thing sometimes?”