Raven pushed her way into the bookstore, letting the door fall quietly shut behind her, and paused one step in. She closed her eyes, inhaled her favourite scent in the world, the smell of history and ancient thoughts living through another generation by way of pages, then made her way farther inside the store.
Outside it was dark, just past sundown, and the street and star lights may or may not have been playing tricks on her eyes when she thought she was being followed. More than likely it was her own shadow following her, as shadows are prone to do, but whether that was the case or not, all anxiety was stopped at the door of her favourite little bookshop and Raven made her way silently to the back in peace.
The back of the store housed the more aged novels, the ones that most people didn't know existed, let alone shopped for. Some of them were well-known titles, just older versions of such, and Raven noted one such example as she brushed by War and Peace to get to the lesser knowns and more mythological stories. She was in the mood for something not quite in this realm, and upon arriving at such a section, became engrossed in her search for the perfect title....
There was no honor among thieves, but that didn't mean that all thieves didn't have some form of honor. One job this thief had done had never settled with him. Stealing items and possessions was one thing, stealing a person was another. Kidnapping wasn't something Kyd Wykkyd did willingly. When a large group of super villains is telling you to do something with the threat of 'or else', there's not much choice in the matter. The issue had bugged him since the event. Not only did he cross a personal boundary of his, but he pulled the aggressive action against the Teen Titan that scared him the most.
One thing was certain. Kyd Wykkyd was going to set the record straight, but how?
Step one had been to locate Raven. That had been easy enough. With a small telescope intended for stargazing he could watch the tower for the Teen Titan's coming and going from a long distance away. Step two had been getting Raven isolated. That was done as easily as it was thought. Lying in wait for his target to naturally go off alone wasn't difficult, not was following her through the city. He had been careful of course, but a portal here and a portal there let him keep up even at a distance. Her cloak wouldn't let her slip into a crowd and disappear on him.
The hard part was step four, confrontation. How could a villain approach a heroine without causing an alarm? He could tap her on the shoulder, but she might start swinging as soon as she noticed the villain beside her. It wasn't like he could just tell her to stop fighting. A laser pointer could get her attention from a distance! Seeing a red dot, followed by a villain that had captured her before probably wouldn't stir up the greatest impressions. There had to be a safer way. There was a way, childish, but it could work.
Wykkyd made his way to the back of the bookstore. Red eyes looked through the window of the rear door to check if the back room was clear before he used a portal on the door's bolt to open it and slip inside quietly. He silently made his way through the back room to the door that would lead into the rest of the store. It was in the back, and he could make out Raven's down an aisle. Now that he could roughly see where she was he could open a portal in her vicinity.
The thief turned back toward the stock room and quickly acquired a pen and pad of paper. His grand plan was to pass her a note. If it's silly, but works, it's not silly. Quickly he wrote his note.
Here to talk NOT fight. In the back room. Come alone, please. -Kyd Wykkyd
It was simple. He even said please and signed his name. There was no need to complicate it, though he did stress he wasn't here to fight. A fight might occur, but it wasn't his intention to start one. He folded the piece of paper and wrote Raven's name on it before checking through the window where she was again. The silent thief focused on where she was, then made a small portal and flicked his note through it quickly. With any luck it would fly out from the space between the tops of some books and the shelf, and fly right into her where it wouldn't be missed.
Last Edit: May 13, 2014 23:23:39 GMT -6 by Deleted
Raven expected certain titles to jump out at her, as they always did in bookstores, perhaps from an author she favoured over others or else one she'd never seen before ever. What she did not expect to jump out at her was a piece of paper, falling from above and gently landing on the cover page of the novel she'd just opened.
She stared at it, frowning, hardly startled by the harmless paper and more curious than anything else, before shifting the book to rest on one arm and using her other hand to open the note. Her frowned deepened upon reading the words, and she looked up and around her in a single moment of surprise.
She remembered Kyd Wykkyd well, even having only fought against him a few times in her career as a Titan, and the memories were not exactly sweet ones. She preferred his silence over say, Dr. Light's non-silence, and she preferred his version of crime over, say, Slade's. But he was still a villain, requesting a meet-up with her, and that left the uncomfortable question of why....
It took all of fifteen seconds for Raven to decide and disappear from sight in a fold of fabric, reappearing a few feet away, in the back room. Her raven form rose up from the ground, eyes glowing white in what she hoped might be an intimidating display to discourage any attack the villain may have lied about, and she hovered there until Raven was sure this wasn't, in fact, a trap. Then her wings folded back down and her human self manifested once more.
Blinking once, Raven sought Kyd's eyes and held them, holding out the note she still held to him.
"I'm here and I'm alone," she confirmed, knowing he could tell that much anyway. "So talk."
Fifteen seconds was a long time in a possibly volatile situation. In that amount of time she could hit a distress button on her communicator, or radio in about the meeting. There was no ambush coming, but Raven could definitely put the Teen Titans on alert for one. Wouldn't it be bad luck if something were to happen to her after they part ways, but the Teen Titans start hunting him down because she told them about the meeting? His luck couldn't be that bad.
Raven's form of teleportation was far more dramatic than his own. It was a very intimidating display, and Wykkyd thought for a second that the Titan might start swinging. His fingers twitched as a reaction, but he forced himself to stay still. This was about negotiations, not combat. He had just shown her that he knew were one of her haunts was, and could spy on her in it without her knowledge. She was justified in wanting to be cautious.
Red eyes locked with Raven's own for a moment before he gestured to his right and left. He was here alone, and there were no others here to cause her harm. A click of a pen broke his silence followed by the sounds of writing. When he was done he clicked the pen again and tore the piece of paper out of the pad. Wykkyd opened up his cape so she could watch his hands he pressed the note against the fabric. A small dark portal opened in front of the Titan with the note sliding through like a receipt from an automated teller.
Wanted to set the record straight with you. I am a thief. Nothing more. I regret my actions taken against you with the aid of Psimon. I was acting under duress at the time. Had seen too much of the operation, couldn't walk away. Working solo now.
Raven read the note through twice, a slight frown still creasing her forehead, and then she looked up at Kyd Wykkyd, meeting his scarlet eyes with slight confusion in hers. He'd called her here to apologize?
Since when did the villains make such formal apologies?
Taking a chance on a skill Raven hadn't practiced in at least a year, possibly two, she lifted her hands from beneath her cape, careful to keep the gesture non-threatening with open palms and no hint of her glowing magic about them. Sign language had been mentioned once or twice in one of the books she'd read a while ago, one of the earliest in her library, and it had sparked her interest just enough for her to look up basic translations. She wasn't quite as confident in this ability as she would've been if Kyd had been speaking say, German, but she was willing to give it a try while she had the chance. With a second of hesitation, she managed to sign something very similar to, "Are you apologizing to me?"
She waited another second, trying to remember the next interrogative, then added with both a sign and a whisper, "Why?"
Anxiety was a feeling Wykkyd didn't like at all. It made him feel twitchy as it kept poking his fight or flight response. Normally this would be a bad situation. Being in the same room as the scariest Teen Titan in plain sight was causing the back of his brain to tell him to run. This wasn't normal though. He had set this up, and for all appearances Raven was willing to take this chance. Odds were she felt uneasy about this situation as well. Nothing he could do about it other than see how things played out.
Never let them see you sweat. It was something the thief lived by. The more reactions others could see, the better they could get a read on you. As good as he was at being stoic, Raven's ability to sign had caught him off guard and made him genuinely surprised. It was a rare skill to encounter. She appeared rusty, but he got the message, and a bit more respect for her. Finding common ground was a good way to ease tensions.
Kyd Wykkyd grabbed his cape up high by his shoulder where he wouldn't have any space to suddenly flick it out and attack. He pulled one side back, and then the other, so that he was no longer hidden behind it at all. She was free to see that he had nothing hidden on him, and it'd be harder for him to make any covert movements with his hands. Knowing Raven could sign meant that she could probably read it. She seemed a bit out of practice though, so when he responded he kept gestures slow and clear so she'd have time to recognize things.
"To quote a certain Hobbit, 'I may be a burglar- but I am an honest one, I hope, more or less.'" They were in a bookstore, it seemed fitting to use a line from a well known book. "I own only two things: My skill, and my word. If I say I'm a burglar, then a burglar I am, and always will be. To make amends I can offer information."
She only tensed for a moment when he reached for his cape, keeping a hold of the belief she was giving him that he was being true to his word. Everything else he'd done thus far lined up, and she couldn't imagine why a villain would approach her in such a poor place to attack if he wasn't there to do as he said and keep things peaceful.
When she saw him signing back, a part of her inside smiled. She was right. By moving his cape, he'd been telling her, in the words of every magician ever, that there was nothing up his sleeves. She nodded a little, and then the inner smile was pulled full circle to touch her face, too, when she realized the first couple of things he said.
He was quoting The Hobbit.
Kyd may've been a villain, but he was a villain with impeccable taste in literature. And that earned him a bit more of her respect.
Cocking her head slightly and curiously to the side with the last thing Kyd Wykkyd signed, Raven wondered if maybe she'd read it wrong. He was offering her information to make amends for her kidnap? Was he truly moral enough, even on the wrong side, that he felt the need to even out his conscience like this?
Raising her hands once more to continue the conversation, Raven answered back, "What information are you offering, Wykkyd?"
Wykkyd wasn't super well-read, but he had gone though his fair share of books in his life. The easiest reason for it being books were easier to steal than cable. Another reason was it was easier to bring with him on a job. He could easily stash a small paperback someplace and leaf through it without it consuming too much of his attention. The reference seemed to have it's intended goal. Raven smiled, even if just a small one. How many villains could say they've done that? How many non-villains even?
"Whatever you want." he signed simply. Wykkyd was offering whatever Raven wanted to know... there'd be a limit to it though. Whenever he thought he had divulged enough he'd stop. There was one restriction though. "You can't tell the Titans. This is for you, not them." The burglar had no easy way of telling if she'd keep this end of the bargain. Depending on what she asked there may not be an easy way to tell.
So that was it. He was offering her a treasure, but there was a catch. There was always a catch.
Raven's eyes narrowed the slightest bit as she took this into consideration. Of course, her first thought upon hearing that he was offering up information was how she might be able to use it as a Titan. How might it contribute to the Titans' mainframe of intel? It could be used to take out multiple villains, make the City that much safer. Possibly even cave in the entire H.I.V.E?
But Raven had honour too.
Thus, when Kydd laid out the rules of the exchange, Raven bowed her head in a nod of agreement.
The thought of using this gift to bring about Kyd's own demise had left a bad taste in Raven's mouth as it was. Especially when there were better ways of taking a villain out of business.
While Raven was a heroine, and always would remain such, she was still aware of that villainous streak running through her personality, that side of herself that she fought and always would. She saw it reflected in countless others, most of them villains themselves, and because of that, she believed that no one, save for possibly Trigon himself, was inherently evil. Everyone had the capacity to use themselves for the greater good.
And Raven knew all too well that love, kindness, and friendship could be the deciding factors in changing a life.
So instead of arguing with Kyd, Raven instead leaned against the back wall of the room, folded her arms comfortably over her chest, and crossed one ankle over the other. Relaxed. Comfortable.
And then she spoke. "So.... Tell me where you grew up?" The sort of question one friend might ask another.
Raven took on a relaxed stance. That act alone made Wykkyd uneasy on a primal level. His higher functions were telling him she was displaying trust. That made sense with how things were going. Instincts told him that their relationship was that of predator and prey, the roles shifting depending on circumstance. He already regarded her as one higher on the food chain, and she was dropping her guard quite a bit. Therefore he wasn't being seen as worthy of a threat. That in and of itself could speak volumes.
One thing was for certain, Wykkyd didn't fully trust Raven. History had made him cynical. The vast majority of the people he had trusted in his life had screwed him over in some way. Most recently a former team leader of his turned traitor without telling anyone, then attacked him while he was carrying out her plan, and he wound up in a stasis-tube in police custody. Still, there was some honor among thieves, and he had made a deal with her.
Okay, so technically he was a burglar, but this is one of those situations were all burglars are thieves, but not all thieves are burglars. Burglary was breaking and entering with the intent to steal, and since most of his higher crimes involved breaking and entering, he counted himself as a burglar. Its just like how all bourbons are whiskey, but not all whiskies are bourbons. That's another tangent though.
Raven had asked a question he had been unprepared for. Wykkyd had figured she'd try to gain some tactical advantage like 'where are the locations of your old accomplices' or 'what are the limits to your powers' but where he grew up? That was a part of his life he had long since cast aside. It had given him up, so he had given it up in return. After a moment he raised a hand to sign his answer to her.
"Traveling circus. Don't know where it is now, don't care."
The irony of coming from a travelling circus seemingly being a theme among those she encountered wasn't lost on Raven. She blinked to hide her amusement, and considered Kyd. He'd promised her a question and she'd asked it. It wasn't a very satisfying answer, honestly, but the fact that he'd made sure to mention that he did not care made Raven pause on pursuing that particular subject.
She was still curious about other things. And Kyd hadn't specified when his gift of information would end. So she chanced another question, hoping he'd answer her again.
This time, Raven studied Kyd a little more intently, reaching out mentally to see if she could gauge his emotions. She took a few seconds to figure out the words she wanted to use, keeping them vague enough that he could still answer however he wanted to interpret the question, if he chose to answer at all. Still quietly, a curious whisper, Raven asked, "What happened to you?"
Raven's next question made Kyd Wykkyd tense up. It wouldn't be fair to say he hadn't expected this question, but it was one he would have liked to be untouched. If this were any other situation he might answer sarcastically along the line of 'I cut myself shaving'. He spent a small moment fighting back the anger and hatred that he felt, the kind of anger and hatred that are born from pain and suffering. Outwardly his eyes just close for a couple of seconds and his chest fell as he let out a long low breath.
"The H.I.V.E. happened." He started. Wykkyd knew that wouldn't be a satisfying answer, and Raven might be the only other around that might understand what had happened to him. "They made villains, anyway they could. Aptitude and medical tests helped them place you. I was a pickpocket, and they found I had a little demon in me from a long forgotten ancestor. So they made me into this." He pulled off his cowl exposing his sharp features and inhumanly pointed ears. His red eyes definitely weren't part of a mask if there was any doubt before. "Made me a monster."
He paused his signing to let the information sink in for a moment. The bitterness he felt was also hard to keep buried. "They told me I was being put under for dental work. Not this."
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Alviss: Darn doesn't show the pic
Apr 18, 2019 7:10:17 GMT -6
force: miss this place. if anyone comes back and sees this, i'm force, i was kid flash here once. you can find me on discord at rook#9485
Jan 12, 2023 13:11:35 GMT -6
The roleplay takes place after the series end of the original Teen Titans animated show, but does not include the movie Trouble in Tokyo. Since then Robin has been on something of a recruiting spree, and many new young heroes have found themselves a home in Jump City as well as Titan Tower.
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