3674/The Forgotten Titan

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The Forgotten Titan
Date of Scene: 04 October 2020
Location: Women's Dorms - Titan's Tower
Synopsis: Realizing Raven has been in hiding again, Gar seeks her out and finds more confirmation that the missing Titans will be back.
Cast of Characters: Gar Logan, Rachel Roth




Gar Logan has posed:
How long was it now, weeks? Yes, weeks since the four disappeared in space. Weeks since they were feared dead. Weeks since some hope was clung to that they did not die, but were 'just' lost somewhere. Out there. The far reaches of space and time.

It wasn't very reassuring, but it was something. There was so much out there nobody had even discovered yet. If they /were/ alive, finding them would still be a challenge to put it lightly.

Today was Gar's birthday, his nineteenth. Usually it'd be a celebratory day, full of gifts and cake and partying. This time around, the mood wasn't there. A few people, perhaps, saw him for some well-wishing and a gift given, but he'd already decided a typical party just wouldn't be the same without Vic, Donna, Cait, or Terry. It wouldn't be right. Maybe once they were all back.

This left Gar thinking, realizing that there was one Titan they hadn't heard much from since the disappearance. It was common for her to keep to herself, but suddenly he checked the calendar and saw how long it had really been. And, he knew she was close with Donna, knew she was probably going through some of the same things he was, even if he doubted he could ever truly understand what it was like to be her.

Besides, he'd reached out to her before, when it could have got him killed. It didn't matter. He had to let her know she had his support as a teammate and a friend. That hadn't changed.

All this leads to Gar knocking on her door. "Raven? It's me. If you're in there, can we talk? Please?"

Rachel Roth has posed:
    It's been three weeks. Three weeks since the disappearance. In all honesty, if Gar had tried to reach out to her about a week ago or so, Raven wouldn't have been here. She had been... Searching. That is probably the best term for it. Only recently had she come back from... Elsewhere.

    Her room, however, was occupied- and had been for a few days. She had still, of course, not left it- at least, not into the tower proper. In those three weeks, Raven had not been seen, nor heard from. She's just been... Silent, in that eerily unacceptable way. She hadn't come down, to eat, to have coffee, to train... Or to help when the Titans were attacked. Of course, it was impossible for the others to know that she'd been gone, or where she'd even been.

    It was only natural that, eventually, someone would come knocking.

    Raven's door opens unceremoniously into a room that is as pristine as it is dark- Gar would have to be able to see in the nigh pitch-black that is the environment to see much beyond the area immediately in front of the doors onto the balcony, which is illuminated by moonlight entering through the glass.

    There, Raven stands, staring out and up into the sky at, seemingly, nothing. Hood up, her face is not visible from the side. Her hands, sheathed in her pockets.

    "What do you need?"

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan came dressed casually. Contrary to popular belief, the people who do these things don't go around in costume 24/7/365.

Prior to the door opening, Gar's active imagination ran through a variety of scenarios covering how Raven could respond. 'Go away' was out in front, and mixed in there somewhere was 'Go away' followed by /forcing/ him to do so. She had her ways.

Letting him stand around without an answer could have fit, whether that meant she was actually there or not, but when the door swings open slowly and she isn't right there, he squints around at first, then hesitates upon entering before taking a couple steps to clear himself of the door. Rather than do anything to alter his eyesight, he just waits for them to adjust to the darker conditions.

"I wanted to check on you. I should have come by sooner, but after we got attacked.." Voice trails off for a spell and he exhales. "I completely understand if you don't want to talk, but I thought you should know I was thinking about you. I'm a good listener, and I'm not giving up hope."

Rachel Roth has posed:
    Raven's attention turned from the stars to let her gaze linger, unblinking, on Gar. There was this unnatural aura to her. Something that could be felt, could be identified, like when you can feel eyes on the back of your head. Unsettling. More than normal. By powers, frankly, more than normal.

    To contextualize, Raven has an otherworldly presence to her, most of the time- but frankly, much of that is hype. Cultivated, reputation-based, unnerving presence that is mostly about -who- she is and how she -acts- rather than -what- she is.

    Right now, all of that is gone. There is an existential dread that settles in, and it would be worse if Gar had mystic sight of any kind, that is somewhat primal. More than ever before, looking at her now, Raven is not human.

    "I do not need to talk. Before, I needed to search. Now, I need to wait. She doesn't know how much it gnaws, to stay like this, but if she's right, it won't be too much longer, and I won't need to do anything."

Gar Logan has posed:
There's still a lot about Raven that Gar doesn't understand. In good times and bad, he's often played the fool. They've suffered losses before, but this was the first time he'd lost someone he had a deeper connection with that went beyond just being a friend and teammate since..another life, really. This time, he was in a relationship, one that had just been outed to the world.

Those first few days were hell on earth. He was a shell of himself, but a couple things gave him hope and helped him claw his way back to being functional for the time being. Then...well, it would come up here soon enough.

First, Raven. There has been an understanding that she keeps herself the way she wants others to see her, and although he's poked and prodded at her about it from time to time in a good-natured way, just to get her to try to loosen up a little, he realized when he was at a line that shouldn't be crossed. Sometimes that happened after he crossed it and annoyed her.

Here and now, he chews at his bottom lip at the way she comes off. That presence isn't there. It's just her, whatever that truly means. "You found something?" he asks, a lift to his eyebrows. "Because I did too, but if...I mean, this is good news, right?"

Rachel Roth has posed:
    Raven does not blink. Her eyes cannot, or will not, close for even that fraction of a second. This proves to be the spookiest thing, in a way, because Gar blinks. Gar is, ostensibly, human (after a fashion) and isn't looking to get into that staring contest.

    Instead, when he blinks, Raven has moved- gone from the position at the window and now standing just inside her doorway- a silhouette amongst the black, pointed by two purple lights of her eyes.

    "It is good news, in a way." She doesn't seem to be keen to mince words. "They live, if you did not know. They are outside the bounds of this reality. I have made the preparations I need to do what must be done, but I was asked- begged- not to do anything yet. So I am waiting."

Gar Logan has posed:
Getting into staring contests with Raven has always been a losing proposition, so Gar stopped doing that some time in the past. It's because of stuff like this. One moment, at the window. Then, next to the door, much closer to him, and just those eyes standing out.

Try as he might, Gar can't hide the sudden intake of breath that causes. Doesn't matter how many times she's done that, whether it's the first or the fiftieth. Spooky is spooky. "Raven..!" he hisses through that held breath, letting it out in the process as he composes himself following the startled reaction.

He also takes a couple steps back, putting him further into the room. "I figured they were alive when neither of Terry's closest family, uh, suddenly became catty. Yeah, that would have been a thing." He clears his throat, hand running through his hair quickly. "What do you mean they're..not even in this reality? How does that even happen? And you can get them but they don't want you to?" His hands hang at his sides, palms up. This, he does not understand.

Rachel Roth has posed:
    "When I thought they could be dead," she begins, unmoving- and for all Gar knows, unfeeling. Her voice impassive. Neutral. Cold and dead, in a way that is more like her than normal. "My first thought was what could be done about it. To that end, I went and checked."

    She doesn't let him dwell on that statement for long, before continuing. It probably deserves a lot more thought, later, but now might just not be the time.

    "There were a lot of laws broken. Some people are unhappy about it. I did not find them there, so I began to search outside of what Is. Searching through what Isn't is a difficult thing. As difficult to do as it is for you to comprehend. Maybe moreso."

    Okay, well, maybe she's not all -that- far gone if she's still got it in her to insult his intelligence. It's not as playful without the tiny little seasoning of actual emotion. Like a facsimile rather than the real thing poking through.

    "When I found them, in a place that shouldn't be, and won't be for long, I began doing what was required to get them. When I met with her, Donna was concerned it would tip the scales, but she was a dream at the time."

    Much of this is very esoteric, and frankly, if you ask anyone, Gar isn't supposed to really Get It as much as he is supposed to take it on good authority that nobody is dead.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan comes to rub at one of his elbows, just holding it afterward with the other hand. As if he needed any reminders about just how different the two of them were, she drives it home with emphasis, whether intended or not.

Then, he confirms the gulf between the things they can do. She might not understand what it's like to be one's own personal menagerie, but just the same, he hasn't really got the first clue about everything Raven is truly capable of, the places she can go. "Yeah, I..don't really follow that at all, so I'll just go with 'they're alive.' The insult washes off him as if he had an actual duck's back at the moment. "But that sounds like some really trippy stuff. I, uh, had a dream with Terry in it too. It felt like it was him, but I don't think it was real. It reminded me what I had to go find out, though. I don't know what Donna could be talking about with all of this."

He's lost, but that bit of hope can still grow.

Rachel Roth has posed:
    Raven is an enigmatic entity at best. What she can and can't do, the limitations of her abilities, are somewhat malleable. This is something that Donna knows- the older Titans too, for sure. Because it all revolves around how much of her demonic heritage she is tapping into. The more she uses, the more powerful she is- to the point that Raven can almost seem akin to a demigod... But if she delves too deeply, she risks never coming back. Never tipping the scales to a point where she isn't just an extension of Trigon- and worse, bringing him into this reality in doing so.

    It's why Donna was so... Grievously worried. Doing what she's doing risks losing herself, destroying the universe, and condemning its people to death and destruction. That she's willing to, speaks a lot. This, of course, isn't very well documented. Terry, Cait, they aren't really aware. Only Donna really knows.

    Garfield isn't supposed to. You don't have to understand to hold onto hope. He's not here to break it down for everyone- Raven is sharing what she has with him to disseminate that hopefulness to the others.

    "Now you know. You can inform the others. They are alive. They will be back home, eventually. One way or another."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan has a habit of holding enough optimism for not only himself, but others on the team as well. Maybe, that includes Raven. She hasn't banished him to some other dimension yet, so it must be fine.

He rocks on the balls of his feet for a few seconds, just studying what he sees in her right now as he clasps his hands in back of him. "Look, ahh..I don't want to lose you too over this, because of you straining yourself too much and stuff, but I believe you."

He stares down at the floor, whether he can even see that far in the room right now or not, adding, "And I want to thank you, too. This has been really hard, but I know you wouldn't lie about this especially because Donna's a part of it, too. You might not see it this way, but you just gave me one of the better birthday presents I could have asked for. I just hope it's sooner instead of later. So..thanks."

Whether she likes it or not, he moves to give her a brief hug. "There's some cake in the kitchen, too. I'll make sure to leave a couple slices for you." Everyone likes cake, right?

That's his cue to get out and leave her be.