Raven

Chapter 7 - Powder

I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised when Harley was assigned to be my mentor, but I was anyway.

This mostly led to being allowed to sleep in as long as I needed (to a reasonable extent), but suffering on the other end because of the training at odd hours of the night. As a result, over the course of the first five days my sleeping schedule got increasingly messed up. When I did have free time, I began to work on a costume, planning exactly what I would need to steal from my house and what would come from other places.

Kira got in on it too, with the phrase, "If it has to do with how you look in the field, it's my business." She helped me plan the intricacies, and we eventually came up with: a black leotard and boots with a kitten heel over dark tights, a black bolero jacket, gloves and a silver chain belt which I could attach my quill pouch to. It would also have room for a gun holster if I ever found a fondness for pistols. Plaited hair, and a dark winged mask would complete the look.

"You're lucky." She said on the second day of me being a Commander, looking up from the potions and powders she was concocting at the large desk. We were talking in the room that she and Ella shared, the latter being outside training with the boys. I was seated cross-legged on Kira's bed, watching as she fiddled with various test tubes and plants. There was a faint smell of rosemary in the air, which despite feeling out of place was soothing. "Black is a good colour, anyone can pull it off."

"It's a shade, actually."

"Meh. The specifics aren't my thing, I just know I like green and purple. And science, but that doesn't count in this situation."

"Science is cool," I agreed. "May I ask that of those concoctions?"

"What, their chemical compositions? Or what goes into them?"

"Moreso the latter, yeah."

"Well, a lot of the powders are my poison plants that have been dried and crushed. I mix them with glitter for effect; different colours of glitter have different active plants." The last sentence was spoken with a delighted smile, and I couldn't help but laugh. That was ... really predictable, now that I thought about it. But to be so young and know so much about plants was amazing, and I found my respect for Kira growing.

Kira opened a drawer, and pulled out a clear plastic storage container. "Ta-da." She opened it, showing me about twelve different colours of glitter separated within, organised in rainbow order. Black and white had their own compartments at the end.

"Pink for oleander?" I guessed, remembering the flowers from the other day.

"Noope, I don't do oleander powder. I save them for my potions." She held up a beaker of pink-tinted liquid, with a few flowers soaking at the bottom. "This brew has a couple of days left, since I want something really potent. The pink powder is actually just a mix of sandalwood scent, rose petals and grevillea pollen."

"Infatuation?"

"Yeah, or just really bad hayfever." She laughed, pushing a bit of auburn hair out of her eyes as she worked. Another feature the Chase siblings shared, I'd noticed, was a fine dusting of freckles everywhere. "It's fairly strong; doesn't affect me, thankfully, though I wish it worked on my brother sometimes."

"Ah. You both have an immunity, then?" I asked, curious.

"Yup. Always have, hopefully always will. Mum thought it might be a genetic thing, when we were younger." Another laugh, as Kira measured a careful spoon of glitter. "I used to call it my hidden superpower, and told all of my friends. Convinced myself for a long time that everyone had one, and I got lucky. Then I grew up, realised that those sort of traits are really rare, and kind of shut up about it."

"No offense, but aren't you like, twelve?"

"Eleven and three quarters. But a lot's happened in as many years." It occurred to me then that taking on a healer's role in a group of young criminals at such a young age was going to make things really hard on Kira as she grew up, and I felt a pang of guilt. I silently promised, as I watched my new teammate carefully scoop green glitter into a leaf-coloured pouch, that I would do my best to get myself out of trouble and make the workload a little less on her. I was about to say something about it when there came a knock at the door.

Without turning around, Kira responded flatly: "What is it, Wills?" The tall boy looked taken aback, and then briefly like he was going to ask how the hell she knew it had been him, when Kira spoke again. "You and Estella are the only ones who knock, and she's sitting next to me."

"That's fair. Anyway, got a mission for you, Joel and I. Interested?" Kira pulled a face, finally facing the leader.

"Do I have to?"

"Yes. You can pick up plants on our way, if that adds incentive."

"Sold. I need to get new gloves, too, so I might end up finding a pair I like for you." That last part was directed at me and I perked up, delighted. "I wouldn't get too excited, Wyong isn't really into fashion as much as they should be." She rolled her eyes. "Now bugger off both of you, I gotta change."

"Meet us at the slope in ten, we'll leave as soon as we can since it's starting to get late." Wills nodded first to Kira and then me, and left the room. I followed, but turned in toward my room to relax for a little while.

To my surprise, I found an acrobat on my bed, flipping one of my quills in the air and catching it hilt-first every time.

Fuck this guy, I can't even do that with them.

"What the- hey, give me that!" I launched myself forward, pretty much ready to tackle my friend to get back one of my most prized possessions. If this had something to do with a training exercise, I was going to deck him ... and I was pretty sure Harley knew that.

"I will if you can catch me, Tweety." With that final line and the familiar shit-eating grin, Harley tumbled off the end of my bed and jumped out the open window. I saw the branches outside swinging wildly, and stood there for a moment as my shock gave way to irritation, and briefly amusement as I imagined what would have happened if the window was closed. Then I went back to being cross.

Coglione. I huffed, pulled a hand through my hair, and strapped my pouch to my belt. There is no way he's keeping that. Denied. Negato. No way. With new resolve, I left my room and went to face Harley.

I was going to get my quills back, no matter what.