Cooling Off [Open] [R for profanity]

[ravaged-rose.livejournal.com]

She's wandered through a few others' creations by now so at this point Rose is ready to try something of her own in the Sensoriums. She goes for the familiar, albeit with a few tweaks. She'd always thought the Titan's Tower would have been better without that pesky roof over the top-floor pool.

It's nighttime because that's what makes the most sense. The idea of her former teammates wandering the place as AI's is creepy, but the Tower dead-quiet in daytime is even creepier and makes her feel twice as alone.

There's a bottle of rum (take that Tim!) and her pack of cigs on the pool edge, the San Francisco skyline lit up across the bay, just enough breeze, and a clear dark sky with a smattering of stars that seem close enough to touch.

She's also naked, because what's a pool all to yourself if you have to be dressed?

Rose dives down and just lays still at the bottom for a few moments, looking up at the starry sky distorted through the water for as long as she can before she needs to surface for air. She's missed swimming more than she thought.

Comments

[foursleeves.livejournal.com]

Something black and viscous ziplines down through the tower's convertible roof.

"And now! For tonight's entertainment!" Apparently it's a person too, "He's outrageous, contagious and laugh out loud funny! That's right folks, and he'll be here all week!"

When he realises it's vacant, or at least surmises that it is, he rubs the back of his neck, "Aw shucks, I always get the ghost shifts."

[ravaged-rose.livejournal.com]

Rose pops up to the surface of the water, slicking her wet hair back from her face with both hands and taking in a deep breath. It takes her about three seconds to them notice her guest hanging from the ceiling.

"Gah! Shit, I didn't even see you up there!"

She tilts her head at him then, a faint smile on her face.

"You coming in or something?"

[foursleeves.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, Peter certainly wasn't expecting an extremely naked, extremely intimidating woman to emerge from the pool. He hurriedly covers his eyes with his free hand.

"Excuse me, lady," Pete, when shielding your gaze there aren't supposed to be gaps between the fingers, "I didn't realize this was, uh, occupied."

[ravaged-rose.livejournal.com]

Rose smirks. Aww, trying to pretend he's not peeking. That's cute. She turns and floats partly on her back to look up at him.

"Well yeah it's occupied but I learned to share in junior kindergarten."

[foursleeves.livejournal.com]

His fingers snap shut at the sign of movement. He's not looking he's not looking oh dead God he's not looking.

"Is that where you picked up your concept of modesty, too?"

[ravaged-rose.livejournal.com]

She rolls her eyes and let's herself sink into the water again, paddling to the edge of the pool and hooking her arms over the side.

"I was here first, sweetie. You don't have to stay if you don't like the dress code."

She reaches for her rum and takes a quick drink from the bottle.

[foursleeves.livejournal.com]

He drops from his webline and crouches poolside.

"I'm just saying that if we happened to get ambushed by space gribblies, that'd be a pretty unfortunate state to be caught in."

[ravaged-rose.livejournal.com]

She raises a brow at him.

"Space gribblies? What are those?"

If they're something she can kill barehanded she won't worry about it.

[foursleeves.livejournal.com]

"Y' ever see Alien?" he'd gesticulate to the surroundings if they looked more like the usual green and pulsing and not like the inside of Don Henley's brain, "For all we know this could be the freaking mothership."

[thexanwhosees.livejournal.com]

Xander was going to do some training when he stepped in. They briefly stopped in San Francisco before heading overseas. Just to get away from Sunnydale as far as possible, and Buffy was dealing with major mocha jonesing.

He paused to glance at the skyline with his eye and his own limited eyesight kept him from noticing the very naked woman in the pool.

...Wait a second.


"Whoa, hi, uh nice boobs... view! Nice view!" Yeah he's just going to turn around now.

Any time now.

[ravaged-rose.livejournal.com]

Rose just LAUGHS at him, loudly, swimming over closer to the edge of the pool that he's standing by and grinning because that frantic stammer is the funniest thing she's heard since she got here (short of that story Leela told her about the time she drank Cyclops under the table).

"Thanks, I made them both myself." She hooks her arms up on the edge of the pool and leans a little. Less outright exposure, WAY more cleavage.

"You coming swimming too?"

[thexanwhosees.livejournal.com]

Yay cleavage! Cleavage is of the good.

He just hoped she wasn't secretly a demon since he's had mixed luck with that.

"I am coming... Uh swimming. Yeah, uh you know I was once on my school's swim team?" Not that it was that hard to sign on by the time they lost a few players to a case of turning Black Lagoony.

He started to turn, but then well a touch of suave Xander showed up. At least enough to do a little show with the stripping.

Thank you the Fabulous Ladies Nights in Oxnard.

[ravaged-rose.livejournal.com]

A demon? Rose? Well, not in the supernatural sense...

"Swim team? Sounds charming." Swim team? Seriously?

Rose is a little thrown if she's honest. He looks like the normalest dude that ever normalled and he can barely look her in the eye just because she's not dressed... but he's HERE which means he's probably got something crazy under his belt. Everyone she's encountered seems to have history even if they don't have powers.

And, well, his body language isn't adjusted. He still moves like he's not quite used to having only one eye. (It took her months to really compensate properly so it's not like she can hold it against him or something.)

She pushes off the wall and strokes back into the water a few feet, waiting on him to climb in, smiling just a little at the flare which which he tosses his shirt aside.

"Before we end up naked together maybe I should know your name?"

[thexanwhosees.livejournal.com]

And he's had his injury for no more than a year. Xander had started some therapy to compensate for the lack of depth perception but that didn't get very before the town was well... sucked into the giant crater that was the Hellmouth.

He was currently trying to be cool and shimmy out of his pants, but then paused in mid-hip shake.

"Me? Oh, I'm Xander, how's it going?" He waddled closer to shake her hand, and then his pants slid to his ankles at once.

"..."
He totally meant to do it just like that.

Really.

[ravaged-rose.livejournal.com]

She swims up to shake his hand, and probably gives him an eyeful in the process, so she can't do anything but just laugh when his pants drop around his feet.

"I'm Ravager. It's... going better for me than you I think."

[thexanwhosees.livejournal.com]

Xander's hands immediately went down to cover the uh 'not so little guy', and he sheepishly grinned.

"Yeah usually does, uh so excuse me while I pick my dignity. Oh look there it is." He then carefully got into the pool, and will deny any shrinkage.

[ravaged-rose.livejournal.com]

Rose let him climb in with a minimum of any more giggling, and gave them both a minute to settle before bringing out the first of a few questions pinging in her brain.

"You seem way too normal for this boat." she said simply. "Probably means you're far from it, huh?"

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Heeey, the Tower! Who's in here?" Kon says, when he peek in. With the pool! He likes the pool. He's kinda a water-loving kinda guy, generally (when there are no Shark-men in it).

Then Rose surfaces.

"Holy crap, it's the crazy girl--annnd you're naked."

Superboy clasps his hand over his face.

[ravaged-rose.livejournal.com]

She glowers at him without hesitation.

"Hi to you to."

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Uh, just for reference, you're not gonna fight me, right? So I can cover my eyes?"

[ravaged-rose.livejournal.com]

"Why the hell would I do that?" She swims up to the side of the pool and presses against it. Maybe if she's a little more modest he'll meet her eyes.

"If I was here for a fight I wouldn't have waited for you to ask so nicely before I started beating you up."

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Hey, I'm just checking! Last I ran into you, you were ax-crazy and hanging with your psycho of a dad."

Still covering his eyes.

[ravaged-rose.livejournal.com]

She sighs. So THAT'S what it is.

"Dad and I aren't on speaking terms right now." She assures him, though her tone is flat and pushing toward something like anger.

"You can uncover your eyes idiot, you can't see below my shoulders right now."

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

Kon peeks.

Okay, no boobies.

He plops on one of the chairs around the pool.

"Please, uh, remain there with the naked under the water, 'cause otherwise my girlfriend'll pound on me." Which is always a turn-on, kinda, because she's just so ~strong~ but it still hurts.

[ravaged-rose.livejournal.com]

Rose raised a curious eyebrow. This she sort of wanted to hear about.

"Oh, so Wonder Bitch found you then? I'm sure that was a happy reunion."

It had been impossible to miss the mutterings about Kon finding out he was doomed to die, and just as impossible for Rose to avoid feeling just the tiniest bit bad for Cassie to be jerked through such a rollercoaster. Oh your boyfriend's dead. Oh wait he's not! Oh no, but he'll be dead anyway eventually. Sorry.

Not enough for her to drop the 'bitch' nickname though. Still too much animosity for the Cassie she knew and too little time with the Cassie that had been.