The Trouble with Blending In

[Tara "Terra" Markov]

((Open to Violet and Terra? I'll leave it up to Violet if he wants anybody else popping in. ^^; January 19th))

She saw him. Him. Who was him? Tim. Him rhymed with Tim. Terra knew she saw Tim in Gotham. She wasn't sure if he saw her, but she wasn't taking any chances. Today, she crossed the river into the Big Apple. Terra was quick to decide she wanted to go to Central Park. Why would anyone she knew come here? Terra didn't think of any legitimate reasons. With a sigh, she plopped herself down on a bench.

Why was normal so hard? It seemed so much easier to be a hero or a villain. At least she wouldn't have to hide so much. She propped her elbow on an arm of the bench, thus in turn resting her face within her palm. "Why is normal so... Abnormal?" the blonde muttered, crossing one leg over the other. Her blue eyes stared out into the distance. "If it weren't for that all those accidents I..." The teen cut herself off. She was in public. She shouldn't complain about her powers for all to hear. If she did that, she might as well hold a sign that said she was Terra.

Not the best of ideas when you want to keep your identity secret.

[Violet Parr]

It was the mention of normality and abnormality that caught Violet's attention.

Usually, the dark-haired girl didn't make a habit of starting conversations with strangers. Violet had just come to the park as an excuse to get away from her hectic home life for a few hours, rather than for any other reason. Central Park had become a familiar haunt for her recently, ever since Tony and his family had moved out of the city, and she would come here simply to snatch some time alone. Besides, under that tree over there had been where she and Tony had shared their first kiss... the memory was bittersweet now, but she still liked returning to the spot.

The blonde's words, muttered though they had been, had drawn Violet's attention due to the familiarity of the feeling they expressed. Her own family had zero experience when it came to true normality; it sounded as though this girl might be facing similar problems. Another undercover super girl, perhaps? Vi wouldn't deny that making a friend of someone who could understand how that felt was an appealing concept. Doing her best to appear casual, she made her way nearer.

"Normality can be a hard concept to grasp," she stated, an unasked for reply to the other girl's words as she sat, resting on the bench's other arm. If anyone knew about that, Vi figured it was her family. Even if this girl wasn't another super, maybe she could still lend a little advice as far as that issue was concerned. Hopefully the blonde wouldn't mind the intrusion too much.

[Tara "Terra" Markov]

At the sound of a voice, Terra instantly straightened up in her seat. She wasn't expecting anyone to answer. She looked over towards the other teen when she sat beside her. Confidence, Terr- Tara. All you need to do is look confident, she thought to herself silently. She nodded her head slowly. "Yeah, you're right," Terra mused, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear. "I mean, over here in New York, it feels like being a bit different is appreciated while in Gotham, you get locked up. You get locked up with crazy people or criminals. At least, that's what it seems like. It's not looking too pretty in Gotham anymore. You need to be as normal as you possibly can over there. Is New York a little more accepting?"

Terra cleared her throat before continuing. "The name's Tara. What about you?" This girl seemed different. Maybe she was hiding something much like Terra was. The thought occurred in her mind, although she dismissed it. She wasn't going to flat-out ask 'Hey, are you hiding anything?' That would only end well. Terra would just wonder without an answer.

After all, who could just casually talk about how difficult being normal is? People who were trying to act normal. Terra herself brought up the topic multiple times before. She hated it, but she still brought it up when she met people.

[Violet Parr]

Was New York more accepting? Vi wasn't sure. She hadn't visited Gotham, the city across the river, except for on a brief school trip a year or two ago now, so she didn't really know enough to compare. If New York was all that accepting, however, why had her family have needed to put so much effort into pretending to be normal for fifteen years? "Maybe a bit more? They still don't like anyone too out of the ordinary, though they've got a bit more accepting since the supers came back into favour," she settled on as her response. The latter had been thanks in no small part to her family, but there as no way she was going to mention that.

"I'm Violet," she replied. There definately was something about this blonde girl, she decided. Whether she was another super or not, the ebony-haired teen had a feeling Tara, like her, was more than she appeared. Of course, she didn't plan to be the one who asked about it, though. For now, she could just keep up the small talk; Tara seemed pleasant enough company, at least.

[Tara "Terra" Markov]

The younger blonde offered a shrug. "Maybe it just feels like it's more accepting because it's brighter than over east," Tara said. "I went to a city where abnormal was being just fine. Didn't stay there for too long, though. I was always moving when I was younger. But hey, I guess that's just how life goes. You go from one place to the next." What she said was essentially true. She was always moving around when she was a bit younger. She couldn't stay in one place for too long, otherwise her powers would get out of hand and cause more harm than good. Jump City wasn't degrading towards those with special abilities. It was a shame that Tara gave up the hero pathway, otherwise there was a good chance she could still be living there without hiding.

Then again, she didn't want to become a monster yet again. Lies, deception, corruption, guilt. The emotions overwhelmed Tara when she tried to be a good person. She was better off as your average teenage girl. It was easier to lie about who she was now instead of becoming a criminal again.

"Violet? That's a cool name." Her words were genuine, her voice soft when she spoke. Tara figured that she could talk to this girl a bit more. She didn't seem like an awful person, and that was enough reason for Tara to keep talking. "So, Violet, you seem like you know this place much better than I do. Anything else you can tell a visitor when it comes to the city that doesn't sleep?"

[Violet Parr]

"Could be," Violet shrugged too. It made sense, that simply being brighter made New York feel more welcoming than it's neighbour across the river. She listened as Tara mentioned a city where the abnormal was accepted, and how she'd always been on the move. "My family moved around a lot when I was younger too," she replied. Thanks to dad's pining for the old days, his continual attempts at playing his old hero role, they had been continually uprooted, relocated from one town to another to another every time. For a while, she'd been mad about it, but had gradually come to accept it as just another frustrating fact of life. "Too bad we never found that city, we'd have fitted right in." There was a irony to her tone; as the girl who had always wished to be normal, a city that would have encouraged her family's abnormality would have been far from the top of her priority list of places to visit.

"Thanks," she tucked a strand of her dark hair behind one ear as she accepted the compliment.

"Well, there's the basics; it's crowded, bright, noisy... often trashed by supers getting into massive fights..." she gave a slight roll of her eyes. Seemed the age of the supers really was back with a vengeance, and it still felt a bit odd to her, after having had to hide her powers all her life. She wasn't really sure what more to add about the city; though her family had lived here for almost three years now, Vi still didn't really consider herself an expert. "Was there anything specific you wanted to know?"

[Tara "Terra" Markov]

Coincidentally enough, Violet was often on the move like Tara was when she was younger. Tara took a mental note of that. Maybe they moved around so much for the same reasons. The thought did cross Tara's mind, though she didn't make any attempts to mention it. The past was the past. She should move on instead of pester the raven-haired girl about why she would move around a lot. There could be several reasons. Normal reasons. Reasons Tara didn't have to snoop through.

"You're welcome," she replied when her compliment was accepted. Tara had heard quite a few interesting names in her travels. Slade, Raven, Garfield. To her, Violet was another fascinating name to add to the list.

She listened to Violet talk about the city. Crowded, bright, noisy, and getting trashed by massive fights. The last one sparked a memory. She remembered thrashing Jump City the last time she answered to the name Terra. That was the last city she demolished. The rest were accidents. A voice in her head told her to move on, so she didn't say anything on the matter. She decided to answer the older girl's question. "Anything specific? I guess I'm wondering if you met any supers personally around here. I imagine it's not so easy to run into supers and recognize them in Gotham." Tara managed to know two; herself and Tim. The latter didn't count since he didn't actually have a superpower.

[Violet Parr]

Violet had to stifle a snort of amusement at that. Did she know any supers personally? Only her whole family, herself included. But of course, she couldn't come straight out and say that. After all, what was the point of having a secret identity if you went shouting out who you were everywhere?

Then again, a family group of five superheroes who all happened to have exactly the same ages, builds and hairstyles as the Parr family? Vi couldn't help but wonder why no-one seemed to be able to draw, what looked to her, a very obvious connection. But if no-one else was going to figure it out, then it wasn't her place to blow her family's cover. "Well, the one time that really stands out was when the family of Incredibles stopped an omnidroid from rampaging through the city. That one was pretty intense." Against her better judgement, Vi still felt inclined to tell Tara her secret. Maybe it was just the vibe the other girl gave off, that suggested to Violet that she might be talking to another undercover super. But was it worth risking?

"So, I guess you don't have much experience with supers, then?" she asked casually. Hoping, as she did, that maybe the other girl would let something slip, give her at least some clue whether she was dealing with a fellow super teenager like herself.

[Tara "Terra" Markov]

"Oh yeah, I heard about that when I was wandering around a couple years back," Tara said in response to the omnidroid battle. Tara had heard about quite a few battles in her travels. She'd been in a handful here and there, but that was then. Now, she didn't get into fights unless they were verbal. She could get a bit mouthy if she was provoked. Like if she thought someone was lying, or when someone would ask about her life, or when she was accused of doing something regardless of if she really did it or not. She got rather snappy then. Otherwise, she only heard about fights and battles.

The question Violet asked surprised Tara a bit. Inexperienced with supers? "Actually, I've met quite a few. Back in the day, I met a group of superheroes who let me hang out with them for a while. They were pretty cool, but..." Tara trailed off. But what? She betrayed them? She was a confused girl who had no clue what she was doing? She tried to kill them at one point? She gave up on working with them? She thought about how to end her sentence before settling on an answer. "But we drifted apart since I was always on the move and whatnot."

It was partially a lie, partially the truth. They didn't drift apart because she was on the move. They drifted apart because she left them for good. She left because she couldn't handle being a hero. She left because she didn't want to become the bad guy. She just wanted to be her.

[Violet Parr]

"You knew them well? Like, their secret identities and everything?" Now that was interesting, if that was the case. It was very rare for supers to share who they were outside of their superhero life with anyone but other supers. Or occasionally, romantic partners, although she and Tony had never got to that stage. If Tara had known them that well, it all-but confirmed that either she was an undercover super herself, or that she had at least been close enough to a few of them that she could probably be trusted to keep a secret.

"I've sometimes wondered what it must be like for someone normal to know a super personally," she mused. "Unless..." come on, Violet, just go ahead and ask, what's the worst that can happen? "Were you actually one of them? Like, a super as well?"

[Tara "Terra" Markov]

Did Tara really know them well? She knew Beast Boy the best. Everyone else she knew fairly well, but not as well as him. Then again, everyone in that city had to know about the Teen Titans. "Most of them couldn't hide their identities. Two of them have exotic skin colors, which made them a dead give-away when it came to their identities. Another got into a pretty bad accident. He's half robot now. He can't hide his mechanical parts, so everyone knows who he is. One girl just went by her name. The leader trusted us enough to give us his name. They never got to know mine. They never asked."

She never gave them her real name. To them, she was just Terra, the girl who couldn't control her powers. The girl who betrayed them. The girl who redeemed herself in her final hour. The girl who was supposed to be dead. Tara felt a bit nauseous. Had she revealed too much? She usually kept a close eye on what she was saying, how much she should reveal, what to hold back, and make sure nobody used her because of her weaknesses. It was something she'd grown used to doing ever since she tried to be normal.

It took her a moment to register what Violet had said after asking if Tara knew any superheroes very well. "Was I one of them?" She repeated the question. How could she answer that question? She could lie and say no. That would be that, end of discussion. She could keep up the disguise of a normal girl. Then again, if she said yes, maybe she wouldn't feel so guilty. Lie after lie, the guilt was almost overwhelming. Blue eyes shot towards the ground, then back at Violet when she came up with an answer.

"I was, but things changed."

That was all Tara was willing to reveal. She didn't know this girl well enough to talk about why she wasn't with them anymore. She didn't want to talk about all the mistakes she made. In fact, she wasn't so sure if she should have said anything at all. If she kept her mouth shut, she wouldn't have to relive the moments that hurt the most.

But the more she thought about it, she was glad to finally tell someone the truth.

[Violet Parr]

"...woah." Vi's eyes had widened at the mention of the part-robot guy, even as she thought over the rest of Tara's words. The concept of a team of supers without secret identities was a strange one to her; how did they cope with the pressure of being super all the time? That sounded like a nightmare to Violet, not being able to step outside without everyone recognising you as a hero. But good for them if they could make it work, she guessed.

After a moment, the girl spoke again, confirming Violet's suspicions. The dark-haired girl nodded, not really surprised... very curious now, admittedly, but she decided not to press Tara further. It didn't sound as though the other girl was comfortable talking about whatever had happened to her, so instead, Vi returned her new friend's confession with one of her own. "You might have guessed by now, but I'm an undercover super too," she confided, providing Tara the chance to pursue that line and direct the conversation away from herself, if she wished.

(ooc: I'm sorry my posts are so short compared to yours... I feel so inadequate XD;;; )