Remnant

It is late.
It is quiet. Nobody on the streets and no voices in the air, none except for the breeze of the sky and the distant sound of an engine driving through the city. A young man in the dark raises his wrist and glances upon his watch. 12:42. Most other places of business are empty. Most other. There is one Raven frequents whenever he wanders about this late. A cafe, owned by a fidgety-old rabbit faunus who goes by the unfortunate nickname 'Floppy'.
The boy walks into the light of the store to reveal a seventeen year-old student of Beacon Academy. His hair is messy, his face is skittish, and almost all of his movements seem to be hesitant. Raven Violette obviously is not the most confident of men, even when entering a regular place of comfort for him. Nothing seems to be happening in the kitchen and the woman behind the counter seems to be bored. Clearly business has been slow, as any would be this time of night.
The student opts for his usual table in the far corner, hidden from any sort of attention beyond the waitress coming to take his order...if there were even anyone to pay attention to him in the shop. He orders a simple sandwich with the works. Turkey, lettuce, tomato and plenty of cheese. But, much to his surprise and not long after the waitress strolls away and puts the order up, the kitchen door right by his little corner of solitude opens to someone who would besiege the integrity of his own little turf...

The waitress that took Raven’s order watched on as the little blonde cook plated his simple order. Just a plain sandwich to go with his water. She was the only one that was scheduled to work on the late shift with Aria, but they tended to keep each other entertained in the evenings.

"Sooo~ what do you think about the mystery guy out there?"

Aria picked her head up from the completed dish and eyed the brunette curiously.

"What do you mean, Anna?"

"You know what I mean. He comes in here and sits alone so calmly, and he hardly talks to anyone. He's always got that bandanna on his face and no one can get a read on him.. Stacy said he's probably a hoodlum, but I think He's a vigilante who fights for truth and good on the hard city streets, distributing street justice to bad men behind that mask, he's just like that super hero from those justice team comic books, Man Bat!

"aheh...you are letting your imagination get the better of you I think"

Anna hardly registered the comment. Her mind was too immersed in unraveling the story of the mystery man. "He comes into this diner for a sandwich before he starts his night of crime fighting, and falls madly in love with his sweet and beautiful waitress! He's not the man I deserve, he's the one I need!"

Aria blinked a few times while she took in the site of the swooning waitress, who’s cheeks were now lit with a rosey red.. "I.....I don’t want to know what you are thinking about now...."

Aria walked around the waitress that was still caught in her imaginings, and weaving wild tales of a white fence house with four masked children and a masked dog. Aria hurried out of the kitchen as quickly as she could throwing her heel into the doors in the process.

the double doors to the kitchen swung open and slapped the paint of the building, shocking the woman who had started to doze off at the front counter to attention. Stacy squeaked and snorted at the same time while frantically trying to assess her surroundings. “Wha!? Hngh! Welcome to Floppy’s!” she had a hand clasped over her chest to try and keep her heart from jumping out and running off, but once she had calmed down and took in the sight of Aria chuckling in her direction she cut the source of the noise a sharp glare.

“Aria! hasn't Floppy talked to you about spartan kicking the doors past nine? Us old fogies around here can only have so many heart attacks before it starts to become an issue!”

the little signal student returned a rather cheeky grin and stuck her tongue out at the girl behind the counter. “Aren't you twenty three, Stacy? I think you’ll live. if your old maid bones can't handle it though you are more than welcome to head back to the home and take your granny nap. Anna and I can close this place up on our own."

stacy let out a big yawn and huffed at Aria. “Ha-Ha-Ha....You’re hilarious, and as much as I'd like to take you up on that ,Aria, I'm in it for the long haul tonight. Word around the grapevine is that there has been some pretty serious vandalism happening around the square, and I told Floppy that I would make sure you two got home safe."

Aria looked a bit concerned about the issue, but she was more worried about Stacy not getting enough sleep than the vandalism. If push came to shove though, she still had her long sword Needle awaiting her return in the kitchen. “I can handle myself, Miss Stacy, If anything I’d be escorting you home.”

Aria took her bravado and moved over to the table with her guest and placed the sandwich down in front of Raven with her usual smile. “looks like it’s just you and me now. Your usual waitress is....preoccupied." Aria giggled and looked excitedly at him with big bright green orbs while he tried to keep his attention focused on his sandwich. “I’ve seen you in here a few times before. You always order the same thing every time you come in. I know that we have a good sandwich here, but you should consider trying to branch out, a change of pace every once in awhile is good for you!"

stacy took a look over at the table that Aria had so elegantly inserted herself into and couldn't stop herself from laughing. She knew that the girl loved to talk to people, it’s a big part of why she fit in so well around the cafe, but sometime she did go just a bit...overboard.

“let the man eat in peace, Aria. He seems like a guy who likes his privacy.”

“hmm?”~ Aria threw a confused glance over her shoulder at stacy. “I thought you said he looked like a hoodlum.”

“A-A-A-Aria! I-I don't know what she's talking about sir! She's making things up, you know how kids can be....eh-heh...heh."


“I am not!" She crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks out with a petulant huff. "And I'm not a little kid!"

"You're twelve!!"

"Twelve and a HALF!" She stated proudly while straightening her posture accordingly.

Stacy rubbed the bridge of her nose. she knew that arguing with the tenacious twelve year old and her seemingly boundless levels of energy at all times of the day was next to impossible. Aria just turned back to The table with a big grin on her face and took a seat opposite of Raven.

"Ya know, in a lot of places getting to sit at the chef's table is quite the privilege. You can show me how honored you are by introducing yourself. You can call me the Chef Supreme, Aria Sinner!"

The little signal student leaned forward, eager to hear the mysterious stranger’s answer. her curious green eyes once again boring into the front of Raven’s face. Stacy eyed the scene from her place behind the counter. Ready to get a leash for her staff member if her customer seemed too uncomfortable with Aria's badgering.

Muffles behind the door...The voice of a small girl.
That can't be the cook, can it?
Raven perks up a bit in an attempt to listen in and try to confirm his suspicion. She sounds like a nine year-old... The student looks to the window on the left wall his table is pressed up against, looking at the black-nothing outside of the clear glass, and finds himself somewhat amused at the ridiculous thought of a kid being the cafe's cook, even at a ludicrously slow time like the graveyard shift. A young girl would probably have a bedtime much too early for it anyway.
With a voice sounding as young as that by adulthood, the woman could probably be any age and still sound just as-
THWACK!-BOOM! The door is blown open by the concussive force of a foot and sent right into the wall next to Raven's seat, just barely protecting him from the swinging surface. Of course, Raven acts in his usual...unique fashion by jumping so high that his right knee bashes the bottom surface of the table but is done so quickly that the sound is mistaken for as part of the noise made by the door.
AAAAAAAAAAAA- "....." -AAAAAAAAAAA- "....." -AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
Of course Raven keeps quiet; instead, opting to further pull up on his bandanna and shyly sink lower to try and avoid any attention...
His knee hurt and his heart was now doing 137 BPM and it was all her fault. That- The shy boy quickly glances to his right. TINY PERSON!!
Raven nearly bumps the table again when he finds out that the voice was perfectly natural...you know...for a child. The only thing is she does not look nine. She looks more around eleven-ish, which of course is still much too young to be cooking in an actual business establishment. It seems like the child and girl at the counter are too distracted with each other to really notice, which is convenient for the boy sitting down but it does not last much longer than those few seconds, squandered by his border-lined panic attack. In a second, the little girl, called Aria, is practically upon him and questioning his routines.
She asks of his sandwich and the consistant times he has ordered such in the middle of the night.
'But..', he mentally protests. ...But, I like my late night sandwich. He just looks up at the girl, thinking everything he would like to say while absent-mindedly forgetting to think of what to actually come out with; leaving his vocal cords silent and his gaze still averting to everywhere in the vicinity of the girl except for the girl herself.
I get an espresso sometimes too...I mean, it's only in the mornings that I order one here but I still do order something other than a sandwich...
He finds relief when the little girl's attention gets drawn back to the woman behind the counter, calling out to leave him be. Which '-doesn't sound like a bad idea at all...'-according to Raven. At least he could feel like at least someone understood him. That is...well...until: “I thought you said he looked like a hoodlum.”
-WELL, THANKS FOR HAVING COMPLETE FAITH IN ME, LADY! Raven sinks lower and pulls his bandanna back up to compensate for its gravity-induced travel back down a few centimeters.
“A-A-A-Aria!", she stammers. "I-I don't know what she's talking about, sir! She's making things up, you know how kids can be....eh-heh...heh."
Yeah...they can be pretty honest sometimes, in my experience...
The two continue on arguing; bringing up the little girl's age. "You're twelve!!"
"Twelve and a HALF!"
-LIKE THERE'S A DIFFERENCE!
Raven was close though. She certainly seems even too young to be 12... It becomes further apparent when the girl turns back around and looks at Raven with her big, green eyes. A pair of eyes which suddenly remind their subject of study that he has yet to even say anything previously. Quickly, the boy forms up a response as best as he can in minimal amount of time, though it comes out somewhat mumbled and lacking in volume.
"Uh-eh-I-I-..but-...but, I enjoy my routine..."
"Ya know, in a lot of places getting to sit at the chef's table is quite the privilege." The girl seems to completely miss Raven's speech, making his build up of courage completely for naught. Or you can just keep going...that's fine.. The defeated boy just keeps his eyes down at his sandwich with his hands held still underneath the table, in his lap while he listens.
"You can show me how honored you are by introducing yourself. You can call me the Chef Supreme, Aria Sinner!"
'Chef Supreme'? That's...modest... The boy finds himself unable to look back into the child's eyes for more than an instant before averting his own deep-violet ones down to the table once more.
"...I'm-.." the older student slightly squints, trying to pool up the courage to begin his end of the conversation he was just so-pleasantly thrust into. "My-..My name is-..." The boy clears his head for a second.
"...I'm Raven." 'Raven' pauses once more, trying to look at the girl and succeeding for only two-again-brief moments before pushing the rest out. "Raven...Violette.."

Aria listened to the man’s name, it was an intriguing thing to hear, but she had no place judging, her name was a bit strange as well, not as forein sounding, but not common either. “Raven Violette...” she mused, more to herself than the man that sat across from her. “ more like a night owl, tonight, if you ask me. So, what has you out and about this time of night, mister Raven?"

Raven continues with his chin lowered in an abundance of self consciousness, "I-.." He looks to the black, held at bay by the doors and windows of the cafe. "I like the quiet...It feels tranquil and..well...with nobody around I-I can-..." His eyes shift back to the table and his shoulders seem to close in further on each other, increasing Raven's humble slouch. "...I can be myself out there..I guess..."
It is true. Raven likes the late night and early morning hours for these reasons. He can be left alone to his thoughts and can walk around without having to deal with everyone seeming to be looking at him all the time. It is a great feeling being able to let go and not be nervous over everything.
...That is...until he comes in here for a bite to eat. Especially tonight..-
Raven glances up again to try and have a normal conversation, like he does with family, but retreats just as quickly as his advance.
-..for obvious reasons...