30 Days of Demonfire

Sun

I wake up to a hungry kitten walking across my stomach. He doesn't stop meowing until I actually get up and pour him some breakfast. I'd be annoyed, but Alfred's purring is too cute.

It's one in the afternoon. I slept all morning. That happens when I drain my powers as much as I did last night, but I really don't like sleeping so late. It doesn't help that the sun in the morning is the most nourishing to Tamaranean powers, which gives me a tendency to wake up earlier.

It's cloudy, the way it always is in Gotham, so that means I'll have to go to Firewall and hang out in my personal iguana cage, with the solar lamp recharging my powers instead of the actual sun. It's not snowing or anything, it's still kind of early in the season for that. But it's chilly and I'll feel it more than usual.

It's actually kind of fun dressing for winter. I don't do it that often. I mean, I own winter clothes and I obviously wear them because I can't wear shorts and a tank top in winter without seriously blowing the whole secret identity thing. But I usually don't need them. Now I pile on a scarf, a hat, gloves, fuzzy boots, a sweater, and a coat.

I'm gonna be sitting in the Firewall for a few hours in my glass case. So I grab one of the seven Harry Potter books, my iPod, and I even grab my biggest tote and nestle Alfred inside of it. He's not supposed to go in the Firewall because Proxy doesn't like cats. But I'm technically sick so she'll have to deal with it for one day.

Alfred falls asleep in my bag, so the walk to Firewall is pretty okay, but he wants to explore when we get there instead of sit around in a glass case with a lamp in it. I can't say I blame him.

I shed my layers of clothing and kick my boots off until I'm in my skirt and the tank top I wore under the sweater and I turn on the lamp. I'm not sure how long it'll take to fully recharge after being this drained. A few hours, most likely. I'll know when I'm there. It's hard to describe. Being drained feels like I'm hungry, except not in my stomach. I feel it in my muscles. It sort of resembles an ache after you've worked out for too long, but it's not like that, really. I've tried to explain it to my dad before, but I don't think he really gets it. Anyway, after I've recharged fully, my hair will flame and I'll feel warmer and all around better. I don't usually recharge fully, but I might as well today if I'm using the iguana cage, anyway.

I turn on the lamp and use my bag as a pillow, and I open up the Harry Potter book I brought—the fourth one—and I get cozy.

Proxy stops in and we talk for a few minutes, but most of the day passes undisturbed. Since I'm skipping around the book a little (this one's my favorite and I've read it cover to cover so many times that I know the words before I read them) I get all the way to the part where Hermione looks awesome in her dress for the Yule Ball when Damian walks in.

"Grayson," he says, and he doesn't sound pleased.

"Wayne," I rebut without looking up from my book. He clicks he tongue in the way that he does but I ignore him.

"Why are you here?"

Now I glance up at him over the top of my book. "Because I almost drowned yesterday. Remember?"

"Of course I remember. I performed Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation on you not twenty-four hours ago—"

"Okay. Please don't bring that up," I say with a grimace that he can't see and I bury my face into the comforting pages of Harry Potter.

"Would you prefer that I had done nothing?" he asks, his voice bored as usual but I can hear a faint sense of confusion, too.

"No. I just really don't want to be reminded that—" Oh X'hal, this turned awkward really fast. That what, Mar'i? How were you planning on finishing that sentence? 'That your mouth was on mine.' Nope. Wrong. 'That your hands were on my chest.' That's even worse. "That now I owe you for saving me. You know, since I still owe you for finding Alfred."