A Hollow in DC

With that untasteful situation dealt with, I first went to have some of Astrid's garlic bread knots to cheer me up, before I went to where Galatea and Raven were in the castle.

Arriving at Galatea's private quarters I could already hear the sounds of her loud tv coming through the door making me roll my eyes as I walked into the room to see Galatea staring spellbound at the crappy movie while Raven looked back seeing me walk in.

"Galatea, I told you a hundred times. If you are going to use all our solar power for movies, at least pick a good one." I joked making Galatea whirl around at me surprising her as she had muted her super senses to be completely absorbed into the movie and seeing it was me, she just pouted at me.

Galatea was an amazing woman, she was empathetic, intelligent, beautiful, and all those other qualities that made her a peerless social woman I could accept as a queen of my realm. But her obsession with absolutely horrible movies made me question if our relationship could survive.

Seriously I made her sleep on a couch that I stole from Ikea, that I didn't even put together when she made me watch all seven Sharknado movies one day.

"Ah, it's the man... Well, Raven lets go uhm what do you even like to do anyway?" Galatea asked Raven shamelessly and I couldn't help but chuckle as the empath just stared at the ceiling.

"I like peace and quiet... But if I am to be social, I suppose a visit to Barnes and Nobles to buy all the books I can before Father cancels my credit card would be nice." Raven bluntly replied and my brain shorted out on that.

"Why the hell do you have a working credit card from your father?" I asked incredulously.

Raven looked to me and snorted as she saw my weird expression. "Banks are owned by demons of course. So why wouldn't I, a half-demon and spawn of one of the most terrible demons to walk beyond reality not have a VIP card?" Raven asked sardonically and honestly, I couldn't tell if she was bullshitting as the thought of Trigon of all beings wearing some kind of suit in an office doing tax work made my stomach roll at the imaginary image.

"Anyway, I wasn't being rhetorical, I would like to go to Salem for a couple of hours to pick up some books, both mortal fiction and actual magical tomes as someone decided to kidnap me before I could collect all my effects in one of Father's realms. And with how I have disappeared for weeks now, I obviously can no longer do so." Raven finished giving me a dirty look for how abruptly I captured her.

"Oooh Jake we can go out on... Wait you said Salem?" Galatea said looking at me and I shrugged.

"It's fine, none of the cameras caught me during the battle over Salem and I will be going in my human form so it's not an issue," I explained and at Raven's confusion I had to then go over how I ended up fighting the Chaos Lord Klarion over the city causing destruction both physically and magically throughout the city as even months afterward there were still reports of giant mutated crabs or giant fishes eating people working on the ports.

"Well, I don't mind getting outside for a bit honestly," I said shrugging as actually this would honestly be the best time for me to be up and around after I had given the League the knowledge I dealt with the Light as well as dropped Batman off some presents to keep him busy.

"Alright Raven, let's run up your dad's credit card!" Galatea cheered making me smile at going out in public to freeze her nonsense.

-

Somewhat surprisingly Raven changed from her swimsuit plus hooded cloak combo to wearing a plain black hoodie with some black skinny jeans whereas Galatea wore a low-cut top and some blue jeans to complete her look.

I just changed out of my Captain's outfit and just put on some comfortable jeans and a plain long-sleeved shirt.

So, while holding Galatea's hand and Raven holding my arm, I took them through a Garganta back to earth so we could get Raven some daily necessities as well as some other stuff for her to fully settle in with us.

Once we landed back on Earth I could already recognize the Salem skyline so I asked Raven what we should do first. "Let's just get myself some extra clothes first, gives Galatea a chance to do the same as well... Pity for you Jake," Raven added drily as Galatea was all but bouncing in place at the idea.

"Ugh... Let me sell some gold first, I have literally no cash on me." I muttered as I quickly looked up the nearest gold and silver pawn shop so I could offload half a dozen ounces of gold so I could afford all of Galatea's shopping as well as all the knickknacks we would get to bring life to our mostly empty castle.

After getting our funds in order Raven literally went into a cojoined Hot Topic, and Spencer's to do her clothes shopping while Galatea went across the mall, we went to do our shopping within inside of a Gap equivalent to do her clothes shopping, so I just said screw it and after buying a couple of nice things from some novelty stores like some Tibetan singing bowls and handmade soap that smelled really nice.

Once I got my own shopping out of the way and picked Astrid up a tiny working piano for her to mess with. I went into the DC equivalent of Hot Topic to see what they had going on in there.

"Worried I was going to run off or something?" Raven bluntly asked me as she looked around a clothes rack that was next to the shop's entrance.

I snorted rolling my eyes as I eyed her new outfit It was a similar pair of pants but instead of her hoodie, she was wearing a tight low-cut T-shirt that showed off a good bit of her pale flesh which earned a flash of lust from me that she could feel with her Emphatic powers.

"No... Maybe you were looking to catch me in the changing rooms maybe?" She joked tauntingly.

Raven's smug little deadpan smile didn't earn a refusal or me acting out or anything I just softly poked the ruby stuck on her forehead making her flinch like I flicked her nose. "Don't be a brat or I will take you home." I joked before I continued. "No more like with Galatea she is going to buy a couple dozen outfits and will try each and every one on. So, she has given me a man's pass to just go to the cafeteria to eat or do whatever. So, want to get some food?" I offered and Raven raised an eyebrow at me before shrugging.

"Fine... I got all the clothes I need anyway." She muttered as she followed me out of the store and towards the food court.

After we got some simple burritos for a late lunch we were eating in companionable silence before Raven spoke up in an even more deadpan blunt manner than usual. "Coming from living with a sibling whose sin was Lust and would regularly mind control mortals to fulfill his sick pleasures. I have to ask how you and Galatea do it like five times a day... And how the hell do you fit in Astrid!" Raven added pointedly as I choked on a chicken strip in my burrito at her utterly shocking words.

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