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Sara saw the strange man approaching from the corner of her eye and decided to ignore him until he made that impossible. She wasn’t particularly in the mood for a friendly conversation.
A quick glance told her everything she needed to know-- he was just another man obsessed with being some hero; a chronic do-gooder who shirked even the pettiest criminal, someone who stuck to every and any rule strictly. Definitely not the kind of guy that would want to associate with her. Sara decided that he definitely didn’t know, otherwise he wouldn’t be towering over her with that stupid grin on his face.
“Hey, I just wanted to say thank you.” The tall man’s grin grew even wider as he held his hand out.
“For what?” Sara asked dryly, eyeing the hand.
Ray silently retracted the offering without saying anything, untroubled. Felicity had warned him that Sara was a bit flighty and cautious, especially around strangers. He could appreciate that-- he also always felt butterflies in his stomach when he met new people.
“For helping save me.” Ray said, surprisingly chipper for a man who had been the size of a shrimp and trapped in a glass case for several weeks.
Sara just shrugged. “I didn’t really do anything.”
He wasn’t exactly sure how to respond. Oliver had seemed genuinely surprised when Ray had expressed a desire to meet Sara, whose name as another team member had been mentioned, and he assumed this was why. He looked at her closely-- her eyes were haunted, with deep shadows underneath them, her hair was dull and unkempt, and she seemed small. Not just small, but little. Tiny. Minuscule. As if she was actively trying to shrink away into nothingness.
He didn’t know much about the woman, just that she hadn’t been around Star City very much, even though her friends and family had missed her terribly. He knew that she was Laurel’s little sister and Oliver’s long time best friend, if not something a bit more at one point. It was obvious the way that everyone on the team talked about her that Sara meant a lot to them.
Felicity had shrugged when he’d asked about Oliver’s surprise, saying She’s been going through a rough time lately. She’s not... the friendliest right now.
He didn’t mind: he figured he could connect with Sara on some level. He’d also been having (arguably) an extremely rough time lately. Perhaps she was just looking to connect with someone. After losing Anna, he knew that it could be difficult to connect with well-meaning, caring friends simply because they couldn’t really understand the negative feelings that had been weighing on him. Sometimes misery really did love company; someone who could sympathize and truly understand.
Ray also knew that sometimes it could be hard to tell that people did care about you when you were in a dark place.
He decided to take a different approach-- technically, they hadn’t really been formally introduced.
“Ray Palmer.” He smiled again, this time declining to offer his hand in what he hoped was a sign of boundary recognition. “I was tiny.”
“Sara Lance. I was dead.”
Ray’s smile wilted, transforming to a look of utter confusion. Sara almost felt regret at the shift-- Ray seemed like a decent man, if a bit innocent, and he didn’t deserve her attitude.
Sara just plowed on, trying to pretend that the subject didn’t also unsettle her. “I guess I missed a lot-- Felicity mentioned that she’d dated another guy for a while before he blew himself up.”
“You... died?” Ray asked. She could practically see the wheels spinning in his head.
“Yeah, for about a year.” Sara exhaled heavily. “But I’m back now, courtesy of the Lazarus Pit and my stubborn sister. And people only thought you died-- I’ve done that, too.”
Ray’s brow was furrowed in confusion, his face comical. Sara rolled her eyes fondly and walked past him with a reassuring pat on his shoulder.
“She... died!?”