Disclaimer: Teen Titans is not owned by me
I was cooking with onions today and this one kinda just popped into my head.
"Speech"
Thoughts
Evening
The boys had gone out to a comic book convention, leaving Raven and Starfire alone in the tower. Alone, for several hours, with nothing to do. In the silence, peace and quiet, with nothing. Nothing to do at all...
Starfire huffed and walked out of her room, feeling extremely bored. Raven has not come out of her room the whole day and I have nobody else to talk to. She crossed her arms over her chest, frowning, wondering why the boys had not let her go to that comic book thing with them, but oh well...
Her stomach rumbled - she had not eaten the whole day, and neither had Raven, she supposed, but she required more sustenance than the other girl did - and so she went down toward the common room, hoping that there would be something left in the fridge.
But, oddly enough, as she neared the door, she heard a quiet sound... the sound of someone... crying? It must have been quietly, because the common room was not soundproofed, and she could only hear the slightest sniffles from within even with her keen alien hearing, but yes. Someone was crying.
Tentatively, she opened the door and walked in, looking around.
Nothing out of the ordinary. The TV, the couch in place, the computers and random gadgets along the walls... near the kitchen, someone dressed in plain, black clothing - fuzzy pajamas, from what she could see - someone was standing over a cutting board, holding a knife. A girl, with shoulder length violet hair, holding a knife above her arms, weeping. Starfire stared for a moment, surprised, unsure of whether what she was seeing was real or not. Raven, the ever stoic Raven, who rarely ever showed any emotion, was there in front of her, crying, holding a knife... holding a knife. Raven began to bring the knife down...
"Raven!" The alien girl rushed over quickly.
Raven turned slightly, tears streaming down her face, but otherwise appearing quite calm. "Starfire?"
"Raven! Oh, friend, please do not hurt yourself!"
Raven raised an eyebrow. "What are you-"
Starfire made a move to take the knife away but Raven held it aside, stubbornly trying to cut something with it.
"Raven, you must not hurt yourself! Is something the matter? Are you sad?"
"Starfire, I'm-"
"Here, I will help you," she snatched the knife from Raven's hands, prompting the other girl to scowl, but oddly enough, still with tears running down her cheeks.
"Starfire," Raven said exasperatedly, "what are you doing?"
"You are trying to hurt yourself!"
Raven wiped her eyes, but they remained red, still pouring out tears endlessly. She sighed. "I'm not-"
"But you are crying! Were you not going to cut yourself?"
Raven sighed. "And why would I do that?"
"I... I do not know. But you are holding a knife and you are crying-"
"I was holding a knife" Raven corrected her, taking the knife back, then taking a deep breath, trying to calm the other girl. "Starfire, I'm fine."
"But, but... why are you weeping?"
"I was cutting onions" Raven replied calmly, reaching over for a napkin and blowing her nose.
Starfire looked at her oddly. "...On-ions?" she said slowly, trying to pronounce the word. "What are these things of which you speak?"
"Vegetables," Raven replied, wiping the tears from her face. "You eat them."
The alien girl stared, not understanding. "You are crying because you have eaten them?"
Raven shook her head, making a small noise of irritation as she turned and tears began streaming down her face again. She really had to cook more so the onions didn't affect her so badly…
She raised a knife and resumed chopping the slightly reddish, layered thing she had been cutting earlier. And, having cut it into slightly smaller pieces, Raven held one up toward Starfire, who blinked, seemingly unaffected.
"This is… an onion?"
"Mhmm," the violet haired girl nodded, still crying.
"Onions... so these are the vile things that would make you hurt yourself?!"
"No- Star-"
"Oh, Raven, why did you not tell me?"
"Starfire-"
"…I will dispose of them at once!"
Green light surged around her hand. Raven waved her hands in protest, trying to get her attention, but the alien girl ignored the shocked look on her face.
"Starfire, no-"
But it was too late; a small starbolt was sent hurtling toward the remainder of the vegetable on the cutting board. As it hit, the onion practically imploded, filling the air with its vapor, and a moment later, Raven began sobbing uncontrollably.
She buried her face in her hands, sinking down toward the ground, feeling the water pour out from her eyes, ignoring her efforts to hold back the tears. Starfire moved over quickly, a concerned look on her face. She hugged Raven tightly, pressing the other girl's face into her chest.
"Raven, Raven, my dear friend, it is okay now. This horrible thing will not harm you any more-"
"Starfire," Raven sniffled, hiccuping a little. "Starfire... I... wasn't... *sniff... crying because... it was hurting... me..."
"You are safe now- oh." Starfire blinked, the other girl's words registering on her mind a moment later. "It was not hurting you? Then why?"
Raven squirmed a little and the other girl let her out of the hug. "Because..." she sniffed again, and took a deep breath, moving over to the sink and splashing some cold water in her face. She gasped a few times, then finally feeling a little better, spoke again.
"Because. Cutting onions makes you cry."
"But why?"
Raven blinked, then as water continued pouring out of her eyes, she sighed and gave up, letting the tears stream down her face. She blinked again. And then it occurred to her that Starfire, in fact, was not crying, even with all the onion vapor in the air. Oh. Well I guess that makes sense, considering all the strange stuff she cooks and eats... so she probably couldn't understand… but if I don't tell her something reasonable, she'll just blow up another one when I try to cut it…
"Um, well, uh, when you cut them, they release stuff into the air that makes your eyes sting."
"Oh. Really? But then why am I not affected?"
"Probably because you are used to things with strong smells and stuff. From your Tamaran stuff-"
"Oh yes! So you are just sensitive."
Raven nodded. "Yeah. So unless you get used to it, you usually cry when you cut onions. And since I don't cook much..."
"You were cooking?" Starfire said, surprised. "Oh joy! You must let me join you!"
"I, well - hmm." Raven thought for a moment. "Sure, but only if you cut the onions."
"Oh yes, of course!"
The next day...
"Raven? Ravenn?" Starfire knocked on the dark Titan's door a couple times.
It slid open after for a moment.
"Raven! You must come down and see what I bought for you!"
The violet haired girl raised an eyebrow. "You bought me something?"
"Yes! I am sure you will like it very much," Starfire began tugging on Raven's hand, and the other girl sighed as she was practically dragged down the hallway again.
They entered through the doors of the common room and the alien girl dragged Raven right past three pairs of startled eyes toward a large crate near the couch. She grinned as she opened it and presented the object inside to Raven proudly...
A giant onion, as big as a beach ball.
"Starfire-"
"Is it not glorious? It is an uon'eyon from my home planet! The onions you were cutting last night reminded me of these so I had Galfore send one to here for us to use! It is ten times stronger than the onions of Earth, he says-"
And then she broke off as the thing inside suddenly roared, spewing strong vapors into the air, and abruptly, Raven began crying again.
She rushed past three, wide eyed boys, putting her hood over her face, trying to avoid as much embarrassment as possible, and ran down the hall. Starfire blinked confusedly, then petted the thing inside, which began to purr.
"Starfire- what- Raven -crying-"
The redhead merely smiled. "Do not worry. I believe she will be back shortly."
And she continued petting the giant onion, humming quietly to herself. A moment later, the door opened again and Raven walked back in, wearing a gas mask and holding a machete.
"Alright, Star. I'm ready. Let's do this."
Starfire grinned and stepped aside as Raven drove the blade down toward the giant onion.