A rose by any other name
A day of work can be interesting to say the least, especially if you work in the crime capital of the country, Jump City. Although the gleaming skyscrapers and friendly citizens might cast a different shadow, the heart of the city is shrouded in darkness. As you can imagine, the constant threat of monsters and evil villains attacking caused many a sleepless night for the citizens. However, when the work day is through and the people settle down in their homes, each one goes to bed happy and feeling safe. Some would see this as being a little contradictory to the way of life in the city, dark, bleak …short, but for all who reside in Jump City, 1 defining fact is known: The citizens aren't the ones who take care of the doomsday plans or slime creatures, so someone else must have a worse life then them. (It's a glass half full way of thinking). Speaking of which, the job of caring for the city, and the sad excuse for existence as the affectionately population put it, fell squarely onto the shoulders of the Teen Titans.
Be it natural disasters or robotic invasions, the Titans have sworn to protect the city from all forms of danger and work as a team to help those in trouble. However, when a light day at work consists of catching 5 criminals, 4 psychopaths, numerous lost children, and the occasional demented prison escapee, even the Titans need some down time. Although it's hard, they do unwind now and again. Yet with each passing day it became harder for the family of 5 to stay entertained, especially when the last good idea for fun was Beast Boy's Stank Ball game. With the Titans officially out of fun, something big was about to happen and all bets are on it being disastrous.
Everyone was exhausted from the last 24 hours, the Titans had just finished a full day of capturing criminals and saving lives, so the team was on their last legs and on their way home in the T- Car. Somewhere between the bay and the tower, Raven and Beast-Boy found the energy and became locked in heated battle, the reason for which no one knew, not even the two arguing misfits.
"Country," began the shape shifter.
"Continent," replied the hooded figure sitting opposite him.
"Country!"
"Continent!"
"For the last time it's a country!" Beast-Boy spoke, annoyance dripping from his voice.
"How ignorant can you be? Australia is a continent not a country!" Raven was practically yelling in his ear.
"No it's not!"
"Yes it is!"
"No it's…," he was cut off mid sentence by a very miffed Cyborg.
"'Ya know, I don't care if it's a magical tile in Candy Land! Were almost home and I'm in need of recharging so do you think it's even possible for you two can keep away from one another for another 10 seconds?"
"She started it!" Beast-Boy said in defense.
"Real mature Beast-Boy." Raven spoke monotone while rolling her eyes.
Robin silenced the two while rubbing his temples, "I don't want to hear it! Either we get some peace or one of you is getting locked out of the tower. Got it?"
Both teens nodded, last thing they needed was to sleep outside during the upcoming storm.
"Honestly I don't get those two," Cyborg spoke to Robin who sat in the passenger seat, "how can they be so angry at each other for so long and not kill each other in the process? It makes no sense!"
"I'm just glad one of us can sleep through all the noise that they make," he pointed to Starfire who was dreaming calmly in the seat behind him, "Your right though, the two of them are an enigma."
"You think you can do something to them? I'm already loosing out on good recharge time and their fights make things worse." Cyborg rubbed his real eye out of fatigue.
"Sorry man, this isn't one of the things that I can just order to stop. What they need to do is solve their problems with each other the old fashioned way, besides who knows what would happen if I tried to interfere with them," he shuttered, "lets just hope that something will make them stop yelling at each other."
The rest of the drive was relatively calm after the argument died down between Raven and Beast-Boy. Soon the Titans were in their Tower and catching up on some well deserved sleep or in Ravens case reading.
Raven took an ancient book with browned pages and frilled bindings from her shelf and curled up on the couch in the common room. Like a release valve, as soon as she began reading, all her troubles apparently disappeared.
"Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whole misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend…"
Raven had read this particular novel many times while with the titans. However, to her, the story never got old, the characters never aged, and the excitement never stopped. "How can some people go their entire lives without reading a single play from Shakespeare?" She thought solemnly. "Maybe I'm just being naïve, but if everyone read a bit more and paid less attention to blowing each other up than the world would be a much better place. Heck, if Beast-Boy spent half of his brain power on doing something constructive, rather than making up those horrible jokes then he might know the difference between a country and a continent!" She smiled inwardly, "Fat chance that would ever happen."
With a yawn, the blue cloaked mage finished off the comical idea of Beast-Boy having an intelligence before her drooping head fell in exhaustion. "Maybe I do need some sleep." Being too tired to return to her room, Raven decided to lay down on the couch and soon she began drifting into a sleepless slumber. Her book held firmly on her chest. Little did she know what lay unbenounced in her book or the troubles that it would cause.