Remembrance, or Pana Po'o
I'm back again! I've been working in a new series called "The Untranslatable Series," or UTS for short. I haven't decided if I'm going to do it in a series of one-shot installments or as a multi-chapter series here where each installment is a stand-alone, but know that there are more of these on the way!
The basic premise is a list of words I found on the Internet. They are words from a multitude of different languages that have no English equivalent. The words are beautiful and their English "definitions" are lovely and poetic, so I've set out to write a bit for each word. They can be beautiful, poignant, or just plain silly. Some will be longer than others and some will be more like drabble, but this is just a fun little project. Enjoy!
Pana Po'o, Hawaiian: the act of scratching your head in order to help you remember something you have forgotten.
Rating: K+, as this is just some lighthearted RobRae fluff
Disclaimer: I do not own these glorious Titan characters. I just take them out to play every once in awhile. ALSO I am well aware of the real origin story and all of that jazz (watched the cartoons, read the comics, etc), and I am taking full advantage of creative license here as with all of my other stories in terms of time and previous events.
"Nobody said you have to be best friends. But you are teammates. Act like it."
Raven sighed, half content and half contemplative as she watched the muscles of Robin's back ripple beneath his t-shirt as he typed furiously on the computer, right hand shooting out every so often to tap at the mouse. He had started out the afternoon researching, but the tense posture of his shoulders led Raven to believe he had switched over to a video game.
"Nobody said you have to be best friends…" the line rolled through Raven's mind again. How long ago had Cyborg said that to her? To them? Five years? Six? Raven could barely remember the circumstances at first glance, an unusual thing for one who prided herself on her memory. Raven blamed the lazy Saturday for her lapse in immediate recall. Focusing on Robin's back, she quirked an eyebrow and pursed her lips.
There had been an argument, that was certain. But about what was something Raven found herself a little foggy on. She leaned back into the couch cushions and crossed her arms, eyes slowly moving out of focus as she let the click clack of Robin's game fade into the back of her mind.
It had occurred in the early days of the Titans, back when they were still the Teen Titans. Raven let a silent laugh shake her shoulders; early was an understatement. It was the second month, seven weeks after the team's formation. The early buzz of excitement at their status as a new superhero squad had worn off and the stress of living in close quarters was settling in. The five were barely friends, barely even acquaintances. Those early weeks had been filled with strategy meetings, training, and battles. There had been no time for more than perfunctory pleasantries and room assignments on the day the five moved in to their new home.
If there was one thing they needed more time for at the beginning, more than training or strategy, it was a getting-to-know-you period. But as they say, hindsight is twenty-twenty, and at the time, the Teen Titans were flying blindly into battle. Someone had underestimated the chance of disaster when forcing five teenagers to live with each other. The hormones, big personalities, egos, and barely controlled super powers were a recipe for disaster, and it's a wonder the Teen Titans emerged as successfully as they did. Raven now knew that was a tremendous team effort, but at the time, she was sure each Titan felt personally responsible for shouldering the burden of unity and "teamhood." That was the seed of most of their early arguments.
"Nobody said you have to be best friends," Cyborg had shouted. He was technically second in command, as decided in their first strategy meeting, but everyone knew Raven held the most sway in anything. Whether that was out of fear or respect was unclear, but when Raven spoke up, you listened. Perhaps that was why she and Robin butted heads most of all in the early days. On this day in particular, Robin would hear nothing that Raven had to say. He matched her quiet, quick barbs with loud anger, and when she raised her voice to match his, he had yelled even louder, still insecure in his position as leader and desperate to keep his voice loudest.
There had been a battle that day, barely successful. The HIVE had gone after a bank or a jewelry store, as they tended to do, and the memory of Robin's near-demise was still fresh on the Titan's minds (1). After scraping by on the streets and managing a small victory, the team had trudged home, and it was there that Raven exploded at Robin for a stupid decision he had made in the heat of battle. Of course, for Raven back then, exploding meant a quiet seething anger and barely controlled rage, her powers fizzling as she tried to keep her voice down. When that turned into her shouting match with Robin, light bulbs had started to shatter and windows began to crack, prompting Cyborg's intervention. Normally, the other three members of the team tried to stay as far away as possible from a Robin vs. Raven battle, but Cyborg stomped a foot and roared in their faces on that day.
"Nobody said you have to be best friends. But you are teammates. Act like it," he commanded. The two red-faced Titans had fumed at each other for another second before storming off, Raven to her room and Robin to his. They didn't speak the next day or the rest of that week, but on the fifth day, things returned to normal with a simple exchanged "good morning."
Raven smiled inwardly as she realized that was the longest the two had ever gone without speaking to each other.
"Earth to Raven," Robin repeated, a gloveless hand waving back and forth in front of Raven's face. She blinked slowly, bringing herself out of the trancelike state to look up at the man standing in front of her.
"Hey space cadet," he smiled. "What's on your mind?"
"Nothing," Raven responded. "Why do you ask?"
"You have that look on your face."
"What look?" Raven quirked an eyebrow, curious as she kept her eyes trained on the boy wonder's face.
"Like you're scratching your head trying to remember something," Robin said, scratching his own head for emphasis as he spoke. Raven rolled her eyes.
"Oh please, Robin. I would never scratch my head to remember something."
"That's not quite your style I suppose," Robin said, chuckling. He watched as Raven crossed her arms in front of her chest with a mock glare on her face. "You do this cute thing with your eyebrows and your mouth and your eyes go out of focus."
"I do not," Raven retorted, crossing her legs as she actually glared at him.
"Do too."
"Do not."
"Do too."
Raven stuck her tongue out at Robin then, just a flash of pink emerging on her lips, but it was enough for Robin to see and he burst into laughter at the childish gesture. Grinning down at Raven, he dropped onto the couch, one arm around her shoulders as he settled in next to her.
"So what were you thinking about?" he asked again, glancing at her out the corner of his eye. Her gaze focused on something beyond the bay windows.
"That second month of the Teen Titans," Raven responded. Robin was quiet for a moment.
"You weren't wrong, you know," he said.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"I was just," Raven began, "scared, I suppose, of the HIVE situation happening all over again." Robin turned to look at her, waiting until she moved her amethyst gaze to his maskless one before continuing.
"I know," he said with a soft smile. "It's okay."
"Shouldn't I be the one forgiving you?" Raven asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.
"I didn't say you were right," Robin said lightly. "You just weren't wrong." A cheeky grin appeared on his face and Raven rolled her eyes again, turning her head back to the bay as she smacked his chest lightly with the back of her hand.
"Some things never change," she said.
"And some things do," Robin responded, leaning in to kiss the smirk at the corner of her lips.
(1) "Final Exam" episode in season 1
Review review review! And then there will be more stories for you to read!
Always, Ash :)