Disclaimer: I have not, do not, nor will I ever own Teen Titans.
Uninterested
The crack of a spine on a brand new journal. How she loves the smell of fresh paper. Things like these make the tedium of human life bearable. She brought her pen to the page and in a flurry of motion her thoughts began to spill out on paper.
Human existence as we know it is a pointless endeavor. They have a healthy planet, with a habitable climate, yet they take it for granted, as if it were the only way it ever could be. All the while, they are slowly tearing their planet apart, turning it into a hellish wasteland much like my own home world. These beings fail to even see how their actions effect the other living creatures on their planet. Every day another species completely disappears from their universe. And these foul beasts have the power to stop all of it right there in their hands, but these narrow minded, self-absorbed creatures care more about their own petty problems than their very own slow agonizing destruction.
At least demons are strait forward about that, no beating around the bush there. 'I'm going to come and destroy you and your entire world!' Nope, pretty clear there. They are also pretty clear on that 'everyman for himself' thing to. There's no question in your mind that a demon would stab his own mother in the back if it meant getting what he wanted. Humans are so full of deception, they pretend to be this united group, 'look out for your neighbor' and all that, but the truth is humans are so consumed by themselves they actively work to destroy each other. Oh sure they'll try to be a team to work together, look at this team. The Titans have done many great and wonderful things but even the most noble of humans have their price; Terra showed us that already.
It must be human nature to be fickle. They can tear apart another's lifetime of work in an instant for simply not agreeing with the masses and yet an inept loafer with a pleasing physical appearance gets rewarded simply for existing. The humans on Azarath were much the same, though, to a far lesser degree. You see Earth humans…
They rule themselves not by respect or even force but my money. Any law broken can easily be ignored if you have enough of this substance. During my time spent with the humans of Earth I have learned 'The MAN' (an Earth term in reference to, the one who holds the most money) is always trying to beat you down and will continue to do so until you are nothing but a crippled, bloody, hallow shell of the individual you used to be. 'Resistance is FUTILE!' Sounds more like Demons and their quest for power to me…
Funny, I've remembered another human saying 'Money is Power.'
But… for herbal tea and the vast number of books I can easily obtain I will forgive the humans these transgressions. Now if only I could find a moment of silence…
The door to the roof banged open loudly and she closed her journal quickly.
"Friend Raven?" a happy voice called out, "The night of movies has begun, will you be joining us in the hanging out?"
"Sure Star, I'm on my way down," she answered rising to her feet, tucking the small black journal into the pocket of the jacket she wore.
The team had gone into town today as civilians to do some much needed shopping. They quickly split up agreeing to meet at their favorite pizza parlor for lunch. Fallowed by the necessary but tortuous trip the grocers before returning to the tower.
Raven had wasted no time making a beeline for the nearest book store. The bell chimed as she open the door. The smell of fresh ink on paper hit her as she stepped over the threshold. This was her idea of a shopping trip, It had been too long since she had time to go book shopping she noted that they rearranged the sections to make room for more shelves and had done away with the majority of the tables that used to sit up front for the patrons to read their purchases at. She only had to fallow the slightly musty smell to find the section of older texts the store prided itself of having. An elderly man Raven recognized as the shop owner was re-alphabetizing this section as she approached.
"Ah, Raven," he greeted catching a glimpse of her, "long time, no see! And here I thought some other book store had stolen my best customer away." The old man smiled fondly at her as she shook her head a small smile tugging at her own lips.
"I've just been busy," she said in her soft monotone, "but things have clamed down, I'm hopping I can make trips to town more frequently now."
"I'm glad to hear it," the old man beamed, " you kids have really done a lot for this town." the old man set down the books he was holding and began walking further down the isle. "Just don't over work yourselves," he teased. " I got a couple books in a few weeks ago I thought you'd be interested in," he said nearing a door half hidden by the shelves next to it. "I stuck them in the back hoping you'd be by soon."
The man disappeared in to the back room while Raven scoured the shelves in front of her for interesting titles. A small black book with no title caught her eye. As she pulled it out she discovered is was a leather bound journal which had apparently been put back on the wrong shelf as it still had the cardboard cover around the end stating the company that made it. She was about to put it back when she noticed the blue ribbon hanging out the bottom with a small metal raven dangling from a knot at the end.
"Here we are!" the man exclaimed loudly from the other side of the door. He emerged quickly with three large volumes all of them having seen their better days. "Now this first one is a Latin text, it was originally written in the fifth century by a sorcerer named Garthos, this is a hand written copy of it made in the early sixteenth century. The second one is a record of the life of Kesmar of Bregton, through the eyes of a traveling minstrel in the fourteenth century, a rarity of the time, and the last is a grimoire of unknown origin, though we can date it to somewhere during the end of the Spanish inquisition." Now this was why she came here, but as I'm sure you can imagine those books were not cheap, in fact they were well out of the other Titans price range, Robin excluded, but Raven wasn't like the other Titans she had a part time job, but unlike Beast Boy she would not lower herself to work in fast food.
No, Raven though only having been on Earth a short time had already figured humans out pretty well. So it was easy to find a far more dignified job, better paying to. You see the nights that Raven would go out to her creepy café she would work. Not making coffee but reading poetry not just any poetry but her poetry. You see the Titans are very popular in Jump City; and Raven is a Titan and very popular in the gothic scene; her name alone would bring a lot of business to the café. So naturally they were more than happy to pay her well for such publicity.
"I'll take them all," she whispered. The man nearly squealed in excitement and rushed off to the register to ring up her purchase. As she was paying for her purchase another squeal of excitement coming from outside grabbed her attention. Starfire had caught site of her through the shop window and was dragging a reluctant Terra toward the shop.
Terra and Raven do not always get along. In fact Terra and Raven rarely get along. Even though it had been Raven who had discovered the ritual to release Terra from her stony prison, and it had been Raven who had exhausted herself to the brink of death performing said ritual, Terra refused to set aside their differences and even call truce. In fact as far as Terra was concerned Raven was the epitome of all evil, and should be watched like a hawk in case she decided to murder them all in their sleep. Though Raven may agree that she sometimes has thoughts of killing the living chainsaw aka. Beast Boy in his sleep just for a moment of silence, she finds the rest of Terra's suspicions a grave insult to her state of mind. Though to be fair Raven thought just as little of Terra. Raven does not dislike humans but she doesn't like them either. For the most part she is indifferent to them. Geomancy powers aside, Terra is very human, which has a tendency to grate on Ravens nerves. Not that her other human teammates don't do the same, because they do, but Terra has that self-absorbed air about her that really gets under Raven's skin.
The rest of the team either rests in a state of obliviousness to the entire dispute or both arguing parties make them so nervous they'd rather just stay out of it. Starfire falls in the oblivious category which is why she was confusing Terra's present aversion to entering the book shop to her dislike of boring books.
Raven stepped out of the shop, bag in hand, and began walking towards the two girls.
"Oh, Come Friend Terra, it will only be taking the moment to ask Friend Raven to join us in this bonding of time." Star pleaded.
"No Star, I don't wanna' go in there. Let's just go to Macy's instead." Terra insisted, stomping her foot down and digging the heal of her pumps in to the mall tiles in an attempt to stop herself sliding any closer to the book store.
"We may venture to the store of Macy after we retrieve Friend Raven it will only take the moment, Friend Terra," Star tried again.
"That's ok Star, we can go now if you like," Raven spoke up startling both girls.
"Friend Raven!" Star exclaimed happily releasing Terra to quickly turn around and face Raven. "You will go the store of Macy to bond the time with us?" She asked hopefully, oblivious to Terra's shocked yell as she lost he balance and fell to the ground.
"Sure, Star I'm all done with my shopping anyway," Raven agreed. Star bounced happily and turned to tell her friend the good news only to discover her sprawled on the floor pulling her too short skirt down to hide her posterior.
"Friend Terra, what are you doing in the floor?" Star asked innocently helping her friend up. Terra just huffed an began brushing the invisible dirt off her clothes.
Terra who had not been listening to the conversation as she wallowed in the injustice of it all in the floor had decided the sooner they go out of there the sooner they could get on with enjoying their day.
" Come on, Star. Let's go to Macy's!" she exclaimed pulling Star in the direction of the store in hopes that she would forget about convincing Raven to come with them. But unfortunately for Terra, Raven was fallowing behind as promised, though at a much more subdued pace. When they got to the store Star instantly spotted the red sale signs and squealed in excitement grabbing both girls by the arm and dragging them quickly to the first set sale racks.
The rest of the morning was spent throwing snide remarks and sarcastic comments at each other while Star gushed over the items on the sale rack. As far as Raven was concerned lunch could not have come soon enough.
They got their usual booth in the outdoor lounge. Upon arrival Terra quickly escaped to the other end of the booth to hunt through the boys' shopping finds, and Star took a seat next to Robin to ask questions about what all she had seen today. The other boys had bought a plethora of games and movies to rot their brains with, and were currently arguing over which game was better 'Go Kart Tykoons' or 'Beat Down 7'. Their waiter had not yet come to take their drink orders and Rave foresaw the fight would soon turn to food.
"I'm telling' ya Tin Man, Tykoon totally kicks BD7's butt, it has way better graphics and it go so many more options," BB yelled.
"No way Grass Stain, BD7 is way better you just don't like it 'cause even Raven can beat you at it," Cyborg teased.
"Nuh Uh!"
"Yah Hu!"
"Nuh Uh!"
"Yah Hu!"
"Nuh Uh!"
"Yah Hu!"
Thankfully their waitress arrived before the vein in Raven's forehead exploded. She took their drink orders with merely a raised eyebrow at Ravens order of tea and a startled sputter at Stars request for a glass of mustard. Poor Star now there was a girl far from home. Granted Tamaran is physically closer to Earth than Azarath but boy is the culture different. Must be strange not understanding what's going on around you. Raven couldn't imagine being on a planet that different than Azarath. 'I think I would go crazy. HA, maybe that's what's wrong with Star.' she mused to herself. As predicted the fight had gone from games to pizza.
"Meat!"
"Tofu!"
"Meat!"
"Tofu!"
"Meat!"
"Tofu!"
"Meat!"
"Tofu!"
"Enough," Raven only had to slightly raise her voice to end the argument. The waitress had returned and Raven turned to her, "We'll have one Pepperoni Pizza, one Meat Lovers, and one Veggie Lovers hold the meat on the last one."
It was the same order they got every time, why they continued to argue over it she would never know. But she suspected it had something to do with some old saying the Priestesses back on Azarath used to quote when Lord Azar was being especially difficult. Though she could not remember it word for word it had something to do with the thickness of their skulls.
Cyborg smirked in triumph and Beast Boy groaned and slumped in his seat. Beast Boy, though he often grated on her nerves to the point that she might actually throttle him, was for the most part a good human. If he would lay off the lame jokes and the video games he might be a better human, but still human. Many people thought she liked him as more than a friend. Which could be, in part, why Terra despises her so. But Raven knew there was no way she would ever fall for Beast Boy he was just to… human, and hyper.
Hyper was another human trait she despised. Now there was a difference between Star and BB. Star has a bubbly happiness, while annoying, it is just an emotion, which she can block and/or ignore. But BB has a constant nervous energy, though virtually harmless, it is constantly lashing out in uncontrolled waves touching her senses and consequently driving our favorite empath mad. Think of it as someone gently poking you in the arm again and again the entire time they are in the same room with you. No, that was one human trait she could not stand.
Soon enough the pizza had arrived and the teens were all stuffing their faces. No sense in going grocery shopping on an empty stomach.
Before long they were all getting into the T-car to make their last stop of the day. Terra and BB in the back, Robin and Star in the middle, Cyborg driving, and Raven in the passenger seat.
"Hey girly, everything ok?" Cyborg whispered over to her.
She Gave him a half smile and nodded her head "Yea."
Cyborg, he was her big brother in many ways always looking out for her, listening to her, and she was there for him to. They had come to some sort of easy understanding some time shortly after they started the Titans, and it had only grown stronger since. There are moments when she wanted to beat him as well, but for the most part he has this quiet hum about his mind rather than the chaotic shouts of a normal human, perhaps it has something to do with being half machine, but it is comfortable hum. Cyborg reminded her strongly of Lord Azar in that way. No matter how turbulent the water…
It took only a moment for them to arrive at the grocers. They had worked out a system long ago for doing the grocery shopping. Robin and Raven got the things they actually needed for the Tower and every one else got to wander the store and pick out two items they would like to get as well. Which worked well for the most part, BB would get cookies and some instant tofu dinner, Cyborg would get pastries and other junk foods. Star would choose the largest jar of mustard she could find and some other new Earth food she had never tried before Terra usually picked out a few boxes of her favorite snack bars. Raven would get a couple boxes of he favorite herbal tea, and Robin would grab a jar of coffee and a case of his favorite sports drinks. So Cyborg parked the T-car and the team dispersed. The two birds made their way threw the store quickly gathering the items they needed. Like everything else they do together it was a task done in silence, no words were necessary. Robin was something of an enigma to Raven just as she was to him. The Gypsy boy had a calm about him not just in mind but in soul. It was a very inhuman trait, and Raven adored him for it. He was brash, and brave, and intelligent, and charming, and… Well you see where this is going.
Star swooped down the isle and up to Robin's side A strange looking box with a picture of a man in Greek amour on the side. Curiosity peaked Raven turned to watch the interaction.
"Robin, What kind of food is this?" she asked him in that way only Star could holding the box out before her so he could read the label. 'Trojan' it said, instantly Robins face lost all color and suddenly became as red as the tomatoes we had picked up just moments ago.
"W-Wh-Where did you get that Star?" his face if possible getting redder.
"In the Hall of the Cause of Medics," she replied, "are you alright Robin? Your face is as red as a Hobfar Snorlag." Worry overcame her face.
"I'm fine Star, this isn't food it's…" he motioned for her to lean closer so that he could tell her without saying it out loud. She obliged and listened intently as he told her what it was and what they were used for.
"I do not think I understand Robin. May we buy them and you show me how they are used?" she suggested.
As Robin sputtered indignantly and began stumbling over how to answer her. Raven could hear the snickers of her fellow teammates in the next isle over. Sometime during this interaction the box had been placed on top of the cart and Raven could now easily read the back of it. Instantly her face turned beat red and her blood ran cold, 'Oh my they carry such things at the grocers,' she thought. Deciding to take pity on Robin she quickly pulled Star over to her and explained in her rough Tamaran what it was they were used for, instantly Star to turned beat red. Raven then went back to the cart and picked up the box tossing it lightly over the shelf in the close proximity of the origin of the giggles.
"Put those back where you got them. We don't have time for this foolishness," she reprimanded. The other two still stood there mortified.
Raven cleared her throat to get their attention, "We should finish shopping," she suggested.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. As they were loading the last of the bags into the T-car. Robin stopped her with his hand on her shoulder.
"Thanks," he said a nervous blush on his cheeks, "for… you know… back there. You're a good friend," he said.
"Not a problem," she whispered back, "what are friends for?"
Friends… Robin is her wonderful friend, who she adores and he is completely uninterested.
A.N. So what do you think, it's my first Titans fan fiction. Good, bad, indifferent? If you see a typo I missed drop a review and tell me where. My First reviews were very encouraging so I think I'll go ahead and type up the next chapter.
Thank you sparklyscrunchies I took another look through it. I can't believe I missed those before. And I decided to cut the description of their outfits. I didn't think they really fit in the first place, but I've been flamed in other fandoms for lack of description before, and thought 'better safe than sorry'.