The first time Raven ever laid eyes on her was in a home and hardware store, of all places.

Though Raven herself wasn't there by choice, it was a necessary trip for Cyborg, and bringing someone else along was just something he had always done. She felt like casting a curse on the others who where still back at the tower, however.

Though the Titans trips to places like this where so lacking in anything interesting they where hardly worth mentioning, Raven at least felt relieved that this mammoth building was big enough where she could get away from the raving man/machine while he ogled new versions of all the tools he had broken during repair jobs.

Luckily enough, people here seemed to avoid her altogether, which left her more than enough freedom to wander aimlessly though gargantuan aisles and look through all of the junk with enough boredom to kill her.

It wasn't until she got to the aisle that was stocked with gardening tools that she first saw the girl, and almost missed her entirely due to the fact that there was a hand truck parked in front of her that was stacked with all sorts of things. Pausing just long enough to look, the first thing she noticed was that the girl seemed to be her age, but was standing there by herself, her attention fixed a heavy duty shovel she was currently examining.

She was extremely pale, enough to rival Raven herself, and was dressed in a strange looking black suit that even had a dark grey tie to go along with the ensemble. Strangely enough, the girl was also sporting a black derby, perched on her brown-haired head.

Glancing from her to her hand truck again, Raven almost grinned when she saw a pile of axes, saws, sickles, spades, hammers, and various other tools and the like, piled chaotically on the metal cart.

"Planning to get rid of a body?" Raven sighed, her cloaked form still standing at the end of the aisle.

Still examining the fiberglass handled shovel, the girl lowered it after a few seconds and turned to her, a strange grin on her face as she answered, "Maybe a few, if I'm lucky. Still, 39 dollars for a shovel?"

Raven shrugged half-heartedly, stepping closer to the girl as she raised the tool back up and set it in its place on the rack. It wasn't until then that she realized the girls eyes where a far paler blue than normal, the color barely much different than the whites of her eyes.

"You look familiar." The strange girl said, looking her over as she rubbed her chin. "Who are you?"

"I'm Raven, of the Teen Titans."

The fact that she hadn't known her just by seeing her told her that this girl was probably not from around here.

"Ah, I see. That team that lives in the 'T'. My name is Matilda Kassidy." The girl answered, looking more amused. "You're that sorceress, aren't you?"

Raven simply nodded, her face still expressionless.

"Interesting to meet you, especially in a place like this. I just moved to the area recently, so you'll forgive me if I don't ask you for your autograph, or something like that. I have a lot of things I need to get, and not everything is ready yet."

Raven shrugged again, before answering, "I actually prefer when people don't, though it is nice to have a talk with someone intelligent."

"Oh, you can tell?"

"You put the shovel back, didn't you?"

Matilda nodded, the grin on her face getting bigger. Reaching underneath her jacket, she slipped her hand into a pocket on the red shirt underneath it, pulling out a small book and flipping it open to the first page. Nodding at it, she snapped the little thing closed and shoved it back into it's pocket, before turning back to Raven.

"You've heard of the old Hentman Sanitarium, haven't you? Outside of the city?" Matilda asked, her hands resting on her hips, even though you couldn't see them that well in the suit she was in.

Raven thought for a moment, realizing she hadn't really heard much about it. She knew that there where several abandoned buildings that where not that far from the city, like the old stadium that Cyborg and Atlas had fought in, but she couldn't remember hearing about an old sanitarium. It must have been pretty far from here.

"I guess you haven't." Matilda spoke, noticing her silence. "Anyway, it's not a sanitarium anymore. It's the Kassidy Estate now. My father managed to get all the paperwork and stuff, but don't even ask me how."

"You're family is renovating an asylum? What are you buying these for? Shouldn't a construction team already have everything?" Raven questioned, feeling a bit more intrigued by this. So far she could tell the girl wasn't lying, but it was still very out of place to hear. There was still the realization that she was talking to a rich girl, but that hadn't dawned on her just yet.

"These? They're for me. My old ones where junk." Matilda answered, her cheeks blushing a soft pink as she eyed the tools.

"Okay."

"You should come and take a look before at the place before they get everything fixed. It's got this really creepy feeling to it. Especially when you go through the hallways at night, and everything creaks. It's like someone is following you." Matilda added, looking back up at Raven. "You're into that kind of thing, aren't you?"

"I tend to get my fill of it from the things we Titans deal with."

"Aww, too bad. Maybe another time."

Raven could only shrug again, though she doubted this would happen. A little curious, Raven decided to simply ask, "You wouldn't simply be trying to show off to me, would you?"

The strange girl simply chuckled softly, shaking her head. "The dead never need to show off to the living."

Raising an eyebrow, Raven could only stare at her for a moment, waiting for Matilda to say it was a joke of some sort, before she realized something. She wasn't sensing any of the emotion from this girl that she normally had to tune out with others. She could explain this as a few different things, but something about this girl was definitely not right.

"Weren't expecting it, where you?" Matilda smiled, her hands raising up and grabbing onto another shovel, which she looked over quickly and lowered onto her hand truck.

"I don't necessarily believe you, either."

"That's good, because I don't believe you're the same type of creature as Wonder Woman or Superman. The real question is; what exactly are we trying to be?"

Staying silent for a moment as Matilda put her hands on the metal cart again, Raven simply blinked as she thought about this.

"I've enjoyed chatting with you, Raven." The girl said, her hand raising again and tipping her hat in the Titans direction. "If you're ever up for a bit of fun, look me up. I will say that my definition of fun is a bit more… grim than most, but to each her own. I'll see you some night, maybe. Keep busy, if you can."

With that, the girl simply strolled off, her carts wheels screeching against the floor with a hideous noise. Matilda cursed once, and then was gone around the corner.

"That is definitely a strange girl." Raven sighed, shaking her head.

Time to get out of here, though. Cyborg should be done by now, or something very bad was going to happen to him.

Continued!