Beast Boy's brow began to furrow; he gave this a study thorough;
It seemed he had found food for thought in her comment about stankball.
"Tell me, Raven," he said coolly, "if it does not strain unduly;
Say it quick and say it truly: Do you want me to leave withal?
To drop this topic here and now, and quick and quiet leave withal?"
Quoth our Raven: "Not at all."
I began to see his theory: If he phrased a tricky query,
He might receive that same dreary automatic Not at all—
In a context where that chilly negative reply meant really
By logic airtight—but silly—something "positive" after all.
Such as "encouragement" to stay and sweet-talk her in that dark hall?
You had to respect his gall!
"Ah!" he said, his grin now thriving; in his eye, a gleam conniving;
"Then sure, I won't be depriving you of my company after all.
And as long as we are sharing this quiet time, I'll be daring;
I'll ask if it would be scaring you if I kissed you in this hall?
Yes! Do you want to leave without kissing, here and now, in this hall?"
Quoth our Raven: "Not at all."
You can guess how he responded—in a flash their lips seemed bonded
As he wrapped his arms around her—that gutsy little goofball!
And his pointy ears were twitching as he kissed this girl bewitching;
Rob and Star would both be itching to know what happened in that hall!
So while watching, I was storing the live feed coming through the wall;
On DVD, burned it all!
Any moment I expected him to scream as if dissected,
After Raven had collected her wits and punished his sheer gall;
So I waited for some slugging, but instead I saw her snuggling
Closer to him; yes, the hugging became an action mutual.
At last they broke for air before hypoxia made them fall.
Did she look mad? Not at all.
"That was clever, Beast Boy, dearest," she said in her tone sincerest;
"'Twas a curse of spite severest, to discourage true love's call.
Any time the talk got mushy, from a boy who'd got all crushy,
And inside I felt all blushy—I'd scorn suggestions, one and all.
Overtures and hopeful questions must gain rejections, one and all!
(I think it began last fall.)
"Milder than the curse on Snow White—but similar in hindsight—
'True Love's First Kiss' would set it right, if that event could me befall;
But real wooers don't force kisses on their most beloved Misses;
Hence the victim sneers and hisses, or calls his tender words 'banal';
'The same old words, the same old lines, the same old sentiments banal.'
Did you guess this, you green doll?"
Author's Notes: Well, the first and second installments were six stanzas each, but I ended up giving you seven in this one. I figured you'd forgive me for such an inconsistency, under the circumstances. The alternative was to interrupt Raven's two-stanza explanation of the curse right smack dab in the middle, and that didn't feel like good pacing. The fourth (and last) installment will contain at least four more stanzas, three of which are already written, because the story isn't quite over yet. However, I plan to alternate by doing another chapter of my Titans serial, "The Faith of the Five," before coming back to wrap up this narrative poem.
Incidentally, I toyed with the idea of writing at least one more stanza of explanation about the background of the curse the other Titans didn't know she had, so as to fill in a few extra details—such as who cast it on Raven "last fall," and under what circumstances—but I finally scuttled the idea on the grounds that this poem was getting long enough already. Also, I wasn't quite sure of the answers myself, and maybe Raven isn't sure either! Granted: It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Malchior is the most obvious candidate to pull such a cold-blooded supernatural dirty trick on Raven if he ever got the chance, but there are plenty of other villains who could also do nasty things to a girl's mind, whether by magic or by hypnotism or by some other means, if they saw a golden opportunity and wanted to take the trouble. Mumbo, Mother May-Eye, Brother Blood, and Mad Mod all spring to mind! For that matter, who knows what nasty things Trigon might have left hidden in Raven's head, somehow, when he was defeated? The Titans certainly meet some sweet people in their line of work!