To my previous reviewers I offer my "thanks" for your generous comments. For the delay in this update I am sorry, I am balancing my desires as a writer with the responsibilities of being a full-time teacher and student, but I assure you I am not about to give up on this story or my readers. However, I will not delay you any longer with an extensive introduction. We now return to the Titans who have arrived at the Tower with the enigmatic Strata in tow.
"The Bird, the Boy, and the Beast"
Chapter 4: Of Mustard and Mysteries
Strata had no idea how fortunate it was that Robin decided to cook lunch today. Robin feared Starfire's "exotic" cooking would eventually lead led to the genetic mutating of the team, and Raven had yet to prepare anything edible on the rare occasion she decided to cook for her teammates. Beast Boy's tofu was uneatable to anyone but Beast Boy, and Cyborg always tried to serve the youngest Titan pork chops, or steak, or a ham and cheese—all of which had resulted in nasty confrontations.
So when Robin decided to grill a few hamburgers (soy burger for BB), Strata had no idea that stars must have been aligned in his favor for this midday meal. The traveler was more intrigued by Starfire's drinking out of the bottle of mustard. Starfire was likewise intrigued by Strata's ability to form his own "blue energy" utensils with his powers. "See?" said Strata, when Starfire stared at his blue fork, "I never drop one on the floor."
"I find the Earth tradition of using tools on the food most intriguing," said Starfire. "On Tamaran we all gather around the table at once at jointly use our powers to rip apart our food."
"All at the same time?" said Strata.
"Yes," said Starfire, "On Tamaran we find it is a good way to take ownership of one's food. But lately," she paused a moment, "I have been trying out the knife and the fork."
"Trying something new?" queried Strata, who was still gazing at the mustard.
"No," said Robin, approaching the table with a plate of tomatoes, "We made her change after she destroyed our last dining room."
"Earth tables are most delicate," said Starfire.
"Yes…yes…they are that," stammered Strata unsure of what to say. This evoked a smile from BB and Cyborg.
"Would you like some mustard, friend Strata?" asked Starfire, offering the bottle she had put her straw into.
"No, No, thank you Starfire," responded Strata, whose eyes had just opened very wide, "I'll think I'll just stick with ketchup today." He reached for his burger on his plate only to find Silkie, who burped. "Hey!" yelled Strata, "what's this?"
"That's silkie," said BeastBoy in between bites of his soy burger, "He's sort of become the team mascot."
"And not by popular choice," muttered Raven as Strata quickly made another burger while keeping a close eye on the mutant silkworm. He moved over to the other side of the table next to Raven. The dark girl eyed Strata with a sole-piercing stare, "We don't have guests often."
Strata turned towards Raven, "Well, thanks for having me." Raven said nothing and returned to sipping her tea. Strata thought that this side of the table might not be any more hospitable then the other side. Fortunately, Robin sat down next to Starfire and set Silkie on the ground.
Cyborg was the next to speak, towards Robin, "So, what's up for the rest of the day?"
Robin paused for a moment, "We already got our combat practice in this morning thanks to Strata…" The newcomer smiled at this mention. "…We pretty much have the rest of the day free."
"What were you planning on doing today, Strata?" chimed BeastBoy, "you know, before the HIVE 5 decided to hit you on the head."
"Honestly, I don't know. The entire point of my trip was to get to this city. I'm not really sure what I was going to do. I'll probably check into the Y or something."
"How can there be a point to your trip if you don't have a reason for being here?" questioned Raven.
"Aw, lay off the guy, Raven," said Cyborg, "We don't need the guy to give us his life story."
"Are you sure about that?" said Raven with a disapproving tone in Cyborg's direction. She muttered a simple word that had no meaning to Strata at all, "Terra."
"To be honest, Raven…that's your name right? Raven?" interjected Strata, "If I had a point to being here, I couldn't exactly be an aimless wanderer, now could I?" Raven said nothing. "I came here because I move around a lot. I'm a traveler. I move about; it's what I do."
"So you have no purpose in life other than to keep moving?" said Raven, "that doesn't sound like much of a life."
"How sad," said Starfire.
"How suspicious," said Raven.
Strata smiled again, "Hey, I'm not completely purposeless. I have a knack for being where I need to be. The way I see it life is full of experiences. Sometimes you just have to keep moving, you know? I'm trying to search for my own new way of life. Essentially, nowhere is home to me. Or, if you prefer, the whole world is my home. The world needs people like me, people who aren't fixed in stone or locked into one place. People who can be places when they need to be there."
"But do you need to be here?" said Raven. Strata simply shrugged his shoulders.
"So…you're searching for yourself?" asked Robin.
"In a way, I suppose I'm searching for a way to get away from myself." He looked at Raven, "In that way, I can't really blame you for wanting to get away from me."
This admission stunned Raven for a brief moment. "You seem all right to me," said Cyborg.
"Yes," said Starfire, "Strata, you seem like a good person as you helped stop the HIVE 5."
Strata stared into his soda, "Thanks for saying that, it helps," he said. "You guys seem like good ones." He looked up at Starfire and then slowly turned his gaze toward Raven, "Sometimes we don't always like being who we are or being where we are from. Where are you guys from?"
"I'm from Tamaran," said Starfire.
"Starfire's princess of Tamaran," said Robin, "BeastBoy, Cyborg, and I are from Earth."
"Royalty?" said Strata, turning his head towards Starfire, "Should I bow?"
"NO!" giggled Starfire, "I am just a Titan."
Strata chuckled and turned towards Raven, "And what about you?"
"Somewhere you've never heard of." She sipped her tea.
Strata chewed on the end of a French fry, "Well, that's something we have in common."
Raven turned toward him with a raised eyebrow, "What? More mysteries?"
"I had a home once. I suppose most people start off with one at some point"
"And where is it?" said Cyborg, who was also becoming intrigued by their visitor.
"No, I HAD a home," said Strata, "There is no 'is' about it." He looked and muttered down towards his burger, "There was…a war. Now it's not there."
"Are you from the Middle East?" said Robin with some surprise, Strata had not struck him as a person from war-time countries.
"No, no, nothing like that. Nothing so…simple. I was a soldier in defending my home country from an invading evil tyrant bent on total destruction." His eyes glazed over, "It didn't go well."
"You lost?" asked Beast Boy, not aware of how much this question hurt their guest.
"If only…" muttered Strata. "That might have been better then…what happened. Let's say there was an ugly stalemate after a lot of anguish. So, I don't have a home."
"I…I'm sorry," said Raven, who was starting to feel somewhat uneasy about her earlier probing—but not her suspicion.
Strata dismissed her apology with her wave. "We all have our…dark memories. You meant nothing; don't worry about it. If it helps, our efforts did help save a portion of another nearby place, ravaged by that same tyrant. My comfort is that we did save some of our neighbors."
They all sat in silence for a few moments.
Robin was next to speak, "Say, Strata, think you can postpone your wandering for one night and crash here with us? I feel I still owe you for helping us today; we have a spare room. It would beat the downtown Y at any rate."
Strata smiled at the Titan leader, "Thanks, that would be nice. It's hard to find a decent bed lately."
"Excuse me," said Raven, rising from the table, "It's time for me to go meditate." She walked towards her room.
"Thanks for having me, everybody," said Strata.
"No problem," said Cyborg, "I'll show you where you can drop your backpack."
Cyborg left Strata in one of the spare rooms to unwind. Strata set his large green backpack on top of the bed in the plain room. He looked around. The large room was quite bare save the white-sheeted bed and the oak bedside table. A small lightly-stained hard-back wooden chair accompanied a clashing cherry desk that was bare on its top. "I guess they really don't have visitors much," muttered Strata. "Oh well, any cave in a storm." He strode towards the west-facing window and gazed out into the bay. "A guy could get used to a city like this. He lightly touched his fingertips against the pane, gazing at the horizon as if it was an old friend paying him a visit. "Home," he whispered, though there was no one to hear, "It reminds me so much of home." His gaze strolled from the waning sun towards the water. "But it reminds me of things more recent, too." At this he paused and removed his hand, "Well, Strata, ol' boy," he talked to himself, "it seems your life's about to come full-circle. However this next challenge comes out; it's going to be one hell of a fireworks show." He smiled at himself and sat on the bed. "Either way this could be the end of my travels; I'm officially out of places to go," he thought. His gaze turned back towards the window. "But, there's still hope…however small." He removed the small metal box that was magnetically attached to his belt. He opened it and from its three contents removed his most treasured one, a photograph. "Dear Alisha," he thought as he gazed at the picture, "one way or another I'm going to finished what was started."
Strata returned the picture to the small box which he returned to his belt. "Listen to me," he thought, running a hand through his fiery hair, "pondering like a monk or something—time for a book." He reached in his pack for one of his few books that he traveled with. "Let's see," he said rumbling around for a title, "I finished War of the Worlds again yesterday…Okay, here's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; I've only read that one like what, five times? I really need to get a new book or two. Still, it beats reading For Whom the Bell Tolls again." He laid his head on the pillow that Cyborg had left with the book in his hands. "Let's find out who Hyde is again."
"I still don't trust him," said Raven, "we still don't know who he is." She gazed at the team from her spot on the couch. The Titans were meeting in the main room as Strata read from his novel.
"Aw, come one Raven; he saved my tail versus the HIVE 5 back there," said Cyborg, "and a guy who can hit Gizmo that hard with an energy hammer can't be all bad."
"Yet the guy's clearly troubled," said Robin, "You saw how he got during lunch."
"That's just 'cause Raven was giving him the third degree," said Beast Boy. "Come on Raven can't you just be nice for once?"
"Nicety is earned, not given" replied the dark Titan, "And, Beast Boy, if you haven't noticed, everyone we seem to meet comes with a price." She rolled her eyes at the shape-shifter, "Do I need to bring HER up again?"
Beast Boy glowered at Raven, "No you don't," he muttered, pouting.
"I like the Strata," said Starfire, "he has been nothing but nice and friendly. I think it would be nice to try to be friends to him first, especially since he does not seem to have any."
"Guys, we did invite him to stay here tonight," said Cyborg, "we can't exactly go kicking him out now. As you said, Robin, we owe him that much."
"I don't see how we can just be this suspicious of everyone we meet," said Starfire, "will we never have anymore friends?"
"I don't see how we can be this blindly trusting of everyone we meet," said Raven, "are we to assume we won't ever get betrayed again?"
"No one's saying keep him here forever," said Beast Boy, "it's just one night."
"Unfortunately," said Raven, "the way you all are starting to like him I fear it may quickly become more than that."
"I'll keep an eye on him tonight," sad Cyborg, "I don't need much sleep."
"You sleep first then," said Raven, "I feel like meditating late tonight; I'll wake you up when it's your turn."
"It's settled then," said Robin. "Strata stays as we planned but under watch. Raven will take the first half of the night, followed by Cyborg."
TO BE CONTINUED…..
What's up with Strata's "home"? Why is he out of "places to go"? What else is in that metal box? Who is Alisha? Is Raven paranoid or is there something sinister to the Titans' newfound guest? And what the heck happened to Ragnarok in Chapter 1? That's what Chapter 5 is for! Please R 2,300 word updates earn at least that much. Thanks for reading my story?
