Season 1, Episode 7

One Short Day

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"Who can saaay if I've been chaaanged for the better..."

Raven was starting to rethink this shopping trip.

"But because I knew you..."

"Starfire?"

"I have been CHAAANGED..."

"Um, Starfire?"

"For the good!" Starfire proudly sang the last note, lifting her arms in the air and closing her eyes.

Raven gave a weak smile to a passing employee, who motioned for them to keep the noise down. "I don't think that's quite how the line goes."

The mall was huge, bigger than she'd feared. Hundreds- probably thousands, now that she looked closer- of people cluttered the walkways and store entrances, hurried families trying to keep everyone together alongside moody teenagers wandering aimlessly. Starfire deftly moved aside to dodge one such kid, who barely noticed them over the music blaring from his headphones. "Perhaps not," she admitted, "but I do hope they play the song again!"

Glaring at the oblivious teen, Raven sidestepped as well, following her friend. "Personally, I think I've heard enough sappy pop songs for one day."

"Oh, but there is such emotion in the music!" Starfire turned, beaming. "Beast Boy told me all about it- it's a wonderful story, about a girl that everyone believes is evil, but she truly is not! I think you would like it..."

Raven had stopped. Trailing off, Starfire blinked. "Um, I am sorry- I did not mean to say that-"

"No, it's fine." She hesitated. "Actually, it sounds interesting."

"Wonderful!" Grinning again, Starfire looked back at the bright scene before them. "So, what should we do now?"

Raven shrugged. "Where do you usually go?"

"I have never been here!"

"...You're kidding." She stared at the Tamaranean girl. "You're always asking us to go with you."

For a second, her smile faltered. "Well, the others were busy each time. And I don't think I would be having the fun if I arrived here by myself."

"Huh." A young girl dashed past, nearly tripping on Raven's cloak. "Maybe not."

They kept walking, with a few detours whenever a store display window caught Starfire's attention. Eventually, they stopped at a small coffee shop upon her insistence that she'd never had 'the strange Earth drink that makes you stay awake!'

Entering, Raven pulled her hood a little lower, but Starfire squealed in delight and rushed forward. She leaned on the counter, staring up at the different menus. "What should I purchase? Perhaps the cap... the capp-yu..."

"Cappuccino?" The young man behind the register grinned. "I think you'll like it, lady. We make 'em really good."

Her eyes lit up. "Splendid!" With a spin, she smiled back at Raven. "Isn't this wonderful! Another new drink to try!"

"Another?" Raven sighed. "Starfire, is this going to be mustard all over again?"

She frowned. "But that was not a true drink, correct? And this cappuccino is!"

"Well, yeah, but-"

The guy ringing up the order interrupted. "Starfire, huh? Wow, that's a beautiful name."

Raven narrowed her eyes, stepping forward. "I'll just have an ice water." She placed a few dollar bills on the counter.

He paled slightly, unintentionally taking a step back from her glare. "Uh, y-yeah. Comin' right up."

Starfire took a seat at one of the booths. "Is something wrong?" she asked. "You seem upset."

"I'm fine." Raven stole a suspicious glance back at the counter. "Something about that guy seems... I don't know."

She considered this, resting her chin on her hands. "He seemed perfectly normal," she said with a frown. "Did you sense something with your magic?"

"No, it's just-" She sighed, sitting down as well. "Forget it. It's probably nothing."

Starfire looked down, idly sliding a stack of napkins from one side of the table to the other. "But you do not trust him?"

"Well, I'm not sure-"

"I imagine it must be difficult to focus on the good in people."

Raven's mouth opened slightly, and she shook her head, surprised. "What?" she managed. It was easy to forget that Starfire had no problem switching from small talk to more personal topics.

This time, though, she hesitated. "I may be wrong," she said quickly. "But when we were- when I had your powers, I realized how easy it was to let emotions lead me. To accidentally cause destruction. It seemed that, maybe, the best way to keep from feeling the pain would be to draw away from people."

One of the employees set their drinks on the table. Starfire shrugged. "I'm glad you have not done that."

It was... kind of a lot to take in. Raven looked down, unwilling to match the eager, hopeful expression in her friend's bright green eyes. "Thanks," she said quietly.

"I think I should be doing the thanking," she admitted. Seeing Raven's confused expression, she continued, "It probably was not easy to tell me about your past. That truly means a lot."

"...Good point," Raven finally said. It probably wasn't the most fitting response, and Starfire giggled. They both sipped their drinks quietly as the crowds passed by the storefront.

"Can I ask you something?" Starfire nodded, and Raven set the cup down. "You said you need joyful thoughts to start flying, right? I don't think you ever told me what yours is."

She looked out at the people again. "I don't know if I can do the explaining very well," she began. "It's more of a feeling, I think. The people in this city- it has something to do with them."

Raven nodded, listening as Starfire continued. "I need to fly to help them. But I also think I need their help... to fly?" Her voice rose, as if she was unsure. "When I see them, I know that I am meant to use my powers to defend others. So when I need to fly, I think about how lucky I am."

Thinking, Raven was silent for a few minutes. "Perhaps that did not make the sense?" Starfire said nervously.

"No, it did." Looking up, she also glanced out at the crowds. "I just don't often think of my powers like that. Lucky."

Starfire nodded. The quiet, pensive atmosphere completely changed when she said brightly, "So what do friends usually do at the mall?"

A slight smile appeared on Raven's face. "Not sure," she said. "Maybe just this. Or shopping."

Leaping up from the seat, Starfire grinned. "Then shopping it is!"

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(At the end of the episode, Raven asked Starfire if she wanted to go to the mall. That's where this came from. Just so you know.)

You guys. Just when I think this show cannot possibly get any more ridiculous, it does. EVERY TIME.

I am, of course, referring to the Puppet King.

A magic puppet that wants to take over the world by trapping the souls of the Titans inside other, tinier puppets, and also wants to use the 'zombie' bodies to do his bidding? That's awesomely inspired, hilariously stupid, and all-around insane all at once. I would love to be in the room where these writers come up with stuff like this.

Speaking of which, the Puppet King had a strangely laid-back voice. I think they were trying to do something similar to Slade's terrifying-yet-somehow-almost-polite quality, but I don't think it worked. The PK sounded like he literally did not care about what was going on, like a lethargic housecat. On drugs. Very slow drugs. And honestly, that made his scenes even more bizarre and funny, so I guess it worked.

Now then, since I love the villains, why didn't I write about him? I honestly don't know. I couldn't really think of anything, and I felt like Starfire and Raven had a lot of character development, so I figured I'd run with that instead. Maybe I'll give this guy a story if he shows up again.

Also, seeing the team fight each other was awesome.

GOLDANGIT RAVEN. Why must you pretend the bonding and stuff from the last episode didn't even happen? Beast Boy was being a classy dude, admitting that he misjudged you... and now it's like we're back to square one. Oh well. At least we got Raven finally explaining her backstory.

...Off-screen. She says, "I was born in a place called Azarath..." and that's it. You guys, I still don't know what her deal is. I just want to learn about our resident dangerous magical monster-fighter! Why must this show torture me so, yo? Low.

But honestly, this episode gave a ton of character development to both girls. They bonded over their powers and personalities, even though they're completely different. There's also a complex theme about how emotions work, looking at joy, anger, and balance, which is pretty impressive, especially when a lot of cartoons stick to 'Believe in yourself' and stuff like that. I think I'm starting to understand why people love these characters so much.

Funny stuff: The switch is priceless. Starfire's face with Raven's expression of 'This situation is so stupid I'm amazed my brain still works' is gold.

To escape the zombies, Starfire in Raven's body levitates them both with magic. Two characters who can normally fly perfectly fine are now stuttering and dragging through the air quite slowly, while screaming at the top of their lungs... it's a good time.

It took Raven a while to figure out how to shoot starbolts, so for the majority of the episode, she just kicked enemies in the face. Over and over. It was glorious.

There were probably more, but I didn't catch a whole lot this time.

The first season has 10 episodes, right? Let's see if I can finish in the next few weeks! (That deadline in particular is just because school's been pretty busy, and I'm likely to have a much more difficult schedule near the end of May. I'll probably take a break for a while, then get to Season 2 in the summer.)

I know this wasn't the most dramatic or action-packed story, but I'm looking to try more action and/or comedy in the next ones.