Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.


ROBYN

About a week has passed since that long night when we took down Rose and her little gang. We haven't heard anything out of the HIVE, no reports of crimes or anything from them; they're taking advantage of that clean slate.

Speaking of Rose though: she's gone. She stayed in that cell for all of a day before she just vanished at night. No signs of anything being broken, she just dissapeared. Someone must have gotten the key. I can't say I'm surprised though, it's just like Rose to have a backup plan.

You know what though? I'm not going to worry until she actually starts acting up again. If we worry all the time, we'll wear ourselves out quick.

With our new spare time, me and Cy have made a lot of progress on remodeling the tower. Starfire helps sometimes to carry things around too. Changeling and Crow still mostly keep to themselves, but have become a bit more social. It mostly shows for Crow, who used to avoid speaking to anyone as if he was being held at knifepoint should he dare attempt it. Changeling's purchase of several board games and movies actually helped bring the team together, as we all watched a movie together a few days ago (though I'm not sure how much Starfire understood it).

Right, Starfire. I've been talking with my dear old mum to see about borrowing a motherbox to get Star home. Boom Tube tech is rather dangerous though, so I think Brianna is going to demand someone from the League tag along for safety. I tried asking Crow if he had some spell that could teleport us there, which he did actually, but being able to safely perform the spell would involve psychically linking to Star's mind and digging through his memories to get a good lock on Tamaran, which Star was not fine with, so we're opting for Boom Tube tech.

I'm not sure what the plan is when Starfire gets home. Do we just lose him? I know he's fighting a war and all there, so it's probably more important to him than sitting around on Earth. It'll just be a shame to lose him. I know we haven't really know each other for long and all but… Yeah.

Okay, Crow. I haven't really confronted him about the whole demon thing. I don't think it's necessary. I have my own secrets that I don't want to share, so I'll just respect his privacy as long as it doesn't become an issue. I'm curious about the fact that he can throw daggers. Gotta wonder what else he's hiding. When he's not working he's cleaning, and only actually relaxes when Changeling forces him to.

There isn't much to say about Changeling beyond that she enjoys relaxing more than actually helping us build the tower. Not to say she doesn't help some, but she only puts in the minimum shifts. She moreso spends her time on hobbies than anything else.

Yeah, uh… That's what's been happening. Not really anything else we've had to do. No crimes really… It's odd to have free time. I'm used to always be training and stuff. I mean, I'm training right now, waiting for Crow to finish dinner. Starfire is, uh, somewhere? Cyborg is fiddling with the T.V. Changeling bought a week ago; beats me why, and Changeling is bothering Crow. I use the term 'bothering' loosely here, I doubt Crow minds.

Er, anyways.

So, see, since we saved the city and all that, we've kinda become celebrities, sorta. We've actually had some reporters brave our rickety, steel beam bridge to ask for interviews. Changeling mostly dealt with them, though everyone but Crow got involved to some extent. The reporters actually asked for him, but Changeling told them he was out at the moment (even though he wasn't at all). I trust Changeling to be acting in Crow's best interests and I don't trust the media myself, so I approve of keeping Crow out of their reach.

Aside from that… Ugh, I guess I should address this… The mayor sort of invited us to a party he's having tonight (in about an hour from now). It's partially just a political thing; you know, talk with his supporters and all that, show off said supporters to the media. I don't really want to go, but I kinda feel we should. I'm not flying with Batwoman anymore, so public relations are a thing I actually have to worry about now.

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping Changeling will deal with most of this too, but I'll still have to go to the party. The others are tagging along as well, Star because he sees it as his duty to stick by me when this stuff happens, Cy just because she's curious, and Crow probably just wants to stick around Changeling (though I did hear him mention something about 'seeing a real party').

I don't care what Changeling says this time though, I'm wearing the goddamn tux… and I should probably get ready soon.

MARIA

It's a shame Rob won't wear the dress again. She looked rather delicious in it.

That being said, I, at least, finally get to wear something fancy tonight. It's been forever since I got to wear one of those outfits stored in the back of my closet. Granted, most of those were obtained for my old job, but they still look great.

I am totally going to be jailbait tonight; you know, as if I wasn't totally that already.

All I need is to get my hair right, which isn't easy. I've tried doing it on my own for the last ten minutes, before realizing it's really hard to do it on your own. That's why I'm looking for Ruban, who has apparently disappeared. I wonder where he's gone off to…

I have to say, now that I'm wandering around, that heels are just as impractical as I remember. I'm used to them, having utilized them plenty before, and they're sorta similar to the platforms in my usual outfit, and it's not like I'm using stilettos, but still.

Getting off track. Let's see… He's not in his room, and he didn't come to mine, and he's not cleaning around the tower from what I can tell, so where…

Oh! Of course, the kitchen! Duh, where else would he be?

"Wait, why would he be in the kitchen?" I muse. "I told him they'd be serving food there. I guess I should go ask him then, assuming I'm right about where he is."

I make my way over to the kitchen, keeping my speed down to avoid tripping. The kitchen comes into view, and the door slides open as always when I walk up to it.

My deduction was right, and Ruban is indeed in the kitchen. He's not actually making a meal, and seems to be… Mixing a drink? He has two cups in his hands, one with liquid inside. As I watch, he puckers his lips and breaths out a thin wisp of fire that sets the surface of the drink alight. He then raises the drink up high and, to my shock, tosses the liquid to the side, only to catch it with the other cup. He does this several times, with the liquid streaming fire in the air as he tosses it.

He finishes after a minute or two, bowing as he does so and presenting the drink to an imaginary patron. He holds the position for only a moment before standing up, smiling to himself, and downing the drink.

"So," I say once he finishes, causing him to startle and jump. Curiously, he seems to hide the cups behind his back, "this is where you are."

"H-Hi Maria." He stammers, shifting from foot to foot.

"What were you doing?" I ask. It's probably best to get his nervousness out of the way now. It's unlikely that he was doing anything that actually warrants being nervous.

"P-Practicing." He mumbles. "Flaming cocktail, Blue Blazer."

I blink, processing this. "You know how to mix drinks? Flaming ones?"

"Y-Yes. It was p-part of my training on Azarath." He stammers. "And they're tasty…"

"You do know they're alcoholic, right?" I ask, a bit worried.

"Yes." He nods rapidly. "I'm resistant."

"It's a demon thing?" I smirk.

"Uh-huh." He murmurs. "It takes a lot to get me drunk. About ten in an hour I think."

"All the same, maybe don't do that with others around. You're too young by law to be drinking." I warn.

"Oh… Okay." He says, looking quite nervous. "D-Don't tell anyone?"

"Of course not." I snort. "You don't need to worry." And he really doesn't, after all, considering my old job, I can't really berate him. Plus, the whole half-demon thing means that he isn't really at risk unless he goes completely overboard. "Anyways, I came here to ask for your help."

"Hair?" He asks, instantly perking up. "You need help with your hair?"

"How could you tell?" I grin, "it's only a total mess from me trying to get it right for the last ten minutes."

"I can fix it!" He says excitedly, bouncing in place. "Please?"

"That was the idea." I smile. "Thanks Ru."

I'm trying not to giggle the whole time Crow drags me back to my room by my arm. I'm not sure what about being able to do my hair excites him, but I'm not going to complain, it's adorable.

"Sit, sit!" He insists, all but shoving me into the chair. "How do you want it?"

"Straight," I say, "but bigger at the top."

"Bigger at the top…" Crow murmurs, picking up the cone. "Do you have any hair supports?"

"No." I barely refrain from shaking my head, remembering at the last moment that Crow is brushing.

"We'll need one." Crow says simply. "I can make one. If I use magic, it should only take a minute or two."

"Is that the only option?" I ask.

"If I had more time, I could carve one from wood, but an hour is not quite enough." He admits. "Anyways, the problem is getting your hair to stay straight. You do have gel, right?"

"Yep, I have that at least."

"Good, because we're going to need quite a bit…"


If this chapter seems a bit off, that's because it is. I really didn't know what to do here, and just dove in. By the way, 'hair support' just means those plastic arches you put under your hair to hold them up. I couldn't remember the name for them, so… yeah.

Just a generic chapter introducing one of the plots that take place between the two arcs. By the way, that drink Crow was making, a Blue Blazer cocktail, is his favourite drink. All the other Titans like differents types of pop (soda, whatever, we call it pop where I live) while Crow likes an alcoholic drink.

This is also me mentioning another one of Crow's racial quirks; that is, high tolerance to alcohol. I came up with the idea from some old myth, I think it was about Bastet, an egyptian goddess, where they pacified her by getting her drunk, and needed a whole lake to do it. I decided it would be cool if demons, as a species, just had high alcohol tolerance, which could be why they are associated with decadence (when in reality, they usually just don't feel the buzz at all).

Where did Crow get the stuff necessary to mix the drink? He made it with magic of course. There's very little you can't do with ritual magic, and something as easy as a bit of alcohol barely has any cost to summon.

To be honest, I don't have much of a plan for the party, just a gut feeling. We'll see where this goes.


mayvicbot: Don't worry, I can't stop gushing over Ruban myself (which probably isn't a good thing, considering I'm the writer, but hey, it's worked so far).

A person: I'm not sure it it's race, species, genus…. Pah, whatever. Everyone else says race, so we'll use race (even if it's almost definitely inaccurate). Hex taking over just seemed to make sense to me when I remember that Changeling doesn't actually have any leadership experience. Kid Flash I just sorta threw in there so I could introduce her now rather than having her show up randomly later. I briefly considered having KF not put together Changeling's relationship with Crow and ask her out, but scrapped it when I realized it was rather out of place considering they had all just finished capturing villains, poor timing and all that, so I went with the other option. Cyborg and Ruban? We'll see, my plans for Cyborg aren't finalized yet.

Origami Stars: KF is a lot of fun. Her outside perspective on the Titans is fun to play with, and she'll give me a lot to work with in regards to the HIVE. Expect to see more of her in the future.