This takes place sometime after "Titan Rising".
I do not own anything
Also published on "Showing Something New"
"I'm in first! I'm in first! I'm in- wait! NO! Who threw that blue shell!" Beast Boy shouted.
Starfire giggled. "It was friend Terra."
"Terra!" Beast Boy said distraught, now finishing in 7th with Terra racing by and finishing in 5th.
"Hey, I had a blue shell, I wouldn't let that opportunity go to waste." Terra said with a smirk.
"But I was about to get the star for the cup in this race." He pouted.
"We can always play again." Starfire brought up, coming in 10th. "We would not have gotten it anyway because I came so late."
"Yeah," Terra agreed, "we can play as much as we need to to get you that star."
Beast Boy perked up a bit at that. "Rainbow Road?"
"Rainbow Road!" Terra affirmed.
Beast Boy pressed start and off they went.
Cyborg and Robin were sitting at the kitchen table, a pile of papers in front of them. It had been almost three weeks since one of the rooms flooded and they were still doing work on it.
One of the reasons why it's taking so long is that it was one of the rooms that they didn't really use. So when they opened the door and found the ceiling covered in mold, needless to say they all helped trying to clean. But when working with water, it could pan out any way. Meaning they had to call the professionals, which meant lots of paperwork.
On top of that, it had been almost two weeks since Terra came back. Her appearance was sudden and welcome by the team. Well, almost everyone.
Raven was still not so sure about her. She tried to set aside her discomfort but kept getting overwhelmed at times. Terra's a new person, someone who she doesn't know how to read quite yet, and she doesn't like that.
Currently Raven was sitting at the kitchen island trying to read. Trying being the jet word. Usually she could tune out the others playing games, but now there were new emotions and senses at play. Ones that she can't quite place yet, making it very difficult for her to tune everything out. She had been sitting there for almost an hour and only managed to read maybe thirty pages.
The more she kept feeling Terra's emotions and hearing her, the more stressed she got.
Cyborg signed and leaned back against the booth, tired of doing paper work.
Looking around the room he saw Robin was just as bored as he was, giving occasional sighes or huffs of annoyance.
Beast Boy, Starfire, and Terra were playing Mario Kart. Very loudly might he add.
Moving his gaze over to Raven, he got a spike of concern.
Her usual demeanor of calm and mostly peaceful was now replaced with fidgeting and overall anxiety, knee bouncing as she tried to get herself together and hands fidgeting with a part of her cloak that she brought up, holding it against her mouth.
Cyborg took his pencil and tapped the top of the paper Robin was working on.
After a few taps, Robin looked up.
Cyborg leaned forward and whispered. "I'm not sure what's going on with Rae, but she seemed really anxious."
Robin turned to look but made it look like he was stretching, as to not draw any attention to Raven.
Looking over briefly, he noticed what Cyborg was talking about. The only way to describe it was anxious. Usually she fidgeted here and there but not to this extent. Well, at least not in front of them.
"Should we do anything?" Robin whispered, leaning back forward.
"Maybe." Cyborg thought. "Go and get her away from the others. You don't have to get her to spill anything but try to calm her down a bit."
"Me?" Robin asked, a bit baffled that Cyborg wouldn't want to go help his "little sister".
"She talks to you more than she does to me." Cyborg sighed in defeat. "If it's anything major or important, let me know."
"Where do you think I should take her?" Robin asked, glancing back at Raven.
Cyborg shrugged. "Training room, outside, office, anywhere but here."
"Alright." Robin straightened his papers and put them back in the correct piles. Taking a deep breath in, he stood up and walked over to Raven.
She was still in the same position when Robin went over to the other side of the island and leaned against the counter.
Raven looked up, keeping her hand with her cloak up.
"Hey, you seem a bit stressed." Robin started, noticing her breath was slightly faster than normal. "Do you want to go outside?" He figured that would be the best place to go. Have her get some fresh air.
Looking down at the counter, she thought about it. She was going to decline and say that she was fine, and then Terra laughed, filling her with unknown emotions that weren't her own.
Her reaction didn't go unseen by Robin. He'd have to keep an eye on that more or ask her about it.
Silently, she closed her book and looked up, nodding.
Robin nodded and tilted his head to the door, signaling her to follow him.
A bit more quickly than usual, she stood up and followed him out the main room door.
Once they got out of the room, they waited for the elevator. It came fairly quickly and they headed down to the main floor.
"Are you ok with going down to the beach?" Robin asked, not knowing if that would make her more stressed or not.
She nodded with a small "yeah."
Robin nodded, more to himself if anything.
He had noticed for the past few weeks that she had been a bit more, on edge he'd say.
If he had to take a guess he'd put his money on the fact that Terra was back and seemingly staying for good.
It took a good minute or so to get to the ground floor and they spent that moment in silence. There really wasn't a need to speak right now. And Raven was thankful for that. Not knowing how she'd react at the moment.
Once the elevator got to the bottom, they walked to the door.
"Wait." Robin said, veering off to the side.
Raven stopped and watched him go over to a closet, pulling out a few multicolored buckets. She gave him a questioning look.
"Just in case." He said, closing the door and walking back beside her out the door.
Once they got outside, Robin led Raven down to the shore line.
Taking off their shoes and placing them a good distance away from the water, they walked along the water line.
They walked for a few minutes in silence still. Robin would glance over at Raven every now and then to check her demeanor and she seemed to calm down slightly.
"So," he braved, figuring she seemed stable enough, "what happened back there?"
"Nothing happened." She denied. "I'm fine."
Robin gave her a disbelieving look. "Really?"
"Really."
Robin shrugged. She'd talk about it when she was ready.
Walking a bit more they had now walked halfway around the island to the beachy side.
Robin then decided that now would be a good time for a bit of stimulation. "Come on." He sat down in the sand and started scooping sand into one of the buckets.
Raven bent down on her knees and picked up one of the buckets, watching.
Robin took off his gloves as he scooped sand in his bucket. Every once in a while he would pat it down between layers to keep it intact.
When the sand reached the top of the bucket, he picked it up and quickly turned it over and placed it on the sand.
Raven watched as he patted the top and the sides of the bucket, making sure the sand didn't stick and looked up at her.
"Are you ready to see the most amazing sand castle in your life?" He smiled confidently.
Raven just rolled her eyes, knowing it wasn't going to stick together enough to stay.
"Do do dooo, bum bum!" Robin sang as he slowly lifted up the bucket from the ground, smile widening when the bottom showed intact.
Slowly he continued to lift the bucket and his face fell when the rest of the sandcastle fell apart.
Raven breathed out in amusement, knowing that would be the outcome and at the look of pure sadness on his face.
"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, chuckles." Robin rolled his eyes, and handed Raven a bucket. "Here, see if you can do better." He challenged.
Raven accepted the bucket and the challenge. "I will." Standing up, she took another bucket as well.
Robin was about to ask but decided to just let her do her thing.
Taking one of the buckets, she got closer to the shore line, rolling up her sleeves and filling it with sand that was wetter than the almost bone dry sand Robin used.
Walking back, a wave came up behind her a bit higher than anticipated and got her right up to her knees.
Yelling a bit in surprise, Raven almost dropped her bucket, earning a chuckle from Robin.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, chuckles." She mocked, planting the wet sand bucket in the sand and taking off her semi wet cloak, not bothering to fold it as she placed it away from her in the sand.
"So, think the tides coming in?" He grinned.
"I would say that is an accurate statement." Raven mumbled, filling the other bucket a bit with some dry sand.
Robin watched as she then added some wet sand, alternating the layers with dry and wet.
Finishing off the layers with some dry sand, she lifted it up with a heft and quickly overturned it and planted it on the ground, the wet sand making it heavier.
She waited a few seconds and took hold of the bucket, bringing it up slowly.
Robin watched intently as she lifted it up a third of the way, half way, two thirds, and then completely off as she revealed a perfectly intact sandcastle, even the detailing in the bucket showed on the sand.
"Wow." He said impressed.
Raven placed the bucket down with a satisfied nod.
"You know what you do when these are done?" Robin asked.
Raven looked at him and tilted her head a tad in a question.
"You do this!" Robin grinned as he lunged for her sandcastle, completely demolishing it with his hands.
"Hey!" Raven exclaimed, shocked that he would destroy her perfect sandcastle.
When nothing was left of her castle but a sad pile of wet sand, he looked up at her with a dopey smile.
Raven lifted her head and narrowed her eyes in a challenge. Two can play at that game.
Leaning over to his sandcastle, she made a grab for it but was surprised when Robin lunged at her side, tackling her away from his castle.
Sputtering the sand out of her mouth, she looked up from the ground at Robin holding up his hands in defense in front of his castle. "My crappy little castle and I won't go down without a fight."
Raven sat up, not impressed whatsoever. She was going to stand up and walk away from it all together maturely. Then Robin gave her a look that said "I knew you wouldn't do it."
That did it.
Lunging at him, she knocked him backwards, smooching his poor little sandcastle under him.
Taking a handful of sand, he dropped it on her head, ruffling the sand in her hair.
Protesting, Raven pushed off him and took a handful of sand herself and smashed it across his face.
Thankful for his mask, Robin sputtered and spit the sand out of his mouth as Raven got off of him, giving him a look that said "you brought that upon yourself."
"Ok," Robin whipped at his mouth, "I deserved that. Fair. Wanna do something else?"
"Like what?" Raven breathed heavily, a bit flushed at the playfulness and close contact, catching her breath.
They sat there, looking at each other like idiots while Robin thought.
Suddenly figuring something out, he got up and walked past Raven, stopping at the shore line and rolling up his pants to his knees the best he could and started digging in the sand, the waves just barely touching him.
Raven watched him dig for a few seconds before she came over in front of him and bent down on her feet, watching to see what he was doing.
After a bit more digging he grinned and declared, "got one!"
"Got wha-" Raven tried to ask before she stumbled back, Robin practically throwing whatever he found at her.
Catching herself on her hands before her back hit the wet sand, she looked down to see what hit her but was left with nothing but a small hole in the sand.
"What the hell was that?!" She asked, a bit angrily.
Robin made a reach for the small hole but was too slow when a wave came up and filled the hole back up.
A bit disappointed that he didn't catch it in time, he looked up to try to explain what it was but stopped when he saw that the wave once again got Raven. But this time, it got her entire left side.
Both blinking in shock as Raven rubbed her eyes, Robin started to laugh lightly.
"You've got a bit of ocean on you there."
Getting the salt water out of her eyes, she just stared at him deadpanned. "No, you don't say."
"Oh yeah." he smiled. "It's all over your, everywhere actually."
Raven made a face in a mocking manner and Robin full on laughed.
"Now, can you tell me what that was you threw at me?" Raven asked.
"I didn't throw it at you." He said. There was a small crab skeleton in her hair. Leaning closer, he made a reach for it but she leaned back away from him. "There's something in your hair." He explained.
Letting him get it, he pulled out the skeleton gently and held it out for her to see it. "It was a sand crab" he looked at the very dead one in his fingers. "Well, an alive one." He tossed it back in the water, wishing it an eternal peaceful rest.
"And, you just found it," Raven said slowly and pointed to the ground, "in the sand?"
"Yep." Robin nodded. "Let's find another one."
Deciding that she was already wet enough, she fully sat down, her legs to the side and right arm supporting her as she watched Robin dig another hole.
"You know, you could help." Robin pointed out as he scooped another pile of sand, sifting through it on the ground.
Raven just ignored him and continued to watch.
After another scoop and a half, Robin found another one. "Oh, look!" He held out his hands to Raven, a tiny sand crab just barely the size of his fingernail cusped in his hands.
She leaned forward and looked in awe of how small it was. That was definitely not the size of the one Robin threw at her earlier.
Taking one of her hands, Robin brought her fingers together and tilted his hand onto hers, dropping the tiny crab into her palm.
Bringing it up to her face so she could see it better, she smiled softly slightly when it tried to dig through the gaps of her fingers.
"You're so tiny." She whispered to the crab.
Robin sat back and watched with a soft smile as she fiddled with the crab.
After about a minute, she lowered her hand and let the crab walk off, burying in the sand and disappearing.
"Do you want to find more?" Robin asked.
Watching the hole where the crab dug for a second longer she nodded.
Getting up and walking over to where their buckets layed, Robin picked one of the bigger ones and brought it to the water, filling it up when a wave rolled in.
Raven raised an eyebrow when he came and sat back down across from her.
"It's so we can house them for a little bit." Robin explained, filling about half of the bucket with sand, causing some of the water to splash out.
Starting another hole, he only scooped once before he found another one. This time it was a bit bigger than the baby one. Showing it to Raven, he then plopped it in the water, both watching as it burrowed in the sand.
Raven gave a small smirk of amusement and started to dig for some herself.
Watching her dig for a moment, Robin smiled, glad that she seemed to be feeling better.
They dug together for a good five minutes before Robin braved the subject again, a good amount of crabs in the bucket.
"So, I know you said you were fine," he started, kinda nervous, "but it really didn't look like you were ok. Are you sure nothing was wrong?"
Raven took a sudden interest in digging her hole, seemingly ignoring his question.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. We're just worried."
Raven sighed, knowing she'd have to face it sooner or later. "Is it really that noticeable?"
"I mean kinda." He admitted, leaning back on his hands, ready to listen to what she had to say. "I don't know if the other two noticed but Cyborg and I did. What's going on?"
She was silent for a bit, trying to think of how she was going to say this. Trying to think of what she felt.
Robin mistook her silence for ignoring again and asked another question.
"Is it me?"
Raven exhaled in slight amusement and shook her head. "No, It's not you."
"Is it Beast Boy?"
She shook her head again.
"Is Star bothering you again about "girl activities"?"
"No."
"Terra?"
He took her face turned suddenly serious and fiddling with the sand as a yes.
"Did she do anything?"
"No," Raven took a handful of sand and let it fall through her fingers, looking at him. "It's just, I don't know. It's hard to explain." She mumbled, looking away.
Robin looked back to the water, watching the waves come in as he thought.
"Is it an empathy thing?"
She nodded. "You know how I can feel your guys's emotions?"
Robin nodded.
"Well everything you all feel is, normal to me." She took her right hand and dug it into the sand, burying it and then taking it out. "But the emotions that are coming from her are just so," she squinted her eyes as she recalled the feelings, not knowing how to describe them and shaking her head. "I don't know. They almost feel fake."
"No, that's not the word." She said at Robin's confused face. "It's like there are multiple emotions going on on top of the normal ones." She finally found a way to describe it. "And it just gets so loud and confusing, I can't sence what she's feeling because there's so much going on."
Robin nodded as he took it all in, trying to make sence of it himself.
"Does that sort of make sence?" She asked when he didn't respond.
Robin nodded. "Yeah, it's just kinda confusing. I can't imagine how that must make you feel."
Raven scoffed. "Overwhelmed to say the least." She mumbled.
"I bet." Robin agreed, now starting to see how her behavior these past few weeks made sense. "And probably overstimulated too huh?"
Just barely, she nodded.
"Well, I would usually try to offer some kind of accommodations, but I don't know what you need."
"I don't really know either." She admitted, finding another crab in her fidgeting in the sand and depositing it in the bucket.
"Do I need to make assigned seats?" He joked earning a smile from her. "Keep her away from you?"
"Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way really. It doesn't matter where we sit, I will be able to sence her anywhere in the tower."
"Can you feel her now?"
Raven shook her head. "Too far. I can only feel you."
"Well," Robin thought out loud, "unfortunately for you, we can't just kick her off."
Raven faked disappointment, shaking her head in also faked sorrow.
Robin smiled softly. "But you can have breaks when you need them." He offered. "Go outside, the roof, your room, wherever. Just let us know when you need one."
"And if that's multiple times a day?" She asked, looking at him nervously.
"Then it's multiple times a day." He shrugged. "You have the right to feel comfortable in your house just as much as she does."
Robin was relieved when she nodded in agreement.
"I know you don't really like her too much and are very weary of her, but," he thought, trying to come up with something but nothing really coming to mind other than be nice. Raven looked at him expectantly. "I got nothing." He admitted. "I don't want to tell you to give her another chance because that's up to you. Just, try not to take it all out on her. Beast Boys enough." He joked.
Raven smiled slightly. "I'll do my best."
"That's all I ask." Robin smiled back. "Now, how about we let these crabs go and then go inside."
Raven nodded in agreement and tilted the bucket over gently, letting the water go out first and then carefully scraping the sand out and watched as the crabs scurried out of the bucket and into the sand, disappearing when a wave came and took them out to sea.
After they rinsed out their buckets in the water and picked up Raven's cloak and their shoes, they walked back to the tower.
"You know," Raven started, "when you said they were sand crabs, I was thinking about the ones with the pinchers."
"Like the ones people eat?" Robin asked as they got in the elevator and pressed the button for the main room and their bedrooms.
"Yeah. Like the bigger ones. I didn't know they could be that small."
"They kind of tickle don't they?"
"Yeah, it felt weird. The big ones."
When they started nearing the floor, Robin spoke again.
"I'm guessing your going to take a shower?" He asked.
Raven nodded in affirmation.
"Will we see you for the rest of the day?"
Raven shrugged. "That depends. What's for dinner?"
"I'm pretty sure chicken and burgers."
Raven scrunched her nose a bit in distaste.
"What would the lady prefer that would grace us with her presence?" He said sarcastically with a smile.
"Make it noodles and you have a guarantee you'll see me tonight."
"Done!" Robin exclaimed. "Now to break the news to Cyborg." He dreaded as the door opened.
"Just tell him I asked for it." Raven suggested as she made a move to turn left when Robin went straight to the common room.
"And Robin,"
He turned around, just as he was about to walk in.
"Thank you, really, for noticing and helping me. It means a lot to me." She looked away, holding her cloak closer to her in her arms.
Those words to anyone else might seem insignificant. But to Robin, coming from Raven, ment the world to him.
Resisting the urge to hug her, he just smiled a big genuine smile, hoping she would feel his happiness and love.
She did.
Holding a hand up in goodbye, she turned down the hallway and headed for her room to collect her things for her shower.
Walking back in the main room, Robin was met with a very similar scene.
Instead of playing Mario Kart, the three on the couch decided to watch some tv. It was a show Robin recognized but couldn't quite remember the name of. His missing presence seemingly unknown to them.
Shrugging, he walked back over to the kitchen table, Cyborg still working on paperwork.
When he sat back down, he looked up and scanned the room for Raven. When his search came up empty, he looked at Robin for answers.
"She's been feeling more overwhelmed not that Terra's back." he made sure he said quietly, so that no wandering ears could hear. "We agreed on her being able to take a break whenever she needs it, and to just let us know when she needs one."
Cyborg nodded, agreeing with their decision. "Where is she now?"
"She's taking a shower. But she'll be back for dinner."
"And you know that for sure because?" Cyborg asked, both of them knowing fully well that Raven will skip meals to avoid certain things or people. And lately, she had been doing that more and more.
"Because I may or may not have promised her noodles for dinner." Robin said innocently, taking a stack of paper to work on.
"But weren't we doing burgers and chicken?" Cyborg asked, confused.
"Yeah, but that was the only way she'd come out tonight. That and she left her book in here." Robin nodded his head to where her book still layed on the kitchen island.
"She'd have to come back for that for sure." Cyborg agreed with a smirk. "Alright. Hey, push pause for a second." He hollered over to the couch.
With a groan, the tv got paused and three heads turned to look his way.
"Change of plans, we're having noodles for dinner."
Surprisingly, there was no uproar of protests.
"Ok." Starfire said.
"That sounds good." Terra agreed.
"Can you-"
"Yes I can make you your vegetarian sauce." Cyborg sighed.
Beast Boy nodded with a smile and turned back around, unpausing the tv.
Cyborg sighed and shook his head. "The things I do for this girl. So, where'd you two go?"
"We just went down to the beach. Seemed to help calm her down."
"That's a good thing to know next time." Cyborg noted to himself. "So, do you think she'll come around and try to be friends?" He asked, meaning about Terra.
Robin sighed. "Honestly, I have no idea. Well just have to wait and see."
Little did they know, after they all had a pleasant dinner together, Terra was emailing Slade new information she learned throughout her stay.
This email about Raven. Specifically, about how easily she can become overwhelmed and overstimulated, and how they can use that against her. Also adding how Robin and Cyborg seem to be her go to when she's in a difficult state, noting how that can also be used against her if they were taken away, leaving her even more vulnerable. Both mentally and emotionally.
Raven has anxiety. There's no way she doesn't.
If you've been to a beach in the Eastern coast of the US, you have probable seen these crabs in the sand that kind of look like, chunky bullets?? I don't know how to describe them. But anyway. They're called bullet crabs. They're harmless and just dig in the sand.
I know the Titans are on the west coast. Just pretend the crabs exist over there.