Much to do... Much, much to do. Cannot talk much... so I leave you here
with the newest chappy. Rejoice.
~ The Raven's Omen - Chapter 4
Raven stirred in what she thought would be heaps of metal from the mistress' lab, but what she felt instead was the soft, cool comfort of her own bed. She twitched and curled her fingers, touching the silky fabric with her fingertips. Opening her right eye, she saw the single window on the secluded room partly open; birds sat on the sill holding twigs.
She moved her arms to her sides, though they felt unusually numb. Raven tilted her head to see why; however, it was twilight outside and too dark to see. The teen closed her eyes again, not sure why she was back home. But she didn't argue... the peace and tranquility eased her soul. Finally, she could sit back and meditate.
"Would you just pick it up already?!"
"You are NOT the boss of me! I need to find the right size first!!"
Raven closed her eyes tightly and cringed. 'Oh, great,' she thought angrily. There were others in the room.
"Just pick one!! Home ain't going to collapse because of that!"
"How would you know?!"
A bolt of energy surged in Raven as she forgot all about her bodily pain and shot straight up, scowling. She looked around the room sharply, looking for whoever was yelling. But excluding her, there was nobody else in the room. She arched her eyebrow, seeing only a first-aid kit by the coffee table, her attire laid over an armchair and the two birds at the window.
"I must be hearing things or something," she muttered to herself, not hearing a creak at the door and someone coming in. "I can't get up on my feet yet, so I must have taken a big hit of something like that..."
Raven now got a chance to look down at her numb arms and legs. They were all wrapped tightly in bandages; some spots had blood oozing out. Her head started spinning again and she lay back down to rest.
Her head was uncomfortably shifted to the right, away from the door. She slowly adjusted her head to the left, when her eyes met two cold, beady eyeballs. She jumped nearly five feet in the air in response of the shock, and she was briefly hyperventilating. When she relaxed a bit, she growled in infuriation when she saw it was a dog.
"If you ever do that again to me, BeastBoy, I swear I'll kill you!!" she scolded.
But the dog wagged its tail and looked ahead with a doggie grin. Raven's grimace slowly faded when she realized that wasn't BeastBoy.
"Oh, Raven! You are awake!!" shouted the quirky voice of Starfire. "I am so happy of your wellbeing!"
Starfire ran to Raven with outstretched arms and picked her up in a hug. Raven's face flushed both in embarrassment and displeasure.
"I'm fine," she muttered in monotone.
"Me, Robin, Cyborg and BeastBoy have been anticipating of your awakening for almost four hours!" Starfire said as she put Raven down.
Raven had not listened to what Starfire had said.
"Erm... Starfire?" she asked reluctantly.
"Yes, Raven?"
"Why is there a dog in the Tower?"
"Oh, I see you have not been introduced yet! Goldie here was rescued by BeastBoy earlier today!" she said with a grin.
Raven arched an eyebrow again. "Goldie?"
Upon the racket, Robin and Cyborg entered the room with relieved smiles.
"Boy, I'm glad I was wrong," Robin said in a joking matter. "I though you'd be knocked out for a week after that thrashing you took."
"Thrashing?" Raven asked, feeling like she hasn't awoken for months.
"Mistress Megara Apparatus is in jail now, of course," Robin sat down in the bed beside Raven to explain. "After we took you back here, we discovered some sort of odd antacid that has been introduced into your blood. It could have dried up your entire body..."
"But lucky for you, I stepped in to the rescue!" said BeastBoy as he swiftly made his way to Robin's left side. "Your life was in my hands today... kinda makes you wanna give me your undying gratitude, huh?" he said with a grin.
Raven didn't answer back.
"Well, if you don't mind me getting off the subject," Raven said, "may I please ask once again... why is there a dog here?"
"A dog?!" Cyborg asked, suddenly aware. "Beast, what is that thing doing in here?!"
"I don't know! He just followed me here!" BeastBoy said with a shrug. "Before I went to catch up with you and Robin, I asked the orphanage's manager about him. She told me the dog had been roaming around for weeks, or something. He's homeless..."
Cyborg looked at the golden retriever and back at BeastBoy suspiciously. "What are you getting at?" he asked.
"I dunno, man," he scratched his scalp and walked over to the dog. "I was thinking... maybe if we can't find someone to take care of it, we could, um... keep it!"
"What?! No way!!" Cyborg immediately rejected. "I'm not having some scruffy dog walk around our rooms and destroying our couch and--"
"What the heck... let's give it a try." Robin said.
"WHAT?!?" Raven and Cy both shouted. BeastBoy beamed victoriously and he childishly stuck his tongue out at Cyborg. Starfire's eyes glimmered with cheerfulness; getting overexcited, she hugged Robin tightly, causing the Boy-Wonder's face to flush.
"Oh, joy!!!" She squealed and squeezed the poor dog, whose eyes almost bulged out of his head. "It's been so many yarois since I had a pet!!"
BeastBoy flinched, thinking the dog might be getting choked to death by the red-haired alien. But the dog let out a feeble bark, causing Starfire to finally let him go. He limped to where Raven was, put his forepaws on top of the bed and looked up at the girl with big irresistible puppy eyes. Raven smirked a bit and patted the retriever's head.
"So, now there's two more matters to resolve now, I suppose..." Robin started with arms akimbo. "What his name will be is the first."
"Not to worry about that!" Starfire said. "I have already named him... Goldie!"
All the boys sweatdropped.
"Starfire?" Raven said cautiously. "Maybe we should listen at the others' name opinions first before deciding, don't you think?"
"Yes, of course."
"I was thinking Ashes... I mean, Beast did find him next to the burning building, right?" Robin said.
"That's pretty girly if you ask me," Cyborg said.
"Well, nobody DID ask you."
"Hey, don't take it like that, man. But I think it would be better if we named him something intimidating... like... Giant!"
All Titans turned their heads to the handicapped dog that stood no taller than a yard. Then they looked back at Cyborg bizarrely.
"Well... Goldie sounds like a fish's name!" Cy said in his defense.
Raven gazed down at her feet as she pondered in silence. Everyone saw her doing this and stopped arguing. The room stayed in complete silence for a few moments, until BeastBoy broke the ice.
"You know... if it wasn't for... whatever we're gonna call this pup here... we wouldn't have found you and Starfire on time, Raven," he said softly. "He actually led us straight to you both."
Raven smiled a bit as she heard these words, and this time it did not go unnoticed now that everyone could see her face plainly. Starfire also smiled and she carefully sat beside Raven in the edge of the bed. She nodded in agreement of what BeastBoy had said.
"Our canine friend has truly been an omen to our escape," she said.
"Then it's settled," Raven said softly, almost inaudibly.
"What?" the others asked.
"His name... shall be Omen..."
The four Titans exchanged glances and silently agreed.
"What's the other matter to resolve?" Starfire asked Robin.
"Who will he be sleeping with," he said with a smile.
It was all suddenly pandemonium as everyone started speaking simultaneously.
"Oh! He can live in my quarters!!" Starfire said. "I will take care of him as I would to a brother! I will brush his furry pelt! And I shall dress him up!..."
"Well, he ain't sleeping in my room!" Cyborg argued with BeastBoy.
"Dude, what have you got against the dog?!" BeastBoy said.
Starfire continued: "And I shall play with him! And I shall share my blue furry food with him!..."
"Nothing! I'm just not very enthusiastic about having a loose haired mutt sniffing around my room! He should sleep with you! Your room is made for an animal!"
"Now, you guys! Take it easy!" Robin tried to make peace.
While all the mayhem was going on, Raven had to lie down again. The spinning sensation on her head had come back... but this time, the horrible pain she had felt throughout her whole body when she was strapped to the mistress' machine has come back with it. Her forehead and tightened fists began to sweat wildly and she let out a yelp and started gritting her teeth.
The rest of the team had not noticed what she was going through at all because of their deafening arguments. Raven knew this was completely ridiculous of them and kicked down at the bed to get their attention.
"Raven?! What's the matter?!" they asked.
As quick as the pain had come, it just left. Raven laid back at the sudden shock and breathed heavily.
"Guys?" BeastBoy said with alarm. "Something's very wrong here..."
They had noticed Raven's skin had become darker in color until it reached an ebony black. Omen - still with his forepaws on the bed - tilted his head and whimpered a bit as he watched his new friend suffer. Her eyes glowed abnormally until they brightly shined white. Her arms shrank in size and sprouted many small feathers. It was no less than a minute later that the Titans grasped the fact that... they were watching Raven... transform into a bird.
--------------------------------------------
To Be Continued...
~ The Raven's Omen - Chapter 4
Raven stirred in what she thought would be heaps of metal from the mistress' lab, but what she felt instead was the soft, cool comfort of her own bed. She twitched and curled her fingers, touching the silky fabric with her fingertips. Opening her right eye, she saw the single window on the secluded room partly open; birds sat on the sill holding twigs.
She moved her arms to her sides, though they felt unusually numb. Raven tilted her head to see why; however, it was twilight outside and too dark to see. The teen closed her eyes again, not sure why she was back home. But she didn't argue... the peace and tranquility eased her soul. Finally, she could sit back and meditate.
"Would you just pick it up already?!"
"You are NOT the boss of me! I need to find the right size first!!"
Raven closed her eyes tightly and cringed. 'Oh, great,' she thought angrily. There were others in the room.
"Just pick one!! Home ain't going to collapse because of that!"
"How would you know?!"
A bolt of energy surged in Raven as she forgot all about her bodily pain and shot straight up, scowling. She looked around the room sharply, looking for whoever was yelling. But excluding her, there was nobody else in the room. She arched her eyebrow, seeing only a first-aid kit by the coffee table, her attire laid over an armchair and the two birds at the window.
"I must be hearing things or something," she muttered to herself, not hearing a creak at the door and someone coming in. "I can't get up on my feet yet, so I must have taken a big hit of something like that..."
Raven now got a chance to look down at her numb arms and legs. They were all wrapped tightly in bandages; some spots had blood oozing out. Her head started spinning again and she lay back down to rest.
Her head was uncomfortably shifted to the right, away from the door. She slowly adjusted her head to the left, when her eyes met two cold, beady eyeballs. She jumped nearly five feet in the air in response of the shock, and she was briefly hyperventilating. When she relaxed a bit, she growled in infuriation when she saw it was a dog.
"If you ever do that again to me, BeastBoy, I swear I'll kill you!!" she scolded.
But the dog wagged its tail and looked ahead with a doggie grin. Raven's grimace slowly faded when she realized that wasn't BeastBoy.
"Oh, Raven! You are awake!!" shouted the quirky voice of Starfire. "I am so happy of your wellbeing!"
Starfire ran to Raven with outstretched arms and picked her up in a hug. Raven's face flushed both in embarrassment and displeasure.
"I'm fine," she muttered in monotone.
"Me, Robin, Cyborg and BeastBoy have been anticipating of your awakening for almost four hours!" Starfire said as she put Raven down.
Raven had not listened to what Starfire had said.
"Erm... Starfire?" she asked reluctantly.
"Yes, Raven?"
"Why is there a dog in the Tower?"
"Oh, I see you have not been introduced yet! Goldie here was rescued by BeastBoy earlier today!" she said with a grin.
Raven arched an eyebrow again. "Goldie?"
Upon the racket, Robin and Cyborg entered the room with relieved smiles.
"Boy, I'm glad I was wrong," Robin said in a joking matter. "I though you'd be knocked out for a week after that thrashing you took."
"Thrashing?" Raven asked, feeling like she hasn't awoken for months.
"Mistress Megara Apparatus is in jail now, of course," Robin sat down in the bed beside Raven to explain. "After we took you back here, we discovered some sort of odd antacid that has been introduced into your blood. It could have dried up your entire body..."
"But lucky for you, I stepped in to the rescue!" said BeastBoy as he swiftly made his way to Robin's left side. "Your life was in my hands today... kinda makes you wanna give me your undying gratitude, huh?" he said with a grin.
Raven didn't answer back.
"Well, if you don't mind me getting off the subject," Raven said, "may I please ask once again... why is there a dog here?"
"A dog?!" Cyborg asked, suddenly aware. "Beast, what is that thing doing in here?!"
"I don't know! He just followed me here!" BeastBoy said with a shrug. "Before I went to catch up with you and Robin, I asked the orphanage's manager about him. She told me the dog had been roaming around for weeks, or something. He's homeless..."
Cyborg looked at the golden retriever and back at BeastBoy suspiciously. "What are you getting at?" he asked.
"I dunno, man," he scratched his scalp and walked over to the dog. "I was thinking... maybe if we can't find someone to take care of it, we could, um... keep it!"
"What?! No way!!" Cyborg immediately rejected. "I'm not having some scruffy dog walk around our rooms and destroying our couch and--"
"What the heck... let's give it a try." Robin said.
"WHAT?!?" Raven and Cy both shouted. BeastBoy beamed victoriously and he childishly stuck his tongue out at Cyborg. Starfire's eyes glimmered with cheerfulness; getting overexcited, she hugged Robin tightly, causing the Boy-Wonder's face to flush.
"Oh, joy!!!" She squealed and squeezed the poor dog, whose eyes almost bulged out of his head. "It's been so many yarois since I had a pet!!"
BeastBoy flinched, thinking the dog might be getting choked to death by the red-haired alien. But the dog let out a feeble bark, causing Starfire to finally let him go. He limped to where Raven was, put his forepaws on top of the bed and looked up at the girl with big irresistible puppy eyes. Raven smirked a bit and patted the retriever's head.
"So, now there's two more matters to resolve now, I suppose..." Robin started with arms akimbo. "What his name will be is the first."
"Not to worry about that!" Starfire said. "I have already named him... Goldie!"
All the boys sweatdropped.
"Starfire?" Raven said cautiously. "Maybe we should listen at the others' name opinions first before deciding, don't you think?"
"Yes, of course."
"I was thinking Ashes... I mean, Beast did find him next to the burning building, right?" Robin said.
"That's pretty girly if you ask me," Cyborg said.
"Well, nobody DID ask you."
"Hey, don't take it like that, man. But I think it would be better if we named him something intimidating... like... Giant!"
All Titans turned their heads to the handicapped dog that stood no taller than a yard. Then they looked back at Cyborg bizarrely.
"Well... Goldie sounds like a fish's name!" Cy said in his defense.
Raven gazed down at her feet as she pondered in silence. Everyone saw her doing this and stopped arguing. The room stayed in complete silence for a few moments, until BeastBoy broke the ice.
"You know... if it wasn't for... whatever we're gonna call this pup here... we wouldn't have found you and Starfire on time, Raven," he said softly. "He actually led us straight to you both."
Raven smiled a bit as she heard these words, and this time it did not go unnoticed now that everyone could see her face plainly. Starfire also smiled and she carefully sat beside Raven in the edge of the bed. She nodded in agreement of what BeastBoy had said.
"Our canine friend has truly been an omen to our escape," she said.
"Then it's settled," Raven said softly, almost inaudibly.
"What?" the others asked.
"His name... shall be Omen..."
The four Titans exchanged glances and silently agreed.
"What's the other matter to resolve?" Starfire asked Robin.
"Who will he be sleeping with," he said with a smile.
It was all suddenly pandemonium as everyone started speaking simultaneously.
"Oh! He can live in my quarters!!" Starfire said. "I will take care of him as I would to a brother! I will brush his furry pelt! And I shall dress him up!..."
"Well, he ain't sleeping in my room!" Cyborg argued with BeastBoy.
"Dude, what have you got against the dog?!" BeastBoy said.
Starfire continued: "And I shall play with him! And I shall share my blue furry food with him!..."
"Nothing! I'm just not very enthusiastic about having a loose haired mutt sniffing around my room! He should sleep with you! Your room is made for an animal!"
"Now, you guys! Take it easy!" Robin tried to make peace.
While all the mayhem was going on, Raven had to lie down again. The spinning sensation on her head had come back... but this time, the horrible pain she had felt throughout her whole body when she was strapped to the mistress' machine has come back with it. Her forehead and tightened fists began to sweat wildly and she let out a yelp and started gritting her teeth.
The rest of the team had not noticed what she was going through at all because of their deafening arguments. Raven knew this was completely ridiculous of them and kicked down at the bed to get their attention.
"Raven?! What's the matter?!" they asked.
As quick as the pain had come, it just left. Raven laid back at the sudden shock and breathed heavily.
"Guys?" BeastBoy said with alarm. "Something's very wrong here..."
They had noticed Raven's skin had become darker in color until it reached an ebony black. Omen - still with his forepaws on the bed - tilted his head and whimpered a bit as he watched his new friend suffer. Her eyes glowed abnormally until they brightly shined white. Her arms shrank in size and sprouted many small feathers. It was no less than a minute later that the Titans grasped the fact that... they were watching Raven... transform into a bird.
--------------------------------------------
To Be Continued...