A/N: Note: most of these spells that aren't in the TV show are words I just translated into Latin. Anyways, thankies for the reviews! You guys are great.
"I don't get it, Raven's usually able to keep pretty good control over her emotions!" Beast Boy exclaimed as they watched the smoke twist and dance in front of the door. Growing, but not spreading.
"Her emotions?" Rorek questioned.
"Raven's emotions, when she can't control them her power goes haywire." Robin said.
"Yeah, there was this one time when she got scared by a horror movie and the tower became a haunted house because of it with ghosts and weird creatures out the kazoo!" Beast Boy exclaimed, pulling on his hair in panic.
"No telling what that smoke might do." Robin said.
"What do we do?!" Starfire exclaimed.
For whom the gun tolls
For whom the prey weeps
Bow before a war
Call it religion
Some wounds never heal
Some tears never will
Dry for the unkind
Cry for mankind
The song was repeating...wait...Rorek listened closely to the lyrics.
Even the dead cry
- Their only comfort
Kill your friend, I don't care
Orchid kids, blinded stare
"The music!" Rorek cried.
"That's it!" Robin exclaimed, "She can't suppress her emotions because the music matches her mood." He said.
"Well then how do we turn it off?!" Beast Boy exclaimed, looking worriedly at the smoke on the door. "We don't know what's going to happen if we touch that stuff." He said.
"Contego Mihi De Malum." Rorek chanted. His body suddenly became aglow with a transparent light, then, without a word, he ran at the door, crashing it down with his shoulder. "Raven!" He called. His light dispersed the dark smoke surrounding the room, but only a little, he could hardly see anything at all. "Raven!" He yelled again, coughing hard. Well, first thing was first, he had to stop that music. But where was it coming from?
Blindly, he searched the room, coughing a few times, but trying to stop it. His shield wouldn't last that much longer, he had to find it quickly. There, it was a present-world music system. But how was he suppose to shut it off?! There was no time to figure it out. He smashed it, cutting the music off abruptly. "Raven?!" He yelled.
The pressing darkness faded slightly, he could see Raven sprawled over her bed, half of her hanging over the side. He ran over to her and gathered her up in his arms.
Abruptly his shield was shut off, he stopped himself from breathing in the smoke and nearly cried out as it began to pierce his skin in all different places, causing him to bleed. His eyes watered, or did they bleed? As he tried to reach the exit quickly. But it seemed so far away, and he could hardly walk with Raven's limp form weighing him down, or was that the smoke zapping his strength? He certainly didn't believe she could really be this heavy.
Rorek gasped when he finally reached pure air, he staggered for a moment before the Titans, and then fell over on his side, trying to keep himself from landing on top of Raven, though he had very little choice in the matter.
Raven positioned her hands over Rorek's chest and began the healing process. They had migrated down to the living room, even though the smoke had dispersed, and Raven had been the one to set Rorek on the couch so she could better heal him.
"You gave us quite the scare," Rorek flinched, "Lady Raven." He finished, in an attempt to lighten the mood a bit.
"Sorry." Raven said, looking away from him while she continued.
"No, we're sorry, right guys?" Robin said.
"Yeah, we're really sorry." Beast Boy agreed.
"Yes, we are very sorry Raven, me especially. You should never be made to do something that makes you feel uncomfortable. If ever again I try to make you do something you do not wish to do, you must stop me at all costs!" Starfire exclaimed.
"Hm, I'll be sure to do that." Raven said with a small smile. She then extended her hand and helped the fully healed (if exhausted) Rorek up. "Thanks," She said, averting her eyes, "for saving me."
"Of course. After all, I owed you, after going into your room. Hnhn." He chuckled slightly.
"I propose that we all go out for pizza!" Starfire declared.
"Actually, Star, we can't." Robin said, before Beast Boy could even shout his agreement.
"What? Why not?!" BB exclaimed. Robin then handed him a slip of unfolded paper. Beast Boy studied it for only a moment before his face portrayed an expression of shock.
"What's that?" Cyborg asked, taking it from his hand, but before he could read it out loud he too was frozen with a look of disbelief on his face.
Raven made the paper float over to her and she read it. "It seems our electric bill is quite a bit higher than it usually is. I, however, am not surprised." She said.
"Yet another crime we're all guilty of." Robin said, "Save for Rorek, he just got here."
"What is an 'electric bill'?" Rorek asked.
"Electricity, it's what makes things move or light up without magic. It's the energy that keeps these lights on." Raven answered, pointing to one of the currently dim light bulbs. "It isn't free, even we have to pay for it. The bill tells us how much money we need to give them. And usually it isn't so much." She told him.
"Right, our current funding can't, or rather won't, cover that much. Especially since a lot of it was spent playing video games and watching movies." Robin said. Cyborg and Beast Boy both grinned innocently.
"Being fair, though, Raven hardly even turns on the lights in her room, and only recently has she even been using her stereo system." Beast Boy said.
"I also use little outside power for training purposes, but that doesn't exempt me from the responsibility." Raven replied.
"So what are we going to do about this problem?" Starfire asked.
"The only thing we can do," Robin's shoulders slumped, "Get jobs."
"Waaaaaaat?! Are you serious?!" BB exclaimed, his face consorting with disbelief.
"I don't like it any more than you do. I figure if we all get the same job, at least we'll be together." Robin said. Raven's face fell, she was thinking of applying for a job at Alabaster's. There was no way none of the others could get a job there even if they wanted to. Well, maybe Rorek, but that was only because he...never mind.
"Yeah, misery loves company." Cyborg sighed.
"Actually, it would make more sense if we got jobs in places where our individual abilities would be useful." Raven said. "For example, Cyborg would be better suited to a lot of heavy lifting, so construction would suit him best. Robin is agile and the most coordinate, but you're also a people person and that gives you a good variety to work with. Beast Boy...fast food. And Starfire might be able to get a good job in demolition. No offense." She told them.
"Fast food?!" Beast Boy exclaimed.
"Hm, construction work, that might not be so bad." Cyborg mused.
"How would I be a valuable component for demolition?" Starfire asked.
"How fast could you destroy this tower at full power, Starfire?" Raven asked.
"Um, maybe in about 10 minutes if I went from the bottom up. Why?" Starfire asked.
"There's your answer." Raven said.
"She means that you could do the demolition yourself." Robin told her.
"Oh! I understand!" Starfire exclaimed.
"What about you, Rae?" Asked BB, still irritated that she only thought him good enough for fast food, heheh.
"Book store worker." She answered almost instantly.
"And what about me?" Rorek asked.
"Like I said before, you're not the cause of it, so you don't have to work. It's our responsibility so you can just hang out in the tower." Robin answered.
"Besides, it would be a good idea if you knew more about this present world before trying to get any sort of job." Raven said. Actually it'd be a good idea for Starfire to become a bit more familiar too...She thought.
"Right, okay Titans, let's go, get a newspaper." Robin said.
"Alright, the way we should do this is try and make it so that our work schedules are as consecutive as possible. Meaning one of us goes out to work, then when they come back the next one works. That way there will still be enough of us to handle an emergency and those of us at work won't have to abandon our job, consequentially getting fired in the process." Robin said.
"I'll work late, from 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm." Raven said, writing them down on her resume for Alabaster's.
"I think I'll work during lunch, since all I'm good for is fast food!" Beast Boy said, giving Raven a pointed look.
"Beast Boy, on a scale of 1 to 10, how creepy/dark/scary would you say I am?" Raven questioned.
"11, why?" BB answered, looking over, he suddenly saw the resume, "WHAT!? You've already got a place picked out—oh that is not fair man!!! That is not fair!!!" He exclaimed, tearing at his hair.
"Glory to you, Raven! Where are you going to work?" Starfire asked.
"Alabaster's." Raven answered.
"Where's that? Oh wait, that's the name of the place Star showed you, isn't it?" Robin asked.
"Yes, and the resume is asking me some...interesting questions." She said.
"Like what?" Cyborg asked, looking up from his own set of want adds.
"What my hair color is, how good I look in dark clothing, my skin tone, how creepy my friends say I am on a scale of 1 to10, how well I am able to spook people." Raven answered.
The others just kind of stared at her.
"Okay, sounds like your kind of place, Rae." Cyborg said, going back to his paper.
"Why does it want to know how much poetry you read in a day?" Rorek asked, looking over her shoulder.
Raven leaned over so that his face wasn't right next to hers, "You are invading my personal space please move. And I don't know." She said.
"Oh, forgive me." He said scooting away.
"Thank you." Raven said, sitting upright again.
"You are not fulfilling your job requirements to our satisfaction. I do not want you to be sitting there, doing your makeup, when customers come up to the counter! Yes your deep voice is a nice touch, but mixing up the spell books with the poetry books is not what we would consider adequate expertise. We want someone who will scare the wanted customers into coming back again, and the unwanted customers to stay away. I want Grim Reaper, I want Lady Death, I want—"
"Excuse me," Raven interrupted, she had walked into who she suspected was the store manager giving the teller she had seen just the other day a hard time some sort of lecture, and she was hoping to go in and out before she had to listen to more.
"You!" The manager suddenly exclaimed.
Raven floated back a bit, "Um, I'm here to turn in my resume, but there was no one at the front desk." She said, pulling down her hood and pushing her cloak behind her shoulders. She then took the paper from her belt and held it out to him.
"You're perfect! You're hired!" he said.
"Say what?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "On a normal basis I would be waiting for you to call me and schedule an interview." She said.
"Hey, I know you, you're Raven, of the Teen Titans, right?" Asked the deep voice of the lectured employee. "I met you here just the other day, didn't I?" She asked.
Raven sweatdropped, "Um, yeah." She said.
"You want a job here?" The manager questioned, looking almost shocked.
"We're a little tight on our funds, we're all getting jobs." Raven answered.
The manager skimmed her resume for a moment, then looked at her. "You're hired, when can you start?" he asked.
"At 7:00 pm." She answered.
He looked down at her resume again, "You can't work any more?" He asked.
"In case of an emergency we all have to work at different intervals. The whole super-hero thing can require a lot of effort sometimes." She told him. "That being said, I hope you'll understand that there may be times when I'm late or am unable to come in at all. In which case I will make up my hours the next day or later that night." She said.
"Right," He said with a frown, "Looks like you still have a job, Elsa." He told the other worker.
"Sweet." She smirked.
"But I want you to at least act like you're engaging yourself in something dark, like reading poetry or meditating." He told her.
"You want us to be reading while we're working?" Raven asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Depends on what you're reading and during what job. When there's no one at the front counter to buy something, I want you to do something more productive than twiddle your thumbs or reapply makeup. Now, Miss Raven, if you would, go with Elsa and pick out your work uniform. We'll have your nametag ready by the end of the week." He told her. "By the way, my name is Aron, just Aron."
Elsa then lead Raven into a closet full of black clothes, different types of black clothes. One her left was men's clothing, and on her right were women's. But the thing was, they looked more like clothes Goths would wear on a regular basis. Unsurprisingly, there were a lot more choices for the girls than the boys.
"Let's see, ah, here, take this." Elsa said, throwing something at Raven. She caught it and looked at the shawl. Or rather, it was a jacket-like shawl of transparent material and a spider web design on it.
"Um, what are we—" She tried, but suddenly had a black thing thrown into her arms as well. Upon further inspection she discovered it was a corset. Raven sweatdropped, oh of all the ridiculous...but just then a pare of hip-hugger black jeans were flung at her. Then Elsa went for the jewelry hanging up on the wall. She looked at Raven, the picked out a few chains, a spiked belt, and two spiked bracelets. "Do I really have to wear this for work?" Raven asked with a frown.
"Not unless they look as wicked on you as I think they will. Go ahead and try it on, I'll guard the door while you change." Elsa said, leaving her.
Raven glared at her reflection in the full-length mirror. What is it with people and altering my wardrobe? What if I liked my outfit? She asked herself. But she sighed in defeat and began to change.
Again, Raven found reason to glare at her reflection. The jeans, she could deal with, the shawl, she might actually like, the spikes, not her style but not that bad, but the corset had to go. No ifs ands or buts. If she was going to be working where people could see her, there was no way she was wearing it. She took it off and put it up on an empty space. She tried a few other shirts, but most of them didn't fit her well enough or didn't go with the rest of her outfit. Finally she found something that would work. It was a little tight, but she liked it well enough (better than most of the other stuff). It was a halter top, but it didn't expose her middle at all, and it also went well with the shawl because of the white spider on the chest. However it did not work well with the spikes (thank the gods), so she took them off. The chains also had to go, but now she looked too plane, so she put on some thumb-gloves that covered her arm up to her elbow. Finally she was satisfied.
Too bad Elsa wasn't.
In the end, Raven was talked into the corset, but was able to get a violet, long sleeved shirt to go under it, keeping her shoulders from being all but exposed under the spider-web shawl. That she could contend with.
"Remind me why I can't just wear my original outfit?" Raven asked Aron.
"Do you want everyone to know you're a Teen Titan at first glance?" He asked her.
Raven sighed, "No." She said with a dreary look on her face.
"Great, keep that look on your face." He said, looking at her as if she were some sort of portrait.
"That's it, I can't do this." She said, walking back into the closet so she could change back.
"Wait, wait, wait, why not?! You're perfect! You're exactly what I'm wanting in an employee!" Aron exclaimed.
"Which is the problem, you're treating me like I'm just suppose to look and act the part in your little picture. I came here for a job, so I could earn some money, not so I could stand there and draw in desirable customers." She told him.
"Alright, alright, I'll stop. Just don't quite already." He said nervously.
Raven's face fell, "You're that desperate?" She asked.
"Please take the job." He said, looking hopeful.
"Alright, alright. But," Raven said, taking off the spider shawl, "Only if I can wear my black cloak instead of this." She said.
"Absolutely! Please sign this form here and I'll see you tonight?" he asked.
"Yes you will." She answered, taking the clipboard and pen.
"Hey Rae." BB greeted as Raven walked across the living room, her 'uniform' bundled into a box under her arm.
"What's that?" Robin asked, pointing to the box.
"My work uniform." Raven answered.
"WHAT?!" Beast Boy suddenly yelled, everyone looked up from their resumes.
"Weren't you just going in ta drop off your resume?!" Cyborg exclaimed.
"Yes, but they weren't all that busy so they decided to go ahead with the interview." She lied. "They apparently thought I was creepy/dark/scary enough to start work right away. I'll be going in at 7." She told them. Her voice being, as usual, unenthusiastic and slightly monotone.
"I am overjoyed for you Raven! You have gotten a job at the place of your choice, I hope that you will have lots of fun and meet lots of new people!" Starfire said.
"Congratulations." Robin nodded.
"How's it going for you guys?" Raven asked, walking over to the table so she could look at their resumes.
"Not so good." Beast Boy said, frowning at his papers. "What happens when we don't want to divulge the information of our last names? I mean, isn't 'Beast Boy' enough that you'd know who I am?" he asked.
"Put you're first name as Beast and your last name as Boy." Cyborg told him. "My first name is Cy and my last is Borg."
"So my first name would be Star, and my last name would be Fire! And Robin's first name would be Rob, and his last name In. And Raven's first name would be Ra, and her last Ven." Starfire said.
"Right, actually I didn't bother with the last name." Raven said. "My employer was too shocked a 'Titan' was applying for a job to be very picky." She told them.
"Hey cool! Maybe all we have to do is show up and ask, and we'll get one as fast as Raven!" Beast Boy exclaimed.
"I would suggest doing the resume anyway, that way they know when you're available to work." Raven said, walking back to the door to the stairs.
"Aw maaaan." BB wined.
"Oh, by the way Raven," Robin began just as Raven was about to leave.
"Yes?"
Robin looked like he was thinking about something, "Uh...never mind." He said, shaking his head.
"Alright." Raven then continued to her room.
Robin watched her leave and then stood up. "What is it, Robin?" Starfire asked.
"Rorek wanted me to let him know when Raven got back, I was debating on whether or not to tell Raven this." He answered, looking a little grim.
"What are you thinking? Should we watch him a little more closely?" Cyborg asked.
"I really don't know, but for Raven's sake, I'm not sure we should give those two too many chances to be alone together." He said.
"Perhaps Rorek is only interested in discussing magic and meditation techniques." Starfire suggested. "Also, from what I have observed, these magazines say that Raven and Rorek are very compactable." She said.
"That's compatible." Robin corrected.
"Oh, I was wondering why that was suppose to be a good thing." Starfire said.
"It isn't a good thing, is it?" Beast Boy asked.
"Maybe, maybe not, it all depends." Robin said. He stretched his arms and then headed for the stairs himself.
"You're still gonna tell him?" Beast Boy asked.
"I said I would didn't I?"
"Hey Rorek?" Robin called, knocking on the door to his new room. Soon the door was open.
"Yes?" Rorek asked, opening the door up wide enough that Robin could see inside the room.
"Uh, you wanted me to tell you when Raven got back, right?" He asked.
"Oh, yes. Thank you." Rorek answered, coming out from his room. "Is, something troubling you, Sir Robin?" he asked.
"Uh, just Robin's fine." He answered, "And yeah, there is something troubling me. Why did you want me to tell you when Raven got back?" He asked.
"I was going to ask her if she would like to meditate with me again, we were interrupted rather abruptly, and I need help mastering her form of meditation." The wizard answered, "But if she doesn't want to be disturbed," He began.
"I don't know if she's in the mood to be disturbed or not at the present moment. What I want to know is why you seem to be so interested in her?"
"To be truthful, I want to be sure that I can trust her, and I see now that there is little doubt I can, but I also want her to trust me. We seemed to have gotten off on the wrong foot, I did invade her privacy in a manner that was rather unorthodox. And I believe I owe her an apology for misjudging her at first. Also, she is a very powerful sorceress, and I can learn a lot from her. I feel she understands the dark side of things as well as, if not better than, I do." He explained.
This explanation seemed a little too well thought out for Robin, did he plan what he was going to say if the question was asked? Perhaps he did. Robin raised an eyebrow at him, "Right, and are you absolutely certain you have no ulterior motives?" He asked.
"What do you mean?" Rorek asked, blinking so that he looked genuinely confused. Robin wasn't gonna buy it though.
"Raven's my friend, I care about her as much as I do a friend, which is a lot. She's been hurt before, and if it happens again you can be sure that I will personally find the one responsible and make sure he suffers for it, no matter how much power or how many skills he or she may possess." Robin told him.
"I see." Rorek nodded, "You are a good and noble friend, Robin, I am honored to have the chance to meet you. I solemnly swear, upon my honor, that I will do no harm to the Lady Raven, physical or otherwise." He said.
"But what I want to know is how much your honor is worth." Robin returned.
"I have two months, correct? If you are not satisfied, or if I have done anything to prove myself untrustworthy, well, my membership is not permanent yet. And you do need a unanimous vote." Rorek pointed out.
"Fair enough, but I will be watching you."
"I would expect nothing less of you, Robin."
A/N: Yeah, Robin, all he wants to do is meditate with her. He has no other interests at all. And you know what else? I'm a monkey!