Star Signs

Part 4: Starfire The Aries

By Shyro Foxfeather

……

Starfire: Aries

Outgoing, energetic, dynamic, courageous, generous, strong, and jealous…

Someone may be working behind the scenes to discredit you, especially if you've been less than honest with others. Whatever obstacles you are now facing may stem from things you haven't shared. The solution is to come clean. Be as straightforward as possible. Dealing with the consequences of your actions will be easier than shadow boxing with an unseen enemy. –AOL horoscope

……

Starfire sat on the roof contemplatively and stared at the quiet lapping waves that licked the shore of their not so humble island. She had felt restless lately.

Well, maybe not restless, but something. Something nervous and unsure that confused her and made her rethink the things she had done over the course of the day. She felt self-conscious and insecure as she laughed and talked with her fellow Titans. She would laugh and make a remark then shy back as the others stared at her with confused look upon their faces.

She was different from them and it hurt. She was from another planet and had no knowledge of the things they did, of earth things that all creatures on the planet knew. She was different.

At first she had pushed the emotion away or 'bottled' it in the back of her mind, however, that had backfired as last night she had almost burst into tears in the living room. She had merely told them she had to go to the restroom and instead spent five minutes crying in the linoleum and wallpaper adorned room.

She couldn't tell how the others had known about it but she could swear that they did (although in truth she had no idea what the phrase 'swear' could be meant as but let's not go into that). They had asked her numerous times what was wrong and she denied them that sliver of her heart as she smiled and told them that nothing was the matter.

She never wanted to cry like that again… Not only did it hurt but also it made her nose run and forced her to carry a tissue around with her for all of the day.

A shadow appeared beside her and she jumped with surprise. She glanced back to see a frowning Raven looking down at her with a questioning look. Starfire was surprised when Raven sat down next to her and looked her in the eye before asking, "Okay, what's wrong?"

Star's eyes widened a bit and she blurted out a feigned, "Nothing."

A thin eyebrow was raised at her blatant lie. "Starfire…?"

Starfire looked down at the ground dismally as she internally acknowledged that she couldn't hide anything from the Azarathian girl. "I am… upset." She murmured as she moved to turn her head away.

Raven mentally groaned at her shy actions. "Why would that be?" She asked patiently. Patience was key to dealing with anything alive that was upset, after all.

"I…am not sure." The rain cloud laden girl admitted.

Raven realized she'd have to take the matters into her own hands. "You seem to feel…upset, frustrated, out of place, and alone…" Supplied Raven. It wasn't hard to tell, seeing as these feelings rolled off Starfire in near tangible waves. "Is there something that upsets you? A reason or cause for your grief?"

A long silence passed and Raven waited tolerantly for an answer. At last one did arrive. "I feel alone." She told Raven. At Raven's encouraging look she continued. "I feel that I am the only being like myself here. That I cannot relate to others and…I feel…outcast."

This surprised Raven. Starfire was the last person she'd think to be outcasted. "You're not outcast, Starfire." Raven said soothingly. "We're all different. You're from another planet, I'm from another dimension, Robin's actually human and wears spandex, Beast Boy's green, and Cyborg is…do I need to say anything more?" Raven said somewhat jokingly as she attempted to prod the giggling Starfire out rather than the sullen one.

"I know but…" Starfire didn't continue.

"Look," She said somewhat forcefully which gained her the girl's surprised look, "we all feel like we don't fit in every once in a while. All of us." She paused. "And not just us either. People all over the world and other worlds can feel they don't belong yet what they don't know is that they do." Raven attempted a weak smile, for Starfire's sake.

Starfire took all this information into her mind and was happy that it was much easier to deal with than her transformation, seeing as every creature had felt what she did. It was nice to say that too because she did feel better now. It was serene and peaceful while still happy and bouncy.

And she had gained this peace from the ever stoic Raven…

A small coil of sympathy wound in her as she realized that Raven may have read books but what she had just said was from the heart. And the worst part was that her dark friend must've experience such a feeling often to have such caring words…

…Starfire grinned and decided she would make sure to return the favor whenever inhumanly possible.

Starting now much to Raven's slight annoyance…

"Now tell me friend Raven, what is the matter with you?"

"What the heck are you talking about?"

…Owari…

Disclaimer: …Um…I have a cactus…and a plushie frog that shall be fed to numerous chupacabras. However, do I own Teen Titans? …….No, you nimrod lawyers that are attempted to sue me. Why—as many have said before me—would I be on fan fiction dot net if I owned them?

…You can see why I stick to Raven and Beast Boy…Heh. I am trying to fit the lil' horoscope buggers to the story and still have the characters in character. Tis hard.

…Three out of four of these have Raven in them as one of the main characters. Ye gods. You guys are just lucky I added Starfire instead of Raven for chapter three…

…Sadly the coffee flavored ice cream had no effect on my hyperness meter. Mayhap I need to eat more?