Birthday Reflections
Chapter 4 : Surprises and Self Help
BeastBoy scurried around his room. His room was usually far from clean, but today it seemed worse. Mounds of dirty clothes were everywhere. In the form of a dog, he moved from one pile to another, diving into each one head first, his nose sniffing for any sign of clean laundry. Of all the days to forget laundry day, of course, the day of his birthday would be one of them.
He jumped into the largest pile, not far from his bed. Within a few seconds of rumaging through what seemed like a small wilderness of clothes, he emerged with three outfits in his canine mouth. Resuming his human form, he took the clothes under his arm, holding each one seperatley, hoping there would be something to salavage.
sniff sniff "Dirty" tossing the outfit over his shoulder.
sniff sniff "Blech!" flinging another across the room.
Cautiously lifting the final selection to his nose, sniff sniff, "Hmm" he contemplated, leaning in to take one last smell. sniff "Air it out for about ten minutes, should be perfectly fine."
Content with his decision, he threw his choice outfit over his shoulder, about to make his way to the laundry room. As BeastBoy turned, there was a knock at the door.
"Just a sec" BeastBoy said moving to the door. He figured it was probably Cyborg inviting him to a special birthday game session at the arcade. That was the best case scenario. Worst case? Starfire had prepared a Tameranian delicasey to commemorate the occasion. BeastBoy's tongue flopped out of his mouth in disgust over the thought of Starfire holding a bowl of some green goo, spoon feeding him some gelatinus slop. His taste buds were traumatized as they were from her pudding of saddness.
BeastBoy opened the door.
"Raven?"
To BeastBoy's surprise, it was neither Cyborg or Starfire. In fact it was the last person he'd expected. He would have guessed Robin before Raven. She stood in front of him, her hood down, and her usual blank expression on her face. BeastBoy just stared, still mildly surprised.
"I need to ask you something." Raven began.
"Uh...Yeah?"
"About your birthday...", her eye's started to shift, trying to think of something to throw him off. "Um...Starfire, she...she asked me to help her choose a gift."
BeastBoy breathed a sigh of relief. "So that explains it."
Raven raised an eyebrow, trying to act confused. Could he tell she was making it up?
"Starfire was going to cook earlier", he explained, "but when she went to get the ingredients from the kitchen they were gone. She asked Robin where they were, but he said they "went bad" and had to throw them out." He chuckled. "I guess they thought of everything for the party."
Raven was relieved. He didn't suspect a thing.
"So, I guess she's just gonna go shopping then, huh?"
"Apparently. Any suggestions?"
BeastBoy thought for a second. "Well..." folding his arms, leaning against the door frame, "I don't really know what Starfire could get me. If it was Cy, or Robin, or...you...then maybe,but..." he started to trail off, looking up at the cieling.
"Oh? And what exactly would you have suggested I get you?", she said cutting him off.
BeastBoy gave a small grin. "If you really wanna know, I could give you some ideas. That is...if you're still looking for something?"
This was what Raven had been hoping for. Her expression remained blank.
"Hardly, but go ahead. This should be amusing."
BeastBoy's shoulders drooped slightly, clearly disappointed that Raven didn't think much of it. But he quickly perked up again.
"I wouldn't ask you to spend any money or anything. But, there are three things I can think of, off the top of my head."
Raven stood there, still unmoving, patiently waiting.
"And they are?"
"Well...for starters...", he began, " I've always wanted you to play video games with me. And not like the time I glued the controller to your hands. I actually want you to put up a decent effort." BeastBoy smirked.
"Not going to happen." She said plainly. "The second?"
BeastBoy felt a little disappointed, having Raven reject his first suggestion so quickly. But there were still two to go.
"Okay, how about this?" BeastBoy dawned a chef's hat and appron, holding up a covered silver platter. "You can try my tofu." he gestured, flashing his eyebrows, and lifting the cover revealing a large bowl of carefully prepared tofu and a fork.
Raven rolled her eyes. So far, it was the most barable.
"And the final one?"
BeastBoy opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He unexpectadley seemed to shy away. Very unusual behavior for someone as outgoing as BeastBoy.
"Um..."
"Well?"
"Uh...um" BeastBoy stuttered, twiddling his fingers.
"Any time now." Raven said, gently tapping her foot on the floor, growing impatient.
"You could...uh...give me...a...kiss? Maybe?" BeastBoy's normally green face was now flushed a slight shade of red, quickly shifting his eyes from Raven to the floor and then back again.
Raven showed no visible reaction. Not on the outside anyway. On the inside, she was at a standstill. A thousand thoughts were going through her head, and her heart was running like a train. Everything Cyborg and Starfire had said earlier was booming through her mind. The photo album replayed in her memory. It was almost enough to overpower her. She didn't know what to think. Sure, BeastBoy had become more tolerable (by a small margin), and maybe even more likeable. But Raven had not once contemplated how BeastBoy felt about her. Her first guess would've been because he was just...being nice. It was his nature to try to cheer people up. She had assumed it was just a friendly gesture. Raven wasn't too convinced it had been more than that. But this? This caused her to rethink everything.
"Raven?" BeastBoy said waving a hand in front of Raven.
Raven had zoned out, just staring blankly without even knowing it. She quickly snapped out of it, lowering BeastBoy's hand from her field of vision.
"So, essentially, you don't know what Starfire could get you?" she quickly responded.
BeastBoy simply nodded.
"I see." Raven turned, walking back down the hall towards her room.
"Hey, Wait! Raven!" BeastBoy called after her. But it was too late. Raven was out of sight.
BeastBoy hoped he hadn't upset her. Not exactly a difficult thing to do, especially when he was involved.
"Real smooth." he muttered to himself, smacking himself in the forehead. He trudged back into his room to finish getting ready.
Meanwhile, back in Cyborg's workshop, Cyborg still stood motionless against the wall. The recharger was still plugged into his mid-section.
"Cyborg?"
The sound of a voice could faintly be heard. After a few moments, it started to become clearer.
"Cyborg?"
Cyborg's mechanical eye blinked on, as his other eye slowly opened. His body started to come back online. He shook his head, just before giving a yawn. He stretched his arms out, as the final signs of drowsiness disapated. He slowly looked around the room, finding the source of concern.
"Starfire?" he asked, "What's up?"
"Oh, friend!" she exclaimed "I am elated to see you are alright. I became worried when I found you motionless."
"Just takin' a minor recharge. No biggie." he explained unhooking the charger.
"I am indeed relieved it was not "the biggie". Robin sent me to fetch you. He needs your assistance for the last few chores in preparing for the celebration of the day of birth for our friend." she announced cheerfully.
"Really?" Cyborg responded, scratching his head. "I thought we took care of the last few details already?"
"This puzzles me as well." Starfire replied. "However, Robin insists that there is more to do. He awaits your prescence in the room of living."
"I'll head over." he hung the cable on the wall. "You comin' too?"
"I am not. I have items to retrieve, necessary for food preparation." she smiled, "I shall join you later."
And with that, Starfire left the workshop.
"Could've sworn everything was ready." He said to himself. "Wonder what we could've..."
Cyborg stopped, realizing something was missing.
"WAIT! The remote! WHERE IS IT!"
He realized it was no longer on the workbench, scanning the room. He looked under the table, peeled back a small section of the wall, overturned several boxes of tools and supplies, but still no sign of the remote. He suddenly came to a halt, realizing he placed it inside his chest plate for safekeeping before going offline. He opened the compartment on his chest. Sure enough, it was still there.
"Phew!" he sighed, "That was a close one. Almost twice in one day I nearly blew the oppurtunity of a life time."
Relieved, he placed the remote back inside.
"Better stay close" he ushered, patting his chest plate "I'm not takin' any more chances. Besides, ya never know when Robin's gonna need a reality check."
After one final mischievous grin, Cyborg left the workshop, heading for the main room.
Raven had just returned to the confines of her room. She quickly entered, closing the door behind her, and flopped onto her bed. She sighed, covering her face with her hands, taking a deep breathe.
"Okay" she exhaled "At exactly what point did I miss something here."
Raven rolled over onto her back, laying on her hands.
"Cyborg and Starfire, the pictures, and now..." Raven closed her eyes visualizing BeastBoy twidling his fingers, blushing, asking for a kiss.
"Ugh!" she grunted, shaking her head and blushing a bit herself. "What in the world could he possibly be thinking?"
"What would you expect him to think?"
Raven sat up. She looked all around her room.
"Who's there?" she shouted, extending her hands in front of her, building a black charge of energy in her palms. She sprung to her feet, leaping from the bed.
"Take it easy." came a calm voice.
Raven continued to survey the room, still no sign of the intruder.
"Over here."
Raven looked in the direction of the voice, slowly tracking along the wall. Her eyes panned from left to right, identifying what came into view. Shelf, bookcase, stack of spell texts, mirror with her reflection cheerfully waving, another bookshelf. Wait! Reflection waving? There was only one mirror Raven could communicate to her emotions through, and that was her hand held mirror. This mirror was just an ordinary, full length mirror next to her dresser. There was nothing magical about it in any way. How was this possible?
Raven took a step back, unsure of what to make of this situation. Was this some kind of trick? Was this her father's doing? Or had she just finally caved in from the stress of everything that had happened today? Reluctanly, Raven lowered her hands, as the energy aura gradually faded from her palms. Still unsure, Raven took a small step forward. If this was her father's doing, it would've attacked her by now. By she still wasn't quite willing to not consider it a threat.
"Who are you?"
The reflection looked exactly like Raven. Yet there seemed to be something different about her. She seemed more detached. She wasn't wearing Raven's usual dead pan expression. She had one hand on her hip, and a small smile on her face. But she did not answer.
"I'll ask you again. Who are you?" she pointed her finger at her reflection "I know you can speak."
Raven remained calm, but again there was no reply. She realized she was interrogating a mirror.
"Talking to myself." she lowered her arm, "Not a good sign."
"Oh, come on." the reflection responded, leaning her elbow against the frame of the mirror. "Your powers are driven by emotion. And since you're experiencing so much, all at once, wouldn't it make sense for SOMETHING to happen?"
"I'm used to things floating, things melting, things blowing up. I didn't expect for something to talk back." she answered.
Raven took a deep breathe. She was obviously caught off guard. But then again, who wouldn't be? Raven cautiously sat on her bed once more, facing the mirror. She wasn't quite sure what she was expecting to happen. At the very least to make sense out of some of this.
"Alright, I may as well make the most of this." she shrugged. "But, I am curious as to exactly who or what you are?"
"Like I said, you're experiencing a great deal of emotion. More than you're used to." her reflection explained. "You were trying to take it all in, and hold it all back at the same time. All that power had nowhere to go, and rather than just fire off random bursts of your energy like before, well... TA DA!" she concluded rather enthusiastically.
"So... my powers just materialized a part of myself...that's in connection with my subconcious emotions?"
"Probably one of those untapped abilities of yours. Remember when you stopped time?"
Raven remembered all too well. It definatley was possible her powers had unforseen abilities, ones that even she was not aware of. This was probably one of them.
"So, essentially, you're a mental projection of myself?"
"I'd prefer to think of myself as one step over an imaginary friend" she commented with a smile.
Raven could see a slight resemblence to her Happy counterpart.
"Figures," she muttered, "Even when he's not directly involved, BeastBoy manages to cause me nothing but trouble."
"That's right! It was him wasn't it?" she said in a playful manner.
"Who else could it have been?" she snapped.
"You're right. Who does he think he is?" her reflection responded, folding her arms. " Being so concerned all the time, and trying to get you to open up and have a good time." she finished sarcasticaly.
"Who's side are you on?"
"Hey! You're the one trying to get him a nice present. You're the one who's been snooping around, trying to discover what everyone else seems to already know."
"I was not snooping!" Raven gritted her teeth "I was...curious. And besides Starfire and Cyborg don't know what they're talking about." her voice softened, but still mildly annoyed.
"They seem to know more than you."
Raven shot her a glare that would've melted a hole in the wall.
"Look, none of this is going to just go away." she said, breaking eye contact. "The only way to resolve this, is to understand, acknowledge, and accept it. You're already starting to understand just how much of an influence he is on you, right?"
This time, Raven turned away.
"He's been nice to you. He's shown concern for you." she counted off.
Raven still glanced off to the side.
"This isn't a joke he's playing. And you know it...don't you?"
Raven's head slowly turned to face her. A solemn and sincere look was on her face. She looked almost as if she wanted to cry.
"The very least you can do is tell him."
"Tell him what?" Raven got up from her bed, standing and inch away from the mirror, wishing she'd just get to the point.
"That's up to you. You have the final say here."
"Okay, let's say I decide to let him know what I think...hypothetically." she asked. "How do I do that without turning the tower into a smoldering crater?"
"We both know there's only one way." she glanced over at the dresser.
Raven turned, focusing on what her reflection was looking at.
"I don't know how this will turn out." she said returning her gaze to Raven. "Where we go from here, is all up to you." offering a smile.
And with that, her reflection faded, leaving Raven's normal reflection looking back at her. Raven gently brought her hand to the mirror, slowly moving the contours of her fingers along the glass. Was what just happened real? Or was her mind just playing tricks on her?
Raven looked over at the alarm clock by her bed. It was now almost Two-thirty. The party would be in a matter of hours. But it no longer mattered. Raven knew what she'd give BeastBoy. Raven walked over to the dresser. She carefully picked up her meditation mirror. The very gateway into her mind. The doorway to the one place where her powers could not run rampant. She looked back at the mirror, and then at the one in her hands. After a moment of thought, Raven turned, exiting her room and making her way down the hall towards BeastBoy's quarters.
Next Chapter: Raven's mind is made up, and she intends to send BeastBoy to Nevermore once again. But what does Raven intend to do once he's there? Will everything go smoothly? And will Cyborg's blackmail remain unhindered? Unexpected results are sure to follow.