It took three days for Raven to recover enough to stay awake for more than an hour. Once she had a hearty breakfast in her, she was able to walk without more than a few stumbles. She wouldn't be going on any missions for the next several weeks, but so far there has been no call for the Titans to mobilize. Deciding to take advantage of the reprieve from crimefighting, the young heroes stayed over at Wayne Manor, under Batman's good graces.
Now awake, alert, and breakfasted, Raven took a long survey of the Batcave. The dark and foreboding domain made her feel strangely at home. It radiated a sense of delicate privacy and intensity; she could sympathize. But the ambience wasn't the only thing that drew her interest. Batman had enough gear to fight an army. She found the fleet of Batmobiles—each of varying design and specialty—particularly amusing.
"Boys and their toys," she mused dryly.
"He has money to burn," Robin replied, coming up behind her. "You seem better."
"I can say the same of you." Raven looked him up and down. He did seem more like his old self. He was smiling, for one thing.
"I thought about what you said a few days ago. And I took them to heart. I still blame myself, but only because I'm a leader and I should always take responsibility for my comrades. But I don't blame myself for failing. Like you kept saying, the fault wasn't mine to take."
She grinned, a small curve of her pert lips. "I'm glad that you finally got your head on straight. So, since you're done moping and I'm done healing, why don't you give me a tour of this place?"
Robin showed her everything, with a great deal of enthusiasm. He must be making up for lost time, she thought wryly. Indeed, he exhibited unusual gusto when he showed her the Cray mainframe and the chemistry lab. That went double for the forensics table.
"This is my favorite part of the Cave," he admitted, beaming with all the excitement of a boy receiving the Christmas gift he always wanted.
"I figured," said Raven. "You're a detective, after all. You must've spent a lot of time here."
"Batman more than me," he said. "I wasn't much of a detective back then. It took me a long time to appreciate the challenge."
"That only means you've matured." Raven's attention went over to the far wall of the Cave, which was lined in glass containers. They held costumes. She went over to them, curious.
"Oh, no…." she heard Robin murmur. He grabbed her arm. "Um, you don't need to see those."
"Why not?" she asked, slipping her arm free of his grasp and continuing on her way.
She saw the very first Batman costume, a simple gray-and-black affair, where the gloves didn't even have the protrusions and the insignia lacked a yellow field. Next to it was the second Batman costume, much closer in appearance to the current cape and cowl. Next to that….
"Oh my sweet Lord," she said softly with an unrestrained—and uncharacteristic—giggle.
It was the first Robin costume. A red runic, a brilliantly bright yellow cape…and a very, very daring pair of short shorts.
With pixie boots.
The boots alone were enough to turn the dark-haired girl into a helpless pile of laughter. She gripped her abdomen; she was guffawing hard enough for her belly to hurt.
Robin frowned. "It isn't that funny."
"Oh yes it is," Raven said, getting back to her feet and wiping tears from her eyes. "Wait until the others hear about—"
"Oh no you don't!" Robin protested. "No one else finds out about this."
"Why ever not, Pixie Boots?" she asked with false innocence. She was about ready to fall down laughing again.
Robin had to admit, he wanted to join in. He rarely heard the somber Raven laugh. It was surprisingly gleeful and infectious. She looked like a completely different person when her pale face flooded with cheer. The shroud of mystery left her dark eyes, and for once Robin could see her as something other than an enigma. When she laughed, she looked like any other pretty-faced girl.
Raven wiped away more tears. "So, tell me Robin, those hot pants over there…you must have gotten pretty cold wearing those."
A vein was about ready to pop in Robin's temple. He really didn't like it when people mentioned those shorts. "I'll bet a month's allowance that my legs look better than yours," he retorted before he could stop himself. He wanted to slap himself in the face.
Raven only laughed more. "Oh, Robin," she wheezed, "you're killing me here. Stop, please. I'm already out of breath."
They were interrupted by the approach of the other Titans. Robin wanted to curl up in a little ball. "Raven?" Beast Boy ventured warily. "Are you…laughing?"
"That never happens," Cyborg blurted.
Starfire went up to the dark-haired girl and pressed a hand to her forehead, as if looking for a temperature. "Are you…all right?" she asked in wide-eyed concern.
Raven just chuckled. "I'm fine, Starfire. I just saw something very funny."
Robin tried to stop her. "No, Raven," he said meekly. "Don't…."
She ignored him and pointed to the costume.
The Boy Wonder's humiliation was complete.
"Oh! It's adorable!"
"Those are mighty small, Rob. I guess the long cape must be compensating for something."
"…Whoa."
And through it all, Raven just laughed.
Having tired of the monotony of the Batcave, Raven wandered up into Wayne Manor proper. Her tour of the enormous household brought her to the library. "Master Bruce has quite the collection," Alfred had told her when she asked about it. "In addition to several complete sets of reference manuals and textbooks by respected professors, he has a vast selection of Western, European, and Japanese literature."
Raven hadn't seen so complete a library since her days in the monastery of Azarath. She eagerly floated from shelf to shelf, content simply to peruse the tomes. Some she had read a thousand times before, but still enjoyed turning through the pages every time: The Collected Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe, The Collected Works of H.P. Lovecraft, Milton's Paradise Lost, Dante's Inferno, and a score of other books. Most she had never seen before, but that didn't make the experience of paging through them any less exciting.
She was beside a shelf dedicated to Arthur Conan Doyle, when Robin entered. At first, Raven thought it was some other teenager living under the Wayne roof, because Robin was dressed in street clothes.
"So I finally get to see you without the mask," she said lightly. Raven tilted her head approvingly at him. He was wearing khakis and a button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. He wore a sweater over it. "You clean up pretty good," she said offhandedly. "Even though you look like something out of the seventies."
His cheeks colored a bit at her compliment and he looked strangely uncomfortable. "It's…been a while since I dressed like this. But Batman…Bruce…has a rule. No capes upstairs. You should probably call me Dick while I'm in my civvies."
"Very well…Dick." Raven suspected it would take her some getting used to.
"So…what book are you reading?"
She showed it to him. "I've never read a mystery before," she said. "I figured I should start at the basics."
"Sherlock Holmes is one of those 'hit and miss' types," he said. "Sometimes it's interesting and sometimes it isn't. Sherlock never had to tangle with the Joker."
"And fighting the deranged and dangerous makes life all the more interesting, of course," Raven agreed. She took the book back and flew to put it back on the shelf. When she settled down, she noticed the concern on Dick's face. "Is something the matter?"
"Are you sure you should be using your powers right now?" he asked. "You don't want to tax yourself too much. You just recovered."
She smiled warmly—she was finding it easier to be warm, at least around him—and said, "Thanks for worrying, but I'm fine. Flying is second nature to me. It only drains a negligible amount of my power, so I can keep it up indefinitely."
"Still…" Dick began to argue, but then shook his head and smiled. "All right. If you say you're okay, then you're okay. But can you do me a favor? Humor me and try to keep the powers to a minimum. If only because girl flying around with her legs flashing will draw some unwanted attention here."
Raven grinned in a way that was almost…impish. "So you notice my legs, do you?" Dick stammered and blushed; Raven chuckled. "I'm just teasing, Dick. Actually, I was wondering if you even noticed girls. You're always working on some new case. You never seem to have time to wind down and relax."
"Oh, I notice," he said. "I just don't have time to do anything about it. Speaking of relaxing, Beast Boy's trying to organize a road trip to the beach once we get back home. You think you're up to it? I know you don't like crowded places…."
Raven shook her head and gave him a reassuring grin. "I'd love to come."
Dick clapped her on the shoulder. "It's settled then. We'll be leaving tomorrow morning."
As soon as Dick left, Raven sighed. She had never actually gone to any social gathering before…not willingly, at any rate. And those few social circles she felt welcome to shared her mindset: largely antisocial, extremely private, very laconic. But she really did want to go on this road trip. For the first time in her life, Raven started to see why it would be fun to spend a few hours in a cramped car with four good friends. The conditions might be less than stellar, but the company…the camaraderie…the feeling of family….
"I'm changing," she said to herself. She wondered if it would be for the better.
She was about to leave and pack when she realized something. Damn it. I don't have a bathing suit. Unsurprising, really; she never needed one. She knew that Starfire got one the last time Beast Boy staged a beach trip. Raven had made up some excuse to stay behind back then. Now she'd have to ask the bubbly Tamaranian to help her pick out a suit.
Well, there are certainly worse fates than spending a few hours with the galaxy's happiest scatterbrain, Raven mused without humor. She willed herself to fly up to the bookshelves, intending to take another mystery novel with her on the way to the mall.
But she didn't move. Raven blinked in confusion and then tried again, lifting up a few inches and then suddenly dropping back to her feet.
"What the—?" She concentrated one more time. This time, she did fly. "That was weird," she murmured and then quickly set the matter aside. She attributed the momentary lapse in her powers to her recent recovery. I'm just feeling a bit weak, that's all.
It didn't occur to her that this was only a prelude.