"Raven, are you alright? I thought I heard shouting." Raven froze and bit her bottom lip, watching Rorek seem to stop himself just before he started to shout at her again. There was a pregnant pause in which both could hear only their muffled breathing and then Robin's fist slammed against the door again. "Raven? Raven?"
Raven rushed across the room and grabbed Rorek by his collar, dragging him across her room before he could protest and shoving him in her tall, intricately carved antique wardrobe. "Quiet." She hissed. "Don't make a sound. I'll get him to go away. Do not come out of here before I open this door." She slammed the oak door in his face before she had time to think of how his bemused expression was comical, and then walked toward the door just as Robin began to knock again. His fist was about to crash a fourth time with the metal when she telepathically slid back the metal panel. "What?"
"Are you okay in there? I thought I heard shouting."
"I'm fine. Beast Boy's room is down the hall. You probably just heard his TV."
"Oh..." Robin looked confused, as if he doubted that his hearing senses were that far off, but he seemed to dismiss it a few seconds later. "Well, I needed to talk with you anyways, Raven. May I come in?"
Raven stepped out into the hallway and closed the door soundlessly behind her. She was close to the Boy Wonder...close enough to almost see through the white lenses of his mask. "We can talk out here."
He seemed to accept that, almost as if he had expected it. He probably had. "I wanted to apologize for upsetting you when we doubted you over Malchior's escape. It's just...there's no evidence, Raven, and anything could've happened except for that. It's not my area of expertise, but didn't you tell me that was a particularly strong curse to escape from?"
"It was." Raven paced a little ways away from Robin, deep in thought. "But Malchior was a particular strong sorcerer."
Robin's bemused voice sounded again. "I thought he was a dragon..."
"He was a sorcerer also."
"Oh..." Robin moved forward toward Raven as she turned again and laid a hand on her shoulder, smiling in a friendly manner. "Well, if you need any help figuring out what happened to that book, or if Malchior did show up, then we're here for you, ok?"
She looked pointedly at his hand, which he removed, but nodded and opened the door of her room just wide enough for her to enter before crossing toward it. "Good night, Robin." The door slid closed again with a quick snap, thankfully...or hopefully, before Robin had a chance to look inside, because of who was sitting on the bed. Rorek poured over the Book of Azar, sitting on the end of the mattress, his cloak cutting into his throat slightly. She stood startled for a few seconds, then crossed the room and slammed the book shut on his fingers telepathically, which caused him to glare at her and stretch his fingers subtly. "I thought I told you to stay in there."
"I'm not accustomed to being thrown into a small wooden prison by my hosts, Lady Raven, so I decided to disregard your orders. Besides, you will surely have to explain my prescence to your betrothed. It would be an awkward situation for you...then again, you seem to love to create awkward situations, perhaps you like to experience them as well."
"You think Robin is my...? Nevermind." Raven shook her head and rubbed her temples in exasperation. She began again in a monotone. "We're going to have to work together, and if we're going to do that, you have to realize that...
"I'm in charge." Both of their voices completed the sentence at the same time, and they both stared at each other in increduality.
"You? An amateur sorceress who released one of the most dangerous beings in the history of the world in charge? Maiden, you jest."
"You? A corpse I resurrected who so far has proven to be little more than a smart mouthed conveyor of parlor tricks? Sir, you need to work on your sense of humor."
Her amethyst eyes matched his blue in another competition of glares before he started to chuckle lightly. "What?"
"Nothing, Lady Raven. I was merely thinking of how much the character of a lady has decreased over the span of years. In my time, a woman would never be so forward as to even think of a quarrel of the position of command."
"I'm thrilled that I wasn't born in your times, then." Raven countered. "By the way, so you know, Robin is not my betrothed."
He looked startled by this piece of news. "Then is this gentleman related to you?"
"Not through blood or relation's marriage."
Rorek's eyes widened. "My lady...are you not of station? Only harlots and servants would live with a man they are neither married nor related to."
"Then, be shocked, because I live with three." Her eyes glowed in anger at being called a servant and a prostitute. "And no, I'm not of station, per say, but I'm not a servant or a harlot. I'm a Teen Titan."
He stood and stretched subtly, pacing across the room to replace the Book of Azar. "I'm afraid I am not familiar with that occupation, Lady Raven."
She sighed and ran her pale fingers through her dark locks. Her eyes were twitching with fatigue from the journey and the wearing magic she had preformed less than twenty-four hours before. "It's...it's a. Look, you fought evil in your day, right? Criminals, villians?"
"In truth, yes."
"That's what a Teen Titan does. We protect this city."
"And what village are we in, Lady Raven?" He was peering out the window now, examining the skyscrapers and many vehicles running on the streets near the edge of the docks that led to the bridge crossing the waters to the Tower.
"This is Jump City. We border Gotham City. We're on a different continent now...you were in Britain..."
"I originated from Avalon, actually..."
"Which became known as Britain, which is in Europe. We live in the United States, which is part of North America." Raven sighed as there was another knock on the door. She walked over to her bookshelves and pulled down a few extensive history books...some on Earth and others on the universe, religion, philosophy, wars, and other dimensions...and a book of maps. "Here. You can study these while I see what the others want. Stay in this room...please, Rorek..." She added as she saw his look of distaste. "While I see what the others want. I forgot that tonight was movie night."
She moved toward the door just as she heard Beast Boy shout through the metal. "Raaaavvveeeennn...hel-lo? Movie night? Your choice. So, here's the categories. Horror, or horror, or horror, or---"
"Dude, are you going to give her any actual choices?" Cyborg interrupted.
"I'm getting to it! Or...comedy!"
She heard Cyborg groan and then turned back toward Rorek. "Step into the shadows until I get out of here and have the door closed. Oh...and besides the books on those shelves--" She pointed to the first three book cases. "Don't touch anything."
Raven quickly exited her room and slammed the door shut behind her a little too fast. Cyborg looked down at her suspiciously. "Er... you running from something?"
Beast Boy laughed. "Yeah...probably those weird bird things..." He stopped and went a little pale when he saw her serious expression. A bead of sweat ran down his forehead. "Wait...there not...really here, are they?"
Raven gained a mysterious expression just to worry him because she found it amusing, and though she heard Cyborg chuckling it didn't cover the whimper of fear that came from Beast Boy. The time he spent in her mind apparently still haunted him, but not enough to keep him from bothering her stuff if she left it out of her room. The only way to keep him from touching things were to hint that they may have a spell on them. If only the same rule could be applied to his toeclippings left on the coffee table. Many times she had thought of actually cursing his feet.
Robin and Starfire were already in the livingroom, Robin surfing channels and Starfire popping the popcorn.
"Friends! Does the mustard go well with the corn of pop?"
"NO!" All four of the other Titans automatically shot down the alien's strange idea. Raven flipped through the movies that had been rented from the store, finding all mundane. They were all cheesy horror flicks that were not very scary at all...just horrible ideas that hollywood had hurried through. Instead of choosing one of the rented, she bent down in front of the movies they owned, much to Beast Boy's dislike.
"Hey, Raven, you're supposed to pick a..."
"Beast Boy, the movies you picked out suck." Cyborg laugh. "If it was my choice, I'd be doing the same thing."
There was a much wider selection in the movies they owned, but it was difficult to find a movie that suited her mood at the moment. If she made Beast Boy suffer through another black and white film, what was left of his mind might actually snap...instead, she selected Underworld. She doubted anyone would object to that choice in movie.
Just as the opening credits were rolling, she heard Cyborg sit up slightly. "Does anyone else hear that music?"