Chapter Two: Family Resemblance
"She's so cute!" Starfire exclaimed when Raven entered the tower the next evening causing the small child behind her to burry her head in Raven's robes. Raven shot her a glare.
"This is Rowan." She said coolly and Starfire stooped down to the child's eyelevel.
"Oh, hello little bumgorf!" she giggled and the child gave her a tentative smile. "Do you want some ice cream?"
"This is Starfire." Robin said stooping to her eyelevel as well.
"What's a bumgorf?" she child asked shyly.
"Were not even sure Star knows." Beast Boy said. The girl detached herself from Raven's waist and Robin was finally able to get a good look at her.
Her resemblance to Raven was uncanny. She looked just like her sister except for a few obvious differences. Where Raven kept her black hair short, Rowan's was long and curly. She had it pulled back from her face with dark violet combs. Rowan's eyes were golden, holding all the childhood innocence and trust Raven's dark violet ones lacked. She was skinny and impish looking and her bottom lip poked out slightly giving her a permanent pout. She had a pretty smile that made her eyes glow with an iridescent gold light, and a sweet face, Robin noticed. She was wearing, as opposed to Ravens choice of dark blue robes, a violet tank top and blue jeans.
Another voice interrupted his observations. Is she a fighter? he asked himself, a child that small will get trampled around some of the bad guys we have faced. He had a sudden image of Slade smacking her with a giant fly swatter, but the image didn't amuse him at all. On the contrary, he wondered if she knew what she was getting into.
Her pocket suddenly wriggled and she laughed, pulling a small animal out of her pocket.
"I forgot to introduce you to my little friend." she cuddled the small critter in her arms like a baby.
"What a cute little kitty." Beast boy said. The animal purred in Rowan's ear and she giggled.
"This is Tigress," Rowan said kissing the critter on the nose. The kitten was white with black and orange spots on her back and legs and black stripes on her face. Rowan dug another kitten out of her other pocket, this one black with a white blaze on her forehead. "and this is Jessie. They're twins." Terra smiled and also stooped to the child's eyelevel.
"Hey there cutie, my name is Terra. Are you hungry? We were just talking about going for pizza." she smiled shyly and nodded. Raven rolled her eyes.
"Can you go be her sister for a minute. I'm going to my room," Raven snapped and Terra glared at her, but said nothing. The alarm sounded and Rowan jumped, startled. Terra patted her shoulder reassuringly.
"It will have to wait. We've got a situation down town"
"It's Plasmus." Cyborg observed, looking at the computer screen. "The perfect baddie for our newest little Titan to cut her teeth on." Rowan blushed and Raven opened her mouth to say something, but Robin cut her off.
"I don't think that's a good idea, kiddo," he said, and Rowan crossed her arms with a huff.
"I can take care of myself Robin, don't worry." She narrowed her gold eyes fiercely and reminded Robin forcibly of Raven. He looked to her and she shrugged.
"But Rowan…"
"I'm not as weak as I look." She said seriously. Robin's eyes drifted from Beast Boy, to Terra, to Starfire, to Cyborg, and finely to Raven once more. None of them objected.
"Fine, but you be careful. Just observe how we work for a while, and then-"
"Great!" she cheered and Terra and Starfire laughed.
"Watch her!" Robin mouthed to the older members of the team, and they nodded. "Ok. Let's go."