I realize that in the show, Raven says her favorite color is blue. I want you all to think of the as a cover up! She only says it's her favorite so people won't know she favors such a strong, passionate color. To me, Raven is secretly afraid of being judged to be anything but cool and collected, so a few white lies and she keeps her secret self a secret, gosh darn it. Admitting she likes red would be admitting she likes the color of her demon father's skin, when in fact it just happens that she likes it because... maybe I'll write a shortie chapter about this...

In any case, this was a pain. I had a different chapter 4 sitting around on my harddrive for weeks, then it dawned on me that there needed to be more... something. Just more story before it felt right going to the events of what is tentatively chapter 5. It felt rushed, harried, even. I may need to rework it, too, since I haven't read it since writing this one.

KittyKatMeow-chan and SweetNCrazieSugarmuffin, thank you both for beta-ing. The alternative chapter will be posted as a later chapter! And, to make up for this chapter being regrettably short, I think I'll post up a little interlude mentioned before during the week.

Starfire stirred a pot filled with sweet smelling ooze. Around her were various implements of destruction—rubber scrapers, whisks, mixing bowls—all coated in some sort of filth. She hummed softly, off key, an epic ballad about a great warrior. The pantry had been replenished as had her spirit.

Robin came into the kitchen, panting, feet dragging, looking to refill his water bottle. He looked at the pots and pans piled up in the sink, looking for a way to the faucet. He sighed, defeated. A prodigious task indeed awaited the Titan charged with cleaning the impressive stacks of equipment.

"So, watcha makin', Star?"

"I am doing the experimenting. Creating my own recipe, sounds ambitious, does it not?"

Against his better judgment, Robin inquired to the contents of the rather large stock pot.

"I began with that small pot there and was making toasty nuts and added the butter and sugar. I then thought it would be nice to add raspberries and chopped apples. Then I noticed that my creation was quite overtaking that which contained it, so I moved to a larger pot and added quite a bit of molasses. It was smelling quite delicious and I set another pot of zorka berries to heat. Then I thought how wonderful they would be combined and…." She rambled on excitedly while her brew steamed ominously and unabated. Robin just smiled and nodded, thinking about his dry and scratchy throat.

Robin had been running laps around the tower, liking to bound across the large rocks scattered around the shoreline. The humidity this close to the water had kept him constantly spritzed with refreshing dew. He hadn't sweated much, such an easy pace he'd kept. That just wouldn't do. He decided to go get a 'real workout' and put his antiperspirant to the test. At the very least, the gym had its own water fountains and he could finally quench his thirst.

"Well, that sounds great, Star, let me know how it turns out."

"Are you continuing your working out, Friend Robin?" He'd intended to go alone, but deceiving the glowing girl felt like pissing in front of a nun. "Wonderful, I join you. Endeavors culinary are quite exhausting and I would like very much the freedom of my muscles." She turned off the burner and put a lid on the concoction with a bit of trepidation but quickly turned her attentions to getting to workout.

Robin looked over his shoulder, a bit concerned by the mess she'd left in her wake. He put it to the back of his mind, however, thinking to himself that he should have a talk with Starfire about this naïve excess.

Raven lay on the couch, idly reading. She was reading Catch-22 though her thoughts were elsewhere. Catch-22 is wonderful for this reason; the early chapters so haphazardly even manically written, you need not be immersed. Ah, Yossarian, you poor mess of a man…

She heard bits and pieces of Robin and Starfire conversing in the kitchen. She was well aware of the catastrophe her golden friend had made of the kitchen. Upon hearing the list of ingredients, she silently applauded the girl for staying to the sweet side of the palette. And for not adding mustard. Perhaps she could be bothered to taste it after all?

Raven thought they would never leave. She mentally tracked them as they made their way to the workout room. Cyborg and Beast Boy were out teaching youth soccer, or something of that nature. She was left to herself and her task.

Leaving Chief White Halfoat drunk, she carefully marked a page and set the novel on the table. She put herself in the kitchen and surveyed the damage. She then retrieved a small plastic bag and a butter knife. She set the various pots, pans, spoons, rubber scrapers, all things Starfire had brought into her hot little hands, on the counter beside the sink. She ran the water till hot and set the utensils to soak a bit in soapy water. On the other side of the sink, she turned on the hose and blasted a few pans with the scalding water. Some of them set free the gooey junk stuck in their bottoms, some insisted the wanted that scorched crap to stay put. Slowly, carefully, she persuaded the gunk to come off with the butter knife. With a gloved hand, she put the scraps in the plastic bag and into the trash, fearing the garbage disposal would not very easily handle it.

Starfire's creation she actually let alone, though she was tempted to do man things. She could have thrown it out, put it in a storage container, even tasted it and fix it to make it edible. But no, she let it be. No need to raise too many eyebrows.

Before leaving the kitchen, she set out a package of dried pasta noodles and a can of tomato paste and one of diced tomatoes beside the stove. That should be suggestion enough, in case anyone thought better of ordering out tonight.

One last thing caught her eye: Robin's empty water bottle. She picked it up from the floor, vaguely recalling it getting lost in all the filthy dishes. A translucent red bottle with a black top and spout. A cord to be worn around the wrist lay slack from the cap and a yellow 'R' dangled from that.

She stared at it with a strange fascination. His lips… right there… She mused to herself. Her finger lingered for a moment on the spout, tracing the circumference. She then shook her head with force and stood up straight as a bolt. In the sink, she scrubbed it and her hand harshly. The bottle she refilled and placed in the fridge.

Returning to the couch and her black comedy, she sat down hard. She tapped the cover of the book and her foot to a quick rhythm. Letting the book fall to the floor, she put her head in her hands and groaned. Her fingers then ran back and ruffled her hair. Raven retrieved her book from the floor and left the common room.

Later that afternoon, Robin wandered into the common room to watch the local news. Beast Boy and Cyborg, however, had beat him to the punch and were using the big screen for a robot battle. He smiled resignedly, even chuckled a bit seeing Cyborg's tongue poking out of his mouth, and turned instead to the kitchen. He remembered leaving his water bottle there, earlier.

He walked into a pristine place. No crummy dishes, nothing out of place. Only Starfire's strange goo still lingered on the stove top, but it was benign. Not thinking too much of it, his eyes grazed the surfaces for his water bottle. He checked the floor, the dishwasher, and finally the fridge. Success.

"Hey, thanks for cleaning up after cooking, Starfire. And thanks for refilling my water bottle." Hey, maybe the redhead was more together than she appeared.

"You are most welcome, Friend Robin, though I do not know what you are referring to. I did none of the cleaning up and was not aware of the deficit you bottle of water was experiencing." This she told him from the floor of the common room, where she lay examining the pages of a large book. "I have been searching for the Waldo since I cleansed my body after the working out."

Robin considered this. "What about you, Cyborg? Beast Boy?"

The young changeling let out a cackle. "Dude, do you really think I would risk my hands trying to clean up after one of Starfire's misadventures in cooking? Tchya right!"

"Sorry, man, just got the new patch for this game. Been puttin' it to the test ever since we got back from the Y."

Robin took a long sip of icy cool aqua and mulled through his memory. He seemed to recall a barely visible tuft of purple hair draped over the arm of the couch when he'd looked back at the mess.

"What do you guys think of spaghetti and tomato sauce for dinner, tonight?"

Is the story flowing ok so far? Not rushed, not too slow? I'm not going to try and drag things out or bait you until I get X amount of reviews, so don't worry :P I think writers that do that are jerks.

Anything at all, I'd love to hear from you!

Oh! And I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving! If you don't celebrate that holiday, then... I hope you had an extraordinary Thursday! Haha, and maybe some pie. Having pie on an average day can make it awesome in no time, easy...