There was something about June afternoons that the little alien girl treasured more than anything. Floating, almost swimming, in the big blue Earth sky made her feel in a way insignificant. The sky was so vast, and here she was, just a little dot among the clouds.
A thought came across her mind and in an instant she had decided – she wanted a cloud for herself. Looking determinedly, she found the closest one was just above her. Raising her arms to the sky, Starfire shot up into the cloud and grabbed it in a big bear hug. For an instant it stayed with her, and she hugged it to her chest, leaning her head onto it with her trademark smile stretched across her face.
Yet as she hugged it, something happened to it – it melted away, leaving her arms and face wet. Confused, she thought that cloud may have just been a fluke. There were others; perhaps that one did not wish to be her pet cloud? Shooting up into the sky, she grabbed another cloud...and this one evaporated, too!
Far below, standing atop a giant T on an island in the middle of a bay, a boy clad in red and green searched the sky for a purple or perhaps orange streak. "She has to be here somewhere…" Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted his target. And she was… grabbing clouds?
Through his binoculars, he saw her indeed grabbing clouds; hugging them? Each cloud was exactly like the last. Starfire would grab it, hug it for some reason, and look dejected as it evaporated. "What could she possibly want with a cloud?" The logic made absolutely no sense to him.
His lip half-curled into a sneer as he followed the streak of orange and purple through the binoculars. "Really, someone should tell her you can't hug a cloud. Clouds are made out of water vapor, and obviously you can't hug water or you'll get wet. I really ought to explain things to her, though I didn't expect her to one day go around hugging clouds."
Lowering the binoculars, he wiped a few beads of sweat from his brow. Even from a young age, Robin never could understand that fascination everyone had with clouds. All they were was ice crystals suspended together in the atmosphere. The fact that they formed shapes like puppies and hearts meant nothing to him.
As he donned the binoculars once again, his mind still couldn't fathom the logic behind Starfire's actions. "A cloud…"
Starfire began to grow tired of her search. Every cloud was exactly the same! Surely some cloud wanted to befriend her, but where was it? All the other clouds simply melted away in her arms. Surveying the sky, she oriented herself and descended back toward Titans Tower.
"Robin!" Noticing he was watching her, she sped toward the Tower with renewed cheer. "Perhaps Robin can explain to me why no cloud wished to be my friend."
"So… clouds, Starfire?" Robin's face passed from indignant to almost amused as he looked at how damp Starfire was as she landed next to him. He really couldn't understand the logic, but the look of her after her endeavour somehow made it all right. She was just like that, he guessed.
"Yes, Robin! I had decided while eating breakfast this morning that I wished to explore the Earth's sky. It is so full of colour! Raven explained to me that those fluffy white things in the sky were 'clouds.'" With each sentence, she seemed to become that much more enthralled in telling her story. "As I ascended, I noted the beautiful shapes the clouds formed, and thought of how cute they were. I then thought that things that cute must surely be friendly, and decided to make one my pet!" As she told the story, she unconsciously leaned closer to Robin, as if to make him pay more attention.
Robin merely stood in a more relaxed position than usual, listening to the strange little alien girl tell him of her exploits above the skies of San Francisco. "And did you find out that they were made of vapor, and not really things to keep as pets?" "Really. Clouds."
"Oh!" A glimmer of light seemed to illuminate the entire situation for her. That is why no cloud could be her pet! "But if they are made of water, how do they stay in the sky? Surely there is some force keeping them there."
He almost had to chuckle to himself. The answer was so simple, and yet here she was, enraptured. Wiping another set of sweat beads from his brow, Robin sat on the edge of the Tower, legs dangling over the edge. With a pat, he motioned of Starfire to sit next to him.
"See, clouds stay in the sky because each cloud is made up of ice crystals, which, when they stick together, form water vapor."
"Oh! This explains my dampness!" Starfire turned to beam at Robin while wringing out her orange hair.
"And when these droplets of water stick together, they form clouds."
Still enraptured, Starfire leaned back to warm herself on the concrete. The feeling of warmth both from the concrete and the June sun was almost blissful. Turning slightly to her left, she noticed a most unusual cloud.
"Look, Robin!" Bolting back up to a sitting position, she seized his shoulder and pointed in the direction of the cloud. "It's a Suldervian G'norxack!" The sight of such a creature manifested in cloud form brought an almost childlike smile to her face.
"A what?" Robin had heard of some weird creatures from her, but a Slu… whatever it was certainly had the weirdest name.
"A Suldervian G'norxack! They are creatures from the planet Sulder. I believe they bear a great resemblance to your Earthly Bears. The largest difference is that Suldervian G'norxacks are eight meters tall and have six legs. Children keep likenesses of them as playthings. I myself had …"
As she continued on, Robin merely listened quietly. He still didn't completely understand the appeal of watching clouds float by, or pointing out what shape or animal they resembled, but this… this was enjoyable.