Chapter Fifteen

Raven yawned as she woke up, smiling at Nightwing, who was still sleeping next to her. She was sure that he had no need for sleep. But it was nice to see him relaxing for once. After a moment, Nightwing's eyes opened, and he smiled at her.

"Hey, Raven… Last night was amazing. I guess it doesn't matter, but…"

"You want to know why I wanted to do anal… I can't afford to have children… What if my father tries to use them like he used me? I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy." Raven said, tears stinging her deep blue eyes. Nightwing smiled at this.

"I'm not ready for children yet, either. But I can consciously control whether I impregnate you. And I would never make you pregnant unless you wanted me to.

"Besides, if Trigon ever shows his ugly face again, we'll be ready for him, and we will destroy him." Nightwing said, standing and putting his clothes on.

"First of all, it's not a matter of if. It's a matter of when. And second… When he comes back, we don't stand a chance. He'll be ready for us as well, and he was already more powerful than anything we could comprehend the first time. What do you think he'll be capable of when he's ready for us as well?

"Even your enemy generator isn't able to fully create a Trigon that is equal to the real thing. The most that we can hope for is to delay the inevitable again." Raven said this, going into her bathroom and getting in the shower. Nightwing finished getting dressed and headed back to his own room, taking a shower himself, staying under the hot water for a long time, thinking about how things had changed so much in just a week.

Less than a week ago, he and Raven were good friends, best friends, even. But now, they were in an intense romantic and sexual relationship…

"Why is all this exposition needed? I know what's happened. Why am I thinking out loud about it? And now I'm talking to myself again. Is this going to become a habit?" Nightwing asked himself.

"Well… Whatever… I need to check up on that computer scan again today. I should've done that before I went to sleep… But it would've been rude to skip on Raven like that." Dick said, still talking to himself. Regardless, he put the shampoo in his hair, scrubbing and then washing it out. He knew that he could just use biomass to clean his hair. But there was something soothing about taking a shower that just couldn't be done with biomass.

When he was done, he got out and used biomass to dry and style his hair instead of normal hair gel. The biomass gel worked wonderfully, leaving a pleasing scent of aloe vera in his hair. He hadn't deliberately made it smell like that. It was just a smell that he remembered from his youth when he was a member of the Flying Graysons.

His father wore cologne with that smell. Heading downstairs to do some morning training, he found Damian already in the training room, fighting against multiple enemies. Meanwhile, Raven was just getting out of the shower herself, groaning with each step. Nightwing had been careful and used plenty of lube, but her ass still hurt.

"Maybe some music will help…" Raven said to herself, lying down on her bed, grabbing a book on magic and turning on Linkin Park. She had different music for different activities. Listening to hard rock while she was reading, Classical Music or Ambient when she was meditating, Electronic when she was exercising or stretching. She had been studying hard lately to improve her magic. She wanted to show that her enhancements weren't wasted on her.

She was so engrossed that she didn't even notice Starfire walk in. In fairness, the door had been open. Maybe Nightwing had been distracted when he left.

"Raven… What is this song you are listening to?" Starfire asked. Raven sat up, looking at Starfire.

"It's… Crawling in my Skin by Linkin Park… I didn't know you liked this kind of music…" Raven said, raising an eyebrow.

"It is perfectly horrible… It is so angry. On Tameran, music is an expression of joy and love… Are you unhappy? Why?" Starfire asked, her expression changing from cheerful to concerned.

"Of course not… I'm just a little bit sore… I guess I slept on my arm wrong…" Raven said. Starfire sat down next to Raven, hugging her. Raven's eyes widened as the Tameranean kissed her on the lips.

"Do you feel better now?" Starfire asked. Raven looked at Starfire, measuring what she should say next.

"I… Never realized you were bisexual… Is that common on your planet?"

"Bi… Sexual? That word is not familiar to me… What does it mean?" She asked. Raven sighed.

"It means you're attracted to both men and women." Raven replied. Starfire nodded.

"There is no word for that concept in my language. On my planet, people are encouraged to love whomever they want… We are not judged or labelled for who we are attracted to."

"So… You don't have words for different sexualities?"

"No… Your human customs continue to confuse me… Why would you want to separate yourselves by putting labels on who you're attracted to? It seems that humans are already prone enough to fighting. Why would you add 'sexuality' as you say to the list of things that separate you?"

"Well… Humans have a long history of prejudice against anyone who doesn't conform. During the human Dark Ages, the Catholic Church came to power, and they declared that anyone who wasn't attracted to the opposite gender was evil and a tool of the Devil…"

"Your father existed that long ago? Weren't the Dark Ages thousands of years ago?" Starfire asked, amazed. Raven shook her head.

"More like… 1,000 or so. They started with the fall of the Roman Empire, which at the time was the center of civilization in Europe, parts of Asia and Northern Africa. As a result of the collapse, society collapsed as well. It was still about 100 or so years before the Church truly found an opportunity to consolidate their power. Their methods notwithstanding, they did manage to rebuild society… They were tyrannical, corrupt and greedy… But society persisted in spite of the Church's corruption."

"Please, what is this… 'Catholic Church' that you speak of? Is it some form of government?" Starfire asked, leaning in close to Raven, who moved back a little bit.

"What do you know about human religion?" Raven asked. Starfire looked away.

"Very little, actually. My ability to learn by kissing only applies to languages. I absorb the words and their definitions, but the concepts behind them I absorb only superficially."

"Okay… Does Tameran have a religion or do they have many religions?"

"Tameran… Does have something resembling a religion… I don't think it's very similar to your human religions, though. We have a pantheon of heroes who became deified throughout our history as a result of their victories in combat or because they died heroic deaths. They are not exactly divine… We revere them as examples of what we hope to be, but we do not worship them.

"We simply look to them for inspiration and tell tales of their exploits before battles."

"That's not how our religions, especially the Judeochristian religions work. Christians have a single God who is all powerful, and supposedly all-loving. I have a copy of the Bible somewhere in here. It's interesting in an academic context for me. To me, it more represents a series of parables that spelled out the morals of the day.

"Now, they're extremely outdated. But Christians still follow it. Jews have the Torah, which is just the Old Testament, the first 39 chapters."

"There's more than one religion on earth?" Starfire asked excitedly. Raven nodded.

"There are about 4,200 religions… Though only around 13 of them are major religions… Basically, a lot of the religions are only practiced by a single small population, not even a whole country."

"4,200 religions? Do you know all of them?"

"I don't even know all the major religions. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Bahai and other religions."

"Are religions separated by the land masses you live on?"

"Not exactly. Some religions are primarily practiced in certain countries. But most have spread to the whole world."

"So humans divide themselves by religion as well… Humans never cease to amaze me. You create ever more inventive and cruel ways to divide yourselves and then they wonder why they have so many wars." Starfire said sadly.

"So… Tameraneans really don't have sexualities?"

"Some Tameraneans find that they're only attracted to a single gender, of which Tameraneans have four… But most simply love who they love and don't choose to put a label on it."

"What are the four genders that Tameraneans have?"

"You humans would call them 'Masculine', 'Feminine', 'Androgynous' and 'Fluid'. We are born with a male or female sex, but when we come of age, we are allowed to choose our own gender. We consider our sex and our gender to be two different things. Do humans have similar customs?"

"Well… In recent years, maybe the last ten years or so, LGBT rights have become a prominent issue in the Western world.

"But many people still judge them for what they believe are bad choices that will lead to damnation."

"Damnation? This word is unfamiliar to me." Starfire said. Raven smiled. Starfire was so open and understanding, but a little bit naïve at times.

"Damnation… It means you're going to Hell… Hell is where bad people go. Good people supposedly go to Heaven. This is a Judeochristian and Muslim thing.

"But since those three religions account for over 50% of the world population, they tend to make the rules. America especially, although it's officially a secular nation has a large percentage of Christians in the ruling body who like to try to pass laws that force their religious beliefs on people."

"Are you 'Christian', Raven?"

"No… I don't know what to call myself. I know that gods exist, and certainly I know that the Devil exists. But I don't worship any deities. It would be an exercise in futility for me. I can go into churches and other religious buildings, but they cause me physical pain because of my paternal heritage." Raven said, seeming sad at that moment. Starfire hugged Raven and kissed her again."

"Starfire… I appreciate you trying to cheer me up… But you know that I'm dating Dick…"

"Is that his name? I never knew… I thought it was Robin…"

"No… His name is Richard… But people call him Dick…" Raven said.

"How does one get Dick from Richard…?" Starfire asked, clearly not seeing the double entendre of her question.

"It's not too hard… I just asked…" Raven said. Starfire looked at Raven, the gears clearly turning in her mind. For a few seconds, then ten… Then twenty… Then suddenly she began laughing hysterically.

"Raven! Did you just make a joke?" Starfire asked between heaving laughs. Raven blushed slightly.

"Well… Yeah… I mean… Yeah…" Raven muttered shyly. Starfire laughed again, hugging Raven.

"I am sorry I kissed you… It is considered very rude on Tameran to kiss someone who does not wish to be kissed…"

"How do you know if they want to be kissed? Do you have secret mind reading powers?" Raven asked in complete seriousness.

"No… We communicate with each other… Whether with words or without, Tameraneans are excellent at communicating what we want with each other." Starfire said. "I guess I wasn't paying attention… I wish to make it up to you." Starfire said resolutely.

"It's alright, Star… You don't have to. I'm not upset… I've just… Never kissed a girl before." Raven said, blushing again. Starfire nodded.

"I see… I learned many interesting languages from kissing you. What is Latin?"

"The language of the Roman Empire. You probably also learned Ancient Greek, Ancient Egyptian, Sumerian, Aramaic, German, French, Irish Gaelic, Japanese, and Spanish…"

"Yes… I was not aware that you knew so many languages… How did you learn them? Do you have the ability to learn languages by kissing people as well?"

"If I did, I would have kissed a lot more people by now. No. I learned many of the modern languages that I know through my telepathy and some of the dead languages… Latin and Ancient Greek were easy to find people who spoke them. Sumerian, Aramaic, Ancient Egyptian, Esperanto and a few other languages were more difficult to come by. I either had to study them on my own or find someone who taught them. I would be interested to learn Tameranean…"

"Oh, that sounds like fun! Hold still for a moment! I know you do not wish me to kiss you, but I can transfer the language to you through kissing if you like!" Starfire said cheerfully.

"You can both get and give languages through kissing? Your people are really into kissing each other, aren't they?" Raven asked uncertainly, not sure if she was offending Starfire.

"Oh, yes! Kissing is an expression of love and the fact that we can transfer knowledge of language means that it's one of the ultimate forms of sharing…"

"Thank you for the offer, but I'd rather learn it the old fashioned way… Telepathy… Assuming your mind isn't too alien to contact, I can focus on learning your language through mental contact… Assuming you don't mind me making contact…" Raven asked. Starfire nodded.

"I do not mind… I would be happy to share my thoughts with you Raven…" Starfire said, blushing slightly. Raven blushed as well.

"Listen… Starfire… I see where this is going and… I'm flattered… But I don't feel the same way…" Raven said. Starfire's face fell, but she nodded.

"Yes, of course… I see… I am sorry that I made you uncomfortable… I never meant to… I still wish to be friends with you if you are willing…"

"Of course we're still friends, Starfire… We'll always be friends…" Raven replied, stiffly hugging Starfire, who found tears filling her bright green eyes.

"I hope we will be friends forever!" Starfire said happily, hugging Raven tightly, driving the wind from her lungs, and floating out of the room, seeming slightly off balance. As Starfire closed the door, Raven heard her say "I love you, Raven…" She sighed, closing the door behind her.

Suddenly, the alarm went off. Raven sighed, and got up, finishing getting dressed and putting her cloak on, heading down to the main room in the tower. Nightwing was already there.