HowDAY readers! I know I'm back kinda soon, but this chapter pretty much wrote itself. It just poured out of me, like...a bleeding ulcer! Ok..so not the prettiest anolgy, but it serves its purpose. Anywho...im thoroughly content with the way this turned out, and i hope the folks who read this enjoy it too. I told you this one would be a dusie...so lets hope i delivered. If not, then just wait till chapter 5...thats a SUPER dusie! Now...on with the Reviews!
Break4Angels: My most faithful of reviewers...I truly appreciate your constant review-y-ness-ness. Im sorry for you unfortuante circumstances, what with the grounding and everythin, but it fills my heart with joy that you went out of your way to read my pathetic lil diddy. I thankyou, and dedicate this chapter por vu.
Beatiful Purple Flame (nice name): Thanks, and, soon enough for ya?
Abaddon of Reown: You got all my best characteristics in one pertinent sentence...AMAZING! This chapter may not be as hilarious, but I do hope you still like it.
Mage Kitty: Once again your reviews make me higher than LSD. I thankyou, i try to keep characters themselves in my stories, even if i tweak them a little to fit my purposes, cause, you know, I'm God (at least in my story i am).
Silverchild of the Winds: Glad you thought it was funny, and as I mentioned in the Review section of said chapter, it had no bearing on the progression of the story. And about the animorph book, no all the titans dont have one, but expect a full explanation in chapter 5. Which, may I add, will be a SUPER dusie!
Raven 619: Glad you like the way I type up Star, she's my guilty pleasure...when it comes to typing that is :s. Don't worry thogh, things start gettin serious in this chapter, and it's only going to get more serious, count on it. Glad im on your alerts and I didn't actually have a particular book i was trying to use for the Animorph's book number...I just needes the book number. But, I think i can actually use 'The Change' for my own sick demented purposes. Oh, and by the way, I found your alliteration EXTREMELY sexy!
Enough outta silly ol' me...ENJOY!
Block. Right thrust. Twirl to vertical block. Spin to left thrust to right sided back-stab to twirl to horizontal block.
Beast Boy was angry. Just this morning, he discovered he had eaten meat. Beast Boy was a vegetarian. Vegetarians don't eat meat.
Half-circle arc to the floor to thrust. Spin body and follow through. Block to vault to leap kick.
Cyborg knew vegetarians don't eat meat. Cyborg knew Beast Boy was a vegetarian. Beast Boy doesn't eat meat. It's that simple.
Parry to half-twirl to blunt end club to spin to reverse- side low sweep.
Then what would make him do that? Why would Cyborg knowingly scheme for me to ingest meat? Did he think that it was a joke; my not eating meat? Did he think I only do it just for the sake of saying I don't eat meat?
Stab. Stab. Stab.
Did he think just because I joked it off, just because I didn't make a scene, that I don't care? Doesn't he respect me at all? Doesn't he care about my feelings?
Stab. Stab. Stab.
Does everyone here think of me as a joke!
STAB. STAB. Shatter…
Beast Boy panted hard as he stared into his broken image in what remained of the mirror in the training room. He had been venting his anger and frustration in his typical, secretive way. Whenever he was upset, whenever he was bored and alone, whenever he was angry, he would come to the training room and practice his African Bo Katas. The others of course had no idea of this ritual of his, the others also didn't know of his roots in Africa. It was a skill passed onto him by the leader of the tribe he and his family were friends with.
He was a great and strong man, a valiant African warrior, and Beast Boy looked up to him, although of course, not as much as he looked up to his father. He had told Beast Boy that if he were to befriend his tribe, he would befriend his tribe's traditions. Among those traditions were that all boys of 5 and older were to take up the tribe's traditional style of Bo. Beast Boy, or Garfield, was 6 at the time. Eager and full energy, he took quickly to the Bo, and quickly was excelling in it. This made him cocky, and he challenged a boy twice his age to a sparring match. He was defeated, almost embarrassingly, and became disheartened. It was then the tribe leader took him to the side and said to him…
"A warrior does not attack without fully knowing his situation. A warrior must know himself before he knows his enemies. A sense of self is a warrior's greatest tool, for when a warrior knows his limits, he can then surpass them. Know yourself, then know the world, and life will come easier to you," Beast Boy recited from memory.
Fondly remembering his past had calmed him down. Taking in his recollection, Beast Boy began to think more clearly.
It was just a joke, a pretty good one at that. Cyborg doesn't know the real reason I don't eat meat, so I can't expect him to fully understand my point of view, not to say that he still shouldn't respect it. At any rate, breaking mirrors won't make anything better. I should just probably talk to him about it, and while I'm at it, come up with an excuse for breaking this mirror.
At this moment, Beast Boy's sensitive ears twitched, picking up a noise that was approaching him…and fast. He tried to filter out the noises to identify them.
Sounds like…metal shoes…and… … rippling fabric… well that doesn't help much. That could be any two of the four.
Having his ears fail him, Beast Boy relied on his acute nose to narrow the choices.
Smells like…lavender…and….motor oil.
"Raven and Cyborg…not good. And by the sound of it…they're getting close…only about 350 feet away or so."
At this point, Beast Boy finally remembered he was holding a Bo-staff in his hand, a Bo staff no one knew he had. A Bo staff he didn't want anyone to know he had. Acting quickly, Beast Boy did the only thing he could think of. He transformed into a sasquatch, took the Bo staff, and hurled it strait up with great strength. The staff lodged itself into the high, cement ceiling of the training room, effectively keeping it out of sight. The small amounts of cement debris fell to the ground, just before the automated doors swooshed open, showing two very alert super hero teenagers.
"Robin what's up, we heard glass shatter and we came to see if….wait… your not Robin." Cyborg said dumbfounded.
"Yeah… I figured that much for myself." Beast Boy fronted, silently praying that no one looked up.
"What are you doing in here?" Raven questioned.
"What, Robin the only one who can train in the training room?" he responded.
"No," Raven began, "but training was never exactly top on your to do list."
"Well, let's just say I made of few revisions to the list," Beast Boy cryptically said. Raven wasn't sure, but she felt there was more behind that statement, she decided to look more into it later.
"Okay, but what's up with the mirror, what happened to it?" Cyborg asked.
"Hmm, what? What happened to what…Oh my!"
"Uhhh…." Cyborg drawled.
"The mirror was fine a few seconds ago. It must've just shattered when you looked into it. Poor thing, so young and to have to suffer such a horrible fate…" Beast Boy said in an overly compassionate voice.
Cyborg fumed at this and Raven just rolled her eyes.
"Funny, now what really happened?" Raven inquired, showings the beginning's of agitation.
"Well, since you asked so nicely, I have no choice but to tell you," Beast Boy sarcastically began, " I was doing some transformation drills, and I guess I got a little too close to the mirror and when I went bull, my horn collided with it. That and Cyborg's mug sure didn't help," he absent-mindedly added.
"Hey dog," Cyborg started as he tapped his temple, "I don't really think your in any position that you'd want to start cracking jokes."
"Oh no? It's looking pretty safe from where I'm standing." Beast Boy smugly said.
"You're pushing it," Cyborg warned.
"What are you two talking about?" Raven said exasperated, tired of being out of 'the know'.
"Well, if you must know, Cyborg has a very compromising photo of Robin's rear in close proximity of my pelvis." Beast Boy said as if it were an every day topic of conversation.
Cyborg completely deflated. His trump card was gone.
"Is that all?" Raven said, irritably disappointed. "Grow up Cyborg." And with that, she left the room.
"I-I….I can't believe you just did that…" Cyborg said, almost at a lost for words.
"Well I did, so you can forget about anymore 'butlering' from me."
Distraught, and partially beaten at his own game, Cyborg turned around to leave the room defeated. But, before he passed through the door frame, Beast Boy called out to him.
"Yo Cy!"
Cyborg slowly turned around, revealing his long fallen face.
"About the bacon strip thing, I need to talk to you about it."
Cyborg forgot about his defeat for the time being, it's a rare occasion for Beast Boy to seriously talk to anyone, so what ever it was, it had to be important.
"Yeah, what is it?"
"I just needed to let you know, that even though I may have joked it off, I was really mad at you about it. You don't seem to take my whole 'vegetarian' thing too seriously."
"How can you blame me? What living creature doesn't eat meat? It's unnatural!"
"Unnatural? Are you really serious? Are you really having a conversation between us about something being unnatural?"
"Point taken."
"No, you don't get my point, that's the problem. If you did get my point, you wouldn't come up with crazy plans to get me to eat meat."
"B…it was just a joke man, chill."
"Cyborg, I can take a joke, but not about something like this."
"Yo man, why not? What's the big deal? Why don't you eat meat? I know you can transform into animals, but it doesn't mean you're a cannibal or anything because of eating meat. Besides, animals eat animals in the wild, it's natural."
"That's not the reason I'm a vegetarian."
"Then what is!"
Beast Boy cast his eyes on the floor.
"I-I can't tell you that, not yet."
There was a brief silence between the two as Beast Boy contemplated what to say next.
"Look, for right now, you are just going to have to respect the fact that I do not consume meat, until I can tell you the reason for it. Can you do that?"
Cyborg looked into Beast Boy's eyes, searching for the genuine-ness in his words. He found what he was looking for.
"Alright B, I can do that, but I'm not going to like it."
Beast Boy's eyes lit up and a smile found its way onto his face.
"Thanks man, that's all I need for right now."
"No prob' man, nothin' between buds," Cyborg said as he extended his fist towards Beast Boy, who promptly pounded it.
Cyborg turned to leave, but before he left he stopped and looked over his shoulder.
"Although, I'm going to miss our morning debate over breakfast," he admitted.
Beast Boy smirked and said, "Now why would we go and stop a beautiful tradition like that?"
Cyborg returned the smirk and made his way out the door.
Beast Boy let out a giant sigh of relief and contently smiled.
"Woah, that went better then I thought. I shoulda' tried this whole 'maturity' thing forever ago."
With that Beast Boy remembered the task at hand. He looked up at his Bo staff and thought of what he had to do to retrieve it. After listening for any possible interference and finding none, he began to put his plan into action. He transformed into a flea and first hopped onto the bench press and then bounded onto the wall, just above the mirrors. He then bounded off of that wall and in mid bound he transformed back into his human form so as to grab hold of the lodged staff, a good 20 feet in the air. Successfully dislodging it from its cement holster, Beast Boy thought of what to do for a landing.
At first he thought of transforming into an animal that's used to landing from good heights, while still being able to hold onto the staff, like a chimpanzee or something. It was then a thought crossed his mind.
…When a warrior knows his limits, he can surpass them…
It was then, free falling from 20 feet in the air, that Beast Boy made his decision.
Time I got to know my limits.
With that thought, he flipped his body so that he was now falling head first.
17 feet…14 feet…
He placed the staff close to his sternum and held the end so that most of the staff was far past his head. And he fell.
9 feet….7 feet…
He clenched his arm muscles so he would be able to hold onto the staff in the moment of impact.
5 feet…4 feet….
...Impact.
The flexible material of the staff bent under Beast Boy's weight, and he compensated by swinging his legs in front of him, so that his head didn't hit the padded, cement floor. This caused a vaulting effect and he was propelled forward, about 5 feet in the air. Body filled with adrenaline, he tucked his legs into his chest and performed three eloquent somersaults. Feeling the floor rush towards him, he untucked his legs and landed, kneeling on one knee.
Slowly he looked up and gazed at his reflection. He took his index finger, licked it, and confidently placed it on his derriere.
"SSssssssssssss."
He turned around with his bo staff, and stalked to his room to put it back in its hiding place. Finishing the task, he headed of to the kitchen to reward himself for his accomplishment.
(o.o) (n.n) (X.x)
Raven licked her finger and turned the page to her novel. Right now, she was in her happy place. It was quiet, she had a fresh, steaming cup of green tea by her side, it was quiet, and it was raining outside, providing a nice soothing background noise to accompany her reading. But most importantly, it was quiet. How very rarely it was quiet, especially in the common room, where everyone usually congregated to. Yes, Raven was in her happy place, a place she doesn't visit much. But her visit was unfortunately cut short as the automated doors slid open, revealing her favorite green pest.
Great…well it was nice while it lasted.
She braced herself for the usual bombardment of completely random and pointless items of conversation that were the typical order of business for Beast Boy.
First he'll say 'Hey Rae' then ask me what I'm doing. After bringing to his attention that I'm clearly reading a book and saying he wouldn't know much about that, he'll get flustered and say something stupid that, by that time, I'll have drowned out. And then comes the endless stream of jokes that aren't funny. Everytime.
"Hey Rae."
Hear it comes…
Beast Boy then walked over to the fridge, pulled out some soy milk, poured himself a glass, and put the carton back into the fridge. After which, he strolled over to the couch and sat down on the opposite end Raven was seated at. He took a sip of his soy milk, slouched, and rested his head on the back of the sofa, quietly enjoying the euphoric melody of rain drops caressing the windows of Titans Tower.
What? That's it! No 'What are you up to?' No 'Why did the platypus cross the creek!'
"What are you up to?" Raven asked suspiciously.
Beast Boy looked at her confused, and looked behind him to see if she were talking to someone else. Realizing that she was indeed talking to him he replied to the quixotic accusation.
"Uh…sitting." He said in an obvious way.
"Since when did you ever just…sit?"
"It's a fairly easy skill to master Raven; I'm not so dense as to be unable to sit."
"You know what I mean," Raven forewarned
"Uh…actually, no I don't," Beast Boy said starting to get agitated.
"You never just say 'Hey Rae'. Don't you want to know what I'm doing?"
"No, not really," Beast Boy nonchalantly said.
"Why not?" Raven said both confused and perturbed.
"Because, you never seem to want to tell me, so I won't ask anymore." Beast Boy simply put.
Raven thought she had a response for him, so she opened her mouth, but, surprisingly, no words came out. She didn't understand; why is this happening again, why did she suddenly go mute? She tried to speak again, and opened her mouth, but only a gasp could come out.
Wha…What's wrong with me?
She was disturbed at the fact that she couldn't get any words out, but she was even more disturbed at the fact that Beast Boy didn't seem to care, not one bit. Almost as if to prove her point, he turned his attention away from her, reared his head back, and took another sip of soy milk, then continued to listen to the diapason of the rain drops.
"Wh-…how could you say that?" Raven asked a little disconcerted.
"How? Because it's the reason, it's the truth."
"That's not the truth, I answer you…sometimes."
"It's the truth Rae, you just don't want to accept it. Funny thing too. People always say they want the truth, but when given it, they reject it. That's why, for some, a well crafted lie is better than truth. This is especially true for you."
Is this Beast Boy talking? I've never heard him speak like this before.
After contemplating the level of intellect with which Beast Boy was speaking, she actually heard what he just said. What he just said about her. She didn't like what she heard.
"What do you know! I know about truth. The truth about death, the truth about life… truth is not a foreign object to me."
"Maybe, maybe you do know about truths, but you know little about truth."
"What, what are you talking about? They're the same."
"No, they're not. Truths are little different than facts. The truth about life is that we die. The truth about death is that it's inevitable. Those are truths…facts. Truth is different; it's more personal, more tangible. Like, the truth about Robin is that although he's a great leader, and a good friend, he's a workaholic that sometimes can go over board and forget about his friends. And, the truth about Starfire is that although she's bubbly a lot of the time, really, she mostly feels out of place and frequently is embarrassed and disappointed in herself in her lack of earthen knowledge. See? Truth and truths. Different."
Raven was completely taken aback at the new found depth of his thinking.
This is unreal. Can this really be Beast Boy? Could he always think like this? What's going on?
"So-So…what makes you say that I reject the truth?"
"Raven, every time you hide a smile, you hide the truth."
This made Raven angry.
"You know why I hide my smiles, why I don't laugh! You all know!"
"I know, we know, but is that really the truth?"
"What?"
"Tell me, why is it you can clearly show me your anger, but not your happiness?"
"…"
"Is your anger really less dangerous than your happiness?"
"No…of course not."
"Then why is it your so quick to show that, but not your smile?"
"Because, it would be- something bad would happen."
"Really? Is that the truth?"
"Of course it is! Why would I lie?"
"I didn't say you were lying, just not aware of the truth."
"Oh, but you are?"
"Yes, I am."
"Oh really?" Raven indignantly began, " Then please, enlighten me!"
"I can't, it's not that kind of truth."
"What do you mean 'it's not that kind of truth'?"
"I mean, it's not the kind of truth I can tell you, it's the kind of truth you have to find for yourself."
"If that's the case, than how did you come to learn of it then? How could you possibly know something about me that I don't know about myself!"
"Simple, I see things clearly. I don't put a veil over my eyes that makes the world prettier. I know myself, so now, I'm beginning to know the world."
"Shut up…you don't know anything about me…" Raven said in an angry whisper.
Beast Boy took a long gulp of his soy milk, completely finishing it off and stood to put it in the sink.
"Well Raven, as long as you think that, that I don't know anything about you, remember one thing…" Beast Boy trailed off as he placed his cup in the sink and made his way towards the door. Raven didn't bother to look at him as he spoke; instead, drawing her full attention to the cover of her book.
"…As much as you say that I don't know anything about you, you don't know anything about me. G'night Rae." And then he left the room.
Raven sat there…hearing what he had said.
He's right…I don't know anything about him, the conversation we just had is proof of that.
Raven curled up on the couch, clasping her book to her chest. She was in the same place, but it was no longer happy.
Who does he think he is…
She pondered this question over and over again as she lay there, all alone, just her and the rain drops that tried their best to ease her mind.