"There is an abandoned theatre not too far from here," I murmur as we hurry down the street. "When it used to still be in operation, that was where the Puppet King—or he who was once the Puppet King—performed his hypnotizing show. Somehow I have a hunch that that's where he's got Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg…"

"Then that is where we are likely to locate our transmogrified male companions?"

"Azar-Willing, Starfire. There's no telling what the Puppet King may have done to them—"

"Then we must make haste!" A petite figure in a blue robe bounds past me and eagerly grabs my hand. "Come, friend Raven! Allow me to—"

"Starfire, don't!" I snap, anchoring her to me. "The last time you tried to levitate us, you nearly turned us into concrete cereal, remember?"

Starfire turns around and looks.. … ..looks up at me. For she has my eyes and my skin and my hands. In essence, she has my body, and I—

I toss yet another annoying lock of red hair out of my green eyes, grit teeth that aren't mine, and utter: "You and I still aren't honed in on each other's powers. Let's not hurt ourselves while we are ahead."

"But… …," her violet eyes (my violet eyes) glisten in an emotional sensitivity that the demonic vessel is not used to. "Did we not just spend an excessive amount of time dutifully relating to each other the liberating truth of each other's origins and--?"

"I-I'm just saying… …," I pause. I shift about nervously. I'm really… …really not used to being this tall….

Or exposed.. …doesn't Starfire at least believe in pants?

"I'd rather I do the flying for both of us here on out," I finally manage.

She gasps and hops up and down with joyous applause, her hood ridiculously bouncing atop her blue head. "Truly? Truly? Then you are most exceedingly willing to engage in a thought of happiness and absolute joy?"

"Ergh.. ….," I bite my lip and push us on ahead down an alleyway. "One th-thing at a time. Let's just use our legs to get there…."

"But will we make it in time?"

A green pulsing alights my amber forehead. "We'll have to…."

"Ohhhh…," Starfire cups her hands in my body and looks like a true damsel in distress. Howbeit, not our distress. Or maybe it is, I don't know anymore. "Mmmmm….ohhhh…."

I sigh. "Will you please quit that whining noise?"

"But it is so easy to do in this body!"

"…. … …. …excuse me?"

"I am feeling far more small and helpless in your shorter and frailer frame, Raven. It is enough to worry about our endangered companions in the body of a Tamaranian Warrioress, but in this form—"

"Are you saying I'm a weakling?"

"Negative! Nothing of the sort!" Her violet eyes glow wide in haunting jubilation. "If you must know, Raven, I am intensely pleased to be having your body!"

"Nnnngh….," I shudder.

"Ermm—Did I say something amiss?"

I can't help it. My lips curve somewhat. In this body, I suppose I can let it slip some…. ….

"You never say the wrong things Starfire. Just…. ….sometimes the things you say.. … .."

"Yes?"

I shake my redhead. "Never mind…."

"What? What?" She awkwardly levitates until she is hovering right in front of me. "I am curious beyond measure to know now!"

"I've learned to give you the benefit of the doubt—not to mention patience, Starfire. Your adaptation to this planet is… .. …turning out to be a far more positive a thing than I initially expected."

"How so?"

"Well, when we all first met you.. …," I drone. "… …you weren't exactly frolicking in the park like you ramble on about doing now…."

Her pale cheeks flush slightly. "Erm… .. …Indeed, Raven. When you found me in the captivity of the Gordanian enslavers, I was most overcome with righteous fury. So much fury, that it was positively blinding."

"I'd say. Half of Downtown felt the brunt of your bad mood."

"Yes, that memory of that unfortunately violent escapade has not left my mind… …." She twiddles her thumbs… …my thumbs. Azar above! Do I really look that dainty? Nah, only when 'piloted' by Starfire, I suppose… …. "From what I've learned from you tonight, I am tempted to believe that Azarathians and Tamaranians possess opinions concerning passion that exist on far poles of the conceptual sphere."

"Do aliens have a thing for understatement?" I drone.

"I cannot help it, friend Raven. My people are a people of intense, burning emotion! Do you not feel the righteous fury inside your vessels right now as we embark upon rescue of our maltreated companions?"

"Er…… …w-well…."

"The fire?" Starfire smiles with a mixed shyness and eagerness. "Do you not feel it--?"

"I… ….I-I feel something… …," I murmur, shifting about as I walk all of the sudden. "… .. ..s-something wyrd… …"

She stops with such a suddenness in obstruction of my marching path that it almost frightens me. "H-Huh? My friend, cease and desist your movement for just a moment to define this awkward sensation suddenly accosting you!"

"Uhhh.. … …Starfire? What's the big deal?"

"Raven, simply do me a favor and… .. …stand upright…."

I do so, fidgeting in her body.

"… …does the same peculiar sensation trouble you?"

I suddenly make a creeped-out face. "Er… … ..y-yeah… ….Yikes, what is this?"

"Is it a deeply internal sensation?"

"Erm… .. …"

"Indicative of a ticklish feeling?"

"T-Ticklish?"

"Mmmmhmm…," she nods, and yet with a hesitancy she pointedly asks: "A 'ticklishness' that in all its subtleness is simultaneously painful, pleasurable, and motivating you to eat copious amounts of federlbrorg juice?"

"Federlbrorg juice?"

"Erm, does y-your tongue feel dry?"

"Pfft—Y-Yes… …Erm….yes…. ..it does," I make a face. Then—if the cosmos are my witness—I feel the 'ticklishness' spike. "Whoah! H-Hello!" I hug myself and tremble, finding myself at a loss for saliva. ".. … ..wh-where did that come from?"

"Ohhhh.. ….V'raat siul nembaar de X'Hal….," Starfire murmurs and wrings her little hands together. "Timing has been most harrowing as of late…."

"H-Huh?"

"Come, Raven…," she grabs my hand gently—urgently. "We must find a proper resting facility."

"Wait wait wait!" I pull my hand free and gesture madly between wincing. "Just what exactly is happening to me… …. …er.. .. …t-to you… .. …to me inside of you?"

"Erm… . ….," she blushes a violent red against the pale skin. "It would appear the t-time has come to drain my grebnaks."

My green eyes twitch. "My grebnaks?"

"Affirmative….," she tugs me down the alley.

"B-B-But where in the heck are my 'grebnaks'?"

"Y-You sh-shall find out s-soon enough… …."

I moan and slump in my walk, fountains of red hair dangling before my 'alien' skull. "Somehow, Starfire, when I agreed to find out as much about you tonight as I could…. … …this was not what I had in mind…."