Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. Here we go, time for Raven's last emoticlone to make an entrance.
"Awr we-"
"NO!" Is the universal cry.
Beast Boy pouts. The seven emoticlones sigh.
"We'll be there in a few minutes." Knowledge grumbles. "So stop asking."
And few dozen seconds pass. "Is dat where we is goink?" Beast Boy asks, pointing to the beach in the distance.
"Yup!" Happy chirps. "That's the place!"
"How are we supposed to find Affection when we get there anyway?" Brave inquired.
"We won't find her, she'll find us, or, more specifically, him." Knowledge points to the impatient changeling.
"Good point." Rude admits.
And few seconds of silence pass before Timid speaks. "How do you think she's taking it? Affection I mean. She always took great measures to look her best, and that was without anyone around."
"I can't imagine she's taking it well." Happy says, giggling. "I don't think looking like a kid qualifies as looking good in her book."
"Sooooo, she might just run from us rather than let us see her?" Sloth asks in a laid-back tone.
"Yup!"
"Dats fiwn. I can fiwnd her." Beast Boy says.
Everyone looks at him curiously. "How?" Knowledge inquires.
"Smewl."
"Smell?" Brave asks skeptically.
"Uh huh. All of yous smewl diffwant, so I jus need to fine Fection's smewl, den I can twack it." Beast Boy explains.
"Is that why you always know where to find Raven?" Brave asks weakly.
"Yep!"
"All this time Raven has wondered how you find her so easily, and the answer was THAT obvious..." Knowledge shakes her head.
"EEEK!" A shriek fills the air for a moment, surprising the group.
"Hi Affection!" Happy cries as she waves to a figure in the distance. The purple figure turns one-hundred and eighty degrees, and bolts down the beach away from them.
"COME BACK!" Brave hollers. Which sounds hilarious in her childish voice.
"I got her" Beast Boy yells. As he turns into a cheetah to perspective he thinks 'Great, don't even have to track her!'
The emoticlones try to keep up with the little green cheetah, but fail. The shapeshifter barrels down the beach towards the fleeing figure of Affection.
Passing the emoticlone Beast Boy screeches to a halt, turns around, and tackles the purple girl. The two toddlers roll backwards towards the other approaching figures.
"Cam doon! It jus me!" Beast Boy says, turning back to human form and trying to calm the girl pinned under him.
Affection turns her head away from the green boy and lets out a wail as she tries to hide her face.
"Geeze Affection, it's fine to show your face. You look just like us, he's not going to think badly of you." Happy grins, standing beside the downed girl.
Affection relaxes, and everyone but Knowledge lets out a sigh of relief. The yellow-cloaked girl is studying Affection's eyes, and is the only person to notice when they flare. Affection's eyes, specifically her irises, grow larger by half their original size.
'Great, here we go.' The emoticlone thinks to herself in irritated amusement. 'I'm gonna need to snap her out of it.'
"That's... nice; to hear." Affection purrs, responding to Happy's reassurance. She rolls her head slowly to get a look at the changeling still pinning her to the ground.
She locks eyes with the curious boy and grins a sly grin. Her hands, which had previously been lying on the ground, reach up as she grabs the back of Beast Boy's elbows lightly. So lightly in fact, that the changeling doesn't notice. She slowly stars pushing up towards her head, moving his arms forward and lowering his body due to the new angle of his limbs.
Knowledge reaches down and snaps her fingers next to the ears of the purple girl. Quite a feat considering how chubby her fingers are due to being a toddler.
The eyes of Affection shrink back to normal size. She gives a small "eep!" upon realizing what she's doing and hastily removes her hands; pulling them to her chest and drawing her knees up to her stomach.
'That's better' Knowledge nods, satisfied.
The other emoticlones don't seem surprised. They're used to these mood swings, though only Knowledge ever seems to see them coming.
"You not goink to run agan awr you?" Beast Boy asks, though it almost sounds like an order.
The captive emoticlone squeaks out a "yes" and the changeling gets off her, allowing the girl to rise. Affection gets up cautiously, trying to back away from Beast Boy and hide her face again.
Beast Boy can't help but smile. He thought Timid was supposed to be the shy one! He resists the urge to laugh as the purple girl hid behind Brave.
"Copying Timid today are we?" Brave teases. Timid fidgets upon hearing her name.
Affection mumbles incoherently.
"C'mon! You're normally so confident. What happened to THAT Affection?" Happy nags.
"THAT Affection probably disappeared along with our height." Rude mocks.
Affection growls at this.
"You men Fection is nowt confiant caws she is a todwah?" Beast Boy asks.
Knowledge nods. "She looses confidence when she can't look physically appealing."
"Sooooo... Why is she awctin so scawred? Is not like she look bad now." The changeling seems confused.
The emoticlones stare at Beast Boy. Affection stops cowering and inches out into the open, a hopeful look on her face.
"You think I still look okay?" She asks weakly.
"Yous is cute!" Beast Boy says, grinning.
Affection starts grinning and leans forward slightly. Once again her eyes enlarge and Knowledge snaps her fingers in front of the girl's face, returning her to normal.
Affection gives a cough and pulls back before speaking. "Why is it you all came here?"
"We are making sure everyone is okay following our... Unexpected height reduction." Knowledge explains, attempting to phrase their condition diplomatically.
"I wouldn't say I'm okay... I mean, look at us!" She gestures to the assembled emoticlones. "We're small, we've lost our figure, we're too chubby..." Affection proceeds to list a large number of physical imperfections.
"Dood, since whan has appearwence mattahed in cwime fighing? Or while awound fwiends for dat mattah!" Beast Boy asks in confusion. "I men, Stawfiah went twough her twansfomaton and no one juged her fo dat! If wooks mattahed den I would nevah wear my wedicuwos costume!"
Once again everyone stares at the changeling. He was being abnormally sensitive. Happy grins. "You're being rather reassuring! Are you sure you're Beast Boy?" She asks.
"Hey! I'm capabel of beink resurang! I jus don need to most of da time." Beast Boy claims indignantly.
"And you choose to use your capability when Raven is feeling down? Is there something you're not telling us?" Rude teases.
Beast Boy stutters as most of the emoticlones laugh, Affection, Timid, and Knowledge being the exceptions.
Affection manages to be seductive despite her infantile appearance, eyes growing large once more. "C'mon Beast, tell us what you're hiding." She whispers, drawing close. She closes her eyes halfway and smiles sweetly.
Beast Boy gulps and backs up, sweating.
"Affection!" Knowledge barks. Again, Affection returns to normal.
"Aww, you're no fun!" Happy complains.
"Things were just getting interesting too." Rude mutters, giving the yellow emoticlone a dirty look.
Knowledge gives them a stern look. "Affection losing control is not "fun" as you say. It's no different than Rage losing control, or Timid. Just a different emotion."
Beast Boy doesn't seem to get it. "What do you mean diffwent emoton?"
Knowledge takes a moment to gather her thoughts. "Each emoticlone represents a certain spectrum of emotion or an outlook. Happy has happiness, an emotion. Brave has confidence or bravery, an emotion or outlook respectively. These things define a large part of our personalities, but of course they are occasionally overwhelming. Happy can become hysterical, Brave can become brash to the point of extreme recklessness."
She takes a breath, recovering after the first part of her lengthy speech.
"I'm never reckless!" Brave protests.
"What about when Terra was around? You made Raven do some pretty stupid things." Sloth points out.
Brave snorts. "I wasn't gonna just let Rae do nothing."
Knowledge sighs. "Yes, Terra is a perfect example of Raven losing control for an extended period of time. However, Rage used to be the one who got overwhelmed most frequently." The yellow emoticlone pauses for a moment. "Now that I think of it, Rage is the only one of us who we call by her extreme emotion rather than her normal one. Technically she should just be Anger."
"And my extreme emotion isn't Rage, that's more of a halfway point. My extreme emotions are wrath and fury." Rage adds.
"The point is that any of us losing control is NOT GOOD." Knowledge says the last part slowly, making sure everyone hears. "Affection is currently the most volatile, so we need to keep her under control."
"Fine." Rude huffs.
"Thank you." Affection says. As everyone else starts talking to each other the purple girl whispers to herself "Hopefully some day I don't have to worry about losing control." She looks at the changeling with a measure of longing.
"That m-might still be a while." Timid says quietly. "A-And t-that's assuming he returns the sentiment."
Affection sighs. "I hope Raven finds out soon."
"Me too." Timid agrees.
###
"Dinner!" Cyborg shouts. The other Titans all rush to the table. Raven is forced to sit on it due to her height.
"Let us do the in of digging!" Starfire cries. The enthusiastic alien starts siphoning down steak after steak; Cyborg joins her almost immediately. Robin uses fork and knife while Raven is forced to use her hands and rip off chunks with her teeth.
Raven looks around the table suspiciously. "Where's Beast Boy?" She asks, suspicious.
The other Titans exchange sly glances. "He's taking a little... Head trip." Cyborg grins.
"Head trip?" Raven whispers, almost to herself.
"Yeah, it's not important." Robin adds.
"I was under the impression that it was very important." Starfire says, confused.
Cyborg raises a finger to his lips. Starfire nods in understanding.
"My pardon. Perhaps friend Beast Boy's trip is not as important as I originally assumed." She covers up her previous statement, if poorly.
Raven seethes in annoyance. "Just give me a straight answer!"
"No can do Rae. We'll tell you before bed though." Cyborg says sympathetically.
Raven glares at him. "Beast Boy better not get into trouble because you refuse to tell me where he is."
"I can honestly say that you are the only trouble he might encounter." Cyborg puts one hand over his heart and raises the other into the air.
Raven looks suspicious. "Alright... But if your wrong I won't let you off lightly." Threatens the small half-demon.
"Duly noted."
Raven lets out a "humph" and returns to eating her steak.
"Nice one Cy." Robin congratulates quietly.
He grins. "I'm just awesome like that." Is the equally quiet reply.
The rest of the meal passes in relative silence. Once it finishes Raven floats up, says "you better keep your promise", and leaves to her room.
"I'll tell her in a couple hours." Robin says.
"You do know how pissed she's gonna be, right?" Cyborg asks weakly.
"Hence why I'm going to tell her." Robin says in a determined voice.
Over in her room, Raven is already annoyed, but for a different reason. 'Affection!' She screeches, 'stop that!'. She tries desperately to rid her mind of some less than appropriate mental images brought on by Affection's losses of control.
"I need to keep a tighter leash on her." Mutters the empath.
"Ill advised." Knowledge says, interrupting her thoughts. "The only reason Affection effects you so much is because she's on a tight leash. If she wasn't, then her outbreaks would be more common, but much less powerful."
"I know!" Snaps Raven. "But it's dangerous for me to feel. You know this."
"Is it really that dangerous?" Knowledge asks. "You've been feeling a lot all day and nothing has really happened because of it."
"That was just today."
Knowledge sighs. "What about all those times you got mad at Beast Boy? Nothing broke any of those times."
"Well..." Raven struggles for an answer.
"Just think on it." Knowledge suggests before going silent.
Raven sits on her bed, unsure of what to think.
Chapter 12 complete. Affection is a bit crazy, but if you think she's weird now you should see her when she has her normal appearance.