A/N: Trying to make longer chapters, but not too long. Experimenting with different types of narrative for different characters.
Tesla rubbed the back of her neck, her fingers tracing the connector that attaches to her stasis pod. She studied her own face in the mirror, noting that she did look remarkably human. She had studied the magazines in the living room to determine normal human features so she could tell that her face was symmetrical and pleasing to the eye. Her violet eyes and blue-green hair were unusual to say the least, but the form was human enough. She must have been quite the feat. She turned to try and see the connector in the mirror, but to no avail. It frustrated her that she could see so many human features, especially knowing that the connectors on her body were a sign she wasn't human at all. Her mind was still hazy, and every time she tried to remember more, her systems would put her in deep sleep.
She sighed and picked up something that Starfire called a "Hairbrush". Her turquoise tresses were pretty out of control, but she didn't know the first thing about hair care. She was made with computer parts, not beauty advice.
She stuck the sparkly purple thing at the top of her hair and tried to pull, but the curls caught and her hand flew off the handle. She squeaked unceremoniously as her pain receptors lit up. Apparently your hair can hurt you if you aren't careful. She straightened up and grabbed the handle again. Well, she wasn't going to get anywhere if she didn't try.
This time she cranked her strength capacity up, and pulled again. The hairbrush handle snapped off with a loud CRACK, flying across the small bathroom and clanging to a stop in the bathtub. Tesla stared into the mirror at her shocked face. Everything about being alive was so new to her, all these feelings, taking care of herself, she'd never had to deal with any of that before. She brought her hand to her chest and felt her artificial heart beating. There was something missing from her, a huge part of her life. She wished for nothing more than to be back in the lab, where people took care of her, or that they had at least taught her how to care for herself.
"Are you having a problem with the hair?"
Tesla bristled, swinging around with arm outstretched, ready to attack. However, after a second, she realized it was only Starfire, floating outside the bathroom door..
"No, I can do-ah," she remembered that the head of the hairbrush was still stuck in her hair and dropped her arms, hanging her head in defeat. She nodded slowly.
Starfire giggled, landing softly in front of the android and using careful hands to remove the hairbrush.
"It is alright to request help," she said sweetly, picking leftover bristles out of the turquoise tangles. "We are your friends, we are here to help you with anything. Come, friend, I have another hairbrush in my room."
She let Starfire lead her by the wrist down the hall to a brightly-lit bedroom. A large larvae lay lazily on a pile of pillows, surrounded by purple berries. Starfire stopped to chastise the larvae, calling it "Silkie". Then she placed Silkie in a little bed, and gestured to Tesla to have her come over to the bed. Tesla obliged, sinking into the soft mattress while Starfire floated to settle behind her.
"You have many curls, it is best to be gentle," Starfire said, running her fingers through Tesla's hair. "I can have very curly hair at some times as well, it is most frustrating. It only takes patience."
Tesla closed her eyes, ready for the pain of hair being yanked-only for it to be a gentle tug at Starfire's hands. She remembered watching a show in the living room with the others, and in it the girls were doing each other's hair and talking about boys and makeup. She wondered if this was one of those moments.
"Starfire, is this what you would call a 'girl talk' moment?"
A huge gasp came from the redhead behind her. "Oh, Friend Tesla, yes! We can talk about the boys and the music and the deep secrets!" She returned to brushing her hair. "What would you like to discuss? Boys? Makeup?"
Tesla hadn't expected to be talking, she was usually a listener. Well, that, and she didn't remember enough to talk about anything. "I don't have enough memory in my memory banks to be useful in a conversation."
"We can talk about now!" said Starfire, placing the hairbrush back down on the bedside table. She flew around to the front of her with a hand mirror, showing her the soft tamed curls atop her head. "The past is not all we have to share, we can share the present as well!"
Tesla gingerly took the mirror in her hands, looking at her face framed by soft blue-green waves, her violet eyes staring back at her. She certainly had a lot of questions about a lot of things, and she wanted to comprehend all the things she has seen or experienced since she has been awake. Her brain can only offer definitions, not explanations.
"How can I learn more about taking care of myself?" She asked quietly, bringing the mirror to her chest. "And what does it mean when your face gets hot after you mess something up? Is there a reason I find it hard to talk to most people when I first meet them?"
Starfire dropped down onto the mattress next to her and slung an arm around her shoulders.
"I will gladly discuss the human emotions with you, Friend Tesla. There is much to know, I am still learning myself!"
Beast Boy groaned, beating his mattress with his fists. He was having a hard time sleeping with so many questions flooding his mind. Robin was working on a lead to finding the mysteries behind their new comrade, but so far nothing had come through, leaving Beast Boy's catlike curiosity unsatisfied. Giving up, he swung agilely to the floor from his bunk and threw on a t-shirt and some basketball shorts. He needed to take a walk to the roof, clear his head. He ran one hand through his hair to reduce the bedhead, and took off through the tower, resisting the urge to walk towards the glow of Tesla's stasis chamber.
"She's probably sleeping anyway," he said to himself, heading towards the stairs.
As he stepped out onto the roof of Titans Tower, he involuntarily shivered at the chilly breeze that hit him. Jump City twinkled at him from across the bay, sleeping quietly and safely with the tower watching over it. The chill in the air was unseasonable for April, but it didn't bother him. He actually kind of liked it.
He walked over to the edge of the tower and plopped down in his favorite seat, wrapping his arms around his legs and scanning the skyline for anything that might be an inspiration to the case. It's not every day that a guy finds a girl with no memories in his basement. The only thing they knew was that she was made in a lab by a scientist and there was some kind of disaster.
"Um, excuse me?"
Beast Boy jumped a little at the soft voice behind him, and turned to find Tesla gliding towards him, touching her feet gently to the concrete next to him.
"Oh, hey, Tess, what're you doing awake?" He felt his face get warm. Of course there was no way for her to know he was thinking about her, but he was embarrassed anyway. He knew he was a busybody.
"I can't sleep," she said, floating to a seated position next to him. "There is so much about life that I don't know yet, so many things I don't understand. I've been watching the Top 100 films list on ultra speed so I could get a feel for the culture in America, but all it has done is make me jumble together the plot lines. And while I now know all the references, I've no idea when to use them."
Beast Boy chuckled. "Tess, you can't fast-forward to understanding everything. You can't force humanity." He saw the shocked look on her face and realized his mistake. "Uh, I mean...Sorry, that was...that came out wrong."
She tucked her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them, copying his stance. "I am not offended. The truth is, I am happy to hear of the proper way to become...human." She tucked her chin into her arms and fixed her amethyst eyes on Jump City's sparkling lights. "I am a bioandroid, I am meant to be an artificial human life with computer capacities, however I can only manage the computer side. At the same time I have a wealth of emotions and feelings I have never learned of, and have no words for. I have been told that this is what friends are for, are they not?"
"Of course they are," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "But hey, you have the opening up part down pat, so I think you'll be fine."
She turned her head away. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't think before I unloaded that on you. I've heard that guys don't like that."
"From what?" He said, withdrawing his hand and unfolding his legs so they could dangle over the edge. "Movies? Those are just stereotypes. All people have different preferences. Like, I totally love it when people open up to me, it makes me feel good!"
"Really?" She said, peeking one eye at him. "I mean, I know that Starfire is that way, but you as well?"
"I think we all are," he said reassuringly. "Well, except maybe Raven. Not that she won't listen or doesn't care, she just tends to keep all that stuff bottled up herself so she wouldn't be much of a help."
She smiled up at him, and he couldn't help but think how pretty she looked in the moonlight. "Do you prefer to be called Beast Boy or Garfield?"
He blinked. He wasn't expecting her to say that, especially because he'd never told her his real name. "Oh, uh, i-it doesn't really matter, but everyone here calls me Beast Boy. How'd you find my real name anyway? Computer stuff? I don't remember telling you."
She shook her head. "No, it was simply something I knew. When I woke up I knew all of your names and aliases, as if it was some important file in my brain. I don't know why."
"Hey, maybe it means you were made for us, huh?" he dug his elbow into her side jokingly. "No, but really, that could be a huge clue into where you came from, you know? Maybe the dude who made you wanted you to be our ally?"
"I suppose that's a possibility," she said, stretching her slender legs out over the edge.
"What do you remember? I-if you don't mind me asking, that is."
She seemed to think for a moment, her brow furrowed. "Well, I remember words materializing in my mind when I first woke up, defining everything. I remember training. I remember doctors, and my father...he was a kind man, with a gentle face. He had shaggy black hair and 5 o'clock shadow every time I saw him. When the lab was falling apart he…well, he told me to find him, and that I would sleep for a long time, and that he'd always be my father." She looked up at him. "And then I remember you, touching your hand through the glass and just...being so relieved to have somebody with me."
Beast Boy felt himself blush a little and gave her a big grin, rubbing his head. "Aw, shucks. Anybody'da done the same thing."
"But it wasn't anybody," She said, suddenly getting very close to him. "It was you, I know it was. You being there outside my chamber is what woke me, it was your hand on my glass that brought me back to life again. If it could have been anyone then why had I not woken before?"
"Oh, uh, y-you have a point." She was so close to him, and she looked so excited and happy. He gently took her hands and pushed her back from him, his heart pounding in his chest. "But whether it was because of me or not, I'm just glad you're here. And we can work this mystery out together-uh, I mean, as a team. You know?"
Her tear fell like raindrops, sparkling in the moonlight as she squeezed his fingers. It looked like a little crystal rolling down her cheeks. She was smiling up at him, the tear rolling solitarily down her cheek.
"Thank you, Garfield," she said. "For bringing me back, and for helping me figure all this out. I will cry many tears of happiness while with you all, I suspect."
"Hey, that's kind of the goal," he said, chuckling. "Well, I mean, not making you cry, but making you happy."
She released his hands (and he realized for the first time that she had still been holding them) and pushed off the edge of the tower, opting to float a couple yards away from the building. He watched her float there as she bathed in the moonlight, wondering what kind of mystery he had gotten the Titans into, and if it was even solvable.
Or, and he felt guilty even thinking this, if he even wanted to.
A/N: Please leave a review so I can get feedback and see if I should continue, I am enjoying writing this story and it is finally starting to pick up!