Fan Fiction ❯ The Silkie Factor ❯ So… Nasty… ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: Since I obviously don't own the copyright to Teen Titans, I'm taking advantage of the Fair Use Clause of the Copyright laws to write a story with them in it. Who knew the government would protect the little guys? Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

 

Note: The story about to be portrayed is based on actual observations of Teen Titans. If you don't believe me watch the episodes: Can I Keep Him and Betrothed. I reacted much like one of the characters when I figured it out.

 

So… Nasty…

 

The other titans had adjusted to the mutant moth larva, Beast Boy taking care of it when Starfire was busy or away. Still, it was Starfire who paid the most attention to the mutant bug. Silkie was her constant companion, she took it on walks, fed it, sang to it (much to the chagrin of anyone with eardrums in the vicinity), burped it, and cuddled it. Today, however, the Titans were about to learn something far more interesting…

Starfire sat down, lifting Silkie and cuddling him, “OH! SILKIE!” She gleamed, and tickled the off white larva. It wiggled its little tendrils and made a strange, yet happy sounding gurgling noise. She pulled it close and hugged it tightly, “Oh Silkie, I am so happy to see you this day!”

Raven looked over to her friend and rolled her eyes; she had been doing that every day for the past week. It was not only getting old, it was getting irritating. Beast Boy passed her by, carrying some tofu product with a foul scent, which drew her attention to him. He was carrying… something, but she couldn't quite make out what. The people who lived here… she sighed and looked back into her book until she heard a crash and Starfire scream.

“SILKIE!” Starfire immediately lifted the moth larva from the ground, showing everyone that it had been covered in the brown tofu product Beast Boy had been carrying.

“Sorry Star… I tripped.” Beast Boy said, lifting himself from the floor. He looked to where his lunch was lying on the floor unhappily, but laughed when he saw Silkie.

“Oh, my little bungorf, you need another bath…” She glared at Beast Boy who put his hands up, trying to apologize, then quickly started cleaning up the floor.

Raven looked over, watching Beast Boy clean the floor when a small glob of the brown… substance that had been his lunch landed on his head. He looked up at Starfire at the same moment that Raven did and their eyes widened simultaneously.

“Uh… Starfire… what are you doing?” Raven asked, staring in complete disbelief as Starfire licked the mutant worm.

She stopped licking Silkie for a moment, looking at them confused, “I am giving him a bath.”

Beast Boy shook his head, regaining his senses, “With your tongue?” Beast Boy asked, still in shock.

Stopping again, she nodded vigorously, “Yes!” She smiled and then went back to licking the last of Beast Boy's lunch off of the bug.

Beast Boy turned a sickly color and Raven shuddered involuntarily. “So… nasty…” Raven murmured, closed her book, got up and left the operations room.

Starfire went back to the couch, sat back down and squeezed Silkie close, and Beast Boy collapsed. “Friend Beast Boy? Is something wrong?”

Beast Boy got up, grabbed his head and shook himself again to shock himself back into reality, “Starfire… is that how you always bathe Silkie?”

Starfire hugged Silkie tightly, and nodded vigorously, “Yes! Of course!” She paused and looked at him confused, “Why do you ask?”

Beast Boy opened his mouth but Robin and Cyborg entered the room talking about their video games before he could say anything. “Hey Starfire… Beast Boy? Is something wrong?” Robin asked, looking at Beast Boy sitting on the floor.

“Silkie was given a bath and Beast Boy fell to the floor.” Starfire said, “Can you hold Silkie?” She handed him to Robin and Beast Boy made a face of complete disgust.

“What is it Beast Boy?” Robin asked, trying to figure out another way of holding Silkie, as Starfire bent over Beast Boy trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

Beast Boy pulled away as Starfire went to touch him, scurrying away as a small green rat until getting far away from her, then returning to normal. He saw Robin lean Silkie up against his chest and finally lost it, “GROSS! Dude, Starfire gave Silkie a bath with her tongue!”

Robin blinked, looking to Starfire, then laughed, “That's a nice one Beast Boy, you almost had me there for a moment.” He pointed at Beast Boy smiled, and laughed some more.

Beast Boy didn't change his expression, still looking disgusted. Starfire watched Robin confused, “What is funny?”

Robin watched her closely… he knew that face, she wasn't confused that Robin found it funny, she was confused Robin had thought it was a joke. Robin felt a ripple of shock and disgust run through him as his jaw fell open. He didn't even notice he had dropped Silkie until Starfire landed at his feet, grabbing the bug.

“Robin! You nearly dropped Silkie!”

Robin couldn't respond outside of watching her blinking a few times then slowly turning around and slowly walking away. Cyborg looked at Beast Boy then to Starfire, “You mean… Beast Boy… please tell me that was a sick joke.”

Beast Boy shook his head, and Starfire looked all the more confused, “What do you mean by sick joke? I was unaware jokes could be ill.”

Cyborg grabbed his mouth, trying to withhold the mouth full of lunch he had just upchucked. He turned and fled from the room, leaving Starfire holding Silkie and Beast Boy with his back to the wall. “I think something is wrong with our friends.”

Beast Boy watched the door close and shook his head, “Uh… yeah Star…” He got up gingerly, edging his way across the wall towards the exit, “I think it might be you…” With that he turned and ran full tilt reaching the door and rushing out before Starfire could ask him what he meant.

 

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Starfire turned the corner, walking towards her room, when she saw Raven and Cyborg talking. She raised her arm to greet them warmly, but then thought about what Beast Boy had said, she wasn't sure what to do so she whirled back around the corner and hid, listening to her friends while they talked.

“You mean you SAW her do it?” Cyborg asked emphatically.

“Yes, I saw it.” Raven's monotone voice didn't have any emotion to it.

“And this wasn't some gag set up by BB?” Cyborg asked, trying to keep himself from shuddering.

Raven raised an eyebrow, “Me? In on one of Beast Boy's `gags'?”

Cyborg stared at her for a moment then shuddered, his entire body vibrating, “Oh… jeeze… Starfire… that little bug of hers… unclean… unclean…”

Raven turned away with a sigh and her eyes went wide, Starfire stood at the edge of the hall, starring at them wide eyed, and her arm reaching towards her chin as she always did when unsure. “Starfire…” Raven groaned inwardly, this wasn't going to turn out well…

“I do not understand… why is everyone avoiding me?” She asked, her normally happy face was filled with unfamiliar creases of worry.

Raven took a step forward, only then noticing that Cyborg had backed away, still muttering `unclean' under his breathe. She turned back and growled to him, using her powers to halt his retreat, “Don't make such a big deal out of it, she licked her bug, it's not that bad.” Cyborg looked at Star and smiled uneasily. Raven was right it's not like she had done anything terribly wrong, it was normal for Star to do … odd things. Raven looked back at the Tamaranian who was watching them utterly confused. “It's just, well, none of us have ever seen you bathe Silkie before and we weren't used to it.” Raven said as diplomatically as she possibly could.

“Yeah…” Cyborg said and nodded, backing up Raven.

“I do not understand.” Starfire said, shaking her head and leaning up against the wall.

Raven looked up, trying to formulate a response. Cyborg walked over to Starfire and smiled, “I wasn't there, I really shouldn't have judged you.”

Starfire shook her head confusion painfully obvious on her face, “Judge me? Why would you do that? I do not understand…” She looked down, she was getting more upset, why were these earthen ways so different from her home.

Cyborg chuckled lightly, lifting her jaw up a bit so he could look her in the face, “Star, on earth, people don't lick bugs.”

“Well, it is not normally done on Tamaran either… but it is the duty of the K'Norfka to keep their Bungorf clean.” Starfire said matter of factly.

Raven paused, K'Norfka… she had heard that term before… Starfire had referred to Galfore as her K'Norfka. A wave of nausea swept over Raven as a thought that disturbed Raven far worse than anything they had faced in battle struck her. Her mouth moved and she shuddered involuntarily, holding her hand up to Starfire and Cyborg as she fought to regain control and push … THAT image out of her mind. When she finally reopened them, all the lights in the hall had been busted.

“Raven?” Starfire looked to her friend, looking to see what was wrong but Raven quickly lifted her cowl and retreated.

“It's… nothing Starfire.” Raven turned, “I need to meditate, now.” Without another word, Raven walked soundlessly down the hallway.

Starfire looked after Raven, Cyborg turning on his flashlight just as she turned at the edge of the hall and disappeared. Starfire looked back to Cyborg, concerned, “What is wrong with friend Raven?”

Cyborg watched the empty hallway, Raven had lost it when Starfire had mentioned something about K'Norfka and Bungorf, whatever those words meant, “Probably nothing Star, don't worry, I'll go talk to her.” He looked back to the Tamaranian princess who was smiling uneasily, nodded then left her in the dark.

 

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Raven had stopped meditating shortly after starting; there was no way she could keep the sick and twisted image out of her mind. She had read about sacrificial rites to dark gods that sounded less sickening than… Raven shuddered to even think of Galfore cleaning Starfire as a child. With his tongue no less… and that was when she had the urge to rush to her bathroom and released the contents of her stomach.

Raven had never felt so sick in her life; it was beyond nausea, beyond measure. She barely heard the sound of Cyborg knocking on her door. Taking a long moment to wash the foul taste of tea from her mouth, Raven got up and got to the door, still holding her stomach.

“One minute Cyborg…” She grabbed her stomach, trying to keep herself steady.

“Raven, you in there?” She heard his familiar tone of voice, but he sounded a little more concerned than usual. Then again, she usually didn't blow up all the lights in a hallway and run.

“Fine, Cyborg, I'm fine.” She said, finally reaching the door and opening it up. Cyborg stared down at her quizzically, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, she raised an eyebrow, “What is it?”

“Well, Star wanted me to come after you… about the explosive display?” He smiled and blushed a little, then he seemed to notice something, pointing down at her chest, “Uh… what's that?”

Raven looked down, she had managed to splatter some herself when she had `visited' her bathroom a few moments ago, she wiped it away, “Nothing… don't worry about it.” She turned to walk back into her room, closing the door behind her.

“Are you sure you feel ok? You… smell like you just threw up.” He said somewhat sheepishly, and pulled away as if expecting an attack.

Raven paused, then turned around and held the door open, “So, you didn't figure it out?” She was somewhat surprised by that fact, Cyborg was generally intelligent, he probably should have remembered.

“Figure what out?” He looked confused, but nowhere near Starfire's level.

Raven winced, she really wasn't sure she wanted to tell him at this point, it was… a bit disturbing even for her to think about in the deep dark recesses of her mind. She shook her head, “Nothing, don't worry about it.”

His hand fell on her shoulder, “Come on Raven, don't leave me hanging here, tell me what's wrong.”

Raven snorted, “Your mistake…” She lifted Cyborg's arm and turned to face him, if nothing else, she would face him when she told him, “Galfore.”

“… The leader of Tamaran? What about him?”

“He was Starfire's K'Norfka, think about it.” Raven said, in a sick way, this was going to be amusing, to say the least.

“And that has something to do with this… because?” He made a moving motion with his hands and Raven sighed.

He still wasn't getting it, did he even pay attention to what Starfire had said? “Do you remember what Starfire said about being a K'Norfka? She said something about…”

“…keeping your Bunghorf clean… oh…” Cyborg's face paled a bit and he started turning green as he turned and walked towards his room, murmuring `unclean… unclean… unclean… unclean…'.