Teen Titans - Culture Shock

AN: The "teen" in Teen Titans is short for 18. Because that's how old they all are._

_

Entry the first, seventeen night cycles since moving in to Titans Tower.

Salutations, friend Diary. My name is Koriand'r, though most people that I have met call me Starfire. I do not get referred to by my actual name very often, but I thought that if I am going to introduce myself to the diary book, I should tell it what my real name is. I must admit that I am most the unfamiliar with the conversations that take place between person and book, it is just one more thing which is new and the exciting since coming to Earth. My good friend Raven has told me that it may help me to grow at the ease with my new surroundings if I begin a routine set of conversations with the book. This is one of those conversations. Hello book! If the book has a name that it would like to be called, I would be the happy to call it that, but the only thing I can find on it or inside of it is the word Diary. Though now there are words inside of it that I have written. I wonder if the book is the sad that I have ruined the cleanliness of the blank pages, or maybe it is the happy that now it has something inside of it? I must ask Raven if she can help me speak to the book.

Until I can ask the book if it has a name, I will refer to it as Diary. Unlike most things, the book wears a name on the front. If more things behaved like the diary in this manner, I think that my time would not be so hard getting to know of human customs. Some humans don't even say their name if you ask them! Some of them wear masks, it is hard for me to understand that sometimes two different people can both wear the same mask. I attempted to do what Beast Boy has called "pounding" to a suspect, but it turns out that they were simply wearing the same mask as the suspect had previously. When I learned about books and their openness with their names, I asked Raven if I could get a uniform that said my name on it. She said that such a uniform would be "lame-o". I do not know how adding the suffix of o changes the meaning of lame, but I do not suspect that it suddenly makes something that is "lame-o" no longer be the lame. Usually, Beast Boy and Cyborg are the ones who determine what is and is not being the lame, for Raven to make a decision like that was most alarming. Perhaps Raven's lame sensors are less well developed, or perhaps they are stronger but more discerning. Robin does not call things "lame-o" or lame, though he does sometimes agree with other people's designation of things as such.

It seems sometimes as though Robin does not say anything about things which are right in front of him. Beast Boy and Cyborg can reduce every thing which exists in the universe into either being of the "lame" or of the "cool" status. Raven does not call many things lame, but she does seem to be the unliking of most things. I asked Beast Boy if I was the lame or the cool and both he and Cyborg did not give me a straight answer. When I asked Raven, she said that I was a good friend. Perhaps this means I am not one of the things she is feeling the disliking toward? Not being something that is the disliked is something that I would be the liking. I have tried to tell all of my new friends this, but it seems that they are made the uncomfort by discussions of true feelings.

Now a half of a page has lost the blankness. If the desire of the diary is to be filled, I have made it very the pleased today. If the diary was upset about the blankness lost, it should only grow more the anger toward me. Though I do not fear the wrath of the Diary friend, I dislike it when I am the disliked. Perhaps before I fill another page on the day that follows this one, I will ask Raven about what the diary desires. Though now it occurs to me that I have spoken much about my good friends and the diary will know not a thing about them. This has been the rude of me, and I shall risk the wrath of the pink-covered book by filling the pages with information about my new friends!

Robin is our leader, similar to a mix of a grand ruler and a k'norfka. He is the most experienced fighter, it seems as though he does not have the problems with taking care of the business. Do not tell him that I say this, because he seems to be made the uncomfortable when I talk about it, but seeing him take command and save the day fills me with the excitement and the charm. Raven tells me that this means I feel "the liking" for him, but I already feel the liking toward all of my friends. When I told her this, she seemed the frustrated. She tried to explain that "the liking" is not the same as the liking. It was most confusing. She said the excitement and the charm put together were "the liking", but I told her I felt the same things about all of my friends. I think this made her the embarrassed, because she made me leave her room so that she could meditate very abruptly. I tried to tell Robin about "the liking" but I think this made him even more of the embarrassed than Raven. I tried to explain that it is not the same liking as one feels toward a k'norfka or a fluffy kitten, but it seems that this made him remember something which he was forgetting that was most urgent. I have stopped trying to bring it up with him, but my "the liking" for him has only grown.

Raven has been my most helpful guide since arrival because she too was once something of a newcomer to this planet. There are already so many things that she has taught me about, though her attitude is most difficult sometimes. She does not share my interest in the fluffy animals or any of the fascinating kinds of mold that this planet is filled with, even the ones in Beast Boy's room. Though if she does not, I am confused as to why she seems to find so many reasons to visit. She is very friends with Beast Boy and Cyborg, even though she is appallingly the rude to them sometimes. It is most difficult to understand why somebody who is so friends with somebody else would be the mean to them. She is not the mean to Robin, I am not sure why she is not the same to her very friends. She is the one that I was least the friends with at first, but recently she has become my biggest friends. I very much "the like" her, but she seems more the upset when I say this than the rest.

Beast Boy is a funny little green man, but he is also a most devious trickster. Ever since I have started to live in the tower, he has found many ways to make both me and all of the other titans very the upset. He has recently taught me about the Earth custom of Opposite Day, which seems to happen every day where he is on chore duty. I do not wish to face the punishment for not obeying the laws of this day, so I do his chores for him like he says I must. That is another thing which I will ask Raven about, when the actual day of the opposites is. If I find out that Beast Boy has been lying, I will be the furious. Beast Boy has the most interesting and useful of the powers, so it seems that he is the most popular for when things need the doing. Perhaps to balance this out, he does the least when he doesn't need to get things done. He and Cyborg are the biggest friends I have ever seen two people be, it is something I hope I can some day match with all of them. When I told him that I feel "the like" for him, he seemed to take it as a compliment, though he did ask if I was only saying that because of the opposite day. I told him I would never lie about my feelings for somebody I feel "the like" for, then he did seem to get the embarrassed. He gave me what I have been told was one of "the hugs." It was very nice, though he does smell quite odd.

Cyborg is the hardest for me to understand. I want to be big friends with him, and he seems to want the same back, but I do not understand his human interests in "the sports" and "the cars". It is hard for us to find things to talk about since he is also the most unwilling to talk about his real feelings. I am more than happy to tell him mine, but he very rarely has answers back. When I told him I felt "the like" for him, he simply nodded! I asked him if he felt the same about me and he nodded again! It was most the frustrating, I want to try to understand him better but he does not make it easy. Perhaps I should ask the other titans how to get closer, especially Beast Boy. Raven also spends much time with him, though this is because she secretly shares some of his human interests. Do not tell her I told you that!

Now, perhaps I should also tell the book about mys

Oh, it seems that we have to go take care of "the business." If I get back before midnight, I will continue to write on this page. Otherwise, I will continue on the next one.