Chapter Text
Titans Tower, a T shaped beacon in New York City, had a cloud of despair hanging over it, if you happened to be the mystic resident Raven, anyway. As an empath, she had to separate the feelings around her from her own. It was simply her duty to herself and everyone around her to not get caught up in emotions she could not allow herself to possess.
Victor had recently been trying to teach her and Koriand’r how to use the computer they had set up in a common area. It wasn’t a formal schedule as akin to the structured teaching sessions Raven was accustomed to back on Azarath. In fact. It had started with a casual “here’s how to access the Wi-Fi”, followed by the necessary explanation of what in fact Wi-Fi was and why they would need it, after which Victor had thrown up his hands and insisted on a crash course for them.
She did think that there were interesting uses for the computer, such as the various virtual creatures Victor had shown her how to care for. At least every weekend, she dutifully logged in, fed them, and tried to do something unique with them every day. She knew they weren’t real but sometimes she worried that they might have simulated feelings that might somehow be subverted by Trigon. In the end, it was to the good of all that she had clicked on the cartoon dog’s ear and watched it do a little puppy smile as if it was giving her a kiss. One could never be too careful.
She decided then that she would complete the homework Victor had assigned to them. Koriand’r had tried to assure her that he had likely been joking, and she did not need to take this assignment that seriously, but she did not want to risk disappointing one putting as much effort into her acclamation to earth as Victor. She rather suspected that her friend’s assurances were more tied up in the fact that she desired her company in a trip to the florist. Why this was, Raven could not imagine, especially when she would be going with Richard, but in the end she had managed to persuade her alien friend that she could not abandon this task.
Why did the thought of her dear friend's departing face now bring her a sad uneasiness when so often it brought her peace?
Perhaps this assignment would help her calm her spirit once more. Moving the mouse to control the movements of the tiny icon, Raven selected the start button, a green segment of the bar located at the bottom of the screen. She dauntlessly navigated her way through the list of all programs, containing all kinds of all purpose crash courses Richard had bought over the years, games no one would admit to downloading, and the various programs Garfield was fond of downloading despite Victor's frequent admonishments that they were likely to contain "viruses", until she finally found the program that she was now learning more and more about: Internet Explorer.
Well, now that the vaunted program was open, she could type in what she wanted to learn more about, and that would be the end of her homework. She typed in what had always been her deepest struggle in life, and pressed the enter key.
Her query was now at the top of her screen in slightly larger lettering. Raven scanned it again: "Hello, Internet Explorer. How can I become completely emotionless?" The first result read, "14 Ways to Be Emotionless - wikiHow". She read the first paragraph. Perhaps it could help. She carefully wrote down every letter, period, and slash of the website’s address on a notepad on the computer’s desk, tore it out, and kept it for safe keeping.