//;If you had asked Raven what her d e f i n i t i o n of ‘sleep’
was, you would receive a m o s a i c of answers, all forged
from tinges of gray—varying gradients of c o m p l e x i t y:
sleep was s p o r a d i c bouts of tossing and turning,
sleep was riddled with s c a r r i n g nightmares, sleep
was t r a g i c a l l y nonexistent, sleep was not meant
for people like h e r ( the u n h o l y dark circles f r a m i n g
her eyes were o v e r w h e l m i n g enough to prove it ).
//;So, forgive her for r e f u s i n g to tuck herself into the less-
than-comforting e m b r a c e of her bed; f o r g i v e her for
ransacking the fridge for s o m e t h i n g—anything—to
free her from having to do so ( if she was l u c k y, the fridge
light would be i n t e n s e enough to swallow her whole—
bright enough to e r a d i c a t e the darkness wreaking
h a v o c on her dreams )…but little did she know, a c e r t a i n
geokinetic happened to be up and about, as well. Raven
f l i n c h e d upon hearing the croak of her name, almost
d r o p p i n g the apple in her hand, as a result.
//;Clearly, she w a s n ’t the only one with late night food cravings…
or rather eight hours of sleep to a v o i d. With a small sigh, the empath
began to drift out of the kitchen and toward the source of the voice,
inwardly s u r p r i s e d to see Terra’s s i l h o u e t t e pressed against
the window, her p u z z l e d, albeit weary, facial features i l l u m i n a t e d
by the dim light of her laptop. By the looks of it, she seemed to have been
there for quite some time already…or perhaps even all along. It was
possible that Terra hadn’t even r e t r e a t e d to her room to begin with…
but why? And did this happen to be a routine o c c u r r e n c e?
//;Raven took a bite of her apple. ❝ I could ask you the same
thing,❞ was her c r y p t i c response to the other’s p r o d d i n g
inquiry. However, some s e m b l a n c e of truth d i d resound
in her answer: why was Terra awake? Said ‘late night food
cravings’ aside…was she a c t u a l l y intent on staying up for
s i m i l a r reasons to Raven’s ( that wasn’t too d i f f i c u l t to
believe, if difficult at all )? Or was it something else e n t i r e l y?
Ever since Terra’s return to the tower, things have not been
easy for her--or for the others, really. Though the other Titans
have accepted Terra back into their group, there was
still a tension among them. It’s been several months since
her return however, & the geokinetic had noticed that that
tension had started to slowly but surely dissolve, & it was
like a collective breath of fresh air. But still, despite her
separate relationships slowly starting to being rebuilt with
time one by one with each titan, & Terra actually felt like
she was wanted & belonged, the geokinetic had horrible
nightmares.
These nightmares varied, but there was one constant
that was always the same: Slade was in every single
one. Eventually, not sleeping became a habit. Terra
would hang out in the ops room with her laptop, or on
the tower’s rooftop to watch the sunset & the sunrise.
Sometimes, if she wasn’t too exhausted, she’d fly
around Jump at night & until late morning. Her favorite
frequent spot, though, was by the large window in the
ops room. Terra shrugged at Raven’s comment. The
empath had a point there.
The geokinetic really didn’t want to discuss her sleeping
problems with Raven. That would just make things worse,
& Terra didn’t want that. Or at least that’s what Terra thinks,
anyway.
“Couldn’t sleep. Some noises had been keeping me up.”
She hoped that Raven wouldn’t press too much into
the matter & would just let the lie be a lie. Terra nodded
at the nearly empty coffeepot that was by the counter.
“I made some coffee awhile ago if you want any. I think
it’s cold by now, though.”