The Hybrid

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The team decided to get a boat ride to the continent of Africa. Raven rested a bit in the haul, thinking about her life now. The long journey of finding the shards was done, but something still bothered her. Tigress came down to see her. "Your hair is getting long."

"I know, I need to cut it," Raven sighed, looking at her long back-length hair. Tigress's eyebrow perked up.

"Maybe not," Tigress said, sitting behind her and starting to work on her hair.

"What are you doing?"

"Putting your hair into a braid."

"You know how to braid hair?" Raven didn't ask that to insult. The animals here didn't have hair or anything that resembled human hair.

"Hair can't be much different from braiding a beard," Tigress replied.

"Ah!"

"I'm joking," Tigress said calmingly. Her hands softly and skillfully worked with the human's hair, carefully forming the braids. Raven was surprised that Tigress was so gentle. Those who are the hardest are often the most loving, the saying went.

"Master Tigress, why did you choose Po?" Raven asked. Tigress and Po mirrored much of Beast Boy and Raven. It was a question that bothered her for a while.

"He was... him," Tigress said, not really explaining it. However, something about what she said made all the sense in the world.

"I guess you're right," Raven replied. Tigress's eyebrow rose.

"I'm surprised that you asked a question like that. Might there be a significant other back where you are from?" Tigress asked. Raven blushed a bit.

"Yes," Raven answered, "But I was wondering. You and I have a lot of things in common. So do him and Po. I was just wondering if your reasoning was the same as mine." Tigress thought through it for a moment.

"He was open about his mistakes and failures. Stuff that I didn't know about even before we started dating. Kindness, caring, and selflessness were already stuff he possessed. He was and is definitely clumsy and clueless at times, but his heart is something that I couldn't pass up on. I knew I would never see a heart like that again. He always wants the best for me no matter what." Raven was left in silence as Tigress finally finished the braid. "There." She grabbed a bronze mirror to show the human. Tigress had done an intricate French braid stopping just above Raven's shoulder blades.

"Thank you, Master Tigress," Raven said, "And... thank you for helping me with my training. I know it's not easy to deal with me." Tigress chuckled.

"I was going to say the same thing to you."

"Really?" Raven doubted.

"No," Tigress cheekily said. The two of them laughed. "We'll be sailing towards Ethiopia. There you'll meet up with your Cheetah Animalist friend. What was his name?" Tigress asked as she stood up.

"Kadiba," Raven answered as she stood up, "Hopefully, Volant from Europe will be there as well."

"Hmm, Verloor must have called all of the Animalists you contacted. Ed did fly ahead and said there was a lot of commotion happening in the continent," Tigress said.

"Good or bad?"

"He didn't say. It just seemed like there was a lot of motion going on," Tigress explained. Raven's eyebrow perked up as she chose to go up to the bridge. Dhaal and Po were playing Mahjong while Ed was perched on the boat's edge, looking at the sunset. This was a different sight to see the bird in. He normally doesn't choose this kind of restful spot for himself. Raven crossed her arms and rested them on the railing of the boat.