11666/Cat Man, Do

From Heroes Assemble MUSH
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Cat Man, Do
Date of Scene: 19 June 2022
Location: 2D - Terry's Apartment
Synopsis: Terry sets up a training exercise for Gar. Sometimes you have to take extreme measures to get good results
Cast of Characters: Gar Logan, Terry O'Neil




Gar Logan has posed:
In Titans Tower, the Cheshire Cat is having a little fun. That is, Gar as the Cheshire Cat again. Unfortunately for some of the glasses in the kitchen, that's another story. Someone left a few up on the counter, and while passing by them, Gar's attention was diverted. "Ooh."

Over that way he ambled, tail flicking a few times as he stopped to stare at the completely inanimate objects. Fingers twitched, a hand lifted, and before he thought it through? Bat! One glass to the floor, shattering. Immediately after that, the next one followed. There goes the roll of paper towels, too. And a pile of napkins. And the salt and pepper. Next, he starts lining up a ceramic cookie jar.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry's Day Off is a day he takes as sacred- outside of emergencies, usually nothing is done on that day except relax and exercise, and spend time with his friends and boyfriends. That's why it was strange for him to have woken up at the crack of dawn without waking Gar or Kian, and left a note on the door so that they both could see it:

'Working on a promising lead! Be back later!' and a little heart. Because of course.

Truth is, this morning, he was in Westchester. By a little lake he had found on his last time helping out the school. It was a nice and private place, and perfect for what he was about to do.

He looks down at the boom box. It was one of those old models from the eighties that he had gotten from a thrift store- not the most sophisticated of sounds, but it was loud and that was all he needed. Now, he just needed to angle himself to show a patch of blue sky and the vegetation behind him on the phone... perfect.

This was going to be both training and experiment. He had smeared some dirt on his face and messed up his hair... well, further, to look like he'd been through /something/. Foot poised on the 'play' button of the boom box, he starts the facetime request for Gar.

"Gosh I hope he is awake..."

Gar Logan has posed:
Just about the time that hand is near to striking the jar for reasons he just can't figure out yet, Gar pauses. A jingle on his phone comes through, and he digs it out of a pocket. Oh, it's from Terry. The usual Cheshire Cat. His boyfriend and teammate, and so much more.

After unlocking the phone, he accepts the request and peers into the screen. "What's up, friend of mine? I was up before nine! I chased a rat. Can you believe that?" Random rhymes, as the video is starting up. For the moment, the jar is forgotten. Fortunately.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
And cue the boom box. "Gar!" Terry sounds agitated, his eyes are looking around, as if trying to assess some off-screen threat that might come any minute. "Things have gone south, I need you here. There's-"

Bang. Bang. Bang. The boombox is /loud/, so it sells the gun shots quite well. "Crap! They've got- Gar, I need you to Rabbit Hole here, I'm exposed!"

The phone moves, and it shows Terry in a crouched position, supposedly taking cover, "You can't fly this far, I'm in Westchester, Gar, I need you-"

Gar Logan has posed:
<DICE ROLLER> Gar Logan rolled 1d20 <10> + 0 = 10
<DICE ROLLER> Terry O'Neil rolled 1d20 <2> + 0 = 2

Westchester? Gun shots? "Oh, sh..hold on!" Someone else may find the carnage left in the kitchen, as Gar throws open a rabbit hole to..where? He knows the general location of Westchester, but so far all he's been able to do is line-of-sight portals. This is, for him, over 200 miles. This isn't something they've really been able to practice. So what does he do? Picture finding Terry? Try to visualize the location based on what he can see? Is it a thought thing, or an instinct thing?

Whatever it is, he gets..close. He still can't see Terry, but he ends up before a sign that tells him he's in the right area. "I'm closer! Where are you? Are you okay?" There's urgency in his voice, a bit of fear. Maybe more than a bit.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"I'm okay for now, but you need to get here before they find me." He isn't panicked, but there is urgency in his voice. He stares at the screen and says, "Take a deep breath. Do this for me, honey. Take a deep breath and don't think about the place I am in, think about me. Think about wanting to be where /I/ am and... reach through. You can do this." Bang.

He glances off to the side, then back at the screen, "I'm ok. You've got this, BB."

Gar Logan has posed:
<DICE ROLLER> Gar Logan rolled 1d20 <12> + 0 = 12
<DICE ROLLER> Terry O'Neil rolled 1d20 <11> + 0 = 11

"Let me concentrate! I'm distracted!" Gar blurts. This is considerably more difficult than what he's been able to do so far with his own rabbit holes and illusions. Think of the voice. The face. The rest. Be there next to him.

Aaaaaand, not quite yet. He's at the lake, but it's a large one and Terry's nowhere in sight. He wound up somewhere on the opposite end. While he could just jump to different points he can see, maybe none of them are where he'll be. "I'm closer! Hang on!" Eyes dart to and fro, body language..agitated.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Garfield," Terry says, leaning in to whisper, "I know you're falling into chaos... trust me, I know how that is. But you've got this. You're doing great." For a moment, he hesitates, feeling this could be too cruel-

But then he remembers why he is doing this. Because there /could/ come a time when, for whatever reason, Gar has the Cheshire and he doesn't, and he is in mortal danger. If they haven't trained, Terry could get seriously injured... even killed.

And then Gar would never forgive himself.

Aside from not wanting to be dead, he didn't want Gar to have to have that on his heart. An off-frame hand pauses the boombos. "I think they've veered off in the wrong direction. But they might come back. Listen, Gar. You are in the storm, but there's calm at the center of that. Don't think about what's going on right now. Don't think about the danger. Just think about how much you want to be with me." He glances off to the side, and then back at the camera. "It's that simple. It's never as complicated as you think it's going to be."

Gar Logan has posed:
<DICE ROLLER> Gar Logan rolled 1d20 <20> + 0 = 20

Terry's right. There's chaos bleeding through, trying to override Gar's thoughts and emotions, preying on the old fears of loss. Too much loss, really. For a good period of time, those demons have been kept at bay. Things have been good, overall, with the Titans. They reformed, he met someone he developed feelings for, he met someone /else/ from another world that they both ended up closer to, but the despair came back with a vengeance when a number of them were lost in space. /He/ nearly died by the fangs and claws of a twisted version of himself.

The darker days had been in remission, but the sense of panic built up as he failed to get to Terry immediately. Would he be too late? There was too much ground to cover. What if he just..gave the Cheshire back to Terry? He could rabbit hole himself to safety. Would that be cheating? Did it matter right now? Gar believed the danger was real.

But there was Terry over the face chat, still alive, still talking to him, trying to encourage him. He didn't say 'give it back.' He said 'you can do this.'

Then, he does. The next rabbit hole opens up just feet from Terry as Gar leaps through it, turning to face his attackers with a hiss..only to turn a full circle in place, confusion replacing the anger, the protective nature. "Where did they go?" he asks, urgency still in the question.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
And then there's Terry, grabbing Gar in a hug. He knows his boyfriend is going to be pissed, he's expecting this. But he hopes he will see the reason. "It's ok, Gar. It's ok. I'm safe. And you came for me. Do you remember that moment? What you just did?" he says, "Don't talk, don't say or think anything, focus on how that /felt/... then we tan calk. This is important."

Gar Logan has posed:
"...what?" Green eyes blink at varying intervals as the hug is made, his attention noting the boombox. The area around them is perfectly calm. Terry can feel the tense body language, though hands are already sliding up to his shoulders as Gar forces a little separation so they can look more at each other. "It just happened. I saw you, and then I was here."

After a pause, his brows scrunch together, ears shifting from focusing directly on Terry to laying back a bit. "So talk."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Sooner or later, we're going to be in a situation where my life might be in danger and I don't have the Cheshire. And until we experiment to see how fast it might travel between us when we're /this/ far away..."

The redhead brushes some of the dirt off his face, "I wanted to create a situation where this level of urgency felt real. Because you need to learn how to handle something like this as the Cheshire Cat. It's not just Gar Logan in there, but it's the whole stream of /chaos/. And I know you, Gar..."

The redhead watches the green cat, "If we didn't prepare, if I didn't test how best to get you through this and something happened to me because I didn't teach you how to get to the Calm place- you'd never forgive yourself."

He glances down at the boombox, and then back up at Gar, "So I came up with a scenario that could simulate something like that. And I know you're probably going to be mad at me for it. And I totally understand if you are..."

Gar Logan has posed:
<DICE ROLLER> Gar Logan rolled 1d20 <8> + 0 = 8
<DICE ROLLER> Terry O'Neil rolled 1d20 <9> + 0 = 9

"Why don't you just keep it after we've finished all of this?" Gar asks, that wilder, untamed side to the Cheshire, that mischief-filled, hard-to-predict part still tugging and pulling at him. There's something to what Terry says about the chaos, about controlling it, to find the calm in the middle of the storm. He'd know.

So it was all a game. A ruse. A scenario meant to test. Gar did all right. He got there, and that's definite progress, but he was potentially too slow if it was real. "I get what you're saying, though. I didn't want to lose you." This is what has him agitated, annoyed, as much at himself as at Terry. There could have been a warning that this was just a test, but would it have felt the same if the point was that real sense of urgency? It matters, but that side of the Cheshire is still not happy about it.

<DICE ROLLER> Gar Logan rolled 1d20 <19> + 0 = 19

With a gesture, a rabbit hole opens up to dump water from the lake on Terry, but it's not good enough to do more than just a light sprinkle, and it isn't even quite centered over Terry either. It's a little more in danger of getting Gar himself wet, and he deftly sidesteps it before making it stop. The tail speaks for him, lashing violently a few times. "Ass."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry won't avoid what water gets on him. "Because there might be a time when it's needed for you to have it. And if you knew this was just a test... would you really have felt it?"

Brushing his hair back, the water glistens on his face, the dirt now getting runny and muddy along his cheeks. He reaches out and grabs for Gar's hands. "I'm sorry. But I thought it was necessary. Look... you did it. You thought I was in real danger and you did it. And now you know what to do. So..." he leans over to kiss a hand, glancing up, "Can you find it in your heart to forgive me? It wasn't nice but I had to do it. I need to train you to be better than me because my father didn't train me, I had to learn it all by myself, and it was pure luck that helped me save you from that spider."

Gar Logan has posed:
Crossing his arms, it takes Terry reaching for them to get Gar to let his hands free again. It must still be odd for Terry to feel the feline side to them on someone else rather than himself. "No..maybe I wouldn't have," Gar confesses. The Cheshire is slipping back under control again. Until the next time.

"I did do it," he agrees. "Like, I think I just have to see, or feel something strongly enough and I can open a rabbit hole there. Is that it? Is that how you do it?" The activity of the tail decreases to something more peaceful at the kiss of his hand, but he plays the seeking of forgiveness off. "I /guess/ you had the right idea. But..hnff." His eyes shift off to the side. Two people who didn't have their fathers around to teach them things they needed to know, if for very different reasons.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry steps in closer, wrapping his arms around Gar's waist, closing the distance. "That's how I do it. The secret is in the desire. But I don't always /desire/ to go somewhere, so when I need to go somewhere I don't know, or aren't particularly fond of, I remember what it's like to want to go somewhere I /do/ want to go to, tap into that and let it fuel me. The first time... that time with the spiders, after I saved you I was freaking out. I /wanted/ to go somewhere else, anywhere. I ended up jumping away to a remote island and spent the night there. I had to come back by figuring out what it was that I did... and I was gone for a whole day, more or less. And it still took me time to figure out what was really the key."

"Let me make it up to you?" the redhead says, leaning in to rest his cheek against Gar's shoulder, unless he is rebuffed. "Now that you've touched the key, we can have some fun with it..."

Gar Logan has posed:
Not much resistance in shortening the distance. Whoever the Cheshire is inhabiting, it's no matter when it comes to what the pair think of each other. "So you're saying I need a pair of ruby slippers, then I say 'There's no place like..' and wherever that is, that's where I'll go?" He's clearly messing around with the comparison, but the guts of the concept are similar.

There's a quick nuzzle, cheek to cheek, that comes more of impulse than thought, and he squeezes at Terry's sides. "I remember that. Yeah, we'd better practice this a little more. Shall we see how good I am now?" Once a place has been selected, he opens up a rabbit hole...

<DICE ROLLER> Gar Logan rolled 1d20 <5> + 0 = 5

...and it doesn't really come out right. "Guess I'm not quite there yet," he laughs.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry laughs and leans in to kiss Gar, giving him a good and long one while holding him close, hands ruffling through the fur. Once he breaks the kiss he says, "Alright, turn around. Because you are /not/ feeling urgency right now, we get to train how to do it deliberately. Believe it or not, urgency can actually be a very powerful motivator. You just have to let it move through you and into your desire- which you did. Right now that you know there's no danger, that part is missing. So we're going to go through the other side now. But I needed you to know that if you needed to, you could come save me and you didn't need to doubt yourself. That's important. Now, turn around and sit back on your knees, and we'll do a little exercise."

Gar Logan has posed:
The aftermath of that ruffling and kiss leaves Gar looking a little spaced out, which is sure to do wonders for his focus. Worth it, though, to hear that rumbling growl in his throat or thereabouts, a sign of happiness. "Mmm. If I can do it when I need to, I should also be able to do it when I want to." Yeah, the need was strong, and it helped lead to him making it here.

He repositions, as if he's setting up to perhaps meditate or at least clear some things out of his head - good luck there - and waits. "Now what?" Nobody said he was waiting patiently. Cats don't do patience very well when they want something.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry's hands on his neck, his fingers rubbing down the muscles, running through the fur. His warm presence behind Gar, close. "I'm here with you. Close your eyes and breathe. Feel my touch and feel only the touch. Don't think, just feel."

His thumbs work down the muscles on Beast Boy's neck, the same way that they had the first time he did this- back on his couch, in the apartment, when Gar was tense. Back then, too, Gar had turned into a cat, but it was a very different cat than now.

"We share a soul now. You've closed a distance that is insurmountable to most, because even if I am far away, I am also right with you, right now. Imagine how easy things would be, if we could do that with everything else?"

A shifting of weight, and Terry's voice is right by Garfield's ear, whispering gently, "Except you can. There a far away place and you can reach out with that hand of yours and drag it closer. Give it a try."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan squints at the massage, the tip of his tail immediately getting more active in a positive way. "Don't think? When do I ever think? I'm halfway there already!" Of course he thinks a lot, sometimes too much. Right now, it's easier to sink, to feel, to just be.

A soul? A shared soul? That is..true, given the nature of the Cheshire. Fitting, in ways, but it all still boiled down to Gar taking that form, and since the laws of the universe dictate there can only be one Cheshire Cat at any time, it was not just a copy. Rather, the whole 'kitten kaboodle,' darling. Given that, is any of this really surprising?

He settles for being quiet, listening and nodding, then he seeks that place as instructed and tries to bring it to them. Or, take them to it. Complete with a /gesture!/

<DICE ROLLER> Gar Logan rolled 1d20 <13> + 0 = 13

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Almost there," Terry says, encouragingly, into Gar's ear, as he begins to see the start of a Rabbit Hole. His hands are now stroking the feline's shoulders, "You're reaching for it, now /see/ it in your mind. Imagine a lariat shooting out of your heart and hooking around it."

"Now... pull."

Gar Logan has posed:
Something's happening, and Gar keeps his eyes closed, hand out, fingers doing what they will when trying to make something happen. That's him, the Conjuring Cheshire Cat. Time to finish the job. Time to reel it in. A bite. A tug. A pull. But does he have it?

<DICE ROLLER> Gar Logan rolled 1d20 <10> + 0 = 10

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Not quite. But Terry goes for the extra mile. "One more push, and if you succeed, well... I'll..." he whispers something into Gar's ear. It's a promise of something quite spicy, and it isn't food. "- you want that, right?" the redhead says with the most mischievous grin he can possibly manage without being the Cheshire.

Gar Logan has posed:
Still, the eyes stay shut, though at whatever it is Terry's just spoken into that big cat ear, it causes a twitch and a flutter. Food /is/ a damn good way of getting Gar to focus, but this? He must want it, for as he doubles up on his efforts, Terry can see what's happening.

<DICE ROLLER> Gar Logan rolled 1d20 <17> + 0 = 17

The rabbit hole leads them to an alley that could be anywhere, outside a jewelry shop. It's a city, that much is clear. Based on the size of the buildings and the density around them, it's not on the scale of a Metropolis or New York City.

Opening his eyes, Gar looks around at this and seems surprised at what has brought them here, of all places.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Oh that's /very/ good, honey, very good!" Terry sounds pleased, demonstrated by the stroking Gar receives to his neck. Of course, he has no idea what this place is. He is clearly too caught up in the success to inquire, instead urging Gar on, "Do another! Let's try one more place, and then you can take a break!"

Gar Logan has posed:
Instead of answering, instead of reacting to the attention at his neck, Gar slips away as if in a trance-like state for a few moments, retracing steps, looking down at a spot near a low step, moving over to the brick wall where old damage can still be seen, noted by a finger passing over a mark or two.

Then, Gar speaks. "You don't even know what this place is, do you? I was eight, and these crooks made me steal things for them, but they got into a big fight over me and what to do next, then they killed each other." He paces over to another spot, crouching to about the right height for the time. "I was right here." There's melancholy in his demeanor, even over two nobodies who were just using him for their schemes. "I don't even know why I was thinking of this place right now."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry walks over to Gar and crouches right next to him, arm across the shoulders.

"I had no idea..." he says quietly, looking at the place. It's not surprising that this place came up. The chaos would churn and bring thing to the fore long forgotten. You never knew what might come p with the tide.

"You were just eight? Oh, Gar..." Terry says quietly, stroking the feline's mane.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan is still in a solemn mood, but he gets back to a standing position after a few moments with Terry next to him. "There's a lot of stuff I haven't told you about, because I didn't want anyone to know. And, I didn't want to think about it. I wanted to move on, but it was always so hard to."

When things can often go one way or another based on the roll of the dice, on chance and blind luck, mix it with the Cheshire's chaos and just hold on for the ride. "Yeah. Let's get out of here."

A fresh rabbit hole is opened up, and now that he's getting a feel for things he takes them to another place, only for chaos to nudge it all sideways a bit. They let out fronting a grand, Olympic-length pool outside a massive estate. It's quiet, though a few gardeners and others are busy not too far away, diligent in their work to keep the place looking perfect.

Terry has likely not seen much like this before in his life, the splendor and magnitude of Themyscira one of the few exceptions. Next to him, there is a quiet 'meep' out of the current feline, and another sudden rabbit hole brings them to a more comfortable, familiar place: their own bedroom. "Uh. Yeah. So that happened," Gar says rapidly, feeling a pounding in his chest cavity as he clears his throat.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry follows after Gar quickly, looking over his shoulder as the Rabbit Hole closes up, "Gar, what /was/ that place? That's, like, the second biggest pool I've seen in my life-" he turns to look at Gar, who looks like he has seen a ghost, and he reaches over to place a hand over his chest. He blinks. "... your heart is racing. Where /were/ we?"

Gar Logan has posed:
"Nowhere important!" is Gar's immediate response, reaching to displace the hand from his chest and shift it elsewhere. Shoulder. Neck. Cheek. An ear. Just somewhere.

Sensing that isn't going to work, he clears his throat, coughing into a hand. "I used to live there." That's right. The Dayton Estate. "It's got over a hundred rooms. How do I know that? Because I stopped counting there and I still wasn't finished. It once took me three days to get from my bedroom to the kitchen. I almost starved." That's right, Gar. Joke away.

He waves it all off. "We're not ready for that place. /I'm/ not ready for us to be there. Oh, by the way, if you hear anything about stuff getting knocked off the counter in the kitchen back at the Tower, I couldn't help myself."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Eyebrows go up, and there's questions. But ones he doesn't need to ask right now. "That's alright. We can deal with that later." The question of Dayton is one that hangs over them all the time, unspoken. What /does/ Dayton think of Gar dating a man? Or /that/ man in particular? Is it going to cause complications, or will it get Terry an unexpected invitation to the Doom Patrol? Or a threat to stay away?

Terry wasn't going anywhere, so he figures they'll deal with that when it comes. His hand is displaced to Gar's shoulder, but then soon it makes its way down his back, and then a playful squeeze, accompanied by a soft smile. "Well, never you mind that. I did promise I would make it up to you for putting you through that unpleasantness. And look," he gestures to the bed, "It looks like you brought us to the perfect spot. So, what do you say, Green Machine?" he winks with a stroke across Gar's cheek. Gar once claimed nobody called him that. He was wrong. "Shall we start making amends?" Gar's outfit collar gets a playful tug, though nowhere near as playful as Terry's expression.

Gar Logan has posed:
"Yeah, later," Gar answers, and when Terry begins to hint back to things promised before, there's a shift in demeanor, a change to the look in the Cheshire's eyes. "Me? I say..."

Pounce!