12335/The Thousand Deaths of Terry O'Neil

The Thousand Deaths of Terry O'Neil
Date of Scene:	07 August 2022
Location:	Agatha's Home
Synopsis:	When you have a mother like Agatha, who needs enemies?
Cast of Characters:	Terry O'Neil, Gar Logan

---

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Well, we're here!"

The Cheshire cat turns to look over his shoulder at Gar, whom Terry had thought rather reticent to make this trip. "It's not like you not to be lured by the promise of food, Gar. Are you sure you're not your doppelganger?"

The Cheshire is attired in his usual heroic garb, and the Rabbit Hole from the Titans Tower to the front of Agatha O'Neil's house was opened without a hitch. He was back to full operation.

With a few spells here and there, but- that was practically recovered, right?

Gar Logan has posed:
It may not have gone noticed by some, especially not by Terry as he was busy sleeping, but while Agatha O'Neil was around Titans Tower...Gar frequently was not. There's always an excuse when you need one.

But why? It all goes back to the last time anyone from the group was at the O'Neil residence. It wasn't just because Cheshire Gar stepped on a Lego in Terry's room. It wasn't just because Raven took /those/ pictures of the 'decorations.' No, there was another reason entirely.

"Dude, if I was, one of two things would have probably happened by now. You'd be dead, or he'd be dead. I've just been...busy, you know? That happens sometimes!" As far as excuses go? Not very good. He wasn't in anything particular today, just casual stuff. Pockets, so he could stuff his hands deep into them.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry gives Gar a /look/ that says he is not buying it at all. But instead of a speech the cat simply leans over and places a kiss on Gar's cheek. Since his return from Wonderland he has been a lot more affectionate than his usual self- which was already quite a bit, to be truthful. Maybe it can be put down to separation anxiety, or something like that.

He rings the doorbell and steps back. A few seconds later, Agatha O'Neil comes out, those green eyes of hers immediately target out Garfield, and then they go to her son.

"Terry! Good timing, the cake is just out of the oven."

"Cake? Mom, you didn't have to go /that/ far."
"You don't tell me what I do in my kitchen and I don't tell you what you do elsewhere, Terrence. Now be a good boy and start grabbing the pans."

She ushers Terry in, and then glances at Gar. "Garfield. It is good to see you. Come help with the brownies."

She vanishes into the door, her red hair trailing behind her like a banner.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan's eyebrows slide upward first from the look he gets, then from the reaction that follows. "Heh," he answers, keeping it mostly quiet for the time being. Not without sneaking a rubbing in of Vorpal's own cheek in passing. Cats, man. Cats.

All the same, his natural state of being as someone more talkative than not is taking a backseat to a quieter, more reserved version of himself as the door opens, hands back in those pockets by then. He gives Agatha an awkward smile and trudges in behind, muttering under his breath, "Yeah, listen to your mother, Terrence."

After she addresses him, he quickly answers, "Nice to see you, too! You're looking..ahhhhh..nice. Yes, nice!" A flashback to what he said the last time, trying not to repeat it. Because that was someone else saying it, not him.

"I can help eat them! That sounds nice!" he offers, regarding those brownies. Everything is nice. So nice.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"You can't eat all of them," Terry says, knowing Gar's appetite.

"It's alright. I have made a small batch just for him," comes Agatha's reply.

The kitchen is awash with delicious scents. Chocolate, chocolate and chocolate all over the place. Cookies. Brownies. And, yes, there is her famous Irish Coffee tiramisu. Just as the boys enter the kitchen, she is taking a large cake out of the oven, glistening with dark chocolate.

"I figured that since you have Irie and Bart on the team, you would need a good stock," she says, and gestures to the cookies, "Those are cool enough that you can start putting them in the zip loc bags, Terry. Garfield, those are yours," she points to a small batch of brownies, "I will be done decorating the cake in just a moment, and you can take the whole load back with you."

Terry glances at Gar, eyebrows raised.'looking nice?' he mouths, and shakes his head. "Mom, I'm going to get something from my room real quick and then I'll be back down."

"Alright, Terry. Don't be too long, you don't want everything to be cold when you bring it in."
"Sheesh, mom, I'm going upstairs, not the artic!"

And with that, Terry vanishes upstairs. Thud thud thud.

And that leaves Gar with Agatha.

Gar Logan has posed:
"Wanna bet?" Gar retorts in a hushed tone. Terry should know better than to challenge Gar in anything to do with food. As much as the Speedsters eat, Gar's consumption needs are way, way up there. What can he be expected to do in a house filled with chocolate treats but eat them?

Perhaps it's good that Agatha was thinking two or three steps ahead with her preparations. Mothers tend to be good like that, after all. "Will you look at that.." he all but swoons at the cake exiting the oven, temporarily forgetting his apprehensions and hang-ups, though he does veer toward the brownies set aside for them. "Ooh."

Before there's much time to react, Gar's left to stare after the exiting feline. "Traitor!" he calls out.

Initially, his silence reigns. Before long, he's fiddling with his hands and fingers, finding them infinitely more interesting to look at. "So..." It's a beginning.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Yes, Garfield?" Agatha says, while grabbing hold of a piping bag, already pre-filled with icing.

Up above, they can hear Terry moving around. Thud. Thud. Thud. THUD.

"Terry, are you alright?" Agatha calls out.
"FINE MOM!" he hollers. Thud. Silence.

She shrugs and starts to decorate the borders of the cake, her eyes on the task, but her attention on Garfield. "Is there something you wanted to tell me?"

Gar Logan has posed:
Under different circumstances, Gar might just zip over to Agatha, place himself beneath the bag of icing, open wide, and point to help her hit the mark.

These are not those circumstances. Not by half.

He grimaces at the thumping from above, as if to remind him that Terry is /still up there/ and not down here with him. What a friend. Did his mother tell him? Did he bring it up with her?

"Who, me?" he starts, pointing at himself before looking around and behind, and perhaps in some ways she could see him acting like her own son: awkward, embarrassed, meek, wanting to curl up into a ball. /Gar/ could do that, say, as an armadillo, but not this time.

Clearing his throat, he comes out with it. "IjustwantedtosayI'msorryforthelasttimeIwashere." Breath. "Iwasn'treallymyselfatthetimeandsomethingcameoverme." Breath. Glare at the ceiling. Slow down. "I didn't know the memories sort of.." He waves a hand, frowning. "..passed along. For a second, I saw you the way, um, /he/ saw you."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"So that's what it was?" Agatha says, one eyebrow raised, eyes still on the cake. "But you do have a full recollection of everything that transpired?"

Thud. Thud. THUD. Before Agatha can say anything, an "I'm fiiiine mom," floats down from the upper room. It sounds like he's rearranging things, moving furniture, maybe. What /is/ he up to?

"It is a sensitive subject, Garfield, because some of your demeanor was too... familiar. In both meanings of the word."

She glances up at him once the border has been decorated. "There are some memories I am not keen on revisiting. I imagine this is a feeling with which you must be familiar."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan studies the way Agatha watches him while putting those expert touches on the cake, leaving him to rub the back of his neck for a few seconds. "Yes..and no. It's different from anything I've felt before. Like, memories that weren't mine but felt like they were, or dreams, or you know that deja vu feeling? Except it's sort of like a combined thing where I can't tell right away if it's something I did or not. That's the best I can explain it."

He lets out an obvious /sigh/ at the thumping around upstairs, shaking his head.

"I remembered the way he looks at me, and the way his dad looked at you. And the way he felt when he left, and..Terry told me his dad took the choice away from you, and Terry said he took it away from me when he stayed behind to save Wonderland, but he was trying to do what a hero would do. I don't think that's exactly the same thing, but..hrrf." It's a little grunt, a grimace.

"I know what it's like to lose someone you care about, what it's like to feel abandoned, and I know it sucks," he explains, his mouth tightening, tensing. "I was a stupid idiot when I joined the Titans, because I was trying not to think about bad things. I was acting certain ways to hide that stuff. I didn't mean to dig up bad memories for you."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Garfield," Agatha says, softly, "I have put my past with Terry's father far behind me,"

Thud

---THUD

"But I admit that... you simply can't ignore memories when they are triggered."

She then proceeds to grab another bag, and starts writing on the cake in orange. "I appreciate your apology, however. I understand you were under an unusual influence. When Terry first... turned, his behavior was extremely anomalous. More than usual. It's how I figured out his secret identity."

She finishes a large 'T'. "And the glitter."

THUD. Thud. Slide. Creak. 'Aha!' from Terry, faint up there. And then a 'Wait, what the f--'

Agatha's eyebrows raise, "Ah. That's what he's looking for," she mutters.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan's hands go up, like he's surrendering. "Right! I'm not trying to make you relive that! But you're..right. About memories. And I'm just gonna shut up now before I say anything else about that I'm gonna need to apologize for."

He peers at what she's putting on the cake. The 'T' could be a couple different things. "I don't know how much he was starting to go through all that when we met, but..heh. I got him good with the glitter when I was.." He waves a hand. They both know what he means.

More of that noise from up above, and while he squints at the reactions it's when she says what she does that he wonders, "What's he looking for if he's saying that when he finds it?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"That's because he hasn't found it. I've moved it," Agatha says, that sparkle of mischief on her eyes, very brief. "You know, Garfield, I can understand why Terry likes you."

The bag starts tracing an 'h' now. "You are very sweet and you've lived a lot more than he has, which keeps him grounded. When he told me he was working on a story on the Titans, and that he was hanging out with all of you, I admit that I had my apprehensions."

Thud. Thud.

"It's one thing to have a crush on someone you're never going to meet. It's an entirely different thing when that actually happens, and most of the time there are no guarantees feelings will be reciprocated."

Now she's on the 'a'. Thud. Thud.

"I admit, I was worried."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan raises a brow, in the dark when it comes to what, exactly, Terry would be looking for that his mother's placed elsewhere.

Finally, he claims a brownie to chomp into as she spells out T-H-A, so far. Thanks? Thank you? Thank who? "I think he just liked people who do what we do, and we're almost the same age and maybe he likes green," he posits, based on some of what they've discussed in the past. "And I've tried to help keep him out of trouble, but that's kind of hard when I get into a lot of it myself. From what he's said about you, you're pretty badass..I mean..tough, too."

More noise upstairs, and he mutters aloud, "I swear, it's like he's knocking down a wall up there or something," before he adds, "Worried? Because I was only, you know, chasing girls then?" It's a thing he's had to come to accept, as well.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Something of the sort. Terry doesn't have..." she pauses, re-evaluating what she was about to say, "Didn't have the best self-esteem. I was worried that being rebuffed by someone he looked up to much would be shattering. But that's what you have to deal with once they become adults and you can't ground them.' She smiles a little, moving onto the 'n'.

Thud.

"Thank you for loving my child, Garfield. I know that he can be a handful, but he always means well. I think you and the Titans have been a good influence on him, probably the best thing that could have happened to him. When he's not getting lost in other worlds." And there comes the k.

Thud. Thud.

"Mooooooooom, I can't find my..." long pause. "My-"

"Your what, Terry?" she calls out. Silence, And then.

"Nevermind, I'll keep looking."
r

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan palms another brownie, which finds its way, without delay, into his mouth so it can go downie.

"Oh..yeah. When he woke back up, he started talking about how he'd understand if I wanted him to get lost. I almost had to knock some sense into him, just so he'd finally have some," he explains, shaking his head. "Hey, he's part of our family now. Our Titans family. When we met, I didn't know if the Titans would ever be a thing again, but something made me come back out here again and look at everything now."

He glances between Agatha and the ceiling at the latest exchange, like following a tennis match from the sideline. Can't bring himself to ask what it is that's being searched for, curious as he is.

Then, he calls up, "Your brains?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Ha Ha very funny Logan!" Terry's voice comes from above. Agatha finishes the word 'Thanks' and she purses her lips. "Terry, I know what you're looking for, and it's not there anymore. I have it."

"WHAT? Mom-"

"Come downstairs."

There is a long silence.

"Well, you watch out for each other. Having an entire team to look after Terry does give me a little more extra time than I used to have, admittedly." She looks at Garfield then, as she adds an exclamation mark to the cake. "If you plan on being the Cheshire again, Garfield, I think it's important that you spend a little more time... training yourself in restraint. That's my advice."



There are muted steps walking down the stairs.

Gar Logan has posed:
Of course it was very funny. Consider the source.

Gar arches a brow toward Agatha when she reveals that whatever Terry's actually looking for isn't even up there. "Well played. /I/ don't know what it is, but well played." He finds he can't remember if his mother or father ever played a game like that with him, and just for an instant does his demeanor falter before he recovers.

"Oh, you should ask him how some of my training went. But..you're right. I don't think it's the last time I'm going to be the Cheshire. It was sort of an accident the first time, but now that we know it's possible..."

Terry is nearly upon them. Quickly, Gar scarfs down another brownie, making it look like there were fewer to share from the start.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
And then there is Terry, looking accusingly at his mom. "Mom, where-"
"Here, Terry, finish underlining this, I will be right back."

And Agatha has left the room for a moment. Terry grabs the bag and begins to work, glancing up at the green boy "... what was that all about? Did you guys talk."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan begins to separate out the brownies so the count is even for both of them, neglecting the fact he's got a few crumbs at a corner of his mouth. Watching Terry's mom head off, he says casually, "Try not to get any fur in the icing. People hate that."

One thing remains constant in the kitchen: Gar's presence, first with Agatha, now Vorpal, but neither of them sticking around at the same time. "Hmm? Oh. Yeah. We did."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"And? What happened? Aside from you trying to cheat me out of a few brownies?" Vorpal smirks, icing the last bit of the cake. He knows his guy.

There's the sound of something being moved around, somewhere in the house.

Gar Logan has posed:
"You know, I think she's messing with you," Gar says, gesturing in the direction Agatha went off toward. He tilts his head in an attempt to pinpoint the source of the sound, but he's not in a particularly good form for that right now.

Flashing the best 'Who, me?' look he can, both hands meeting at his chest, he reacts. "I'd never! I'm splitting up what's here! Besides, think about all the treats you've had here that I never got to have any of! Years worth"

Another one of those pauses before he reiterates, "We talked. I'm still here, so it went pretty well. Now what were you trying to find? If it's your innocence, we both know that's long gone and never coming back."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"You are such a /brat/!" Terry laughs and reaches over to /squirt/ the remainder of the icing bag at Gar. Just in time for Agatha t arrive.

"Terry, don't waste the icing, please!" she says. She is carrying a thick, bound volume with a black cover, which makes Terry stop in his tracks. "Wait, is that-"

"Here you go, Garfield," she says, offering the book to Gar.

"Mom, no, how-"

Now now, Terry. Start gathering everything, I imagine you'll only need one of you to carry it through the Rabbit Hole in a few trips. Gar has to make sure he handles the book well."

Gar Logan has posed:
"You know it." Opportunity presented, Gar assumes the position - the one that lets him catch that icing in his mouth. Most of it, anyway.

It's a good thing Agatha walked in in time to see it coming from the bag of icing.

"He's not wasting it!" he adds, licking up what he can before going over to grab a few paper towels to wet so he can wash the rest of his face off and make sure nothing's making a mess elsewhere.

Turning back to face Agatha, he seems confused at what she's got in hand. Once it's given to him, not Terry, he makes a show of acting like it's /much/ heavier than it really is, to the point he falls to the floor while keeping it from opening up everywhere. "Whoa! What's in this thing? What am I supposed to be handling well?" he wonders, moving to sit cross-legged while starting to open it up.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Garfield Logan don't you da-" Terry begins.

Ding-Dong.

"Terry, please go see who's at the door, I'm expecting an important package from a client."
"But mom-"
"Now please, I'll finish getting the cake ready." There is a cake box on the table for it, after all.

Terry gives Gar an utterly helpless look, and then storms out to the living room.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan remains there, just on the kitchen floor, like you do with a big folder full of stuff in it, as the bell rings and Agatha shoos Terry off. Hopefully whoever's at the door is ready to meet a cat guy.

Helping out, Gar is comfortable enough to call after him, "I told her I was sorry for something you missed the last time we were all here, when Raven took the--"

He cuts off mid-sentence, having been flipping through a few pages to stop on a certain page, which he begins to recite aloud.

"'...and the morning sun reflected off Beast Boy's costumed butt - which everyone knew was way better than Nightwing's - before he looked back at me with a wink and a smile, saying, "Face it, tiger, you just hit the jackpot!"' And then he turned into a green one and...'"

Gar looks directly up at Agatha, blinking before staring. "Can I get a few more brownies for the road?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Agatha wordlessly moves brownies from the general cache and into Best Boy's ziploc bag. "And a few more for the evening."

"It was just a Jehova's witne-" Terry says, stepping into the room, and then looking at Gar. "Oh god, no, don't you read th-"

"Time to go, boys. I'm expecting Ms. Kennet shortly and I have to make the living room presentable. There's a good boy, Terry, and open a Rabbit Hole."

Terry stares and, in an attitude of abject defeat, opens a Rabbit Hole. Giving Gar one long, sullen look, he walks over to the table and grabs the cake, and starts walking towards the Rabbit Hole, and out onto the tower's kitchen.

"He'll get over it," Agatha says quietly to Gar. "I figured he'd want to burn his old stuff when he remembered it was still here. I couldn't have him do that- call me sentimental," she says, with a little smile.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan snaps the folder shut, tucking it closely in against his side before he gets back to his feet. "Thanks, Mrs. O'Neil. I'm gonna need them. Not sure if I want to read any more of this or never think about it again. I'm kind of 50/50 on that right now."

Giving the Cheshire quite the grin in return, it's almost on the same level as his own when he had that side to him. "I knew you liked my butt, but I didn't know you liked it /that/ much. And the line about the tiger and the jackpot, that was clever. I think I'm gonna have to lock this away in the safe we kept the Regalia in."

Before he goes through the rabbit hole, he admits to Agatha, "I never had a mother around to make me want to shrivel up and die like that. He's gonna get me back later on, but I guess it'll be worth it. And..thanks again for these. Very yum." He waves the brownies about before both vacate the residence.