12911/Glitter And Be ---

Glitter And Be ---
Date of Scene:	28 September 2022
Location:	Main Room - Titan's Tower
Synopsis:	A little glitter, a little coffee, a little Freddie and the nightmares that Donna will give him. And the legend of Terry O'Neil, Galactic Mule.
Cast of Characters:	Terry O'Neil, Donna Troy, Caitlin Fairchild, Freddy Freeman

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Terry O'Neil has posed:
Green. There is green sparkling in a pile, scintillating, coruscating green all swept up into a pile. It almost has a light of its own.

It's Gar's glitter.

During his brief tenure as the Cheshire Cat, Gar had managed to produce prodigious pounds of glitter, a veritable cornucopia of magical dust. This also coincided with a renewed aberration in the behavior of Cyborg's roombas. It all began with the roombas going through marching band drills, and moving on to clandestine cabaret performances in the storage room.

Tonight, though, it was extra. Vorpal stares, wide-eyed, from his table at the main room where he had been working on an article. He stares because the roombas just performed a number out of 'Flashdance'- or, well, as best as a roomba /can/- and it ended with a cord being pulled when one of the roombas launched itself onto one of the chairs. And the glitter, the green glitter, rained upon it.

And thus, the pile of glitter.

There is some deadly silence as the Cheshire cat /stares/ at the roombas he /swears/ are staring at /him/. You could cut the tension with a knife.

"If y'all think I am going to /clap/ for you, you are dead wrong," he says.

And then he gets hit by a ball of glitter. "Augh!"

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Don't forget to tidy that up when you're done, Terry." The reminder comes from Donna, who clearly feels that all things glitter-related are Terry's responsibility. Or fault. Which, to be fair, is a very reasonable position, even when Gar was the immediate cause of this particular glitter, as its color indicates.

    Gar is Terry's fault, too. At least Cheshire Gar is. Don't feed Gar after midnight. Don't get him wet. Don't give him magical trickster-entities to host.

    Donna's reminder comes as she enters the room to fetch snacky shakes. Clearly training has been happening. She still has her sword in her hand, and it's quite possible that other training people will be making their own appearances soon. She opens the fridge to extricate snacky shakes, then stops to stare over her shoulder at the roomba.

    Donna glances down at her sword, then back up at the roomba. "I don't know if you guys have developed sufficient sentience to understand this yet," she tells the roomba. "But try that with me, and I *will* kill you. The laws of Aphrodite do not apply to vacuum cleaners."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"I told you guys, let me hook SIRIN into the drone network and we won't have all these glitches," Caitlin points out. She's dressed much as Donna is, in athletic gear and with sword and shield both on her left arm. "And you can't threaten the drone's AI by hurting the remote units. What you do is go down into the server room and start randomly downcycling processors until little robots start behaving." She scowls pointedly at the legion of cleaner bots.

She tosses her shield and sword onto the counter with a clatter of steel and goes to the SnackyShake dispenser on the side of the fridge. One's pulled for Donna, one's offered to Terry, and then Caitlin serves up herself by guzzling most of a quart of the protein shake and immediately going for a refill.

Freddy Freeman has posed:
"Clean what up?" Calls a familiar tone from the hallway, a distinctive shuffle *thunk* shuffle *thunk* cadence.

  That was about when Freddy turned the corner expecting something majestic, and not being dissapointed. "Where does glitter even come from? Like...does it just get pulverized into teeny tiny squares?" He continues fo shuffle over to the counter, taking a seat on a barstool and resting his crutch on the countertop. "So. Swords, shields, shakes, glitter. Just another day in the tower?" He says with a smile.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal gestures, sending a little cloud of green glitter into the air- the bits that don't cling to his fur, anyways- "It's not my fault! This was all Gar's doing, why should I be doing the cleaning?" he complains. Whines, even. The Cheshire sighs and extends a hand, sending a crack of Chaos magic in a specific direction, and a small group of four brooms fly out of the supply closet, hovering by him. "Alright, YOU, GET!" he says, waving his arms menacingly towards the roombas, who scatter leaving trails of glitter in their wake. Vorpal grabs one of the brooms, sighs, and then nods, "Alright, everybody. Get sweepin'."

He starts to sweep. The other brooms begin to imitate him, unaided by human hands. He grabs Cait's offered shake with one hand, taking a sip after every pendulum swing of the broom.

"Hey, Cait, Freddie, welcome to the Blame Vorpal For His Boyfriend's Antics show, with your host Donna Troy!" he smirks, "It's been a bit since I've seen you, Fredster. Of course, the last time, I was high as a kite and using a wheeled table and a broom as a kayak. But I'm more lucid now."

He shoots Donna a glance as if daring her to contest that observation.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna constest Terry's observation with a hand-wobble, and grins at Freddy before accepting the shake offered by Caitlin with a grateful smile. Her sword joins Caitlin's on the counter with somewhat less of a clatter, demonstrating either a better regard for keeping care of your weapons, or concern that the mounting pile of crutches and weaponry may become unstable.

    "The glitter comes from Vorpal, Freddy. He summons it from the Glitter Dimension. Which is one of the demon realms." She tilts her head Terry-wards. "Which is why it's your fault, not Gars. You're the Cheshire now, not him. He did it under your influence. That influence has now left him, thankfully, and returned to you. So it's your fault."

    "The logic is simple. We had a Gar for years before there was a Terry. There was no glitter. Then we got a Terry, and there was glitter. When it comes to glitter, you are a bad influence on Gar. And indeed on reality in general."

    Donna flashes Freddy a broad grin and a wink to prove she doesn't mean it. "How are things with you, Freddy? Been keeping busy?" She leans back with her shake to lean against the fridge, giving Caitlin a friendly if competitive shoulder-bump as she does so.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
A laugh escapes Caitlin's lips at Donna's unassailable logic, and wags her chin at Terry in enthusiastic agreement.

Caitlin looks over her shoulder at Freddy and beams a smile. "Hey Freddy," she greets him. "Glad to see you out and around again. Want one?" she offers, gesturing at the SnackyShake dispenser. Donna bumps into her 'accidentally' and Caitlin throws a couple of twitchy little chicken-wing elbows at Donna's ribs, just to prove Donna can't just push her around!

Caitlin immediately pounds a third of her refill before slowing down with a contented sigh. "I think the new chocolate banana flavor is really working out well," she remarks to no one in specific. With a pointed stagger into Donna's personal space Caitlin pushes off to the counter to retrieve her weapons, and examines the sword with a critical eye to look for fresh dings and damage.

Freddy Freeman has posed:
     "Tryin' to. Just a lot of...school. And some heroing stuff." He shakes his head enthusiatically when asked about a SnackyShake, cause the boy be skinny and of course, always down for a nosh.

  "I mean...you don't need a computer science degree to follow that logic. Where once there wasn't glitter, now there is. OOH CHOCO BANANA!" She has his attention, apparently.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"I have a serious question here," Vorpal muses, as he sweeps glitter towards a concentrated point, "And it is how the hell is the /one/ person who /didn't/ go to Wonderland can exhibit a completely bonkers Mad Hatter logic." He smirks and lets go of his broom, which keeps sweeping by itself as he takes a sip from the snacky shake. Then he looks at Freddie. "Okay, one of the /two/ people who didn't get to go to Wonderland. But don't worry, Freddie, we're gonna get back there soon. We made a promise of sorts."

This thought causes him to go quiet for a few seconds. "I wonder. I know America can take us there. But I wonder if I could, y'know?" he glances up from his shake, pursing his lips. "I haven't been able to go through dimensions before though. That's what trapped my dad here."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Haven't people had enough of Wonderland?" Donna asks. "I mean first we had Wonderland leaking into Metropolis for a few months, then you guys spend ages going there yourself, and complaining bitterly about how none of it made the slightest bit of sense every time you got back home. Now you're talking about taking people on vacations there?"

    She takes a swig of Snacky Shake, and nods her head to Caitlin. "Yeah, this one's pretty good," she agrees. "You should definitely try it, Freddy. This is Caitlin's magic -- full of nutrients, incredibly calorie-rich, and yet somehow manages to taste delicious. If one day we defeat all evil in the world, the Titans are going to turn into a sports drink manufacturing company."

    Donna returns her attention to the sweeping cat. "My logic is perfectly good and nothing like Mad Hatter logic. Gar may have been the immediate cause of this glitter, but you're the immediate cause of Gar both being able to create glitter, and wanting to create glitter. He had shown no previous interest in covering everything with glitter until you decided to offload the Cheshire on him. Thus the presence of glitter is a direct result of your choices, and Gar, for once, is an innocent victim of circumstance."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Donna, I think we get it: Terry's on permanent glitter detail," Caitlin agrees. She fiddles with some of the functions of the machine and pulls Freddy a drink with a higher proportion of protein in it. Once the frosty beverage is topped off she moves over to the counter across from him, drink balanced in both hands, and sets it in front of him like a bartender.

"More pressingly though: *why* do you want to go back there?" Caitlin says, echoing Donna's question. "I had weird dreams for weeks after that wrapped up. I'm not in a huge rush to go back to a place where math changes depending on what day it is."

Freddy Freeman has posed:
     "Yeah, I mean...from what I heard it isn't exactly...great? Or I mean, it is like going into a Doctor Seuss book but for real. I can see how going there once is cool but does it like mess with you?" Obviously he had no idea, so it was all speculation on his part.

  "Oh, thanks!" Taking a big drink off the drink. "I heard of this before, just never tried one, but dang that is good."

  "Maybe it feels like home for him?" Freddy mentions, taking another drink, trying not to butt into the conversation too much.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"De gustibus non est disputandum," Vorpal answers Caitlin and gives the broom a flourish, sending the last bit of glitter into the pile as the other brooms gather the rest. He makes his way back to the table to sit down. The glitter on his fur, however, will need to be taken care of via shower, later. "And you are wrong as to the cause of it all, Donna. The /Jabberwock/ is the reason why I had to give Gar the Cheshire, otherwise he would have torn me apart. So you can blame the Jabberwock- and the Jabberwock only happened because of Alice, so you can blame Alice!" he grins, "And now Nadia is Alice, so let's call Nadia over and we can have a nice little trial, and I'll bake us some tarts!"

He glances at Freddie and chuckles, "It's not /that/ bad, Fredster. I mean, we had a literal avatar of order coming with us and they were /fine/."

Pause. "Except for the bit where they were eaten by the Jabberwock."

Beat.

"But they got better afterwards! So, see? Nowhere near as bad as their propaganda makes it out to be."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "And /that/..." Donna points dramatically at Terry as she addresses Freddy. "...That is Mad Hatter logic." She gives a smirk, but this time show it to Terry too, just to show she's teasing.

    "You get it, Cait. I get it. Freddy gets it. That does not mean that Terry gets it. Terry is part cat, and cats do not easily understand such concepts. They clean themselves fastidiously, but if they drag bits of mouse all over your carpet? As far as they're concerned, that's /your/ job to clean it up. Likewise, Terry gets glitter everywhere and looks for any possible excuse to get out of being blamed for it, because if he's blamed for it he's on permanent glitter detail, and permanent glitter detail is hard work. Cats do not like to do the 'W' word."

    As much as in fighting the evils of the world, where it comes to teasing Terry, Amazons are relentless. Bruce Monkeywrench* strikes again.

    "Except the bit where they were eaten," Donna repeats. "See, this is not the kind of detail that goes over well if you're putting together a vacation brochure. Normally they like to go on about luxury accommodation, fine food, sandy beaches and clear seas. 'It's not /that/ bad and you only sometimes get eaten' isn't really a good pitch for a vacation spot."

    *See previous bouts of cat vs. Amazon for details. Or for the sake of your sanity, don't.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Oh I can make this really simple," Caitlin announces, beaming. "People who don't clean up after themselves don't get baked goods. It's how we housebroke Gar," she reminds Donna. "...and Vic. ...and Nightwing, come to think of it."

Her nose wrinkles. "Actually Don was just about the only one who was neat and tidied up without needing to be bullied or scheduled." Her expression goes a little wistful and she sighs with an old melancholy, then turns back to the task of cleaning and oiling the heavy straps that hold her shield in place.

Freddy Freeman has posed:
     The tale of someone getting eaten by a Jabberwock does nothing to assuade Freddy's mind. "My dude, getting eaten by a monster sounds like the opposite of good to visit for vacation. I mean Disney World kills your wallet but who wants that when you can actually get killed. They'll be lining up to get a chance to do that." He chuckles at his own joke, but not too much.

  "So one guy out of how many?" He asks, genuinely interested in the answer. "I keep my place clean, for the most part. Usually when I have to ditch a chore it's cause there was an emergency involved."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Yes, yes, but the Jabberwock is /gone/. Wonderland is perfectly safe now, that's the whole reason we were there. The threat is gone, all that's left is the Wonder, and a /perfect/ tourist destination that would make Disneyland turn /green/ with envy. Which, to be honest, I am inclined to monetize as sweet revenge for depicting me as a tubby purple cat."

He puts one hand against his stomach and puffs his chest out, adopting an injured air, "I wish I could sue them for unauthorized usage of likeness, but I'm pretty sure that the legal window for that has passed. Pity. I could use a new house."

Vorpal doesn't talk about Don, no, no, no. It's because it's touchy. He's always wondered what Don was like, but doesn't have the heart to dig up the sorrow. "I keep my place clean. That's what enchanting brooms are for, you know," he muses, and then he glances over at Freddie. "Hey, Fredster, don't do me dirt like that. Howsabout I take you to Wonderland one of these weekends and you can see how absolutely safe it is. So safe you'd never have to use the S-word. On my word of honor!"

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Not that Disney World is that safe really," Donna tells Freddy. "They spend a lot of money persuading everyone that it's safe, but you think those animatronics never go mad and start attacking all the visitors? All hushed up, of course. There's a rumor that Disney has a contract with the Avengers to deal with problems like that on the quiet. I don't want to think how many people Mickey Mouse has eaten over the years, but I bet the Jabberwock has nothing on the mouse."

    Donna pushes away from the fridge, stopping briefly to give Caitlin's shoulder a squeeze, because the OG Titans tend to do things like that when the subject of Don comes up, and takes a seat for herself at the table. "Like the choc and banana?" she asks Freddy with a grin.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin grumbles under her breath when 'Disney World' is mentioned, and grimaces a little. At the touch to her shoulder she looks up and flashes a smile at Donna, nodding very slightly once in reassurance.

"Uh, lemme see, Freddy," Caitlin says. "It was a little spread out, 'cause Garth left and then Gar came in around the Invasion. But, uh.. Vic, Nightwing, Garth, Wally, Hank, and Don, so ...six, at one point," she declares.

"Of course that's nothing compared to what we have now. I'm glad we planned the Tower with extra rooms in case the team got bigger than it was, we've had *so many* new people sign up!"

Freddy Freeman has posed:
     Freddy gave Terry a little bit of a suspicious look. But there was indeed a bit of curiosity there where he could be persuaded to give the place a visit. "I mean...sure? Now I wanna know if I even /could/ change over there if I had to. Not that I wanna try it that badly!"

  Though it was Donna's story that held Freddy's mouth agape, thinking for a real good moment that the story wasn't a joke. "Uhh, yeah, it's good."

Gulp.

  "I should get back to home...before I get asked where I am and then it becomes this whole thing and not that I'm thinking about evil Buzz Lightyear killing people." He quickly grabs at his crutch and gently gets back to his feet, nobody ever really seen him move so fast wothout being Shazamed...yeah that's totally going into the podcast this week. "Thanks for the shake!" He calls down the hall, remembering his manners there at the end at least.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Dordonna Eduviges Larabell Sarsaparilla Troy, you are going to give the poor boy nightmares now. Now Freddy is going to have all sorts of Five Nights At Freddy's dreams about Disney, and is that really what you want?"

He gives both women a meaningful look, "And shame on you, Cait, for encouraging her. I have to be the sane and grounded influence around here, and do you know how against type that is?" He says, tsk tsking and closing his laptop. He waits there for a second, before speaking up again.

"Oh... I guess I should probably let you guys know. It looks like my time at The Planet is kind of coming to and end..." he trails off.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna raises an eyebrow at Terry. "They promoted Gary and you were so outraged that you instantly handed in your notice?" she asks. Gary is infamous. "Because I find it hard to believe they'd want to let you go. You may have a way to go before you rate the kind of respect in the world of journalism that Lois Lane rates, but at this point your byline probably sells more papers."

    Terry is unlikely to accept this statement, unwilling as he is to acknowledge that he has become a celebrity now. There are however very few active superheroes writing newspaper articles, and there's not much question it's a draw. Particularly when he gets to write about news that he has played a personal role in, and can bring exclusive insights and often some very juicy insider news to the table. Or the page.

    "Wally joined what... four or five months before Garth left?" Donna says to Cait. "There wasn't a big overlap. So to be fair we mostly only had six boys after Gar joined us, and Gar is Gar. I'm pretty sure Vic was never as bad about leaving random bits of circuit and oil stains around the place before Gar showed up and corrupted him."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Bye, Freddy!" Caitlin calls down the corridor.

She turns her focus to the others in the room and her eyes widen at Terry's dramatic announcement. Caitlin holds a hand up at Donna's commentary about the Tower's population. "Jus' a second, Donna, I wanna hear the rest of this," she cautions her friend. Caitlin rests her fingertips on the counter for just a few seconds, then suddenly perks and starts making coffee.

Why? It just seems like the sort of thing you discuss over coffee.

"So... I mean, you're not here with a pink slip, so I'm assuming you weren't fired," Caitlin deduces. "What's going on, then? Lois likes you, and your work is good enough to merit your own regular beat for the Planet. Are you drawing back to focus on the interplanetary drug trade?" she inquires, giving Terry a chivvying grin.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry smirks, "Dear goodness Caitlin, you make me sound like some galactic drug mule. I'm just bringing chocolate to people." He gestures and takes a sip from his shake, "I am doing nothing more than what you are doing with these- sharing the gospel of Godiva to those benighted planets not blessed by the holy seed of Cacao. Amen." Sip.

He leans back on his chair and bites his lower lip before speaking again. "At the moment, it's seemingly a matter of insurance. Namely, having an out and proud superhero in the bullpen creates one hell of a liability and I'm apparently costing a pretty penny, not to mention constantly giving HR nervous breakdowns over the probability of the Titans' rogue gallery stopping by on top of the people Lois has already antagonized." He shrugs, "Lois isn't exactly on board, but she doesn't /own/ the planet, you know." He pauses, "So the angle we're taking is that I can have some time to polish myself further, take some classes or get a degree, or... I don't know. To be honest I was a little blindsided and I'm not quite sure /what/ to do with myself. If it weren't for my drug tra--- CHOCOLATE TRADE-- I'd be in big financial trouble. I'm not, now. Just... you know. Adrift. Four sails to the wind, that sort of thing."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna downs the rest of her shake, rinses the bottle out in the sink, and puts it into the dishwasher, while Terry explains his situation.

    "I don't buy it," she says. "It's not like investigative reporters don't make enemies of their own for a start, and having a super around the offices would actually boost their security quite a lot and probably if anything reduce their insurance premiums."

    She grabs her sword from the pile on the counter and takes a few steps towards the elevator before turning back. "You know if I didn't know better I'd suspect that Lois and the other top reporters were edging you out and you'd been sold a story. I mean having an intern stealing all the kudos and publicity from Pulitzer-winning hotshots must sting a bit, but I'm sure Lois wouldn't do that. Not like her."

    She tilts her head, studying Vorpal for a few moments before quirking an eyebrow in Caitlin's direction and flashing her a wink. "No, I think Cait was on the money from the start. This is your cover story, Vorp. You want us to believe that's the reason, while really it's that you've become so rich from your ill-gotten gains that you have come to see journalism as a fool's game. Why earn peanuts working hard as a reporter when you can earn boundless wealth smuggling Hershey bars to alien chocolate junkies?"

    Donna breaks into a wide grin. "I bet the Planet would still be more than happy to have you working out-of-office as a freelancer, Terry. And there's April's podcast -- you could try talking to her about a team-up, she might be interested. There's plenty of options out there for you, and I doubt you'll take very long to fall into one or the other."

    "I'm going to head down to the Danger Room to do a bit more training though. Kate has been working on a new program and I wanted to get a preview. You guys are welcome to join me if you like."