12968/Green Day: Age Me Up When September Ends

Green Day: Age Me Up When September Ends
Date of Scene:	04 October 2022
Location:	Giorgio's Pizzeria - St. Martin's Island
Synopsis:	The Titans gather to surprise Gar and celebrate his 21st birthday, and he's reminded of differences between the family you end up a part of and the family you create and grow with others.
Cast of Characters:	Terry O'Neil, Michael Hannigan, Caitlin Fairchild, Kian, Damian Wayne, Kaida Connolly, Donna Troy, Gar Logan

---

Terry O'Neil has posed:
It's hard to pull off 'boy' as a moniker with a straight face after you turn 21. If someone can do it, though, that someone is probably Garfield Logan, whose surprise birthday party is about to start at Giorgio's.

Not that anyone not involved with the party knows that this is happening. The joint had been reserved under the name 'Bruce Monkeywrench', and the nature of the party wasn't revealed to the staff until a few minutes before things got underway. A No Social Media Post policy was enacted for the duration of the party solely for safety issues, which were explained to staff very carefully ("All I'm saying is that if a whole bunch of posts go up showing a room full of Titans in a very public location, you might have the enemies of the Doom Patrol, the Titans and like five other hero franchises tempted to strike, and you might have to post your resume online the next morning 'cause the only thing remaining of the place will be the menus.") Posting the pictures a few hours after, though? Totally fine.

There's music blasting from the jukebox and all of the arcade cabinets are operating without tokens tonight, and the air is heavy with the delicious smell of pizza-- a veritable paradise of pizza, as the constantly-refreshing pizza buffet is attended to by the pizzeria staff. Giorgio's has been 'the' place for the Titans for ages now, and the staff is very familiar with the appetites of the Titans, and that of Beast Boy in particular. An endlessly-refreshing supply of pizza is only common sense.

Terry isn't in feline form for once but in his regular, run of the mill ginger form. He's been going back and forth getting things ready, having taken the reins of organizing the party because... well, now that he had been let go from the Planet, he had ample amounts of time. So much so that it was driving him crazy. It might be the reason why he may have gone a little over the top with the arrangements. He had coordinated it with the precision of a suicide mission- texts had gone out to the other Titans, filling them in on what was going on, and to keep Gar ignorant. Texts like <<Rendezvous at G, minus five>> had been sent out. THAT sort of thing.

As for Gar? He'd gotten a text: <<Hey, Greenie! Mom and I are at Giorgio's for dinner. Wanna join me?>>

Oh yes. Agatha is there. In the kitchen, at the moment, but she is here, so Terry isn't lying.

"Alright, places, everybody!" Terry calls out to those gathered- be they Titans, friends, family or staff. "He should be coming by any minute, you know what to yell when he does!"

There were balloons full of confetti ready to be popped, and streamers and noisemakers. He had even sent invitations to Steve Dayton in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, the man might actually spare some valuable time.

Like we said... Terry really, really needs a job.

.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
If Mike has learned with those he's encountered with the JLD, a LOT of people can pull off 'boy' or 'girl' after turning 21. The question is if they still want to. While not a Titan, Mike had gotten a text message and with his most recent work phone having a functioning screen, he could read the text message and follow it up with a texts like << What is G? >> <<Which one?>> <<Where?>> <<You know I don't live in Metropolis, right?>> and the like.

Either way, it was easy for Mike to keep Gar ignorant of the fact being he was still kind of clueless himself.

Either way. Mike figured it out and was getting into place.

After a selfie with one of the staffers.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Oooh, yes yes yes!" Caitlin stamps her feet (softly) in excitement. She *hates* being surprised with birthday parties, but she *loves* surprise parties. She's in her favorite dress, a rather conservative burgundy shirt-dress she often wears to Church and other functions. "Ok! Where's-- OK, if Wally shows up, tell him that if anyone touches the cake before Gar does, I *will* make them come to a month of my crossfit routines," she warns the others, and skitter-steps with glee towards the kitchen area to hustle out of sight.

It's not like she can just hide BEHIND something, anyway.

Kian has posed:
    Kian of course does not celebrate birthdays -- his own or anyone else's.  But it occurred to him that he *did* miss the anniversary of Gar's First Flight, so there's a good excuse to have a gift for him anyway.
    He himself had been kept out of the loop out of necessity -- besides not having any idea of what a surprise party is, there was the chance of him accidentally giving it away in a careless moment of physical contact.
    Needless to say, he didn't understand properly, but it made sense logically, and that was good enough.  It seemed to Kian that planning this might mean as much to Terry as something to *do* as it did as something to do *for Gar*.
    Also, surprises are rare on a world where everything is telegraphed telepathically.  He was looking forward to seeing the look on Gar's face.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian hadn't been thrown a suprise birthday before, so has no real opinion on it. But given that Gar is one of his good friends on the team, he would have never have missed the party. "Is twenty-one more celebrated than eighteen?" he asks really anyone around to hear. He understood much about normal humans in America, but was not quite sure of everything yet.

  Himself in the Robin costume thought about hiding upside-down to give a good fright, but there was something that told him that wouldn't have been the best idea. So, he crouched behind the table, ready to pop out.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
For her part, Kaida is incredible at surprise everything. When you are 6 inches tall, stealth comes naturally and even Robins and Bats would have a hard time topping the pure advantage being smaller than most action figures gives. Of course, she doesn't have a ton of outfit options but she did raid a toy store to find a tiny jean jacket for the occasion.

Currently, she is seated atop one of the arcade cabinets waiting for the fun to begin. Nevermind the fact that she has absconded with a pack of pepperoni from the kitchen and is currently eating said pepperoni raw while casually rocking back and forth with excitement. Gotta build up those surprise excitement calories.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "If you ask me Robin, they make it up as they go along," Donna replies to Damian with a grin, crouching behind a table alongside him. "They invent random landmarks that have little bearing on reality and then celebrate when they get past them. So for example in America you're trusted to be mature enough to have a say in the running of the country at eighteen, but not trusted to be mature enough to drink alcohol until you're twenty-one. It makes no sense, but that's America for you." Yes, more than a decade on from Diana taking a glass of wine from her hands the first day she arrived in America, Donna remains sore about it.

    "Most people don't seem to care very much about having a say in the running of the country, but they do care about being old enough to drink, so they take twenty-one very seriously," Donna continues. "Traditionally people mark becoming old enough to be mature about their consumption of alcohol by drinking excess quantities of it and making themselves sick."

    Donna has signally failed to dress for a party. Unlike Caitlin in her smart dress, Donna is once wearing her fancy new armor. She even has a sword with her. Either she's expecting trouble at Gar's birthday or more likely it just didn't occur to her not to bring it. It helps with emphasizing the importance of those security arrangements that a few of the Titans have turned up in costume, anyway.

Gar Logan has posed:
It isn't as if Garfield Logan doesn't know what today is. Not only has he had a countdown timer on his phone, his social media accounts have been blown up with well-wishes from fans near and far.

So, the text from Terry looking to coax him out for pizza, under the pretense of it just being a small thing when not much else had gone on over the course of the day? He didn't need to be Sherlock Holmes to have a clue. The trick is in playing along. <<Yeah. Boy, I'm really getting hungry and it's been quiet most of the day.>>

Going out in his usual casual attire, it's the black and white raglan, a pair of jeans, and comfy sneakers, custom-made with paw print soles. Sunglasses, even when the sun's gone down, because when you're /this/ cool...

He opens the door, ready for..things, and while the place looks pretty empty overall there isn't much to give the plot away...yet. Some stuff up along the ceiling, but not much else. He'd been meaning to talk to Terry about the 'no longer working at the Planet' thing, but tonight? "Uh, hey?"

There are lots of ways people could be hiding when the Titans are involved, and on one hand his guard is up. On the other, there's still a part of him that wonders. They wouldn't have just dipped out for his birthday. Naaaah. But what if?

He nudges the sunglasses up to settle in his wild mop of hair, and as he bites his lip the snaggletooth pokes out. "You guys.." he adds, in a perfect imitation of Eric Cartman's voice.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Guys?"

That's Terry's voice. His mop of red hair peeks over the back of one of the booths. "You meeting someone else here, Greenie? Should I be jealous?" he teases, resting his arms on the top of the booth and peering at Gar over them. "Been doing job interviews today and I'm pooped." That would explain why he's wearing the white button-up shirt and looking a little less informal than usual. "Get your butt over here and join me for food. Mom's in the..." he gestures vaguely in the direction of the restrooms. "But we ordered two super supremes. Should be enough."

At that moment, one of the staff comes out of the kitchen and notices Gar walking in. Terry waves at her, "We can get the pizzas now, we're all here, Ivy."

Ivy gives him a thumbs up, "I'll go check with the kitchen. Anything I can get you?"
"Nah, I'm good."

And that's the signal. Wait until Gar sits down next to Terry and then 'GET HIM'.

Confetti, streamers, and even those silly string things have been handed around liberally to all those in attendance.

Terry is probably going to get caught in the crossfire. But them's the breaks.

In the kitchen, Ivy gives the 'ok' sign to the staff and Agatha, Cait and Mike.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Already here as himself, Mike opts not to compound the 'Titans and miscellaneous celebrity' factor the staff is already experiencing by just vanishing on them. So instead, Mike has ended up following with Agatha in the kitchen. Fortunately for Terry there's probably a lot less topical embarrassing stories she can tell him while they wait. It's hard to top laundry stealing space squirrel-coons anyways.

And then there's the signal. Mike looks down to all of the cakes. There's probably going to be tummy aches of TITANic proportions once the group is done with these.

Kian has posed:
    Party poppers, pff.  Kian has been practicing, and while it might not be glitter, it is a shifting, swerving, shimmering spectrum of light -- although some of it might only be visible to those who can pick up the near infrared and near ultraviolet.
    The latter will set off anything painted Day-Glo -- of which hopefully there is some.
    There might even be a happy "Ki-AI!" in there too.  This is an important day for Gar, after all!  It doesn't need to be an anniversary he'd celebrate to understand /that/.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     "I noticed that when I got here, still cannot have a glass of wine with dinner. Meanwhile I've been doing that since I was thirteen. But of course we could debate all over about censorship here as well." Yes, seems like Donna and Damian could spend ages discussing the US vs everywhere else. Though it was when everyone had to quiet down as Gar entered in the room where he did as well, springing up and clapping "SURPRISE!" he calls out with a smile.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
Watching over the top of the sign for the game she is on, Kaida watches as Gar makes his way over. She is prepared with several confetti poppers and a can of silly string that has been modified with a bit of string and loops to be capable of being fired constantly once she pulls the right handle. So, when the signal is given a blur rushes right into the middle of the table and then a burst of confetti goes off and then another several blur bursts and then more confetti and finally a third goes off behind Gar and Terry. Finally Kaida appears in the middle of the table with a can strapped to her back.

"Happy birthday!" She yells and starts to spin. Silly string goes flying in all directions like a wild multicolor tornado as she pirouettes, being sure to tilt and shift her weight to ensure maximum coverage.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna responds to Damian's comments with an emphatic nod. Only barbarians would deny people a glass of wine with dinner. However now is not the time for such discussions, particularly as they have to be whispered while awaiting the arrival of the birthday beast.

    And there he is! "Surprise!" Donna calls out, joining the chorus. Except of course that it's not a surprise that they'd have a surprise party for Gar. It would be more of a surprise if there was no surprise party. Years of tactical training have taught her the vital importance of surprise in any engagement, and when your ambush is expected, you're going to lose that advantage -- unless you add surprising elements to the ambush.

    It is a testament to the martial nature of the Amazons, so thoroughly embraced by Donna, that she views a surprise birthday party as an ambush.

     Or perhaps that should be 'condemnation'.

    To make things more surprising, when Donna leaps out from behind the table she and Damian were hiding behind, she continues her leap onto the table, and uses that to push off into a greater leap into the air, over the heads of Terry and Gar where they sit at the table. Twisting in the air she unleashes from a pair of cans of silly string in classic John Woo style from behind Gar, ensuring that there is no escape to the rear from Kaida's frontal assault. There's silly string coming from all angles, a veritable incoming storm, with few opportunities to escape!

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
One the worst of it has passed, Michael and Agatha open the doors so Caitlin can wheel out the cake, a megawatt grin on her fair features. It's a Garfield cake! That is to say, it's a cartoony hill about the size of large serving platter, with another smaller hill on top of it. The token Titan mini-figs are all arrayed around the base of the second hillock and atop it stands a 1:5 scale Garfield statue! But not one 'of' him, it's more like the Funko pop version of Gar. Or the short-lived animated series based on the Titans.

Caitlin puts one finger atop Mini-Gar's head, the figurine sporting a toothy grin, U-shaped eyes, and making a thumbs up at the viewers. "This is all done by a 3D edible printer, so no one start breaking off pieces of the statue until Gar's done admiring himself," she orders the others-- and lights the lone candle wick sticking up out of the figure's cowlick. "Happy Birthday, to you~," Caitlin sings, breaking into song.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar takes a seat, but there isn't a whole lot of time for small talk because when it happens, boy does it HAPPEN. "Ack!" There's a barrage of 'attacks' from all sides, not the least of which is Kaida zipping and darting to and fro with her volley of confetti and silly string, more coming from Donna, Kian's blacklight revealing who knows what, leaving a brief after-effect in his line of sight, and then all the rest that follows.

This /might/ drive him to imbibe, and if Damian really wants to have something here, nobody's going to say much.

Covering up, it still leaves him coated in more of a mess than Vorpal usually manages to accomplish (with his glitter, of course), and as he laughs and clears his eyes of anything that might be in the way, he gets a look at the cake and figure atop it that Cait's bringing out. "Dude!" he blurts. "You're all gonna eat me? I mean, Mini-Me? He's handsome though, I gotta admit." Then comes the requisite song.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Showtime," Agatha says to Mike with that lop-sided smile of hers, and walks out behind Caitlin wheeling her own little cart of delights. Leaving Caitlin to deal with the cake for once, she decided to work on the petit fours, cookies, tiramisu squares, lemon squares, ginger snaps. She even joins in the singing with Cait, even though it quickly becomes apparent that mother and son take after each other in their complete inability to sing on key. There's a reason why Vorpal uses his illusion powers to 'sing'.

Terry glances at Gar from under the copious amount of silly string and confetti, having indeed gotten caught in the cross-fire. Donna and Kaida's aerial stunt was promptly recorded by the pizzeria staff and will promptly go online after the four hour moratorium has expired, that's for sure. The staff cheers along as well... after all, Gar is one of their best customers. There's an entire book-keeping section dedicated to tracking how much money he's spent on the place.

"Happy birthday," Terry says with a grin, "You are a little green old man now. You are positively Yoda."

He slips out of the booth so he can head over to the restroom and clear the silly string from his face.

And that's when the pizza buffet is rolled out. Food is served.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Mike nods, pushing out the other cart containing the baked goods Agatha made. Terry wasn't kidding. When his mom bakes, his mom BAKES. He looks to the treats. "Oh by the way, Terry brought over some leftover cookies last Christmas and they were delicious." He mentions to Agatha, "How old is the sugar cookie recipe? I've been looking around for a decent one but the more recent books keep putting way too much su-"

Birthday, Mike.

As the singing's already started by the time he sets out, he finds his entrance in to sort of counter the O'Neil brand pitch to bring the sound back on track. Sort of. Yes. This is meant to sound this way. Honest.

Kian has posed:
    Kian hasn't learned the words to the simple birthday song yet, so he chirps along -- although sometimes he mis-guesses which way the note is supposed to go.  So it's kind of a weird counterpoint, with unpredictable semitones, but it's never awful.
    Happy Alien Bird... er, Birthday.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
Finally out of silly string, Kaida stumbles left and right a moment before sliding her can free with a laugh. She grins at the work that has been done, having to push a bit of string off of herself. She finally stands up as the song is sung, brushing off and humming along with others till finally it is time and she has permission to eat.

"Happy birthday, Gar! Time for fooding!" And with that she is digging in.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian had decidedly not come out silly string blazing, but did make an effort to pop certain confetti-filled baloons with a batarang, throws around the room and safely caught in his hand, after standing up on a chair.

  "Mmmm. Older you are." Damian added in with Yoda's voice. Luckily the confetti wasn't still in the air when the food was served.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "I'm not eating you Gar, we don't know where you've been," Donna replies. Then, after a quick glance towards Terry and then Kian, she amends "Or rather we do know where you've been, which makes it worse. You'll have to eat yourself, though we may have to make sure the staff here doesn't video that."

    If that's not provocative enough to make Caitlin blush, there's also the alternative lyrics Donna sings for the birthday song. Fortunately they're in Themysciran, so nobody but Caitlin will ever know. However the elbowing Caitlin gives to Donna may clue the rest of the group in that something's up.

    During the song Donna removes a strand of silly string from her arm where she had been caught in the crossfire, and carefully drapes it back onto Kaida, just where she'd removed the previous piece. And then: "Food time! Happy birthday Gar. You're now officially an adult Titan and have to start taking things seriously from now on. Tomorrow I'm showing you how to do the costs and expenses forms."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin hangs on gamely through the Happy Birthday lyrics-- mostly-- and then when it concludes, turns to swat at Donna's arm with a limp-wristed slap and a reverse slap to follow. "/Rude/," she hisses at Donna. It's hard to take her seriously with how pink her ears are, and how she's trying NOT to laugh. "I'm gonna tell your mom what you just said," she threatens the princess.

In true Titan's tradition, there are functionally two cakes; the hillock gets sliced neatly off with the Gar statue on it and set somewhere for the birthday boy to enjoy at his whim. The rest of it is sectioned off quickly as possible, and Caitlin makes sure everyone's got at least one slice before serving herself last of all. Thanks to Agatha's baking, there is enough sugar on the table to put even Wally into a sugar coma!

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan spends some time to get himself mostly cleaned off, at least where the face is concerned. More of the mess is stuck here and there, especially in his hair, and he grins at the singing and the shows of celebration so far, squinting at Kian's vocalizations and Donna's talk of growing up, laughing at Damian's use of the Batarang. "Nah, I think I'm gonna stay a Toys-R-Us Kid, even if that was before most of our times. Life's more fun that way. Now let's dig in and I don't care what any of you say about me eating me."

He gets up to secure himself a piece of the 3D-printed Gar, only to stop and set the bit of arm back down. "On second thought, that brings back a bad memory. How about you guys take care of that, and I'll stick to the cake and all the other snacks." The smile is only mildly uncomfortable, quickly passing on. Why?

"PIZZA TIME!"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry has kept the topic of /his/ birthday a secret. It's one he has managed to keep quite well... until Garfield rummaged through his wallet like the curious ferret that he is. He doesn't know whether Gar told anyone /else/. It remains to be seen how far the secret has spread, come March.

Terry emerges from the bathroom, clean-faced, if not clean-haired, and rejoins the party, nudging Nick. "Fair warning: You should grab some of the lemon bars while you can before Gar gets to them. Mom makes the curd by hand."

Terry has been studying at the Themysciran center for over a year now, but whether he is advanced enough to have made out what Donna sang or not? Difficult to tell. He looks at Donna, and he might be making a mental note to ask her for the words of the song so he can try and translate them. Or take it to one of the instructors at the center to help him-- what could go wrong, right?

Kaida gets a raised eyebrow and a 'I've got my eyes on you' gesture, but with a playful wink. His shirt is thoroughly and completely covered in all sorts of day-glo colors. She got him (and Gar) good.

But then when Gar breaks off his own (mini-me's) arm, Terry gets exactly what he means, and the redhead comes to the rescue.

"What we need is party games now!" he calls up, sliding up to give Gar a hug from behind before moving to his side, to reach for a paper plate. "I suggest we have a fun game of Pin The Tail On The Donkey. With a real donkey!" he gives Gar a wink. He rolls for distraction.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Mike looks curiously over to Gar. "Hmm has anyone here been in a ToysRUs?" He wonders, shifting forward a bit to the nudge from Terry. Tilting his head towards the non-Cheshired Cheshire, he gives a slight smile and a nod. "Noted." Now on a mission he scoots over to the cart containing the lemon bars to secure a couple.

Kian has posed:
    "I am not pinning Gar's ta-- never mind," Kian says with a smirk.  "And I don't have a birthday present... but I *did* miss the anniversary of your First Flight, so I have a gift for you for that."
    What he sets on the table within Gar's reach is not wrapped, and is not Earth technology.  With a few practiced moves, he flips out four arms and keys a switch, and a holographic display appears... of the first /qihar/ match they played, when he and Gar and Terry were on Kyshan by accident.  "Of course, I don't have the one we played here, when my brother and sister and Kala were here, but it also has the one we just played not long ago, and a few I was in from before I came to Earth, and some professional games."
    He places his hand on Gar's shoulder, and nods once, glancing in his direction.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian took a small piece for himself, not wanting to ingest too much sugar.

  Though there was a small pause when Gar mentions eating himself...well... At least Donna gains a raised eyebrow with the Themyscieran lyrics to the birthday song, not that Damian knew what she had said, but by Caitlin's reaction, it was scintilating.

  "Pin the tail on the donkey?" Yeah, Damian was never a kid in the US, and it showed. "Why would you pin a tail on a donkey that already has a tail?"

  Though when it comes to presents, it wasn't long before the holographic display showed on the table and had the assassin nodding. "Impressive."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "And admit to her that you know what all those words mean?" Donna replies to Caitlin with a smirk of pure mischief. Yes, there were a few words in there that are not on the curriculum of the Themysciran courses at the arts center. If Terry asks Donna for a translation later, he's sure to get something wholly inaccurate.

    While pizza and cake are being portioned out, Donna goes to fetch a package for Gar, which she tells him is "From Raven as well. She said something about how she didn't have to come because she did movie night already this week and if I tried to bring her along she'll hide in some distant hell dimension, but that's just her way of saying happy birthday."

    When Gar opens it, he'll find inside the kind of thing that only exists in this world because Donna is a child of two worlds and the craftspeople of Themyscira are rather enthused by the unconventional things she sometimes asks them to do. Inside is a pair of game controllers, one X-Box and one Playstation, carved from some exotic hardwood and inlaid with silver threading that picks out a complex, stylized pattern of many different animals covering the surface. Hand-written instructions inside explain that the innards have been strengthened with Themysciran steel, making the controllers virtually unbreakable however enthusiastic the player, and that an enchantment on the controllers allows them to draw energy from the astral plane, giving roughly an extra two hours of playing time when the charge runs out.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin rolls her eyes eloquently at Donna, unable to hold back a fond smile. "You're terrible," is all she tells her best friend, and digs into her cake with abandon.

She does wiggle a fork at Damian and makes a 'mmm' sound, but politely finishes chewing before speaking to him. Just to be safe, she hides her mouth behind her hand. Manners, ever manners. "Yeah that confused me for ever, like, Ri-- Nightwing would make jokes about that at every birthday party, and I never got it. I thought he was just having fun at me. But it's like, a real party game, with a drawing of a donkey missing its tail. And you have to wear a blindfold and try to put the tail on the picture at the right spot. It was..." she wrinkles her nose. "It took me a few years to finally figure out what it meant. So-- it's not just you," she reassures Damian.

She watches the presents being exchanged and smiles with warm approval at the thoughtful gifts everyone's laid out. Hers is nearby, but she is clearly content to wait before rushing Garfield with her own present.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan gets his grubby green hands on a few slices of pizza first. The treats, he can dig into afterward. Sometimes he's all about eating dessert first, but in this case he follows proper protocol. The moment with Terry is understood, but he clears his throat. "Gonna need to find another donkey for that. Nobody's pinning anything on me." The explanation of the game comes, thankfully, from Caitlin before he has to be the one for that. His own shirt might just find its way into the dumpster later, and if he isn't careful which one it could end up on one of those auction sites after an enterprising opportunist digs it out.

The first gift that Kian brings out is given a curious look, soon figuring out it's Akiar tech by the time the realistic-looking holograms start up to show a preview of the /qihar/ matches. "Oh, that's awesome! I'll have to watch all of those! You know Kala wasn't used to all four of us being so aggressive? She said she might try that in some of her other matches." There's a brief grin that follows the hand that makes contact with him, and a nod.

Next up, the enhanced controllers. "Dude?" he asks, then upon reading quickly through the notes he repeats himself. "Dude! That's sick! But you realize just after you got done telling me I have to be an adult now, you gave me something that's going to keep me from being one longer, right?"

In between all of this, he downs another slice, getting some cheesy garlic breadsticks to dip in sauce as well.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry smiles and absent-mindedly strokes the back of Gar's head, his eyes surveying the room.

There was no sign of Steve Dayton as of yet. The redhead's eyes narrow slightly. He had hoped to give Gar an actual surprise, but it appears that there is only so much he can tempt fate into achieving seven impossible things before breakfast, before the universe shrugs its shoulders and goes 'nope.'

Anyone watching Terry's face closely enough might be able to detect the intense spike of pure rage that passes through him, giving his usually mischievous eyes a steely expression, and causing his lips to press into a thin line. But it passes quickly, or at least he masks it quickly enough, and he leans in to place a kiss on Gar's cheek and mess up his hair.

"Adults can play games. They just don't play /all/ day." He pats Gar's shoulder and steps away. "One sec, gotta take care of something!"

And he goes out of sight for the time being, in the restrooms corridor where he takes out his phone and, for the hundredth time, checks to see if any replies have come through from that email he obtained through certain contacts.

Kian has posed:
    Kian hugs Gar tight.  "I thought you'd like that.  I've never seen anyone take so quickly to /qihar/ as you have... although I'd like to think that's because you modeled being an Akiar on *me*."  Yeah, no self-importance there.
    Terry also gets a hug, and then the birdman makes an assault on the pizza -- ignoring the cake, believe it or not.  Granted, as far as he knows eggs are usually involved in cakes, so no real shocker there.
    And what goes with pizza better than a beer?

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian had brought his gift from the side, a decently sized canvas, but not more than one person could carry.

  When unwrapped there was a framed oil painting of Gar, sitting down in his black and purple outfit, and smiling as big as was his trademark, little underbite teeth and all. It was done in pontilism, but small enough dots that it could very well be mistaken for an enlarged photo. "Happy Birthday." he offered, and smiled to Garfield. "I am honored to call you a friend."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin sidles into the queue after Damian, and offers her gift up to Garfield. "It's goofy, but I thought it might be a kick," she says with her typical shy deference. Caitlin fights the urge to run and hide while her gift is unwrapped, and contents herself with curling her index and middle fingers together. It's a small model spaceship from Space Trek: 2222. Specifically, the model of the ship his character Tork had piloted. Except the model's much more detailed and weightier than the ones on various hobby websites.

"I found it on eBay," she says. "It's the real deal from the show, the one they used in the--" she gestures unhelpfully, hand swooping through the air. "The shots in space, I mean. I thought it'd be a fun keepsake. Do you like it?" she inquires, unable to wholly suppress her anxiety. Caitlin takes gift giving -very- seriously.

Gar Logan has posed:
The next few moments are spent dealing with more gifts. That's one of the nice things about birthdays (and Christmas). Getting and giving gifts. There's the fun of getting something cool, but also seeing the reactions from others toward what they receive. "Not all day? I didn't get that memo," Gar tells Terry, his hair slightly more unruly than normal after the hand in it, the peck at his cheek. A sauce-laden finger wipes across that mouth. He misses the expression before Terry scoots off for who-knows-what.

Kian gets the hug returned, an attempt at modesty that doesn't last long. "I learned from the best, but maybe I'm also just a natural at flying." He notes the beer, if Kian procures one, then his attention turns toward Damian.

"Hmm? What's this?" he wonders, before the question is answered. "That's..really good!" he exclaims. "Thanks. I look much better than that time we went at each other, but part of me is glad we did." Damian knows why. They worked through some things that were hitting both of them hard at that time. "So am I," he adds, sincerity in the words. No joking around, there.

Next up is Caitlin, and his head leans to one side as he watches her while he opens it up, his eyes stopping just short of bugging out. "Whoa! How did you..where did you /find/ this? There were, like, three or four we had, and I didn't even think they still existed! Sweet!"

There's a wide grin, suddenly interrupted by a courier entering the place. "Which one of you is Garfield Logan?" he asks, as if the green guy there isn't obviously the one in question. "Uh, right here, dude," he answers, and after the courier explains there's a letter sent for him, Gar signs for it and the man departs.

Glancing at the others, he shrugs and opens it up. "Oh. It's from dad. Well, from Steve." His voice is a little quieter, as if he already knows. There's letterhead with the Dayton Industries logo on it, a very sterile thing. Upon opening it, a plastic card falls out. It's not a credit card, but a prepaid one. Gar reads the note inside, word for word. "'Happy Birthday. Too busy. Couldn't make it. Buy yourself something nice. Steve Dayton.'"

Shrugging, Gar's shoulders slump for a moment and his expression takes a sort of 'can't win' look to it. "Same thing he said last year, and the year before that, and the year before that too. He probably doesn't even know which one it is. Ah well." He stuffs it all inside a pocket, wetting his lips before forcing a smile. "How about dessert? Don't want to let Mrs. O'Neil's work go to waste. Or Cait's."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry comes back in time for the reading of the note. As he walks towards the group, his expression darkens for a second, again, and for a moment he is the spitting image of his mother when she moved herself into the Tower to help until a way could be found to bring her son back from Wonderland. His narrowed eyes seem almost cat-like, sparkling a vivid green, and the particular set of his jaw would be very familiar to Sancho Panza, bringing back memories of a wispy figure encased in metal like a withered sardine, tilting lances shining in the sun, and windmills.

But when he finally reaches Gar, the expression has vanished like the Cheshire's grin, and the redhead is all a-smile. The change is so sudden that, unless someone noticed the expression before, they would have no way of knowing something was brewing in Terryland.

"Alright, once you get your fill, I suggest we do some play-offs. We've got DDR over there," he gestures towards the arcade, "But the big question is: Who is ready to beat the master at the motorcycle game?" he asks. "I am still looking for a worthy opponent capable of defeating me!" he shoots Gar a teasing wink, looks at the other Titans, and walks towards the arcade games. Towards the one that has the motorcycles you use to control their on-screen counterparts. He sits on the silver one, a modern Rocinante, because it brings him luck.

And as he waits for his first challenger, Terry O'Neil makes the decision then and there that Steve Dayton is going to have a visitor fairly soon.

Kian has posed:
    Kian completely misses Terry's look, and hugs Gar again.  "I'm going to prefer to think you learned from the best," he says with a smirk, and then steps back to admire the portrait from Damian.
    "That's an amazing piece of work," he says.  "My viceroy paints, she would probably like to see that... that's a style I haven't seen before."
    Cait's gift throws Kian for a moment, but then the rosy light of dawn breaks.  "Oh!  From the holo... uh, show you were on before?  They didn't give you one after work was done?  That is an... interesing ship design.  It's not like our ships at all, is it?"

Damian Wayne has posed:
     "Sometimes you just need to fight." Damian offers with a wink, before the group was interrupted by an incoming courier.

  The courier arriving and leaving having delivered his letter had Robin noticing and recognizing what was going on without even with the deflating of the shoulders. He approaches Gar and rests his gloved hand there on his shoulder, giving it a pat before heading back to the restroom area himself for a moment, taking out a BatTech phone, and tapping out a message, followed quickly by another:

>>O'Neil, Dayton needs a kick in the ass. I want to help.<< He finishes that little message before walking back out to the parlor area. "Thank you, portraits and landscapes are a bit of a hobby of mine. If you like the style, there's an exhibit coming to Metropolis soon." He answers Kian, giving him a slight smile.

  He makes himself comfortable with the arcade cabinet of Cheese Viking, internally debating on wether or not he should challenge the cat to the motorcycle game.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna's also fascinated by Cait's gift. "They made actual models, and filmed them?" she says, sounding distinctly impressed. "Rather than using CGI? That's kinda genius." The cultural holes of her Themysciran upbringing strike again. Nobody tell her that Star Wars was done without computers. *

    Damian's gift gets a different kind of appreciation. "Woah, that's some really nice work," She says. "An exhibition? You know, we've got a few artists amongst the Titans." Donna's one of them -- she's a pretty good photographer, and has exhibited herself. "Maybe we could ask around the other teams too, talk to some of the major galleries. I bet there would be an interest in an exhibition of Superhero art."

    The message from Dayton doesn't elicit so strong a reaction from the older Titans -- this has been a theme at Gar's birthday celebrations for some years now, and Gar knows pretty well what his team mates think of Dayton. There's just the traditional sympathetic squeeze of the shoulder, a reminder that at least Gar has an adopted family now that's always going to be there for him.

    ( *Madison isn't here, so nobody's allowed to say anything. Geeks.)

Gar Logan has posed:
The offers of sympathy are taken for what they're meant to be. It's become routine by now, but there's always that little reminder. Dayton seems to think throwing money at most things is the way to deal with them, forgetting - or not caring - that a personal touch is often more meaningful and important.

Even Damian's show of support causes Gar to straighten his back just so, nodding once. "Thanks. I just figured maybe this time it'd finally be different. That's what I get for being optimistic, but you guys being here and doing this makes up for it. I'll have to see more of your stuff." The note he gets in private reminds him of an offer that had been extended in the past, and it takes him a bit out of those darker thoughts trying to creep back in and grab hold of him.

"Hmm? Oh, uh, yeah. They used props for some of that stuff. It's more old school, and besides, if you've seen the show you can tell how low-budget it is. I think they thought that was how all sci-fi ships looked, too." The answer covers questions from both Donna and Kian together.

Oblivious to whatever Terry and Damian are plotting vis-a-vis Steve Dayton, the prospect of more treats and a long gaming session for the lot of them draws Gar back to a better place. "You're totally going down, man. Gauntlet accepted!"

Once the Titans close the place up after a few more hours of partying, and the moratorium on social media posts ends without anyone leaking things early, the group is long since home again.