14176/Don't Tell Kian

Don't Tell Kian
Date of Scene:	18 February 2023
Location:	Main Room - Titan's Tower
Synopsis:	Kían's away so it's wing day.  Except Kían came back early, discovered the Titans eating wings, and had to be placated with psychoactive Korean hot sauce.
Cast of Characters:	Xiomara Rojas, Donna Troy, Bart Allen, Kaida Connolly, Kian, Dick Grayson, Stephanie Brown, Caitlin Fairchild

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Xiomara Rojas has posed:
    Friday night.  School work was done, work work was done, and the weekend had finally arrived.  For Crush that meant more training time in the danger room at the tower, along with construction work in New York City, though not at the same time.
    On her way from Happy Harbor to the Tower, she stopped at Kentucky Fried Chicken to pick up three of their sixteen piece bucket meals, two original and one extra crispy, and all the sides the place offered.  By the expression on the face of the lady behind the counter, she had to be thinking that Crush intended to eat all if herself, but still the woman kept a smile on her face as she bagged it all up.
    Once to the tower she headed straight to the common room, making sure to hold up the bags at the cameras as she went by.  She really had no idea if anyone was ever looking, but it was her way of offering up what she brought for everyone.

Donna Troy has posed:
    The traditional takeout food of the Titans is pizza, but everyone likes a change from time to time.  While it's normal in a group this large that there will be some complicated combinations of dietary requirements to take into consideration, one of the more unusual ones is that people have to be sensitive about the alien bird-man Kían's feelings about wings.
    Wings, for the Akiar race, are a gift from the gods.  They are not to be taken lightly.  They are not to be deep fried and eaten.  On the other hand there are many other Titans who deem wings to be a gift from the gods specifically when they are deep fried.  Thus, when Kian's known to be away for the day….
    "Hey everyone!"  Donna's voice calls out loudly and cheerily.  "I've brought wings!  There's this really great Korean place opened up on the boardwalk a few weeks ago.  They do the most amazing gochujang spicy wings.  Crispy, juicy, just drenched in a rich, sweet, spicy sauce… you guys gotta try these!"
    The voice starts with an echo as she begins speaking before she has even finished ascending the empty elevator shaft, but the echo soon vanishes as she comes out through the door, armed not with her normal sword and lasso but instead with a bulging bag from which the sweet smell of Korean chicken emanates.  Her feet drop to the ground and she walks into the kitchen area to deposit and open the bag, where she finds Xiomara has obviously had a similar notion.
    "Hey Xio.  Looks like it's a battle of the wings.  My money's on the Korean wings, they're so good.  We'll need an eating crew to compare and score the rival wings!"

Bart Allen has posed:
    Bart Allen had actually come by without food for a change.  No the young man, showed up with a laptop computer.  He is just now coming in at speed, and starting to log into the Titan's network, when he hears about the food, and looks over and a brow raises.  "A new place?" he asks.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
    Crew?  Well, probably not a crew but one mouse can certainly help out.  Yes!  Mice eat meat!  Some do anyway.  This one does.  Hell, there's a mouse that howls and takes down snakes.  Don't question it.
    "Did someone request an eating crew?" Kaida asks as she arrives in a blur of motion, leaping to the top of a bucket to peer inside before looking in the direction of the Korean and casually leaping over to it.  She peers down and considers her options.  Despite the thin lip on the buckets, Kaida appears very capable of walking along the edges without a thought.
    "I shall need large quantities of both meals to give an appropriate response."

Kian has posed:
    The problem with Earth weather is that winters are entirely unreasonable, rendering the birdman's plans to play among the winds among the skyscrapers of Metropolis a pointless exercise.  Those are winds that take all his concentration, and he wouldn't be able to keep himself warm by wrapping himself in a cocoon of infrared warmth.
    Fun fact: the Akiár actually do have cold weather gear suited to their physiology.  Kían, however, was from a warmer latitude and never had a set.
    So, Kían pops out of the open shaft unexpectedly, and having heard only a few fragments of the conversation, asks quite seriously, "Is there a Korean with wings?  When can we meet?  I…."
    *Snap* go the wings outward, bringing himself to a sharp stop… and then he runs for the refrigerator and spends a lot more time than is technically necessary gathering his usual hypersaturated purple sugar water.
    "…I think I'll sit over here for a while," he finally says, looking everywhere but at the food.
    "I did say I was going to be away for a while, didn't I?"

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
    Setting the bags down, Crush offers Donna a nod before sniffing at the Korean wings.  "Oh hells, those already won," she states with a chuckle.  "This is standard bird right here, just didn't want to show up empty handed when I know there's a lot of speedsters arou…"
    This is when Bart enters so she stops midword to sort of gesture toward him and finish with, "Speak and they shall appear, drawn to the aroma of energy in the form of food."
    Beginning to empty the bags onto the counter, she lines the buckets up followed by the side dishes, keeping all of the containers of each kind grouped together.  Mashed potatoes, gravy, coleslaw, mac-n-cheese, biscuits and even a huge salad with ranch dressing on the side.
    She was just about to get the plates out when Kian arrived.  A few blinks, a little chew of the bottom lip, and she actually sheepishly nudges the salad toward him while he's at the fridge… no words offered, just… salad.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "That's right!" Donna says to Bart with a grin.  "Always something new on the St. Martin's boardwalk.  It's near the far end, where there's that square with bars and restaurants.  One of those Korean places that has the grill built into your table, you know?  But they have a window kiosk to sell wings to people walking past.  Seems to be pretty popular already, and you're about to see why."
    She sets about pulling boxes of wings from the bag—she has brought a plentiful supply, and combined with Xiomara's offering, there should be plenty to go round, even when the eating crew includes a speedster and a mouse somehow capable of eating many times her own body weight of food.  "Oh yeah!  Mouse in the house," Donna says to Kaida as she strides the bucket rim.  "Between you and Bart, we have an eating crew."
    Donna's smile falls.  "Gods.  That was awful.  Mouse in the house.  What in Hades was I thinking saying that?  Sorry, Kaida.  I blame America.  I'd never have said something like that before I came here."
    It soon becomes apparent as Xiomara and Donna unpack their respective offerings that Donna's includes nothing but chicken.  She's normally pretty big on healthy eating, but protein is great and you can do that later when there aren't tasty deep fried gochujung chicken wings to fill up on.  However Xiomara's extras certainly make it more of a meal, and she gives the young Czarnian a grateful smile.  "I mean these Korean wings are special," she says.  "But you brought the extras, so I guess we can call it a draw?"
    Donna's smile falls again when her ears catch the sound of entering alien bird-man with awkward alien bird-man questions.  "Uh… hey Kian," she says, having the grace to look a little embarrassed as she moves to interpose herself between man with wings and table with wings, to at least make some kind of attempt to hide the egregious display from him.  "…Sorry.  Yeah, we thought you were out for the day," she adds with a sheepish shrug.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    The elevator dings as the doors open to reveal not one, but two bat-types.  Dick steps out into the main room, saying, "Hi guys, hope you don't mind, but we were hanging out when I got your message, and it seemed kind of rude to just leave her there.  Besides, I know the quantity of food we usually get here, I'm guessing there's enough for a small army."
    He heads over towards the couch the room centers on and kind of lean-sits on the back of it.  "So, I've been neglecting you guys a lot lately, any disasters I should know about?"

Kaida Connolly has posed:
    "Hey, Kian!"  Kaida waves at the new arrival without a sense of guilt.  She didn't bring the food and frankly she finds it best to deal with people who are uncomfortable by being comfortable.  Nothing pushes one further in a direction than by copying them.  Instead, she does what is best!
    She grabs a spoon and a plate and with practiced movements scoops out a heaping helping of mac & cheese and then zips the plate over to Kian.  She sets it near him and gestures.
    "Ta da!  Kian safe food!  It's cheesey and noodley!  The best!"  She then zips away to create her own plate and sniffs happily at every thing she puts on a plate for herself.
    "Don't worry, Donna!  I'll run your words by Rae next time I see her and then let her decide your appropriate comeupannce for such a slip."  She nods and smirks at Donna.

Bart Allen has posed:
 Bart Allen looks over and knows nothing to go get the bird man, except maybe chocolate and that does not seem right right now.  He will look over and says, "Well, I came for the high speed network, and see if anyone had heard anything about that break in at the New York Zoo, but I am not above helping judge food, if it is something I must do."  He makes a fake sway under the weight.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
    Batgirl—a blond one not the redhead—steps off the elevator behind Nightwing.  She raises a hand to give a finger waggle towards those present.  "Frozen nose running rooftops dodging gothic statuary, or wings.  Took a lot of arm-twisting.  If you guys don't me tagging along," she says in a cheery voice.
    She looks around the place with interest, following Nightwing over and standing nearby to him in the unfamiliar setting and group.  "Batgirl," she says with another finger waggle, as if anyone wasn't familiar with her or at least the costume.

Kian has posed:
    "Well, I did say that was my plan," Kían replies, "but you'll have to blame the weather and this world's completely ridiculous winters.  It was going to be a choice between staying warm, and not smacking into a building, and I chose warm."  To his credit, he doesn't actually look nauseous, and of course he doesn't sound angry.  He just didn't expect a non-bird-safe feast to break out so quickly.
    The salad, and the mac and cheese, are both accepted with a smiles and a nod, but he doesn't tuck into them quite yet.  "I guess there's kind of a difference between the intellectual understanding that you're not, and you shouldn't be, bound by my diet limits, and seeing it happen."
    He picks at the salad, then sets the fork down.
    "Also, I really wish it didn't smell as good as it does."

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
    Batgirl is someone new that Crush has never seen, blonde or redhead, so her arrival has the Czarnian sizing the costumed hero up… not in a negative way, well not entirely.  Crush was still working on how to get used to new people just popping into her life and the socially correct way to deal with them.  Her way, well old way, would have been to starting insulting the person until there was a fight.  Through that fight she would learn the strength and weakness of the person and whether or not she liked them.  Thank Happy Harbor High School and Superman for her even looking for a new approach to it.
    "I'm Crush," she offered to the blonde, ripping her eyes off Batgirl to start serving up some of all the chicken, it was then that she remembered the second thing she's supposed to say so she adds, "Nice to meetcha," then goes to get a soda from the fridge.
    Shifting her attention now to Kian she offers a small smile.  "I uh… I always try to offer up stuffs other than meat.  I know there's people out there who get all bent, I think they call themselves Vagans?"  She shrugs slightly, not sure that word was right or not, and not really caring.  Anyone who didn't eat any meat was just wrong.  "Do ya have a favorite food?  I can get it next time and bring it, to make up for…."  She gestures at the chicken.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna sticks her tongue out at Kaida while ruffling Bart's hair a little.  "I'm sure you'll survive the travails of judging food Bart," she says with a light laugh.  Bart is after all one of the reason why the Titans always make sure to order food in huge quantities and then double it.  After all it's a team with four speedsters on it, and that's just the start.
    Kian gets another shrug from her, more apologetic than sheepish at least.  "Yeah… sorry Kian.  We tried.  It's just they really do taste as good as they smell.  Not our intention to offend.  But on the other hand, I'm pretty sure chickens didn't get their wings due to a blessing of the gods.  Unless it was a blessing intended for humanity rather than chicken-kind, that is.  That would explain why they taste so good."  While Kaida and Xio make their apologies with chicken-free food offerings, Donna instead pours out a glass of Kian's favorite purple sugar water drink and takes it over to him, with a box of the spicy Korean wings in her other hand for the other newcomers.  Kian gets offered the drink, Dick gets offered the box of wings and a sisterly hug.
    "Hey Nightwing, hey Batgirl.  How are you guys doing?" she asks.  With a little nod and a mischievous grin to Stephanie, she adds, "Haven't seen you around a while.  Been keeping him busy I hope!"
    "Always," she responds to Dick as she goes back to the counter to fetch some wings for herself.  "I guess the big one at the moment is the Hydra thing.  I assume Batman told you all about it.  He and I bumped into each other while both investigating the same thing, uncovered some interesting stuff.  Dark Energy satellites.  You may have heard about that."

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Dick shakes his head with a grin at Kian's last statement, saying, "Well, it's not exactly cannibalism, I mean, some humans eat monkey, I imagine that would be about the same kind of thing here.  But yeah, that does smell awfully good, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to grab some."
    Setting action to words, he pushes off the couch and begins to head for the food when Donna delivers it.  He takes both the wings and the hug, then plants himself on the couch again, opening the box to share with Batgirl.
    "We've been on kind of opposite schedules lately, haven't really gotten to talk to the big guy.  Dark energy sounds generally bad though."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
    Stephanie Brown picks up from listening to the conversation about the issues Kian has with the current menu being served up.  If not understanding all the nuance, the basics of the matter at least seem clear.
    The greeting from Xiomara pulls the blonde's attention.  "Nice to meet you too," she replies, possibly reinforcing Xiomara's belief in her proper performance of the Earth ritual.
    Donna is given a big smile by the female Bat.  "Doing well.  It's been an interesting winter.  Topped off by Mr. Freeze attacking and freezing a few skyscrapers and police headquarters on Christmas Eve.  I mean, gotta give the villains credit for being appropriately seasonal I figure, right?" she replies with a soft chuckle and shake of her head.
    She steals one of Nightwing's wings.  The food variety, not the parts of his costume that help him glide.  "Ooo these are good," she murmurs.  Towards Kian she says, "The seasoning you could put on a salad.  Never tried, but don't know why it wouldn't be good."

Bart Allen has posed:
    Bart Allen nods, a bit and makes himself a plate, this is one of the times shows Bart has matured some.  In the past he would have probably mentioned something about what they say about the smell of human's cooking humans, but he does not.  No he will get himself a bit of everything.  And then types something on the computer to let it run downloading some stuff for later.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
    A smile is given to Donna in return and she turns her gaze back to the food.  She soon has a heaping helping on a plate for herself and then considers it even as she listens casually to the others speak.  She takes the food out of the way very carefully, having to basically slide up under the plate to lift it and then carry it off.  She's done it before but it is still not easy.
    Once she finds a good place to sit, she just casually eats and listens to the others.

Kian has posed:
    "It's really all right," Kían says, both to Donna and to Xio.  He doesn't look as rattled as he did when he first flitted into the room.  "Like I said, you're not Akiár, I can't expect you to keep to my limits, that wouldn't be reasonable at all.  And I look for Vegan all the time," he continues to Xio.  "I don't mind red meat and fish, but if I have any doubts about getting food anywhere, at least I know I can have that without worry."
    He pokes at the salad some more, and then at the mac and cheese.  "I don't suppose," he asks without looking at the spread on the table, "that there's any of that sauce that definitely has not touched any chicken?"

Dick Grayson has posed:
    After munching a couple of wings, he offers the open box to Batgirl in case she'd like a couple more.  He looks over to Donna and says, "I'll have to make time for some catch-up over here.  Then I'm going to bug Batman for the keys to the Bat-copter so I can drag myself over here more often.  I'm pretty sure I can nag well enough to manage it."
    Looking around the room, he shakes his head, "I always forget how much this place feels like home when I'm away from it for a while.  I need to figure a way to cover all my responsibilities."  He thinks for a moment, then grins and asks, "Anyone know a good geneticist?  Maybe I could just get myself cloned."
    He stands again and heads for the kitchen, collecting a root beer for himself.  "Batgirl, what would you like to drink?  We've got a wide variety here."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "It gets worse Nightwing," Donna says as she plates up a few wings for herself, adding some of the extras Xiomara had brought.  "They're using Brainiac tech.  I wouldn't have said it at the time, but in retrospect I wonder if the worst consequence of his invasion wasn't the bits of broken technology left lying around afterwards.  Too many people got their hands on some of it, and I guess it was inevitable that would include HYDRA.  That Space Lex launch that almost blew up?  Had one of these satellites on it.  Supposedly a standard commercial launch, but when we went to rescue the Space Lex crew, it was obvious that was no standard satellite.  Traced it to a tech startup, and I met the big guy there when I was checking the place out.  Inside we found HYDRA operatives, captive technicians used as slave labor and bits of stolen Brainiac tech.  When the place blew up, it kinda imploded the countryside.  Dark energy creating a kind of micro black hole."
    She takes a bite of one of the Korean wings, chews thoughtfully, licks her lips and then her fingers.  "Damn those are good.  Yeah, anyway we uncovered an intentional flaw in the satellite design the captured techs put in.  That's why the satellite exploded.  We're working on a way to trigger the same reaction in the others that are up there.  No idea how many or where they are, which is obviously a worry."
    "Festive villains?" Donna asks Stephanie with a laugh.  "Well… that's Gotham for you.  Crazy place.  Saying that we had a Wonderland invasion here in Metropolis last year.  That made Gotham seem relatively normal by comparison, for a while at least."
    She gives Kian a rueful shake of the head.  "The sauce is great.  Fermented chili, rice, and soya beans, mixed with honey and garlic.  But I didn't think to ask them for some sauce separate, it's all on the wings.  Sorry."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
    Stephanie Brown takes the second wing, discarding the bones from the first one onto a plate being used for such, or the trash if needed.  As Nightwing asks her about a beverage, she looks and sees he's got the root beer.  "One of those would be fine," she tells him.
    One might think with two aliens present that she would be gaping at them a bit.  Nope.  Instead if the blonde is staring it's at the mouse walking off with a plate of wings.  Donna's comments about a mouse when Batgirl was first walking in are remembered now.  She hadn't spotted Kaida at that point to realize what the context or who the recipient was.
    That will be a question for Nightwing for later though.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
    With her plate now stacked with food, including the Korean wings, Crush walks over to the sitting area and finds herself a chair to settle into.  She's been to the Tower every weekend for almost a year now, but it still doesn't feel like home.  It feels like a place she trains to make herself better than she was the day before, which was still just as important at anything else.  Home, nothing had felt like that in a long time.
    "I might become a geneticist," she states with a grin.  "Give me what, four years of college and I could maybe do it.  Double major coming up, I gotta be insane or something."
    Glancing again to Batgirl, though keeping her eyes low because ogling a super hero was just plain rude, she comments, "Got a villain that needs thumpin'?  You can always call me, I've finally got pullin' my punches down, no more killing people by hitting them… unless I want to that is… oh… I don't though," she adds quickly to the end there, just in case.

Bart Allen has posed:
    Bart Allen looks over to Kian and says, "I will go get you some."  And with that he is off.  He will take a moment, as he is getting a few things.  Unlike a normal off and back, Bart is gone for a full 5-10 minutes.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    The raised eyebrow is noticeable even with the domino mask on.  "Brainiac tech, HYDRA and the ability to make micro black holes.  Not one thing in that sounds good.  Might have to bug Batman into getting a Bat-Spaceplane or something.  Apparently now we have to go off the planet to foil the bad guys."  He does not look too upset by this, as a Bat-Spaceplane would be kinda awesome to have around.
    Grabbing a second root beer, he heads back over to Batgirl and hands it to her before grabbing another wing to nom on.  When he finishes it, he looks over to Donna, asking, "Is it just me, or is Impulse taking an awfully long time compared to most of his 'grab something' trips?  Hope he didn't run into any trouble."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
    There's a chime over the Titan's internal comms to announce one of them arriving.  A minute or two later the lift door opens and Caitlin steps out, looking bone-weary and dressed in pink scrubs with a tote bag stuffed with books slung over her shoulder.
    "Ohhh my gosh, someone else cooked," she remarks.  The redhead shoots a grateful look up to the heavens then heads directly towards the kitchen, managing at best a few friendly expressions at the others present.
    She's hungry enough that she queues right up and starts loading her plate with a healthy proportion of food.  Once the plate is full she pulls a fresh SnackyShake off the cooler unit and promptly inhales the entire beverage/snack, then immediately refills it.
    "I'm not scheduled for anything, right?" she asks, vaguely shooting the question Donna and Nightwing's way—then drops into one of the heavy, overbuilt chairs at the dining table and digs into her meal with hungry abandon.

Kian has posed:
    Kían only gets as far as, "You don—" before Bart's already gone.  When he's not back within about ten seconds, he muses, "I hope he didn't run into any trouble.
    He regards a forkful of macaroni and cheese thoughtfully.  "Also, the next time Terry and I do a chocolate shipment, I'm going to have a set of some of our standard spices and sauces sent back.  There are some flavors I definitely miss."
    Chomp… albeit still without looking at the non-bird-safe parts of the meal.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
    The conversation about the need to go to space draws Batgirl's intense interest as she holds breaks the bones on her wing so she can clean the one bone of meat while she listens.  If it isn't Brainiac Tech it's Hydra and black holes.  Life never really does seem to settle down in this line of work.
    Blue eyes flit over to Nightwing.  Yes, tonight he's going to have to hear again how Batgirl went into space and piloted a Stark Industries weapons-armed shuttle, blowing up space sharks along with a few members of SHIELD.
    Because as a girl from the down and out parts of Bristol, when that's in your story vault, why wouldn't you pull it out when topical?

Bart Allen has posed:
    Bart Allen comes back after a bit and he has two bags with him.  He opens them up and puts 6 containers on the table near Kian and says, "I got you some Cauliflower, and Tofu…"  He starts to way wings, but thinks better of it… arms?  Nooo.  "Bits," he adds on to them and says, "These are the Korean flavor, these are honey BBQ, these Garlic Parmesan, Buffalo, Lemon Pepper, and these are Ghost Pepper."  He points at each and sets out some jars.  "Extra Sauce, and some Kimchi," he explains to the bird bud.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
    Crush settles for now to just listen to the conversation while she eats.  HYDRA, no idea what that is other than clearly an enemy.  Brainiac, once again no knowledge, but again clearly an enemy.  Black holes, well those were talked about in a few classes, but someone was making them rather than a natural phenomenon.
    Wiping her fingers on a napkin, she twists the top off her cola without twisting the entire top of the bottle off, and takes a drink.  "We going to space?" she asks like this is something that happens every day.  "Or we needing to find a way to get to space?  Sorry… not up on what you're all talking about, just tryin ta figure how I can help out, or if I even can."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "I'm sure Bart would have pinged us on comms if he'd run into trouble," Donna says to reassure both Dick and Kian.  "He probably met someone walking a rare dog breed or something.  I'm sure he'll be… and there he is. His unusual slowness is explained by a thoughtful acquisition of Kian-consumables.  Thanks Bart!"
    "Takeout," Donna tells Caitlin, grinning wide at her friend as she enters.  "New Korean place on the boardwalk.  I tried it a couple of weeks ago when I was passing.  The wings are amazing.  Xio brought us some KFC too, and unlike me she thought to bring things other than chicken, so we've got 'slaw, mac and cheese, potatoes… oh that reminds me.  Xio, put the bill for this in the system, okay?  I know you're not hurting for cash these days now you got that construction work, but while you're with us, we cover your expenses.  And believe me if you're gonna become a geneticist, you're going to want to save up for your college time.  Cait was smart and did most of her genetics studies after becoming famous enough she could live on royalties from the action figs."
    Dick's comment about a Bat-ship gets a surprised eyebrow arching.  "Doesn't he have one already?" she asks.  "I mean we have the T-Jet, partially thanks to him.  I didn't think it was all STAR Labs.  Sure we got it fixed up for longer space journeys by Nadia, but it was always good for low Earth orbit.  You should check with him about the Bat Jet.  I bet it can go to LEO too, and he just doesn't tell you guys because he doesn't want the younger Robins joy riding it into space all the time."  She glances speculatively to Stephanie and then to Xio.  "If you guys would like a trip to space let me know.  Though it's expensive to fly so we don't just do it for kicks, it'll have to be when we're on scheduled space training or a mission."

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Nightwing smirks at Donna's comment about joyriding, admitting, "That could be part of it.  I mean, I don't see Red Robin doing it, but I could totally see Red Hood taking it out for a spin."  He pauses a moment, then adds, "You know, as a group, we bats are kinda bad at hero names."  He shrugs, "Anyway, yeah, there's one or two people I could see who might take it just because."
    He pulls another wing out of the box and goes to work on it.  Once it's done, he continues, "But yeah, I'll have a talk with him, because if we don't have one already, with his connections, we can fix that oversight pretty quickly."
    "As for college expenses, all any of you guys have to do is let me know, I'll cover it.  We don't need anyone worrying about funds while also going to college and being a Titan, with all the insanity that produces."

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
    Crush has to take a moment to not spit a mouth full of food out laughing, so instead she snerks and covers her mouth with her hand to keep the food inside.  Nightwing listing two other Bat's, apparently Robins as Donna called then, and the stupid names was making her want to laugh just before he commented about being bad at hero names… which made it all that more difficult to keep the mashed potatoes with gravy inside.
    Painful swallow, a little coughing and she does laugh with a semi-snide comment off, "No, say it ain't so… Nightwing."
    Another sip of her cola or two and she's right as rain once more.  Most of what is being talked about she is clueless about, but doesn't seem to care.  "Am I the only one who knows 'bout the Justice League teleporters to the moon?  I mean… that'd get us to space," she asks looking around.  "I don't need no suit with air or nothing, just need some way to propel myself, like a jet pack or something… could drag the ship around that way, less fuel required, cheaper, more joy riding?"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
    Caitlin sighs heavily and sets her fork down a bit at Donna's chivvying.  "I don't make that much money off the licensing," she protests with a grumble.  It doesn't seem to put her off her appetite for too long.
    "And I put all that back into the Titans Future Fund," she adds, and wiggles a chicken wing at Dick in support of his offer.  "I think we've got enough saved up in there now to pay for a couple doctoral track programs.  So Xiomara, if you're really thinking about college, getting funding for it won't be a problem.  Might need to spend some time studying though, the colleges around here love having us attending classes but some of the teachers can come down super hard on us for having 'day' jobs," she admits.

Kian has posed:
    "Ooooh… thank you, Bart!"
    Kían goes through the assortment quickly, looking for whichever one hits his nose best… and ends up stirring a spoonful of the ghost pepper sauce into his mac and cheese.
    Taste test: almost but not quite.
    So, another spoonful of the Ghost Pepper sauce.
    Perfect.
    Fun fact: birds—proper birds, that is—can't taste capsaicin.  Kían can, but clearly not in the same way Earth people do….

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
    Looking now to Donna, Crush lifts one brow slightly.  "So uh… how do I put in a bill?  Never done that before," she asks with a slight shrug of her shoulders.  "I usually just bring stuff when I come, poke it in the fridge of cupboards, then go practice not killing humans in the danger room."
    As Caitlin starts speaking to her, her pinkish eyes (she's not angry so they aren't red) shift to look at the woman.  "I uh… I been talking with community colleges, but they don't really offer what I'm thinking," is admitted with another slight shrug.  "Still, I kin get the basic classes done with them, then have to figure out where to go for engineering and biology, thus… double major, or so that's what the counselor at school said.  I wanna build things and figure out my own DNA, since there aren't any Czarnian's left to ask."

Bart Allen has posed:
    Bart Allen looks over and says, "Empire State is cool, it is where I am going if you decide to go there let me know will show ya about."  He loads up a second and third plate wings, bits, sides, he eats it all.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "More than enough for a couple Cait," Donna says.  "The new Robin has taken over handling the Titans Foundation portfolio and uh… well he's good at investing."  She nods her head to Xiomara.  "They're right, Crush.  You may not be a full time Titan, but we promised we'd make sure you have the opportunities.  You want to go to college next, the Titans will pay.  As for paying for the food, look for the expenses app on your T-Com, scan the till receipt and fill in the box where it asks you what the expense is for.  So long as the expenses are reasonable we don't look too closely."
    Kian's exploits with the ghost pepper surprise nobody.  Aliens seem to love chili.  There's a tub in the fridge marked 'Danger!  Biowarfare agent, do not open' that contains Kori's fresh chili supplies for her sandwich making.  Never eat a sandwich Kori has made you.  However Donna is a little surprised that he's focusing on the ghost pepper when there's a tub of Korean hot sauce right there.  "Try the gochujang as a dip for the tofu," she suggest to Kian.  "You'll love it."
    "The League has space ships," Donna says.  "Now I think about it, the T-Jet was based on the same prototype the League's ships are made from.  I bet Bats has one or two of those hidden away for his own use somewhere.  But yeah, those teleporters are pretty cool, Crush.  Though we've got a teleporter locked away in a secure room that in theory takes us not just to the moon but to a whole other solar system. We have to keep it switched off for the moment because the network got compromised, but hopefully we'll have that up and running soon."

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Does his best to stifle the impulse to stick his tongue out at Crush, instead saying, "Hey, Nighwing's kinda cool.  Comes from an old Kyrptonian folk hero.  And at least It's not @robin5674 or something."  Honor satisfied, he grabs another wing.  "I may need the Batcopter just to get Korean takeout a couple nights a week.  This place could be dangerous to my calorie counts."
    "If the Titans can cover the expenses, great.  And yeah, Robin is pretty good at investing, he's got that cutthroat instinct that comes in handy.  And better it be aimed at the stock market than actual throats."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
    "The T-jet is a modified Javelin, yep," Caitlin confirms.  "But it's not FTL capable without some outside assistance, like someone who can open hypergates or create an FTL bow wave.  Inside the solar system it's pretty fast, though," she concedes.  "We can get to Mars at sub-relativistic speeds in just a few hours."
    "Anyway—"  She wipes her fingers delicately on a napkin, and nudges away her plate stacked full of thoroughly stripped chicken bones.  "I could probably take you to Columbia for a campus visit," Caitlin offers to Xiomara.  "That's where I got my PE and my first doctorate.  I might have an afternoon free next week, barring getting called into surgery again at the last minute."  She makes a sour face.  "I'm glad they're letting me power through my residency but I am mentally exhausted.  Thank goodness I don't need all that much sleep."

Kian has posed:
    Kían takes Donna's advice regarding the tofu and the gochujang… and he gets the kind of dreamy look one might otherwise associate with someone on really good hashish.  "We are so sending a batch of this back with the next chocolate shipment," Kian says, treating himself to some more, and then moving on to some outright experimentation, bolstering the sauce with some of the hot chili sauce.
    At this point, the birdman doesn't even seem aware that there are wings on the table.  So, result.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna nods her head in agreement with Caitlin.  "Yeah Nadia and the GIRL crew upgraded the T-Jet's engines with the prototype of the warp drive that powers the Tereshkova.  Because it was kind of proof of concept it's sublight, but for getting around the solar system it's pretty great.  I did take the T-Jet to Jupiter once before, when it still had the Javelin drive in it, but I had to get Supergirl to tow us.  Some day we need to do something about getting an FTL ship, Cait.  I mean another one."
    Donna glances towards Stephanie.  "We did have our own FTL capable ship for a while.  Giant space dreadnought.  But we crashed it into a space station and broke it in half.  We managed to get it kind of limping around a bit for a few weeks afterwards while we traveled from planet to planet in this weird star system that was trapped inside a black hole, but we couldn't bring it home with us."
    Life as a Titan really does seem different from the typical Batfam day, but then there are aliens.
    Kian's stoned state gets an amused grin from Donna, who nods her head at Bart.  "Keep an eye on him, I think that stuff has the same effect on him that chocolate has.  Try to catch him if he topples over, okay?"
    Donna leans back comfortably, nibbling her delicious Korean wing.  "You know," she says, addressing nobody in particular, "beating up the bad guys is fun, but this is the best thing about being a Titan.  Time with friends.  Don't be a stranger, any of you.  Crush, you can come here to hang out, not just for training, you know.  Batgirl, you too.  Always welcome.  Come by without the arm candy some time so Cait and I can tell you lots of embarrassing stories about him, 'kay?  And Nightwing, spend more time here, we miss you!"

Dick Grayson has posed:
    "Okay, time for us to go before we don't fit into our outfits.  Good thing we have Impulse and Kaida to protect us from leftovers."  He looks over to Batgirl, saying, "We probably should get back and see if the Joker blew anything up while we were gone.  It'd be just like him, and we'd get the lecture from Batman about how important patrols are."  He stands and takes his plate to the kitchen, dumping the bones into the garbage.
    "We'll see you guys again soon, I promise.  Things have settled down a little, so I can find more time now.  And I still want to bug Batman for a spaceship, just for the hell of it."