17179/Birthdays and Cupcakes and Doggos with Tailwags

Birthdays and Cupcakes and Doggos with Tailwags
Date of Scene:	14 February 2024
Location:	Kitchens - Wayne Manor
Synopsis:	Phoebe has decorated the Morning Room for Steph's birthday, complete with a cupcake-cake, purple and gold streamers, party hats, waffles in the shape of hearts and bacon roses. Tim shows up to save everything from being destroyed by a falling ladder.
Cast of Characters:	Phoebe Beacon, Tim Drake

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Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The morning room was decorated in purples and yellows, streamers and sparkles. Potato, the big, doofy pit-mix in white with black spots on his nose (eighty pounds of no thoughts, just vibe) is sitting on a mat giving a big smile, wearing a party hat with 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!' scrawled on it, a bowtie attached to his collar. Potato (whose full name was Chimkin Snuggets and Smashed Potato) is just happy to be involved, even if his involvement is 'be a good boy' and 'don't leave the mat'. He's being SO GOOD at NOT LEAVING THE MAT. Which is why it's slowly scooting closer to the table, which is piled with food trays. Mini waffles in various shapes like hearts and flowers and circus animals. Roses made of bacon and misted with sweet maple syrup. Pink and purple and yellow roses set up in bright purple vases with gold glitter through the glass.

    And the cake, still in its carrier, a monstrous marble slab of chocolate and vanilla swirled cupcakes in the shape of a Bat, piled high with purple and gold buttercream, confetti edible glitter and HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPHANIE scrawled on it.

    And in a little plastic container, chocolate cupcakes with orange frosting is missing one cupcake, currently half-eaten and on the table as Phoebe hangs from the ceiling, reaching for the tilted ladder like she's mid-Jedi-training.

    The latter was poised to fall from the decorating point and onto the table. Phoebe is holding it aloft using magic, and herself aloft via a lighting fixture that she has her legs around.

    "Shit-shit-shit-shit-shit..."

Tim Drake has posed:
    Of course Tim knew it was Stephanie's birthday. After working out for a few hours this afternoon to pre-burn off the calories he is going to eat, he grabbed a shower, threw on a pair of jeans and a Gotham Knights sports jersey, and headed for the morning room. He grins when he sees Potato, giving the dog a finger-wiggle-wave. "Hey, Potato, where's..."

    Then Tim looks up. "Oh shit!" he half blurts, half laughs and jogs under where Phoebe is dangling. "Um, what do you want me to do?" he asks around giggles that he doing a really poor job of hiding. He stands directly under Phoebe in case he has to catch her.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Grab the ladder because the minute I stop holding it up, it's gonna crush Steph's cake. And I will never. Hear the end of it. From anyone ever." Phoebe comments from her upside-down place, swinging slightly from the effort of keeping the ladder in place.

    Potato looks up, his tail giving a wag but he si a GOOD BOY and doesn't leave the mat. He does start to scoot over to Tim, since not leaving the mat doesn't mean the mat stays in one place.

    "And seriously did you know the whole manor is freaking *warded* against using a whole lot of magic?!"

Tim Drake has posed:
    Tim can't help but scooch down and give Potato's head a vigorous rubbing. "Who is the bestest boy ever? Huh? Who is a special Potato?"

    He looks up quickly. "Oh, right! Ladder!" He moves over and grabs the ladder with toned arms. "Ladder cake is not good cake. Are you sure...that...um...you're okay up there?" Tim bites his lower lip and watches Phoebe with half concern, half amusement, half curiosity. Three halves don't make a whole, but three lefts make a right.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Three lefts do make a right.

    The ladder is righted, and Phoebe grabs onto the top of it.

    "What, you've never hung upside-down from a chandelier in the manor for a half hour? I thought all of us did that." Phoebe asks, as she braces against the ladder, and very slowly draws herself down, releasing her death grasp on the poor lighting fixture. "Or was that just Dick?" she questions her lips pursing a moment as she rubs the back of her head, letting the blood rush back to the lower extremeties.

    "Man you have good timing."

Tim Drake has posed:
    Once Phoebe is safely on the floor, Tim carries the ladder over and sets it down on floor on its side. Boys. They just love to carry heavy things around girls, even if those girls are their virtual sisters.

    "I've hung upside down from a lot of places but never from anything that could lead to Alfred getting really irritated with me. 'Master Timothy,'" Tim starts in a not-half-bad Alfred impression. "'Come down at once unless you wish to spend the afternoon polishing the silver.'" He grins and rests his butt on the edge of the table. "So you did all this?" Tim nods his head. "Not to shabby, girl."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Virtual, legally, magically-inclined sisters.

    "I have enough good will from Alfred from cleaning my own bathroom and doing my own laundry that I'm sure he would be more like 'Good heavens young lady -- what the use is wiggling your fingertips if you can't raise a bloody LADDER to get yourself down?!'" Phoebe has a more casual impression of Alfred, but no less correct. She gives a small smile, and looks around.

    "Ah, yeah. I did. I figured I helped decorate for Bab's birthday, Jason's birthday, your birthday -- it wouldn't be right if I didn't do something for Steph's. But, sounds like she may have caught a touch of The Plague. So." she purses her lips, and looks up over all the decor. "Maybe she'll see it tomorrow. I'll put her cake and all the waffle and bacon roses in the fridge."

Tim Drake has posed:
    Snags a cupcake before stuff gets put away. "Hey," Tim says, some concern in his voice. "When's the last time somebody did something for you? When's the last time you just flopped down and let someone else wait on you hand and foot?"

    He takes a bite from the cupcake and his eyebrows go up. "Mmmmm, good." He sets it down on the edge of table and gestures to a sofa. "Now sit down, snuggled with Potato, and put me to work." Tim crosses his arms over his chest in an 'I mean it, young lady' pose.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "When you did my eighteenth, and you, Laura, and Cass desperately tried to take out various assassins without me noticing. But I did." Phoebe states as she crosses her arms. "And then I didn't want to celebrate my nineteenth because Steph and Dick's engagement, but that's the party where you found me smoking on the roof. And as I recall --" Phoebe shrugs, and she sits down on one of the chairs, snagging one of the orange-and-chocolate cupcakes that are color-coded to Oriole, because songbirds "Hand-and-foot would be any time Robbie comes over. But mostly that's one of us makes dinner and the other one does the dishes. Hashtag Healthy Partnerships." Phoebe states.

    Potato is still on the mat. He's just slowly circling Tim. Scooting around on the mat, and then Phoebe gives a soft whistle and he is FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE -- and immediately spins in circles, wearing the purple and gold HAPPY BIRTHDAY hat, and then zips over to Phoebe -- then returns to Tim and takes the mat up in his teeth -- and then zips back over to Phoebe.

    Idu, the sight hound that definitely can't and doesn't ever talk, looks up from where he was sitting on a window seat. He also has a bowtie on, but has not deigned to wear the hat.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Tim playfully finger-wags in Phoebe's direction. "Smoking is terrible for your cardiovascular blah blah blah." He laughs a bit. "I'm sure you're magically protected and all of that." With a pleased grin, he watches the expressive Potato take care of his business. "Seriously, I'm so happy about you and Robbie. In our line of work, it's..." He looks upward and sighs dramatically. "...so hard to find someone we can let in and trust."

    With his recent bad luck in the love department, Tim just shuts up. Nobody wants love advice from the likes of him. Oh look, he still has half a cupcake left! Munch, munch, munch.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Yeah, when I spoke and I'm in daylight, it comes out in peacock blue glitter. It's weird. And now I only do it when I'm really stressed." Phoebe comments as she relaxes, reaching to scrub her fingers through Potato's ears.

    "Well. I mean. Robbie..." Phoebe purses her lips a moment. "There's a lot going on behind the scenes. Sometimes it feels like we're playing pretend that we're just normal. A mechanic and a college student figuring life out. And then I get a call or he needs to go or the signal goes up and we just sort of have to face that we're not normal. Nevermind the whole --" she waggles her hand, rolling it at the wrist "-- I'm the last of a magical bloodline and occasionally my ancestors try to impress upon me how important it is to rebuild it and he's technically a form of damned undead and labeled the Worst Avenger. I mean, no pressure at all. Let alone if it gets out that a *Wayne* is dating a *commoner*." Phoebe's eyes may have audiably rolled there.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Grabbing a water bottle and flopping down on an overstuffed chair with one leg draped over the arm, Tim laughs. "Oh, TMZ will be calling you Louise of Austria! How positively scandalous!" Grinning, Tim takes a long pull of the water.

    "Hey, did it ever occur to you that you /are/ normal? That given the cards you've been dealt and the cards that Robbie has been dealt, you two are being as normal as you can? And since when does a Wayne give two squirts of piss what other people think? Does Bruce and Selina ring any bells?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe snorts in laughter and then slings a pillow artfully at Tim.

    "It's different when a guy dates down, I've got the wammy of adopted, girl, *and* Black. Also, you were born with a silver spoon too." she points at Tim with another cupcake in her hand. There's only one chocolate cupcake with orange frosting left.

    "I'm adopted into this world. Janet van Dyne making me gaffe and then making fun of me for it? Famous doctorates punching down in coffee shops with Superhero Royalty on their arm, if anything I want to protect Robbie from people poking at him. I don't have the whole ... my skull catching on fire thing. Which seriously if you're ever around to see it -- honestly pants-crapping terrifying." Phoebe gives a snort.

    "Which is a lot of words to say 'nothing about me is normal bruh'." she states, and looks down. "I do try hard to make the Family look good, in both senses."

Tim Drake has posed:
    The pillow catches Tim directly in the chest and he falls 'dead' to the floor. "And thus...I breath...my last!" Then Potato leaps to the floor and tubby-runs over to the fallen Tim and starts power-licking his face. The young Wayne starts laughing and sits up cross-legged on the floor. "Okay, okay, I'm back alive again!" Triumphant, the more-than-lap-dog-sized Potato crawls into Tim's lap. Sorta.

    "Girl, check yourself," Tim insists. "You make the Waynes look good every day, in and out of uniform. "I suspect there are a lot of reasons why Bruce brought you into the fold: your heart, your skill, your intentions, your boldness...but also you're here to raise the bar from this ego-trip, self-absorbed sausage fest that is the Wayne Family. Why do you think Babs and Steph hardly come around?".

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoeb's quiet a moment as Potato goes to rescue Tim, the huge white dog bodily applying affection as if it's the best medicine for what ails you.

    "... Bruce adopted me because I was in a bad mental state, and it would have begun to affect /you/." Phoebe replies quietly. "You stood by my side through everything, and I even felt comfortable risking your life while I had no emotions to contend with. That... is monstrous, Tim." she states quietly, drawing one leg up and sitting her chin on her knee.

    "Also that is a horrible joke, me and Duke being the diversity hires, considering I was pretty much raised as Problematic White. No one on the team's got Ego Trip issues. You're all the best of the best, or else Bruce wouldn't have picked you -- or in your case, let you in. Mr. too-smart." she stick s her tongue out.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Tim smiles warmly. Even a mild tongue lashing from his sister is okay with him. He draws in a long, slow, deep breath and lets it out in kind as he scruffs Potato's fur with strong fingers. It's like he is at a rare loss for words. Finally he just looks over at Phoebe and says softly, "Nothing is done until it's done." His wistful gaze seems to almost say 'Am I right?'

    After a time: "You're here now. You're family for life. And if you and Robbie are a thing, then he's family, too. Horrifying flaming head and all." Another patented Tim Wink and Grin.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Well, you're not *wrong*." Phoebe comments quietly at Tim, and tilts her head back "Ugh. I hate arguing with you." she states ruefully, and then she twists her neck from side to side.

    "I'm just glad he agreed to keep his Hunting to New York City." she hops to her feet, and looks at all the purple and gold decorations.

    "Well, I'll... just put her cake and the stuff in the fridge." she states, stretching her fingers. "Not like it's going to be the first time we've had to put off a party."

    And as Phoebe passes by Tim and Potato, she reaches up and ruffles Tim's hair, one of the few people she allows herself to be that openly affectionate with.

    "Yeah, just you wait until you're in a fight with him and then suddenly BOOM. Ghost Rider." she grins, and then moves to put the foods away.