2277/Vic, You're So OLD!

From Heroes Assemble MUSH
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Vic, You're So OLD!
Date of Scene: 30 June 2020
Location: Main Room - Titan's Tower
Synopsis: Even when the end of the world is looming, the Titans do not forget to celebrate birthdays. There are gifts, an amazing cake, illicit drinks and puzzled Robins.
Cast of Characters: Donna Troy, Caitlin Fairchild, Samuel Morgan, Terry O'Neil, Victor Stone, Kara Danvers, Heather Danielson, Wally West, Gwen Stacy, Damian Wayne, Cassie Sandsmark




Donna Troy has posed:
    Brainiac is threatening the earth. The Titans science team has been working the problem with barely any rest. The Danger Room has been set up to simulate battles against Brainiac drones and the training has been brutal and exhausting. Ever since the battle in DC, the tower has been a non-stop buzz of activity, and the normal relaxed atmosphere has been nowhere to be seen.

    However this is the Titans, and Titans are family. Some things are not forgotten, whatever the situation. It's part of the Titans' philosophy - however dark and desperate things are, you /always/ make time for your team mates. Birthdays are not forgotten.

    Finding time to actually organize a party during the chaos hasn't been easy, but a few minutes have been stolen here and there to put things together. The main room of the tower now sports a huge banner reading 'Happy Birthday Vic!', a pile of presents lies wrapped on one end of the sofa, music has been queued up, and the table is laden with food and drinks - including beers for the older Titans. Though probably nobody's going to watch too hard.

    Word has gone out, in secret, to each of the Titans apart from Vic to make it to the party if they possibly can, and at the appointed time the Titans have gathered. Except for Cyborg himself, who's still down in the labs, working hard on fabricating an experimental weapon to use against Cyborg drones. Down in the lab, the intercom pings.

    "Vic?" Donna's voice calls out. "We've got a situation, need you in the main room right away."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin's kitchen is her safe space. Nothing can go wrong there. She can simultaneously lose herself in work, but also focus a sometimes scattered mind on menial tasks. More than a few fits of engineering genius have come to her while kneading dough. Fortunately, the smell of home cooking is prevalent enough that it's not going to alert anyone in the Tower to anything unusual.

"Oooh, okay, we're ready," Caitlin squeaks in a quiet voice. Already hushing herself! She's in black mesh yoga pants and a loose-fitting long sleeve tee in lime green; her apron has a piranha plant from Mario Brothers cleverly embroidered as the main design.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    It's a rare thing to find in a team, the ability to not only work flat out but also organise things that are important for other reasons at the same time. And to do it on the sly, while the guest of honor is utterly unaware? That's just sheer brilliance. A moment here, a nod there, one or two minutes longer spent walking somewhere than absolutely needed, it's like an impossible logistical puzzle. It was amazing to watch, and even more amazing to participate in.

    Sam slips out of the lab a few minutes before the ping, at the time agreed with the other Titans, giving a plausible enough excuse at the time. After all, the technopath has been spending equal amounts of time in the Danger Room and the Lab working on the nullifier tech, it's not too surprising for him to need to go talk to person X or find item Y in inventory.

    Now he's with the others, having found time to change into something more festive, to whit a T-shirt with a sample of code (which solves into a rather dirty joke) and a loose unzipped hoodie that proudly proclaims that the wearer failed the Voight-Kampff test. Nearby sits Bear, at attention, a birthday card held carefully in his jaws.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal steps through a Rabbit Hole just in time, carrying several packages. "Am I late? Did I make it? Sorry! Lois was holding me over to look at some assignments and I couldn't exactly tell her--"

Seeing that Vic isn't in the room yet, he relaxes visibly and sets the packages down. "Whew. Hey everybody, I'm here. The party can officially start," he says with a grin. Then, he remembers something, "Gar can't make it, he's over on the other coast. Patrol stuff regardng the Brainiac thing, apparently."

He looks around and says, "So, the birthday boy is on his way? I brought some soda... and the requisite gifts."

Victor Stone has posed:
Vic, seated in a heavily reinforced swivel chair, kicks away from the workstation where he's spent what feels like hours making nearly imperceptible tweaks to a holographic schematic. A time readout flickers across his vision -- it's programmed to do that whenever he leaves a task he's been really absorbed in -- and he realizes that it actually HAS been hours. He springs to his feet, batting a multi-lens attachment away from his artificial eye, and calls out, "On my way!" as he hoofs it for the elevators.

There aren't alarms blaring, so it's not an immediate Brainiac attack, he reminds himself as he reaches the elevator lobby. That's enough to keep his breathing even, if not enough to stop him from taking the open fliers' lift, a burst of rocket-boot exhaust sending him spiraling up to the main level. Maybe it's Stark or someone from the X-men, here to get a copy of the datacube? Maybe there's news from SHIELD on their ongoing attempts to arm themselves. Maybe they've got new samples, or they've thought of even more tests they need him to run.

For all the processing power at his disposal, it genuinely doesn't occur to Vic that it's his own birthday until he spots the banner his teammates have pinned across one wall. The bleary fatigue they've all gotten used to seeing on his face over the past few days seems to melt away as his jets deposit him, almost on autopilot, at the threshold of the bug-out shaft. "Oh my God, guys -- you shouldn't have!" he hollers, a big grin plastered on his face again, for the first time in too long. He takes a deep breath and searches the room for the source of whatever heavenly baked goods might be creating that incredible smell.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna greets Vic with a grin as big as his own, and adds a hug to it that, while not the full Amazon, is more than would be advisable for those without a reinforced body. "Happy Birthday, Vic!" she declares.

    "And we totally should have. You think a little thing like Brainiac would stop us celebrating your birthday? Not a chance. This is what we do."

    It's what they did. It has been a long time since the Titans celebrated a birthday properly like this, but it used to be standard protocol. Though given the sheer number of Titans there seem to be these days, things might need to be scaled back a little.

    Making it a surprise party is kind of a new thing though - back in the day you couldn't really throw a surprise party because people knew to expect it. Got to take chances like this when they present themselves.

    "Somehow Cait found time between autopsies on drones to bake a fantastic looking cake," Donna says with a grin and a wink to Caitlin. "And everyone's been working so hard the last couple of days that we /all/ need this."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
There is a literal sheet-- baking silk-- draped over Something in the middle of the table. And with a dramatic flare, Caitlin whips the fabric away. It's a picture of Vic Stone atop a two-layer cake that's meant to look like a mountaintop. It does it quite well, at that. Most of the Titans' defeated foes (and more than a few video game villains) are carcicatured in figurine at his feet and near the base of the cake, and atop it, it's in a position of triumph. Little arcs of electricity flicker down to Lil' Vic from the circling 'clouds' above it (cotton candy and a Jacob's ladder).

"The figures are all edible, too," she explains with a beaming smile. "Edible ink, spun sugar, and a 3D printer."

Kara Danvers has posed:
"Am I late?" comes Supergirl's muffled voice as she rounds the corner, rushing into the room with a medium-sized green box wrapped in yellow ribbon. A look of consternation crosses her face as she eyes the group, immediately biting down on her lower lip and trying to sneak in amongst the small gathering without drawing any attention away from the Birthday Boy.

Slowly she reaches out to put the gift on the counter, before taking a few steps backwards and politely tucking her hands behind her back. She's dressed in her Supergirl costume (because she still keeps her civilian identity a secret), though she's carrying a rather hi-tech looking sealed container that is suspended over one shoulder by a strap.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    As is nearly standard protocol, it's Bear that makes the first approach after the cake has been presented, while his human hangs back a little. As much as Sam seems to enjoy talking shop with Victor, and they're certainly seeing a lot of each other in the lab these days, this is a social situation. The out of spoon error had flashed up a few days back, and the cutlery drawer was still being restocked, so the card is brought over by Sam's canine companion.

    And it's a doozy of a card at that, with a semi-childish rendition of Victor on the front with the header 'Vintage' and 'Mint Condition' below. Inside, the greeting simply reads 'Such Vic! Much Age! Such Wow! Bork!' signed with an inky pawprint and the shaky script 'Bear'. Underneath is a custom printed message, in binary, reading simply 'Array.Vic.age; +1'

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Let me echo Troia's sentiment very empathetically: Hell yes we should've!" Vorpal grins and points to the gifts, "This one's from me. The other one is from Garfield- he can't come 'cause Dayton called him over to talk stuff about the Brainiac thing, and you know how much of a killjoy Dayton is. He says that he will catch up when he gets back, and you two will get into trouble and I will probably have to post bail." Terry smirks, "He also says not to open the present in public. Or anywhere near flammable material." Gar was totally joking. Right?

He offers a wave at Supergirl- Supergirl! He hasn't had a chance to talk to her much. He makes a mental note about a potential interview? Hey, it could happen! "You're just in time, Cait has created culinary ambrosia... there goes my figure."

He watches the figurines, and then adds, "I think we can all agree that the birthday boy gets to eat himself, because otherwise it gets weird."

Victor Stone has posed:
"You ain't kidding, we do need this," Vic agrees over Donna's shoulder as he returns the Amazon's hug with one just as tight. There's something to be said for friends with superpowered resilience! "I should have known," he tells her, shaking his head, "but fair's fair. I didn't. You all got me!"

He lets his longtime friend go with a pat to her shoulder and turns to the rest of the assembled group, waving Supergirl up to the front -- "No wallflowering at /my/ birthday!" -- accepting the pair of gifts from Vorpal, and finally crouching to accept the card from Bear, which he opens and reads through with a broad, sentimental grin.

Finally, he stops and takes fully thirty seconds to marvel, wide-eyed, at the work of confectionery art that is his birthday cake. When his voice returns, he's immediately at its side, pointing out various defeated enemies, checking out the electrical rig, and posing for pictures alongside his heroic likeness in sugar. "Do you see! That's the guy with the -- and the LIGHTNING! Check out the detail on their sad little faces as I'm kicking their butts!"

If Caitlin doesn't object, he's going to pull his other OG teammate in for another servo-powered bear hug. "You guys are all THE. BEST!"

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna peers over Vic's shoulder to read Bear's card, and gives a grin to Sam. Her years spent with the Titans have given her at least a basic grasp of computing, and she gets the joke. She may be the only Amazon who would. The more elaborate coding joke on his shirt is fortunately a bit beyond her.

    Vic's comment on wallflowering gets a determined nod from Donna, but she's not prepared to leave it at that, and makes a beeline to the Kryptonian to urge her forwards. "Come on you, you're a Titan now, no holding back!" She monologues in alternating loud and quiet sentences, one half of the conversation to be shared, the other pitched for Supergirl's attention. "Don't be shy of joining in; social cohesion is an important part of achieving a smoothly operating team."

    Louder again, "Glad you could make it, Supergirl! It's a crazy busy time, but Vic's been working so hard the last few days we really couldn't let today go unmarked!" And quieter, "I'm planning a special training session for a couple of the heavy hitters on the team, I'd really like you to attend."

    Public volume, "You've all met Supergirl, right? She's Kal's cousin. Going to be a great addition to the team." Quieter, "What's in the container? Something interesting?"

    Whether or not Supergirl responds to the efforts to include her, Donna's back over at the table, ooh-ing and aah-ing with the rest at the decorations on the cake. "It's almost a shame to eat it, it looks so good! And Vorpal, it only gets wierd if someone says something to /make/ it wierd."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin looks around at the crowd, then rolls her eyes; a chef's knife appears in her hands and she dislocates the Figurine Vic and the inch of cake he's standing on. It's set aside for the Birthday Boy to admire later, sans electrical discharges.
^r "It's a cake, it's meant to be *eaten*," she remarks, in a level voice. The redhead starts dicing the cake up into appropriate chunks and laying them out on paper plates for people. She works fast and smoothly, handling the baking knife like a pro. "While I'm doing this, does anyone have a gift or two for Victor?" she says, nudging things along.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "If those are the heads of your slain enemies, rendered in sugar..." Sam peers at the cake from about three feet away, smiling. Bear keeps getting between him and everyone else, accidentally in purpose, in what seems to be an attempt to define personal space. Of course the mutant still had a present in the pile for Vic, but that could wait.

    "... then you're a dragon slayer, is that Spyro?" An inquisitive look to Victor. "And I get that Diddy Kong is annoying, but did you have to trample him underfoot?"

    "Whurf!"

    "You said it."

Kara Danvers has posed:
"I am not wall-flowering," Supergirl insists, raising her hands in front of herself in a playfully defensive gesture, "I just do not want to draw attention away from the birthday celebrations! It is not every day one completes a cycle around the sun. How old are you now?"

Kara returns the wave offered by Terry, opening her mouth to say something when she hears Donna's query about the container. She glances down at it for a second in surprise, as though she had completely forgotten she was holding it.

"Oh! It is an asteroid. I was looking for Brainiac's ship but could not find it. I thought I would bring home a souvenir."

She unscrews the top of the container, the pop of air suddenly occupying a vacuum can be heard before she reaches in and produces a chunk of what looks like metal and rock.

"It is pretty."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"An as--OOOOH!" Vorpal's excitement is through the roof, as the Cheshire quickly darts to sneak a peek at the thing. He takes a few breathless seconds to stare, "Wow. Going into outer space must be incredible, some people get all the good powers," he jokes with a wink. "Maybe someday I'll get hit by radioactive goo and sprout wings or something." Or most likely just die.

WHen Cait mentions the gifts, he scoops his up, and hands it over to Victor. "I have a friend who's a big fan and she makes these in her spare time..." when Vorpal brings the gift out, it's a tank top, like the one Vic was wearing when he ambushed him at the burger joint, but instead of the S.T.A.R. labs logo, it has a cartoony depiction of Cyborg and the original Titans gathered around a large pizza with the letters "Serious Hero Business" on top. It's very cute. "I hope this is your right size... I couldn't exactly ask you without spoiling the surprise and all. I also have no idea what's in Gar's box, so be warned." He places the box on the counter, just in case Vic wants to open it later.

Victor Stone has posed:
Vic shakes his head at Troia, as if disapproving, then flashes her a grin. "Donna, I love you deeply, but if you think I'm going to miss out on Caitlin's baking just because it looks in-CRED-ible, maybe you don't know me as well as I think you do." He accepts his own slice when Caitlin passes it to him, but refrains from gobbling it down immediately, because if there's one thing he likes better than cake, it's the sense of camaraderie in the room.

"Diddy Kong, you'll be stunned to hear, is Beast Boy's go-to driver in Mario Kart," he explains for Sam's benefit. Then a note of hardness enters his voice, and he adds, "So if anything, he should be getting humiliated even more thoroughly." Cait doesn't miss a thing, obviously.

The man of the hour leaves Supergirl's inclusion to Donna at first, but as soon as the Kryptonian addresses him, he grins and answers, "Just turned 26." When she reveals her space rock, he gapes and comes over for a closer look. "Oh man -- you just grabbed this while you were passing by? That is /so cool!/ You should start a collection: one cool rock from each of the planets, the asteroid field, and the Kuiper belt. Then you could start on the moons!" His eyes light up at the possibilities.

They stay lit up (and, if it has to be said, one of them literally glows) as he takes in the tank top Vorpal got him. "Alright, just a sec," he says, determined, as he sets down his cake. Maybe more like a few seconds later, he has squeezed into the sleeveless shirt, and although it's a smidge tight in places, his chest light glows through the pizza party, giving it a dramatic spotlight.

"Awesome! Who wants to be next up?" he asks.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna takes a curious peek at the asteroid too. "That does look pretty," she agrees. "Maybe one of those nickel-iron ones. They look really great if you cut and polish them. We've got equipment here to do it if you like - if you laser eyes it, you'll just melt the surface and it won't look so good."

    However even the excitement of a chunk of asteroid cannot compete with Caitlin's cake. Despite her earlier claims, Donna is quick to consume the sugary goodness, amazing confectionary art or not. As she eats, she fetches her own gift for Vic.

    Donna's present is a box that will take two hands to carry due to the size, though it doesn't weigh that much. Once the silvery wrapping paper is removed, the box opened, and the veritable sea of foam chips moved aside, the contents are revealed to be a vintage wood-finish Atari games console, with a copy of the ET game and a certificate of authenticity declaring that the cartridge is one of those that had been buried in the Alamogordo desert and dug up again a few years ago.

Kara Danvers has posed:
"Do you want it, Victor?" Supergirl asks, before glancing sidelong towards Terry and raising both her eyebrows. For a moment she looks back at the rock in her hand, staring at it critically and furrowing her brow. Her eyes narrow, glow, and then a brief, lancing flash of crimson energy hisses forth in a duo of narrow beams.

The asteroid is now cut neatly in two down the middle, and the Maiden of Might cheerfully holds one chunk out towards the Birthday Boy and the other towards Terry.

"There. Enough for everybody."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Wow, that has to save some time in a workshop." Sam comments when the asteroid is cut up, making a mental note never to tick off Supergirl for any reason whatsoever. At least not until he finds a way to be heat-beam and laser proof. Ongoing project...

    The present he lifts from the pile to present to Victor is small, probably smaller than the others. Inside the inexpertly wrapped package is a home made resin-printed toolkit, divided inside in dozens of little self contained segments, each holding a security screw driver bit or torque header. The specs for each is listed on the inside of the lid, and judging by the slightly inexpert polish these absolutely did not come from licensed vendor. Some of the bits are decidedly odd looking. "Updated for this year's specs. Because some manufacturers are just too paranoid about trade secrets."

    "Whurf!"

    "Bear helped."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry grins when Victor puts on the tank top. "Haa yes, she got the placement right!" He points at the lit-up pizza, "You're gonna have to meet her. Her name's Alicia and she's a waitress at Giorgio's pizza. Her dad owns the business... you've gotta wear this when you go, it'll make her year."

He doesn't want to add 'if it's still there', or if any of them are there in a week, this is a party. He pauses for a second at Donna's gift and whistles. "Wow, Donna. That's almost as old as your sister!" he grins. Donna is not going to tell. Totally. Absolutely.

When Kara offers him half the asteroid, his eyes light up and he takes the space rock with an eager grin, "Oh, this is perfect, thank you!" a Cheshire cat holding a space-rock given to him by the Maiden of Might. He pauses for a moment to muse on how strange it all continued to be, and to hope for it not to stop.

A Rabbit Hole appears and Vorpal places the meteorite carefully onto his living room table, before closing the hole.

"It's better than pockets. Most super suits don't have them..." he still doesn't have a suit. He really needs to come up with something before people start calling him Hoodie Cat or something like that.

He looks at Sam's shirt, and he frowns for a second, trying to make out what it says. But before he can ask out loud, the lure of cake overwhelms him. "I'll take a side of sugar with some sugar and sugar on top, please," he says, lining up to get a serving of cake.

Victor Stone has posed:
Vic holds the console up reverently, gazing at the legendarily unplayable game cart like it's a holy relic. "Only a thousand of these were ever recovered," he hisses, swiveling to show everyone the formerly buried treasure. "How did you get this, Donna??"

When Kara splits the asteroid like Solomon, his eyes widen. He opens his mouth as if to say something, considers it, then settles on: "I mean, I didn't mean to pressure you to give it to me. I just think it's really, /really/ cool!" He's clearly holding himself back, torn between not taking away someone else's cool stuff, and how unbelievably awesome it would be to have his own personal asteroid that was hand-delivered by Supergirl on his birthday.

Giving her a moment to decide for herself, he smiles, opens the package from Sam and inspects the tools inside with mounting glee. Finally, he clicks the case shut and gives the hacker a conspiratorial look. "I'm going to upgrade /so many Lexphones/ with this." He reaches down, offering Bear his hand to sniff, and then gives the pup a quick rub between the ears, if the motor oil smell isn't too off-putting.

Finally, he flashes the thumbs-up to Terry with his other hand. "Look, if you are suggesting that I buddy up to the folks at a pizzeria, you won't have to suggest again." He points to the tank's print. "This is not just a theoretical illustration. This is real. This is my life and my dream."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "eBay, Vic." Donna grins wide. "It's amazing what you can find on eBay, though I'm pretty sure the seller I found who's listings included the shoulder-blade of Pelops and a box of teeth from the dragon of Thebes was selling fakes. When they dug these all up, they put three quarters of them on eBay and they keep popping up there to be resold. The seem to increase in value each time, so you have an investement there - as well as possibly the worst game aver made."

     "Don't get over-excited by your very own piece of space," Donna tells Terry with a grin. "I mean it's cool, but if you get an urge to go fetch your own and open a rabbit portal to space, you'll probably cause the atmosphere of the planet to fountain out and asphyxiate all life on earth.

    Donna finishes her slice of cake and smiles down at Bear. "Such a talented dog. I swear he speaks English when he's in a mood too, but I didn't know he was an engineer as well." She makes her way to the stack of beers at one end of the table, tears the cap off a couple, and offers one to Vic. Hopefully some of the other Titans who are old enough to drink will arrive before too long, or Donna and Vic will have a lot of drinking to do.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    The problem was trying to find the right gift in time. But Heather picked it up on the way out of the club. Sure, it was a late night thing but she paid extra for it to be -just- in time.
    She has no idea who else got -what-, but she arrives at the tower in her halter top that still has the slice across her belly. Complete with bloodstains. But since she has an apartment here, she changes into her white teeshirt with the big purple T on the front... for Titans.
    And then she comes down into the main room of the tower, strolling on inside like she owns the place. She has a gift in her hand, wrapped in rainbow and unicorn wrapping paper with a big pink bow on it because hey, she likes it. Her other hand is balancing a large sheet cake with a big red eye in one corner. Written on the cake in silvery lettering is: BOO-YAH!

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Bear is not put off by the smell of motor oil, and hops up to bonk his head playfully into Victor's hand. Truly a creature with many talents, and Sam gives Donna a sly look. "I will neither confirm nor deny that. But I can confirm he's not actually a shapeshifting alien pretending to be a dog, or some kind of psychic mutant in a canine body." Beat. "They checked."

    That pleasantry out of the way, the teenager finally claims his slice of cake, and withdraws out of the limelight.

Wally West has posed:
Okay, so here's the thing.

Wally West is late for everything. Even if he's the Fastest Man Alive, its just an unwritten rule that people with the strongest connection to the Speed Force are just naturally late for everything. So, arriving while still in costume (that being his red and silver suit), The Flash arrives into the tower at full breakneck speeds, eventually skidding to a stop.

In his hands is a decently wrapped box that has Cyborg's name written on it.

"I'm sorry, sorry, sorry! I know I'm late. Hopefully I didn't miss everything?!"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Pfff. Please. As if I hadn't already thought about THAT danger." He hadn't. But he's not going to tell. He is satisfied with experiencing the cake, every fork-full just absolutely perfect. "Oh man, this is better than s-" pause "savory things. I'm much more into sweet things..."

He frowns, "I don't know about that, " he says to Samuel, "I could swear I heard that dog talk when you first got into the tower. Like, we all heard him..." he gives the dog a careful glance. Well, at least Bear is not chasing him up a tree, so thank Wonderland for small miracles, right?

When the two newcomers arrive, Vorpal pipes up and says "Sorry, you missed everything and there is no more cake. Absolutely no. more. cake." He looks at the very abundant cake, and then adds, "That's a decoy. To trap... the Joker. Right."

Victor Stone has posed:
Vic accepts the beer from Donna with a playful grin. Only in this group of friends is his ability to flick a cap off a bottle with his pinky not even slightly impressive. "That's good to know, but there's no way in Hades I'm ever going to sell this," he informs her. "I'm putting it in a place of honor and someday, somehow, I will beat this terrible game." If he can survive Gar's Diddy Kong blue shell antics, there's no way E.T. can defeat him.

Even before Heather sets her gift at his side, he's eyeing the sheet cake she's carrying and laughing. "Celebrating 26 years of boo-yah," he says. "I love it. Thanks for coming out, Heather."

Wally comes skidding in mere seconds later, and Cyborg shakes his head, offering the speedster a fist bump. "C'mon, man. Don't apologize. If you got here on time, I'd think something was wrong."

He waves one metal hand in front of Terry's face, pantomiming either shushing him or erasing him down to just a smile. "Don't listen to him. We've still got cake, we've still got drinks, I've still got a MOUNTAIN of awesome presents to open, and if the Joker shows up I am going to punt him to the moon myself."

Donna Troy has posed:
"Hey! Wally, come on in!" Donna greets the team's speedster with a grin. "You haven't missed /quite/ everything yet. Why is it the faster people can move, the later they always are to things?" As one of the team's faster members the snark is aimed at herself as much as Wally - she's regularly late for things too.

    Donna fetches slices of Caitlin's magnificent cake for Heather and Wally. In the current state of partial consumption it's hard to make out what the decorations were originally, but it's obvious it was quite elaborate. There are no doubt selfies taken with the cake that can be examined later, but Heather's slice appears to have part of a picture of a man with a clock for a head in the icing covering it, and Wally's, aptly, has lightning bolts.

    "Savory things are good too, Waving Tail." Donna gives Vorpal a wink. Is the chaos cat's Greek up to figuring that one out? "Stop trying to hoard the sugar for yourself. That's Gar's job, you don't have to fill in for him on every single detail just because he couldn't make it. And yeah, we totally heard Bear talk. Whatever Sam claims. "

Gwen Stacy has posed:
What does one get a cyborg Superhero you'd only met recently after joining the team not all that long ago? Similar questions had crossed Gwen's mind, and she couldn't really go purchasing alcohol either. Her own path out of the nightclub district after some entertaining outcomes with some mooks had been followed up by a panicing change into her costume and a literal swinging by to grab something she'd thought of in a hopefully non-lame flash of inspiration.

Still in costume as she decends the stairs after entering from the roof, the 'Ghost Spider' tugs her hood off her shoulders and is digging into the messanger bag as she slips behind Heather, trying not to be noticed immediately for running late.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    "I figured you'd already have plenty of cake for most folks but..." Heather begins, and then Wally skids to a stop. "But maybe not enough for myself and Flash here." she adds with a grin. She sets down the bigass sheet cake. Then she reaches out to hand the gift over while accepting the cake of Caitlin's and taking a small bite... her eyes going wide with appreciation. "Oh wow. This is like... heavy and awesome." She remarks before she leans in and presses her lips to Vic's cheek. "Everybody gets a birthday kiss you know." she adds before standing up and moving further away.

Wally West has posed:
Wally lowers his mask to let his red hair and facial features be clearly visible. With the biggest smile on his face, he looks at Donna first. "Thanks! I seriously appreciate that I haven't somehow missed the entire event. I have a serious habit of never being on time -- and do you know how fast I am?!" He says in mild venting before he takes a breath. "But to answer more literally, I have no idea." he chuckles.

Then he speeds himselfo n over to the present pile. "Niiiiice! Vic, how fast can you open these? I kind of want to time you. No peeksies though!" He zooms back over to Donna to accept some of the cake. "Ooooooo lightning bolts! You -do- care." he smiles happily, apparently now just having a bit of fun is all. He does smirk at Heather giving Cyborg a peck, giving the birthday boy a thumbs up.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Yeah, about that," Vorpal says, in between bites of cake, "Sorry, Vic, but I'm not giving you a birthday kiss. Gar would get jealous," he jokes, and then looks at Donna for a few seconds. "I object to that name. Have you seen dogs? Cats don't wave their tails, that's a dog thing. We gracefully flick it. Like so." He demonstrates, and then eats some more cake.

"Go ahead and open it, Vic, making a speedster wait is just cruel and unusual punishment."

Victor Stone has posed:
Vic takes a couple of swigs of beer while his friends chat around him. Unfortunately for Ghost Spider, the man has infrared vision and is not going to let her live up to her codename today. On the other hand, he has no issue whatsoever with anybody turning up late, he just doesn't want anyone, especially a newer recruit, thinking they aren't welcome in the thick of things at a Titans birthday party.

"First Supergirl, now you," he chides her. "C'mon out, GS! We're not gonna scoop you up in a glass and put you outside, I promise."

He grins and reaches out to give Heather a one-armed hug when she kisses him on the cheek, then assures her, "There is no such thing as too much to eat at a Titans party. Me, Wally, you -- even without BB here, we are a team with a /metabolism/."

He rolls his eyes and shakes his head when Wally teases him from afar about the extra bit of birthday sugar. "I'm not gonna rush it, Wally! Some of us like to savor the good things in life!" he ribs his friend right back.

Finally, he snorts at Vorpal's joke, answering with his own: "That's OK, Vorp. I'm allergic anyway. You know it's not actually the fur, it's the saliva?" Still, the rest of what he has to say is taken under consideration. "You're right, people are bringing them faster than I can unwrap. Which present should I tackle next, though...?"

Donna Troy has posed:
"Waving, not wagging. Bear wags. Waving is more graceful. Or..." Donna looks thoughtful for a moment. "/Aiolos/... it doesn't translate perfectly. It means to turn nimbly, or... uh..." she breaks into a grin and winks at Vorpal. "Sneaky. Would you prefer if I call you sneaky-tail?"

    Donna's back on helpful mode again, bringing a slice of Caitlin's cake for Ghost Spider and a bottle of beer for Wally. "You heard the birthday boy, GS. Come in and join the party! Everyone's on triple training for the next couple of weeks while we sort out this Brainiac thing, so take the chance to enjoy yourself while you can."

    "You've got Cait to thank for the lightning, Wally. She really excelled herself with the cake decorations. She's been working on some bio-printer stuff over at Stark Labs, and she repurposed a prototype to print spun sugar. Don't drink too many of these if you're planning to go running later, beer and speed force don't mix."

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Spotted, Gwen gives a little sheepish half-wave, a lift of her hand in greeting and a finger-wave before she draws nearer and offers out her gift. An envelope almost certainly containing something 'card sized', but at least she'd tied it off with a ribbon for a little more of that personal flare, right?

"Sorry, I ran into a thing so..." she moves in, shrugging her shoulders before tilting her head. "I mean, Happy B'day Cyborg?" A little nervous laugh given and she shrugs, pulling up her mask just enough that the bottom half of her face and a stray blonde lock highlighted with pink tips of her hair is revealed. Leaning in to offer her own quick peck on the cheek, she straightens up with a shrug. "Apparently its a thing."

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Wolfing down that slice of cake, Heather goes for another slice. Now, she doesn't eat at the -speed- of Wally, but she does put away just about as many calories. She steps over and eyes the beer, "You're old enough to drink?" She asks Wally with a smirk as she grabs for a fruit juice, and then goes to start eating slice number two.
    With her cheeks chipmunked out, she says, "I'f hofe you wike mah prefent." before she swallows and repeats, "I hope you like my present Vic." with a beaming smile, and some icing on her lips.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian had been staying at the tower more and more during the current crisis. He'd been training and training more to make sure he was at his best form.

  Little did he pay attention to those around him as they prepared for Cyborg's birthday.

  From the Danger Room, he made his way out of the elevator, choosing to use that instead of his normal grapple, he was in his full uniform, as always. Even masked.

  He had a towel around his neck, and through the mask he wore, it could be seen he was tired. He managed a look around at the festivities, and gave a look, like seeing an odd custom he's never experienced before. "What the hell is all this?" He asks, has he been more energized he probably would have yelled it, but he just looked all around.

Wally West has posed:
Wally smiles brightly at Donna after getting the beer from her. "I uh, my body goes through this stuff like crazy thanks to my metabolism. It'll take A LOT for me to even get tipsy." he chuckles, before he looks at Caitlin. "Thanks for thinking of me!" He calls over to her with the biggest smile on his face. To Heather, he frowns. "Hurtful." he smirks, before he looks at Victor at all the birthday kisses he's getting.

"Man, I can't wait for my birthday." he says mostly in teasing. Mostly.

To Victor, he smirks and just gives the man a big thumbs up. Then his attention shifts immediately to the current Boy Wonder as he arrives. "Birthday party! Don't brood for the next twenty minutes, okay?" he says with a grin.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"I can concur with Victor, you are the only spider I won't go Garfield on."

Vorpal pauses, and realizes he needs to clarify. "By that, I meant the comic strip cat, not /our/ Garfield. I don't know what he does to spiders." He remembers something, "Unless it's almost get killed by them. Because that was a thing. Anyways, I lied, /two/ spiders, old red-and-blue wall-crawler is welcome here, but he can't have cake. Incidentally, Ghost, have you asked him if we can do that interview thing I suggested at the parlor?"

He turns his attention to Wally and says, "What kind of bash do you want for your birthday? I already know my request: I want a tower-sized bouncy castle and we all get to be in those sumo inflatable balls and have a bounce-off deathmatch. Losers buy the pizzas."

And then Robin enters, the total opposite mood to the festivities of the moment. "We're celebrating Cy's birthday and having some team bonding time. Cait has made a delicious cake you should defiitely try."

And then he briefly remembers Robin's reaction to sugar at the donut apocalypse place. He wonders if that is a good idea after all.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
Someone is late? Cassie can beat that! Being on time is for old people with jobs! And maybe the Clock King.

But mostly, she has gotten happily into the come-and-go as she pleases vibe of the Tower and also is crappy at time management or remembering important dates so she's just kind of suddenly here (maybe from the roof down - flying yo!) and promptly starts in with the, "Oh woah, what's the party?" One, two. "OH RIGHT! Happy birthday Vic! Did I miss the song? What about the cake? Oh wait, I think I see cake. WOAH IS THAT BEER?" She may not be a Speedster, but she is doing the mind going a mile a minute ADD-esque impression, at least. She makes her way forward, arms held out, nearly some kind of Frankenstein's creature, except 1000% more perky: "Birthday hug!"

Though, in passing, she catches just a bit of the back-and-forth and naturally homes right in on Heather. Hollup a minute. "What did you get him?!"

Heather Danielson has posed:
    "You mean aside from a birthday kiss like you -forgot- to do?" asks Heather with a smirk as she gulps down some fruit juice and reaches for slice number three of a cake. "And you only missed the best cake. I brought one too, but I bought it, didn't -make- it." Behind her is a bigass sheet cake with a bright red eye on it in one corner and bright silver text that reads: BOO-YAH!
    But then she leans in and whsipers, "Some Starktech that doesn't even come out until next week. I cheated. You know.. smile... curves... nerd.."

Victor Stone has posed:
Vic flashes Donna a smile as she helps welcome the Spider-heroine into the proceedings. He waves away Gwen's apology with a couple of chromium fingers. "Aw, don't worry about it. Hope everything went OK, th--oh!" He's a little surprised at another peck, but certainly isn't going to complain about all the extra affection.

"OK, just so we're all clear," he says with a good-natured laugh, holding up both index fingers, "birthday kisses are welcome, but not required. I am not making 'smooch the Cyborg' into a hazing thing."

Since GS hands him her envelope directly after he asked what to open first, he slips the ribbon right off and opens up the envelope to see what's inside. "Thanks! Call me Vic, though. Mine's as public as an identity can be. I only ever get mistaken for a Terminator."

When Robin voices his question, Vic is quick to answer -- if only to show the latest holder of that title that he doesn't actually have to shout to be heard and acknowledged. "I'm turning 26, Robin, so the team surprised me with a birthday party. Come have some cake and relax a little." He's not sure the poor kid has ever relaxed, so it would be about time. Then on the other end of the moody/chipper spectrum, there's Wally. "How would we even know you /were/ tipsy, buddy?" he has to ask.

Vorpal's suggestion for his own birthday is considered, and Vic offers, "I could put on the pool-float attachments and then I wouldn't even need a sumo suit. But it's prrrrobably unfair to let me compete." He gets that a lot.

His eyes widen in panic as Cassie arrives and immediately mentions the song. Oh no. Now people are going to sing. He quickly starts ripping open Heather's unicorn-bedecked present to cause a distraction. "Nice! I didn't even realize they'd released this yet!" he calls out, holding up a big, slick-looking bluetooth speaker. "Who wants to queue up some tunes?"

Damian Wayne has posed:
     "It is your birthday? Congratulations. Where is the fighting tournament to take place?" His face is completely serious, not angry serious. "And where do we procure the weapons to be used?"

  Yep, that's right. "I am tired, but I will bring you glory."

  As the cake is brought out, the boy just looks it over, like a completely foreign object. "Is this an American custom?" He's got no clue what's going on.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna gives Robin a look that's half amusement, half bemusement. "There was a message," she tells him. "Even at a time like this... no, especially at a time like this, we don't miss birthdays. Vic's been working his ass off, most of us have, a bit of a break to relax is good for keeping focused."

    An odd look crosses her face, and she shifts gears slightly. "It's the anniversary of Vic's birth, so we are marking it with a celebration involving food and drink and music and possibly dancing, as a way to make sure he truly understands how glad we are to have him in our lives, and to show the togetherness we feel as a group. There is no combat, only friendship, fun and relaxation."

    The explanation is oddly literal, as if she was quite comfortable with the notion that Robin might actually be seeing an odd custom he's never experienced before. That may seem odd to the newer Titans, but the originals will remember how utterly baffled Donna had been the first time she'd experienced a Titans birthday party. If you live on an island where almost every single person was shaped out of clay on the same day, birthday parties aren't a thing you really ever think about.

    With explanations of odd rituals out of the way, Donna is soon standing beside Cassie, hands behind her back, aheming sternly. "I heard that, Cassandra!" Donna says, voice sounding very strict. "The beer is strictly only for Titans over the age of twenty-one! What do you think Diana would say to me if she knew I was letting you drink beer! Really!"

    Donna swings her hand out from behind her back, holding a bottle of beer, which she offers to Cassie. She winks and puts a finger to her lips to make a 'shhh' gesture.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
A shrug, Gwen waves away the concern and leaves her mask rolled up as she moves over for Cassie's enthusiastic greeting to take place. Besides, that party food was looking pretty damn good! Of course, Gwen had no hope of keeping up with the intake of Knockout or Bart, but the female spider was hungry!

Vorpal's explaination earns a little mouthed 'Oh' before she gives a little laugh, "Good. I'd hate to have him turning into a Rhino or something and trying to run me through a wall...that's already a thing with another guy."

Talk of the interview? It gets a little shake of her head and a raise of her hand apologeticly. "I uh, haven't managed to catch him. I'll try and remember if I do though, promise!"

Back to Robin's arrival and she raises an eyebrow, blinking a little. Maybe Batman wasn't big on Birthdays? He didn't seem like the party sort after all. Then there's talk of fighting tournaments and she's left blinking. Was that a thing with the team? It sucked being the newbie!

That speaker? It earns a little whistle. It kinda kicked the crap out of her gift card!

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
Cassie is now totally sidetracked, and the impending hug is in now in delayed and in holding pattern. See, it's a suspicion that it was -exactly- something like THAT which made her stop and ask Heather in the first place. Eyes widen. Then go shifty back and forth, between Heather and a possibly oblivious Vic who is more concerned with forestalling performance of the traditional birthday song. Is he worried about the legal rights? Those corporate dudes are the real monsters! "So, woah woah woah.... are we doing that? And what do you mean forgot? I just got here!"

She looks over at the backup cake, and shrugs. "Cake is cake." Also, this is not what has her so fascinated!

"Oh you just got him some... wait -what-? Oh my various goddesses." She scrunches her nose. "Isn't that Stark guy kinda old?" This conversation is going worrisome places!

Fortunately, Damian distraction. "Birthday fighting tournament? Donna, he's like the -perfect- Amazon." Beat. "Well, other than the, well, you know." And this is /before/ she's getting illicit booze. Well, and pranked for it. "Oh come on I drink Amazonian wi-" Oh. Haha. "Yes ma'am that would be terrible if anyone was to hear such a vile and unsubstantiated rumor. My lips are sealed." The list of things they don't tell Diana seems to be growing! Also, should Donna be worried that she knows a counter-trick to pop the cap?

So yes, where was she. Oh right Heather and her were being terrible and- new person! "Hey," she calls over Gwen-wards.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Of course, that's when Heather glances over and sees Gwen. She surges to her feet with a bit of a splutter. Yes, a bit of cake may or may not end up on the ground in front of her. "You... I... we.... Nightclub...." she says with absolute grace and eloquence.
    She shakes her head to clear it before she looks over towards Vic and then back to Gwen, "So, you're a Titan too, huh?" she asks. But then she seems to get herself under control before striding to Gwen and trying to wrap her up into a hug before she glances back to Cassie and wrinkles up her nose, "No.. Not Stark. He has a whole company of marketing and... oh skip it. I talked my way into getting the speaker a week before it got released officially. That's all. Nothing too good for our Vic."^R    And then she releases Gwen and says, "Gwen and I fought side by side earlier, and I didn't even know she was on the team!"

Victor Stone has posed:
Vic raises an eyebrow, but doesn't seem wholly surprised by Robin's odd response. He's not sure where Batman got his latest Robin, but some steps in his socialization have definitely been skipped. He's glad Donna jumped in to explain -- he was considering leaving it at 'we're too worn out for the tournament this year, so it's just cake and presents.'

He doesn't seem disappointed at the gift card, checking it out with a grin and touching it to his eyebrow in a salute, before tucking it away in... actually, where DOES Vic carry his wallet? He currently and most often wears an armored body sleeve that definitely doesn't have pockets, and the exceptions to that are generally swimming trunks or loose sweatpants. At the moment, it should be said, he is wearing a tank top that depicts the Titans gang having a pizza party -- another birthday gift.

Rather than dwell on the pockets mystery too long, Vic glances at Heather and Gwen and comments, "Good to hear you're both getting out there! Not too serious a fight, I hope?"

Cassie's aborted hug leaves her and Vic in equally awkward positions; he got halfway through returning the embrace and is now just kind of looking at her with an arm out. At least he doesn't seem perturbed by an underage beer -- but then, as a former collegiate athlete, would anyone expect him to be?

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Well, mask wasn't really worth much when your hair gives you away...and someone says your name. A little exhaled breath and the 'Ghost Spider' reaches up, tugging her mask off her face and leaving the young woman unmasked. Sure enough, it was the same girl that Heather had run into. "Yeah, I'm a Titan too...although I'm kinda the 'New Girl'."

A glance back over her shoulder towards the others, a shrug of her shoulder comes as her face is revealed. "I mean, that other guy is almost certainly going to upload that footage and tag it so..." she pauses, leaning down to reach the piece of the cake she was eyeing off and moving towards the nearby Cassie with a little wave. "At least it's easier to eat and drink without the mask anyway."

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Glaring at Cassie, Heather smirks, "I didn't tell you -not- to hug him. Just hug -and- a kiss on the cheek." She tells Cassie before she shakes her head and glances to Vic, "Oh, gift cards are awesome. Everyone loves buyin' stuff! Maybe even some sweet tune downloads eh?" she asks.
    But then she looks to Gwen and steps next to her before she reaches an arm over her shoulders. "That explains how you accidentally beat the crap out of the guy who was trying to stab me. That's so awesome. But now.. you need to come shopping with me to replace the halter top he shredded."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian took a moment to take it all in. It was not like he never had birthday celebrations. "We...did not have this in the League. We held tournaments and such, fighting for honor in the name of the celebrant. And the yearly attack on Mother. And then..." His thirteenth birthday, the start of the Year of Blood... his facial features soften a bit, before his brow furrows.

  His mind wandered about thinking what was going on. It was a mix of things, and realizations on just how messed up his prior life was. "I...will be back." He eventually says, making his way to his room to clean himself, and to not smell like a locker room.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"That's crazy," Cassie offers in evaluation of Heather's somewhat coincidental other run-in with Gwen. Who also gets an introduction: "Hey! I'm Cassie. Also pretty new, so don't worry. We'll watch out for each other!" Between her, Heather, and Gwen, they may form some kind of perky blonde singularity. BUT! There are other things lingering.

"I'M GUNNA," she then turns back on Heather. It is yelling, but not really angry yelling, just a JEEZ OK tone. And yes, this is all discussed while Victor is standing there, possibly looking awkward. And that is totally fine. The pow-wow is concluded, Cassie takes a fortifying swig of her mildly illicit drink, and then promptly resumes her original path back to the birthday 'borg. It's so nice he kept an arm ready!

"Happy birthday, chrome stuff." He is kinda SOOOPER tall and she is not. But she can fly. And so she lifts off from the ground to make up the difference, and, per Heather's instructions, to give him a peck on the cheek. Tada.

"Ok, now I want cake." Priorities, tho.