3003/Stop The Presses!

Stop The Presses!
Date of Scene:	20 August 2020
Location:	Bullpen - Daily Planet Building
Synopsis:	Lois leaves Terry with empty tupperware and no easy questions. It's hard being a weirdo with a secret!
Cast of Characters:	Terry O'Neil, Lois Lane

---

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Like everything worth doing, it had taken work, frustration, and a lot more coffee than is wise to consume. When Terry walked up to Lois' desk, he looks both exhausted and exultant. He had listened to corrections and had done his best to implement them.

It was late and the break room was pretty much deserted. Terry knew it would be a good long while before anyone came in, since there was very little reason to do so- the coffee machine and the vending machines were still being repaired after you-know-who happened to them.

Terry had brought tiramisu as an offering. It was home-made, and one of the things he took pride in making very, very well.

"So... is it okay?" Terry asks, piercing the silence, clearly anxious.

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois is one of those people who almost never 'turns off' when it comes to the job. When she is chasing a story, and when isn't she, the label workaholic would be very fitting indeed.

She has her own coffee, from the shop down the street fresh poured from a thermos as ... well those poor vending machine and coffee maker. Honestly she does not think Gary isgoing to make it through to being hired by any paper anywere full time post his internships. Then again he hasn't been fired yet.

Shit does Mr. White oewe his family some sort of life debt.

She takes another forkful of the Tiramisu and looks over the print out a bit longer. "The Tiramisu is excellent Terry." and yes she knows that isn't what he meant.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"You are the worst!" Terry says, looking like a martyr, but only lightly. He finishes his dessert in a few more fork-fulls, and takes a sip of his chocolate milk.

"Gar was the last one to see the article before I brought it in... he has... some reservations. But I'll tell you about them after hearing the verdict. It just brings... a few extra considerations, that's all."

The Tiramisu /was/ excellent. He made it only for special occasions. It was a very powerful bargaining chip, especially when combined with a good cup of espresso. "I also make a wonderful rissotto al fungi, by the way." Is he trying to bribe her?

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois just smiles, yeah she can't help it. Terry makes it so .. easy. She also takes another bite of the Tirami-bribe.

She listens to Terry though very attentively now when he starts to talk about the article. "Well I definitely wanted you to talk it through with all the Titans and get disclosure." she looks over the article once more printed out there. "It is definitely better now Terry. Solid rework with all the notes and corrections listened to."

She looks up to Terry now. "Are you trying to bribe me with more Italian food O'neil.. now you have me really curious. What extra considerations did Garfield Logan put on you that you want to hear if I think it is good enough to take this to the editor for a real final pass and publish?"

One more glance at it. "Well it definitely is ready. So what is up?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The redhead lets out a breath in relief, and leans on the table, arms corssed. "Okay, so..." he uses the fork to gesticulate, which is something he does sometimes. It makes him look like a very nervous orchestra conductor. "You see... Gar and I haven't been lovey-dovey in public. The most daring was us kissing at the pizza arcade... and again, hardly anyone ever goes there on weeknights." Especially since the restaurant catered to the nostalgia crowd that had known arcades as A Thing, and they were considerably older.

"I'm... I'm the first guy that Gar has ever dated. He's not out of the closet and he doesn't want people to find out from a newspaper article about the Titans..."

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois is again listening very closely as Terry explains the problems that make him nervous. He is definitely conducting with that fork. She takes another bite of the dessert, since she is eating hers slow and savoring it. Once it is being chewed she points the fork at Terry "Put your fork down beforey ou catch someone in the eye O'neil. I swear you need one of those fidget spinners my nephew loves..."

The next part though makes her eyes narrow and then she leans back and sighs. "Ah. Well that is a problem. I didn't bother looking into the Green Romeo there .. page six is not my speed really most days. So what does he want to do about it before you publish... you can't not disclose this conflict of interest because if you are smooching in public at all eventually some rag will snap a photo of you with him kissing and then it will be out and people will question your integrity on your first big scoop. Hell they are going to be asking questions as soon as this thing goes viral Terry."

Which means she thinks it will go viral.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Oh, I told Gar I can't publish without it. And he understands. He does want a little time to come out on his own before the article comes out. He knows I'm on a deadline..." He taps his chin, and thinks, "And yeah, the other papers... Lois. There's also something else. I expected people will be asking questions..." the thought that this will go viral makes his eyes widen, and he goes quiet for a few seconds before he speaks again.

"Well, that means there are other considerations. Lois there's some stuff I've kept..." he stops himself, and then starts again, "I haven't been /completely/ truthful with you."

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois finishes off the dessert with one last forkful and sets it down in the tupperware container there that is now quite empty.

"Okay now you are really killing me O'neil.. I mean... the cliffhanger and teasing it out. It is like we are in some sort of movie or TV show." she smiles "I'm sure it is fine unless you are actually being paid by the Titans to write a story for them from their PR department and lying about it here. That would be bad.. I am sure anything else is fine Terry." she gestures. "Spill."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Well. Here it goes.

Terry stands up and walks over to the break room door, and closes it. "For privacy..." he then grabs a chair and lodges it under the door handle- "For security."

He pauses, and then looks at Lois, "We're not in a movie or TV show, I'm afraid. We're in a book."

His hand goes to his pocket. Is he going to draw a gun? No. It's a compact. Your standard circular makeup compact, the kind anyone who wears make-up would have in their purses/satchels/man-purses. "And the reason is that..." click. The compact flips open, and he looks into it. "... We're All Mad Here."


The words sound strange. It's like two voices speaking at once, with a generous dose of Doppler effect for absolutely no reason at all. The reason for which Terry closed the door is evident now, as a very expensive special effects create a cascade of rainbows and sparkles that crawl over the redhead, and when they vanish...

"Well..." Vorpal, the Cheshire cat, clad in his brand new uniform, spreads his hands, "... so... yeah."

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois honestly takes this really surprisingly well. Like she leans back in her chair watching Terry as he shuts then braces a chair under the door handle. Her brow furrowing there and a bit of a frown. "Security." she says.

Then Vorpal does his thing, the doppler effect, the costume change.

What Lois does is cross her arms and stare at him as the cascade of lights finish and reveal the Cheshire Cat's lovechild or whatever is going on with all that. The frown honestly doesn't fade but understanding does dawn on her eyes. "Oh."

Oh. Is that it. Oh.

How jaded does someone need to be to have no reaction to all that other than Oh. Seriously.

Maybe it is the Metropoilis Reporter. Maybe it is the fact she covers the Justice League so much.

"Well that explains your questioning about public interest and needing to be taught about it being balanced with the Public Good." she waves "Was all .. this a thing before you started your internship and met Beastboy?" timelines and connections being sought.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal stares at Lois. He pauses, and then says "... you've gone through this before, haven't you?" It makes sense. With Lois' reputation, it wasn't too far fetched to think someone might entrust her with their secret identity.

Heck. He just did.

He sits down again, toying with the compact. "No. Most certainly and honstly no, this wasn't a thing then. You remember how I told you that one of my big things was to find out what the heck happened to my dad? Well, I did find out, sort of, indirectly. I learned he ran with some mobsters, apparently, but now I know he wasn't part of them, he was playing them and trying to take down... several things. But he wasn't counting on me being born a month earlier than anticipated, I guess..." he says enigmatically.

He leans back on his chair, and says, "I had no idea of any of this, nor that I even had powers, until that kerfuffle with the mechanical spiders. I didn't tell you the whoe truth about that- I didn't get knocked out by debris, there was a /car/ flying at me and it would've killed me, because nobody was looking in my direction. My powers kicked in and saved me."

That does check out with it being Vorpal's first known sighting- how he took down one of those mechanical spiders and punched the apparent leader of the attack, saving Beast Boy from becoming jelly under one of those spiders.

"Heck... the Titans didn't even know. I hid it from them, too, from /Gar/. April and Harley knew, they calmed me down 'cause I ran away after saving Gar, and had a good ol' freak out... it took me a good month or so before I could tell the rest of the Titans and Gar."

He peers at Lois, "And... a little longer for you."

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois has a perfectly schooled expression. "I can't confirm that either way really. Either I have or I haven't." she notes. Which of course she can't confirm it, too dangerous either way. I mean either she has or she hasn't. Either she is lying if she says she hasn't or is honest but there is no good answer there.

"I do recall you.." gesture "Making your first brief public appearance with those spiders." she considers "Also explains why you missed work the next day Terry." yeah mind like a damn trap for tidbits and information for sure.

She listens though to the rest then archs an eyebrow. "You didn't need to tell me. Seriously. I am not upset or worried that you kept this to yourself. I think freaking out is normal. I think teling one of your bosses is not wise." she just sighs.

"You are safe, I am not going to tell anyone." well except maybe Clark. For god's sake two in the News Room and also Clark's cousin. Jesus H Christ.

"You have two options if this is what you were worried about though Terry. You either come out and publish how it is your journey with the Titans.... or you publish it like it is there and keep your secret identity. If you come out, not sure you probably have to go freelance if you wanted to keep publishing. It would be too much of a known conflict likely and dangerous for the people in the news room."

She isn't though advocating he come out, or not publish.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal takes a breath, and then taps the table with a claw. "... rock, meet the hard place, right?" he mutters, "I'm stuck between two things I love, and for extra conflcit I'm more or less expecting Gar to make a big disclosure about himself to the world at large. You already pointed out that I'm already a likely target because I'm dating Gar, so that doesn't really change matters."

"... and if I go freelance, who would even hire me, right? The Bugle?" he says, his tone clearly indicating how unlikely and huorous that particular venue would be."

He spreads one hand, "So on one hand, I can keep my secret and, basically, lie through my teeth and misrepresent the situation. A situation in which I am part of the /thing," which now explains why there is so little in his article about Vorpal, except what other Titans have said about him, citing his claims of being /The/ Cheshire cat as 'unverifiable but colorful'. He clearly was trying to be careful. "And where does my self-respect as a reporter go from there? And you'd know it. You'd know it and with every report on the superhero beat, the lie would just go 'mwahahahhaa' in your head. And in my head, and I'd probably have to stop being a Titan and doing the things they do because otherwise I'm not an objective observer...."

He spreads the other hand, "On the other hand. I go public. I pack my bags here and I probably will never write for a publication again." He rests his chin in his hands and grumbles. "I'm starting to wish none of this had ever happened to me..."

Lois Lane has posed:
"Likely you and everyone else with a secret identity they are protecting Terry. Seriously this is not the first time nor the last time a hero will have to grapple with this situation." she reaches out and puts her hand on the side of his arm very briefly and makes eye contact.

"I am serious though, you do have the option to just .. not tell anyone else. You can publish the article. Only you and I will know the truth, and your teammates, cousin, and Harley Quinn of all people. You can do that. You probably should do that to be honest."

Yup Lois is advocating not telling the public about being a Cheshire Cat and ruining your secret identity and job prospects.

"As for publishing, maybe self publish. Vlog. Blog. Write essays about being a hero. I am sure there are publication who would buy and publish stuff from a hero willing to write about it. Beast Boy is a hero and he is in movies right. Out heroes are allowed to have lives."

Okay is she advocating he come out?

"Bottom line is I can't make the choice or tell you what to do. You need to do what you think is right for you and everyone in your life Terry. Do know though that this secret is safe with me. I promise you that." except maybe Clark....

Terry O'Neil has posed:
He exhales, and reaches for the compact. In a few seconds, Terry O'Neil is sitting there instead of the Cheshire cat. "Yeah. But I'd miss being here. I'd miss you. I'd miss Kent spilling stuff. I'd even miss Gary's antics."

He growns. "I don't know. I just don't know what to do. Can I have a week to think it over? I need to talk to the guys at the Tower and get some advice. I'm being torn in too many directions and I'm nowhere near that limber. Even as a cat."

He sighs and stands up, "You know, I always wished I could be a part of the hero world. I now realized I should have been more specific."

Lois Lane has posed:
"You should talk to them yes. You should talk to any heroes you know with secret identities and get a lot of perspectives and then do what is in your heart Terry. Trust yourself and your friends." she smiles and moves to stand up. "When you are ready to publish or tilt the story in a new direction though tell me and I'll help you with that."

She offers him the empty tupperware. "Also you are so not the first one to deal with this in that world I am sure. You're not alone you weirdo." she says it nicely though. "Also Gary better not be a supervillain in disguise.. that would definitely be too much."

With that she walks over and unprops the chair. "I do need to get to a thing or there will be a search party and it will be awkward. Let me know if you need anything O'neil." and with that she steps out leaving him with his empty tupperware and a lot on his mind.