3330/What Big Ears You Don't Have

What Big Ears You Don't Have
Date of Scene:	12 September 2020
Location:	Agatha O'Neil's home.
Synopsis:	Gar has one last person to see before he knows...
Cast of Characters:	Gar Logan, Terry O'Neil

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Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan needed a break, not so much because the discussion with April and the unexpected Donatello was bad, but it did weigh on him. It gave him a sense of hope, but it was a feeling that could be dashed swiftly if the next person on his list...well, time would tell with that, and he left the catnip back with April. Maybe they'd just consider it an exchange. Catnip for Cheshire Cat statuette, which he wraps his fingers around in a pocket.

He got the woman's address from April, tracking it down to a New York City neighborhood that seemed solidly middle class based on the buildings, the yards, the vehicles that were parked on the street and in the driveways. This, after just taking some time for himself to clear his thoughts.

He checked something on his phone, then approached the place, knocking a few times before calling, "Mrs. O'Neil? Agatha O'Neil? Are you home?" He had not changed out of the white dress shirt and black pants.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
There is a moment of silence, but Gar's acute hearing would hear the shuffling of feet behind the door. No answer for a few seconds, indicative of someone potentially peering through the peep-hole. Five seconds later, and before Gar has the chance to knock again, the door opens.

Agatha O'Neil is a contrast from her son- she has a tall, willowy figure dressed in earth tones that set off her bright, red hair. Her face is thin and, unlike Terry's, full of hard angles. Terry clearly got his eyes from her- they are almond-shaped, bright green, and shining with intelligence.

They are also reddened by what must have been a lot of tears, although the calm and collected expression in her face doesn't betray them. "How may I help you?" she asks. Her voice is low and husky, a natural contralto by the sound of it. The tone is neutral. If she is surprised by Gar's appearance, not a single tic or movement indicates it.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan's hands have clasped in front of him, across the stomach, fingers curled over the backs of the hands toward the wrists rather than interlocked. He stepped back after knocking, trying to avoid looking like he was ready to get within someone's personal space, should they leave the house to step outside.

With that door opening, he keeps a polite expression in place, although there is a sense of nervousness he can't quite hide. When he sees her, he immediately recognizes her. Terry had shown him pictures at some point. It's the eyes he focuses on first, reminiscent of Terry's, but also looking much like his have over the last few days. They're closer to normal now, if weary. How to do this?

"I..I'm Gar, Terry's..boyfriend. I know we haven't met yet, but I was hoping I could talk to you about..things." She hasn't hissed at him yet, or grown claws or fangs. That's a positive sign.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The woman stands there in silence for a few instants. Her face remains impassive but for a slight twitch of an eye, once.

"Of course. Please come in."

Agatha turns around , leaving the door open for Gar.

She leads him to a cozy living room, decorated in soft cream colors, with a generous amount of red wood. "Please have a seat. Do you want anything? Tea? Coffee?"

Her voice is not unpleasant, but her tone is almost mechanical. It's hard to tell whether or not this is her usual dynamic... if it were, the woman is even more of a stark contrast from Terry. "I was more or less expecting you."

Gar Logan has posed:
"Thank you."

Gar follows silently within, making eye contact again briefly prior to her turning to lead the way. This gives him an opportunity to glance around at what's immediately visible. He's looking for signs of anything that might stand out. A photo of Terry, a photo of his father, any other things that seem interesting in a way that hints at some of the family ties.

Taking up a spot as indicated, he says, "My mouth is a little dry. If I could just have some water, please?" He lets her words sit there until the liquid is brought back out. "You, ah, have a nice home, Mrs. O'Neil. Look, this is..this is hard. I'm sure you got a video, and Terry must have told you some things."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
There are pictures of Terry, of Terry and his mother... vacation shots, some landscapes, but not even a hint of Terry's father. Agatha returns with two glasses of water and sits down across from Gar after giving him his glass.

"I haven't received any videos, Mr. Logan." Her voice is quiet and even. Too even "What exactly was in this... video you received?"

She is sitting bolt upright. It's not the pose of a comfortable hostess, or anyone who is at ease in general. It's the pose of tightly-controlled emotion.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan murmurs another 'Thanks' before sipping from the glass. Odd that there's no sign whatsoever of dear old dad...or is it?

Any thoughts along those lines are interrupted by her denial of getting any videos. He almost blurts out something, enough surprise in his expression and the brief opening of his mouth to show it, but he collects himself and tries a different approach.

"I think you know, Mrs. O'Neil, and I came here to try to answer any questions you have, but I was hoping you could answer a few for me too. And.." This leads to him pausing, a moment to chew at his bottom lip. "..and to say that I might have some good news."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The woman nods slowly, keeping her eyes on Garfield. Her own water remains untouched by her lips, resting in her hand.

"Terry told me nothing more than the fact that he was working at the Planet, and that he had been asssigned to your team."

"He did tell me about how you saved his life in Crime Alley. But as injuries piled on each other, and the strange absences.. I began to worry. And I began to get suspicious when, to my surprise, there were no records of my son going into the emergency room on the date those mechanical things rmapaged through Metropolis."

Now she drinks her water. "Don't ask how I found that out. Confidential sources. And a HIPAA violation." With almost preternatural calm, she says "I found out Terry ws Vorpal months ago. Before the Brainiac invasion." She takes a moment to collect herself, her expression almost breaks for a second, before she adds, "I think he tried to tell me. He certainly started a few times. But then he would change the subject, and talk about you."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan holds the glass of water in both hands, fingers wrapped around it. Then he sets the glass down nearby and reaches into a pocket. "I want to show you something. It'll only take a few moments."

A video is queued up, but it isn't one Terry sent. "This was back in February." It shows Metropolis, the Hall of Justice amid other nearby sights, and while the sound is off the screen occasionally switches to show Gar walking around and saying something, then shifting back to the surroundings. Suddenly, Terry is in sight just before the phone swings around and the video cuts out after a glimpse of a green hawk can be made out. Then he pulls up a photo to show.

"I met Terry that day, because we weren't really paying attention to things and.." He gestures. Clearly they bumped into each other. "I took a selfie with him, then we got some lunch, and we ended up being friends." The photo shows Gar giving Terry bunny ears. "I was just happy to meet someone who said he was a fan, but then a few things started happening and we hung out more. I was trying to pick up the pieces after the Titans fought Doomsday and we got messed up bad enough that we stopped being a team and went off to do our own things. But..that wasn't working."

He lets her see the picture, adding, "There are more of us just hanging out. I don't know when it happened, but we sort of fell for each other. Yeah, he told me you were good at finding some things out when you wanted to, and that day..I didn't know it then, but that was the first day he was Vorpal that I know of, but I didn't know it was him until later." His head tilts as she tells him who Terry tried to talk about. "He did?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Agatha watches the video, and for the first time there is a flicker of emotion in her face- sharp pain, and her green eyes glisten, but she does not crack. Her terse expression softens a little as she watches her son, and the pictures after. When Gar asks the question, she says nothing for a second. "Come this way, please."

She leads Gar up a set of stairs, pas the second floor and clear into the attic.

"When he was growing up, I had my agency in my house, the second floor was my office," she explains, as she takes out a set of keys and starts unlocking the door, "I eventually I got an office, but he liked the view so much that he kept this room until he moved out a year ago."

She opens the door and lets Gar in. The attic is spacious, and it has clearly not been converted into a storage space, even after its owner moved out. A large window overlooks the street and casts a healthy amount of light.

There's posters everywhere: up on the ceiling, the walls. Gar's old team-mates stare at him from slanted posters across the wall, and one of Gar's many posters is right above the bed. There's even a lamp with Wonder Woman's insignia stamped across the screen, a limited edition that was sold for charitable purposes.

"He'd be mortified if he knew I was showing you this," the woman says with a sad smile. She hurriedly brushes the back of her hand across one eye.

Gar Logan has posed:
"Okay," Gar replies, leaving the water behind as he studies the woman and her reactions, then they move up a level and then beyond. The mood is somber, serious, and respectful on his part. He knows there is still the chance that this won't go the way he's hoping.

After the office being converted to a bedroom is explained, he moves forward and turns around, a full circle, to get a good look at everything. "Wow, you're..right about the view," he says, headed that way for a peek outside before eyeing the variety of posters and other things here that say so much about Terry.

And yet..? "Yeah, I guess he would be, but that's the way he was. It was like he was on top of the world around us, and then as part of us."

"Mrs. O'Neil..I know he sent you a video. I got one, and if I did I'm sure other people did too. He wouldn't have forgotten to make one for you. I'm not going to ask you what he said. That was for you. But I know what he told me, and I know he was trying to find out who his dad was and what happened to him, and I know he got some answers." Still, he speaks gently, as if mindful of how this could affect her, but it is a topic that has to be broached.

"I know his dad disappeared before he was born, and that must have been hard. I know what he told me about what he is, or who he is." He's stopped to look at her directly now, reaching for one of her hands with both of his. "If you're half the investigator he told me you are, you know there's something bigger going on."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Agatha shakes her head slowly, "He didn't forget me. He just didn't know what to say. Or he knew what to say, but now how to say it..." She crosses her arms. She can't be more than forty, but her careworn expression makes her seem much older. "It didn't use to be that way. It started when I sent him to that school, and something changed. In hindsight, I shouldn't have sent him there but... I didn't know."

She walks over to a bookshelf and grabs a photo grame that shows Terry, obviously in his high school days wearing a uniform that looks very much like a Catholic school uniform. "Even when he finally came out to me and he saw I was fine with who he was, it's almost like he had learned to say things without saying them. And if he couldn't find a way to do it, he wouldn't say them. The important things."

She sighs and closes her eyes for a second. When she opens her eyes, she nods slowly, "I have asked myself where all of those abilities came from. If they came from anywhere." Because in this world, it could happen just standing at the wrong place and the wrong time. "Not from my side of the family. It was obvious it would be... Chester's."

Gar Logan has posed:
"Yeah, that sounds familiar," Gar says under his breath, but in this room it's more than audible. There were numerous times when Terry seemed like he wanted to say something but either didn't or said something else. And, almost as many times that Vorpal had no such limitations on him. So, how much of the cat was Terry, and how much of Terry was the cat? A difficult question to answer.

He peers at the uniformed Terry, shaking his head. "You were wearing costumes before you were wearing costumes," he tells the kid looking back at them in the photo. He feels some warmth rushing to his cheeks, his ears. "I think he helped me learn something about myself, when I started having feelings for him too. We had some arguments and some awkward things, but we got through them. We were getting through more of them, especially last week."

Ah, last week. The get-together, the tabloid piece, the statement, the Daily Planet story. Everything was starting to fall into place, then it was torn asunder.

"Mrs. O'Neil, you know what Chester was, right?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"That sounds like Terry," she says, "It seems the only way I could get something out of him... I thought he decided to move out to get away from me and my questions." She smiles a little, "But when he got that job at the Planet and he started poking around... I knew he'd gone to look into his father's past. He probably found out the same thing I did-"

She fixes Gar with a steady stare, that suddenly is full of intensity, the kind of look Terry got sometimes, "Chester Dodson was a con-man and a crook. That's what he found out, isn't it?"

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan muses, "Maybe he took after you in more than just having your eyes. He wouldn't stop trying to find the answer to something until he had it." He lets go of her hand, eyeing the posters again, the lamp, and after having tucked his phone away he digs up what he found at April's antique shop.

"I don't know if he was those things. I never met him," he says, and that look causes him to glance to the side as if she was his mother as well. Opening his hands back up, he shows the small Cheshire Cat statue. "This was Chester, and this was Terry. And now that I'm thinking about it more, this still /is/ Terry. You haven't been feeling any cat-like things, have you?" It isn't a question of uncertainty, but rather one he is more sure of than before. He knows the answer he's expecting.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The look Agatha gives Gar is one of incredulity at first, but little by little it changes.

"So that's why he chose that name..." she muses. A frown, and Gar's question interrupts her reverie. "I... no, wh- what does that have to do with anything?" She rubs her temple, "If this came from his father, why would I... that isn't how heredity works." She looks at the Cheshire cat statuette.

Gar Logan has posed:
"No, it isn't, because.." Gar chews at his lip for a moment. "..because it's not what you'd expect. There was a reason he left before Terry was born."

The Titan exhales, a long breath. "Terry figured it out. There can only be one Cheshire Cat. There's some kind of magic or whatever you want to call it behind this, but Chester left because he knew that when Terry was born, he wouldn't exist any more. It passed on to Terry. I think he was too afraid or ashamed or something to tell you. I know that doesn't make him leaving you alone okay."

He studies the fine details of the small statue, turning it over in his hands a few times. "If Terry was dead, based on what he told me /it/ should pass on to the closest relative he has. I already talked to April, and she was normal. You look normal, too. This means," and here Gar starts to brighten up, "he's still out there somewhere, alive, and so are the rest of my friends."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Agatha O'Neil stands in silence for a few moments. Then, her mouth quivers for a moment, and a very throaty, very hoarse voice emerges. "That... son of a bitch. He could have told me..."

And this is the moment where the mask breaks and the sorrow is etched on her face. Tears start, but she doesn't break down. Not yet.

"Are you ... how certain are you of this?" she asks, hoping against hope, and dreading it, "He has other family... not as immediate as me, or April..."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan has no answer for what Chester Dodgson did or did not do. He is not here to offer unwarranted apologies or excuses for a man he never met, though a man who shares a very specific thing in common with his son Terry. "I'm sorry he didn't," is the best he can offer regarding the father.

As Agatha begins to tear up more openly, Gar starts to look away but forces himself not to. His eyes threaten to grow watery as well. With some, yawning is contagious. With him, crying can be if the emotions are powerful enough, and he's begun to feel them again since coming out of his sorrow and loss-induced stupor.

So, he advances with the offer of an embrace. He always was a hugger.

"I..can't know for completely sure, but I'm as sure as I can be. You and April are the only ones I know of around here that are close enough to count. He didn't think it would go past either of you if something ever happened to him, so I'm just going to believe he knew what he was talking about because I can't stand to think about him being wrong. So if they're out there somewhere, we're going to find them and bring them back, whatever it takes. I'm not going to have my last memory of him be how much his farts smelled because of the beans he had."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Agatha hesitates for a moment, but then accepts Gar's hug whlie letting the tears dry up for now. There are thoughts, questions running through her head, but she knows none of them will be answered right away- "Then you will look for them, for him?" she asks her voice very quiet now. Her reserve ebbs away enough that she finds herself patting the back of the green teen's head, fighting the lump in her throat. "If he is out there, please find my boy and bring it back..." her voice tapers off and she has to take a quick breath.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan slips into the contact, because it's as supportive for him as it hopefully is for her. "For him, for me, for all of us. They're part of my family, and I'm not going to make the same mistakes I did before." His lips curl upward at her hand touching his head. "I will. I won't give up until they're all back." Because if he fails, if they fail, he's /going/ to want to give up.

"And you have to see him in the suit he picked out for that thing last week. I was..well, I guess I was just stunned." Clearing his throat, he remembers to tell her, "If you find out anything you think could help, or if you just want to talk to me, contact the Titans. I'll keep you up to date, too."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"I.. I will, if I can think of anything..." there is a new energy to the woman, as if she had just been returned from some deep slumber. Her face looks more alive, and her movements are less robotic.

"I have some tiramisu in the kitchen..." she says, wiping away some of the tears with her hankerchief, "Won't you have some before you leave? Maybe you can tell me... some more about him as one of you..."

Gar Logan has posed:
That makes two of them. A few days ago, Gar would barely do more than eat and sleep in the safehouse. Now there is something he has to fight for again, a mission to drive him forward. There is hope once more, and just seeing her showing a similar reaction matters. "Even if you can't and you just want to talk," he says, "Because we should have visited you before. I should have met you before."

Then comes the magic word. "Do I want tiramisu? Is my whole body green? Just lead the way!" He's had Terry's before. She must be where he got the recipe from. Before leaving the attic, he sneaks a couple pictures of the place. Terry will be mortified to see them, if fate is on their side.

"So what do you want to know?"