3538/Why Did Nobody Mention The Cat Isn't Dead

Why Did Nobody Mention The Cat Isn't Dead
Date of Scene:	24 September 2020
Location:	Main Room - Titan's Tower
Synopsis:	The Meddler visits Titans Tower to explain to Kian that magic is math, to interpret nonsense for Kate, to be baffled by Kyle's unconventional ringing, and is almost murdered by Kori's sandwich. Why do all the Titans have names beginning with K?
Cast of Characters:	Colette O'Connail, Kian, Kate Bishop, Heather Danielson, Kyle Rayner, Koriand'r

---

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Having established that neither Kian nor Kate were actually as dead as the Cat supposedly was, Colette had done taken the courageous path of putting off checking up on them as long as seemed reasonable. She'd checked up on Gar and that had been hard enough. The path of least resistance is the path best trod, as far as she is concerned.

    It's not that she isn't worried about them. She is. She's feeling a certain amount of an unfamiliar emotion she has come to realize is /guilt/ about the death of Terry, who she'd played a significant role in pushing towards the Titans, and she doesn't like it. She sees no good reason to feel any more, and the part of her that wants to make sure that Kian in particular isn't completley freaking out about everything even more than usual is easily squelched with the promise that she's due to visit him to deliver the next lesson plan anyway, so she might as well kill two bi... bad metaphor. Make a single visit of it all.

    When Colette arrives at the Tower she's surprised to find that it's a little bit wrecked outside, but then these things happen. She taps her id card on the door and is admitted - no T-com, but a limited access pass that takes her the direct route to the Main room and nowhere else. Her arrival in the building is pinged on the normal channels, alerting anyone present to the fact that she's on her way, and after the normal process through the security systems she arrives in the main room, calling out "Birdy buddy? You here?" before the elevator doors have even fully opened.

Kian has posed:
    Perched on the back of the couch, Kían is watching NASA TV of all things and just kind of marveling at the primitiveness of sitting on top of a controlled stack of bombs just to get into orbit, as opposed to much more sensible hyperjets with active wing surfaces.
    Well, okay, they're at the beginning of getting into space.  There once was a day when all the Akiár lived on only one world and hadn't even built a moon base yet.  But these humans seem to be taking their own sweet time about it.
    When he hears Colette's voice, he turns to greet her.  Turns, it must be admitted, a little gingerly, and his right hand and wrist are braced.  And one of those big fabric band-aids on his right knee. And a smaller one on his right shoulder.  Still, he greets with a cheery "/Kié/, Colette!" -- though he doesn't hop down from the couch and flit over.

Kate Bishop has posed:
Kate for some reason is like one of the few people in the Tower not injured despite usually being the injured Titan.

Which isn't a comment on her skill but more her stubborness and throwing herself into the line of fire without enough consideration for her own well being at the sake of her teammates.

She is curled up unscatched on the couch near Kían while he perches on the back watching NASA TV. Her full attention is stuck in the tablet on her lap as she does school work. She isn't about to flunk out of prep school and send her dad into some sort of seizure after all.

She takes a bite of a chocolate chip cookie on the plate by her and then washes it down with some milk.

At Colette's entrance she glances up and smiles "Hey stranger." not meaning to punch the guilt spot, actually happy enough to see Colette really.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Stepping off of the elevator with Kyle, Heather is in her workout clothing because that's what you wear for training sessions, right? I mean nevermind the fact that it reveals more than some underwear. What? It's a Sports Bra and short Spandex Shorts. But if you look, bot are official Titans merchandise!
    She steps out of the elevator while gulping down the dregs of a bottle of water.
    Why did she bring Kyle down here after training? SHE IS HUNGRY! "I'm told there is some leftover pizza in the fridge." She says to Kyle over her shoulder as she hurries that way, "Double pepperoni and triple bacon. God.. the only thing that makes bacon better.. is more bacon." She admits on the way.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Kyle Rayner is behind Heather, wearing his own workout clothes. Namely, a black with dark green trim pair of gym shorts, and a t-shirt with a minimilistic version of the Flash's lightning bolt. He has his own towel over his shoulder, occasionally wiping his forehead before he shakes his head, "No, see what you do, is you get a good white cheesey sauce for a pizza, then through some veggies and chicken on it. That.. that is true pizza right there," he says with a grin, heading for the fridge himself to grab a bottle of water.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    It is a perfectly reasonable assumption on Colette's part that she takes the visible injuries Kian is sporting to be the result of the same mission that lost the team four of its members. The hug she gives him is gentle, careful not to exacerbate those injuries, and the quiet "/Kié/, Kian," she gives in reply is muted with an equal desire not to exacerbate the emotional sensitivities.

    Kate gets a more reserved squeeze to the shoulder, before Colette makes her way to a seat on the sofa and drops herself down in it with an "oof." She hands Kian a thumb drive with his latest lesson plan wordlessly, and stares at the screen.

    Humans really are crazy, Kian is right. Imagine hurling yourself up into space on that primitive garbage. Things like that is what leads to crashing into exploding wormholes, probably.

    The arrival of Heather and Kyle garners minimal reaction from Colette beyond a polite nod, as she doesn't know them. Yet more Titans. They seem to multiply like rabbits! A few months ago when she first came to the Tower, it had a single inhabitant. That day it had gained its second. She had been instrumental in propelling Kate and Kian to their current positions at the tower, but since then she's completely lost track. Where do all these guys come from?

    "Sooooo," she says slowly. "You guys are okay?" She sighs softly. "You know I was convinced Terry was going to get himself shot by a gangster. He was kind of making it a habit. Eaten by a collapsing wormhole though? What a way to go."

Kian has posed:
    Kían takes a moment to give Kyle quite a look... no, *A* *L*ook... when he mentions putting chicken on pizza, but he ultimately says nothing.  Humans are weird.
    He accepts the thumb drive and slips it into his belt pouch, and doesn't really say anything either.  Just glances back at the TV, but he's not actually watching it anymore.
    He looks up when Colette speaks, listens, considers thoughtfully.  He's a little out of the loop on any new discoveries about the missing four, having had other things on his mind.  Still, he says, "My whole worl' thin's I am dead, Colette.  An' here I am.  I do not like the odds, but I am not ready to say good bye yet."
    That's not really a lie, even though he did a parting rite for Terry after getting that video.  It was just to make himself feel better.  And Terry still owes him a feather.
    As far as 'okay' goes... he sighs heavily.  "I am... sane.  I thin'.  So far."

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Wincing, Heather says as she turns to face Kyle, walking backwards a bit. "Seriously. Kay's here..." she says, gesturing towards Kian. "And seriously, white sauce turns a pizza into breadsticks. You want pizza, eat pizza. None of that California Pizza Kitchen hippie crap." she says with a grin. "But seriously, no bird meat comments with our resident bird present eh?" She asks
    Then she backs into the fridge, rocking it a bit before turning to catch and open the thing.
    Oh hey, look. "Kian! I am shocked, there's grape kool-aid left. May I have some?" She calls out as she reaches for a pizza box.

Kate Bishop has posed:
Kate gives Colette a smile and looks back down to her homework not seeming worried by her presence at all. When Heather and Kyle come in she lifts a hand and waves towards the kitchen. "Don't eat all of it.. we will need to order ffresh fresh pizza.. delicious hot fresh... actually go ahead eat all the cold pizza." yes she is teasing the two of them.

She glances over to Colette "Oh crap... " she blinks "Did no one tell you that Vorpal and the others are alive Colette?" she isn't quite sure, maybe someone did but she suddenly wants to be very sure.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "Kian, birdy buddy... you didn't fall into a collapsing wormhole," Colette tells him, her voice gentle and her words slow, as if trying to explain something difficult to a child. She's trying to be sympathetic, but she doesn't want him to hold out false hopes. "Either they were in front of the mouth and got fried by the gamma ray burst, or they were inside the mouth and the gravity wave of the collapse would have hit them and even if they survived that they'd have been hurled into a pocket of space-time undergoing dimensional collapse and would either be crushed into a singularity or converted into a 2-dimensional closed-loop brane the size of..."

    Apparently Colette the English teacher does science now, but this revelation is thoroughly interrupted by the rather more specatacular revelation from Kate, which apparently is amongst the things Kian is not fully caught up on yet too. "Say what?" Colette says, staring at Kate. "He's alive? He... how? Where is he?" Her brow furrows, and she looks around the room, expecting a grinning cat to appear at any moment. "I'm gonna kill him. I swear. If he's alive I'm gonna kill him."

    She probably doesn't mean it. It's a mark of fondness, really. She threatens to kill him a lot, but hasn't done it yet.

Kian has posed:
    Kían smiles just a little smugly.  "I know the math of worm holes," he says, "an' I know that very odd things happen aroun' here.  Jus' because it iss difficul' does not mean impossible, yis?  An' if he iss alife, killin' him iss counter produc-tiff."  He's not going to commit himself to /really/ believing they're alive until he sees them, but... he does give Kate a brighter smile than he's had since then.
    "Iss remin' me, Colette, Téri lef' me a video wit' Terran poetry in it I do not under-stan'.  Plain Engliss is hard enough... artis-tic Engliss is pas' me.  I haf not got a good chance to study it because of the attack las' week."  He glances at his wrist, but doesn't explain further.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Kyle Rayner blinks as he sees Kian and then gets reminded about talking about chicken and he looks, incredibly sheepish. In fact, so sheepish that he has more or less fallen silent while people do things around him, and he sips at his water, before moving over towards the couch, and sitting on it while pulling out at a sketchpad, that has somehow become a permanent fixture around the couch for when he visits, and he starts sketching, doing his best to drink water, sketch, and be unobtrusive.

Kate Bishop has posed:
"Well they aren't >here< but they are alive. Just very lost to us at the moment." she considers how to explain this. Also she knows Kían is aware but must not have told Colette about it.

She sets her tablet down, settling it into her lap and turns more fully to look at Colette now. "Wondergirl and I went to the Amazonian homeland and got an audience with the Oracles. There was some divine intervention and a prophecy." she says it with a serious straight face. Maybe is serious.

"TLDR versin though is they are alive but lost.. probably shunted to hell and back and there is a lot of vague prophecy nonsense about how they can be found."

She pivots to look at Kyle "What is it you are sketching al the time?" curious not accusatory.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette's attention wanders around the room as she puts her thoughts into order, and for a few moments she watches Kyle sketch. This seems an easier topic, so she shifts herself over to greeting. "New member, huh?" she asks him. "What are you, Captain Cartoonist? Artistman? The Sketch? That last one. That would be a good name. You should use that. Do you draw caricatures of the villains to distract them? Or your pictures come to life? That would be a cool power. "

    She snarks on automatic; it's a good way for her to collect her thoughts, and thoughts collected she turns back to Kate, looking skeptical. "An oracle said so? Any other evidence? Cos I mean, oracles saying something vague and nonsensical that can be interpreted to mean whatever actually turns out to be the case, that's pretty standard stuff. What did you get?"

    "Remember any of the words, Kian?" Colette asks the bird man. "I can probably interpret for you. Yeah, I got a video from him too. I suspect he made a few. Flair for the dramatic, that guy."

    She frowns a little, then shakes her head. "Kian... I'm not /actually/ planning on killing him. It's an expression. It's just... well. I'm /annoyed/ at him for telling me he was dead if he wasn't actually dead. He could have made sure first, you know?"

Kian has posed:
    "If he iss far away, iss not hwere he could stop videos from being sen' out, yis?" Kían says quite reasonably.  "Iss not too dif-ren' from house system.  If house-holder iss dead, sen's out aler' to family an' neighbors.  If there iss system failure hwile holder iss not home, can sen' false message.  I do not thin' he woul' do this as a joke.  An' it was made some time ago, not recen'.  In mine, he still had injury from las' invasion."
    He stops for a moment, and frowns.  "Can hyu please stop lettin' hyour planet get invaded?"  He waves his hand generally in the direction of the now-ignored NASA channel.  "Hyu haf those."  He isn't looking at the TV; unfortunately for his point, it's showing one of the early Explorer launches going up... in flames.
    He shakes his head once.  "I am not really happy wit' oracle sayings an' Gar saying Téri's cat-shape has not pass on to someone else.  Iss nice to hope, an' I hope, but I really wish for har' data."

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Kyle Rayner looks up as Kate asks him what he draws, and he guility slowly turns it around to show a rendition of one of the old Justice League comics cover art. Except instead of using oils, all of the Justice League is drawn in a somber anime grouping, except for the Flash, he's doing something stereotypically mischevous in the background, mostly ruining the gravitas of what had been attempted.

Kate Bishop has posed:
Kate tilts her head and looks over the drawing that Kyle shows her and smiles brightly. "Cool. I can't draw to save my life. I like that you did it in an anime style too. I should show Hawkeye." the other Hawkeye that is.

"What Kían said. Also there hasn't been a Cheshiring in any of Terry's relatives which Gar belives backs up their being alive." she snorts "Kían if we could stop being invaded for a few years that would be a miracle at the moment.. and Brainiac fucked up all our satellites right." she sighs. "Our tech is probably going to light year jump with all this alien tech but it was and still is pretty primitive even with Stark around."

"You want the prophecy language Colette?" she fishes her tablet up to access it. She studies it then looks to Colette for confirmation.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "Same with mine, Kian," Colette says. "I imagine he did them all at the same time. I can't imagine why it didn't occur to him to use a failsafe. You don't really want to have system with a single point of failure to tell people you're dead."

    She slumps back into the sofa. "I should have known, really," Colette says with a shake of her head. "I mean it's such a... /Terry/ thing to have done. He's... got a lot of learning to do. You all have. I started to..." she cuts herself short with a wave of her hand. "Ah fuck. Too late to worry about that now. But if he is alive and he does get back, he and I are going to have words. That's all."

    Colette peers at Kyle's artwork, and smirks wryly. "Yeah I take it back, I hope your power isn't to make your drawings come to life after all, Sketch. One Justice League is enough. If there were two of them they'd probably get all up in each other's faces and wreck the place."

    Colette nods her head to Kate, and takes the tablet to read over the oracular utterences with a look of intense concentration. "This is a translation?" She asks. "Or was it delivered in English?" She chews her lower lip thoughtfully, going over the words again and again. "I found Gar holed up in one of his adopted father's properties. He was kind of in a state. He come back to you guys yet?"

Kian has posed:
    "Yis, Gar iss return to us," Kían confirms, "about four-ten... twelf... I hate hyour numbers.  About this many days ago."  He holds up both four-fingered hands, then just one by itself.  "I haf not talk wit' him yet.  I thin' he iss okay?  Considerin'... everythin'.  Has not been much time to jus' be for a hwile.  Eart' iss /weird/."  That, with feeling.
    The oracle's riddle is just plain beyond him; instead, he looks at Kyle's artwork.  "I thin' I haf seen them?  On the screen?"

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Kyle Rayner is reminded of Colette's questions about his poweres. "Oh no, sketching isn't my power. It's just what I'm interested in! My power is this thing," he says, holding up the lantern ring on his hand. "But, I mean I can make things like I sketch.. sort of," he says, projecting that anime-style Flash in Green with the ring for a brief moment, before he lets it go. "I'm still learning about how to use it.. that's why I was training."

Kate Bishop has posed:
"Yeah been back for over a week now I think like Kían said and doing a lot better since we know they are alive." she smiles over to Kían "Our numbers and language isn't that bad and you are doing really well." peptalk time.

As to the question about english. "Well.. sort of english. The .. I assume demigodess or goddess spoke and I understood it perfectly in my head. I get the distinct impression it wasn't in english but it didn't matter one wit. So I wouldn't worry about translation errors?"

Looking over to Kyle "We need more team tactics training. Not forgetting." she mms "Tomorrrow afternoon like four oclock?"

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette glances at Kyle's ring and watches the projection curiously, then arches her eyebrow at him. "Another Green Lantern? Did something happen to the guy who was here before, or did the Oans decide Earth is such a basket case that the sector needs a second? Because they'd probably be right about that, at least. Getting really tired of the invasions."

    She takes another look at the prophecy, then nods her head and returns the tablet to Kate. "Translation errors are a big issue. Not just translation errors, though. Even an accurate translation can easily miss out on nuances."

    "Base ten," Colette says with a smile to the bird man. "It makes a lot of sense when you get used to it. Yes, four times three is twelve. Just keep in mind that twelve isn't this many," she holds up both her five-fingered hands, grinning.

    "Makes a lot more sense than prophecies, but magic is real, so who knows. 'Beneath a broken sky' is interesting. No idea what that means, but that could... if they're trapped in hyperspace it's easy to imagine some sorcerer type who doesn't know what they're seeing coming up with something like that, though breathing in hyperspace doesn't make sense. "

    "The division of phrasing is interesting though - 'ere they may return' and 'before you may find them again'. The second is a more active phrasing, implying there's something that can be done for them to be recovered, but the first is passive - things that must happen. The things that must happen are odd though. First glance it looks like they're kind of... the impossible must become possible. A poetic way of saying 'never'. But if you think about the ambiguity, they're all things that you could say have already happened. Like 'a riddle never spoken be solved'..." she gives a quick shrug. "If you think about it, the fact that someone has never asked for a solution has no bearing on whether that solution can be found. Come up with a number and it's the answer to an infinite number of mathematical problems. Most of them have never been asked. It could all be an elaborate way to indicate that it's more about the seeking of solutions than the solutions that need to be sought. The second part... stone must smile, blah blah. That sounds more specific. Intentionally obscured, but relating to actual things. Stone can't smile, but maybe you need to find... I dunno. A rock with a crack in it that looks kind of like a smile, that sort of thing. Know what I mean?"

    "Mainly though... if you can believe this bullshit, I'd say it's saying that there are things they've gotta do, and things you've gotta do. They'll be findable, but they are not findable /yet/. " Another shrug. "My reading, for what it's worth. But yeah. Prophetic nonsense. Of /course/ Vorpal would get himself involved in something like that."

Kian has posed:
    Kían shrugs, and does his best to stifle a wince.  "Iss poetry.  I did not stury our own poetry much, I haf not much chance of under-standin' Engliss poetry."
    He hops off the back of the couch and wanders over to get some purple Kool-Ade.  "An' a stone can smile.  Vic can smile.  Iss family name Stone, yis?  Iss answer for that.  Problem iss, poem is /vague/.  It can mean anythin' hyu can think of to fit it.  No way to know if you haf *a* answer or *the* answer."
    He returns to his perch on the back of the couch.  "Like 'broken sky'. Light-nin' looks like cracks in sky, iss possible meanin', yis?"  He takes a sip.  "Iss why I like science an' not poetry.  At leas' wit' science, hyu usually know hwen hyu wron'."

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Kyle Rayner smiles at Kate, "Oh, that sounds like a plan, I have to be the best I can be!" He manages a smile, before he looks back to Colette and the smile fades slightly, "I uh.. don't know, actually.. the person who gave me the ring was really vague as to why he gave me the ring," he says slowly. He offers a half-apolegetic smile, "But, I mean.. as long as I can be a good Green Lantern then I'll do alright, right?"

Kate Bishop has posed:
"That is what I am saying Colette. It isn't a translation. It is etched in my brain meat and that.." gestures at the tablet "Was the exact words and phrasing." she just sighs and leans back.

Once Colette is done critiquing the prophecy she leans back in and snags her tablet back from The Meddler <tm> and flips it back to her homework. "I get what you are saying and honestly those thoughts definitely crossed my mind as well. The prophecy is real, they are lost but alive, and fuck if I know what we can do to actually speed up their return. Problem with prophecy is it will make way more sense when it is over and done with...."

She frowns "I'm honestly more concerned with the Fearsome Five... which is actually seven villains.. and their need to attack us and steal stuff."

"Don't worry Kyle we will make a man out of you.. I mean a Green Lantern.. sorry.. Disney moment."

Koriand'r has posed:
Floating like a spectre!

Floating like a Vorpal! An etherial Vorpal. Who is allegedly dead, but probably not dead.

Koriand'r descend from the upper levels wearing, nothing. Okay nothing is a bit excessive. Wearing... very little. Because Kori will be Kori. She has on a long t-shirt. Also, probably, underwear. PROBABLY.

She definitely does.

She's got her hair up, of which there is a great deal of hair, twisted into a completely mess bun-thing held in place with two pencils and a pen, while carting about a notepad! Landing gingerly in the main area, she pads barefoot towards the kitchen. Not yet seeing, or at the very least acknowleging, those who have come before her.

"Dear best friends who are allegedly dead, but are probably alive. Now that we have proven that you are not dead and returned you from the place where people assumed, inerror, that you were.. I would like to emphatically inform you~"

Finger waves to Kate, and Kyle, and Kian, and the stranger she does not know, but must belong here because she's here, "That I told you so."

"Ex oh, ex oh..." Squint... "Yes this is accurate. Ex Oh, Ex Oh, Bestfriend Starfire."

FLIP THE PAGE

"Dear best friends who are..." Trailing off. She's writing individual notes for each of them to leave in their rooms.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "Who's Vic?" Colette asks Kian, without a great deal of curiosity, though she gets the answer herself almost straight away. "Victor Stone, Cyborg, right? Yeah that makes sense. And that's exactly what I mean," she says nodding to him. "There are a lot of ways you can interpret this kind of thing. Traditionally Oracles weren't there to give straight answers so much as to force you into thinking about the question. Traditionally Oracles were probably making it all up though, so that's probably for the best. The ambiguity of poetry is its strength though - it's a different type of communication, not intended to be explicit. It's creative, not scientific. And if you want an interpretation of the poem he gave to you, send that my way and I'll do my best, but same principle holds. There's probably more than one way of reading it, and I can't guarantee that Terry didn't have something else in mind than the reading I'd give you."

    Kyle's potted biography is clearly something of a surprise to Colette, and she stares at him with unashamed curiosity. "You had a Lantern ring dumped in your lap for vague reasons?" she asks, slightly incredulously. "Nobody from the corps has contacted you about it? You didn't receive training? The ring hasn't been explaining things to you? That's... huh."

    She turns away slowly, eyes going back to Kate. "Fearsome Five," she repeats hollowly. "Who comes up with these names? They don't sound like much of a threat if they can't even count."

    Her eyes are drawn like magnets to a refrigerator, to the spectre of Koriand'r, descending like a scantily-clad... no. There is nothing that she should be likened to other than herself. Descending like a scantily-clad Koriand'r. She recognizes Kori - in fact the two have met before, briefly. Kori had been one of the old Titans she had contacted and encouraged to return to the tower, but that was a few months ago, they'd only actually seen each other the one time, and Kori had been distracted by pizza. "Hello Koriand'r," She says. She turns back to Kate. "You know it's not too late to cut and run, right?"

Kian has posed:
    "I do not thin' this came from Téri, if it came from any-hwere other than the oracle's own min'," Kían comments.  "We do not haf a history of prophecy on our worl's.  Anyone claim to know the future, iss jus' need help."  He shakes his head, and sips more Kool-Ade.  "Iss hwy I prefer beauty of math an' the worl' an' everythin'.  It does not need to be interpret.  It jus' iss."
    He absently rubs his wrist and looks at Kate.  "Do not know hwy they were so much trouble hwen they can not count."
    Kori's arrival puts a smile back on Kían's face, at least.  "/Kié, Kóri tavar'h/!"
    He does not mention tripping on chocolate cake, and then sharing the buzz.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Kyle Rayner looks at Collette when she acts like that.. "Um.. nope, none of that. Just a ring, and you know... getting told you'll have to do. So... uh... dunno what's going on, just trying to like.. do the best I can and still be kinda normal," he says with a rueful grin, before he starts to go back to his sketchpad and Starfire comes out, and.. well.. at least she's wearing underwear. Yep... and um.. that sketchbook suddenly has become the most important thing that Kyle has ever seen!

Kate Bishop has posed:
It takes Kate a moment to realize what Starfire must be up to, a long moment. I mean sure she wiggles her fingers back to Kori in a hello gesture and then ponders what she is doing for a long moment. Then when Colette actually starts to question the whole Kyle being a lantern and not getting training Kate will shift her attention losing track of Kori's letter writing. "Wait.. actually that is a really good set of questions Kyle. We should probably have Supergirl ask Green Lantern about it in the League?"

She has given up on doing homework. It was one thing when it was just Kían making fun of earth NASA TV channel and how primitive they all were. This simply too many distractions. "I'm afraid it is too late Colette... I feel responsible for these people at this point and trying to make sure none of them actually really die instead of just getting flung across the galaxy die." she sighs with mock drama. "In it for the long haul."

Kate picks up another chocolate chip cookie. So far her side experiment on whether it is in all ways like catnip to Kían says it is not.

Koriand'r has posed:
Spinning hearing her name, Korian'd's otherwise bland expression errupts with jubilation upon seeing Colette, "Oh hello!" Less she forgot why she has come to the fridge, she sets down her notepad and fishes around inside until hse comes out with an arm load worth of ingrediants and a loaf of bread. The construction process of her rather extensive leaning sandwich aside, she looks pretty dang excited about it!

"Griend Kyle, what are you drawing? Perhaps I can add it to my welcome home letter for our friends when they return. Do not be one of the neigh sayers who claim they are dead.. We have consulted mystical women. There is a body of evidence now. If you cannot trust a scantly clad individual peddling magical devinitions of the future... well... you cannot trust anyone!"

Peeking, returning Kian's greeting while adding several (dozen) slices of meat, cheese, and begins slicing a whole onion to add to the sandwich. "Kian! It was wonderful getting stoned with you last night. Would you like a snickers bar? You are sober when you are hangry."

Humming to herself, slathering on mayo and mustard and fresh sliced ghost peppers. "Would anyone like a sandwich?"

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "Just a ring," Colette repeats with a bemused expression. She blinks at Kyle then shrugs her shoulders, concluding this is probably for the best. Those rings know way too much and there is the potential of awkward explanations when it comes to meeting Green Lanterns. If his ring isn't telling him anything about the Empire of Tears on its own, she's not going to encourage him to start engaging it in conversation.

    "Math is about prediction too, Birdy Buddy. If you know the forces acting on a body, you can predict where that body will be in the future, right?" Colette reaches a hand out to give Kate's upper arm a gentle squeeze, and gives her a sympathetic look as she talks. "You wouldn't say someone needed help if they claimed to know where something was going to land, right? Magic is just another way to measure the universe so that predictions can be made about it. Think of the prophecy in those terms and maybe it makes a bit more sense. Maybe that vagueness is just a poetic way of expressing the simple fact that the oracle doesn't have all the variables. "

    Colette considers Kori's offer of sandwiches. On the one hand, she knows about Kori's predeliction for mustard on everything and the general concept that Tamarnean taste buds are strange, on the other hand she likes mustard, and she's hungry. It would be a sort of culinary Russian roulette - you pull the trigger on a Kori sandwich and you may have a one in six chance of dying, but on the other hand it'll surely be an exciting experience. "Uh... yeah I could use a sandwich, thanks. You got Kian stoned?" She looks curiously at Kian. Aliens getting stoned together? That sounds kind of fun.

Kian has posed:
    "I do not know, Kóri /tavár'h/.  It depen's on hwat a snik-kers is.  Was very in-tense las' night," Kían replies.  "An' the bes' night of sleep I haf had in a hwile.  I do not know if it relief my pain, or jus' made me not care.  Iss work either way, yis?"
    He listens intently to Colette's explanation... which he considers flawed.  "Excep' if they do it by math," he counters, "I can check the numbers an' see if they are right or not.  If they just say 'because I say so', I can not proof it right or wrong, so iss not predic-tion.  Iss only guess.  May be right, may be wrong, no way to know wit'out more infor-mation."
    And then he blinks.  "No, Vic Stone," he says, not recognizing the term.  "And we haf not get him yet."

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Kyle Rayner continues on the sketching, and shrugging his shoulders, "Maybe someone knows something but, I mean, it's not like haven't used my ring in public, and no other lantern has come forward to talk to me about it or anything." He offers a faint smile to Colette, before he turns the page in his sketchbook to start the next sketch. "I'll take a sandwhich too, Kori.. if you're offering," he says with a smile, before adding, "I can also make my own, if you're already making Colette's," he addds.

Kate Bishop has posed:
Kate stretches and looks to the others, all of them, and then over to Kori in the kitchen.

"Okay folks.. I love you all to bits but I should actually get this homework done and crash before class tomorrow." she scoops that tablet up again and slips up from the couch now. "Hopefully you all survive these gestronomical delights." yeah she has been around Kori a bit longer than Kyle and Colette for instance. Those ghost peppers slide in there are absolutely no joke.

Also she is mostly teasing.

Mostly.

She wiggles a wave before heading towards the residences.

Koriand'r has posed:
A knife, covered in mustard like she'd just come from the Roman Senate floor, points at Colette. "You will not be disappointed by your decision!" Her own sandwich is finished, mostly finished anyways. She adds an olive on the top, which is held in place by one of those purely decorative toothpicks with frills around it.

NOW FOR THE PART EVERYONE WAS CURIOUS ABOUT

Six slices of bread, one whole onion, twenty six slices of meat, 5 different cheeses, mayo, mustard (3 types), ketchup.. one ghost pepper (per level), and a half a tomato. A bag of doritos are taken from a cabinet, laid on the counter, and crunched up with her fist pounding on it rapidly to grind it into mostly powder. A powder which she pours all over said monstrocity after splashing it with straight jalapeno juice.

... squint.. Lips quirked to the side, Kori spends a little time walking in a wide circle around the counter where the sandwich waits for its execution. Wise woman stroking her cheek... "I think that it is ready." usually she would seek a second opinion, but Caitlin is dead (maybe) and Gar is not here.

Taking the plate in both hands, she walks it over to Colette. "Oh, yes. We were very stoned. I had difficulty getting home! It was very enjoyable." Bright, neigh luminescent grin. "Enjoy, it has been crafted with love, and a third of the deli-meat."

Kyle also wants a sandwich? Koriand'r bobs her head in a rapid serious of very emphatic nods. "Perhaps if I make you a sandwich you will not accidentally give me a concussion during our next team combat scenario. I would like that." Setting to work making, another, sandwich. This one every bit as detailed as the first. More lettuce though.

Because it's green.

"Good night, friend Kate! Enjoy your educational side project! If you require snacks, do let me know? I have a bean dip." Waving the slathered knife in her direction.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette grins at Kian and shakes her head. "Suppose your math just isn't up to the task, Kian? If the calculations were beyond you, then you would not be able to check the numbers, but that would not make the math any less accurate. What makes something an informed prediction rather than a guess is the knowledge of the person making that prediction, not the knowledge of the person listening to it. You know nothing of magic, so you cannot say whether the prediction is valid or unprovable any more than someone with no knowledge of mathematics could be a valid judge of your calculations."

    She leans forwards, watching Kori's sandwich-constructing activities with interest, and returns Kate's wave. "Glad you're alive Kate. Take care of yourself, okay?" A moment of indecision is marked in the expressions crossing her face, then she adds "And uh... if you need a hand with the Innumerate Five... ah. Let me know."

    She takes the proferred plate of sandwich - if such a mundane term can properly be allowed to describe this work of culinary reckless endangerment - with a smile of thanks to Kori, and studies the elaborate concoction with care. It's rather a lot of food, if food indeed is the correct description. Nevertheless, Colette is game. She takes a bite.

    There is a fruitiness from the jalapeno juice that is distinctly present in that first taste, but it's mostly onion that dominates. The mustardy component comes in quite quickly, but it takes a moment longer for the complex combination of meats to unravel through the intricate weaving of cheesy tastes. Colette looks frankly baffled.

    This is about the point that the ghost chilis kick in.

    Colette reacts. First with an involutary twitching of her eyelid, then with a quick exhale, blowing air out across her lips. A fine sweat beads her forehead, and for all the talk of mathematics versus magic, Colette does not need either to read the signs in the stars to tell what's coming.

    Colette assesses the very near future and determines that drastic steps must be taken. Over the space of several increasingly painful seconds, she goes through the process of opting out of the signals being sent from nerve endings in her mouth, making a few adjustments to how her tastebuds work, winnowing down the sensitivity to certain flavors, and temporarily eliminating her vanilloid receptors to erase the possibility of capsaicin interactions.

    After a few moments she resumes chewing, and swallows. "Thank you Koriand'r," she says. "This is delicious."

    It is, now.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Kyle Rayner slowly takes a veerry tentative bite of his greeen sandwhich. And, judging from his eyes, it's not the must plesant of tastes. The meats and mustards and onions blending together, before the sudden burn of peppers invades his senses. He gags, but manages to swallow and says in a weak voice, "It's so good," to Kori.
    Notabley, he doesn't take a bite, and as soon as Kori leaves, he gets up, and takes the sandwhich to his room so that he can safely dispose of it without possibly harming any other sentient or living being.

Kian has posed:
    "If it iss math that is pas' me, then someone else can verify it," Kían says simply.  "Iss not in...un... not-verifiable, even if I can not.  Oracle iss like... like...."  He racks his mind for an example, then brightens, and finds a loose feather and drops it on the floor.  "They are that way," he says, pointing in the direction the quill end landed.  "Feather says so."
    Picking it back up and stowing it behind his ear, he continues, "Hyu can not verify that.  Iss not secret math, or math that iss pas' me.  Iss a guess."
    He watches Colette and Kyle deal with their Kori-sandwiches in their own ways... and is suddenly very, *very* glad that thanks to his /rhy'thar/, eating is optional.