5525/Titans: A Question of Leadership

Titans: A Question of Leadership
Date of Scene:	10 March 2021
Location:	Memorial and Meeting Rooms - Titan's Tower
Synopsis:	Dick and Donna have a meeting with Gar to discuss the way the Titans is run. Terry comes along to cause trouble.
Cast of Characters:	Donna Troy, Dick Grayson, Gar Logan, Terry O'Neil

---

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Gar, then." Donna stares down at her tablet, tapping her stylus against the edge of the meeting table, then gives a nod and leans back in her seat. "Honestly I had hoped that when we got to this point, Damian would be ready. He's not even here, and we need another of the new generation. Equal numbers just makes sense if we're going to be serious about being the team that gives the chance to young heroes that we wish the other teams gave us when we were starting.

    "Kate's good, Dick. The inexperience shows, but she's a natural. She's not easily distracted, she works her ass off, she's good with people. One day it'll be a good balance, her and Damian. I had high hopes for the pair of them. But... you're right."

    "Gar was with us before Doomsday, but he's closer in age to the newest guys than he is to you and me. And I know... it's Gar. The joker, the kid. But he's growing up, and he's been talking about taking more responsibility lately. I think he's earned it."

    She shoves the tablet over the table to Dick. There are a lot of names crossed out on the tablet's screen, the result of the last ninety minutes of brainstorming between the pair, but now there's a big yellow circle drawn around Gar's name.

    The yellow circle has a little line coming down from it. She's drawn a lasso.

    "Unless you've got a better suggestion Dick... let's call him down and talk it over with him. What do you say? I saw him hanging out with Terry earlier, he's probably still in the tower."

Dick Grayson has posed:
Dick Grayson barely glances at the tablet, since really it's just the result of what they've already been talking about. He nods and slides it back over to Donna. "No, you're right. He's put in the work, and he gets along with everybody. Hell, he's about the only person I've ever heard Damian call a friend. He's the right choice."

He pulls out his T-Comm and fires off a quick request to Gar to come to the meeting room. "I don't imagine he'll take very long to get here, he's been hanging around the tower the last few days. I'll take your word on Kate, I haven't gotten to talk to her since I've been back."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan's been doing some apartment living with Terry, but both of them are around the Tower today. It's where all the best food is, all the games, and most of the people. The two of them have been in their version of the 'danger room,' going through a workout meant to test and hone their ability to work off of what the other does, in the form of an obstacle course with barriers and hindrances neither of them can get past without the other dealing with something first, be it hitting a switch, disabling a robot, or whatever else might come up to surprise them. No rabbit holes allowed!

Just after they've finished and started to towel off, Gar in his costume with a bottle of fruit juice, his T-Comm buzzes. "Eh?" Digging it out of his gym bag, he checks it. "Hmm. Donna and Dick are having a meeting. They want me to come over. Why don't you join me?" It doesn't even dawn upon him that Terry wouldn't be allowed to tag along. They're both Titans.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal finishes toweling off and looks at himself in his handheld mirror. Mane like a haystack in a gale, he's due for a trimming. He tries to pat it down. "Hmph. I can't wait until I drop the winter coat, there's just so much fur... everywhere." He glances down at his costume, which he had redesigned to keep himself from overheating. It had echoes of the circus acrobat-strongman leotard from the turn of the previous century, and a red, white and blue color scheme. The kneepads and shin guards where brand new, a mish-mash of skateboarding and tae kwon do gear, unified by the color scheme. That had been a Harley suggestion after his last training session with her...

Which ended with her and her entire Roller Derby team chasing him. Good times

"Huh? A meeting? Gar's in trooouble-" he sing-songs, "I bet you they found out it was you who planted those catnip bombs." Gar denies it. Vorpal disbelieves. "Sure, I'll come in. I'll plead for your innocense in exchange for... things."

Donna Troy has posed:
    The elevator lights up, and the security display shows two occupants - Gar and Terry, on their way. Donna straightens up in her seat, and then straightens the tablet. "Uh oh, play time is over. Codenames from now on I guess. Don't know if Robin has told Gar who he is yet, but pretty sure he won't have told Terry. I swore years ago that I would never be responsible for leaking any bat-identities." She gives Dick a huge grin. "Nine years on from when I first met him, Bruce still terrifies me."

    It's an old, comfortable joke - but there's more than an element of truth to it.

    She looks at the elevator display counting down, showing the pair are getting close, and leans quickly over to Dick, whispering "Seriously though. I want the schematics of those Catn..."

    The elevator pings and Donna's sitting straight again. "Hey guys, come on in," she says with a smile. "We've got a question for you Gar, but we'd be interested in hearing the views of both of you. Take a seat. Nightwing, wanna explain?"

Dick Grayson has posed:
Nightwing nods and stands up, "Sure Donna. Have a seat guys." He waits for them to sit, then half-sits on the table, raising one foot from the floor as he leans on the other leg. "We were discussing a couple things, including the Robin issue."

"We think we have a solution. And it involves something you asked me about Gar, when we were talking the other day. We want to change the leadership structure of the Titans. Donna and I have been talking, and we want to form a Council. Her, myself, Kate.. and you Gar. You've been here all along. You've put in blood, sweat and tears to make the team work. And I can't think of anyone who has a problem with you. What do you say, ready to step up officially?"

He looks straight at Gar, eyebrow quirked slightly in question, but a smile on his face. This is where he feels most at home, and nobody deserves a voice in the Titans more than his friend, who's all to often dismissed as less than serious.

Gar Logan has posed:
Not a word from Gar about the catnip bombs. Not. A. Single. Word. Except the Family Circus style 'Not Me' defense. Of course Vorpal suspects. "Things. Yeah. Definitely."

Upon exiting the elevator, he puts on an act. It's Garappa The Rapper! "Yo, yo, yo! Homie G and Grandmaster V in the hizzy, 'bout to spit some hot fire on y'all! Whaaaaaazzzzuuuuuupppp?" Complete with all the hand gestures and swinging of the arms like he's having a seizure. Thankfully this only lasts for about five seconds before he settles back down. "You know, that'd be a lot more authentic if I had shades and a big chain to go with it. At least there's this." He fingers the coppery yet colorful phoenix pendant hanging from his neck.

Too often dismissed as less than serious? Let's just rewind the last little bit there.

"¿Qué? No entiendo amigos. You want me to join the Future Council?" He adopts a stoic expression and begins to slowly play air guitar, putting the full arc of his arm into it a few times.

This is Gar, in a nutshell. Silly sometimes, but serious at other times, maybe not always to suitable levels for the situation at hand. But, he did come back. He did play a big role in helping show the Titans there was a Titans to come back to. Look at them now.

"I'll just be over here. Sitting down. Uh, if you guys want me on this, that's cool. I wasn't really thinking about it like that when I talked to Nightwing the other day, but..what's up?" he finishes, looking sidelong toward Vorpal in the process. Vorpal and his very...distinct...costume.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal casts the Glance Of Skepticism at Gar throughout their entire elevator ride. "I put on fishents. /Fishents/, logan. I performed 'Sweet Transvestite' on top of the break room table. I'm sure there's a video somewhere." Let's all pack our suitcases, we're going on a guilt trip!

Vorpal stays mostly unobtrusive, but he does make one observation when Gar breaks into his Parappa act- "You're more like Umjammer Lammy, you know." He shows himself to a chair. He sits on it with his legs crossed under him, like a totally normal person.

It isn't his place to say something- all too late he realizes this meeting was meant for Gar, and he tagged along by virtue of being, as Lois put it once, joined at the hip. Instead, at the mention of the Council forming, Vorpal creates a little illusion on the tabletop. This is one Kate would have approved of, and it's a shame she's not here to see it- four figures standing about the height of an action figure on the table. One of them is Donna as Galadriel, Nightwing as Elrond, and Kate and Gar as Gandalf and Saruman respectively. He leans back on his chair and smirks a little, satisifed with the touches. Especially the ginormous beard on Kate.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna stares at Gar for a while, watching his entire performance without a word. When Gar is done, she turns to Dick, expression deadpan. "So maybe Supergirl? She's a definite option. She gets on with everyone. Not so hot on the tactical stuff yet, but she's a real people person.

    She turns back to Terry and Gar, grinning slightly. "So what it comes down to is this: the team has got a lot bigger. We're not planning on changing the generally democratic way we run things, but from a purely organizational viewpoint it makes sense to have something at least semi-official. This won't really effect things in the field, but when it comes to decision-making, thinking about the direction we're going and so on, it'll allow us to move fast but not rely on a single person to decide everything. I've been the one calling the shots a lot lately. And the one who tends to be representing the Titans out there with the other groups. It shouldn't be that way."

    "On the other hand there must be twenty five people with a fairly solid claim to be Titans right now, and we seem to be picking up new people all the time. We can't practically hold a vote on every decision, and nor can I be around for everything. So we're thinking like... an informal leadership council. Anything major, anything controversial, we can ask everyone what they think. But for the day-to-day stuff -- and just so people know who's got authority to sign off on things, we'd have a council. Nightwing and I from the older generation, Gar and Kate from the newer. We'll look to expand to six shortly. What do you guys think?"

    Donna taps her stylus on the edge of the desk idly as she speaks, then when she's done she throws it at Terry's head.

    No, not quite at his head, it just looks that way for a moment - it's actually aimed to whizz just over his head.

    "Vorpal, Kate is Legolas. Everyone knows that. Get it right!"

Dick Grayson has posed:
Dick Grayson crosses his arms and nods, "I don't have much to add to that. We're hoping that by doing this, we can also get Robin back with the team because the leaders are people he likes and respects. This will give him the chance to show the team that he can work with them, and hopefully he can step up when we expand to six. But I know nobody was going to accept him putting himself forward as leader without him first working with the team. This way we have some structure, which is something I know he craves, he can take problems to one of us instead of getting upset about it, and the team can see that he actually has the skills and knowledge to be a serious asset.

He shrugs, then looks to Gar and Vorpal, "As Donna asked, what do you think?"

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan laments, "See, this is why I always interview so poorly." He fakes getting up to leave, but stops when Vorpal's illusion takes form. The fishnets will have to be gone back to later on, but good luck to Gar getting through this whole thing without 'seeing' the cat in them.

Clearing his throat, he begins idly tapping fingers against the tabletop, different beats and rhythms, which may be a sign of nervousness or simple fidgeting. "Yeah, I never expected things to get this big, this fast. I think the idea of a few of you..I mean, a few of us trying to sort of keep things organized a little will work better than herding cats."

A pointed look Vorpal's way follows.

"And if it helps Robin with stuff, all the better. I won't deny he's skilled as hell, but..well, it sounds like you guys were already talking about that," he adds to Nightwing and Troia. "And then all the pressure isn't on him, either. Some of us who have been a part of this longer should have a bigger voice sometimes."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal ducks, and catches the stylus in one hand... because catlike reflexes are a thing. They're not 'stop a bullet cold' fast, nor could he make the Axis fold, but it was something, at least. "What are you, a newbie? Legolas wasn't part of the White Council! But here." He taps Kate's simulacrum, and she changes. She is now an elf with a bow. But it's not Legolas. "Glorfindel. Because I read my Silmarillion," he says, eyebrow cocked.

The question of the council is raised, and he strokes his chin. "I think it's a good idea. We already tend to do the consultation thing. I don't see any drawbacks to this. But you do realize that this makes Donna..."

He glances at Nightwing and says with a very straight face, "Councilor Troy."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna picks up the tablet and pretends to shuffle it as if it were a stack of papers. "Right. Well we don't have Kate with us, but nevertheless I feel that in an emergency situation like this we can't wait. I therefore call a vote on the motion 'Vorpal needs to be thrown out of a window.'

    Deanna Troi jokes, like Xena Warrior Princess jokes, are as old as the Titans. Donna heard it all before.

    Many times.

    "As for Robin... I'm not sure this is going to help him to take problems to someone rather than getting upset. He talks to me, and he knows I will listen to him. He /could/ have come to me with his problems, but he didn't want to. I suspect part of the reason there is he didn't like the idea I might have had a good answer for him. A lot of his complaints are... deflection, rather than real issues. Robin is complicated. He's not used to feeling empathy, and when he finds himself doing so, he struggles with it."

    "However I think we should acknowledge that Robin has done more for this team than people realize. Gar, Terry, there's an... administrative element to running a team as big and complicated as this that you guys have never really been exposed to. Nightwing used to handle most of that. Since we started up again, I've been doing most of it. When Terry, Vic, Cait and I were stuck in space for three months, you might have seen more obvious leadership from Kate, but both of them were keeping that stuff under control together."

    "So, I think it's important that we establish with Robin that his ability is acknowledged, and while we think he's got some work to do, there is a spot on the council waiting for him once he's proven himself to the team."

Dick Grayson has posed:
Nightwing pushes off the table to stand, "I'll be talking to him as soon as I can to explain all of this. I'll be letting him know what we know what he did, and that despite feeling pushed aside, it is actually appreciated. And that this is his chance to show the team what he can do before he steps up, not that we're passing him over for good. We may want to expand to 7, not 6, however... even numbers make for ties. It's something we can think about, but it's also why I had first suggested a council of 3."

He looks over all of you, "Guys... it's good to be home. This is where I moft feel like I belong, even more than Gotham. Now, I need to meet a bunch of people, apparently. Twenty-five of us or so, you say?"

Gar Logan has posed:
There's a subtle twitch in one of Gar's eyes after Vorpal makes the joke. That's it. Either he's heard it enough times before, made it enough times himself, or he's doing a really, really good job of not letting a reaction out.

So good is his ignoring of it, that he even bypasses the 'emergency' motion by moving on with, "So we know Robin's not a people person. I just want to see him recognize that we're all unique, with good things we bring to the table that help the team, even if some of us aren't as mature as others." Look who's talking!

"And I don't really know what he thought of me before we tried to knock each other out, but ever since then he's been..nicer to me. That's cool, but I'm still not really used to it. We never exactly hung out, but if he wants to grow and help make this work, I'm not gonna make it harder on him to. I feel better about there being a few of us who are looking after things. I'm sure there's stuff he'd want others to do better with, too."

He grimaces as Nightwing rises and brings up how many others there are to speak to. "Yeah, sounds like you've got that covered, Nightdude. If we're claiming roles, I can head up the parties, the media stuff, boost team morale..."

Dick Grayson has posed:
Dick Grayson groans a little, yes, he watches Star Trek and gets the reference. After Donna's call for a vote, he just looks over to Vorpal, quirks up one corner of his mouth and makes a little explosion sound and motion with his hands.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"I object to that motion and wish to modify the text of it to 'Give Vorpal A Raise.' Or at least a gift card- you realize how little an intern at the Planet makes? If it weren't for Gar sharing my rent, I'd be living in a cardboard box."

He pushes off and stands up and smirks at Gar, "Eyes are up here, Logan." Yes. He noticed the glance. "And it sounds like you're going to have to stop pretending to be the goof off and shoulder some of the unofficial shared responsbility," the cat grins as he teases the green Titan. "I'm sure glad I'm not part of the council. For starters, Robin thinks I am incapable of doing, saying or thinking anything good, so if you ever wanted him to fly out of here like a bat out of hell, it's to put me in there. Of course, the second thing that would happen would be Donna actually tossing me out the window."

"As far as new people... yeees you do. But we also have an issue. We're missing one of our guests... remember Nihil?" he looks at Donna, "They're gone. It must have been during the lead-up to the Cassie mission, but I caught some footage of them walking out of the tower... literally walking on /air/. I don't think they understand how anything here works so... they might be in trouble. We should put out an alert to the Titans to be on the lookout for them."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "I'd suggest that a lot of it comes from the fact that it gave him a reason to actually interact with you, Gar," Donna says. "Robin shuts himself off from people. A defense mechanism. He's also not great in crowds, so maybe it just comes down to being forced to think of you as an individual and having to deal with that. Maybe we should put Terry and Robin in a boxing ring."

    She's probably only saying it to wind Terry up.

    "Two reasons why it's better to have an even number of people," Donna argues. "First, it demonstrates the equal partnership between the older and younger members. That's important to me. Second, if we need a tiebreaker, I think we should be taking the question to the wider team rather than making the decision in council."

    Judging by the subtle little smile and shrug she gives to Dick, it's an easy guess that they had been discussing the idea at some length prior to the other two arriving, but have no intention of continuing the debate just yet.

    "I mean... you've met /most/ of them by now, Nightwing. Nine of us are the old guard. Then there's... well, Robin, Terry, Kate, and Supergirl you know fairly well by now. And then theres... uh..." Donna blinks a few times, picking up the tablet to look at the list of names again, and looks up again when Vorpal mentions Nihil. "Okay. Honestly I may have lost count. Nihil is the one who claimed to have spontaneously come into existence, right?Yeah. Put out an alert, let's see if we can find them, good call."

    "So uh... yeah. Then there's Irie, and that one from Nebraska Wally brough in the other day. Are they planning to become Titans? I don't know. Or Impulse. I mean he's an Outsider, but he's been hanging around and working with us a lot lately. I'm really not sure who counts at this point. We uh..." she gives Dick a slightly guilty smirk. "We may have been a bit enthusiastic."

Dick Grayson has posed:
Nightwing laughs, "Yeah, why don't we keep Terry and Robin apart for a while yet. Let's not push it. But I see your point on the number of seats."

He moves over to look at the tablet over Donna's shoulder, "That's still a lot of people. I mean, it's good that it gives us a lot of power to bring to a problem, but learning how they can all fit together best is tough with that many."

Gar Logan has posed:
"Well..part of it was he actually opened up to me about a couple things, but that's all I can really say about it," Gar explains, filling them in a bit on how the slugfest ended. There are definitely details he's leaving out.

The green Titan adds, "I agree with the even number thing, too. Do you guys need to talk to Kate first, or are we announcing anything? I think she'd be cool with it." He does give Vorpal a more sympathetic look. He knows the cat and the bird don't get on well, and when push comes to shove it's probably no secret who Gar would side with, but hopefully it won't get to that point. "Terry and I were also doing a dual training thing. That might be good for more of us, to mix it up a bit and help learn a little more about stuff in smaller pairings."

On the topic of the others, he admits, "I..really don't know much about that, except he, or she, or I guess it just sort of showed up from nowhere when we were stopping my other self. And I don't think I've had a chance to meet Irie yet. I'm falling behind. Did we put out Titan memberships hidden in boxes of Crackerjacks or something?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"I mean, Gar... she's family. Well, family of family. Bart came with her in tow, so I offered her a place to stay. Time-displaced future offspring are part of our family, too. Just as long as none of /our/ kids that Bart mentioned show up-" Vorpal says. Wait, what? But he's moved on- "I'll go ahead and put out the call, we need to find Nihil. They helped stave off civilian casualties, so we know their intentions are good."

He grins at the mention of training. "Caitlin, Toni and I joined a friend on a Doppelganger raid, and I think we did some good teamwork there. I think 'm getting the hang of it. Kate ran me through a simulator and shot paintballs at me to force me to rely on my agilty instead of my powers." He pauses and glances at Donna. "And I apologized."

"We've got to get Raven in on more group training exercises, too. But I'll leave you to convince her, Donna." He grins.

On the topic of Robin, he doesn't have much to say, except, "I'm not much for boxing rings. I look ridiculous in boxing shorts and those funny face guards."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "We'll talk it over with Kate first, yeah Gar. As for announcing... I say not yet. We don't want to /announce/ at all. Because that kind of comes across like..." Donna pauses, for thought, looking for the words to express her feelings. "...a coup. We /ask/."

    In reply to Dick's count of names, Donna just leans back and gives him a /look/. It's not a look that says anything very specific beyond 'I am a /look/ not just a look.' It's a look that conveys the impression it is meaningful without actually being meaningful - except in that the very generic /look/ness of the look is a meaning all its own.

    Donna rolls her shoulders and gives a 'that's decided' then sort of a nod. "Right. It's settled. And yeah, Raven training. That's an argument that has been going on for many years, Terry. Maybe we'll persuade her one day. If so, well thank you for volunteering for joining in that little bit of training, Terry. Because I wouldn't want to be the one planning to punch Rae when she was already furious about having to stand around in boxing shorts and a funny face guard."

    Donna sits back comfortably and smirking slightly, letting that image sink in.

Gar Logan has posed:
It takes a few seconds, but Gar suddenly stares at Vorpal. His mouth slowly parts, words seem on the verge of escaping, then he physically reaches up to close it after a cough. He's heard the rest from Donna and from Dick, and the only thing he says in the end is, "Meeting adjourned, then? Meeting adjourned! Cool!" No, he is not at all ready to even think about future kids, or how that would come about, or any of it, really.

Dick Grayson has posed:
Nightwing nods, "Should whichever of us can catch her go over it with her, or do we want to do it as a group? I know schedules can be touchy at times. And I'm going to talk to Robin ASAP. I don't want him somehow hearing about this through the grapevine and feeling even more left out or rejected."

He looks back at Donna with a grin, the /look/ having very little effect on him. Probably because he's not sure exactly which /look/ this one is. He does say, however, "Yeah, I haven't seen Raven since I got back. I left her a T-Comm message yesterday, I need her help with something magic related, but haven't heard back. Is she currently in scary mode or anything?" He stops, trying to picture her in boxing gear and just shakes his head. "Nah, I don't think even you could get her into an outfit like that Donna."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The bomb has its intended effect, and Vorpal's grin widens a little. "C'mon, greenie, let's go have dinner at Giorgio's,," the Cheshire says, putting an arm around Gar, "We'll tryto get to Kate, but you never know who she'll sneak up on. She's sneaky like that."

As he heads to the elevator, he stops at a safe distance from projectiles and he doesn't speak until their method of conveyance has arrived. He looks over his shoulder. "You shouldn't have missed the holiday party, Wing. Donna got Raven into a bikini. After that, a boxing outfit is nothing!"

And he ducks into the elevator, just in case another stylus is thrown his way.