8314/Green as a gooseberry.

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Green as a gooseberry.
Date of Scene: 19 October 2021
Location: Planet Herowood - Avenue of Tomorrow
Synopsis: The Titans celebrate Damian and Gar's birthdays. There is sugar. There is a /lot/ of sugar.

So much sugar.

Cast of Characters: Terry O'Neil, Bart Allen, Irie West, Kian, Gar Logan, Caitlin Fairchild, Damian Wayne, Victor Stone, Donna Troy, Nadia Pym-van Dyne




Terry O'Neil has posed:
Where do superheroes celebrate their birthdays? Why at Planet Herowood, of course! No, that's not actually a /thing/ because, if it were that predictable, you'd have the place constantly struck by villains who had knowledge that a party was about to go down. You had to be deceitful about some things, sometimes.

Like how the venue had been reserved for the night under Terry's mother's firm of Addison, O'Neil and Hayes, with the purpose of an 'office party.' It wasn't until the guests began to arrive via Rabbit Hole and other conveyances that the staff learned who the actual clientele was, and who the birthday boys were.

And, suddenly, the request for multiple cakes on a buffet made perfect sense. The appetite of the Titans was legendary by now, legendary orders often recounted in song and tale by Giorgio's staff. Good fortune, or at least a good cash-flow and tips, follow were the Titans tread, as long as it is the threshold of a food joint.

There's music, and games (including arcade games rented from Giorgio's, because why not?) and there's food- lots of food (but no chicken in sight, as per special request.) Glorious food both a la carte and in buffet format laid out for the guests.

Terry has been opening Rabbit Holes for people as they've commed in that they're ready to arrive. Those who weren't speedsters and those who didn't want to make dramatic entrances of their own, at least.

At that moment, Weird Al Yankovic begins to play over the speakers singing "Happy Birthday,", and the Cheshire cat grins. He knows at least one of the birthday boys will appreciate the song.

He may need to explain things to the other.

Wait. How /do/ you explain Weird Al? He hasn't even explained it to Kian yet...

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen hmms and has pondered what to get the three birthday guys, and it took him a while, maybe even an hour to decide what to get each of them. So Impulse comes in with three presents. The young man will find a place to set up his presents, and then looks around the place. While waiting on the others he is zooming around looking at the exhibits.

Irie West has posed:
It's birthday time! It's birthday time! It's taken her a bit but she's managed to find the perfect gifts for Gar, Kaida, and Damian. They're in boxes wrapped imperfectly with officially licensed Titans wrapping paper. She arrives with these in her hands and zips over to each one to hand them over. "You're gonna love these!" she says enthusiastically.

She then zips around and gives everybody a hug who likes that sort of thing, and Kaida a pat on the head because hugging her would squish her and she doesn't want a flat mouse.

And then, of course, she's into the food.

Kian has posed:
    Birthdays are not a thing the Akiar celebrate, but freshly returned from his world, he's in a celebratory mood anyway.
    And *vastly* more relaxed and at ease than the others are used to seeing him.  He's got a chair spun around backwards so he can rest his arms on the top of the backrest, sipping occasionally at a pina colada (blame Harley for getting him on those, and just be glad they don't involve chocolate), and just enjoying being around friends and having things genuinely *settled* in his life for the first time in a long time.
    "See, I do not still understan' this birth-day thin'," he says, probably predictably.  "It iss not like you had anythin' to do wit' it happenin'.  My paren's, they celebrate the anniversary of my birt'.  They did all the work."

Gar Logan has posed:
Maybe it wouldn't be a good idea for villains to try to crash a party full of supers and metas. It'd be more in their favor to take advantage of the distraction and try to commit a crime elsewhere.

Told the place would be a surprise, Beast Boy arrived by rabbit hole and looks around with a grin spreading. "Dude, Planet Herowood? All to ourselves? Dude." Because saying it once isn't enough. Now it's looking like things are going to turn up.

"I almost forgot all about birthday stuff with us being on Kian's world. For a little while there I wasn't sure we'd get back." He really should know better by now.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Back in the day, birthday parties were manageable. Just seven Titans, and even with Wally and Caitlin's appetites, it was a manageable effort.

Now, with so many new faces and fellow teammates, the logistics of actually feeding so many people warrants an entire catering staff and support team in the back if Caitlin wants to be able to spend any time at all mingling.

The tall redhead steps through a portal moments after texting Terry, reflexively ducking under the upper limit of it. Not one for being over-dressed, Caitlin's wearing a aubergine dress with a knee-length hem and demi-sleeves. Her only accessory is a leather clutch and some simple silver earrings, and black ballet flats keep her from towering over everyone. The real work probably went into her hair to get it to frame her face the way it does without an explosion of Irish curls.

"I'm here!" she says once she's in the room. Presents are tucked under one arm. "Who else are we waiting on?"

Damian Wayne has posed:
     The party was in full swing, and Robin was one of those that was celebrating a birthday. "Planet Herowood." He comments, before he smiles lightly, it wasn't much, but seeing a friend happy was pretty inspiring for a good time.

  Robin stepped through a rabbit hole before looking all around the place. "This is very...much." Not that Damian minded a bit of excess, for a good time.

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic comes out of a Rabbit Hole juggling his presents. One of them was easy once he thought of it; the other he... /really/ had to think about. But he's here, grinning widely as he looks around. It's so, so good to be around the Titans, especially for the birthday party of one of his best friends. "Can I get a 'Go Titans?!'" he shouts as he comes in, never one to do less than announce his presence in a dramatic fashion.

Irie West has posed:
"GO TITANS!" Irie shouts through a mouthful a spaghetti. "Wow!" she says, finally swallowing. "We got a lotta people here!"

Donna Troy has posed:
    "I'm kinda with you on this one Kian," Donna says with a brief laugh. "Celebrating birthdays is a little strange. Maybe that's just because I come from a place where everyone has had thousands of them and got bored, I don't know. When I first arrived in America I thought it was weird too, but what I've learned about them is... they're fun. And if they are fun, why not? Diana and I have even kind of imported the tradition back to Themyscira.

    Donna has made NO effort to dress for the occasion, which might scandalize Caitlin after the efforts she had made, but then it's Donna. She didn't come straight from the gym though, which means that while she's dressed reasonably casually, it's still at least a pretty smart pair of leather pants, ankle boots with a low heal, scarlet blouse and black jacket combo.

    "Go Titans!" Donna calls out, happy to join in, as she slips a card to Damian.

Kian has posed:
    "Titans go where?" Kian asks, apparently wholly sincerely.  "We only jus' got back!  I know we have trouble stayin' on this world, but we deserve a little time between fallin' through black holes an' artifac's and Terry punchin' holes in space...."
    Okay, some things about Kian may never change.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia spent fifteen years not even knowing what a Birthday was but having experienced them, including one of her own, but now they are one of her favorite things and she does not miss them for the world.

Showing up at Planet Herowood, she's dressed in a black strappy party dress with a dark red half jacket covered in zippers and clips and other chrome accents. She's also bearing a pair of presents, because duh, BIRTHDAY TIME!

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!" She calls out cheerfully as she strides into the party.


Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic grins at Kian as he heads over to give Gar his present. They're wrapped in shiny silver wrapping paper, and he's buffed his chrome for the occassion, but Victor Stone doesn't really do 'dressing up.' "It's a rallying cry," he says. "A cheer. Like, 'yeah we're awesome!'" Wait, did he teach Kian that word yet? He must have. "We're cheering each other on. 'Go Titans!'"

    He's /really/ curious about that story, but he's got to deliver presents and snag some food first.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen has checked out the place, and now moves to watch the others. He is in uniform, the who secret Id thing with waiters and waitress about. He will set backwards in a chair tapping his hands on the back of the chair waiting and watching.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"It's an expression. Like... Hurray! Or Huzzah! Or, um... what Vic said." Terry explains to Kian. He is dressed as nice as you can dress while basically being covered in fur, and thus prone to shedding. Nice button-up shirt in white, and jeans. No, new Jeans, not the ones he has that look like he auditioned for the role of War Correspondent on (and got rejected). "Hey everybody!" he says, proceeding in quick sucession to hut Irie, Bart, Donna, Cait, Vic, and all of the new arrivals, before going over to Gar and finally giving him a kiss.

On the cheek, because let us not embarrass the green guy. "Happy birthday, hon. And see? I told you we'd be back on Earth by then," he gives Kian a wink.

Then he glances over at Damian, and back to Gar. "My present is arriving in just a few minutes. And no, you don't get to know what it is because suspense is a thing."

He grins and walks over to Bart, leaning on his shoulder, "Do you think we got enough cake for everybody?" he gestures to the incredible excess of cake.

Damian Wayne has posed:
"Go Titans!" Damian chimes in, before he felt a card slip to him. Despite his uniformed appearance, he was here to party, at least as much as was tasteful.

  He looked to Donna, and held back a chuckle. Before his attention went back to Gar. "Here." He said, handing over a card. "Happy birthday. And it's not a tournament to the death." He offered up, giving a wink to Gar before smiling.

  "I think we could use at least five more cakes." Was...was that a joke?

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
While Victor is giving his present to Gar, Nadia takes the chance to bring a present over to the other birthday boy. Presents before snacks. She makes her way over to Damian and offers him a small wrapped rectangular box, a little bit longer than the average glasses case. It's covered in silvery wrapping paper and tied with a sparkly ribbon.

"This is for you. I hope you like it." She stands there waiting for him to hopefully open it.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Go Titans!" Caitlin cheers. The party is definitely at critical mass; lots of hubbub, noise, and plenty of smiling faces. The staff looks a little overwhelmed at a bunch of A-list superhero celebrities joining them, but they're pitching in with a will. Thankfully none of the Titans has that sense of celebrity entitlement that makes such a job onerous.

Gar /and/ Terry get picked up in a hug. Attack of opportunity! "Happy birthday, Garfield," she bids the green fellow, and gives his forehead a sisterly kiss. "Here's your present, I promise it's not something lame," she assures him, and offers a somewhat-formal looking envelope with a festive birthday ribbon taped to it.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over to Vorpal, and eyes the cakes, and hmms "Well, did run here." He offers and looks over and says "Should I have wore my suit? I have a suit for more formal occasions." He looks around "I made it for the Asgardian reception thing. It is white, with red and yellow lightning bolts all over it." He tells the other man. "Took me a good 5 minutes to learn to sew to get it right." He hmms "Hope they like what I got them, took me a bit to find the right things for them."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan give hugs, daps, brief nods of acknowledgement, whatever people are comfortable with. "Titans -- nevermind, Team America already did that." Who's seen it?

He's dressed casually enough, and after a cheek kiss and a big Cait hug that takes an 'oof!' out of him, and once he's back on his feet and catching his breath, he rubs his side. "Cait hugs..they'll almost kill ya!"

After digging around in a pocket, he fishes out a small envelope for Robin, exchanging it with a half-smile. "Thanks, man. Here..I've been a little busy the last few days and I couldn't figure out what you'd probably like, so..I'll probably regret this but here."

Gifts start getting handed out, and food and cake and music and partying and gaming is right around the corner. "I guess you guys didn't hear the whole story. We were coming back from my trip out to California. Terry and Kian met up with me and we were gonna roadtrip back, but the first night..Terry kinda accidentally rabbit holed us to Kian's world."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Mine's not a tournament to the death either," Donna says with a grin as she hands Gar another card. "This is kind of a present for someone else really," she says. "Or someone/s/ else. We sponsored something in your name. It's not just from me, it's from the whole Themysciral royal family."

    When Gar has been allowed back down to Earth by Caitlin and has the chance to open the card he'll find most of the names that have signed it -- and there are quite a few -- are not names he recognizes. Slipped into the card is a photo with a lot of smiling people in green uniforms, holding up a 'happy birthday Gar' banner in front of some fencing with a pair of gorillas watching the crowd curiously. Printed along the bottom of the photograph are the words 'Best wishes from the Garfield Logan Gorilla Sanctuary, Nigeria.'

    "Happy birthday, Greenie."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"You are fine, Impulse! And Kid Fla-" Terry was about to point Irie towards the penne all'arrabiata, which was his favorite, when he is picked up by Caitlin;s hug and he mades a brief show of mock-flailing before hugging back.

And then he gives the fellow redhead a side-glance, "Caitlin that had better not be a gift certificate for a vet visit. He keeps making jokes."

And then he stops as the card is given, and the Cheshire cat glances at the card, and the photo. And-

This is Coffee Talk with Linda Richman, and he's totally getting Verklempt. "'Scuse me, I need to get a drink because yeah," he says, and makes a beeline for the refreshments. On the way, he glances at Caitlin, exchanging some secret eye gesture with her and waiting for her confirmation.

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic goes to hand a shiny present to Damian too, with a bright grin. Then he goes to grab some food while he listens to the story about his friends' field trips.

    The gift he got /Gar/, whenever it gets opened, is a cat-ear hoodie in bright swirling rainbow colors, with a card that says "So you and Terry can match."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian's face goes a bit blank, a little surprised at the present offered by Nadia. "Thank you." He says, before pulling the ribbon and opening the gift. He didn't usually let go of his facade easily, but the Titans have seen him be much more allowing people in lately, now extending to Nadia.

  "Garfield Logan Gorilla Sanctuary, nice." Robin comments, before starting down more of his gifts.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Inside Nadia's box for Damian are a series of small silver discs about the size of a nickel, ten in total.

"These are based on one of my father's designs that I have been tinkering with." She explains. "If you put them on a small object like a bird-arang or a throwing knife it will, after a small delay, quintuple in size without losing any velocity." She smiles. She thinks/hopes Damian likes weapons with interesting strategic applications. "Happy birthday."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
The legal envelope Caitlin pressed into Gar's hands contains an NDA... and access keys for a beta test of CARMAGEDDON 4: THE UNRECKONING: THE MMO!. The capitalization and punctuation are both part of the official game name, apparently.

Caitlin doesn't approach Damian with the same fraternal affection-- no hugs or hair-ruffling. "And happy birthday to you too, Damian," she bids him with a warm smile. Inside the box: a Titan's Industries, Officially Licensed, Limited Edition Damian bobblehead. 1/100 is on the front of the box.

Caitlin looks around shiftily, leans over to Damian for a sotto voce: "This is the Titan Retirement Plan. Cash out on collectible figures."

Mirth dances in her eyes and she catches Terry's look-- Caitlin taps the side of her nose and excuses herself with a brief but warm touch to Damian's arm. "Happy birthday," she smiles, and heads to the back of the restaurant on some mysterious task.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen will make sure to put his own gifts for each of the birthday folks in the piles. Damian's, set so he can get to it easily, Gar's set down on the pile for Garfield to open. Inside it are two of the most recently released video games from Japan, and two Japanese bootleg action figures, a two pack of Vorpal and Beastboy. It seems Bart ran out and got the presents before coming here perhaps.

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic's gift to Damian requires some explaining, because... it looks like a toaster. "It's a laser toaster," he says with a bright grin. "From the planet Rann, so thanks to Nadia for taking us there. I know you worry about alien tech but I have /firm/ assurances this is entirely safe to disassemble as you wish. Y'know, to reverse-engineer or whatever." Because what gadget guy /doesn't/ love things to take apart?

    And /then/ he's off to grab food.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal nods at Caitlin's gesture and answers in kind, tapping the side of his nose, his chin, rubbing his cheek, flicking an ear and- no, wait that was just him trying to stave off a sneeze. He sets his drink down and says, "I'll be right back. Need to powder my nose."

And he heads off in the direction of the restrooms, totally.

Irie West has posed:
The first person she goes up to to give them their birthday present is Gar. She proudly hands over her present and hops a little bit on her toes. "Open it! Open it! Open it!"

Inside is a white tiger beany baby. "It's a limited edition from 2018 that benefits the Care for the Wild organization that helps with tiger conservation in Thailand. I thought you might like this!"

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian's eyes go wide as he sees and hears what Nadia got him. He picks one out of the box and examines the disc. "This...is so cool." He comments, before he places it back in the box and looking back to Nadia. "Thanks, I will put them to good use in the field."

  The contents of the box placed into one of his pouches, and Damian opens the package from Bart. Almost immediately he starts laughing, knowing what it is for. "A brush for Goliath." There was a ticket inside as well, for the Gotham Zoo after hours to visit the animals. "Thank you, Im-Bart." Stopping himself from saying hero names at this soiree.

  Cait's gift...was something he didn't expect whatsoever. "I...I am a bobble head?" He almost couldn't believe it until he took out the figure, and smiles. "Batburger hasn't even updated their Robin to be me." Oh, he's just a little salty about that. "Thank you, Caitlin...I, it's great." A little choked for words.

  "A laser...toaster?" He looks back down to the box, and gets a little distracted by the inside, having to resist the temptation to check it out right then and there.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna wraps an arm around Irie's shoulder once she's done her gift giving, and gives her a quick hug. She leans down to whisper 'you've got a spot of spaghetti sauce on your nose' to Irie before giving her a wink and letting her go.

    Does she? Is Irie's nose so afflicted? Or is Donna playing a joke on her? Nobody's actually staring at Irie's nose, but then maybe nobody else noticed yet. Or maybe Donna is playing a joke on her! OH THE HUMANITY.

    Donna shakes her head slightly at the gift Vic gives to Damian, but her smile shows that it's not a shake of disapproval. "By the end of the week, he'll have it launching red-hot batarangs at people," she predicts.

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic laughs at Donna's comment. "Nobody better tell Sardath. God, I thought the guy was gonna lecture me about safety /forever/." It's a fond tone; he really did like Rann, and its people, and is looking forward to visiting again.

    "Now I'm glad I got the hoddie, although I should've glued wings on for Kian or something. Mix up the Gar-gifts a bit."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia gives Damian a bright smile, "I'm so glad you like it!" She beams, "Happy Birthday!" She says again, she really seems to like wishing people that, before she breaks away as Damian begins opening the next present and makes her way over to Gar is, presents must be delivered, then food consumed.

The wrapped gift that Nadia offers to Gar is a bit larger and flatter. What could it be? A really big tablet? A picture book? Files? A painting? There are many possibilities but it is wrapped in similar silver paper to Damian's and tied with its own sparkly bow. "Happy Birthday Gar!"

When Cybog explains Damian's present, Nadia momentarily calls back over her shoulder. "Those things make AMAZING toast, too!"

Irie West has posed:
The second person to get her present is Damian. "Um. I wasn't allowed to get you anything sharp," she says, "So I got you this." She hands over her Titan's wrapped box. Inside is a robin beany baby. The bird, not the Titan. "I know it's not like you but..." She shrugs.

Kian has posed:
    Mainly, Kian watches the activity.  He's kind of enjoying just being able to sit back and relax, and in any case, gift giving is not quite the same kind of custom among his people as they are on Earth.
    And he's also quite enjoying the frenetic, joyous activity.  "Wings do not go on hats, Vic.  They go on backs," he remarks with a giggle, showing his off.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan laughs at Vic's present and immediately puts it on, tugging the hoodie up into place. "Now I'm even more colorful than Vorpal is." More neat, thoughtful things, including a trust with a portfolio of investments for a Zoological studies scholarship in his name from Robin, and a little tiger and the games from Japan and all that, and the beta game ("Prepare to lose, Cyborg!" he promises), and more.

"Go ahead, show them what I got you," he tells Damian. "It's probably a big mistake." He also opens Nadia's present, looking curiously inside.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Inside is a book! Not the most exciting present at first. But on closer inspection, that writing isn't from Earth and the animal on the cover looks like a tiger, if it was purple and green with a unicorn horn jutting out of its forehead. The contents of the book are similarly written in Rannian language, but every page bears different full color images of alien Rannian wildlife, all manner of fascinating exotic creatures.

"I hope you like it! Happy Birthday!" She beams, looking like she might hug him.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     "Was that for your sake or for mine?" Damian asks Irie, before looking in the box, and taking out the robin beany baby, putting it on his shoulder. "Arrg." He says in a pirate voice. "Scurvy dogs, walk the plank!"

  "Oh! Yeah." He comments, before taking out the envelope and reaching inside and removing the card while Captain Redbreast sits on his shoulder. "Hey Titans!Logan has gifted me...One weekend of butler service from Garfield Logan, complete with uniform." He can't help but laugh at it, because it's so genuine, from one of his first friends in the group. "So... I was thinking of a six course dinner may be in order." He says, with a wink to the green one.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan comments immediately, "You'll be lucky if there's dessert left by the time I serve it. But that's on condition of Alfred helping me find something good," he reminds, pointing at the fine print. The Rannian book gets a raised eyebrow, then a creative expression. "Oh. This should be neat."

Victor Stone has posed:
    "I'd have glued them to the back! Didn't want to ruin the fabric, though. Not really my thing." Vic shrugs, turning away from the food table with cake. So much cake. He gives Gar a thumbs up. "Looks great!"

    And then, after a moment: "Oh /man/, Carmageddon 4?! Oh, it is /on/!"

    And /then/ he can't eat cake because he's /doubled over laughing./ "Gar /cleaning/?! Th-that's not a gift... that's a curse!!"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
There's some fanfare and cheers from the kitchen as the doors swing open. Terry and Agatha O'Neill exit and hold the doors as Caitlin pushes a trolley out into the main room. Atop it-- two cakes!

With regrets to the speedsters, but the cakes on display: DECOYS.

One of them looks quite a bit like Gotham Cathedral, with flying buttresses made out of candybars and marzipan for the windows. It's hardly a perfectly replica, but there *is* a miniature Damian Lego figure (hardly official) that is brooding atop it, at least as broodingly as a Lego figure can do.

The other cake is a green tiger toy atop a field of candied grass stalks. Beneath: geodes of white and dark chocolate amidst a sandstone-colored bedrock of raspberry tort.

Caitlin parks the cart and offers knives to Damian and Gar to cut their first slice of the cake(s). "Happy birthday, guys!"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry smiles like the cat who ate the canary (he hasn't, but there /is/ a fondant canary there that he plans to munch on unless Gar takes it), a smile that is matched by Agatha, although not as wide because she is not a Cheshire Cat, herself. "Bon appetit, guys- mom and Cait collaborated. This means it's probably going to be an absolute or-" he pauses, and glances over at Agatha.

"A what, Terrence?" she asks, the willowy woman looking at her son with a raised eyebrow.

"--one really good... cake eating... experience."

Agatha smiles and stands beside Caitlin. There has surely been some discussion about Terry between the two redheads as they worked on the cakes.

Some strategies may have been shared.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     "Cheese Viking forever!" Robin comments, before hopping down and grabbing a drink for himself. Before a certain O'Neil, mother and Caitlin emerge with cakes.

  "Woah." Even the (usually) surliest Titan can't help but be amazed at the grandiose pastries being wheeled out. "That...is a big...HA!" He just found the little Robin figure there. He gladly accepts his knife, and cuts a slice of the Gotham themed one. "So...this is a birthday without the assassins hiding around trying to stab me." Cass...

Gar Logan has posed:
"Awww yeah, it's cake time!" After setting all the gifts in place, Gar makes a line for the tiger-themed cake. In doing so, he leaps at it and...instead of a big splat, he bypasses it entirely, only to circle around the top of it as a hummingbird. "Fooled you! You thought I was gonna make a big mess, didn't you?"