8985/Splash 2: The Return

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Splash 2: The Return
Date of Scene: 07 December 2021
Location: Main Room - Titan's Tower
Synopsis: Garth comes back to the tower after a long absence, to find nothing has changed at all. Yyyeaah... right.
Cast of Characters: Terry O'Neil, Garth, Gar Logan, Rachel Roth, Irie West, Donna Troy, Caitlin Fairchild




Terry O'Neil has posed:
The sun is beginning to dip towards the horizon, causing golden light to flood the main room of the Titans' tower. It's still Autumn, and the chill of winter hasn't settled in yet, leaving the outside world in that perfect state where the days are sunny enough without the glaring heat, and sufficiently brisk without the numbing coldness.

That's why Vorpal has decided to sit by the south wall, a massive wall of glass overlooking the bay, the sun tearing golden ripples off the water. Basking in this crepuscular bliss, the Cheshire Cat is stretched between two chairs- feet propped up on one, the rest of him on the other, and is staring at the world outside instead of turning on the television. Occasionally he scribbles something on a notebook propped open on his lap, but otherwise he remains in this contemplative attitude, as only cats can.

Garth has posed:
Garth rises out of that bay, magical energies carrying him aloft as he flies up and towards the Tower itself. He has been away for months, dealing with a variety of underwater issues on the fringes of Atlantis. While he's not part of the current regime, Arthur having chosing to cede to Namor in order to avoid civil war, Garth has put his efforts towards protecting the marginalized of Atlantean society, looking out for those who might otherwise be overlooked. Having been abandoned to the sea himself as a child, he knows all too well what it's like to not belong.

He lands easily on the roof and descends towards the main room, clad in a prismatic blue bodysuit, his dark hair grown long and still damp from the sea, tucked behind his ears. He emerges into the main room and raises a hand, "Seems as if not much has changed in my absence," he says.

Gar Logan has posed:
It could be that Vorpal was watching Gar work off some excess energy by running back and forth outside, going human so he could throw a ball up in the air, going dog to chase after it, repeating, racing around as a cheetah, strutting past the window as a peacock with the feathers on full display...

But even he is interrupted by someone vaulting so far out of the water so as to make it to the roof. "Dude, is that..?" he asks, whether he can be heard through the windows or not. Finding a door, he heads back inside himself, returning normal in the process.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal chuckles as he watches Gar. It is amusing, when one of your boyfriends can keep himself perfectly amused by playing fetch with himself, it saves him the fuss of throwing the ball himself and gives him ample time to hash out ideas for his next dangerous piece of investigative journalism: Arkham From The Inside.

The notebook slides to the floor when the Cheshire sits up, people rising magically from the ocean being an unusual event and often heralding one of the following:

A)An imminent attack by a sea villain
B)The arrival of one of the Atlanteans
C)Doordash being a try-hard or
D)The filming of a new music video by Lady Gaga.

Fortunately for the Titans, it turns out that 'B' is the letter of the day.

"Garth!" the Cheshire leaps out of his chair and rushes to greet their Atlantean team-mate, whom they haven't seen since they scoured the bottom of the bay for Gar. "You're back, it's been -"

He goes for the hug, because that's what he usually does, but stops as if suddenly an invisible wall had erected itself in his path, arms in the air. "You're damp!"

Even if it's just the hair, potentially, there is the great deterrer of all things feline: water.

Garth has posed:
Garth raises an eyebrow at Terry, "Perpetually, and yet most people don't seem to mind," he says with a wink. "But by all means, spare yourself the inconvenience. I'm not generally a hugger anyway. Warm and fuzzy is excellent for sweaters and hamsters, but I'm a scion of the watery deep. I should be cold and dark and intimidating."

To Gar, he smiles, "Hello there, Beast Boy. You're not a starfish anymore. Good for you."

Gar Logan has posed:
"Oh, I'm always a star, fish or not," Gar is quick to point out, and he successfully resists the urge to nudge Vorpal forward into the wet embrace of another of the original Titans.

He adds, "Hey, I don't remember if I got the chance to thank you for helping find me back then, but that was pretty vital. I was starting to lose my focus. We did some science with Nadia and even Cait was able to help, and I healed up faster in a big tank, except it was actually really little because we were in the Microverse or something, and I even learned a new form. Check it out!"

He morphs into a cross between a more fishy Atlantean and himself, clad in just a pair of bike shorts, webbing between the fingers and toes, fins along forearms and calves, and a sort of merman sort of face overall. "I can visit Atlantis like this!"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
As far as Vorpal is concerned, 'They did science and fixed Gar' is an accurate description of what went on. Not being scientifically minded himself, he is at a loss to describe most of what went on. "We went into a Crystal castle where time passed much faster, too. It was pretty cool."

That was scientific, right?

He smirks and glances at Gar, and then back at Garth, "He likes to show his new form off. You're going to have to take him to Under The Sea- where life is better down where it's wetter - so he can get it out of his system. I'd join, but I don't like drowning."

He crosses his arms instead and grins at Garth. "... Yyyeah, no, Garth. Pufferfish also live in the ocean. I don't think brooding would suit you- leave the brooding to Raven."

And that's when Garth's first remark hits him. "Actually, things have /kind/ of changed around here. For once, /Hawk/ is back." The prodigal Titan, who had abandoned the team after the death of the original Dove during Doomsday, with a LOT of hard feelings and bad blood. "And also, Raven... isn't exactly Raven anymore. At least, not the Raven /you/ remember..."

Garth has posed:
Garth cocks his head at Gar's alternate form, "Interesting. There are a few Atlanteans with similar forms, throwbacks to more primal eras of the undersea gene pool. They're often discriminated against, sadly," he says in disapproval of the prejudice.

"I also feel like you probably get a lot of Spongebob jokes in that. As do I, for that matter. Apparently I'm a 'Squidward'."

Vorpal's update makes him consider, "That sounds...complicated. I never knew him well. But I also understand that sometimes you have to leave, for your own sake. That isn't always hard for other people to accept."

"And how has she changed? Did she wear a color?"

Gar Logan has posed:
"How many times have you asked to see it?" the more aquatic version of Gar asks, raising a brow. "And yeah, a few days were like a whole month, and when we got back out we put the smackdown on that loser version of me and sent him back where he came from, all cured. Vorpal made out with his doppelganger, and lost his powers to him for a little while, which is gonna be pretty hard to top for 'dumb things to do but are unsurprising,' and..it's not something I want to go through again. Being as close to dead as it gets is not a lot of fun."

The mention of Hawk draws a nod out of him and he gets onto that subject for a moment. "I haven't had the chance to really talk to him yet, but like the cat here said, he's around. And I already stand out anywhere I go. I used to let it bother me. Now I know it's other people's problem, not mine." As he returns to his usual self once again, he adds, "We all went through walking away from this, and most of us eventually came back. Some people needed more time than others, and..I'm just gonna let him tell you about Raven."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry O'Neil says, "You're the squidward?" the cat blinks for a few seconds, not quite sure he catches the reference, "Give me a sec, that's a new one for me." He summons his phone out of a Rabbit Hole, since the bodysuit he wears has no pockets, and does a brief search in the urban dictionary. "Let's see. It says here the Squidward is what happens when a guy..."

His mouth moves silently, sounding out the words on the screen, and then his eyes widen and his jaw drops. "Oh my god I think I looked up the wrong thing."

He hastily throws the phone back into the Rabbit Hole and then shakes his head, almost as if in an effort to dislodge something from his brain.

"... right, Raven. Um. Well, she's smiling. And joking. And making double entendres. And she's wearing clothes that actually have color. Mostly." He seems eager to embark on this new journey, picking up after Gar's lead, "It all happened after we came back from Themyscira. She struck some sort of deal with Hekate and she came back perfectly normal and... it's /weird/."

He taps his chin, "Right. We went to Themyscira. But that's a lot about us. Grab a seat, let me get you something to drink, why don't you tell us what /you/ have been up to? Let's forget about the part where I made out with myself, okay?""

Garth has posed:
Garth tries to peek over Terry's shoulder to get a glimpse of just what this other Squidward might be. "Oh. Huh. Well. Discretion is the better part of valor there," he says. "And that all sounds...very Titans. One thing about being part of this team, it's never been boring. Don't be ashamed, Terry. Self-love is very healthy."

He does take a seat, "I wouldn't say no to a glass of wine," he says, "I'm not sure if the Raven thing is concerning or a good thing. As long as she's happy, I suppose, and it isn't a sign of malignant influence. But Themyscira has a fairly good reputation, I imagine anything she encountered there would be benign. Aquaman has always had a good relationship with Diana, I know."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan positions himself so he can also see what's on Vorpal's phone, and he looks away quickly. "Dude. No. Not even gonna joke about that. But..yeah, we got drawn into Tartarus and dealt with stuff that would take way too long to explain, but we had a big battle with undead zombie centaurs to protect the gate into Themyscira, then they let us visit rather than sending us back. I think we earned it, you know?"

Throwing his hands up, he says, "I'm still not used to Raven smiling and joking and wearing different colors. It'd be like me suddenly going totally serious. Nobody can imagine that. Nobody wants that."

Pointing back Garth's way, he asks, "So what's up down there in waterworld? The guy with the Spock eyebrows and the scaly Underoos still the big fish?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry laughs, "Me? Ashamed of kissing a cute guy? Never. However, I get enough teasing about it because that's how I managed to lose my powers. Gar is not allowed to bring it up for the next week or so under threat of glitter."

The cheshire smirks and pads off to the kitchen, returning with the requested glass for Garth. "This is some of the wine Cait sets aside for special guests. Since you're back, you count as one," he says, offering the glass, and then a slight frown crosses his features. "At least... I think this is the one she sets aside for guests and not the cooking wine."

He glances up at Gar and raises an eyebrow. "I spoke to Arthur just last week about Captain Underpants down there, Gar. He says the situation is... complicated. Which is political speak for 'Effing Dumpster Fire'. It's why the Atlantis Embassy isn't a thing yet."

Garth has posed:
Garth smiles, "And I'm sure Gar always does as you ask him and would never do anything to try to humiliate, embarrass or tease you in a public forum," he adds with a bit of a twinkle in his lavender eyes, the irises shimmering and reflecting the light sharply above the water, almost glowing.

He takes the glass of wine and sighs, "Complicated is definitely one way of putting it. There are two kings, even if Arthur has formally given up his claim to the throne, but you can't give up the hearts of the people. There's a lot of resentment and distrust. I've been doing my best to help some refugees find safe colonies in the outer reaches of the Atlantean kindom, trying to give them a bit of stability. It's always the marginalized and the poor who suffer when royals squabble."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan sends Vorpal a /look/ toward his back at the glitter threat. "Yeah, Gar-with-a-t-h, glitter is kind of his big threat nowadays. Don't even get him started on how many times he's used it on someone." That said, his focus diverts back to the more important matter: talk of Atlantis.

"That sounds..really messy. I don't even remember how there came to be two kings, but it sounds like it could have gone a different way and led to even worse problems than that. You're doing a good thing, at least. It's always the people who can't do anything about it that get hurt the most," he says.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal leans against the couch and smirks, arms crossed, "Now don't go there, Gar. I've glitterbombed General Zod, and that's a mark of distinction. I also got it all over Arthur," he says to Garth, "And Donna had glitter all over her tongue for /days/ after that."

Pushing off the couch, he goes to get himself a drink as well, and a soda for Gar. "But as far as the hearts of the Atlantean people, I'm not surprised they prefer Arthur. He is a good guy, whereas Prince Speedo over there has the personality of a dial tone and the Eiffel Tower shoved firmly up his-"

"Aspartame." He glances at the side of the soda, shakes his head, and instead reaches for the carbonated water flavored with natural fruit, which he will offer Gar.

Rachel Roth has posed:
    There is a swirling rush. The shadows in the room dance as if bidden to do so by some outside force, defying the logic and physics required for them even to exist. From this maelstrom of anti-light emerges a lone figure, skin white as the moon, makeup in the tone of pitch, emerging from nothingness amongst shadow as if that was the way one entered a room: Despite serivceable stairs, spacious hallways and comfortable elevators being altogether easy enough to emerge from, and neither her room nor Troia's being altogether far away at all.

    From an imperious pose at the radius of the group, her eyes still cloaked in an impenetrable sheen of jet black, Raven speaks: "I heard you were talking shit. Like I wouldn't find out." Had she? COULD she? The answer to both questions is a somewhat resounding No, invariably definitely not now, though that fact is unknown to the other Titans. At best, she had come to understand there was a gathering, and unlike the rest of her entire career, this specific sentence seemed amusing enough to say right now. She lets the others stew in inevitable fear, hopefully making excuses to placate what is little more than Raven's reputation rather than the actual person, before calmly landing.

    Dressed in what appears to be a plain- if tight- black tee, tucked into a thick-belted pair of second-skin-seeming leather pants, which in turn sleeve into the just-barely-calf height boots, she looks... Well, if it were not /Raven/ it might be kind of... Casual. After having let the others stew for a time, she finally speaks again. "No, actually, I just wanted some coffee. Anyone else?" she asks, turning to head to the kitchen attached.

    The back of her shirt, in large letters, reads: "Vacuous Tart."

Garth has posed:
Garth sips on his wine, "As usual, bloodlines and that sort of thing. The occasional prophecy. I know a little bit about that sort of thing. Technically, I believe I'm a prince, since Arthur formally adopted me as a child, but like most foundlings, I've never exactly felt like a natural born royal."

Rae's entrance certainly makes an impression, the Atlantean's eyebrows raising as he takes in the changes. He was never exactly close to Raven - let's face it, he was never exactly close to anyone, being close to people wasn't something he was ever good at - but he always admired her walking to the beat of her own drum. It seems the rhythm has changed, just as Gar and Terry said.

"I wouldn't dream of speaking ill of you, Raven."

Irie West has posed:
There's a sudden *whoosh* and Irie is there in the kitchen singing a little song, "Snacky time! Snacky time! Snacky time!" She bops along in the kitchen pulling out some bread, various lunch meats and cheeses and sets out to make herself a sandwich. "You put the bread on the /plate/," she sings oblivious to anybody else in the room, "And the meat on the /bread/. And then you got the /cheese/ and then there's /meat/ and more /cheese/ and then because I'm /healthy/ lettuce and /tomato/ and then mustard and /mayo/ and that's how you do the sandwich!"

She turns around suddenly aware of all the people in the room and her cheeks flush with color. "Oh! Hello! I... um... was just making myself a sandwich." Said sandwich is something of a monster, fit for a speedster. She pulls out a snacky shake from the fridge and goes to sit at the island.

Her eyes flick over to Raven, "I'm too afraid of you to say bad things about you," she says plainly. "Not after the last time I tried to hug you."

Gar Logan has posed:
"See. Problems with glitter. He didn't even mention Thor," Gar explains, leaving it at that en route to being offered the flavored water, which he wastes little time in sipping from after a 'thanks.' What he hears of the Atlantean matters, he's left to shake his head over. "What I'm hearing is 'it's complicated.' Not exactly fun."

It's Raven's arrival, and Irie's, that lead to him having to divert his attention. Irie's singing is what he latches on to in the pause that follows Raven accusing them of saying things about her. "Hey, yeah, Irie. I can see that! And don't forget..oh yeah, you got the condiments. And the little stick to hold it all together if it's too big."

He then waltzes over toward Raven and gives her a big smile. "Look who's back! Garth! And you're looking good!" A hand is lifted, directed toward her hair, as if to ruffle. Imagine this would be quite a way to go.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "I see you Garth," says the Themysciran-accented voice of Donna over the intercom, interrupting the conversation in the main room. "Decided to take some time on the surface to get away with it all? I heard a rumor Arthur might have been planning to cause a little friction down below. Don't tell me, he went too far and you've both been kicked out. You need somewhere to live and you're going to want us to flood the basement levels for you. Be right up."

    True to her word, it's barely more than a minute before the elevator arrives, up from the gym level. Some training has been going on, a fact made clear by the fact that Donna is dressed in gym gear -- all black, and spandexy. Since Donna's armor got destroyed during the Warzoon invasion a year ago, Donna has been without a recognizable superhero costume, and oddly looks more traditionally superheroic in attire when she's training in the gym than when she's actually doing superheroics.

    Additionally, Donna has a towel, which she's using to dry her hair, indicating that she has showered and isn't showing up all sweaty after the exertions in the gym. She gives Garth the widest grin and tosses the towel towards him. "Here, I think you need this more than I do," she comments. "Welcome back. Hi everyone."

    She walks over to the kitchen area to fetch post-training snacky shakes, eyes lingering for a few moments on the message written on the back of Raven's shirt. She smirks slightly, then ruffles Irie's hair. "Hey Irie! I bought you a jacket. Left it just outside your door, you found it yet?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Garfield Logan you stop that immediately. I don't want to become a widower before I'm even married," Vorpal smirks, figuring the 'm' word would do wonders to short-circuit Gar from his suicidal tendencies. He is playing up the sass to hide the fact that he gave a little jump at Raven's arrival, so now he's compensating with 'a ha ha that didn't scare me at all' attitude. "Coffee's just brewed a bit ago, Rae. Just make sure you leave a little for Cait or she'll threaten to not bake her ginger snaps for the holidays."

He glances at Donna with a disapproving glance, and adds, "You know, the only reason I got an outfit is because you threatened to call me Hoodie cat as my codename. When are you going to get a proper costume?" a glance at the speedster, "Irie, help me out here, Donna is bringing down the entire aesthetic of the team. I mean, look at Garth, he even got a new shiny bodysuit. Last time we saw him he was wearing that black and purple combination and he looked somber. Now he's blue and shimmery."

He doesn't mention that Gar was also wearing black and purple. In Terry's opinion, Black and Purple was a perfectly valid combination... if you were attending a gay funeral in New Orleans.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Garth! GarthGarthGarth!" Caitlin shoots past Donna, moving just about as fast as she dares. She is neither as fast as Irie, nor as agile! Caitlin's dressed for recreation much like Donna, in white-and-blue leggings and a faded pink hoodie that says 'Columbia' across the front in cracked white letters.

"You're back! Did you tell someone you were back? No one told me!" She's almost dancing with pleased excitement and a beaming smile pasted on her face. "Don't mind Raven, she hasn't changed a bit. How are you?!" Both hands extend to offer a clasp to Garth's, and a enthusiastic, sisterly hug if he wants one of those too.

Garth has posed:
Garth takes the towel from Donna, wiping it a bit over his hair, which has at least mostly dried, before handing it off towards Vorpal, "Here, you can use this to whip Gar if he gets out of line," he grins.

Caitlin's greeting gets a smile as well, taking the hug and returning it in kind. Warmth doesn't come easily to him, but he's doing his best to get over himself. Mostly. He can't promise not to have his dour moments. But with Raven in her current state, maybe it's up to him to pick up some of the emo slack anyway.

Toward Irie, he nods, making momentary eye contact with Donna again, "Related to Wally, I'm guessing?"

Rachel Roth has posed:
    Raven hasn't yet turned back to look at any of the others- not even when Garth, and Irie, speak in her direction. "We cannot audit your dreams, Garth, but regardless, it is good to see you back. Make yourself comfortable, and if nobody's said so yet, you always have a room at Titans Tower." To Irie, she speaks next. "I remember that. You may hug me." She then holds up a single, slender digit. "Once."

    That done, she goes about the busywork of pulling out the complicated mechanisms in which she is soon to make coffee. For now, the water she pours is doing little but heating to a boil, and she seems content with that as she turns to face Gar, whom she does not instantly disintegrate- but whose arm she stops by raising her own, before she can be physically touched. Certainly, not the sort of magical methods of avoiding contact as is normal. "I would like nothing more than to break your arm, but the lecture from both Troia and Caitlyn would be mindnumbing, so you escape this time with a warning, Beast Boy."

    Finally, she turns to Donna. "Working out without me, Troia? You're going to pay for that in a not particularly subtle way, later."

Irie West has posed:
"No, I haven't!" Irie says. "I'm going to have to look for it when I get back to my room. I bet it's really cool!" After all, any gift from Donna would be really cool just by the nature that it was a gift from Donna.

She nods at Terry. "I mean, yeah. You gotta have that superhero costume even if you have a public identity. How else will people tell that you're superheroing?" She picks up her monster of a sandwich and peers at it. One can almost see the mathematical computations going on in her head trying to figure out how she's going to stuff that much sandwich into her mouth. She ends up squishing it down as much as she can and takes a huge bit out of it with an audible 'oumf.'

She nods at Garth, swallowing the bite of sandwich that she took. "Yeah. I'm his daughter from the future." Because of course. She gives him a wide grin, "I'm Irie!"

She nods at Raven. "I'll save it for a special occasion, then."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan's hand and arm are intercepted, but he continues with that smile. "Aww, you don't have to be all about warnings and threats, Rave. I know you don't really mean it. You know this place is better again with all of us around." This could be a new level of self confidence, or simply delusion. Regardless, he is unconvinced by the words, but he doesn't push any further with trying to muss the hair.

"It's fine, man," he tells Vorpal. "See?" But Garth's offer of the towel leads to him scoffing, "Seriously, dude? Like anyone needs to give him even more excuses. And you just got back! Slow your roll!" In passing Vorpal again, he goes for an attack on the ears with his free hand, the other still holding the bottle of water.

"Hiiii everybody!" he adds, Dr. Nick style, for anyone he hadn't caught up to yet for a greeting. Then there's a growl. "Uh oh. There's a rumbly in my tumbly!"

Garth has posed:
Garth rises up from the chair, finishing his glass of wine, "Well, I'm glad to see that it's much the same as it's always been, despite change in the air: a veritable madhouse. Just the way we always liked it. To those I know well, it is a pleasure to see you again. To those I don't, I look forward to getting to know you."

"In the meantime, I am going to see if I can get my old room aired out. As an undersea individual, I do not do well with a great deal of dust. We don't get that down there."

He makes his way to the elevator, giving waves and hugs as seen fit and will be back another time, for certain.

Donna Troy has posed:
Irie's new jacket is indeed pretty cool. It's a cropped leather jacket that Donna has had painted up to match (and optionally be worn over) Irie's costume, with a lightning bolt on the back. It doesn't have red piping on it though -- that jacket is still in the future!

     "If you /will/ insist that six hours a day is too much training you can't complain that I've been doing it without you," Donna tells Raven with a grin. "But hey, if you feel you need a work out, I've still got plenty of energy. We can do a work out later. But I'm warning you right now, I won't go easy on you. You'll end up sweaty and aching, and may feel the need to spend the rest of the day in bed." The grin widens slightly.

    She fetches herself a snacky-shake and another for Caitlin who undoubtedly needs it, and wanders over to where Caitlin and Garth are doing their reunion hug. "You'd better share that towel with Gar, Terry. For when you get out of line. For your information I've been working on a new 'costume'. It's taking some time because I've made a special request with Pallas to make something a little different, but if you're really interested I could show you the preliminaries."

    She wraps an arm around Garth's shoulder to give him a quick one-armed hug, and winks at him. "Your room's still there Garth. And still virtually empty. If you're gonna stay for a while this time, we should work on getting you some furniture. Good to see you, Atlantean."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry O'Neil says, "A world without dust... can you imagine? Vic would have nothing to do without reprogramming his roombas. Let's agree that Vic is to never go Under The Sea, okay?" Vorpal winks and laughs at Garth's words, "I warn you, your room might have been victim of the Great Roomba Wars. For which I was absolutely /not/ responsible despite what slanderous Amazon tongues might say. Let's catch up later- we'll do lunch and I'll catch you up on all the things Donna doesn't want me to tell you." This time he does take that hug from Garth, now that the wtness has been banished.

He walks back to the chair to retrieve his notebook, "Geez, Rae, Gar has gotten to hug you once, and Irie gets a hug credit. What do I get?"

"Donna..." Terry glances at the Amazon, "If Gar and I can't do innuendos, then you can't either! That breaks the treatise of Westphalia in which Cunegonde told Candide he could go Pangloss himself and his stupid little garden. But I'd love to see the prelim. You should show me and Irie... I'll play Joan Rivers to her Holly Shackleton..." he pauses, considering, "And you have no idea who those people are because they're from the Before Times when you were born, right Irie? God, time travel makes me feel old. Relatively speaking."

He approaches the kitchen then, "Oh, yeah, it just occurred to me... we should schedule something for Kian's brother and sister... and coach. You know, take them out on the town. Show them around. Absolutely not engage in anything weird ot terrifying. I proposed the idea to Kian but he seems to think I shouldn't be the one to do it /unsupervised/. For some reason." He gets himself some more water and sips from it,

"So... who wants to to /not/ traumatize them?"

"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin rolls her eyes skyward in mute appeal at the flirting between Donna and Raven, and the ribald back-and-forth that Terry and Gar chime in with. But a smile touches her face regardless, and she just shakes her head at the collective bantering. "You are -terrible-," she informs the motley crew.

The shake is hefted at Donna in thanks and she gives Garth a gentle pat on the shoulders. "Room's just like you left it," she promises him. "Come see me or Vic later, we'll get your user account reactivated."

The shake is uncapped and Caitlin quickly guzzles down about a pint of it to slake her thirst and her hunger.

"I am -starving-," she declares. "Should I get some dinner going, or should we just send Irie on a pizza run?" she inquires, gesturing vaguely at the speedster and looking at the others.

Rachel Roth has posed:
    "It's not a warning or a threat. I just can't get away with it without having a /long/ conversation that would eat up /so/ much time." she chides, setting a hand into her pocket and letting Gar be. As Garth turns to leave, Raven nods in his direction. "Have a pleasant one, and sincerely, visit more. You'll always be one of us. You have a home here."

    Despite this earnest moment, Troia has entered into the dance, and Raven wears a wicked smile in response. "I will insist that six hours a day is too much /training/ for sure. I complain any time you waste six hours' worth of energy on frivolous pursuits to improve what is already perfect." Noting this, she reaches up, and extends a single finger, trailing it alongst Donna's right bicep and then her collarbone, before she moves on to the left bicep. "You make such sweet promises, but we both know that at the end of it, I'm the one who can still walk to the shower. Perhaps we should do some cardio... In addition to the usual, hmm... Calisthenics?"

    Leaning somewhat to the side, Raven fixes her gaze on Terry. "It isn't that there is a rule against innuendo, it's that there's a rule against /you/ making innuendoes. Primarily, it's about Beast Boy, if we're being fair- but it is a specifically applicable rule." To punctuate her change in target, Raven leans again around Troia, ensuring that at the moment, she is pressed up against the other woman as she addresses Cait. "Oh, we're actually /amazing./ Far too much so to even deny ironically." A pause, "But we should send Irie for pizza. Let her handle /some/ energy before she eats."

Irie West has posed:
"That's because you're, like, /ancient/ in my time," Irie says to Terry around a mouthful of sandwich. "Your fur's gone all grey, and you have to walk with a cane. Your glitter isn't even shiny anymore! Truly awful."

"I haven't gotten a chance to meet his family yet," she says. "Been busy with school and friends and everything. Maybe we should bust out a board game and teach them one? It could be a new hit on their home world."

Her eyes nearly bug out of her head when she watches Rachel flirt so overtly with Donna. Color spreads across her cheeks as she makes a little ducking motion with her head and averts her eyes. She's fairly certain that she's too young to be seeing something like that.

"I... um... yeah. Pizza. I'll be right back." With that she finishes off her sandwich in a microsecond and disappears out the front door.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan raises a finger, tracking Garth's departure from the group. "I think I'm gonna go help him get situated. If he needs a big aquarium in there, I've got a spare! And, uh, if we do that, we might want to protect against excessive splashing. See you guys!" Off he goes, but before he disappears he calls back, "And pizza runs are fine!"

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna watches Raven's response with a smile of amusement, head twisting this way and that to follow the sorceresses sinuous motions, but waits until Irie's out of earshot to make her own sally, having observed the speedster's embarrassment. "Such mixed messages, Rae. It seems like you're suggesting I need to train harder just to keep up with you. Surely that's no frivolous pursuit. But I think we're scandalizing both Caitlin and Irie now -- both the pair of us as well as Terry and Gar. Poor girl. You know for all we know this might be supremely embarrassing for her. Remember we know that Wally's her father, but to avoid damaging timelines she hasn't said who her mother is yet. It's not impossible her mother is someone Wally knows now, and that means it could be one of us. I mean Wally /is/ kind of hot..."

    She lets that sit there for just a moment. "And let's not forget that Bart has revealed that Vorpal and Gar have children in the future, but he never did specify that they had children /together/. It's entirely possible that Terry is Irie's mom, and we shouldn't be encouraging him like this. Not that anyone should ever encourage Terry when it comes to innuendo. That's basically like pouring gasoline on a volcano."

    Donna drains her snacky-shake and puts down the bottle, still smirking slightly. She walks towards the staircase to the women's dorms and starts climbing the stairs. "Well since you raised it, Terry, I'll show you guys what I picked up from the embassy the other day. Kind of a test run for my new armor. Cait,I'd be interested to hear your opinions on it, I've been asking Pallas to try out something a little different for me. Back in a minute!"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Donna, no, do not cross the streams. I mean... I do admit Wally is rather handsome- but he's much too /fast./ I like guys with endurance." He can joke about it because Irie has already vacated the premises, "Like swimmers! Okay- joking aside, we are going to scare the Atlantean. Poor boy just got back from visiting the little mermaid and suddenly he finds himself swimming in a sea of gay. He's going to grab his thingamabobs and swim right back home! And Caitlin is going to have to pray novenas until at least the next century."

That being said, he gives gar a peck on the cheek as he passes by, "Go help him get settled in, I'll make sure there's enough pizza when you get back. /Enough/, not abundant. I make no promises, I am hungry as well."

Turning to face Donna, he grins, "Come and show us! I think I should redesign mine as well, go for something iconic." He glances down at his suit, "In this thing, I look like I had a wardrobe malfunction in the middle of a museum and decided to dress myself up in a Mondrian. No matter what I do, I can't seem to get that /it/ look. I blame the croissants."

Rachel Roth has posed:
    "I would say I'd join you up in the room for the exhibition," Raven responds, "But frankly, I'm making coffee and just now am fighting back the urge to vomit violently. For days." she notes, reaching a hand up to flick- lightly- at the impervious skull of her partner. "I would ask that we make any references to whom Wally has children with a matter with rules against. Any conversation regarding Vorpal and Garfield passing on their genes should be grounds for immediate termination." She pats Donna on the shoulder. "You have succeeded, though. The task ahead of you later is going to be Sisyphean. Of your own design."

    There is, a short pause then, as she heads back to the now boiling pot, plucking up the grinder for the beans and setting the water off of the heat. As she gets to work making the ingredients for coffee actually become coffee, she addresses Terry- and, somewhat, Gar- without turning her head again. "Before you say anything, it will be fine for you two to adopt. I will even hold off on sending the child weapons and life insurance policies with your signatures on them for several years."

Irie West has posed:
Irie's only gone for about ten minutes before arriving with a *WHOOSH* with a stack of pizzas. There's at least five there. "Hi! I'm back! I was only able to get these on such short notice," she says. "This one is veggie, and /this/ one has anchovies." She separates the two out to make sure that people know what they're getting into with those particular pizzas. "I've also gotten a couple of orders of cheesy bread." It's enough to feed a small army, which might be enough to cover the Titans and have some left over.

"Oh! I should try on that jacket!" She disappears for a moment and when she reappears she's wearing her Kid Flash costume with the leather jacket that Donna had got her over it. "I like it!" she says. "Though I think if I wanna get /really cool/ I should trade in these gloves for those fingerless motorcycle gloves."

Then it's pizza time! She grabs a plate out of the kitchen and starts loading up on slices of pizza. She even takes one of the one that has anchovies on it after a little bit of deliberation. It's the first one she tries, and chews on the slice thoughtfully. "Salty and fishy. It's not bad, actually."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"I wonder if the Avengers will take me," Caitlin muses to the kitchen window. The view of the bay is pretty spectacular from anywhere in Titan's Tower. "Cap probably doesn't have this problem with people aggressively flirting -at- each other in the common areas."

She sighs and turns back to the crew, just in time to see Irie returning. A beaming smile of thanks is flashed at the speedster. "Good job, Irie, that's just the ticket. Make sure you save your receipts, the Food Fund will reimburse you," she promises her.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Irie's back before Donna is, and when Donna comes back down carrying a wooden box, Irie's already in her jacket, a fact that elicits a broad grin from Donna. The question of Irie's mother remains an unsolved mystery, but Donna feels reasonably sure from things Irie has said and her general demeanour that Irie's mom is not someone currently present at the tower. Despite this, or perhaps because of this, (and despite Donna's loud objection that she was being a stand-in big sister, not stand-in mom) Donna has definitely grown rather attached to Irie, particularly during the time Wally had been away investigating aspects of the Speedforce. "Looks great Irie!" she announces happily. "You can try my motorbike gloves later if you want, and if you like the look will fix you up with some."

    Donna places the box down on the table and opens it, removing some dried leaves that had been carefully placed inside for packing. For a shipping crate it's a rather beautiful bit of craftsmanship, proving that Themysciran Amazons pay much more attention to the packing of their parcels than Bezosian Amazons. "Cait and Nightwing have been going on at me for years about getting something with an armor-weave. The flexibility is great, but Themysciran metal-working is just... superior. Diana's normal armor is actually kind of based on what we have as a training armor, designed for lightness and flexibility. It looks kind of like it's interwoven strips of leather, but it's actually a laminate with hide and and internal interlocking structure of metal and ceramic strips. We don't go for things like kevlar because... well it's an area of technology that we never really developed. Not enthusiastic about the toxicity of the materials. But a while back I brought a few armor weave samples to Themyscira and asked Pallas to experiment a little..."

    She pulls out an approximate cylinder of material, something like one leg of a pair of shorts, and rests it on the table. The shape deforms a little under it's own weight. The surface of the material is black and somewhat shiny, like dark anodized metal, with a broad weave pattern similar to that seen on the breastplate of Diana's armor. The interlocking pieces are mounted on something that looks like a thick fabric, reminiscent of the armorweave costumes work by many in the superhero game.

    "This is kind of the first test-run. A hybrid of Themysciran armor-making techniques with those of Man's world. The base layer is a very fine carbon/metal mesh. The overplates are layed in a complicated fashion that allows for varying amounts of bending depending on the arrangement, so it can allow for full joint flexibility, but compressive forces cause internal rods to interlock. The plates themselves are a composite of a thin metal with a semi-fluid ceramic with shear-thickening properties. It's... not as protective as my old armor, but it's very flexible when worn. It's heavy than an armor-weave, but harder to pierce -- and I'm not that bothered by the weight. What do you guys think?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry grins at Raven, "Rae, you are somehow thinking that we'll be adopting Robin. I can assure you that any child of Chez Logan-O'Neil will be a creature of whimsy and wonder, not murder and mayhem. Well... unless we decide to adopt from Gotham, I guess." And then he gives Caitlin a look.

"Please, Cait. Captain America and Iron Man are /totally/ knocking armor. Read the fanfics. You can trust them to be totally accurate 'cause there's a few of them about you and the Amazons..."

He lets that dangle there while he turns to face Donna for the big reveal.

He lets out a sigh of appreciation and takes in the craftsmanship.

"Oh... it's awesome, Donna. Just awesome. Man... do you think that maybe someday I could get something from Themyscira for my outfit? Just something small. I wouldn't mind. Like a bracer." He wisely does not mention tiaras.