9470/Happy Birthday Phoebe!

Happy Birthday Phoebe!
Date of Scene:	14 February 2022
Location:	Gotham Pinball Museum & Arcade, Gotham City
Synopsis:	Tim Drake springs a 'Surprise' Birthday Party on Phoebe, with members of Justice League Dark and The Outsiders in attendence. Everything goes off without a hitch due to Outsiders, Batfam, JLD and new friend Arrowfam Emiko making sure assassins didn't infiltrate the Gotham Pinball Museum & Arcade. Everyone eats tons of Japanese Food, Onion Maiden food and So Much Cake and Cupcakes. For just one night, Phoebe is able to focus on her friends and the ties that bind them together. Special Appearance from Chas Chandler, whose gift is going to make Phoebe cry for like, three hours at least.
Cast of Characters:	Phoebe Beacon, Ben Reilly, Harper Row, Bart Allen, Emiko Queen, Laura Kinney, Jonathan Sims, Conner Kent, Tim Drake, Cassandra Cain, Lydia Dietrich, Cael Becker, Austin Reese, Lonnie Machin, Chas Chandler, Strix, Sara Pezzini

---

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
It's a Birthday Party!

The Gotham Pinball Museum & Arcade has been rented out to a 'private party' this evening. In order to pass security, you'll need to present a tag or Q-Code in order to get in -- and if you're a friend of Phoebe's, you've got the invite.

This three-floor museum has pinball machines on the first floor, and then from the second floor up it's full of noisy, beeping, flashing arcade games ranging from 'Pac Man' table consoles to Dance Dance Revolution! Taiko drum games, and group shoot-em-ups. Each floor has a refreshment station for UNLIMITED CAFFINATED CARBONATED DRINKS!, but the first-floor lounge has all the food and a coffee bar.

There is an obscene amount of Japanese food of all makes and manner, from various forms of fresh Sushi (some the Americanized Vegetarian version) and tons of food from the best Vegan place in Gotham, THE ONION MAIDEN.

There are brightly colored party hats, noise makers, and goodie bags filled with bubble gum and gummy sharks and little goey slimeballs, as if it were a little kid's party.

    The Birthday Girl appears to not be here yet!

Ben Reilly has posed:
Ben has done his best to dress up for the party, even shelling out some of the money he'd been saving up to buy actual clothing that isn't second-hand or recovered from a curb somewhere. Nothing fancy, just a simple unbuttoned button-down in black over a white t-shirt and jeans. He carries a present wrapped in Wonder Woman-themed gift paper under one arm, glancing around as he steps into the building that is ... a lot.

And the total lack of a face he recognizes causes him to pause a little awkwardly by the door. Oh hey, is that one of the pinball machines LaGuardia tried to ban? Fascinating. He opts to poke at it curiously rather than just, you know, stand there. The food is appetizing, but the semi-homeless guy making a b-line for the free food isn't a good look.

Harper Row has posed:
Harper Row showed up for a party and ended up going to work. With one of the machines out of order and no technician coming around for at least two weeks, the Arcade owner has given Harper permission to take a look at the vintage Donkey Kong machine to see if she can get it to work.

So she's wearing her party clothes of jeans and a t-shirt with a picture of Tweety Bird on it, but she also has a toolbelt around her waist and the back of the machine open, a pair of goggles over her eyes as she peers in at the wiring, her blue-black hair pulled back into a ponytail.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen has come in his civilian clothes as he figures most of the people who know Phoebe know Bart is a friend of hers. If Bart could have he would have brought two guests, but the second guest would have been hard to hide on a bus, giraffes are difficult like that. He does have Emiko with him, and is carrying a decently sized wrapped present "Ok, This is Phoebe's bday party, she is a really good friend of mine, known her for a couple years now. I will introduce you to folks as we meet them." He tells her, and shows his invite, and tells them Emiko is his plus one.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Emiko arrives with Bart, glancing all around with a bright smile. She's in a long-sleeved, high-necked, short-skirted pink and white 'camo' dress under an oversized Hello Kitty shirt, and has it paired with white knee-high boots with a platform sole that brings her up to 'average' height from her usual pocket-sized height. Laughing lightly, she smiles at him, "I assumed it was a birthday party since you had me help pick out a present. But Phoebe, you said? Okay, I'll look forward to meeting her!" She turns a smile towards the doorman as they enter, leaning in to hip-bump Bart as they go.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Tags, public places and social gatherings. None of these are things Laura Kinney is great with. But for a team-mates birthday she's willing to make exceptions. And hey she can always put the Q-code on a one use burner phone!

Is she a little paranoid? Yes. But someone has to sniff the venue for hidden bombs. It's Gotham you can never be too careful.

She's tried to dress up a little for the occasion. A simple black party frock, some strappy shoes and a motorcycle jacket. Presumably she came here by bike.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon has trekked out to Gotham, which is a bigger deal than it might otherwise seem. He's still thinner than most would remember, and there's a conspicuous lack of a right arm, but the other major change is that he's shaved the sides and back of his head and pulled the rest of his curly hair into a ponytail. He's wearing jeans and a black t-shirt, and has a smallish present tucked into the pocket of his oversized grey cardigan. Not fancy, maybe, but they don't turn him away at the door, at least.

    Once past security, he looks around with some interest. No Phoebe obvious, but other people drifting in. For a moment he hesitates, because people are... a lot, just now, but then shrugs and goes to find somewhere to put down the present.

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner is late... no, he got here before Phoebe. So he is not late, because it is impossible the birthday girl would be late for her own birthday. Therefore Conner is just in time. That is his story and he will stick to it.

"Hey folks," he greets to the people he knows. Most of them. No party clothes for him, no one told him it was a formal party. It is an arcade museum, after all. So, jeans and yet another leather new jacket. He has a dozen of them - they get destroyed quickly.

Tim Drake has posed:
    At this point, Tim probably owns controlling stake in Onion Maiden. That has to be why he can arrange catering for these sorts of things on the fly, because there was certainly no room in his brain for birthday party planning when he and Phoebe were off fighting angels in Manhattan.

    Likely on account of the general expectation that reality would be destroyed and there wouldn't be any more birthdays if they failed.

    But hey! Look! Everything worked out juuuuust fine. Yep. So shortly after going on his Bat-appointed week of rest, Tim had looked ahead on his calendar, realized--whoops--that he needed to get the ball rolling, and then money greased the wheels where lack of time was otherwise hitting the brakes.

    The arcade is already loud (audibly and visually both) enough as it is, so the party decorations are purposefully in contrast to that. Lots of muted verdant tones in sage, juniper, and moss. There's an actual live ivy trellis archway that's somehow been brought in purely to hold up the hand-painted "Happy Birthday, Phoebe!" banner. Aside for a few pops of gold in the form of decorative lanterns and painted earthenware pots, the rest of decor are in fact also living plants. Succulents, mostly. A few pothos.

    It's like Tim hired a very bougie party planner and then specifically told them to avoid the traditional 'pretty princess' or 'Valentine's day' colors. Which, you know, is exactly what he did.

    Not that he's been around to confirm or deny that. Tim's just now arriving in the parking lot. He even parks around back so that Phoebe can't see the building's facade in what is likely an unsuccessful attempt at keeping her in the dark about where they are, despite the fact she's lived in Gotham all her life. His cover story is something about picking up a machine he's had waitlisted for like two years, at this point.

    He's still in a bulky winter coat over his usual hoodie and jeans combo as he power-walks into the building, doing his best to stay several steps ahead of Phoebe. Mostly so that he can make frantic eyes and mouth 'okay she's here' at the other party attendees before she realizes they're all here waiting.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cassandra Cain isn't waiting. She's late, having forgotten due to beating up a gang of thugs on the lower west side. She only just found out that there was a party, and given that she's learning about this birthday thing being a...well, a thing, she may possibly have grabbed a gift on the way.

Tearing up on her motorcycle, she looks at the place from the outside. Oh hey, that's Tim. Hi Tim. She looks like a biker ganger with black helmet and all the stuff. Let's hope that she's just Cass, since that'd be much more party appropriate.

She decides to leave the jacket at the bike, blood being a neg for party supplies.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe knew, at least tangentally, that there would be 'a gathering', and roughly where it would be at -- that's how Ben Reilly got his invite. She'd spent most of the day trying to unsucsessfuly argue that you can't undo emancipation and that it had nothing really to do with legal adoption, and that having six last names was overzealous, goodness, you can't really be reasonably expexted to have Beacon-Chandler-Constantine-Wayne, and that you can in fact change your name without getting married, and in theme with GOtham Wheels of Paperwork, she was still listed both as 'Missing' and 'Deceased' in at least one database.

    So when Tim showed up with coffee and a ride -- well, gotta appreciate a man with a plan.

    Phoebe was wearing a light black jacket over a gray blouse and black trousers with nice, decent, supportive flats. Her hair was bound back in a bright orange-and-yellow hairwrap that may remind one of a candy corn mochi, and she gives a slight grin, giving Cass a wave of her fingers as the shorter girl enters before her --

    --and...

    She pauses, looking at the lounge with the live plants and golden pots, at the gathering of people who'd come to help her celebrate, her breath catching in her throat a moment as she looks at everything. Just... all the people there, taking a deep breath, frozen a moment.

    And her eyes tear up slightly, and she reaches up to wipe at them, her hand so very breifly pausing as if to scratch at her chest before she digs the heel of her palm against her eye.

    "Ohmigosh... I... h-hey, everyone."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Lydia arrives wearing a bright yellow floral print sundress, perhaps one of the more casually festive pieces of clothing she owns. Nevermind the fact that it's below freezing outside. Lydia will never notice. Her curly hair has been tamed and pulled back into a ponytail, and the little ectoplasmic fireflies that constantly surround her is holding up a tower of cupcake tins, and a small present in a box. The woman is abnormally pale, with skin the color of alabaster, and her lips are blood red, giving her something of an unnatural beauty.

    "I brought a variety of cupcakes!" she announces. "I've got vanilla, red velvet, and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Help yourselves!" She moves to find some tablespace to put them down on and arranges them neatly into rows. "This is for you, birthday girl!" she grins, setting the present down, just waiting to open. Once done, the fireflies resume their position surrounding the vampire.

    She looks around, finding many unfamiliar faces until she finds Tim. "Tim!" she calls out, making her way to him. "I need to talk to you sometime this week. Business stuff. I think you have my number so call me when you've got some time free."

    "Now," she says, putting her hands on her hips and surveying the room, sounding amused. "Who are all these people?"

Ben Reilly has posed:
Ben doesn't try to take any pride of place front and center. He knows nobody save for Phoebe, and there's a definite air of awkward about him. He nevertheless cheers happy birthday for Phoebe as she enters, clutching his gift tight at his stomach with one hand. He lifts the other to give the birthday girl a wave and a smile from across the room.

Harper Row has posed:
Harper Row hits a button inside the Donkey Kong machine and the face of the big ape pops up in the center of the arcade console, with a special beeping noise as the message HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHOEBE is spelled out in little pixelated barrels underneath.

"I promise, I'll fix it proper after the party," she says to the owner, giving him a thumbs up as she puts awya her toolbelt and goes to join the party proper. She pulls a little makeshift gun out of her pocket and fires streamers up into the air.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen will look around and as Phoebe comes in he starts the cheer of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHOEBE" smileing wide, and even starts the song "Happy Birthday.."motioning for others to see with him. The young man smiles and has not even started on the food yet, he was waiting on the birthday girl it seem. He does have an arm around Eriko when he is not motioning for the others to sing.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Emi will gladly chime in with a big, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHOEBE!" which might be odd since she knows all of one person in the room, but hey! She's enthusiastic about it! The singing has her mouthing the words though since, like many people, she believes her singing voice to be terrible. Still, it counts, right?

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael arrives along with Jon - a large white dog in a 'service dog in training' vest walking at her heels as she looks around the arcade with a faint frown. Yeah, this does seem like... a lot, she notes with some concern, as she follows Jon to deposit his gift.
    For her part, all she sets down is a simple envelope, next to the other presents.
    "If it gets to be too much..." she says quietly, concern in her voice. She hopes Jon can just relax and enjoy himself - she really does. She just very much doubts if that'll be the case.
    The blonde woman has seen a few small changes to her appearance herself, over the last week or so. Her hands both sport tattoos no - a single line of flames licking across the backs of her hands, and towards her wrists. She's also redyed her hair so underneath her blonde locks is a hidden layer of golden yellow, teal, and blue.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass pulls off her helmet, then slips into the room. She looks like herself, acts like herself. Must be an alien surrogate. Still, she pops her helmet onto the floor by the door, then scoots out of the way of the recent arrivals. Including the birthday girl!

Given that she's not the most verbal person, she absolutely has no idea what to do with all the noise and chitchat. So, as usual, she quickly starts to check the joint for assassins and danger.

Someone's got to.

Conner Kent has posed:
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Conner waves from the Outsider's corner. There is more people here he expected, and that is very good for Phoebe, who was a very lonely girl just two years ago, when she left high school. He happily joins Bart's singing, not waiting for introductions, some things can wait. But he has questions, Bartman!

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney doesn't really cheer or sing. It's just not her. Nor does she wave. It's almost like she's concealing something under her jacket. A gift perhaps? Spoilers. Yes. X-23 does at least know that much about social gatherings.

Instead she gives a nod of acknowledgement to the birthday girl. And indeed to anyone else she notices coming in.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon waves his hand at Cael. "It's fine," he murmurs, as more people come in, and then Tim comes in, and then... ahh, there's Phoebe! And fancy arcade games giving greetings, too.

    He grins and joins the cheers of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHOEBE!" without hesitation. He, at least, will sing, because he has a good singing voice and he knows it, so that there's a resonant baritone underneath whoever else is actually singing. Doesn't seem like most of the Outsiders' thing.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Lydia joins in on the 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY' and the singing, her own voice rather melodious. She picks her way through the throng of people when she sees Jon and Cael and offers to give him a hug. "It's so good to see you out and about. I wanted to come see you in the hospital, but I also wanted to make sure you had time with Cael and Martin. We'll catch up later, okay? For now, it's birthday time!"

    She turns around to survey the room. "Now people can see how bad I really am at video games," she says with a grin.

Austin Reese has posed:
He was running late, Austin couldn't help it. He was still getting used to this whole situation. Things had accelerated a lot quicker than he had thought they would. But he wouldn't miss Phoebe's party. She was the first one who trusted him with who she really was, and he has thought extremely highly of her ever since then.

Thankfully he's in time to cheer 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHOEBE!' along with everyone else. Now he'll have to actually get over to her in order to give her the gift he bought.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Outside, a person is looking in through the window. It's a villain, who came to ruin the party and/or harm people inside. They are looking in, with the tools set up to crack the window seal, enter, plant a bomb. All the fun things.

They pause, then they kneel so nobody can see them over the window frame. They go into their side pack for their tools. They look up, ready to start the operation...

The window is open. Was it open before? It wasn't...weird. So they lean up, peering inside, and come face to face with two eyes on an asian girl's face.

The person goes quite still, meeting Cass' eyes. The stare from the asian girl is deep, patient, and a warning. Then the villain notices a slice of cake being slid toward them.

There's a nod, and the villain turns to go. Their heart is beating WAY FAST in their chest, but nobody got punched...and...got cake?

Then Cass turns back to the party, prepared to continue her rounds.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Tim has just enough time to spin on his heel and join in the call of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" as Phoebe walks in behind him. Then he's immediately scuttling off to the side, into the appointed Outsiders corner with the others from his team.

    And an unfamiliar face, but he only shoots a knowing look in Emiko's direction--or rather, at Bart's arm around her--before he's singing along with the rest.

    Everyone else gets a chance to say hello to Phoebe, as Tim keeps out of the way. It's not as if they weren't chatting on the drive over, anyway, and besides. It's her day!

    And since he starts doing a perimeter check like half of the Outsiders are apparently doing right now (yes we're all healthy, well-adjusted young adults, of course) he makes note of the other person in the crowd that he doesn't recognize, apparently by himself. Ben gets a quick up-down sort of assessment before Tim waves a hand in greeting, which turns into a finger-gun over at Harper as her party gun goes off. "You been saving that one for a special occasion, Harper?" he asks.

    Then, distantly, he calls out, "Wait, who cut the cake?" Tim could've swore it was in one piece just a moment ago.

Cael Becker has posed:
    As everyone begins to sing and wish Phoebe a happy birthday - Cael offers a small, congratulatory smile of her own to the mix - but doesn't join in on the singing. It's really not her thing. She simply waits for the enthusiasm to die down again, with her hands shoved into the pockets of her leather jacket.
    Lydia's approach is likewise greeted with a nod and a smile - but she seems to have nothing else to add.
    Maybe it won't end up being //Jon/// who's overwhelmed by it all. 5R

Lonnie Machin has posed:
There's the sound of a motorcycle, a real road-chewing custom job pulling up outside. It comes to a stop.

A moment later Lonnie comes inside, carrying a box of cans of spraypaint, in his heavy leather jacket and ripped jeans and heavy boots, hair done up and... glasses on. Why is he stashing spraypaint here? He pauses, as he realizes he just walked into the middle of a party.

"...I must've missed something."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Oh gosh" Phoebe is tearing up and is laughing while crying at the singing Outsiders, the warm greetings -- Cael and Jon are even here. -- yeah, introductions all around --" Phoebe takes a breath, and the girl starts pointing "Jon Sims, Philosophically speaking a badass, Lydia, awesome baker and writer -- that's Bart -- wave Bart! -- works at the Gotham Zoo, one of my best friends -- this one --" she puts her hand very lightly on Cassandra's shoulder as she passes by after quelling a bomb threat "Is Cassandra, also a badass, great dancer!" she smiles at Cass in a warm manner. "The tall guy in the back there is Conner, he's awesome, helped save my butt last year -- the one that fixed the Mario machine is Harper and she's a freaking genius -- this quiet one is Laura, also a badass --" she looks around, and Austin comes in with the singing, and she gives him a grin "Austin! Oh -- you've met Bart, you might not remember -- wave Bart! and points to Ben in the back "BEN! I'm so glad you made it!" she smiles grandly at him, "Ben Reilly back there, native New Yorker, has a great big heart--" and she leans over to Tim and whispers "Ungol~" -- Sinarian word for 'Spider', for Tim's benefit, and she looks around, and then motions to Tim. "Tim, best friend in the universe, in case none of you recognize him after him getting sleep," she wisecracks, and she just brings her hands up and covers her mouth a moment

    "I'm... I'm really honored everyone came out tonight." she states, and her lower lip wibbles a moment. She hadn't slept, and it'd been a long day. She wipes at her eyes again. "Sorry, I'm gonna be a mess. I'm so glad I didn't do winged eyeliner today!" she states, and then she pauses, turning to Lonnie, and she looks at the spraypaint, and then back up to the redhead.

    And she rubs the back of her head. With all the HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHOEBE stuff hanging around them all.

    "Ah... no worries, Lonnie, welcome to the party! C'mon, there's so much food!"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "And there's Cael, and that's Bear, being a *very* good boy and taking his job being very seriously and -- did I miss anyone?" she asks, she purses her lips, hops up on a chair, and points to Emiko. "YOU! I don't know you! HI!"

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cassandra Cain looks up as she's touched, having not expected it. She blinks, then leans and gives Phoebe a quick hug. Oh, such a badass she is. Hugs are scary. Yup.

Tim Drake has posed:
    "The email invite I sent you, the notification I added to your calendar, three texts, pretty sure Yap even hand--uh, paw--delivered the paper invite," Tim's saying as he walks over to the newly-arrived Lonnie, swiftly divesting him of his intended stash of spraypaint.

    What does Tim do with it? Uh. That's a secret.

    Anyway in short order he's leading Lonnie over to the group, muttering "You bought her a nice set of candles with a handcarved tray to display them on," under his breath to Lonnie as they go.

    And then he just ABANDONS Lonnie by the sushi so that he can swing over to Jon, Cael, and Lydia. He does not mention the elephant in the room, only smiles brightly at the three of them. Yes, indeed, a mostly non-sleep-deprived Tim is quite a sight indeed. No bags under his eyes or anything! Clear skin. Definitely not a zombie. "Hey, glad you could all make it." To Bear, he nods. "Sir."

Ben Reilly has posed:
So many people, all of them so well-acquainted to varying degrees. Ben looks down at the gift in his hand, picking at the ribbon to make sure it curls perfectly and smoothing out some of the creases. Satisfied, he takes a deep breath and steps through the crowd. He's got all the preternatural grace of a seasoned ballet dancer and acrobat all rolled into one, easily dodging amidst the crowd to get in close to the Woman of the Hour.

He holds the gift out to Phoebe, smiling and coloring a little around the cheeks as he glances from side to side. Luckily there's a bind of brown scruff (that suspiciously fails to match his blonde hair) to mask that just a little.

"Happy birthday, I gotcha this," he holds the gift out, "It's not much, I know. I'll make up for it once I'm working."

Lonnie Machin has posed:
Lonnie pauses, and looks up and then down, and then up, and then down again, and then he looks over at Tim, and says, "No I didn't. That doesn't sound like the kind of gift I'd give at all." He watches Tim make off with spraypaint he wasn't going to use to spraypaint th windshields of cop cars, no sir, but then he pulls another fresh can out of his jacket pocket and gives it to Phoebe.

"Happy birthday?" He says, somewhat bemused. "I don't really do a lot of birthdays, because - well -" He shrugs, as if the answer's sort of obvious.

Conner Kent has posed:
Getting cake is much better than get set on fire, which was Conner's first idea. Mildly on fire. Maybe just the pants. Not that he is not quite sure half the people here saw the bad guy coming before he did, so laser vision was him being nice.

Or not. Sometimes (almost always) Cass surprises him. So, he thumbs up the girl and finishes the song without missing a beat.

And then it is a round of shaking hands and trying to get closer to Phoebe for a brief hug. Or at least shake her hand, one never knows what is best with Phoebe.

Cael Becker has posed:
    For a moment, Cael thought she'd successfully hidden from the introductions - only to get called out in the end. She manages to hide her wince, and Bear (hearing his name), lets out a single, happy bark in response, his tail wagging as he sits by Cael's side.
    Cael offers the unfamiliar young man a nod of greeting, pulling one of her hands out of her pocket so it rests atop Bear's head - idly scritching at his ears as she watches the antics of the 'younger' people.
    As if they're really all that much younger than her.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon hesitates just a moment before giving Lydia a brief hug. No freakouts, no panic, okay, good. He grins with relief and says, "Yes, we can talk later." And then people are being introduced, and he... blinks at his own introduction, but waves, and makes note of all those he doesn't know.

    "No need to apologize, Phoebe--it's your party. As the song says, you can cry if you want to." One hopes the crying wouldn't be for the reason in the song, of course.

    Then he focuses on Tim. "You've /slept/? Who are you and what have you done with Tim Drake, sir?" He's positively chipper for someone who's carrying around a metaphorical elephant. "Anyway of course we made it, it's Phoebe. I'm just glad I was able to, before..." Yeah, nope, trailing off on that one. Clearing the throat, because we're not mentioning things just now.

    "Anyway! Yes. Glad to be here."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen will move towards Phoebe, having Emiko walk with him, once he is in talking none shouting range, he will offer a smile running his free hand through his hair, and says "Phoebe, this is Emiko, Emiko and I are dating." He tells his friend. He looks to Emiko, and says "This is Phoebe, she is a close friend, and she is the one whole got Geoffry hooked on a red apples." He looks to Phoebe and smiles "We bring him any other color and he looks offended." He jokes with her.

Austin Reese has posed:
Oh boy has Austin met Bart. Last time they met Austin got to be introduced to Bart's unique abilities first hand.

Something he hopes to avoid in the future.

He wanders up towards the main group, and then slowly makes his way up to Phoebe, "I know it's not much but I think you'll like it." It's a small box wrapped in silvery paper, "I'd have gotten you a bottle of wine or something but we need to wait a few more years I think."

Tim Drake has posed:
    From over where he's standing, Tim calls out "Well your name's on the card!" at Lonnie's back.

    Then he flashes an awkward, conciliatory grin at Jon. "It's true," he says. "I took a week off. Didn't do anything that I couldn't do from my laptop." Which is to say, yes, he was still busy, but sitting-down busy. And when you're sitting-down busy it's so much easier to just... take naps. Whenever. Because you're already sitting down!

    There's a table with a few gifts already on it, likely mostly from those who otherwise couldn't attend. And those candles, probably, somewhere. Not that Phoebe knows about them yet!

Emiko Queen has posed:
Emiko turns a quick smile and upnod towards Tim. Rich recognizes rich, especially when rich is attached to names like Wayne and Queen and Stark. Then she's being guided towards Phoebe and she's offering a warm smile, holding a hand out, "Emiko Queen. It's a pleasure to meet you Phoebe. Bart's told me how much he values your friendship. I hope we can become friends too." Stepping back, she'll take Bart's hand and smile up at him, then chuckle over the anecdote, "I'll remember to bring one on the next zoo visit."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Ay, Oruguita," Cael mutters under her breath, lettinng out a sigh at Jon's awkward trailing sentence.
    Still. At least it doesn't cause her anxiety to spike as it would have - not very long ago. Instead, she turns her attention to Tim and goes, "OH! //You're// Tim Drake. You're the one who knows the way to-" She cuts herself off, then lets out a sigh. "...not supposed to talk shop tonight, am I?" she asks.
    Oh, that's going to be hard for her. She can be such a one-track mind.

Harper Row has posed:
Harper Row sets her present for Phoebe quietly among some of the other gifts, a label letting it be known that it's from her, along with a little 3D printed bluebird that sits on top of the bow on the black glitter wrapping paper. Within is a self-programmed Tamagotchi toy, a variant on the classic cult toy, only this one is a little superhero that Phoebe can control and feed and interact with. It puts out JUSTICE in ascii when she does something that pleases it. It's a one of a kind device that is totally useless but hopefully fun.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
"He's not telling you about how busy his 'vacation' mode is." Lonnie shrugs, "But on the other hand he was happy about finally getting caught up on 'The Legend of Vox Machina'." He shrugs, and then wanders off to help himself to a slice of that cake.

Laura Kinney has posed:
With the external threats dealt with and none of the guests failing the 'are you secretly an alien/mutant/etc imposter' nose check Laura allows herself a moment to relax a little. Heading over to the buffet to pick out a selection of food. Mostly light nibbles.

Postpoing the terror of mingling as long as possible.

And hey it's easier to hand a gift over once that initial crush of people has passed!

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Gives a bright grin at Cass's hug, and she holds her tight for a moment. She really is happy Cass came, and unloike the others who would know Phoebe's touch avoidance, that she's so willing to hug on Cass means a lot.

    Phoebe had no idea that there was a bomb threat that was nearly set on fire. Go Team!

    "Thanks Lonnie, it's good to see you too--" Phoebe says to the redheaded anarchist, and she shakes the can "These are great for making circles with, truly," she wrinkles her nose at him with a rueful smile "very throughtful!", and she turns to face Ben, with his scruff and and his blonde, and she gives him a warm smile too, accepting the gift from him, and she replies softly "It's real crowded at the moment, but you should talk to Tim -- he's also a science geek, would probably be interested in your mechanical engineering.", and she looks at the gift. "... this is all a bit overwhelming, to be honest -- I didn't think there'd be so many people here... I'm glad Tim did the planning." she admits quietly to the Queens native, and she puffs out a breath "I hate opening gifts in front of everyone, it's so embarrassing. I'd rather be set on fire."

    But mildly on fire, like, the pants, maybe.

    Austin gets a grin, and she reaches to lightly dap his fist.

    "Good to see you!" she greets Austin, and she grins. "Yeah, yeah, only eighteen. This is actually much nicer than the place I was going to have it in, but my old place of employment kinda has a big-ass-hole in it still. If it's still..." she trails off a moment quietly "If it's still even there now."

    And then she leans back "No talking shop! Shop bad! Cael! Talk to Laura. Laura has a similar interest in firearms! Jon!" she points to Jon.

    "Your job is to relax and eat cake."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "I'm supposed to watch that one," Jon notes to Lonnie. "But I'm not /remotely/ surprised. I'll settle for 'sleep' though."

    Cael gets an amused grin and he reaches over to ruffle her hair. "No, dear, you're not. See, the birthday girl even says so. Relax, I'll be fine, go talk to... Laura." He notes X-23 with a nod. "She, umm... probably won't hurt you."

    He salutes in Phoebe's direction and then says, "I suppose I should find cake. Although I saw sushi. And Onion Maiden. Have either of you tried Onion Maiden?" This to Cael and Lydia.

Ben Reilly has posed:
"Open if when you feel like it," Ben tells Phoebe softly, giving her a smile in return, "And don't worry about me. There's a pinball machine over there that I've just got to try before I go into a food coma by the buffet."

"Happy birthday, really. You deserve the best one."

And then he disentangles himself from the knot of people, going in search of that pinball machine.

Tim Drake has posed:
    If Tim's noticing anything about awkward half-finished sentences or general discomfort, he's not letting it on. Though he has, in a way that seems entirely on accident, shifted his stance so he's mostly blocking Jon and Cael (and sort of Lydia, but only like halfway) off from the rest of the room. AKA the bulk of the chaos.

    "Well, you heard the birthday girl," Tim says, head turning to peer over his shoulder at Phoebe. Then he points Laura out, over at the buffet, for Cael's benefit. He does the same towards Harper. "She's got some tricks up her sleeve if the custom party gun didn't make that obvious enough," he tells Cael.

    For a moment, Tim looks past the group towards the end of the buffet, where the cake is. And where Lonnie is. "Special occasion," Tim says to Jon. "We're starting with cake. The Onion Maiden will keep--the totcho toppings are kept separate so they don't get soggy."

    Then he excuses himself to go get them that cake.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
    Midway, Lonnie hip-checks Tim. "You're in Sheepdog Mode." He murmurs. He has a plate of cake in his hand.
    "You've already done enough, it's a great party. Relax and enjoy it." Then he takes a forkful of cake and pushes it into Tim's mouth. "But if you ever want to throw me a birthday party, baby, just take me to the Snake Pit."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Lydia grins at Jon at the mention of Onion Maiden. "I have! I met Tim and Phoebe there once back when.... you know. It was tasty! I'll probably pass, though. I've had a cupcake already and that's enough food for me. Speaking of which..." she catches Tim before he leaves for cake, "Don't forget to try one of my home made cupcakes!"

    "I think I'm going to go mingle," she says to Jon and Cael. Spying Bart she makes her way over to him. "Hi there," she says. "I don't know if you remember me but I'm Lydia. We were on that mission to the desert for Phoebe's homeland? It's good to see you again."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe looks back to Ben, and she gives a little smile to him. "Don't be a stranger -- and yeah, pretty sure if Tim's behind this, all the games are turned onto Free Play, so -- go ball it up!" ... her nose wrinkles "That is a terrible phrase, don't do that, but enjoy." she gives a smile, and she breathes out.

    "Emiko, huh? Pretty name--" she gives a smile, "Yeah, Bart brought me to the museum when I was feeling really down -- naturally, Gotham has like, a wicked Bat exhibit at the museum, but Geoffrey was my favorite part. I'd like to bring my little sister some time after hours." she gives a smile, giving a bow of her head and a little wave. She's trying to avoid bumping into people around the cake and food, but manages to snag herself a pair of chopsticks and some delicious, delicious veggie tempura, passing behind Lonnie and Tim

    "Practicing, I see~." she lilts to the two. "Really, thanks for coming Lonnie. And Tim -- this is *way* classier than I would have managed. You're the best!"

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Perfect party. Phoebe will have a perfect party. Cass rubs her cheek against Phoebe's, then goes and turns to keep on guard. Just in case. You never know.

A ceiling tile moves, just the tiniest bit. A shadowy person drops, knives glinting, for Phoebe's back. The form falls at her, and Cass moves behind Phoebs, catching that person, a hand around their mouth. A turn and the person is sliding across the floor, sent straight for Laura. Not a sound, kept all behind Phoebe's back.

Then Cass is pointing toward Emiko for Phoebe to see, waving to the nice lady! NOTHING HAPPENED. Perfect party. She leans up and gives Phoebe a nosetweak, and a grin.

Then she looks around the room, a quick glance that says, she saw nothing. It's a lovely, quiet night. Shh.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Another present makes its appearance on the table with the other gifts. It's in bright yellow wrapping paper with a black ribbon tied around it. Inside is a framed charcoal drawing. It's highly detailed, moreso than any human hand could possibly hope to be able to produce.

    The drawing is of a young woman, Phoebe would recognize herself pouring over a book; a scene that she often held at the Laughing Magician during the early hours of her education into the world she now lives in. Behind her spreads a myriad landscape with Egyptian pyramids, desert sands, and a massive lighthouse shining light over the entire scene. Even with charcoal, the beacon of the lighthouse seems brighter than the rest of drawing due to subtleties in the use of negative space that the hand meticulously put to paper.

    There is also a letter attached to the frame. In flowing careful cursive it reads: "Always showing the way to safety for those who need it. I'm so proud of you, Little Lighthouse. I hope to see you soon. Love always. -- Cabbie Dad (Francis Chandler)."

Harper Row has posed:
Harper Row takes note of Ben Reilly's somewhat ragged state of affairs and gets a few suspicions in her mind. She's not a detective, exactly, but she's been on the wrong end of the economic scale for most of her life. And the only reason she isn't now is because she has natural gifts and because she's good at working the system.

She steps up to him discreetly, not wanting to make a scene, "Yo, in case you need," she says, palming him about five prepaid gift cards for various restaurants, "A hundo on each. Don't stress, I've been there." she says simply enough. "If you don't need 'em, give 'em to someone who does, clear?" she says, keeping her voice pitched low.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen smiles a bit as Phoebe heads to talk to over. As Lydia comes over, he offers a smile and nods his head a bit to this "Yea, how are you doing? I think I have seen you around the curio." He says. She may have seen him coming or going or it may have been times, he was coming home or leaving at speed, which would have made him a bit harder to notice. "This is Emiko, he introduces her to Lydia, since Lydia introduced herself "You baked some of the cakes?" He asks, yea Bart would notice who brought food.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon /beams/ at Lonnie and Tim, but doesn't comment. Instead, he takes a deliberate step away to go find cake, because that sounds like a really good idea. He waves Cael off toward other people and heads over for the food table, to grab a plate and a fork. He's going to have to find somewhere to sit, because there isn't the option of holding the plate in one hand while eating with the other, unless--

    He stops, straightening from the table, and peers over at Cassandra and Laura. Opens his mouth, as if to warn Phoebe--and then firmly shuts it. Phoebe will not know. It's a good thing the Outsiders are keeping up, though, or there'd have been two disruptions by now.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney balances her plate of snacks on one hand, twirls a set of cheap disposable chopsticks in the other, and then casually ducks for just a moment to strike the sliding would be assassin in the throat with them. Carefull to use just enough force so they'll be struggling to inhale and then blacking out.

Because it's important the perfect party isn't ruined when the venue calls to ask about a dead body...

The unconcious figure does however need dealing with. The plate gets tossed up into the air and, in the moment while it's airborne, she power slides them down a mini-indoor bowling machine.

The mystery killer disappearing into the mechanism with a rattle of pins as an electronic 'Strike!' sound effect plays.

Somehow she still manages to catch the plate without spilling anything. Got to love mutant reflexes.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Emiko keeps up her end of the party perfection by offering the brief distraction Cass needed, her wmile bright as she nods to Phoebe, "I might have to drag my brother there sometime. He tries to be all disaffected and 'adult' but he would be melting over the baby animals." If there's anything disturbing to her about assassins at a birthday party, she doesn't betray it with so much as a twitch of an eyelid. She leans in to whisper some for Cassandra, then straightens and turns back to smile at Lydia, "Hello. Lydia, yes? Thank you for the cupcakes. I have a weakness for carrot cake, so this will truly be a treat."

Tim Drake has posed:
    "I wouldn't miss out on carrot cake cupcakes for anything!" Tim assures Lydia, then flashes her a guilty smile. He's definitely running around like it's his job. Sheepdog mode is right.

    That plate of cake in Lonnie's hand is now in Tim's hand. After the first bite, he's taking the whole damn thing, because this is a backwards party where they sing first, then eat cake, and honestly it just seems appropriate that it worked out that way.

    Basically, eff the rules. Tim puts a couple of Lydia's cupcakes--yes, carrot cake--on the plate too, and then hands it (mostly sans-cake) back to Lonnie. "Hold this for me?" Thusly hands free, Tim strolls over to the bowling lane, nodding companionably to Laura as he passes her by. He tapes up an "Out of Order" sign on the machine, where the balll return is, and then flashes both Laura and Cass a thumbs up before returning to the cake.

    Where did he get the tape from? Wait... where did he get the sign from?!

    Distractedly, he tips his head up to kiss Lonnie on the cheek as he reaches for his plate. "Thanks," he says, only to squawk and turn to face Jon. Jon, who Tim was going to get cake for. "Sorry! Hold on." He goes to bother one of the workers for a chair.

Austin Reese has posed:
It's hard to miss the attacker, but Austin sees the very clear sign not to say anything and only responds with a nod.

Instead, since the situation has been handled, he opts instead to go get himself some of the unlimited soft drinks. Meanwhile he moves past Tim putting the out of order sign up, and hmms faintly, "If you need help putting the trash out later, I can always stay late." He notes to Tim as he passes by.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Isn't talking about guns still talking about shop?" Cael says in a dry voice. "And - honestly, just because I know how to use guns - when have I ever given the impression I like to stand around //talking about guns//?" she asks, rolling her eyes.
    No, no. If they were talking about cars, or motorcycles, though...
    As the others move off, Cael does as well, picking uncertainly at some of the food that all looks like it contains far too many vegetables for her tastes. She avoids the cake entirely - doesn't even seem to look at it - before retreating to a corner to prop up a bit of wall, and nibble at her food, her white dog still obediently at her side.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass gives Emiko a bright smile, enthusiastic even! She nods, but does not speak. One would get to know quickly that this is her norm; she's not a talker. However, she mostly wants PHoebe to have a lovely night, so she gets up and starts to dance!

Not ballet, just dancing. For fun. Where you move your body in time to the music, and keep glancing around to make sure that nobody's doing anything that'll get someone else killed. That's part of it right?

She beams, happy to enjoy this night. After all, it's a party!

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    "I brought cupcakes, yes," Lydia says. "The cake cakes were brought by Tim, I think." She gives Bart's girlfriend a genuine smile, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

    The assassin activity isn't lost to Lydia's vampire hearing and smell. She does her best to ignore it. Anybody foolish enough to attack a room full of vigilantes deserves whatever they get.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe gives a smile at Emiko "Oh! There's posters with the six cheetah cubs when they were babies. I think there's actually some picture of uuuuuuuour local superhero team after they man-handled some people trying to steal the baby cheetahs, -- but let's face it, those Cheetahs are going to prosper!" she gives a smile.

    She is Utterly Unaware of any of the other things going on behind her -- or so it seems. Situational awareness may be something that she'll have to work on, but she is properly distracted, eating food, listening for pinball machines, and as she makes her rounds, she comes over to Jon, and she gives a small smile, and gently states: "I'm going to break my own rule just for a minute --" she quietly says. "How's your recovery going?"

Lonnie Machin has posed:
    Lonnie obligingly tilts his cheek when Tim leans up to kiss it, and he's left standing there without any cake at all. He shrugs, and then says, "He needs more carbs in his diet anyway," before he sets off to go find the music machine and take it over, which will lead to some drastic noise, if he isn't stopped.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Emiko blinks. Then blinks again. Then snorts out a small laugh and shakes her head at Phoebe, "That's terrible and perfect." Appropriate punnage is rewarded!

Lydia gets a nod as she turns a smile up towards Bart, "Thank you. I'm happy to be able to start meeting Bart's friends. I'm pretty new to the city, so this has been really great." She turns the smile towards Lydia before giving Bart a nudge, "Did you want to get some food? It's been a bit since you ate anything.."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon shakes his head and smiles at Tim, as Lonnie pointed out, doing sheepdog duty. But he'll be grateful for a chair, and will sit and put the plate on a table. So he can eat. He sighs as Cael disappears off to one side, but doesn't protest. If she's overwhelmed, she's overwhelmed.

    Phoebe gets a tight smile in reply to her question. "I'm alright. Probably pushing a little faster than I would if I didn't know there's... other things coming. Weird thing to try to prepare for, but..." He shrugs. What are you going to do? "I've been considering things like prosthetics, but I figure that should probably wait until everything's... settled." Until he's back from the dead, that is.

    His smile widens. "Happy birthday, though, seriously. You should go have fun. Dance with someone." He quirks a brow. "If there's anyone you want to dance with, that is. Remind me, now you're 18, to take you and Tim 'round some of the old pubs back home--I'm sure he'll enjoy trying various not-as-horrible-as-they-sound meat pies. And I owe Cael a primer on proper cream tea, because she evidently thinks clotted cream is 'vile.'" He rolls his eyes.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Lydia gives Emiko a friendly nod and leaves them to the food. Eschewing the food herself, Lydia fades into the background continuing to mingle with people that she hasn't met yet. She's perfected the artform. After all, when you grow up in a wealthy family who's well connected and often goes to social events with their kids, you get to learn how to do that instead of, say, stand in a corner and hope nobody notices you.

Laura Kinney has posed:
With a platter of nibbles obtained and the initial crush of people receding now is the time to present the birthday girl with her gift. She takes a deep sniff as she goes, probably hunting for more assassins, but also more generally taking stock of the room. Who is where and soon.

The parcel is slipped out from under her jacket. Wrapped neatly in paper with a Japanese floral print.

"I'm not very good at buying gifts..." she starts. Having come over near silently. "So I went with something practical." The bundle is remarkably heavy. Under the paper there's a cloth bundle and inside that? A set of hand made Japanese chefs knives. Practical /and/ deadly.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen will nod to Emiko. He will head over towards the table, noticing Cael, and her service dog. There is a bit of a flash of speed, and Bart is there and then gone in a moment, and back moments later. He stop by Phoebe and Jon. He has a tupperware dish, and looks tot he two of them. "Um, you think your friend, would want some of the treats, I make for her dog? I know might not be able to give them to it now, but I thought might like them. He opens the box to show the cookies, hey is that shape one of Phoebe's cookie cutters at the roost?

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass is dancing, and damnit it's fun. She's beeboping and moving and...sees Laura glance at something. Still dancing. She lets her eyes glance toward Bart, then she headtilts toward Phoebe just the tiniest bit.

Then, when Phoebe is offered cookies, she slips off the dance floor and under a table.

A moment later she's sliding something across the floor toward Conner. Something that's blinking, possibly even ticking. And without any more than that she's back up on the dance floor, glancing at Tim and nodding toward Conner.

Deep breath. Happy evening. And she checks her pockets for Phoebe's gift.

...frig.

Strix has posed:
    Off in a corner, one of the HVAC vents silently slides open and a black clad man starts to slide out, with evil intent in his eyes. They suddenly widen in surprise as he gets about halfway out and he's suddenly *yoinked* back inside. There's a bit of a muffled *whump* and a bit of a pause, and then Strix instead hops out of the vent, dusting herself off.

    She's dressed in overalls over which a fluffy pink unicorn sweater (complete with bullet holes) is worn. Bandages are wrapped haphazardly around her head, with dark curly hair poking out in the gaps. What skin can be seen is dark, and filled with scars. She silently slips the cover of the vent back into place and joins the party.

    She trots over to where Phoebe is, waving enthusiastically! Many things have changed since she was a kid back in the '40s but one thing hasn't was birthday parties. And Strix brought a birthday present! She hands over a large sheet of construction paper, on which she's drawn Phoebe as Balm, perched on a rooftop, overlooking the city.

Emiko Queen has posed:
At the table, Emiko is piling up food onto two plates, one with many fewer items for herself, and another with all the things for Bart. Balancing them remarkably well, she glances around, still smiling, noting a few things going on. Something touches her boot and she rebalances the plates even as she bends to pick it up. Grabbing up an extra cupcake, she starts towards Bart.

Coincidentally, this brings her past Cass, where she slips something into the checked pocket and palms a cupcake into her hand. Not a word spoken, not a mention of it. She just replaces the lost present and adds a cupcake and goes back to Bart to give him his food!

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner has decided he needs to try all the cakes, and is currently going through a slice of the carrot one while pondering about a good moment to bring his gift to Phoebe. Yes, a soda can in his other hand... and a ticking something. Ah.

There is a quick sleight of hand as the can is replaced by the something. He steps back towards the door. A few seconds later there is a distant explosion.

"Fireworks," explains Conner, stepping back in. No one from Gotham would believe it was fireworks. But fortunately half the party guests are from New York. Also, the explosion was pretty high, maybe it was fireworks! And not that can throw 'somethings' very far.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "There is, in fact, a lot of people here I want to dance with, but the whole 'hesitant to touch anyone thing'." she states, and she looks over to Tim, to Cass and to Ben, who's exploring the pinball machines.

    "But I wanted to check in on you. This... wasn't how I wanted the party to be. Tim I'm pretty sure extracted as much as he could for this place. And it's the first time I've seen so many of my friends and family in one place." she smiles, and then her brows knit "... with... out there being combat, anyway." she looks to Jon, and cracks a small smile "I had to go to the Town Hall and do Name Adjustment. Caroline asked me to..." she gives a soft breath out. "Well. It's a good thing I just introduced myself most of the time as Phoebe instead of any of the last names now." she smiles, and takes a deep breath, and rubs the back of her neck.

    "But I'm glad, for whatever qualifier of 'well' is, that it's going well." she states, and then just... very lightly, she pats Jon's shoulder. "If there's anything you need, let me or Tim know. We'll give you a hand."

    She stops. She presses her lips together.

    "... Welp. I'm going to go throw myself into the Gotham River now." appropriate level of dramatic.

Tim Drake has posed:
    As he disappears into a back room, Tim turns to flash a thumbs up in Austin's direction. "Cleanup's always the worst part of any party!"

    In the intervening moments since then, Tim has managed to find not just one chair, but four chairs. Which he brings out in two trips and arranges around the end of the buffet table, so that Jon and others can have a seat. "Hey, Mary. There are cupcakes!" He pauses in his seemingly unharried running-about to point her in the direction of the sweets at the end of the table.

    The new party guest's unusual means of arrival doesn't even earn a bat of an eye. Though Tim does stop, hands on his hips, to frown consideringly. "Something's wrong. What did I miss?"

    His head lifts towards the view out the front window, giving an appropriately stunned 'whoa' at the fireworks. "That was awesome. Nice job setting that up, Conner."

    That's only a momentary distraction though. A bo--ahem--fireworks show, no, that's not what has his detective sense tingling. Tim narrows his eyes.

    He'll figure out that Lonnie's missing here soon, don't worry.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
Lonnie's found his way to the music, which is why there's a sudden tilt away from popular music, to a lot of stuff from the Gotham punk band scene, a lot of Gotham rap music - the current track being a whimsical tale about stealing Batman's car and leading the GCPD on a chase across the city, very much in the style of Slick Rick. Which of course, never happened because nobody would dare, but it's a heck of a yarn.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Annnnnnnnnnd there it is. Tim goes briefly very still before he cranes his head around towards the controls for the museum's stereo system.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    And when Mary turns up, Phoebe gives a great big smile, "Hey Mary -- good to see you too, thank you for coming --" she trails off, and she sees the contruction paper drawing, and she gives a bright, warm smile, and looks to Mary.

    "It's beautiful, Mary, thank you, looks just like me, don't you think?"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon... snickers. "Phoebe," he says, "/I'm/ the one that's been sending Myton Python memes to people. 'It's only a flesh wound' and all. It's fine. I'm fine. I /do/ wish everyone would stop tiptoeing around like I'm some kind of invalid. It's /fine/. Are you sure you only want the one name? That's normally pop--"

    He glances aside, distracted by... fireworks? We'll go with that. Fireworks. "They're really pulling out all the stops, aren't they?"

    Then he shakes his head. "Anyway... we'll need to talk shop sometime, as soon as we can, but for now... enjoy your birthday. Consider it an order from your fellow leader." He grins at her.

    He smiles at Mary as she approaches. "Oh, that's lovely. Hello... Mary?" More new people to meet.

    His own gift, whenever opened, is a small crystal bird, rose-colored like Phoebe's wings, that he's enchanted (with a small hieroglyph Sharpie'd on the bottom) to glow with soft light and play a little tune, when it's touched. Not remotely practical, but he saw the thing and thought of her.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cassandra Cain has agift for Phoebe too. She didn't think she did, but apparently Emiko saved the day! Which means she can give it to Pheebs! She finds the gift, and does a little dance! She pulls it out and walks to Phoebe, quietly, then offers it to her with both hands.

An envelope. With a little piece of paper in. She looks so, so anxious. Super ninja girl, who's been trying so hard, bites her lip with worry. Please like it. Please like it.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
The decision to leave the hospital a day early allowed Sara a day to collect herself, and modify a couple of shirts to accommodate the odd immobilization sling presently holding her left arm against her body. She couldn't lift the arm more than a few inches away from herself, so the shirts had to be adjusted to tie into place on the left side, but the sling went up over her shoulder and across her back, so nothing was revealed. Thankfully, she has some use of her left hand, it could hold the card she carried with her for Phoebe.

Slipping into arcade, she did her best to remain quiet and mostly unnoticed, making her way over to lay the card on the table with the other presents. She wasn't intending to stay too long, but at least wanted to wish Phoebe a happy birthday. In America, eighteen was a big deal. The invisible line between child and adult, so there was no way she was missing it.

Strix has posed:
    An audible gasp escapes from Strix. Cupcakes!? She rushes over to the table and grabs a couple of them to stuff in her face. When Jon addresses her she gives him a smile, making sure to keep her mouth closed because of all the cupcake stuffed into it.

    At the introduction she nods, as Jon identifies her. She then points to Phoebe, then to Jon, and cocks her head in a question.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Oh -- Mary, this is Jon. He works a ittle with Tim and I in the Medical Area at home. You might see him around 'the house'." Phoebe introduces Jon. "Jon, this is Mary Turner. She's..." she pauses a moment, and then she looks up a moment. "... Deadly." she decides "... in a good way. We met when I saved a couple of robbers in an alleyway from her." she explains. She hears a pop, and she purses her lips and turns -- to see Sara.

    "Sara!" the teenager greets, and she pats Mary on the shoulder, and then she stands to go properly greet the detective.

    "Hey, c'mon, the Lonely Arm's Club Band is sitting over in this direction, where Tim's set up some chairs. Can I get you anything? Cake? Sushi? Large order of Taotots?" she offers as a smile, and gives a nod.

    "It's good to see you out and about. Also, I think I pissed off Cael."

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Now that she's delivered her gift, Cass moves into the background. She's done a lot tonight. She waves to Mary as she arrives, gives Austin and Lonnie both a thumbs-up, and turns the defense against the dark arts over the them. She knows they'll do a good job. It's a great party, but she's got something she needs to do.

Mostly her player's tired. Love ya Pheebs.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
A smile spreads across Sara's face. She was caught, but at least it was by the one person she wanted to see. As Phoebe approaches, she offers her right hand to shake because well, that's what you do. She doesn't know Phoebe well enough to hug her, or at least that's what her brain says.

At the urging, she moves to join the others and offers the comment, "Pissing Cael off is really easy Phoebe, don't take it personally." with a broader smile. "Lonely Arm's Club Band? That's almost cruel, but accurate. Happy Birthday, by the way."

As the bombardment of offers are made, she chuckles. "Coffee would be nice, but not required. What are Taotots?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael - who is far from feeling pissed, or annoyed - continues to hold up her patch of wall, while nibbling at the plate of food she'd gathered for herself. The sushi isn't bad - though it obviously wouldn't have been her choice.
    As Sara appears, she offers the woman a brief smile should she glance her way - Bear offering a few thumps of his tail in greeting, as well.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Having given Bart his plate of food, along with a kiss to his cheek, Emiko moves off to wander and mingle while idly enjoying her own food. Mostly the veggie sushi for her, though she got one of the Coffins from the Onion Maiden. And of course, a carrot cake cupcake. She ends up near the only other person that is even semi-known to her, Tim Drake. Offering a quick smile, she greets him, "Tim Drake, right? Emiko Queen. I think we've done the 'ships in the night' thing at a few functions. Nice to finally meet you."

The music choice has her wincing faintly, but that's likely more from volume than style. "I just moved to New York. Oliver's doing. He said I needed to learn to be a 'functional adult'. I guess he really just wanted me to be around people my own age." She flashes a brief grin and shrugs.

Austin Reese has posed:
Austin takes time to watch the fireworks from a good position near the window, and then wanders back into the arcade proper. Eventually he finds his way to one of those basket shooting games, and takes advantage of free play in order to work on his shots.

Strix has posed:
    Mary gives Jon a little wave when introduced as deadly, then nods solemnly when it's explained how she and Phoebe met. She does a little shadow boxing to display her martial prowess as an example.

    She's distracted, however, by movement out of the corner of her eye. It looked like a white tail. *GASP* It /was/ a white tail! She trots on over to Cael and looks at her pleadingly, and points at Bear, and mimes scritching his head.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon nods to Mary. 'Deadly' is a moniker for many people he knows, along with 'in a good way,' so he just smiles at her and gives her a thumbs-up past a bite of cake. Which he /doesn't/ choke on at 'Lonely Arm's Club Band.' But he's laughing again, yup.

    "Cael's not pissed," Jon says with the authority only a telepathic boyfriend can have about these things. "She's just... well, she came to keep me from being overwhelmed but I think /she's/ overwhelmed. Oh! Bart! Yes, please, give Bear the treats, he is a Very Good Boy and deserves all the best. And I promise Cael won't bite, either, she's friendlier than she looks."

    He grins at Sara. "You're only a temporary member of the band. I am evidently lead singer." Yes, he's very outwardly blase about the arm thing. Nobody here had to see him grumbling about asking his husband for help pulling back his hair.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "And belatedly--" Phoebe points at Bart. DRAMATICALLY as some Gotham Thrash about clowns (by the band Thrash About Clowns, no doubt) and she narrows her eyes at him.

    "Treats are appropriate for the dog, ask Cael, but bruh." she looks at him.

    "My Sunshine Brand Cookie Cutters?"

Tim Drake has posed:
    Apparently it is deemed safe to leave Lonnie in charge of the music. Certainly there are worse people who could have the aux cord. Tim, meanwhile, is back to sheepdog herding.

    Which is a little bit easier now that things have calmed down a bit. Maybe the various villainous interlopers have wised up.

    "I thought I recognized you," Tim says to Emiko with a smile. "I'm sure Oliver and Bruce move in the same circles though I mostly stick to Gotham. How's New York treating you?"

    None of his usual mostly-joking enmity for Gotham's larger, more famous neighboring city is there in his voice as he adds, "Must be great having access to all that authentic New York-style pizza! You'd be surprised how hard it is to find something even halfway comparable down here."

    Tim glances over to where Bart--and Mary, too--is hanging out, near Bear. "So, how'd you and Bart meet?" he asks, voice lowered conspiratorily.

Cael Becker has posed:
    The silent woman earns a puzzled look from Cael, who glances down at her dog for a moment. Why wasn't she //asking//? Was she deaf, perhaps? "Uhhh... sure. Wait a second?" she answers verbally, despite her confusion, as she sets her plate on the floor. She takes a moment to remove Bear's vest before adding, "Go ahead," as much to Bear, as the unfamiliar woman. Suddenly all wags, Bears moves closer to the strange woman, sniffing curiously.

Lonnie Machin has posed:
    Well, considering that the next song that plays is Rage against the Machine's 'Bombtrack' maybe it's not THAT safe to leave Lonnie in charge of the music - but then again, he's probably happy, even though Rage probably ISN'T the ideal soundtrack for Phoebe's birthday party. But it's on his playlist. s. All of his playlists have 'Bombtrack' in them. Even the one he uses to relax when he goes to sleep.

Emiko Queen has posed:
"Oh probably. But you know when you first join the family you get dragged around so everyone can meet you. I swear it's a territorial thing." Emiko shakes her head, then puffs up her chest and puts on a scowl, "'This is MY sibling and they are MINE. Look so you know but MINE. No touching and play nice.'" She lets it out with a chuckle and smiles, "To be fair, until now, I'd mostly been in Starling City. I get it, hometown and all."

She blinks, then clears her throat, "I, ah, I actually keep a pretty strict diet. I don't eat much pizza. But I have like.. half a dozen Japanese restaurants within two blocks of where I'm going to live, plus a couple Korean places, AND an Australian restaurant. So it's been fun exploring!"
Glancing back to Bart, her smiles softens before Emiko is looking back to Tim, "ESU campus. I was supposed to get enrolled at the admissions office, but the map they sent me was -terrible-. So I asked this really cute guy if he could point me in the right direction." Chuckling, she shrugs, "Best decision I've made so far. Bart made sure I got to admissions... and I made sure to get a date with him."

She pauses for a moment, then grins, "Next time we met, I didn't even recognize him at first. But it turned out great. I got to meet some of his friends, and start making a few of my own."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen takes one of the cookies out and bites it himself "They are all natural, and ok for human's to eat, plus I cleaned the cutters afterwards, nothing gross on them. He smile when Emiko gives him the plate and sets it on top of the box, and heads over towards Cael. Once the woman has oked the dog being petterd by Mary, he will step over and take his plate in one hand and the tupperware in the other. "Hi, my name's Bart, I'm a friend of Phoebes, and Jon, and the rest. Saw you brought your service dog, and wanted to offer you these. I make treats for my friend's pets, that have vitamins in them to be healthy and all natural. I wanted to offer you some. " He thinks a moment and says "Oh, I'm not a total odd ball, I work at Gotham Zoo, and am studying to be a Vet, is why I make the treats." Did he have them when he came in? No, maybe Phoebe's present had them hid, that or maybe he ran home while no one was looking and got some, they are not still hot so at least he did not bake them at speed.

Strix has posed:
    Mary looks curious when Cael takes off the vest for Bear. Why would she need to do that for pettings? When it's clear that Cael is a bit confused about her silence she taps on her throat and shakes her head vigorously. She can't speak.

    When the vest is off and the dog is all wags, Mary's eyes light up and she crouches down to give him many, many pets. She straightens once she has her fill and pulls out a notepad and a pencil from within the pockets of her overalls. It's too loud to use her phone, it'd never be heard. She scribbles something on it and shows it to Cael.

        I HAVE
        DOG TOO

    It reads. The script is big and blocky, like what you'd see from a child who's in the fifth grade. She flips to a new page and writes:

        WHAT IS
        HIS NAME?

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Ah, Bart, hello," Cael greets the man - while Mary is petting away at the dog. Her smiles widens briefly into a polite smile as she adds, "That's very kind of you - thank you. I'm sure Bear'll love them. He's a real pig when it comes to treats. His favorite is peanut butter. Right Bear? Peanut butter?"
    As Cael says the magic words, Bear is looking up at her hopefully, sniffing the air as if trying to find the peanut butter.
    "I'll be sure to give him some of these later."
    Her attention returns to Mary as the woman starts writing on the pad, and she gestures to the pup before she adds, "His name's Bear. He's almost a year old, so he still has a little growing and filling in to do, but he's a real good boy. I've been lucky to have him."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen nods, and says "There are some with a peanut butter base and a few others. They are safe for people to eat, as I was showing Phoebe. Sorta my take on scooby snacks." He jokes a bit, and he will reach down to pet Bear for a moment, since he is in petable mode. He actually noticed Mary's look at the best earlier. "The vest means he is at work Mary, so he is supposed to be all serious, when he does not have the vest on he is off duty and can be playful and be petted."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara sits quietly, listening to everyone talking and enjoying the fact that everyone was talking. She spent a week in a quiet hospital room, bored out of her mind, so being back where people just chatted was wonderful. She smiles as Bear gets all the attention a dog could possibly need, and now the possibility of home made treats? He had to be in doggy paradise over it all.

She offers a nod to those she knows, or at least has met in the past, then begins the search for a cup of coffee.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Tim's eyes widen slightly at Emiko's explanation. "That sounds pretty intense," he says, sympathetically. And then he has to bite the inside of his cheek when Emiko mentions her diet. It's technically the same for him, but special occasions--like being stuck in Manhattan and relying primarily on Titan-delivered pizza--call for relaxing his strict macro counting.

    Though that does make Tim realize that he's been kind of just... not doing any of that for a while. It was definitely the first thing to go when life got crazy.

    "It's nice having that kind of variety nearby. I live down near the college so, you know. A lot of pizza and tacos, that kind of thing. Though Onion Maiden is a foodtruck near campus that Phoebe introduced me to. At this point they start making my order when they see me coming."

    His eyes track Emiko's gaze, towards Bart. "That sounds like him. It's not just animals; Bart's always willing to help out anyone in need, no matter what. He's a great guy." And then with a dramatic roll of his eyes, Tim adds, "I have to go handle the music situation before he puts on N.W.A. Pretty sure at least two of Phoebe's guests have law enforcement backgrounds."

    With that, he slips off to go steal the aux cord back from Lonnie.

Strix has posed:
    Mary listens as Bart explains and nods, kind of understanding what he's talking about. But a dog with a job? She's never heard of it.

    WHAT IS
    BEAR'S JOB?

    She writes down and shows to Bart and Cael, her curiosity evident by the tilt of her head.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I'm sure will find and eat every cookie with even a trace of a peanut," Cael answers Bart with amusement.
    She then reads the note on the pad - and shifts a bit uncomfortably, looking down at her dog, and then back towards Mary. It was a... fair question, if someone isn't familiar with service animals. "I've had some bad experiences in my life - and I have PTSD as a result. Bear's trained to know my moods. He knows if I'm having a hard time, and he gets me to sit down, and pet him, so... it doesn't get worse. So it can start to get better. He's very good at his job. He's helped me a lot."

Emiko Queen has posed:
"Oh it's not that bad, Ollie's just protective, you know. Especially since he didn't know about me for... awhile. Like.. the first half or so of my life. No clue. So when I showed up on his doorstep after my mom abandoned me, he was pretty protective. Made sure people knew not to mess with me, and that he wouldn't accept any dergatory comments about us sharing a dad but not a mom. It was sweet but.. yeah, intense." Emi chuckles and lifts a shrug, clearly adoring of her older brother. And she's been spoiled, living in Starling City. There was always something to suit her diet at Oliver's.

"Yeah, there's all kinds of fun stuff in the area. Plus a big open air market up at Union Square, so hey, local fresh produce!" She glances at the Coffin veggie taco on her plate and grins at him, "I can see why you like them. Fun food, fun names."

She nods to Bart, smiling once more, "Yeah, he's great. Really great. I still can't believe he was single. Figured I'd ask him to dinner and he'd start hemming and hawing about a girlfriend..." she lifts a shrug and chuckles. "Their loss." Emi looks back to Tim and nods, "Of course."

With Tim moving off, she goes to rejoin Bart, leaning in against him lightly and smiling, "Introduce me?"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon, for his part, does not seem to mind the music. Even if he's technically law enforcement now, and /dating/ an /FBI agent/, he's been listening to an awful lot of the Clash and Sex Pistols lately, himself. Fighting the ultimate universal law enforcement figure will do that.

    Cake is finished, and Jon gets up to go hunt down some Onion Maidan. "You want some tots, Sara? I think I'm going to grab some, and sushi too." He hesitates, and then adds, "I can float them over, with magic. I should be practicing that more." As if to demonstrate, he conjures up a disembodied orange hand, which picks up some sushi and puts it on a plate. It's fairly visible, not like he tries to hide it.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen nods his head in agreement woth Cael, and says "Service animals help for a whole range of things, some people have them to help them able to get around, who can't normal, some help with ptsd like Bear here, some even help epilepsy. They can help for a whole range of things and are good for their owners and help quite a bit.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Finding coffee, Sara adds two sugars and one cream before she looks over to Jon.

"I don't know what taotots are," she comments to him. "But I'm willing to try them. I can get themselves however, and you can float your own tots." She grins at that comment, the reason probably something in her own head.

The music doesn't bother her at all, it likely should being that she's also a cop, but really it's just noise in the background to her. She's heard so many different kinds of music that after a while it all just becomes background to what was really important, in this case the conversation.

"Besides Jon, I can still use my hand," she sort of wiggles her left hand at him. "It's perfect for holding one light item, but thanks for the offer. Seriously... what are taotots?"

Strix has posed:
    Mary isn't sure what PTSD is, or epilepsy, for that matter, but they sound serious, so she nods seriously. Besides, she knows that Beast makes her feel better whenever she gets down. Having a dog who knows her feelings well enough to get her to sit down and cuddle sounds like a real treat to her.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen nods, and will pet the dog one last time, and then leave Cael, Mary and the dog to head over to Emiko, on the walk over there his plate is emptied. He wipes his mouth and when nears her leans in to kiss her cheek. He looks over and says "So, I see you met Tim." He remembers not to call him Rob as is his habit.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael nods to Bart, and scritches at Bear's fur for a moment, a fond smile on her lips. "You're a good boy, Bear. Yeah? It's a nice change of pace to just have a... party to go to." And nothing very likely to set of Cael's considerable issues.
    Lifting her gaze from the pup, she seeks out Jon - watching as he and Sara seem to be headed towards the food, and offering them both a brief smile - whether they glance her way or not.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe is finally just a little more relaxed. People are moving between groups. Tim's about to fight Lonnie for the Aux. There's pinball and videogames being had, and she sort of... withdraws, just a little bit. She sits Mary's picture with the rest of the gifts that she hasn't unwrapped yet, and she leans back on her heels, looking at the assortment. The people who care for her.

    The people who love her. Her friends.

    And she gives a small, sad smile, her fingers brushing against the silver locket under her shirt, and she takes a deep, soul-settling breath as she withdraws a moment to lean against a wall nearby Cael, Mary and Bart, to listen to their exchange, and she just... smiles.

    "This is good. This is real. This is Happiness." she murmurs to herself, as if reminding someone.

Ben Reilly has posed:
Ben had kept his distance. He'd played some pinball, had some food, and largely let Phoebe talk to her friends and enjoy her birthday. He was the new guy, and he didn't exactly what to cramp her style or make her feel like she needed to focus on him. But as things seemed to calm down a little (in a sense) and people were mingling, he finished up his round of pinball and made his way over towards the birthday girl.

"Hey," he tells her, leaning forward to pop into her eyeline as she smiles to herself, "I don't like to brag, but you're looking at a newly-minted millionaire. That's right, a million points on that pinball machine over there. I'm trying to decide if I want a yacht or a palatial mansion first."

Emiko Queen has posed:
Emi leans up and smiles at the cheek kiss, hugging him lightly in return, "I did! We vaguely knew each other in a roundabout way. We're both rich kids that occasionally have to make rounds at rich people things. So I'm sure we were introduced under the most boring of possible circumstances. But now we've really met. He's nice." Her own plate has managed to empty as well, and she takes them both to set aside with a smile, "Dance? I also really liked Cass. We're going to try and meet up for some sparring another time. I'm looking forward to that."

She glances around to Phoebe and Ben and calls out, "Want to come join us on the dancefloor? Looks like Tim got the music setlled!" At least for the moment. But Tim's gone and Lonnie's still here! Music could change again in a minute! Then she's looking back to Bart, "Did she like the gift?"

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen will take Emiko's hands and says "I am not the best dancer, but I am a quick learner." He tells her. Bart smiles and says "I am not sure if she has had a chance to open it or not, there was alot going on this evening." He admits. "I think you will like Mary when you get a chance to meet her too."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon makes his way over to Cael with a floating bowl of red curry noodles, which he presents to her as if it were an offering. "I think I've got a little more in me, and then I owe Martin dinner. It /is/ Valentine's Day, after all. Let's eat and then head back?" Emiko and Bart and Mary all get polite nods.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael looks towards Phoebe with a polite smile as the woman comes to stand near her, offering a simple statement by way of greeting. "It's a nice party." She follows this up with, "Some of your friends are odd, though." From the smirk - it's possible she includes herself in that statement.
    As Jon makes his way over with his offering of red curry noodles, however, her face lights up into a broad smile, just for a moment. "I can get behind that plan," she agrees, before digging in. With her mouth still half-full of noodles she adds, "Bear got cookies."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Whatever the hell Taotots are, Sara gets some and goes back over to sit down. Her left hand can in fact hold the tots, while her right has the coffee. Once sitting, both go on the table. She offers Cael a nod from where she sits down, then takes a drink of her coffee.

Valentine's Day, just another day, but now Sara can attach Phoebe's birthday to the date and that makes it mean something to her. "Hope you had a good birthday, Phoebe," she offers with a smile, then eyes the tots.