9849/Birds Chirping

From Heroes Assemble MUSH
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Birds Chirping
Date of Scene: 27 January 2022
Location: Historic Clocktower - Operations and Common Rooms
Synopsis: Some of the Birds get together on a cold night, and celebrate Cassandra's birthday
Cast of Characters: Barbara Gordon, Stephanie Brown, Helena Bertinelli, Cassandra Cain




Barbara Gordon has posed:
Snow is falling outside. The sun has been down for several hours. IT's cold. Very cold.

Barbara has been a ghost all week. Not really speaking on team comms, and only checking in when checked on. The clocktower itself is in full operational status though, so there is nothing to be alarmed about. 'Oracle' has taken the form of an AI system of late, a computer fully capable of doing most all of the work that Barbara did for the teams over the past decade.

This has allowed Barbara herself to focus on, herself.

In the now, the 29 year old woman is in the common area, she's standing next to a blueprint spread out over a table, and is refreshing a cup of coffee from a machine beside it. Dressed in a skin-tight black sweater, and black leather pants, the redhead has her hair tied up in to a bun on the crown of her head, she's wearing black framed glasses and is sporting a shiner over her eye, and a broken bottom lip, marring her otherwise attractive features. She has her cup filled with fresh coffee and is stepping quietly back to the blueprint to stare down at it while she raises the cup up to sip from its contents.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown hasn't quite been her normal self since the night of the prison breakout. The normal lighthearted demeanor has given way to a quiet seriousness for the most part, for any that have encountered her. Even more, she hasn't been very talkative. Which for Stephanie, that's some kind of a glaring red flag thing.

She arrived earlier in the evening, wearing her costume, though the cowl is currently removed as she sits in front of a computer. Security feeds are pulled up one after another. Dossiers on various underworld figures. Quite a few are associates of one Anthony Capenzo, and one screen has a diagram of how he connects to various other people in the underworld.

There is also, Barbara would probably know, a birthday cake in the fridge and ice cream in the freezer. A message to Cass that would suggest meeting at the Clocktower had been sent. And other birds would have gotten an invitation to what, in her words, hopefully will be a birthday celebration.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Huntress hadn't been a full Birds member for long. Meeting at the Clocktower was more novel than for most, still. On arrival, she parked her bike in an alleyway and removed her helmet to shake her hair out while reflecting upon her poor life choices in winter transportation.

Making her way to the Tower, she made her way to what she knew as Oracle's work place. Stepping inside, she spoke up, "Knock knock..." clad in her full armor, she remained masked because she hadn't expected otherwise. A moment of surprise crossed her features as she saw the redhead. It a look of momentary confusion followed by, well, more confusion she tried to hide by acting naturally.

Which really just meant she looked more awkward in the moment. So she just stood there for the time being.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
The tech on Cass' outfit, including her boots, keeps snow from sticking to her. Rather like wearing teflon. It helps, because as the roof access opens under her retina scan, she drops down inside and doesn't leave a huge pile of snow in her wake.

She dangles, looking down at the birds, and eyes the arriving Huntress from above. Which is when she dislodges a bit of snow, right above Steph's head. Her hand snaps out, trying to catch it, but a bit falls right for the back of her neck.

Well, the girl looked like she needed a distraction anyway. This might be for the best.

Hm. Probably not.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
A bit of quiet music plays in the backdrop of the room as both Steph and Babs quietly do what they do.

Barbara is setting her mug down when Huntress arrives. It causes her to look up, adjust the glasses over her eyes, and smile... as best she can with that split bottom lip.

"Good to see you, Huntress. Come in, make yourself at home. Came in on that bike, didn't you? Get yourself something hot to drink, should help warm you up." The woman in black states as she walks around the table with the blueprint on it of the prison, Blackgate.

"Heads up, Steph." Babs says quietly. "Your birthday girl has arrived." She notes without looking as she leans over the prison document on the table.

"How have things been?" She asks, of Huntress firstly.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
The blue-eyed blond looks up from the computer and over to Huntress as she enters, though just gives a faint nod before her head turns back to the screen with a determined expression. Stephanie works the mouse, pulling up transcripts of ingoing and outgoing calls to tapped lines.

The warning from Barbara disrupts her concentration. "Hmm?" she says, just about the time that Orphan is coming in through the ceiling and that bit of snow falls down the back of her costume. Stephanie squirms for a second, then just leans back against her chair, squishing it against her costume to melt it faster.

Normally there would probably be more reaction. Instead she just looks up and raises a hand in a motionless wave. "Hey," she says quietly to Cassandra.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Huntress looks over to Stephanie, her head tilted a bit more before seeing Orphan drop through the roof access. The snow falling into Stephanie's suit tugs a smile at the corner of her lips briefly.

Looking back to Barbara she nods, "I forgot to ask Santa for a bulletproof all-wheel-drive Maseratti so.." she shrugs, "Bike it is. Something warm sounds good. Where's the Tequilla?" she asks straight faced.

Then, honestly unable to keep her surprise at those currently unmasked, she comments "Sorry. I had thought we were doing a.. working.. meeting. Now I feel overdressed."

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Ceiling Cat is watching you. In this case it's more of a bat, but dangling upside-down from the roof isn't doing much to remove her reputation as such.Looking at Helena and Babs, she inclines her head slightly toward Steph. Then...

She hooks the access door with a foot, pulling it closed, and then lets go with all appendages.

Generally a one story drop isn't enough room to manage a full flip, or to land effectively. Even she barely manages it, but given the fact that snow from her entry landed where it did, she is right behind Steph as she gets a foot on the ground.

Which is why she's in position to put a hand on Steph's chair, to spin the blonde around, and to stare into her face with obvious concern on her asian features.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs looks up at Huntress' words, as Cass comes flipping down in to the room. Barbara shows another reserved smile as she steps over to Huntress, and offers her a hand. "Hello. I'm Barbara Gordon, once Batgirl, now Oracle, though Oracle is also an AI computer these days. So really. Just call me Barbara. Or Babs. Though... I've never really liked that name too much." She smirks. "Maybe I should just be 'No Name'. You know, like a Clint Eastwood character..."

She felt inclined to make a fresh, no masked, introduction, but now walks back to her cup of coffee as she picks it up and sips from it again. She glances up at Cass. "Happy birthday." She tells the flippy one.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
For Cassandra who reads body language like they were written words, there are a few obvious things with Stephanie. A little stiffness in her torso consistent with broken or bruised ribs, noticeable in how she twists. If they were fighting it would be something that Cassandra could try to exploit, though not so bad as to disable the blond-haired coed.

And her general demeanor might as well be shouting to Cassandra. Though Stephanie's eyes aren't totally dead. There's a measure of being glad at seeing Cassandra shown in them. "Well, definitely working too," Stephanie says to Huntress. "Though some other stuff too."

Stephanie pats Cassandra's hand gently and then rises from the chair, heading over to the fridge. The birthday cake is pulled out, and the ice cream. Stephanie brings them over to a table and puts a few candles on the top of the cake. Five of the, not knowing Cass' age, and figuring five was a nice feng shui amount. There's also a box that she pulls out, wrapped in colorful blue foil wrapping paper, with a bow on it. "Happy birthday," she tells Cassandra with a smile a little closer to what she'd normally receive, as Stephanie lights the candles.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Helena Bertinelli looks at the group and then back to Barbara, "Babs does seem a bit, um, preppy?" she shrugs and reaches up, removing her mask and tucking it away in a belt pouch. "Well Ms. Gordon, you already know everything about me down to my Google Chrome preferences. And since you're the boss, if you're good, I have no reason not to be. So.. it's nice to meet you as well" then looking to Stephanie and Cassandra she offers, "I'm Helena Bertinelli. The other Huntress you may know or know of in Gotham" she ends with a wry smile.

Looking to the cake then back to Stephanie, she smiles toward Cassandra, "Happy birthday! That's a good a reason as any to be out on a frigid Gotham night like this."

Cassandra Cain has posed:
They all say it, but the look on Cass' face is clear. Cassandra Cain has no idea what the f any of them are talking about. She looks at Babs, then Steph, and finally Helena when they say those words, and seems to realize that this isn't about Steph being worried. It's something else.

Cass puts her hand over the candles as Steph moves to light them. She won't actively stop the woman, but she does seem a bit less than jubilant. If anything she seems to have missed a memo someplace. Which would be an appropriate response if you'd never had a birthday before.

Cass points to the cake, then motions toward Babs with a questioning gesture and furrowed brows.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Barbara begins to roll up the schematic off of the table to free up more tablespace. She looks to Helena and gives her another faint smile before nodding once. "You need to update your Ad Blocker, by the way." She dryly jokes(?). The scheme is slipped back inside a black plastic tube before capped and laid to rest upon a counter near the table. "Helena. You're in with us now, and, as such... you're family. As far as I'm concerned." She says with her back to the other three women.

She crouches and picks up another package off the floor that is wrapped in gold paper, with a black silvery bow tied to it. She takes a moment to grab a pen and write 'and' under her name before she walks it over to Helena, and nods to it gently... signalling her to add her name to the gift for Cass?

She turns then and smiles to Cass. "And, as a family, we celebrate our birthdays together... as much as we can..." That last part is mumbled. "You, little bird..." She says, walking to Cass. "It's your 20th birthday on this world, and because of that... we... eat cake, ice cream, and give you material gifts. It's to make you feel better, because... well... once the birthdays start getting higher in number, you start feeling way worse about the day. It's best to pack in gifts and sugar, to try and ward off the bad feelings. Superficial? Maybe. But, hey... free cake."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
As Helena introduces herself by name, Stephanie replies with, "Stephanie." The first she's given her name to anyone in the group who didn't already know her, though she did omit her last name, whether by oversight or choice.

Her eyes go to Cassandra, and Stephanie seems to have been expecting the lack the young Asian woman's recognition of the birthday traditions. Though it was expected, Stephanie is still at a loss for how to explain it.

She stays silent as Barbara tries to explain, letting Cassandra pick up from her what she can. "This is the day that you," Stephanie says, motioning towards Cassandra, "were born on," she says, and then gestures as if she were holding and gently rocking a baby. Stephanie pulls up a calendar on the computer, having at least used the depiction of one with Cassandra for planning missions and knowing she'll recognize that much. She taps at the square for today's date, and then back to Cassandra and makes the baby rocking gesture again. Her head tilts as she waits to see if Cassandra seems to have interpreted any of that correctly.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Helena Bertinelli glances over at Barbara at the Ad Blocker jab. "Never worked right anyway. Need to find something better sometime I guess" she admits. Making her way to the kitchen, she begins snooping high and low for the Good Stuff. She's Italian. If she is told to make herself at home? She's gonna make herself at home!

Long enough to nod and smile to Stephanie, "Nice to meet you in person Stephanie." But she doesn't dwell as even she is picking up on the difficulty in communicating the what and why-fors of a birthday celebration to Cassandra. An encouraging smile is offered, "Free cake is always a bonus. Plus.." she buries her head in what seems like the pantry to see what she can find as she calls out, "Alcohol. When you're old enough anyway..." A frown and worry of her lower lip as she scans the shelves in an as-yet unsuccessful search for her goal. She's sure there has to be some here someplace. No one would be so focused on what they all do as their second jobs as to forgo alcohol. Right?

She looks back to Barbara, "But, you know.. saying "we're family" to me of all girls? Yeah.. head goes to all kinds of wrong places. Now I'm wondering if I should check my bed for black roses or a horse's head."

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Every year, on this date, Cassandra Cain's father put her into the ring with a group of violent people. Every year it was a bigger test, harder to beat. The word Birthday was never spoken, but she always got a sense of the day being something special. Something that had to be gotten through, and enjoyed if you could manage it. It was always the hardest fight of the year. Every time.

She looks around, at the people she's found herself with, and doesn't get the same feeling from them. No sense of impending aggression, no feeling of danger. The box that Steph is holding is clearly not a weapon, nor the one from Babs. Helena is ...well, a bit weird, but not planning to attack.

It's all confusing. So, she does what she knows how to do. She leans over and has a look at the cake, smaller than the ones she's seen presented to others, but still...pretty? She reaches out and touches it with a finger, then puts it into her mouth.

The sudden blinking of her eyes as she tastes icing is almost like giving her a dose of cocaine. She pulls out her finger, then looks at it, and half-closes her left eye as she tries to decide if it's good or not.

Then she sees how much Stephanie needs her to be happy right now, and...well...she smiles. Then nods.

Lord, it's so sweet though!

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The gold gift is set down on the table beside Cass, as she samples her cake. It makes Babs smile softly again. She looks to Steph, and then back to the birthday girl. "Now teach her how to tear in to the pretty gifts, without a care in the world for the fancy wrapping." She tells Batgirl.

A second later and Barbara is stepping over to a pair of cabinets that Helena wasn't even remotely close to.

Swoosh. Alcohol. Shelves, and shelves of alcohol. Rare kinds, kinds from other countries far removed from the North American continent! And it's all there. Fof Helena.

"Pace yourself." Babs says with a wry grin for the Huntress. "And seriously, birthdays are supposed to be fun. So tonight is your night, Cass. You wanna watch a favorite movie with us? It's all yours. Play video games? Just let us know, and we'll all play along."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown sees the smile from Cassandra, and it brings up one of Stephanie's from where before she'd been pretty subdued. So, win for Cassandra. Stephanie even reaches out to give her friend a brief hug if allowed.

"Right, presents she gets. She once gave someone a rotary cannon. Which, ah, got a few surprised looks," she comments as she moves over to the two gifts. She picks one up and gives it over to Cassandra, with a big smile and motion for her towards it that is probably universal enough it's easy to tell Stephanie wants her to open it.

Stephanie looks over to Helena. "She was raised, a little different. Was taught to read people, their body language, as a fighting skill. Rather than verbal and written communication. She's starting to learn though. We've been working together on it. But at this point she's still, kind of pre-kindergarten at least in vocabulary. Though her reading is better than that with what she does know," she explains.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Helena Bertinelli ahhh's as Barbara shows her the way to the Promised Land. "Oh. My. There is a god" she says as she irreverantly crosses herself. Next Confession is going to give the Father a heart attack. She scans the cabinet, "My Uncle's cabinet almost looks this good." Almost. She pulls out a bottle of Punzone with a triumphant look on her face. Then a pensive lip nibble as she glances to Barbara, "Energy drinks?" She is already going to check the 'fridge. That's where she keeps hers after all. But she stops. It's presents time. A drink can wait.

A nod to Steph about Cassandra having a different upbringing. "No judgment here. Mine wasn't exactly Little House on the Prairie" so she gets the gist if nothing else.

Walking back over to the cake, presents and trio there she watches with a genuine smile on her features.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cassandra waits. She has no impatience; it's not until she's signalled, somehow, somewhen, that it's time that she starts to open gifts. Someone clearly gave her a signal, and she just leans to bump Steph gently hip to hip. The hug was accepted, of course, but she was mostly listening. To Barbara talk about the anthropological origins of Birthdays, and Helena chattering about church and stuff. It's all interesting when you're alien, after all.

She turns over the first gift, starting to slowly peel at the tape, when she glances up. The slow, careful unwrapping changes. Nobody told her, but she still heard it from one of you; just tear the paper.

A moment later she's ripping, and grinning at the visceral thrill of it. Tearing open the packages, she rips them without a lot of care for what's inside. This is, apparently, fun!

Then of course she's actually holding the gifts. A VR set, which she clearly can't identify, from Barbara. And a pair of sais, from Steph. So she grins, she grins wide. Then she motions to her throat. A slight motion, she can't say what she's thinking. But she seems...happy. And expectant.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs grabs a couple of glasses, then gets a mixer for the alcohol out of the fridge. She steps over to Helena to offer the mixer can to her with a soft smile again before she watches the presents get torn in to.

"To be used, separately, from each other!" She sternly warns of the weapons, and the Virtual Reality goggles. "I'll help you set up the VR too. I ... actually designed one of the games loaded on it. I don't know how many people know this, but I actually wanted to go in to game design... once upon a time. It's possible, I maybe chose the wrong path in life." She says dryly with a smirk, and a look around at the others.

"That being said. Why don't we move this party to the living area, and maybe put on a movie, or see if we can't get Cass to try out some of these gifts. A show with the stabbys, or see her react to zombies in stereoscopic three-dee."

The redhead looks to the others then and starts to lead the way. "Come on, gang. This is a night of relaxing."

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass looks at them all, then she remembers. Birthdays. Parties. There's a tradition, and it hasn't been met. She she gathers them around the cake, lit with candles, and then, she blows out her candles. All of them, all five. It's her first time, and she did it well.

Then she sings, because she knows that there's singing involved, and if it causes the Birds to develop a new Birthday tradition, well...that's for them to decide. Because Cassandra Cain only knows one song, and it isn't the one she's supposed...

Deep breath, and sing along. Over her first birthday cake:

"A, B, C, D, E, F, G..."

Shut up, it's her first try, and you probably didn't do as well on your first birthday.

Though when she says 'Wobblea-you' it's just..perfect.