Owner	Pose
Terry O'Neil	The Bullpen. Where intrepid journalists burned the candle at multiple ends to unearth the truth... or, at the very least, make the deadline to keep Perry from having a coronary. The ecosystem of the floor is a fairly well-established one-- Lois' cubicle is over there, often wreathed in the distinctive aura of coffee so strong that it might cause paint to peel in its vicinity. Clark's cubicle- neat and orderly to a fault... Terry's must be the only one that, no matter what painstaking efforts may be taken, always has a vestige of cat hair here or there. That's because Terry is a cat. The Cheshire Cat, to be specific, and things with him are... complicated. Just ask Lois. At the moment, he is working on organizing his next set of priorities, ideas having been pitched and prelims having been submitted for Lois to go over with her laser focus, there's need to follow-up on some of the other threads he's been following. Except he is having a hard time focusing, due to Everything Else that is going on... Coffee. Coffee would help him focus. It always did. Either that, or Lois had finally brainwashed him. A quick sigh, he stands up and stretches, and heads over to the break room in the hopes that Intern Gary had not touched the coffee pot. You never knew what to expect, with Gary...
Nia Nal	She's intrepid. And she's a journalist. So technically Nia is an intrepid journalist. It's just that the intrepidity applies to her extra-curricular activities and not her work as a reporter, mostly. On top of that, she can't exactly be said to be burning the candle at both ends... Because she's narcoleptic, and is currently doing what narcoleptics do.     She's currently face down on the break room table. How long has she been there? Who knows. She has her notes on her latest story (which seems to be about a kitten that can add and subtract any number below ten) scattered beneath here, and there is, just bay, the slightest hint of drool, maybe.     With the way she twitches in her dreams, it msut be an active one... Whatever the case, she snaps awake, wiping at her mouth, as she rises to her feet. She looks about half-awake, and probably needs her makeup touched up. For all that, almost on auto-pilot, she pours a cup. Half coffee, half milk, and spoonful of honey. Still sounding half-asleep, she stumbles over to the door in just enough time to meet Terry at the entrance to the break room and offer him the cup, mumbling,"Half coffee, half milk, spoonful of honey..."     Okay. Maybe her prophetic dreams aren't always about something overly important.
Terry O'Neil	The Cheshire blinks, and then he slowly grins as he accepts the offered drink, like Queen Guinevere accepting the Holy Grail offered to her while turning the corner at Camelot. "-wow, that's uncanny!" he says, his nose twitching at the scent of the coffee. No hint of Gary, and hints of honey. Heaven. "This certainly brightens my mood," a sip, an appreciative nod, and an 'aaah' of relief. "But how did you know? This is exactly the way I like it... it's Nia, right?" There's not much that's ordinary about Terry in this shape. Ever since going public with his identity, he didn't see much reason to keep to one form exclusively. Although he is in feline shape, at least he is keeping the business casual wardrobe instead of the 'hero suit' he wears with the Titans. That one is worn /underneath/ the business casual suit. That's how everybody does it, right? At least, that's what Kara told him she does at the Planet. But it was hard to know if she was playing a prank on him- after all, she can fly across the city and change clothes at super-speed without anyone noticing, so maybe she was punking him. He might have to ask questions again. "I'm Terry. Terry O'Neil. I was Lois' intern before I came in full time..."
Nia Nal	Nia covers her yawn with the back of her hand, even as she performs a friendly hip bump before wandering back over to the table to begin rearranging her papers,"Nia! Yep, that's me!" She is not a particularly outgoing person. That shy smile and the way she doesn't quite make eye contact tells pretty much that whole story. Still, when asked how she new, she pauses for a moment.     Then she's moving again, shrugging gently." If the Cheshire shape elicits any sort of mental response, it isn't visible in her manner... Probably something to do with where she was raised. "Nia Nal, cat-reporter extraordinare." It's a sort of self-deprecating note,"Go me!" She fist pumps. "Woo." Then, papers straightened up, she heads over to the caffeination station and begins pulling forth the heavy-hitter. Deathwish Coffee. The overlord of chemical wakefulness. She starts brewing.     "Me no can brain good. Lois' intern? That must be really cool for you. She's... well, she's kind of amazing. A force of nature, really."     Nia is too new to the supering business just yet, and mostly still has to change, quick-like. No super-speed for her, but her costume's kind of bulky, so... "I dunno. I just kind of..." She spins a finger in the air, then, and offers,"Got my hunches. Part of why I'm a reporter. Maybe I'm psychic?" A strained laugh follows.
Terry O'Neil	"Force of nature is about right, yeah," he says, nodding softly, "but she usually can be mollified with the proper offering of coffee and biscotti. The coffee has to be near-tar consistency and the biscotti should be able to be used as crowbars in a pinch." He follows Nia around, nursing his coffee and taking a sip here and there, making it last. Taking the body language visual cues, he dials down his own extroversion. He is loud, gregarious and colorful, but he does know how to read people. Not as much eye contact, and softer smile. "Well, if you /are/ psychic, then you have the most impeccable parapsychological brewing abilities, this coffee is beautiful." Sip. "Not that you need to tell me. But if you did, I'd never tell!" he chuckles and walks over to the fridge to get one of Lois' biscotti. If he dunks it in the coffee now, it should be soft by midnight, at least. "They've got you doing the pet beat? I remember doing it too at the start. Until I got shot." He comes back to Nia, and then blinks. "Oh, not while doing the pet beat. I got shot outside of work, while I was poking my nose where it didn't belong."
Nia Nal	"I honestly thought investigative journalism was dead until Lois started churning out piece after piece. Does that woman ever get writer's block? Or is it just easy to write when you're nearly getting headbutted into space by villainy ever Tuesday at nine?" It's mostly just idle office conversation, but there IS the slightest shoulder-twitch at the mention of 'you can tell me'. She's actually a pretty strong pre-cognitive, truth be told, but she's not exactly 'out' as a hero. "So you're saying I'll save the world with my coffee-slinging skills. Truly, I missed my calling as Nia Nal, Wonder Barista." More of the self-deprecating humor.     "I mean, not SPECIFICALLY the pet beat. I did a piece last week on a one hundred and two year old woman who ran a half-marathon. So that was pretty cool! My passion is the international beat, though... Different cultures, issues, events... I'm far away from it now, but... well, I mean... We have... You know, people visit our planet, now, so like... International is suddenly a far, far more broad category than people used to think."     "Wait wait wait. Shot? Did I hear about that?" She pauses, searching her brain,"I mean, I assume you're okay, but..." She gestures, after a moment, then asks,"You don't happen to be bulletproof, do you? Getting shot isn't usually, like... something you just drop in conversations like that if you were okay... You look okay..." Yep. There goes the nervous babble. She really is just an unending ball of shyness.     A pause, and then she asks a moment later,"Is fur difficult to take care of? It seems like it'd be a lot. Or does it mostly take care of itself?" She's just sort of running her mouth now, though, apparently content to fall back on small talk when nothing else comes to mind.
Terry O'Neil	Terry smiles, "Never underestimate what can save the world. I am not making this up- recently, the entirety of our universe was saved because someone fed a leaf to a deity." He had reported extensively on the Angel invasion. He had participated in the resistance in New York. But, of course, since the world has a tendency to be in danger of ending every other month or so, that was old news by now. "You never know when the right beverage and the right amount of kindness can turn the world around." The Cheshire cat leans on the counter and listens to Nia speak. Swishing his coffee a bit in his mug, he says, "Yeah, not bulletproof. My goose would've been cooked if Beast Boy hadn't happened to be nearby, he took me to the hospital. It was before I got..." he waves at himself, "The powers and all. And the training. But fur... oh my god," he laughs, "It's... a /nightmare/ to take care of. I get anything on it, and I have to wash it-- and I have to do it at the Tower, which has special drains, otherwise I clog them. And then I have to sit around to dry... because if I blow-dry, I end up looking like a puffball. POOF!" he waves his hands, "And then Gar never lets me hear the end of it..." "You like the international take... and the intergalactic take, hmmm?" he sips his coffee and looks thoughtful. "Have you had a chance to interview some of our visitors from another world? I did an interview with Martian Manhunter a while back... and if you're interested, I think I have... an idea."
Nia Nal	The girl listens closely to Terry as he describes the event of deific saladry, and she actually picks up her phone to begin taking a few notes on it. Apparently she finds it fascinating,"I'd love to hear more about it sometime. If I ever get to write something other than puf pieces."     Nia, or Dreamer, rather, had been doing her best to do her own for New York, but she's still going it alone as a hero. It hasn't done wonders for her sleeping. Still, her smil perjs up at the mention of kindness,"I like to believe kindness is soemthing people mostly WANT to do. They just kind of... get in their own way. It's just... the real shame is you can't wait around waiting to make a difference, when you know you can now." She lifts a shoulder, and then shrugs,"I get it, though... I can't even use a blow-dryer, or my hair turns into a fright wig, and I can only imagine how it must be when people are throwing fireballs and stuff at you. It's gotta be like being surrounded by lit candles and gasoline. Not great. At least it's mega-fabulous, though. Like... You can instantly start a conversation with it." A pause, and she wonders,"You ever get that thing where people are trying so hard not to stare at you, that they end up being more obvious than if they'd just eyeballed you with the ol' elevator eyes?"     She rolls her eyes, but actually laughs good naturedly. As for the intergalactic take... "I'd love to get an interview with them... I..." She looks on at Terry for a very long moment, then looks around the office, and lowers her voice as she lifts a coffee cup in front of her lips, half-hiding her face as she lowers her voice,"I was born here, but my mother was Naltorian. I've got... you know, kind of a thing for giving minorities platforms to help them be visible. So yeah, I'm interested, absolutely."
Terry O'Neil	"Oh gosh, all the time. And then you get the ones who ask you if they can pet you- and I'm like... only my boyfriends get to pet me thank you very much, I don't even /know/ you!" He laughs and shakes his head, "Of course, there's also the kids. You know, the ones who are too young who really know what's going on in the world? You turn a corner and suddenly they are there with eyes the size of saucers and their mouths into a tiny 'o'. And the next thing you know..." And his voice suddenly changes to imitate a child, pitch perfect, "Kittyyyy!" He sighs, and says in his normal voice, "And what can you do? You have to give them the piggyback ride, and tell them okay, yes, they can pet. No, don't yank the tail. No, I am sure your mom would not be okay with me coming home. What kind of heartless ogre is mean to a kid?" At Nia's revelation, Terry's ears twitch, "Gotcha!" he says softly, and looks around. Nobody has entered the break room, so he leans forward to whisper. "This will be of particular interest to you, then. It will be announced soon enough-- but Themyscira, along with several other governments, and several superhero teams, are establishing a Spaceport here on Earth, to officially welcome visitors and become part of the galactic community. The port is currently hidden while it's being finished, but it's out in the ocean right now. I've taken a quick tour as a member of the Titans... but there will be an official opening. And when that official opening happens, Lois will cast a hex of darkness upon all if /someone/ from the Planet isn't there to cover it." He glances around, "Now... I'm a member of the Titans and I will be attending the opening ceremony as such. I think it would be a perfect opportunity for a reporter who is sensitive to the issue of galactic immigration and extra-terrestrial minorities to cut her teeth on a big story, wouldn't you say?" He leans back and grins. "And you'd get to meet Princess Diana. Among others."
Nia Nal	Nia actually covers her mouth, trying to stifle laughter,"Oh my god... no, I get you. I mean, thankfully, noone asks if they can pet me, but little kids do the 'are you a boy or a girl' question ALL the time. And then, you know, all the follow questions. Actually, adults do it sometimes, but usually with more personal questions about the content of my pants, and it's all just..." She shakes her head,"But you said it right. What ARE you going to do? Kids are just kids. They're curious, and they don't mean anything by it, but there you are, still uncomfortable, and you gotta just indulge, right? Or else they might get wrong information or some impression that everyone 'like you' is just a big ol' butt face."     Nia shrugs her shoulders helplessly, and then she's listening again. She purses her lips at this, and then after a moment she is... well... looking excited,"Oh, but do you think they'd go for it? Like... I'm still really junior here. I just... you know... There's... actually kind of a lot of Xeno-Americans and resident aliens living here already. A spaceport like that is... such a big deal for the community. So many people could come out of the darkness and just... be a part of society. Immigrants have so much to offer... Enriching our culture through encounters with other cultures is supposed to be the big ideal, right?"     Nia sips at her coffee, and then lets out a deep, happy sigh. "And is it really cynical to say there's a certain poetry to it. I mean, when my mother immigrated here, she fell in love with this place, but like... she never got to live openly, because it was this whole... safety issue... Now, though, we're transitioning to that stage where visibility is not only desirable, but necessary for survival and... Anyway, I'm sorry, listen t o me go on. So how do you like being a Titan, what's it like?"
Terry O'Neil	"Oh gosh, yes. Kids ask questions because they want to know about the world, and it's important. Some adults ask questions because they're assholes. They're afraid of a lot of things children simply aren't. Rigidly set in proscribed expressions they have become so invested in that they just... lose their shit at the hint there might be anything /different/. I mean... you should see some of the reactions I get when I'm out and about with my boyfriends. Just because one of them is a green shapeshifter and the other one is a winged bird-man from another planet, you'd think we were visigoths," he chuckles. "Nia, I was just a junior when I stumbled upon the story of the Titans getting back together. There is no wrong time for you to take a bite out of a big story-- just listen to yourself, you already have all of the angles. It's a story you know, and your voice is important. I am not /technically/ an xeno-american, half of me comes from Wonderland which is... a whole dimension apart. Split between Faerie and Dream. I'm a /whole/ different thing altogether because I can bank on 'hey, Samuel Dodgson wrote about me!' whereas, as you've said, many people have been laying low. The more I hear you speak, the more it sounds like this /is/ the story for Nia Nal, intrepid voice of the stardust travelers." He grins, crossing his arms. "I may have gotten the scoop because I'm on the inside as one of the hero groups, but I think you should do the story. And I'll give my opinion to Lois about it- your mission, should you choose to accept it?" "Being a Titan... whew. What can I say?" he chuckles and gets a faraway look in his eyes. "... The Titans disbanded after Doomsday when two of them were killed. And that tower just spent years deserted... and then two years ago the unlikeliest of things happened. They hadn't talked to each other for years, but I ran into Garfield Logan and we became friends... and through the weirdest set of circumstances people started talking again..." He gets a guilty look on his face, "... okay, so maybe I hounded down a few of them. I may have ambushed Cyborg at Planet Herowood to tell him Gar was still in pain and needed him. I might have done that for a few others..." side-glance "... but when you're in love with a guy and you don't know how to /tell/ him, you're still going to try to do everything you can to see him happy, right? Well... one thing led to another, and now the Titans are back. And... it's kind of like we're a family with everything that that entails. There's love. But there are also arguments. It's not perfect, but it doesn't /have/ to be perfect. And sometimes I feel like I have the /biggest/ impostor syndrome of the whole team..." He takes a sip of his coffee, "But then either Troia or Lois yells at me to get my head out of my ass. And that seems to work."
Nia Nal	"Hahah, wow, you are operating on a whole other level of visibility. Like, wow. Bravo, sir, bravo." She applauds, like someone who just heard something performed by a virtuoso,"Naltorians aren't easily distinguishable from humans by casual visual inspection. I'm basically just trans, but that is a whole new level of public eyeballing." She seems genuinely impressed,"Say it loud, say it proud. Are we getting a wormhole-port next? To like, other dimensions. You'll need to write the piece on that. I don't know if there's enough time for the number of hours needed to cover your life."     It takes her a while to actually respond to the 'mission'. Perhaps she's vaguely uncomfortable with praise? Still, she is a powerful Oneiromancer... sort of, so... the mention of Dream makes her quirk an eyebrow,"So... Dream is like... an actual dimension, then? Like... it's not just a mind-state, but a whole realm... Of course that would make sense..." She's actually murmuring to herself,"Would that be where projected oneiromantic energy comes from? The bestowal?" She's almost forgotten who she's in a room with.     She shakes her head, snapping back into now,"Wait, you're telling me you literally nagged the Titans in getting back together? Are you not hearing yourself? Even if you did nothing else on the team, that one accomplishment is enough to ride for years... You gave this world a beloved hero team back. Kindness, remember... Even if you weren't out directly fighting villains, you gave the world a whole team to fight for it back. That's just so huge..." She approaches, sipping her coffee and demands,"Listen... I need you to take a reality check and say to yourself... I'm basically Ma-ti and they can't make Captain Planet without me."
Terry O'Neil	" I am not /entirely/ sure it's a good idea for people to travel to Wonderland. For now. It might be a little... strong." He taps his head, "I've had telepaths who have tried to manipulate my mind or just read it who basically end up tripping balls because I'm, apparently, telepathic LSD. Now try to imagine an entire dimension..." he gestures, "Yes, Dream is a very real place. I've been there several times... so is Faerie. As for where Oneiromatic energy comes from? Most likely there..." he winks, "I'm a huge Ancient Greek and Themyscira nerd, so I know what 'oneiros' means. You must have run into some of the more esoteric practitioners out there- I have run into a mutant girl capable of pulling things out of the Dream realm and making them real for a little while..." "Now don't sell yourself short, though. Nobody is basically 'just' anything. I can already see that you are a complex woman with a lot between her ears and a lot of important things to say... from an intersection of a /lot/ of different experiences that I am not privy to. That a lot of people aren't privy to." He gestures, "As for the Titans..." "I wouldn't say /I/ nagged them together. I don't know if I'd ever take credit for that... I just... wanted to see Gar happy. It sounds really sappy and dorky, but it's one of those things..." he smiles and rubs the back of his neck. "They were his family, and he missed them. And they missed each other. And they had never really had time to process what happened to Khole and the original Dove." He chuckles, "Ma Ti, heh? Actually... if there is anyone that is the 'heart' of the Titans... it's Gar." He says that with a quiet tenderness, and a smile. "People dismissed him often as the prankster and the jokester, but that boy's heart is pure gold. I... just couldn't stand seeing it suffer. Maybe I did help a little." He takes a long sip of his coffee, "So--- will you accept the mission, Captain Stardust?"
Nia Nal	Nia colors red for a moment,"Er... Well... There's a lot of myths and legends surrounding dreams among my mother's people." She looks around again, then utters a word in the Naltorian language,"It means 'Dreamer' in my mother's language. There's similarities to the ancient greeks there... Stories of people seeing the future in their dreams, anointing sacred heroes, or even manipulating the pure energies of the realm of dreams. It's generally considered an ability of the... kind of feminine divine if that makes sense? It's kind of an important cultural concept, so I'm kind of distilling thousands of years of history and culture into a short explanation."     "I think maybe we have a much more... positive conception of dreams, in general, but again... a lot of cultural background there. My mother's home planet literally revolves around dreams and their important. It's why I'm always falling asleep. 'Follow your dreams' is a phrase taken more seriously." Still, she's smiling at the compliment now, a sort of honest, unabashed kind of smile,"Well, anyway, thank you... I just... I want everyone to have the chance to know everyone."     She finishes off her coffee then, and shakes her hair out,"I get it about missing family, though. I miss my home town, but it was far too small for me to ever actually be able to meet my dreams if I stayed there. And now..." She shakes her head, before going on and gesturing to the man,"But stop deflecting... Look, this is what I'm talking about. At the barest, you were helping him realize his dearest held dreams. And it's a good dream to have, you know? Important. Look. You're a Titan. OG or new, which means there's no team without you."     Then she's straightening, a soft laugh escaping her, and trying to show off a vaguely military bearing,"Yes sir, Admiral Kittimus! Right away sir!"
Terry O'Neil	Terry laughs and salutes, "You win, I'll take the credit, since you're taking the mission!" The feline's eyes twinkle and he winks, "And I like that. Following your dreams- at some point I have to tell you about the /real/ origin of Wonderland..." a mischievous look, "But that will come later. I should go and get some extra fancy coffee for Lois so she has tribute when I pitch the idea for your story!" Having finished his coffee, he washes the mug and sets it to dry on the rack, "But I need to go back to the grind now that I've got my fuel- it's been a real pleasure finally getting to talk to you... and I'm sure soon you will be hearing about this assignment!" And with that, and another salute, he beelines for the door now that the water of life is coursing through him. There are things that need to be written down!
Nia Nal	Nia lifts her hand in a wave as she moves to begin rinsing out her coffee mug,"Good luck. I hope your quest ends in acclaim and not accosting." See, she did that! Mild alliteration. "Aaaawe, I see what you did there... Back to the grind, see... see... Aaaah." She's so awkward!     "Thank you again, so much!" Nia wriggles a finger at him as he departs,"It was nice finally getting to know you!"     She waits for a moment, back to the man as he makes for the door. And then, hand held close to her belly, almost shielding the light, a tiny ball of soft, glowing blue energy ignites. She asks of it, voice a whisper,"Well... now I guess we know where you come from, huh?" A moment later, her hand closes, the light winking out.