Owner Pose
Terry O'Neil Mothers of superheroes always dread the moment when The Call comes. It doesn't matter how composed they might be on the day-to-day, a ring from that designated emergency number, or that urgent email, can stop a heart. Terry's cell phone is one of those incredibly abused things where the screen is mostly cracked, the speaker is on its way out and the microphone is on its way in because a recent drop caused the jack to get pushed in even further. As such, a sterling means of communication, it was not. All Agatha knew was that Kian tried to call her- but the status of the device didn't allow for muc to be understood, except "Terry ffzffzfzzfzfzfzfzfz hurt fzfzfzfzfzfzfzfzfzf."
Agatha had barked a brisk, "I'm on my way!"

Addison and Hayes, her partners at the detective agency, had gotten The Look when she said she was taking an early lunch and didn't ask any questions. The drive from New York to Metropolis took less than any sane driver would have taken. At one point, in Metropolis proper, she had to take a shortcut to avoid a well-known speed trap, which explains the branches clinging to the spoiler of the red sedan. Someone might even say that the car hadn't fully stopped at the parking lot to the tower before she had gotten out, but those are probably just rumors.

Agatha O'Neil, willowy and imposing, red wavy hair and piercing green eyes, charcoal grey pantsuit and silver blazer, arrives at the tower and goes right through. She's in the system, but the team gets a quick alert that she is incoming from the tower AI, in case those who want to keep their identities secret have time to slap on a mask. Or a pancake across the eyes in case their domino masks were out of reach. Really, anything that covers your eyes will render you unrecognizable. Well-known fact.

When she arrives at the main room, it is as if she carries a thunderstorm with her, as if the barometric pressure in the air went up just because she was there. She certainly looked like a lightning bolt in search of a lightning rod to run down: everything was coiled energy and nerves. Her jaw was set so hard that her cheekbones could have cut glass.

"Kian. Where is my son?"

Her contralto manages to project through the room like a Wagnerian soprano, without much apparent effort.
Madison Evans     Madison was already in the Main Room herself - because she's brought provisions! Superheroes require a lot of care and feeding. She and her mother had made some whole grain, low-sugar zuchinni bread with chocolate chips and a good dose of warming spice swirled throughout - those are placed in a tupperware on the counter. And in the fridge she's putting her mother's signature kombucha (guava with jalapeno) bottled and labeled. Included is a 'drink before explosion' date. ...surely there's a story behind that sort of label. In fact, the labels seem to be custom printed with that already on there.
    As Agatha O'Niel arrives in a whirl of anxious energy, Madison lets out a quiet 'oh' and without having been asked, starts putting some of the zuchinni bread on a plate - and turns on the hot water kettle.
    "Do you like tea, ma'am?" she calls over in a polite voice. "There's coffee and soda and kombucha, too."
Kian     "Oof."
    That sound comes from the other side of the couch.  Next, one three-fingered hand reaches up and clamps onto the back of the sofa, and with a tug Kian's head comes into view.  He looks like he just woke up.  He hadn't actually been sleeping, but he had rather been drowsing.
    The sight of Hurricane Agatha is more effective than caffeine.
    "Oh!  /Kie/, Agatha /Teri'chal/!  He's right here with me," he says helpfully, pointing in the general direction of his lap -- which is of course hidden by the back of the couch.  "Yes, like I told you over the phone, his arm was hurt, but..."  He glances down to where, presumably, Terry is.  "...that's kind of the mundane part."
Terry O'Neil Terry is, of course, completely out of it. This tracks, since him being conscious would help ease a lot of anxiety, and therefore he is not. "The mundane part."

Agatha advances towards Kian, before she is briefly distracted by Madison and takes her in.

Of course, Terry has mentioned Madison, but Agatha hasn't met her yet. By simple deduction of the ages of the members, though, it is safe to assume that this may be Madison. "Tea woud be lovely, thank you," she says in a perfectly calm, normal voice.

Only to turn back to Kian and advance, circumventing the couch in order to come face to face with Kian- and his son.

Her first observation, "You act as if you've been intoxicated."
Her second, "Garfield isn't here." Terr had been hurt, she expected Gar to be there as well.
Third, "The gash on his arm. What happened?"
And then she looks at Kian, her green eyes focused on him like a laser and blinking very little.
Madison Evans     Madison gives the woman a nod, and a cheerful smile as she calls over, "Yes ma'am!" She's remarkably chipper - it's hard to describe Madison and //not// bring up that fact. Of course, she has no reason to believe that Terry would be talking to his mother about her. Why would he?
    She puts the plate of zuchini bread on a tray, with a few cups. Then she digs around until she finds a little container of sugar. She grabs creamer out of the fridge, and is just arranging a few individually wrapped teabags on the tray when the kettle goes 'click.' It's amazing how fact those kettles can boil water.
    She pours water into each of the cups - before carrying the tray over towards the couch.
    "I'm sure Terry's going to be fine soon. Right?" She asks Kian with a broad smile - before suddenly realizing she hasn't introduced herself yet. "Oh! I'm Madison Evans. And I think Terry's just the nicest, funniest guy. You know, for an //adult//."
Kian     Kian takes the questions out of order, since that's the easiest way to handle them... and reaches his mind into Terry's to try to bring him around into some semblance of consciousness and coherence.
    It's asking a lot, but he has to try.
    "I'm not sure what happened to his arm," the birdman says.  "It might not be a simply physical injury, but it's nowhere near as bad as what I was helping him recover from when... well, you know."  Hopefully it helps that Kian himself sounds a lot more cogent now than he did then, when it took him a few minutes to remember that he did, in fact, speak English.
    "I'm not intoxicated... but that has to do with why Gar isn't here.  That's the not mundane part."  Here, he just plain stops, watching Terry as if willing him awake.  But he's just too nice a guy to actually shake him.
    "Terry's Cheshire side is intense.  I remember you saying his teachers would have agreed with me that he's a lot to handle."  This is said *totally* seriously.  Well, it's /true/.  "And since he has to share being the Cheshire with Gar now, well, Gar hasn't had the practice Terry has in managing the... intensity.  I think he's out glittering Metropolis."
    He looks up with a sort of half-smile.  "Uh, that's the not-mundane part."
Terry O'Neil Agatha takes her cup and it is a miracle it doesn't shatter under her grip as she holds on to it like a lifeline. "Hello, Madison," she says, almost trance-like for a moment, "Terry has told me about you."

Looking back to Kian, she goes over his information as her son remains too stubborn to actually wake up. He resists. He likes the sleepy-sleep.

"How did this happen? What were you doing- and where?"

Let there be no doubt about it- while Agatha is fully aware that her son is an adult, there are some things you don't quite ever give up as a mother. Like a certain level of protectiveness. The reflexes to grab a shotgun when you see an angel*. The standard maternal instincts.



Footnote*: If certain biblical personages had had the same instinct, the book would probably be fifty percent shorter and, by some fandoms, a best-seller.
Madison Evans     "He did?" Madison says in surprise. ...why? "Oh."
    It hardly seems polite to say that Terry hasn't told her ANYTHING about his mother...
    "Well - it's very nice to meet you, ma'am! I hope you like the bread. My mother and I baked it fresh today," she explains in a friendly tone, before shooting a look towards the slumbering Terry.
    "I missed that part of the adventure. I was busy being lost in the Forest of No Names, and forgetting who I was and everything. And when I came out... Gar was a cat. //The// cat, really."
Kian     "I don't really know," Kian admits, "I wasn't there for much of it.  We were in Wonderland, and a lot of it happened while I was being attacked by gryphons."  That, he says in the manner one might say 'I was distracted by something out of the corner of my eye'.
    He really has been on Earth too long.
    In any case, if there's any room left over after maternal concern, she may have noticed Kian is sporting a few bandages of his own.  "The way I understand it is something was attacking Terry and trying to separate him from the Cheshire cat, and Gar tried to distract it by looking like another Cheshire cat, and when he did that the *actual* Cheshire decided to move into him... which I guess makes sense since if it's a family thing, Gar is Terry's family-by-choice."  He shakes his head, as if trying to clear it.  "Wonderland has a level of weird that makes Earth almost look like /my/ world for normality."
    He blinks rapidly, looking down at Terry, who is still being inert.  "I don't know if that means I can get it too.  I got a small taste of it and it was... well, I don't have a good word for it, but I would like another taste, but only a small one."
Terry O'Neil Agatha glances from Madison to Kian and back as they relate their experiences. That expression of hers intensifies more and more, the more they talk. Finally, she has to sit down and take one very slow sip rom her tea. There is silence, except for the *plink* that her teacup makes as it rests back on the saucer, and Agatha stares right at them.

Finally, "/Wonderland/. You went to /Wonderland/- he went to- you all went to Wonderland, is what you are telling me," she says slowly and deliberately. Her yes flit down to Terry, and then back up to Kian. "Am I understanding this right? all of you decided to go to Wonderland?"

Uh oh. *Someone* wasn't told.
Madison Evans     "Umm - yes ma'am," Madison confirms. "We, uhh - there's a problem there, with the Jabberwock. Jabberwocky? Jabberwock - and the people in Wonderland need help and- well. The Titans //help// people. Yeah?" It doesn't seem to matter to her that those people aren't from this world - and aren't even human.
    Caterpiller lives matter?
    "It's a pretty weird place - but it's preetty neat, too. I mean - I even found a flower that smells like popcorn - to attract the butter-flies."
Kian     Kian swallows hard.  "I don't think 'decided' is quite the right word," he begins carefully.  He knows that tone of voice, he has a mother too.  Two of them, in fact.  Although certainly neither Eryn'/chal/ nor Ila'/chal/ has quite the, um, intensity of /Agata Teri'chal Onil/.  "There was a situation we needed to take care of, so we did.  It's what we do, like Madison said.  It wasn't lightly undertaken, and..."
    And Kian's tone, while still respectful, becomes a bit firmer.  "...and it needed to be done and we were the ones who needed to do it.  It's what we do, right?"
Terry O'Neil "I see," Agatha says. No greater amount of meaning has been packed into two words since Calvin Coolidge's reply at that dinner party.

She clearly did listen to what Maddie said, and what Kian said. Those intense emeralds looking back at Terry, her expression unreadable.

"Well, then you must keep me posted on how he progresses until he is awake enough to call me himself, Kian." Agatha takes a sip of her tea. It is close to being finished. "And you must get Garfield to stay near him. By whatever means possible."

Then, she rises, "At least he is now relatively well. Just tired. Which means I should let both of you rest- I may bake something for him when I get back."

And then, she raises an eyebrow, "Of couse, I remembered that Terry was supposed to come by later tonight and help me move things out of his room, I had to use it as a temporary storage when the attic sprung a leak. Of course, he is in no condition to come and help right now."

And then she gets to the point, But I do need to get things out of his room." Terry's childhood room. Kian and Gar have seen it, and no-one else... because it is full of posters and things Terry collected throughout his teen years. Including a /lot/ of posters of Gar. Like, a /lot/ of posters. And collectible cards. And memorabilia- action figures, bobbleheads. There's a lot that is other people's- Wonder Woman, Superman - but Gar could easily said to be the prime shareholder of Terry's room by how much surface space he occupied. " I was thinking that, perhaps, If your friends would like to come over and help put things in order, I'll gladly cook them some food by way of compensation."

This is how you know Agatha is actually furious at Terry for clearly not telling him what was going on with Wonderland: by luring Terry's friends into the shrine of his teenage embarrassment, and to ensure the maximum level of spectators, the offer ofher legendary culinary skills.

You can bet Terry will make a point to remember to tell hims mother next time something like this happens.

"Madison, thank you for the tea, it was lovely. If you would like to come over to tidy up Terry's room as well, let me know what's your favorite dessert. I will have some made before you arrive."

She stands up and starts heading out, "I need to get back to the office. I have a client appointment soon..."
Madison Evans     When it becomes clear Agatha is intent on leaving, Madison quickly gets back on her feet, and finds a piece of foil - moving at slightly accelerated speed, as she sometimes does. She wraps one of the pieces of zuchinni bread, and offers it over to the woman with her usual bright smile. "You should take this with you!" she invites.
    "Well, yeah!" Madison offers immediately. "If you need help moving things - and Terry's still busy recovering, and Gar and Kian need to help take care of Terry - I could definitely help. I'm stronger than I look."
    As for her favorite desert? "I love Space Cookies! But baking in Zero G is a real pain, so don't worry about that. Ummm... hrm. Mint brownies with chocolate chunks?"
Kian     "We're trying to, /Teri'chal/," Kian says with a sigh, "but if you remember what Terry was like when *he* first got the power... well, Gar has a lot of excess energy to burn off, and trying to make him sit still would be counterproductive, and it's better for him to carry the Cheshire right now so Terry's arm can heal."
    He gives Agatha a look as if to say, /Hey, I'm trying my best with these two, but holy Gods above they're a handful and sometimes expediency is the best path to take and there's really only just so much I can do/.
    It's quite a look.
    "I wouldn't let anything bad happen to Terry or Gar... but 'let' is not always an option."  He strokes Terry's cheek while he sleeps.  "I suspect you know what I mean."