Owner	Pose
Caitlin Fairchild	Christmas for the Titans adds a degree of healthy chaos to the Tower's routine. Some Titans have family and relations they go visit out-of-state; those who don't, often congregate around the Tower. It turns Christmas Day into a rolling affair that can last two or three days, or even longer, as the various presents piled under the big tree are all handed out. Caitlin of course goes on a baking spree, which frequently ends only when someone forces her to quit. She's in a very June Cleaver A-frame dress in holiday red, accented with mistletoe-green slippers and a belt. She's even wearing a holly jolly Christmas apron while rolling out dough on the counter. It seems she's brought company, too, as her adoptive brother is sitting across the island sipping some of the holiday eggnog set in a punch bowl. They seem to be in the middle of an argument, or at least as argumentative as Caitlin ever gets. "Alex, I'm not going to Hawai'i next year," she says with a stubborn note. "Why would you even -want- to go somewhere with no pine trees?" "Caitie, we can *get* pine trees anywhere we want them," Alex points out with an exasperated grimace. "But we can't get away from the snow and ice, and I *really* hate the snow and ice." "Pfft. Big baby," Caitlin scolds, and sticks her tongue out at him before looking back down at her hands. Alex whips a full roll of paper towels at her head while she's distracted. "Ack!"
Donna Troy	TThe standard American experience of Christmas is of course inevitably closely tied to childhood, but Donna had not even heard of Christmas until she was seventeen. Queen Hippolyta may have made some concessions to her Americanized daughters when it comes to the novel notion of celebrating birthdays, but Themyscira has its own festivals -- and /many/ of them. There's not much chance of the Amazons adopting Christmas.     Of course Donna does have some family in America and some part of her Christmas day is spent with Diana, but for the most part Donna is one of those Titans -- there are a few -- who don't return to families for Christmas day. For her, the concept of Christmas is not tied to childhood memories, but certainly is tied to the Titans. No Titan who finds themselves spending Christmas day at the Tower is going to miss having Donna wish them a Merry Christmas.     There are gifts, of course. When Donna turns up at Titans tower after having spent the morning elsewhere, she comes carrying a large stack of nicely wrapped packages. Most go under the tree for those Titans who will pick them up later -- perhaps later that day if they choose to turn up at the tower after doing their family things, or perhaps later when the Titans hold their own Christmas party. Those who are present though get handed a gift person to person, with a typically Donna-esque happy smile of greeting. It's pretty much an immutable part of being a Titan that Donna generally seems very happy to see you.     Apparently this extends beyond the Titans themselves, because today there's a visitor at the tower.     "Alex!" Donna calls out. Her stack of gifts is dumped unceremoniously on the counter-top, and Donna swoops on Caitlin's brother to lift him bodily out of his chair and give him a hug.     Poor Alex is used to the super-powered ladies by now, he can take it. He's also set free quite quickly, and Donna took care not to make him spill his eggnog. All good.     Caitlin gets a slightly less over-enthusiastic one-armed hug, but then Donna sees Caitlin more often. "Hey you two. Merry Christmas!"     Initial greetings out of the way, Donna recovers her gift packages and starts distributing them under the tree.
Garfield Logan	Over the Christmas holiday, one Titan who has not gone home is Gar. The green one. For much of the time, he's been doing a gaming marathon and streaming much of it. Other Titans have come and gone to sit in and play or simply watch, but it's been a big distraction for the beastly shifter of the group. The fact he's been able to spend so much time on something like this is a blessing in disguise, really, for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, it means all is mostly well. A glance is had toward Donna, Cait, and the older Alex over there as well. "Do I smell something good? What's cookin'?"
Wally West	Wally West darts in with a can of baking soda, because everyone always forget baking soda. He also snags the paper towels out of the air and places them on the counter as well. A half dozen cookies disappear as well. Wally has actualky been to the Justice League party, the flash museum (that's thing right?) party and is on patrol all while zipping in and out. It no wonder he needs so many calories. He pauses long enough to be seen, "Hi, everyone." He says while munching, "These are good, tasty and caloricslly super dense."
Caitlin Fairchild	Alex 'oofs' and wheezes good-naturedly at Donna's hugs. "Good to see you too, Donna. Easy on the ribs, I think Caitlin cracked that one a few years back." He flashes a sly grin at Caitlin, and the redhead narrows her eyes at him even as she smiles and shakes her head. "Liar," she chivvies him. She's midway through hugging Donna in return when Wally blurs through. Caitlin's long accustomed to feeding a diverse set of appetites, so for her and Wally and a couple of others, there is a special platter of baked goods set out that could make a good substitute for sustainment rations. "Plenty more of 'em, Wally, Caitlin reassures him. "And I'm glad you like them. I doubled the amount of apricots in the shortbread recipe. I think it makes a big difference," she remarks, and takes one for herself. Wally's not the only one with a supercharged metabolism. At Gar's question she steps over to the oven and bends her knees to look through the windows. "Umm... the biscotti's just about done," Caitlin calls back to Gar. "And the surprise treat should be ready in about ten or twenty minutes."
Donna Troy	"I'm not as clumsy as your sister, Alex. Don't worry." Donna replies with a wink, though the wink is aimed at Caitlin herself rather than her brother.     It's all part of the friendly banter and teasing of course. Not that Caitlin hasn't developed something of a reputation for breaking things over the years while Donna is notably /not/ clumsy with her own strength, but Donna assumes that no ribs were actually broken. It is largely from the relationship between Caitlin and Alex that Donna has concluded that it is the nature of brothers that the mutual teasing never ends.     Donna takes the opportunity while Wally is distracted by cookies from his normal high-speed motion to give him another of those one-armed hugs before making her way around the table and over to where Gar is streaming his gameplay to ruffle his hair. Gar has grown up a bit now and is no longer the kid of the group, but it may take a few more years before Donna's go-to greeting stops being to ruffle his hair. It's outrageous really. Still, the audience of the stream probably likes it.     "Something /does/ smell good," Donna agrees, as she hands over a nicely wrapped parcel to Caitlin. "What's the surprise treat? No -- let me guess, you can't tell me or it wouldn't be a surprise." A similarly wrapped parcel is handed to Wally and Gar, and a fourth to Alex. Donna must have received advance warning that he was coming.     When opened, the gifts will reveal Donna has themed her gifts this year. Each Titan is receiving a hand-painted Themysciran /kylix/ style drinking vessel -- each with customized artwork to suit the recipient. On Caitlin's is a black figure of Caitlin hurling a boulder. On Wally's, a portrait of him in a race against a figure with winged sandals. On Gar's, a cycle of illustrations that start with Gar in human form, transition through various animal forms, to end up back as Gar again.     Alex is left out of this particular theme; instead his box contains a bottle of some fancy Themysciran spirits with a pair of matching silver-bound drinking horns.
Garfield Logan	Gar Logan holds up a hand. "Yo, speedy!" A high-five in a passing blur has been a thing before, whether or not it happens this time around. Regardless, he says to his viewers, "Bet you didn't see that, and you can try to pause this later and you'd be lucky to see him." He gives Cait a nod as he looks up and over toward the stuff that's already out as she gives a status report, and upon turning back to the game he gets The Ruffling from Donna. "C'moooon," he protests, if lightly. Wouldn't be surprising if she actually made his hair look less disheveled, but he fixes that right back up again with his own hand. Which, of course, ends up with the gift in it. "Oh, hey, what's this? Unwrapping time, dudes." Controller set down, he goes about revealing what's inside to a positive reaction. "Ooh, this is sweet. Check it out. There's a tiger, an elephant, a gorilla.." A few of his more common forms, in sequence. "But I guess I should wrap this up and actually do something, so I'll catch you guys later." He closes down the stream, and those who'd been watching might have noticed his mood starting to dip south. Shutting the TV and console off, he turns in his spot to watch the others quietly, holding the /vessel/ gently in both hands.
Caitlin Fairchild	Caitlin and Alex both promptly tear into their gifts, then look over each other's shoulders to see what they both got. "Oooh, those horns are pretty," Caitlin congratulates Alex. He grins in appreciation for the praise and points a finger at the vessel in Caitlin's hands. "But look at that, a work of art from Themyscira like that? That's amazing work. You got a great gift, for sure." Caitlin hugs it to her chest and concurs with Alex' assessment by beaming a megawatt smile at Donna. "Oh! Gifts, rightrightright." She paces around, looking for somewhere to set her present before Alex helps by taking it off her hands while she's stuck in indecision. Caitlin hustles over to the tree and roots around for a few presents. One is set in front of Wally; she hands off the other two to Gar and Donna. "You guys don't have to open them now," she reassures them. Gar's feels suspiciously like a book, and Donna's is a small, firm object that fits in the palm of her hand.
Donna Troy	Donna does in fact open her gift, on the basis that the Amazon has never learned the concept of delayed gratification. She gives Caitlin a huge smile and spritzes a little on the back of her hand (bracers get in the way of wrists) to give it a smell. "Very nice," she declares. "I'll wear it for the Christmas party."     A second spritz is fired in the direction of Alex, because Donna basically can't help herself. She'll probably blame it on Caitlin later.     Donna goes to give Caitlin another hug in thanks for the gift, then looks across the room to Gar. She gives a tilt of her head. "Join us Gar?" she says. "Have some eggnog or mulled wine?" Everyone knows from previous Christmases at Titans Tower which of those options Donna is planning to have herself. She's very dubious that eggnog is something that should be permitted to exist, but mulled wine on the other hand has a definite stamp of Donna Approval. A point which she makes clear herself when she heads over to start pouring mulled wine.     "Caitlin said biscotti. I heard her distinctly. Biscotti and mulled wine, what could be more Christmassy?"
Garfield Logan	Gar's gaming was a way for him to connect to others beyond just the Titans and let him get his mind off of other matters that have come up a little more around things like the holidays. Talk of family would lead to a quick change of topic one way or another. "Ooh, this feels very booky. I'll bet it's got lots of pictures, because you'd never give me something this big that only had words. I'll open it later. Thanks," he says to Cait, setting it down nearby as he approaches the rest of the way to take up a seat, chin in hand, elbow atop the counter. "I'll try some of that," he says of the mulled wine, giving a sniff in that direction. He watches some of the interplay between the 'girls' and Alex, but refrains from jumping in. "I'm getting something done for everyone, but it's not ready yet."
Caitlin Fairchild	Alex swats a hand through the air, too late. "Great, now I smell like olive oil and marjoram," he grumbles. But he plays it off good-naturedly. After knowing the Titans since nearly day one, Alex clearly files it under familial teasing just like he does Caitlin's jibes. Caitlin reaches for the bottle and pops the cork out with her fingertips. She sniffs it with a dreamy appreciation-- it's one of those essential 'scent memories' of Themyscira that always make her think of her home there-- and pours a measured amount out for all four of them. "Oh C'mon Gar, you can't still hold that against me," Caitlin whines at him. "I still think Fundamentals of Aerodynamics would help your flying out." Because of course, a younger Caitlin definitely thought physics textbooks were great gifts for people.
Donna Troy	To be fair, a younger Donna thought that there was no gift anyone could possibly want that wasn't a weapon. While recently a heavy war hammer proved to be quite a successful gift for Caitlin, it's no longer the normal. She tends to go for decorative things made by Themysciran craftswomen, now that is actually an option for her. Prior to her return from Themyscira it tended to be oddities located on ebay that were generally very suited for the person she was giving a gift too, but that took a lot of shopping.     While Caitlin's pouring, Donna sorts out the biscotti, placing slices on a plate for each of them. Gar's last to receive his plate of biscotti, which apparently is an excuse for Donna to stop and wrap a sisterly arm around his shoulder. She does not however try to encourage him to talk about what ails him. Alex is well known to the Titans, but perhaps perhaps not quite close enough to expect Gar to open up in his presence.     "I'll try to drag Rae down to join us in a little while," Donna pronounces. It may even happen -- Raven may resist socializing with every fabric of her being normally, but Donna's persistence is sufficient that even the half-demon just gives in and socializes from time to time these days.
Garfield Logan	"Careful she doesn't try to throw /you/ in the oven next," Gar quips to Alex. "Like some Hansel and Gretel thing. Push her in before it's too late!" What a morbid tale that was. He goes on to say, "I've already watched as many documentaries on birds and flight as there are, and read more stuff too. Besides, you can ask Kian how good I am at flying. I'm a natural!" This does come off a little forced, regardless of the truth in it. Donna's gesture coaxes a mixed reaction out of him. Stiffness at first, like a cat or something that doesn't want to be touched, followed by a hint of reluctance that gives way to more of a willingness to accept and even lean slightly into it. "Ahh, if she wants to be by herself, that's okay. We all do sometimes, but we can always be sure this family is gonna be there when we're ready. The thing I'm getting done? I think it'll show that."
Caitlin Fairchild	Caitlin engages in some pantomime to suggest defenestrating Gar right out the big bay window and into the aura of flashing holiday lights adorning the Tower. But it's all done with a playfully insincere grin. Alex's phone vibrates and he excuses himself to head to the other side of the room, near the designated 'dead spot' where MARVIN doesn't have any security systems to monitor conversations. For good reason; Alex's day job as an arms dealer frequently runs afoul of US Law Codes. It's just one of those things everyone more or less politely ignores, though Caitlin does flicker an ever-concerned look at her brother's back when he walks away. Her focus returns to the conversation at hand. "If Rae's up for it," Caitlin encourages Donna, while simultaneously agreeing diplomatically with Gar's sentiment. "It's pretty quiet for the moment now. I wanna hear more about Gar's thing though. Can you give us any hints?" she inquires with an eager curiosity. "Or would guessing ruin the surprise?"
Donna Troy	Donna shrugs her shoulders mildly. "It's good for her to socialize," she says. "I'm not going to drag her down if she can't be persuaded though." Both Caitlin and Gar know Donna quite well enough to know she's not quite as easy-going about this as she makes out. She had been visibly concerned about Rae's tendency to isolate herself long before the two of them became an Item. Even in the old days before Doomsday Donna had often been the one to manage to drag Raven out of her reveries and into whatever the rest of the Titans were doing. At the time it might have been speculated that Donna was setting herself up for a magical trip to the middle of the river and it was surprising she got away with it so often. In retrospect it's perhaps more apparent why.     Donna is particularly studious in visibly ignoring of Alex's telephone conversation. Amazon hearing just doesn't have dead spots at that range. The day may come when Donna decides she's going to have to have words with Alex, but for now at least it's easy enough to rationalize these things away. There are, after all, worse people to be involved in that particular trade, and there may come a time when Alex's contacts are useful.     "You can't demand Gar reveal his secret thing without saying anything about your secret thing Cait," Donna objects. "You said secret treats. I distinctly heard you say it."
Garfield Logan	Gar Logan glances after Alex, but doesn't say anything about that. It's definitely been a sort of 'don't ask, don't tell' kind of thing, but what happens when the Titans eventually run into some group that might be using weapons Alex has helped them get? Awkward. Cait's antics draw a small grin out of him, but it's left at that. He goes back to crossing his arms across the countertop after Donna's shared moment, and he says, "She'd stay to herself if she had the chance, but usually it's about finding the right timing. I've been threatened enough to know when she means it and when she's just saying it." Looking between the pair as surprises are brought up, he pulls out his phone and scrolls to a photo that was sent to him: Beast Boy, Vorpal, and Kian all close by, with smiles on their faces, costumes or common attire. It looks like oil on canvas, a small part of a larger whole with what appears to be part of the tower's exterior behind them. "See?"
Caitlin Fairchild	"Secr--" Caitlin gives Donna a flummoxed expression, utterly uncertain about what she's referring to. "I don't have anOH! Right!" The redhead wheels around and pulls open the oven. It's turned off to let the contents carefully dry and set, and Caitlin produces a festive looking Yule Log made of chocolate, with vanilla and chocolate frosting. "Nono, wait one sec, I need to garnish it," Caitlin begs the others. She opens up a nearby tupperware container and carefully sets out a few 'mistletoe' on the log, made of real cherries tied with spun-sugar green leaves. "There! I haven't tried this recipe before, I hope you like it," she bids them, and carefully cuts off two ends from the 'log' to serve to the other Titans. Only then does she avail herself of a chance to examine the picture. "Ooh, that's gorgeous," Caitlin tells Gar. "Who is painting it?"
Donna Troy	Donna studies the picture on Gar's phone with interest before leaning back to study Caitlin's own surprise. "That looks great Gar. We can hang it in the lobby with the posters," she says with a grin. "Don't let Terry know about it until the painting is completely finished though, he's sure to try to sneak some glitter into the varnish if he gets half a chance."     Donna sniffs enthusiastically at the chocolate yule log as it's served. She gives Gar a gentle shoulder nudge. "See, the advantage of being in the right place at the right time. Everyone knows the ends are the best parts." There are however three of them there (Wally having done a typical Wally vanishing act, presumably to deliver gifts to some fellow speedsters or JLAers, or get a head start on the traditional Titans Christmas visit to a local homeless shelter or three), so Donna takes a knife and cuts her end of the log in half, slipping one half onto Caitlin's plate.     Everyone knows the ends are the best bits after all.     Donna dunks some biscotti in her wine, nibbles it, and settles back, looking distinctly satisfied, with a fond expression aimed at her fellow Titans. "Merry Christmas, guys. This is one weird American tradition I really can't find fault with!"