boosted_gold:

"Okay... we've agreed on a style menu, on a cake, venue comes later, color scheme is done, waiting on final word from your mom and dad before we hard-set the date... Maid of Honor and Best Lady are set." Riley bites his bottom lip, frowning at the checklist.

"All that's left is... y'know, who's gonna actually be the one marrying us."

Neither of their families were especially religious, so this particular had been danced around more than once already, in favor of easier decisions.

boosted_gold:

So... getting married. It was a thing now. A thing that was actually going to happen, not at some nebulous far off point in the future, but within the year. Riley and Dinah didn't want some big drawn out engagement. There'd been vague discussions of dresses and guests lists and venues, but Riley was really on the fringe of all that. Oddly enough, Uncle Ted and Dad had taken over most of the planning, with various interventions by Aunt Sue.

Riley and Dinah, for their part, knew that pre-marital counseling was a sound idea, so they'd checked with Ruth about the idea and set up a schedule. Riley was meeting with her first, before Dinah's session, and then both of them.

So he's waiting in his usual room at the Tower, a few healthy snacks and drinks on hand out of gratitude to Ruth, along with a small gift-wrapped box as a thank-you present.

young_swimmer:

Cait decided to spend a day or two at the cottage before heading back to San Francisco. She needed a day or two to decompress after spending the past week in Atlantis. Dealing with Arthur was always stressful, this time being no different. Amnesty Bay was the perfect place to decompress and get some peace and quiet.

She walked out of the ocean and pulled the water out of her clothes and hair. She headed for the small cottage at the base of the lighthouse. She opened the door, stepped inside and never saw the blow. Pain spiked at the back of her neck and the world went dark.

"Bring her," a male voice said and a figure stepped out of the shadows. The man next to him picked up Cait's inert body and threw it over a shoulder. The two men left the small cottage.

whydowescream:

"Hi," Ruth greeted the expected arrival. "Joey, right? We saw each other at Cindy's party, but we didn't really get to talk." Ruth hadn't been especially inclined, from what she'd heard. "Would you like something to drink?"

bwa_ha_ha:

Not long after breaking the connection from Riley and Max, Dinah has set a land-speed record for getting ready for a date. A short time later, she was waiting outside the restaurant for Riley.

She checked her watch.

For the third time.

"You'd think time travelers would know not to be late..." she muttered.

She really hoped Riley hadn't done anything crazy with Max.

...Okay, he probably hadn't.

Probably.

littleladylord:

Cindy was proud of the festivities she'd set up.

The game was projected onto one wall of the huge atrium the party was taking place in, with plenty of comfy seats facing it. It was only polite, after all.

More important was the food. Tables of chips, veggies, wings (with three different types of dressing), muffelettas (it's a New Orleans occasion this year. Thematic), and chili rolls. Cindy was especially proud of the chili rolls; there was one row marked 'Regular' and one row marked 'Queen' The latter row had a stack of pens and informed-consent waivers in front of it.

There was also a small end table full of party favors for everyone. In celebration of commerce, they were $10 gift cards, each for somewhere she thought fitting for the person the card was marked for.

Cindy likes parties.

semievilgenius:

 Despite attempts to cheer him up, Max had been even more insular since having to shoot Ruth and Jay during their episode. His current habit he'd developed was taking things apart and putting them back together again.

whydowescream:

When it was all over, some of the others had been a bit... dismissive. In the best possible sense. Like none of it mattered, since there was a bizarre magical anomaly. But Ruth couldn't think that. She couldn't pretend it hadn't been her. She'd been in there. Her words hadn't been made up of whole cloth by ... whatever that effect was. She couldn't disassociate from it.

All she could say was, "I'm so sorry."

whydowescream:

It had been a beautiful service, of course. It was every week, even though Ruth had always had trouble getting used to going alone. Team Morgenstern did every service together. Here... she couldn't even bring Jay.

She'd turned down joining a covenant group at the church -- again -- because "Oh, you know, between school and work and all, there just isn't enough time." Plus the covenant group met during the time she'd allotted for helping Jay study. Which sometimes seemed to be more than Jay had alotted for studying.

But it had been a beautiful service, of course. A classic sermon, too, the prodigal son story. Her dad had done that one, too. Including reminding the congregation of the fact that the prodigal son's mistakes aren't the point of the story at all. ...It's the older brother who can't get over them. It's the older brother who has to learn that it isn't about keeping score and who screwed up and who didn't and who got the fatted calf party and who never even got that goat he wanted. It's about how families should come together. Including the family of all life in its great interconnected web.

Which is a very important and beautiful message, that she's always tried to make a point of studying carefully. Because she knows herself, and knows its one of the hard ones for her. And so she's trying hard today ... because sometimes people fall. And when they fall, the job is to get them back up on their feet and throw a figurative fatted-calf party because it's so good to have them back up on their feet. Until they fall again. ...and why didn't the older brother ever get his own goat? He followed all the rules.

It had been a beautiful service, but Ruth finds herself scowling coldly as she gets back.

dc_misc:

The security guard led the Titans into what looked like a conference room. When inside, he removed a cigarette and lit it up.

"First off, thanks for coming. Second, you're not going to like how little I can actually tell you. Before you fly off the handle it's because I literally don't know, not because of confidentiality crap."

semievilgenius:

 Max was on comm duty when the message came in. It was encoded, nothing he couldn't figure out, but it was odd that a call for help would be disguised.

"Titans, we may have a situation here," he calls over the comms.

whydowescream:

Jay was in class; Ruth wasn't, and she found herself with nothing to do but worry about other people. Like Max, who'd barely set foot out of his lab lately. So Ruth went and got enough hotdogs for the both of them.

She knocked on the door of the lab.

semievilgenius:

 Max sat in the Titans' tech area, putting on the finishing touches to a new machine. It was a small aerial robot, that if it worked correctly, could be a good source of long-range reconnaissance.  At least in theory, but Max was still dithering with it, not entirely sure it was ready for field-testing. 

young_swimmer:

Cait sat in a lotus position on the beach with her eyes closed. The waves washed up on the shore and soaked her, but it didn't register in her mind. Not that she ever minded being wet. She did get strength from the water and today she needed all of her strength and more, physical and mental.

Ty was starting an interview at Star Labs for a position, something he had worked so hard for, and Cait was trying to help keep him centered enough to get through it. The bond that they usually shared was stronger than it had ever been and Cait was still struggling. They were linked so strongly that she could almost hear, smell, see and feel everything he was experiencing. She had never been so far into some other living being's mind before. She could almost imagine the headache that would come after this.

"You're doing fine." Her mental 'voice' was as soothing as she could make it and she exerted as much control as she could through the link. "We can do this."

bobblehead:

Pippi may have joined the East team to stick with Mitzi, but she still visits when she can. After all, Iris remains her new bestest friend, and she has to visit King Triton now and then. Besides, much as she adores Dinah and Mitzi (occasionally to Dinah's chagrin), Cait is a <i>real</i> princess, so Pippi has to visit to work on quietly picking up princess pointers, just in case she stumbles into a Disney plotline.

She bounces in through the door, waving a credit card. "Alright, shopping time!"

semievilgenius:

 Max had to admit, the Titans had a really nice setup here. He was surprised by how quickly they trusted him. While at first he thought that perhaps it was a bit naive, but in truth he appreciated it. It was the kind of acceptance he'd been looking for all his life. He wasn't going to let them down.

"Helping superheroes fight crime. That ought to stick it to the old man," Max said with a smile.

He practically salivated at the opportunities, eyes practically caressing the the materials at hand. Oh yeah, this was going to be fun.

dc_holiday:

"A father is a guy who has snapshots in his wallet where his money used to be." -- Unknown

whydowescream:

Jay's concerns were valid, even if her gut, or dove-senses, or whatever, wasn't telling her Eli could manage to be a threat right now. And among the warning calls she made, one of the most important would be to J'anna J'onnz of the the Outsiders.

"Hello, this is Mourning Dove of the Teen Titans. Is Manhunter there?"

half_angel_eli:

"And all the lovely ladies, they wore a gossamer gown. They rode the handsome gentlemen all up and down the town," Eli sang to himself, rather loudly as he drank down some beer. He was up on the roof with a six pack of them drink, on number three.

He thought about calling GK earlier, but he didn't want to be a bother. He just felt really bad in a way, GK was just so nice and he was a terrible person. It was like GK would get the moon for him if he asked, which didn't feel right.

Not knowing how to handle it, he did what he always did, which was to run away. In this case away from sobriety.

dc_holiday:

A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest. ~Irish Proverb

semievilgenius:

Today was starting like any other day for Maximillian Sivana. The walk from his apartment to class, the looks and mutterings of those who understood the significance of his last name, and the tedium of his classes. Some provided a bit of challenge or interest, but only for a time. As a result of his metahuman ability to retain information, it became obnoxiously simple to pass tests and explain things when called on. Add to that that Max was a prolific reader, he more often than not, knew the entire possible curriculum before the semester was even a quarter of a way through. Unfortunately most people assumed his boredom was due to arrogance. In truth, he knew nearly everything there was to know in his courses and rarely learned anything from the professors that he hadn't already read. The only real joy he got was on the rare occasion he got to debate what he knew with other learned individuals, like that girl he met in The History of Non-Violence. He believed her name was..Ruth? Yeah it was Ruth. Maybe he'd start a conversation, if for no other reason than to do something about the growing boredom he was experiencing.

dc_holiday:

In the streets of San Francisco the people of the city went about their normal business just like they did on any other day. Cars moved in the streets along with the trolleys and people moved about on the sidewalks. Four individuals new to the city happily walked down the sidewalk. Each held a small bow and a quicker of arrows and all of them had smiles on their faces.

It was time for the people of San Francisco to feel the love.

They started shooting people with the arrows while not far away Boo and Bugsy watched with anticipation.

maidofmight:

Jo Kent is pretty sure her Mom and Dad do not know where she is right now. She doesn't think they'd necessarily be mad at her, but they would ask her the reasoning behind her choice. Dad might even wonder why she was choosing to this instead of trying to join the YJLA on a reserve basis. The reasoning behind it was simply.

If she tried here and failed, then it was because the group didn't see a use for her. If she went to the YJLA, Jo would never be certain that she got in on her own merits and not the fact that her dad and brother led their respective teams.

She noticed how tall the building and wished, once again, that she could fly.

So it was that Supergirl appeared in a red-blue blur outside of Titans' Tower in San Francisco and waited for someone to notice her.

young_swimmer:

There was the sudden intake of breath and Cait gasped, expecting water not air. For a second it felt like she was suffocating, but then her body adjusted to breathing air. She coughed a few times and drew in deep breaths. She was alive again.

Cait opened her eyes and blinked a few times. She looked around. None of her surroundings were familiar. At all. It wasn't Atlantis or Titans Tower. Where in Hades was she?

What happened? She remembered Oceanus' attack and the darkness and cold settling over her when he killed her. Then...gods of the sea...the walking nightmare. Attacking Atlantis. Killing so many and watching her father die by having his heart ripped out by his wife.

Ty. Tears formed in her eyes and spilled out at the thought of him as the memories of the walking nightmare came rushing back. Cait had used his love for her against him. By Dis, did she really do all of that? Did she cause so much death and destruction?

Ty. Where was he? She sat up and looked around searching frantically for Ty. Shouldn't he be here? He didn't die. She knew he didn't. She had watched William Hand take over, but it didn't kill him. He had to be alive. Cait reached out to him with her mind.

Ty, my love. Where are you?

dc_holiday:


I arise from dreams of thee
In the first sweet sleep of night,
When the winds are breathing low,
And the stars are shining bright.
I arise from dreams of thee,
And a spirit in my feet
Hath led me -- who knows how?
To thy chamber window, Sweet!

The wandering airs they faint
On the dark, the silent stream--
And the Champak's odours
Like sweet thoughts in a dream;
The nightingale's complaint,
It dies upon her heart,
As I must on thine,
O belovèd as thou art!

O lift me from the grass!
I die! I faint! I fail!
Let thy love in kisses rain
On my lips and eyelids pale.
My cheek is cold and white, alas!
My heart beats loud and fast:
O press it to thine own again,
Where it will break at last!

Percy Bysshe Shelley

dc_misc:

It started as any other morning in San Francisco. The sun came up in the East and people climbed from the beds to start their day.

The Titans in Titans Tower were starting their day. Their new sister team from the East were visiting for a meeting to discuss the current situation. While they were inside making plans, the waters of the Pacific started to churn. Waves kicked up and dark clouds blocked out the light of the sun.

The water quickly pulled back from the shore and things were calm for the briefest of moments. Then a huge tsunami crashed ashore and water flooded the lower half of the city.

dc_holiday:

There's a piece of paper and a pen attached to a bulletin board. Across the top is written:

New Year's Resolutions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
+

Anonymous entries accepted.

greengenes:

Mickey had roped off the living room in the JSA Brownstone for the afternoon. She had spent the entire morning getting the food ready and setting up. She had sent out invites to the JLA, Titans (both East and West Coast), Shadowpact, Outsiders, Birds of Prey, and of course, the JSA girls. She had also invited Cindy in case she wanted to come, and Angie, as she was basically a JSA brat herself. Mikey had built her a projection bot, and security bot that would alert her if any of the boys thought to try and see what the girls were up to.

Mickey finished setting up the projector. She had pictures of all the guys from the various teams that she had managed to get to her hands on. She made sure that there would be enough food and drinks for everyone, and waited for people to start arriving.

whydowescream:

Here's something you don't hear often in Titan's Tower: Ruth Morgenstern sounds angry.

"31 - 17 is just embarrassing! And for crying out loud, nine years in a row?"

The Mids have beaten the Knights, you see. Again. It's one of the only football games that matters to Ruth that doesn't involve Jay playing.

As her blood pressure rises, she eventually repeats a few verses of "A Little Kingdom I Possess" in her head, and soothes herself. Still. Vexing.

becauseshutup:

In a swirling of mystical energies Jarrod appeared in front of Titans Tower. He hadn’t been there in a while so he thought it would be polite to ring the door bell rather than just appearing inside. The Titans had been like home to him and he knew a lot of the people on the team since he was little.

He had gotten a feeling that it would be a good idea for him to help out with the Titans for a while which was why he had come there. Doing something like this wasn’t surprising especially for him. Jarrod always did seem to have a knack for knowing where he should be and when to be there.

catchmeifyoucan:

The room lined with statues of Titans that given their lives to help others was something that Iris didn't set foot on a regular basis.

It wasn't that she had never been in it. It was just that she could never go in without feeling the urge to cry.

Today, that urge was especially strong.

Because the newest statue was one of her best friend.
( Read more... )

all_powerfull:

Ty didn't spend much time in Atlantis. His wounds weren't physical, and Arthur quickly made it clear that Ty was somehow to blame for all of this, and wasn't welcome. Not near him, not in Atlantis, and not near the body of the Princess. And no, she was not coming to the surface for burial or anything else.

He's been in his workshop ever since. Now and then he tries for some semblance of order, trying to put the dust and scraps back together into pieces, and pieces into something vaguely recognizeable as machinery. Trying to reassemble his star charts, his blackboard full of equations, his notebooks full of warp theory calculations. It never goes far... either things just don't reassemble right, or frustration kicks in and he destroys it all over again.

After all, that's what he does. He destroys, he loses. All the power in the world, all the powers in the world... control over time, and he was too late. The might of a god, and everything slipped through his fingers. One of the greatest psychic wills in existence, and he still lost control. And worst of all, brilliant minds, use of 90 percent of his brain and total recall... letting him relive and replay every instant. Every minute detail. Every sound, every sight. Reviewing everything he should have done over and over.

They'd been so close. Vacation, normalcy, holidays with his mother now that, with Cait's help, he had achieved a semblance of control. His plans for Christmas... and now it was all gone.

dc_titansofmyth:

Rhea stood outside the sprawling farm that was owned by LexCorp. She stood near one field and waved a hand and the crops began to wither. She smiled and moved on to the next field. One by one she moved across the fields and all of the crops began to with and die.

young_swimmer:

Cait had called Jon and a meeting had been set once all the avatars had been located. It seemed like every god and goddess had chosen an avatar to act in their stead during this crisis. They would all be needed along with the rest of the teams. Their opponents weren't just supervillains, but were gods.

Cait along with Ty, Ruth and Dinah headed for the JLA headquarters. Dinah was Hephaestus' avatar, Cait was Poseidon's, Ruth was Hera's and Ty was excellent at coordinating and knowing things. They would be the representatives for the Teen Titans.

They arrived and took seats at the table.

young_swimmer:

Cait was out in the Pacific saving a dolphin from a fisherman's net. The dolphin was one of Hope's pod and Hope's mother had come to Cait for help. Cait had made it out to the boat as fast as she could and had made it in time to rescue the dolphin.

The dolphin swam free of the net and Cait smiled.

young_swimmer:

They had to spend a few days in Poseidonis before coming back to Titans' Tower due to Cait's wounds, but eventually she was well enough to make the trip. The physicians wanted her to wait longer, but Arthur needed to get back here and Cait didn't want to leave him around Ty for any longer than necessary. To be honest, she was surprised San Francisco was still standing after Arthur had already been there for a few days.

Once they reached Metropolis they called the Tower and Cait asked Ty to come and get them. Cait was in bad enough shape with two healing stab wounds, she didn't want to add any additional misery by flying.

Cait smiled after they appeared in the Tower. Teleporting wasn't her favorite method of travel, but it was still better than flying. The important thing was that she was home. Nothing felt better than coming home.

"Hello?" she called out.

catchmeifyoucan:

Since the calendar had turned to the month of September, Iris had been counting down the days until their birthday. She'd been planning the party since back in June. Jai normally had no problem letting her handle the party planning itself.

She had invited all of the Titans, including Pipi and Mitzi, of course. And Jon, Corinna, Traya, Cindy, Jerry, Keith, Cerdian, and Wendi, too. And Riley, because if she didn't invite him, he'd probably tag along with Dinah anyway. She also told Cait that she could bring her mom along, if she wanted to get out of the Tower, and that her parents probably wouldn't mind the company at all. Jai probably invited some people too, though the guest list was pretty much the same between the two of them.

Everything was all set up, and Iris placed the wrapped package that had Jai's gift on the table where the other gifts would go. Grinning from ear to ear, she waited for everyone to arrive.

whydowescream:

The beginning of their first semester at college had been very busy so far, and wasn't letting up any time soon. Ruth cracked open her textbooks on Buddhism and opened up her word processor. Maybe her homework could help her get her mind more on a proper track; she'd been feeling stressed lately.

Well, it was a weird summer; she's got that in her defense.

After a while, she first calls her family because she'd forgotten to make the usual check-in, then calls Jay. "I have typed the word Mahayana so many times, I'm becoming very neurotic about whether I'm spelling it right. Have you got some time?" He wasn't in the middle of anything in his schedule she was aware of, but he might be getting something done himself.

wannabelantern:

 Scott appeared at the Tower quickly. The new Valorium flight system worked great: just a few minutes at 20% power, and he was in San Fransisco. 

"You liked the speed, didn't you sir?" Scooter asked, currently in his integrated position in the suit.

"Indeed, Scooter. I think we will try 40% on the way home. That should be fun."

Scott landed on the front of the island with Titan's Tower and looked around.

"I wonder if anyone's home."

whydowescream:

It was Their Birthday. There had been several previous occasions of joint celebration, starting, as the story went, when Mrs. Morgenstern and Mrs. Sayers had beds next to each other at the hospital.
( Read more... )

young_swimmer:

They went into a situation looking to fight and they came back with two additional members to their strange family. Pippi and Mitzi had come back with the Titans after the fight. Now it was just a matter of getting them to settle in. Mitzi got the spare room next to Cait's and Pippi was down the hall next to Iris.

Cait stretched out on the couch in the rec room and put the Princess Bride into the DVD player. Maybe they will wander by and watch a movie.

in_a_snap:

(Timebendyed so anyone can be involved)

Jerry had heard that there was suppose to be an amazing meteor shower tonight and the best place to see it was in the Arches National Park in Utah. He had let dad knew he was going to spend the night there which his dad was totally fine with.

After teleporting in with some basic supplies he started looking for a good place to watch it from. Teleporting around the park he saw a mesa that looked like he could get a great view from. He snapped his fingers and appeared in a flash of green at the top of the mesa.

What he saw up there was something that he Jerry Carr had trouble believing. There was a organic looking machine with little robotic drones eating the rocks. And one charged right at him.

Quickly snapping both hands he teleported away and teleported a boulder right on top of the drone crushing it. Jerry let out a sigh of relief until he noticed that the drones were now eating the boulder and forming even more drones.

This was bad and Jerry knew he could not handle this by himself and felt that it would be smart to call in as much help as he could.

Teleporting back to his stuff away from the mesa he grabbed his cell phone and started calling all of the people he knew who were superheroes to get as much help as he could.

whydowescream:

All of her scholarship and financial aid information were straight and ready. She'd checked. Four times. There were plenty of ways for a future UUA minister to pay for Berkeley if one just did the research and the legwork. She was sorting out the last of things at the tower, sitting in a balcony area.

whydowescream:

Once the whole mess was finally, completely over, there was time to talk.  There were a lot of things Ruth was feeling uncertain about.

Uncertainty wasn't normally her thing, really.

"Let's find somewhere we can talk?" She asked Jay.

dc_holiday:

What Makes a Dad

God took the strength of a mountain,
The majesty of a tree,
The warmth of a summer sun,
The calm of a quiet sea,
The generous soul of nature,
The comforting arm of night,
The wisdom of the ages,
The power of the eagle's flight,
The joy of a morning in spring,
The faith of a mustard seed,
The patience of eternity,
The depth of a family need,
Then God combined these qualities,
When there was nothing more to add,
He knew His masterpiece was complete,
And so,

He called it ... Dad

catchmeifyoucan:

Their heads clearer than they had been before, Iris and her remaining Titans were teleported by Ty in front of Keystone's Golden Ridge Plaza.

"I don't think the Raiderettes have gone anywhere...seeing as we didn't exactly scare them off last time," she said. "But we're ready for them now. We just need to divide and conquer. Get them against each other, and we've got this fight in the bag." She turned to Ruth. "And we'll get back Jayhawk, too."

This required a battle cry to get them in the mood....

"Titans Together!"

Iris sped off in the direction of the mall, to where she heard the giggles of the Raiderettes.

catchmeifyoucan:

Having left the others standing in the living room after arriving, Iris sped around the Tower, looking for Cerdian. She HAD to see if he wasn't angry with her. Because if he was? She would just DIE. She knew it.

"Cerdian," she opened a bedroom door, not even bothering to knock. No Cerdian. Darn. On to the next room.

dc_holiday:

Mothers are the place that we call home.
On them we rest our heads and close our eyes.
There's no one else who grants the same soft peace,
Happiness, contentment, sweet release,
Erasing nighttime tears with lullabies,
Restoring the bright sun that makes us bloom. - Anonymous

catchmeifyoucan:

Iris was a little disoriented from her and the Titans scuffle with the Raiderettes. It had to be one of the weirdest fights she'd ever had. She wasn't even sure if they'd won...or if they got their asses kicked in the process.

And where did that Jayhawk guy go, anyway?

But that didn't matter, right now, what matter was that Ceridan was lying on the floor, hurt! Iris raced over to him, her arms still full of cookies. He was her TRUE LOVE and his safety was ALL THAT MATTERED right now.

"Cerdian?" she asked, "Are you okay?"

whydowescream:

The study session had been a success, in Ruth's view.

"Great!" She said as she closed the math books. "You're going to do fine on Tuesday. Now I'd like to point out there's a place in walking distance where one can acquire a cherry-vanilla malt."