Brunchfast At Tiffany's

Summary:
September 13, 2014: Zach stops by, and then Vorpal and Gar have a heart to heart

iHop

Just your regular iHop.


Characters

NPCs

  • iHop Wait Staff

Mood Music:
I Can't Help Falling In Love


Early morning, or really, really late night.

Food has been eaten and conversation's been had. Wonder Girl had to leave, though, and Gar had an early morning class to get to. Vorpal, however, felt the need to stay behind for a little and process things. The purple cat is sitting at a both where there are still two other plates bearing the syrupy evidence that a good late/early breakfast was had by all. He's completing his blog entry on his StarkPad, a little distracted.

The iHop patrons occasionally glance his way, some residual excitement from earlier when he, Wonder Girl and Changeling walked in and sat at a booth- there was a buzz! The dinner had been pleasant, even if Gar got accosted by a few autograph hunters and more than a few flirtatious autograph hunters, which made Vorpal bite down hard on his fork more than once. It's a miracle he didn't crack a tooth.

Zachary Zatara stopped by at the Tower. Or at least what's left of it. Apparently Wiccan took it down and so Zachary has came here seeing as iHop now serves as a meeting place of sorts. He storms into the place and glances around until his eyes fall on Vorpal. "Vorpal! Is it just me or is there's something different about the Tower?"

The cheshire's ears twitch, and he looks up when he hears the familiar voice. "Zach, hey! Yeah, we did a little redecorating. I think it's a lot more home-and-garden now, don't you think?" He tries a smile, but it's clear that there's a bit of regret there. "Sorry you missed it, it was pretty spectacular… but I did catch it on video."

You paged Kate Bishop with 'Oh god, I've found an artist I WANT to commission to do a pic of Vorp'

Zachary sighs a little. "I'll be fine. It was going to happen at some point." He sits down at the booth. "So, are we thinking about a replacement yet?"

Vorpal nods, "Gar suggested somewhere in the woods… we'll be looking for things. But— " he tilts the StarkPad to show the picture of Wonder Girl he had snapped when she arrived to the tower ruins, "We've got a new member. Actually, have a Wonder Girl. And also Flash told us about another one called 'Oracle' — they apparently are reclusive… how did Flash put it? Um, 'Disembodied voice, rolls on the electronic wave.' So I guess we'll be contacting them through our devices."

"Really? The woods. I hope this is all temporary." Zachary leans over to look at the teenage girl. "Oh, Wonder Girl. She should be a great addition to the team. Hopefully I get to meet her soon." He leans back in his seat and raises a brow. "Oracle? That sounds mysterious."

"Hah! That's what I said, Mysterious!" Vorpal puts the StarkPad down and grabs his coffee. "Don't you think the woods would be nice? Maybe a house built there, secreted away. It'd be nice and peaceful and you and Zee can do your Communing With Nature thing that you magicians do… you do that, right?" he takes a sip. "And I figure that once we get established there, you guys could create… I don't know, portkeys? So we can come in and out quickly without having to travel? Can't magic do that?"

"Communing With Nature? I am a magican, not Posion Ivy." Zachary shrugs his shoulders. "I've never been one for nature, but I guess it could work for now." He takes off his top hat and pulls out a wand. "Maybe….I've never been good with magic that has to do with humans. Zee and I should be able to figure something out though. Maybe she knows a spell."

"What's your forte, magically speaking? You deal more with objects than with humans?" Vorpal leans forward, swirling the last of his coffee in the cup. It was good to find out what his teammates' limitations and abilities were.

Zachary nods. "Yeah, Zee tends to be good with living things while I'm better with inanimate things like turning one thing into another, making something bigger and elemental control. Mostly because of my career really." He brushes hair from his eyes. "I have been able to affect humans sometimes though. Or find a way through that limitation like using wind to mimic telekinesis."

Interesting, "So you do things, Zee does people, Wiccan does reality, and Raven does demons. Sounds like we've got almost all disciplines of magic covered there," Vorpal says, smiling. "I will start calling you guys The Cabal from now on."

"Call us whatever you'd like as long as you remember: I am the greatest." Zachary smirks. "And what about you? Aren't you sort of a magican yourself? You can make objects out of thin air."

"Nah, I'm magical, but I'm not a magician. I can't cast spells— I'm basically one hundred percent chaos magic given physical form. The way it was explained to me, I'm too raw to actually perform something as refined as a spell. I can impose my will on reality and create objects, make little holes in reality, and create illusions by basically creating an image in my mind and forcing it upon reality… but they're all brute-force approaches. Actual spells? That's the fancy stuff. I'm more like an industrial girder set, spellcasting is like clockwork… brute force versus the more subtle and specialized approach." Vorpal finishes his coffee and slides the cup to the center of the table. More, please!

"I see. You and Billy both use chaos magic then. That sounds complicated." Zachary sort of just looks down at the now empty cup of coffee. For a moment he thought Vorpal wanted him to refill it and so he does. ""Eivg mih erom eeffoc!" And so the cup it filled again before someone could even pick it up.

Vorpal says, "Well, it is pretty complicated. I am brute chaos magic, Wiccan's more sophisticated approach… is very tricky. You saw what happened with the tower. Chaos magic, from what the Cait told me, is one of the hardest disciplines, but also one of the most powerful. And potentially disastrous." He looks at his cup and laughs, "Okay… I would give up all of my powers if I could do that. Unlimited amounts of coffee at my beck and call."

Zachary leans back in his seat. "Wiccan was telling me more about chaos magic the last time I invited him to Shadowcrest. I'm just glad the Zee and I have a more simple way of magic. After you learn how to speak backwards of course."

"Yeah… how the hell do you learn that?" Vorpal says, sipping his cup. "That's like learning how to speak crazy, only it has to make sense. How did you learn how to twist your tongue, heck, language taht way?"

Sunday classes aren't that common, but Sunday lab duty for Gar's particular line of study is. Biology includes lab animals, which need to be fed and examined. Fortunately this isn't one where they take apart the experimental subjects afterwards.

The job takes a bit less time than Gar had expected, and he had to skip breakfast, so he sends a text to Keith to see if he's interested, and finds himself invited to the iHop. So he does the "fastest animals" iron-man relay: Peregrine falcon to get out of Manhattan, dolphin to cross the bay, and he arrives as a cheetah, turning human in order to come inside because no shirt no shoes no animals.

Zachary Zatara says, "All of our ancestors used magic that way. It just takes a LOT of practice. But it isn't necessary for all of my spells luckily. I only do it because it's easier really. And Zee does it because of her dad."

Zachary glances at Gar when he enters the iHOP…because he's green and isn't hard to miss. "Hello Gar. Join us!"

"Well, it's crazy, I don't know how you do it. If I tried, goodness knows what would happen."
The cat's green eyes notice movement at the entrance, and suddenly his face lights up like the sky on the fourth of July, "Gar! I thought you had things to do at the university?" he asks, looking up at the new arrival, "Did you forget something here?"

Gar wanders over. Well, if by 'wander' one means, 'dodges a waitress, and is briefly pestered by a fanboy, who ends up with a signed shirt, in permanent marker, because please wash that shirt sometime soon, man! Anyway.

"I got done early. Now you know why I don't normally eat at iHop… it's where the Torkies go to eat," he says, sitting next to the other Titans.

Zachary looks over between Gar and Vorpal. "Anyway, I must get going. It was nice meeting up with you guys though." He looks down at a watch on his wrist. ""Ot Trescwodahs!" And he vanishes.

"It was nice to s—" Vorpal says and watches Zach poof. "… man, he's fast." Vorpal mutters, and then looks over at Gar, that goofy grin on his face. "Hey, I'm technically a Torkie and you don't object too much to my presence." He teases, reaching for his freshly renewed cup of coffee.
"Of course, you didn't growl too much at the girls who asked you for your phone number and an autograph." Grin, but with a little edge, and he chomps hard on the bread.

"You haven't asked me to turn into a cow so you could milk me," Gar notes. "Also I didn't give them my real phone number, I gave them the fan club number."

He orders some pancakes. And bacon. There has to be a bacon special.

"… a cow… " Congratulations, Logan, you've broken the Cheshire. He looks up as the waitress also asks him if he wants anything. "Coffe." And quickly, "No milk."

Gar grins as he adds creamer to his coffee, with probably too much sugar. He reaches over and ruffles the cat.

"You know, that's hardly the only creepy thing they've asked. It gets worse."

It'd be lying if Vorpal said he wasn't curious… mostly because it sounds so weird, it has to be a good story. "It's the risk of being a celebrity, I guess. How does it feel, though?" the cheshire tilts his head, looking at Gar. "I mean, I know there's people who'd rather not deal with it, and others like it. How does it go with you?" He's asking because, well, he really wants to know. It's an extra piece to the puzzle that is Gar- likes, dislikes, feelings, that sort of thing.

"Honestly? I stopped letting it bother me. They're all people, right? I learned a lot from that kid who turned into a blogger, the one who was on that much better show than mine," Gar says. "Acting is make believe that pays. That part's fine, but I'm not that exceptional at it."

He mixes more sugar and creamer into the half-full coffee cup. "I just have to remember that every one of the weird people is pretty much a goofball like me. Sometimes they need to be told 'no' politely, sometimes the hard way, but they're generally just people. So I keep a polite and friendly distance."

~Is that how you see me?~
"That's a good outlook," Vorpal says quietly, swirling his coffe. "A lot of them probably feel pretty lonely, picked on by their peers and that sort of thing." Not speaking from personal experience, no, not at all.
And then he remembers, Gar can smell pheromones. He learned that that night at the dorm. So maybe he caught on to…
"Um… I'm sorry about earlier," he mentions in passing. "With Wondy and the fans." He feels guilty, after what Gar said about the fans. Even if he didn't say anything nasty.

"I'm sure they do. I was there once. The green freak in a school full of kids who hated anything different," he murmurs. "It's ok. They didn't notice."

The green guy looks at Vorpal and smiles slightly. "You're the first one I haven't pushed away to a safe distance for two years, you know."

Vorpal looks back at Gar and returns the smile. "… that means a lot to me, Gar. You do, too." Vorpal says, reaching over with one hand to touch a green wrist. "Still… I'm sorry about that, it's mean-spirited. And petty. I've always sort of been the ugly duckling and when…" He sips his coffee. "I'm a grown man. It's embarrassing that it happened." He gives Gar a lopsided grin. "… Wondy is gorgeous. Me? I'm sorta… weird."

"Weird, maybe, but awesome," Gar says, "And in the guy category you're pretty gorgeous, just non-standard."

He looks at the waitress bringing pancakes and bacon, and smiles welcome. "Thanks, I'm starved."

He doesn't eat in one bite; he's taking time because he needs to talk.

"So anyway, I'm still kind of messed up and confused. I've never been serious with a guy. I was all confident that it would be easy but it's not - I don't know how to act sometimes. I'm sorry if it's making things harder for you."

Looks like they were having A Talk, so he sets his coffee aside and his ears twitch. Serious?

He listens carefully, though, because this is important. When Gar says his first bit, Vorpal says quietly, "Gar… you don't need to act in any special way, you know." He rubs his hands together, thinking how to respond. "I… know that girls and guys date differently, and that women have different ways of communicating. Or at least that's what my dad used to say."

"I mean… if you want to be serious. Just… be with me. I speak plainly, I don't need you to guess my mind, I don't need you to be anything other than yourself. It's Gar Logan whom I like, not some sort of protocol droid who does what he thinks it's best so as not to upset me. I don't need anyone to act in a special way. Just… to love me and be with me."

He picks up his cup again and puts sugar into it, which is a futile thing because he cannot taste sweets in this form. "If you ever happen to want me." Because, as nicely as that first sentence was phrased, it could simply be Gar's nice way of preparing to disengage. Everything was possible.

"I want you but I have no idea what that means," Gar says. "You're my best friend and I hope that lasts forever, at the very least. I like waking up next to you."

He can taste sweets; he engages with the pancakes and bacon, slipping an extra bacon slice to Vorpal. The coffee was renewed shortly after the food arrived, so that's drinkable too. For a while.

Is he being sucked into this 'friend zone' he's heard his co-workers talk about time and time again? He's not quite sure how it all works, but Gar's confusion makes something inside him well up for a moment. He sips his coffee. "You're my best friend as well, Gar," he says, trying to feel a little less than he wants to.

"Waking up next to you is the best part of the day. I miss you when you're gone and I am glad when I see you again." he looks down at his coffee, and pushes the mug away from him.

~He just wants to be friends, you should let him.~
~No, you should stay the course. Nobody won anything who didn't risk it all~
~Except for those who lose it all~
~Right! Wait, no—~

He looks at Gar, his food still untouched.
~He doesn't feel the same way about me as I do …~
~Well, what'll it be like seeing him going after Wondy, or Zee?~
~It'll kill me…~
"I'm sorry this is so confusing, Gar. Everything related to me seems to be that way."

Why couldn't things have been more simple? Why can't the guy he likes like him back, or his home stay in one place? Why did everybody have to die and leave him like that? Why did he have to become this?

He catches his reflection on the glass- purple and with cat eyes. ~I hate you~

He takes a sip of water.

"You know," Gar says, "Every time I tell you I like you, you flinch like I've said I want to break off our friendship."

That's not sense of smell. That's just observation. The green guy reaches his hand over. "Keith. I don't feel the same way I felt about She Who Must Not Be Remembered. She made me crazy stupid. You make me crazy happy. Yes, the guy without the fur. I like you without the fur too. Please don't worry, I'm not going to dump you."

"Sorry," Vorpal says, looking sheepish. "Force of habit. I'll get better." He needs to. He's no longer that kid, not anymore. He takes Gar's hand in his and brings it up to his cheek. "You make me happy too," he says, smiling a little. "I'm sorry it's so confusing for you. Just… don't be some way or another for me. I love your serious and your goofy self, your kindness and your strangeness. Don't be afraid to demonstrate anything, just go with your heart. I'm not going to object to most things. Except if you have an impulse to shave me or something like that." He smiles a little more broadly at that, "That's a no-no."

Gar smiles. "I'll remember that. No shave the cat."

He begins eating again. Because cold pancakes are a tragedy.

Vorpal watches Gar eat, after making that bacon disappear. He's pretty full from the earlier foodgasm they had with Wondy. He's thinking, though, about what's been said. "Hey…" an idea comes to him, "If you're not busy for a few hours, why don't we go and look at those forest properties. Scope out a potential place for the team…" a sly grin, "Maybe find a good make-out place out in the seclusion of the forest? I've got to be in Greenland by tomorrow morning, and I could really use the good luck kiss." It's hard for a cat to look extra impish, but by golly, he's achieving it.

"That's a great idea. I have a few good candidates," Gar says, glad he left the mini vehicle here with Vorp earlier.


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