Welcome again to the Legendsverse.
Please allow your tired mind to immerse,
As you gather 'round my girls and boys
To read yet 'nother tale of Titans' Christmas joy.
The days have grown chilled
And their senses become thrilled
For Autumn has taken flight.
And so encroaches that happy Yuletide night.
And as the year winds down we find,
Aft' months of careful watch and mind,
Our heroes hearts and spirits lift
All in wait of the twenty-fourth and fifth.
So pull up a chair b'fore the fire
Enjoy a time free from rage, hate, and ire.
Warm on this Christmas night you sit,
And…
"Y'CAN GET THE HELL OUT OF MY KITCHEN IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT!"
…you know what? Just…never mind.
"Ryce cool it!" Cyborg tried to yell above her near-screeching voice. It did not seem to matter to the enraged blond however as she picked up a metal ladle and pelted it at the fleeing form of one, Tara "Terra" Markov as she ran from the kitchen in tears. Sophie for her part had just taken to keeping her mouth sealed tightly shut behind them both, nearly hiding behind the one counter. Cyborg gave a groaning sigh as the force of that launch left the ladle bent beyond recognition, making a note to himself to look into that before the end of tonight.
"Why is she yelling now?" Savior sighed from the door way as he walked in, seemingly none-too-surprised and more exasperated than anything else by her rage.
"Why is my girlfriend crying, is the better question," the green shifter known as 'Beast Boy' chimed in soon after, hovering in the doorway Tara had fled through just long enough to glare at his younger maid friend. Ryce met the stare with equal intensity, staring him down for a short moment before he was gone once more, no doubt chasing after the upset Titan, teammate and lover.
Ryce's face reddened further in anger before she shouted after him, "She's cryin' because she's a stupid fu-"
In a moment her mouth was sealed in a large enwrapping of gauzy shimmer strands, ending her sentence in a far more G-rated string of muffled insults.
"No cursing at Christmas," he sighed before releasing her and allowing her to turn her annoyance on him, sparing Tara.
"Pickle you kumquat," she snapped, her face falling into confused expression the second it left her mouth, "…that s'not what I wanted to say…what the French Toast? ARGH! That s'not wha' I wanted t'say either!"
Noel looked mildly satisfied by what would usually be a most alarming loss of mental control and free will by his younger friend. For now, he did not cast so much of a shred of concern or worry for it. In fact, he even smiled a bit in relief.
"The Woman in Black is a fan of edible fruit arrangements…and easily bribed," he informed the unhappy-looking teenager.
"Son of a biscuit-eating bulldog!"
"She is not however very original," he added a bit flatly before brushing past Ryce to turn off the flaring hot stove, "And you are out of the kitchen for the rest of the Holiday."
Mouth agape, seemingly at the sheer audacity of this banishment, she shook her head, "M'the fiddlin' MAID and CHEF!"
"Not during the Holiday you're not. Frankly Ryce, everyone here has heard you scream at and abuse BOTH Sophie and Terra for two days straight over the Christmas menus," he informed her, squaring his body to her as she stormed up before him.
Eyes glittering angrily behind her glasses, she stared up, "S'not MY fault they are a bunch of tribble-nibblers who don't LISTEN."
"If you want to storm about the kitchen like a mini-Eva Braun and freak out like this then you are leaving the cooking up to Tara and Sophie…there is no room for discussion," he snapped leaning forward slightly in a subconsciously intimidating manner.
Or at least it might have been if he was arguing with just about anyone else right now. Ryce, however, just stood up on her toes to get right back in his face, "S'my lintin' kitchen, Noel!"
"Too. Bad."
A new voice broke through the tense, soon to become explosive environment, catching the tiny blonde's attention, "There is also in issue of what you did to Aqualad yesterday."
The day prior…
A decidedly feminine shriek ripped through the Tower, muffling out the quiet sound of a chopping knife thudding dully into a wooden block.
"CYNTHIA!"
The sound of Aqualad's body thudding to the ground in a distraught heap did not travel quite as far. Nor did Ryce's dry sarcasm in the face of his hysterics.
"For cryin' out loud s'tuna Zen…don't be such a wuss."
Tim Drake glared mask-less from the other side of the room, his words seeming to deflate the half-angel a bit. The fire draining out of her glare she rolled her eyes dramatically. However, Noel did note that she was removing her apron and oven mitts, finally though she tried to downplay the act.
"I don't see what the big deal is…Algae-Boy isn't even comin' over for Christmas Eve. The Feast of the Seven Fishes is a fun tradition," she grumbled as she tossed the cooking garments into a tangled heap on the counter.
"The big deal is you KNEW he was coming over yesterday…did you have to practice in front of him?" Cyborg asked crossing his arms to look down at her sternly.
The look seemed to mollify her indignant anger, as she migrated away from yelling. She tried to look up at the larger Titan with sad – slightly wounded even – eyes over her treatment. Instead of anger, her voice came out in a much more quiet – if not slightly petulant – whine, "How was I supposed to know he'd piddle himself over me choppin' the head off a tuna? And besides that, m'not goin' to humor his retardedness."
"The same way you know everything else about us?" Robin reminded as he walked past her.
The stare granted to Tim was a bit blank before she moved on to shaking her head, "Okay…to be honest, Tim, I watched YOU guys…I couldn't have given less of a Sharona 'bout the misfit-infused B-Squad."
"…you need stop being rude to them, Ryce. They are Titans too," Sophie said quietly from her hiding space behind the counter as if waiting for the smaller girl to explode all over again. The mortician went so far as to flinch when Ryce turned towards her. It was unnecessary given the small smirk growing on the girl's face.
"M'only rude to 'Low-tide Lad' and 'Generic Brand Robin'…anyway there s'a reason they didn't get their own cartoon," the British-accented teenager pointed out as a large chunk of plaster seemed to fall from nowhere onto Noel's head. He grumbled something about it being 'far too early to start this' as he brushed the powdery white fragments from his hair and jacket.
Robin glanced back at her from the other side of the room with a frown, "Nevertheless…after the Atlantean nearly dropped in a dead faint, was there a need to continue gutting and de-scaling the fish that Zen was apparently on a first name basis with?"
"Mostly for shrimps and giggles ov'r him bein' a kitty-cat," her mockingly amused expression faded into something far more pained as she shut her eyes, "This is goin' to get old REALLY fast for me…how much long is this goin' to las'?."
Having finished brushing himself free of plaster, Noel made his way over to the aggrieved-looking girl and seized one shoulder gently. Using this as guide, he led her out of the kitchen to one of the living areas with a faux-smile, "If you manage to NOT make anyone else in the Tower cry? MAYBE the twenty-sixth. For now, why don't you distract yourself and do something NOT cooking-related to help?"
"You're a traffic lightin' nerf-herder sometimes, Noel…" she sighed.
With a nod, he opened his mouth to respond when an alarm began to blare throughout the Tower. He turned to look back at the kitchen from which Robin, Cyborg, and Sophie emerged after a moment, all making their way to the elevator. Tim passed the two slipping his mask over his eyes as he spoke, "We've got a situation downtown…something to do with a hazardous spill at Genesis Labs. We need to work on getting the employees out before it spreads."
Noel's frown grew deeper at this revelation as he made his way over, "Any contact with the people inside?"
"Yea…they've got a line into some of the administrative staff. Let's move," Robin said as the rest of the team quickly filtered into the lift behind. Ryce continued to follow the group looking mildly annoyed as she grabbed Robin's sleeve.
"What am I allowed to do then?" she asked him.
"Not NOW, Ryce."
A dangerously little glare narrowed her eyes out as she looked at all of them, "You have taken away my kitchen…do you really wanna see what happens when you leave me alone in this Tower with NOTHING to do?"
"…a musical number?" Robert supplied from somewhere in the back of the group.
"Leaving her here just dawned on me as a horrible idea," Noel told the shorter masked man next to him.
"Urgh, fine. You can decorate inside," Tim finally growled pushing the door close button, only for her hand to reach out and stop the closing doors.
"Decorate with what?" she asked even as a Shimmer strand snapped out to rap two of the knuckles on her hand sharply. With a squeak of mostly surprise, she pulled her hand back glaring between the closing crack in the door at the white haired meta.
"What do you think! With Christmas decorations," he said before his face disappeared behind the doors.
Now alone in the living area, the angel hybrid took the time to look around with a rather blank expression on her face. She strolled out into the center of the room to get a better look at her surroundings so as to imagine what exactly she could do with what she had been given.
"…right…Christmas…I can do that…um…okay, time for the internet."
"…I thought-"
"Shut. up."
"Listen, I just wanted to-"
"SHUT. UP."
Robert Candide leaned back against the elevator, face falling into a pout at his white haired teammate's irritable snapping. Noel for his part just seemed to stare forward, eyes fixated on the crack where the elevator doors met. No one seemed to want to speak, all sporting the same tired look and an odd foamy substance beginning to crust onto some of their clothing.
"Rob…what is one of the chief rules of superheroing?" Victor dryly asked the blond young man standing next to him in the lift several hours after they originally had left the Tower.
Robert gave a sigh and rubbed a slightly singed arm with his Gauntlet-encased hand sheepishly, "If it worked once it will not work again…and in fact may make the situation worse. Look, I said I was sorry…they just looked like mini Mortimers and I thought it was worth a shot."
His words seemed to draw Noel's attention for a moment, his head turning ever so slightly to glance at the young man. His mouth had barely cracked open before a tired sigh cut off whatever angry response had just been about to leave him. Once again the mortician behind the lot of them grabbed his attention, now.
"To be fair…Rob wasn't wrong per say. They were predominately composed of extremely heated and combusting titanium metal," she pointed out.
Gauntlet lifted up his hands to gesture gratefully to his heavyset teammate, "Exactly…they were like mini Mortimer T-800s and titanium is what you USE a sodium chloride extinguisher ON. Thank you, So-"
"Unfortunately they also were salt-thriving creatures who produced by rapid budding…hence them cooling quickly and then going from ten to eighty in a matter of seventeen seconds," Nigel cut in watching Robert deflate visibly and return to pouting against the wall, "Rather interesting group of men and women at Genesis I must say…if they did not nearly get us all killed that is. Bit of an odd lot though."
"Genius's usually are," Sophie said from beside him, pealing her masked back away from her face.
His inhuman eyes glanced down at his much shorter and festively plump lover and a smile grew across his face, "You are not."
A small blush and smile of her own grew across her face simultaneously at the compliment as she leaned her head to the side to rest against him. Contentedly his arm encircled her waist to gently hold her closer, a clawed hand resting with care against the swell of one hip.
"Seriously…no chubby chaser fluff while we're in the elevator? Thank you," Terra chimed out in a deadpan. Beside her, one of the elevator panels opened up on its own, unseen. By the time she had noticed, two or three snowballs rocketed out of the opening and smashed into her face with an icy, wet splat sound.
"ARGH!"
Sophie's smile seemed to grow just a fraction as she nuzzled against her boyfriend, "I love this time of year."
The alien doctor gave a chuckle and leaned down to nuzzle her lovingly when the elevator gave a ding and opened its doors. Instead of his planned affection, Nigel found himself nearly jumping out of his skin due in part to the cry of surprise from Robin. The other parts of said startling probably had something to do with the group of young women standing in front of the elevator in what looked like traditional Amish attire. They stared at them all in clearly unrestrained annoyance before one of them finally spoke up.
"Are you all going to get out of there so we can go to lunch or what?" she snapped.
"Ugh let's just take the stairs Julie," the girl to her right grumbled as the rest of their group nodded and filtered away.
Tim stared after them quickly, removing himself from the lift to follow and no doubt stop the seeming home intruders. He only made it a few steps before the chaos finally crashed down around him. There were people EVERYWHERE…and a racket of honks, chirps, tweets, and various other avian noises echoing through their voices. Several swans waddled before the bemused Titans. And in the middle of it all? A rather flustered looking Ryce trying to usher a goose back to its nesting box as it continuously bit her hands.
"Ryce!" Robin barked out, eyes wide and horrified behind his mask as he looked around at the all-but-destroyed living room.
"This is what happens when we leave her alone in the Tower…I keep telling you that," Noel sighed. Beside him, Garfield had taken the moment to shift into a large green swan to see if answers could be delved from the milling flock of birds. For her part, Ryce just looked utterly perplexed standing next to an unearthed sapling…dirt spread from the bag containing its root system. She looked up at the tree and then back to her friends with a unsure frown.
"…Did…did I get the wrong kind of pear tree?" she asked hesitantly as two turtle doves glided down from the mantel to nest into Noel's hair. The gathered men and women only managed to cast the heroes a weakly interested glance before descending back into their own conversations.
"Why is the fireplace boarded up…and covered in runes?" Raven asked, her face a mask of sheer annoyance seeing one of her books – from her ROOM – laying open nearby. The question managed to snap Ryce away from her fruit tree concerns. Her eyes widened in something akin to horror as the empath's hand reached out to rub the hastily scrawled rune work away from the ply wood.
"NO!" she shrieked nearly sending Raven's heart in palpitations. The scream also managed to startle the myriad of birds all strolling about their living room sending up squawks of fear and distress, especially amongst the poultry that Tim could only assume to be three French hens as they scuttled across his path. Temper flaring, he let out a shout to catch at least the human attention.
"EVERY ONE WHO IS NEITHER A TITAN NOR A BLONDE BRITISH IDIOT? OUT!"
Instantly, indignant protests regarding the assembled groups' pay were shouted out to the masked man. They may have even continued if the woman in the purple cloak did not let out a most dangerous growl, eyes glowing from beneath her hood. The crowd tensed for a moment and then fell silent…all seeming to find no reason that their pay could not be mailed on a later date as they made their way for the exits.
As they cleared, Tim turned back to the small girl that was their maid. She had returned to the fireplace blockage to furious re-scrawl the rune Raven had smeared and was now adding more. With a few short steps, the former Boy Wonder was by her side snatching the piece of charcoal from her fingers, "What are you doing?"
"I need to set this up before it comes! Maybe you all wanna die but I don't feel like havin' this home-intrudin,' Dutch demon show up on the twenty fifth and shove a chicken leg down my throat! M'not getting' killed by some semi-omniscient, voyeuristic demon of judgment waltzin' into the Tower!" she whimpered in what Tim could finally see was utter, abject terror.
"As opposed to some semi-omniscient, voyeuristic ANGEL of judgment just coming into the Tower," Noel grumbled and tried to extract the angering avians now pecking his scalp from his gravity defying hair.
"….what are you talking about?" Tim yelled at Ryce as a drummer walked past eating what looked like a cheese Danish he had found in the kitchen.
Ryce was not given the time to answer as the swans, apparently taking offense to the strange new green imposter, decided to swarm on Beast Boy en masse.
"ARGH! They're not a'swimmin'! I repeat they are not a'swimmin!"
"Ryce…when have you EVER seen anyone fill their home with LIVE birds during the holidays?" Tim asked the petite blond in exasperation. She looked up at him, wringing her hands nervously and then went back to staring back down at the table. Another glance to the side showed Beast Boy being healed of his many, MANY swan wounds glaring at her darkly. There was a sense of déjà-vu, recalling her first arrival as they all awaited her explanations.
"Well…I…that is I never…"
A voice chimed in, Raven not even looking up from her healing as she spoke, "A fun fact we all seem to forget due to her quick assimilation...like Kory and Nigel, Ryce was not raised by humans and had not been surrounded by their holidays and traditions…hence her literal interpretation of the song. Is this accurate, Ryce?"
A blush crept its way across her nose and she gave a slight nod.
"Wait," Cyborg cut in looking down at her, "You've NEVER celebrated Christmas?"
Ryce looked up at him before dropping her eyes and fidgeting uncomfortably in her seat, "Well…daddy never wanted to give the wrong impression on religious days of celebration…sooooooo we never honored any of them."
Tim sighed, pulling out a chair so as to be able to be on eye-level with their younger friend, "Okay…Ryce, you need to come and ASK us when things like this come up, okay? Don't look things up on the internet because usually it is just going to end badly."
Ryce seemed ready to nod when Robert and Starfire made their way into the room carrying boxes of various Christmas décor. She watched curiously as Tim smiled a bit and reached into the box to remove something from it, "Ah, here we go…THIS is what we use to decorate, Ryce. See? We have orname-" he was explaining as he lifted a glass bauble with Santa Claus' visage printed across it.
Which he nearly dropped when the half-angel let out a strangled scream and bolted out of her chair, away from the table, and out of the room entirely.
They stared at the doorway in silence.
"…she's afraid of Santa…this is too pathetic to make fun of even for me," Terra said in quiet surprise as the others quickly made their way back into the living area. They made it a point to leave the boxes filled with Christmas-y paraphernalia behind. When the arrived she was cowering behind a chair looking pale and shaky.
"…You're all sick!" she whimpered, looking up at Tim, "Why would you celebrate this…this monster!"
"Ryce, this says a lot…but this is the most you have every confused me," Beast Boy pointed out as he tried to move the chair away. Instantly, she scrambled up and away glaring at the group with frightened and accusing eyes.
"I've seen the movies…heard the songs…you all celebrate a homicidal stalker who watches you as you sleep! S'twisted! You…you…"
From behind them all, Noel's voice broke through her hysterics, "Who the HELL told you to watch Santa's SLAY!"
Turning, they found the white haired meta staring at Ryce in disbelief, a DVD box clutched in one hand. It was easy to notice the way the petite blonde's eyes widened when he approached…it was even easier to notice that she tried to bolt once again at the sight of the box in his hand. Nigel put out a hand to stop her flight and force her to stay put while Noel looked on with barely restrained frustrated.
"Ryce…did you watch this movie?" he asked in, what he must have assumed was, a calming voice.
She gave a timid nod.
"Did someone tell you this was an accurate portrayal of Christmas and Santa Claus?"
Another nod.
"…Ryce is this person someone from the internet?"
She looked up at him and then bobbed her head, "…his name was KingFish1212. He said to watch this and Jack Frost so I understood Christmas. He said the only way to keep Santa at bay is to try and offer him sexual favors like in that 'Santa Baby' song and leave out as many sugary baked goods as possible…that way when he finally reaches the 'naughty' people he's too full to devour their flesh. The next day they take all the dead and 'box' em up in coffins…for Boxin' Day."
Even Noel's eyes widened at this explanation. For several moments they all just stared at the shaking girl in silence. Somewhere in the back of the group an unknown party could not prevent the snicker from popping out of their mouth. A sniffle and flaring blush of utter embarrassment from the scare girl seemed to sober even their giggling though. After a few moments, Rob finally edged out of the crowd to wrap a comforting arm around the girl and look around at the others in ill amusement, "…what kind of sick weirdo pulls stuff like this and when can we punch him?"
Four hours earlier…
In a dark room, the form sat hunched over a glowing laptop giggling like mad as his fingers clacked noisily across the keyboard. A strand of dark hair fell over into one eye only to be quickly brushed away as he read his words aloud.
"Oh oh! And then come the 'reindeer games' when Santa's 'hell-deer' are unleashed from his sleigh to trample the elderly in the streets!" he giggled manically.
Light flooded the room…which was in fact not a room but a hallway closet.
"…Zen, ¿Qué diablos estas haciendo?"
"Las bromas del 'dentro del closet' solo parecen unjustamente fácil con esto."
Aqualad blinked owlishly at the twins standing in the door way staring at him. Mas and Menos blinked back before they both finally asked, "¿Por qué tienes un atún muerto contigo?"
The door was slammed shut in their face as he cackled, "Revenge!"
"Okay, Ryce…I need to you calmly listen to everything I am going to tell you," Tim said as gently as he could. Ryce, who was all but in Robert's lap, nodded shakily as looked at the Titan leader, clinging a bit more tightly in her quieting fear. All Rob could do was try his best to comfort her and keep the blush off his face, that is until he noticed who else was about to hear the words he knew were about to come out of Robin's mouth. Clearing his throat to draw their leader's attention, he nodded over to the orange tinted alien smiling unawares behind him. Tim glanced and immediately clicked his mouth shut, wondering if there was a manner in which to do this without upsetting his significant other.
Several feet away, a small compartment in the wall opened up. Out of it ran a tiny pink and blue murloc who proceeded to let out a watery gobble and give chase after an alarmed-looking Silkie. The change that overcame Starfire was instant, her eyes glowing in furious, green rage. Heat and light began to build around her hands at the sight as she began to levitate up into the air.
"YOU again!" she yelled and flew after the amphibious creature that was currently tormenting her pet.
The Titan's just watched the doorway she left through in silence…before Terra finally looked over to Ryce, "Your OverLord is weird as all hell."
"Well it did work," Cyborg pointed out.
"I wake up with that thing sitting on my bureau watching me sleep every night."
The group turned to stare at Noel…who was looking at the open compartment in the wall with a sort of anxious and vague nausea.
"…well…alright then, Noel, we'll look into fixing that," Tim said cautiously before turning back to Ryce, "Santa Claus is not real. He is a fairy tale."
"So are angels, ghosts, fae, demons, aliens, demigods, monsters," Ryce continued to rattle off examples of supposed 'fairy tales' which countered Tim's point completely.
Sighing in frustration he lifted a hand to quiet her, "Ryce, we KNOW he is not real. And we KNOW that the movie you watched and what that sick troll on the internet told you are NOT what that fairy tale says. He is not a demon…or a cannibal…he is a fictional character who delivers presents on Christmas Eve to children who have behaved throughout the year. The naughty children are not devoured…they are given a lump of coal."
"Which he puts in a stocking sock stained red with the blood of all the other naughty children he's bludgeoned with it," she whispered as her arms tightened around Rob's neck to Starfire oxygen-depriving levels, staring back at Robin silently, with distrustful eyes. It was rather difficult to talk to her when she got like this, he had come to learn. In fact, it was almost outright impossible to get a point across given her stubbornness. Few had been able to do so with a high rate of success. Only one in particular with any consistency.
"Has anyone seen Met lately? He speaks 'Ryce' better than I do," Tim sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Not since two weeks ago with the 'Boy Band' villains," Robert said trying to shift the girl clinging to him a bit.
Seeing this going no where and going there at quite a rapid speed, Noel chimed in, "Ryce this all comes down to one essential thing. Do you trust us? Do you trust that we wouldn't just let some homicidal, sex-hungry supernatural being run around like that internet troll is telling you?"
"Aye," she said timidly without hesitation, earning a nod from the hero.
"Alright. Do you trust us that we are not lying to you about this?"
"…aye," she murmured.
"Good…then stop cutting off Gauntlet's circulation and panicking over a stupid, fictional horror movie that has NO basis on reality," Noel said sternly.
Ryce released Robert's neck – perhaps a bit unwillingly – and looked about the room at the general chaos the birds and people had left behind, "But what if we're wrong and he comes down the chimney and cuts my head off!"
"Well you'd certainly talk less," Noel observed with what could have been a glimmer of hope in his eyes…that is until he caught sight of the look Raven was giving him, "…you told me to get a sense of humor and no you complain when I make jokes…make up your mind."
Shaking his head, Nigel looked down kindly at the girl, "Even IF that were to happen, you know we'd protect you just as fiercely as anyone else in this Tower, Ryce. I understand too well your confusion…but perhaps it would be best if from now on you came to one of us when you are not sure of something?"
"…I didn't want you to think m'stupid," she said with a blush.
"Well we already know that, but that's okay we love you that way," Robert pointed out with a grin, which only grew when she gave a good-natured roll of her eyes. The calm seemed to settle back over her like a blanket…soon even the dullest flicker of it muted beneath a small smile.
"Alright then," Tim sighed and picked a feather up over the couch, "Ryce…I think you should stick to decorating the OUTSIDE of the Tower from now on okay? We'll clean up in here and get rid of these birds."
"And the cows," she nodded, "I think the milkin' maids left them in the evidence room."
Tim stared at her for a few moments before bolting out of the room and down the hall followed closely by Noel and Raven. A few moments passed in utter quiet before Nigel looked down at the tiny girl, "There are no cows I assume?"
"Nope…I just like to watch them panic…it makes me smile," she said contentedly before glancing up, "So! Outside decorations…s'lighty stuff right?"
Several feather cleaning, bird chasing, dropping scrubbing hours later, Beast Boy and Cyborg looked about their living area with a meticulous eye.
"Did we ever find the turtle doves? Or are they still in Noel's hair?" Garfield asked as he took one last glimpse under a couch to ensure that they had not left a single breed of feathered friend behind to be found later. Cyborg frowned a bit and paused in thought as he tried to remember what his teammate had done with the nesting birds that had become so enamored with his pale hair. After a few moments, he gave up and just shrugged to his shorter friend.
"Wanna assume he handled it and play video games?"
"Yuuuuup," the green shifter said, drawing the word out as he hopped over the back of the couch to set himself up for gaming. Or at least he would have readied his gaming skills if he had not found himself face-to-face with a man that was sitting on the coffee table placed in front of the couch. Garfield barely stifled the surprised scream, instead replacing it with a choked off gasp and thud as he fell back against the couch cushions. Perhaps, it was only the familiarity of the face that ensured his scream was kept under wraps.
"Lo there…Garfield, was it?" the handsome, dark haired archangel quipped pleasantly, "And you to, Mr. Stone."
Cyborg blinked for a moment, having not so much as seen a blip on his screens to signal the being's quite sudden arrival, "Azrael..."
"Indeed!" he agreed with a greeting sort of nod, looking quite at home from his seat upon their table. A hand rose up from the tabletop to remove a pocket watch from one dark green waistcoat pocket. With a swift flick, the watch had popped open and then immediately closed, allowing the Angel of Death a quick glance at the time, "Is my daughter about by any chance, boys?"
"She's um…outside with Rob…hanging Christmas lights," Beast Boy informed him a touch awkwardly as Azrael's young-old eyes darted up to Victor with a questioning little glimmer.
"Hm…really? Seems that would be more your bag," he observed with amusement.
"…there was um…an incident. Plastic reindeer cannon and Robin's room windows," Cyborg muttered with the tell-tale signs of embarrassment bleeding out over his face, "I'll go get Ryce."
He had only made it a step or two before a rather expensive-looking walking stick flicked out to block his path, a gleam of light reflecting off of its polished onyx surface. Questioningly, he looked down at the seated angel. The amused and friendly glimmer had been extinguished in the man-thing's face, replaced with a sudden seriousness that made the young man's insides seemed to drop. There was a formal soberness to him that caused a certain dread to well up in both Titans.
"No…no, I do not believe bringing the girl into this would be wise. Her first holiday and all…wouldn't want to spoil it," he said with a nod, "I believe, in fact, this should not travel beyond myself and the two of you. Far too many eyes always watching…far too many ears always listening."
It was now Garfield's turn to feel his innards harden into a heavy lead ball. He spared a quick glance – no more than the briefest flick of his eyes – up to his cybernetically-enhanced friend before looking back to their maid's father. Still that sober, stern stare that seemed to go through them out into forever. Ryce's intimidation with her father was all too understandable now.
"If you don't mind me asking…whose eyes and ears are you talking about?" the shifter asked, watching as a humorless smile flickered darkly across the creature's face.
"S'irrelevant. S'wrong question," he told the much younger man in a hushed whisper.
A confused look crossed Beast Boy's features at his cryptic manner, along with a flash-bang of annoyance. Before he could completely rein it in and say something undoubtedly stupid, Cyborg nodded and spoke in an equally quiet voice, "WHY are they listening and watching."
Again that unsmiling grin. But this time something light seemed to flicker in his yellowing blue eyes, "Ah there we go…he's getting' it.
"They are watching and they are listening because they know m'seeking out couriers. They know I cannot interfere with the goings on of this realm directly and are hoping to catch a just a tiny glimpse of what it is that m'doing and who it is that m'sending," he whispered, eyes locking with their own.
Garfield and Victor both averted their gaze. There was something to Azrael's stare that simply made them uncomfortable…as if even just looking at him suddenly seemed to hurt or offend their whole beings. It was no different then when they had met the archangel after D'xias. Even then they had found themselves incapable of really holding his eyes with their own for very long. 'Something has touched him' was what Raven had said after his departure, unwilling or maybe even unable to explain what she had meant by these words.
"Sending for what?" Garfield asked.
Sheer delight seemed to break out over Azrael's face at his question, "There you go. Now even you are getting it."
Garfield could not help but bristle at the condescension and insult that sort of tone held. As if the archangel was speaking to a precocious young child performing a particularly bright trick as opposed to a veteran hero. Azrael did not give the shifter the chance to express this grievance as he stood, taking to his feet to look about the room with a quiet calm. When assured that they were in fact alone, his gaze fell back to them.
"I have a delivery being made to me. A package of utmost care and importance being given to me by the ancient Mage Po'tse Mag. However, prying eyes and ears have seen and heard of me taking delivery of something unknown to them," he chuckles blackly, "And therefore prying claws are looking to pilfer what is mine."
"So where do the Titans play into this?" Victor asked frowning at him heavily.
Azrael's dark eyebrows quirked up towards his hairline in question as he regarded the youth, "Titans? Oh no. The Titans do not play into anything. You two, however play into this greatly as it is your help m'seeking. This must be kept quiet…kept silent and secret. The more people that know of this plot the more the package falls risk of being lost forever."
His eyes stared them down with somber darkness, "The package cannot fall lost."
Cyborg gave a grave nod to the angel, "How much is at risk if it does, Azrael."
"Everything."
Garfield raised his hand, pausing the two and drawing their attention, his face mirroring the seriousness of his teammate, "Hold on a minute. Why us? Why are we so important in this? Why not Robin…or Raven? Heck, Savior probably has a battle plan drawn up for something like this."
"Actually he has five of them," Cyborg pointed out.
Azrael waved their suggestions and the budding tangent conversation off dismissively, "Robin is far too complicated and would turn this into a production. Same with Raven. Her heritage is another issue. It would draw far too much attention. Even after his failure, Trigon's children did not fall unwatched by many of those on the other side of reality. She would be a homing beacon. As for Savior? I need discretion…not glow-in-the-dark hair."
And then a rather dry look came over the archangel's visage, "Also, I just don't like him."
Once more the crafty and secretive grin crawled its way across Azrael's face, "But more importantly…you two are the perfect fit for such a mission. Life scans and cloaking devices that most militant governments would quite literally kill you for, Mr. Stone," he gestured to the varying devices and tech that the Titan's form was composed of, "And near infallible stealth and espionage, Mr. Logan. Few people are going to question the green little bird in the tree above them…or the unseen cricket hoping across the blades of grass at their feet.
"In the end," his tone becoming hushed and grave once more, "this is your choice. I am a big proponent of free will, boys. If you choose to you can walk away, and this meeting never took place. If you wish to do what I ask of you, however, you must understand that what is going to occur is dangerous – life risking even. There is no backing out once you are in…too much would be lost. There is no speaking of this…it must stay secret and it must stay safe or it is lost before you even begin.
"…do you understand?" he asked of them, eyes glittering darkly as they locked into their own.
Silence enshrouded over the Titans as they stared back at the archangel of death and considered just what it was he was asking of them. It happened as if rehearsed in a perfectly choreographed flow of movement, green hand and bionic one extended to Azrael. Their expression remained steel as his hand enveloped one and then the other. The ancient being smiled and nodded, gratitude clearly glimmering in his face and those paper yellowing eyes.
"Then the deal is made."