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.

allwet:

Shark Week was only a week away and Cerdian was needless to say very excited about. Just like he had been like since he was a little kid and uncle Roy introduced him to it much to his parents annoyances. He was watching some reruns from previous years in the titans east rec room while he worked on some paperwork for the research ship that he did a lot of work with. Nothing made doing paperwork easier that watching sharks.

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.

boosted_gold:

There's a knock at the office of one Cynthia Lord, by an unassuming (besides the green hair) young man, carrying two clothing boxes under his arms. "Miss Lord? I'm sorry to interrupt, but I'm your two o'clock." Riley grins. "Two o'clock until two-ten anyway. Can I interest you in a little field trip while I roll out a business proposition of sorts for you?" He jostles the boxes with eagerness.

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.

semievilgenius:

 Max was carefully working on a concept for one of the defenses he was hired to create for the New Guardians' headquarters.  He had a prototype set up, but it was a far cry from what he had been trying to make. Still, it was interesting enough not to discard completely. So he set it aside on the lab table while he worked on the next version.

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.

ms_miracle:

Well, they'd managed to convince their parents (a little less hers, it was high time she moved out anyway, though she was keeping her basement workshop) that their moving in together was a good idea.  The age gap had come up, but they were in love and nothing much was going to stop them even if their parents didn't approve.    Checks had been signed, keys handed over, furniture purchased (Avia wasn't big on throwing around money, but she certainly did have it to throw when she needed it), things packed and later unpacked, the placement of furniture discussed and tweaked...

And they were finally moved in.

And, being finally settled, they were able to throw a housewarming party.  Avia's JLA teammates, Will's JSA teammates, Cindy and the New Guardians, Di and Ri and their Titans friends if they wanted to come... anybody who made their mutual association list.

Ought to be one swinging shindig.

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.

young_swimmer:

Cait left a small wrapped package on the kitchen table. There was a card with Dinah's name on it. Inside was a silver bracelet with the Serenity Prayer on it. Inside the card was a gift card to her favorite electronics store and both gifts were from Cait and Ty.

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.

boosted_gold:

Riley stirred, laying on his side, face buried in his lover's hair. Something wasn't right though.. he felt hazy, and the hair smelled faintly of... salt? His eyes opened slowly, his field of vision filled with blue.

dc_holiday:

All Hallow's Eve, or Halloween as it has been come to be called, is a popular holiday with children and adults alike. It is a holiday that had its roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain or Summer's End. Samhain celebrated the end of the "lighter half" of the year and the beginning of the "darker half".

On this evening the barriers between this world and the Otherworld were believed to be thin and the spirits, good and bad, of the dead could pass through. The spirits of the family's ancestors were welcomed in while evil and bad spirits were warded off by the wearing of masks and costumes. The costumes and masks disguised one as a harmful spirit and avoided harm from others.

It was also a harvest celebration and time to take stock of food stores for the winter. Livestock were slaughtered and the meat prepared for storage. It was the final harvest of the year and the crops were then stored for the winter. Celebrations included bonfires and tales of the family's ancestors.

It was a celebration of the dead and of the harvest.

Today we dress up in scary and not so scary costumes and masks and go door to door for candy or attend costume parties. It is a night for revelry, pranks and fun.

boosted_gold:

Sometimes having a girlfriend with such a mind-bashingly high IQ had it's downsides. Namely that Dinah was busy with some big-brain getting ready for college type thing, and Riley was on his own. Rip didn't have anything for him, yet, Petra and Avia were working, L-Nor (only he and Dinah get to call her that, by the way) was doing her corporate power-struggle getting ready to rule the world thing, and Mãe had a photo-shoot, so there was no-one to go on patrol with. Still, fly through enough cities, and you'll find someone in need of help sooner or later, right?

bwa_ha_ha:

All things considered?  Dinah would have to say life was going pretty good right now.  High School graduation was less than a month away, she had pretty much her pick of colleges, her Titans team was doing pretty well (imps notwithstanding), the time stream was reasonably stable, her science project took second place at the school science fair (lousy judges wouldn't know science if it bit them on the behind...), and her relationship with Riley was nothing short of astounding.

The only downside, if it could be called as such, was the having to buy a lot of new bras.  Fortunately, she'd had a long conversation with the Scarab about not making any modifications to her body without her express permission.

Now, however, was the time of rooftop ice cream.  A very good tradition of hers and Riley's, back from even before they were actually dating.

"Nice night, isn't it?" she asked.

dc_holiday:

New York City was seeing a beautiful spring day. The temperature was sixty degrees, the sun was out and New Yorkers were enjoying the perfect spring day. The grass in Central Park was green and the trees had buds on them.

Without warning the temperature dropped to a balmy thirty degrees and snow started falling all around the city. Strands of Christmas lights appeared on trees and Christmas music started blaring from speakers around the city. The clothes of the residents of the city, including the superhero population, turned into bikinis and surf shorts.

The snow continued to fall and eventually the city was coated in white. Ice formed in front of Rockefeller Center and the skating rink was back. Jingle bells could be heard and eventually Santa Claus, wearing a Nixon mask, appeared and he was flanked by elves wearing masks of presidents. All of the elves carried strings of beads and wore smiles on their faces.

It was a chaotic scene.

5th_dimension:

Bugsy and Boo popped into the 3rd Dimension with a fanfare of trumpets followed by confetti and firecrackers. They arrived in an empty room.

"Huh? What happened? Where are Blue and Gold? This is the right dimension, right?" Boo asked as he looked around.

bwa_ha_ha:

Refurbishment on the Tower in New York harbor had started almost immediately after they'd decided to put together a second Titans team.  Between Dinah and Lily, more than enough favors existed for the work to be done in almost no time at all, though Dinah would still need to spend a lot of time updating the security and other computer systems.  On top of the logistics of running the team itself.  Was this how Cait or Iris has felt?  Having the burden of leadership put upon  her like this?  But no one else wanted the job, and well, someone had to do it, so someone had to step up.  It might as well be her.

"Okay," she said, once she had the ones who were coming in the Tower's meeting room.  "So this is our HQ.  We can work on picking out rooms after this meeting.  You're all welcome to live here, of course, though you're not required to.  Teleporter is down the hall, do not use it for pizza deliveries.  Emergency codes one, two, and three are the west coast tower, the YJLA HQ, and the JSA brownstone, respectively.  Emergency code four will dump the platform's contents into the still zone.  It's our all purpose "try and get rid of something" plan.

"If you're going to be bringing people back here, please let the rest of us know.  And try not to bring anyone back for a booty call.  If you do plan on having sex in the Tower, do in in your own rooms and not in any of the public areas.  Also please remember that Riley and I still have secret identities, and we'd like to keep it that way.

"I'm keeping the Bug stored here in the hangar, though we also have a T-Jet, which you may be more comfortable with.  We'll be getting you all up to speed flying it as soon as possible.  We've also got a couple of short range single-person vehicles, and what amounts to a "Titans Van" if we ever really need it.

"Your communicators are now set to operate on our own frequency, though they can be set to pick up other team bands, depending on need.

"Any questions so far?"

daughteroftroy:

"Hey Adam...wanna go out on a patrol together? It'll be fun."

Boy, was Lily really starting to regret those words right now.

A little nightly patrol on New York City, looking to maybe stop some muggers had take a drastic turn when Lily and Adam happened upon a little villain group called the Pack pulling a heist on a local LuthorCorp Facility.

A few muggers they could have handled? A group of villains with high-tech armor? They were in a little bit over their heads.

Troia went slamming into a wall of crates, and they fell down around her. She climbed out of them, throwing on of them at Coyote, who had sent her into that wall of crates.

bwa_ha_ha:

Any number of things had been going down recently, but the rash of various thefts from Queen, Wayne, Luthor, and Kord Industries' west coast branches (the last one made it personal), also had to be dealt with.  Dinah had done some investigating on her own, the clues being relatively simple things, since the robberies themselves had largely been smash and grabs and the like.

What had been surprising were the culprits involved: the Pack.  The mercenary team was relatively well known within certain circles, operating out of Zandia with impunity from the laws.  This seemed a bit below their usual standard, but it probably meant someone even higher up on the food chain was working an angle.

And the next theft, based on what she had pieced together about just what had been stolen, was going to be in Gotham, at one of the Wayne Industries warehouses.  Even with the Scarab, she knew she couldn't take them all on on her own.  She needed the Titans.  But with the team decimated of late and time being of the essence, she'd only been able to get Pippi, Mitzi, and Ash to come with her.

Fortunately, they'd been able to pick Riley up along the way.

She brought the Bug into hover mode, closing the faceplate on her armor.  "Okay, I briefed you all on these guys on the way over.  They're very nasty and they won't hesitate to kill you if you get the chance.  No fancy heroics.  We play this like a team."

bwa_ha_ha:

The woods near Gotham City

Other than talking in her head and occasionally popping up scans she couldn't understand, Dinah had yet to be able to get Khaji Da to work for her.  She'd tried its name, tried "Shazam", tried "flame on," and several other catch phrases without success.  Even reading over the notes her dad, Dani Garret, and Jaime himself had written hadn't turned up anything. 

It made sense, of course.  The Scarab wasn't meant to transfer hosts the way it had.  The trauma of Jaime's injuries had surely been passed onto it as well.  But there had to be some way to reactivate it fully.

So Dinah had gotten Riley to take her out where the could do a reasonable amount of property-free damage experimenting.  She was a little worried that he'd brought the book with the list of ways they'd tried to see if he had the metagene though.

"Okay, so maybe we need some kind of threat?"

dc_misc:

It made the Southwest news first, but it was eventually picked up by the nation services. In the wake of Superman's death, the death of a localized hero like the Blue Beetle didn't seem quite so important.

"Today, defending his home city of El Paso, the local super-hero known as the Blue Beetle was killed by an unknown super-villain. The third Blue Beetle is best known for his controversial pro-immigration stance publicly taken some years ago, leading many to believe that the hero was in fact an immigrant himself. The youthful hero known as the Scarab, a member of the Teen Titans who patterned herself after the second Blue Beetle, was also involved in the battle, and was originally believed to have been critically injured herself, but seemed to mount a miraculous recovery before spiriting away with the body of the Blue Beetle.

El Paso, Texas will be mourning its hero for some time to come, and many of us are left to wonder if there isn't some grander conspiracy killing our heroes..." CONT on Page A2...

partdemon:

Mike had talked to Sindella about what the girls had been up to so secretly and may have used telepathy to read her surface thoughts and found out about Rate the Hunk. Sindella had not been very happy about that and made him swear not to ask anything more about that and that he was going to have to do something big to make it up to her.

But he had been given the idea to host a rate the babe event for the guys because that sounded like a ton of fun to him. Since he was done with classes for the semester he drove to metropolis to set things up for the party at his dad’s penthouse there.

He sent out invites to all the teams he knew about that they could come and also made a special note to the teleports to not try directly teleporting inside with the wards his dad had set up

.He then set up the projector for the photos and got enough food and drinks to feed everyone one then some.

boosted_gold:

A package arrives for one Cynthia Lord, wrapped in bright blue and gold wrappings. A small attached card reads "Are you ready for an educational field trip?"

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... )

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.

bwa_ha_ha:

Well, that had been one mission to save the past she hoped quickly for forget.  Traveling back to the dawn of mankind, nearly getting eaten by a dinosaur (apparently, the history books were wrong), getting stripped down to a fur bikini and nearly sacrificed to a volcano (thank goodness they kept back-up uniforms at Rip's), and, well...  she really wanted to forget it all. 

Fortunately, flying back to Gotham, in Riley's arms this time--she was too tired to hang onto his back--was a good distraction.

"I can't believe Rip said it was okay for Anthro to keep the jacket," Dinah said.

bwa_ha_ha:

The Time Bubble appeared on a Gotham City rooftop with minimal fanfare, drawing as little attention to itself as possible.  It was many years before the current generation of heroes would be born, many years before many of their parents would even meet.  It was an era were Gotham was blessed by three guardians, a Batman, a Robin, and a Batgirl.  It was a happier time and an era where the evil did not seem quite so terrible.

"The Calendar Man?" Dinah asked Riley.  "Really?  We're here to stop the Calendar Man?"

littleladylord:

Four different kinds of gourmet Macaroni and Cheese. Stacks upon stacks of different finger sandwiches, with the yards worth of crusts used to make a couple of heated trays of bread pudding. A pineapple-banana-pecan cake possibly bigger than the birthday girl herself. A small table of vegan stuff, just in case.

Cindy couldn't stop grinning at it. Had she found awesome caterers or what?

The band specialized in swing covers of hard rock songs, but could play just about anything. There was a dance floor. All her friends from school were there, dressed to the eights.

Of course, all Cindy's friends from school didn't really fill up the little reception hall. And she certainly didn't have a big family. But that was okay, more room for her soon-to-be-colleagues fellow super-brats.

And so she scurried, from arrival to arrival, for cheerful welcomes.

littleladylord:

'The pleasure of your company is cordially requested by Miss Lenore Cynthia Montgomery Lord at a celebration of her 16th birthday. at 6 pm on the 25th of July.'

Calligraphy. Cardstock paper with those little RSVP cards and everything.  That should make it clear that her birthday is going to be awesome, right?

Cindy Lord's powers don't work in print, so she feels there can be no confusion about what the fancy etiquette signifies beyond, in Cindy's mind, 'important'. 

Among the rather prissy-looking envelopes sent out are those addressed to Miss Traya Smith, Miss Petra Beatriz Gardener, Mr. Jonathan Kent, Her Royal Highness Caitria Curry, Mr. Jai Allen West, Miss Iris Lillian West, Miss Dinah Michelle Kord, Mr. Riley Edward Carter,


But she makes sure the little notes on the invitations include 'Dress flexible'. She doesn't want anybody not coming to her party because they didn't feel like wearing heels or a tie.

bwa_ha_ha:

"Gotham city, the final frontier.  These are the voyages of the Starship Bug.  It's continuing mission, to seek out new adventures and new criminals, to right wrongs that have never been righted before!"

Dinah was just glad Riley had been able to come along for a mini-patrol of Gotham proper.  It was strange, really.  Sometimes it seemed like she was really living two careers.  One with the Titans and one as Riley's partner.  The two could hardly be compared to each other.  The adventures with Riley tended to be much more... silly.


"So, Captain Dinah, together with her trusty cabin boy, Riley, descend upon this fair metropolis, which is not to be confused with Metropolis, because the second one clearly has a capital letter."

notthelantern:

Alex had gotten some very irritating news recently. Something important he'd need to do. But first he'd need to do something more important in his eyes. So he called Riley Carter and asked him to meet him atop the JSA Brownstone in costume a warm July afternoon.

And that's where he'll be found. In costume, the Green Lantern is sitting in the air near a cooler. He seems nervous about something and frequently checks the air for incoming gold-clad heroes...

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.

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

boosted_gold:

Riley looked at himself in the mirror and curled up his face. This was so not his style, on any level. He was wearing a necktie for crying out loud. Yes he'd promised Henry he'd clean up and wear a suit, but this was so weird. He didn't do the suit and tie thing, and he'd certainly never been on a blind date before. He'd never been on ANY dates before. It just wasn't something he'd really made a priority in his life. He'd never even really thought about what his 'type' was.

Henry had made some valid observations though, and he'd been persuasive. Henry usually was. He did need to get out more. As it was lately, he'd bee spending every waking moment not in school on patrol, with or without Dinah.

Should he have told Dinah he'd be busy tonight? He can always tell her if she contacts him.

He sits down, fidgeting with the buttons on his sleeves, waiting for Henry to call with the info about where to meet his mystery date.

dc_baddie:

New York is a city that's used to the strange and bizarre.

But a mass of toys, rolling along on roller skates, vaguely humanoid shaped, with arms made up of super soakers, and a doll with a cracked face making up the head, is even the most jaded New Yorker might find pretty unusual. A jack-in-the-box grabs the string behind on the cracked doll and pulls.

"Come and play!" it declares in a scratchy, electronic, childish sing-cong voice. But while people run screaming, the toy pile scampers forward, firing a corrosive fluid from its squirt-rifle arms as it goes.

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

wannabelantern:

 The cars drive by outside, the birds chirp, and inside twenty-four separate clocks tick in perfect unison. A small get away lair for Professor IQ back in the day, taken over by Clock King afterwards, and now in the possession of one "Scott Bartholomew West" or, as his real name was, Scott Bartholomew Rayner-West or Knight-Rayner-West, depending on the side of the family, and forever known as Highball to his grandmother.

Calling him Scott would be much easier. And in this era, money is everything. So Scott is ready not only for alerts from Scooter (downstairs in the lab, watching The Shawshank Redemption), but also for customers with broken time pieces.

Just another day at Western Time Watch Repairs.

boosted_gold:

Riley checked his watch. This was the rooftop Dinah had asked him to meet her on, but she hadn't said why. In fact, she'd refused to say why. He scratched the back of his head in confusion. He'd wait for a while longer yet, but he just wish he knew a bit more why there was such a hold up.

boosted_gold:

A certain gold-clad figure is tapping at Dinah Kord's bedroom window. As soon as he got his Dad's gear done field-testing, and Mom had laid down the ground rules, he had only one place he wanted to be.

And here he was.

"Psssst.... Dinah!"