2654/TITANS: I forgot what I was remembering to not forget.

TITANS: I forgot what I was remembering to not forget.
Date of Scene:	01 October 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	TITANS: Stardust is too late for the end of the battle... but who cares about that? Tommy is too late to buy comics. By several years. Now that is a tragedy.
Cast of Characters:	Yokai (Sakara), 87, Stardust

---

Yokai (Sakara) has posed:
"In blackest day, in brightest night, no weevil will escape my sight, nor silverfish nor slimy slug, escapes the aim of AMBUSH BUG!" ... or so declaims the man who is putting up a mural on the window glass of an abandoned storefront. It used to be a comic shop, but who needs paper in this day and age?

A small animal nearby watches with bored scorn. It might be a cat, or a dog, or even a capybara, except it's too small to be a capybara. It does, however, speak. In some language or other.

//You make that one up yourself or did you get it from an old manga?//

"Comic. Not manga," the painter replies. The window is now covered with a four-color-simulation of a back alley, and peeking around a corner is the green-and-antennaed shape of the aforementioned Ambush Bug. A character who, it is argued, does not and never did exist.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
Tommy used to come to this comic store. But, however, it has been a long time since he's been here- Years. Long enough not to know that the place had closed down. It was a shame, though, because although he gets most of his stuff in digital format, this was a place that specialized in getting you the rare stuff. On paper. Of course, it wasn't cheap... which is why he hadn't been around for a while, because when you start going to college, money has to go to other things.

"Well, darn it," the Cheshire cat mutters as he ambles up to the shop, and notices a mural and a very, very familiar artist.

With a strange beast with him. So, perfectly normal.

"Long time no see, street artist," the cat says as he walks up, hands in his jean pockets. "I don't suppose the owners are out to lunch for a really, really long time?" he says, pointing towards the storefront.

Stardust has posed:
A loud BAMF of compressing air ripples out through the sky above the street, rattling windows, as Stardust appears rather suddenly. She drifts downwards erratically, stumbling a bit as her feet touch the ground. She looks around in a daze.

Those who have seen Stardust before are used to her costume varying every time they see it. In cut at least, the color scheme being the one constant. Normally it doesn't have quite so many burn marks on it though. Nor does it seems unlikely that the Elizabethan ruff worn loosely around her neck is actually part of the uniform. Or indeed the Roman infantry helmet resting askew on her head. In one hand she is holding a can of soda of a brand you've never seen before, with a rather cool animated video-logo printed on it, which would seem to be an extremely expensive way to make a disposable drinks can. In her other hand is what looks suspiciously like the dismembered limb of some kind of small dinosaur.

Stardust looks around blearily, sees the mural, and attempts to walk down the alleyway. She rebounds from the window with a >>Thunk!<< She takes a step back, tries again with similar results, then stops and turns.

Stardust looks dizzily at Rory's companion, then at Rory, then at Vorpal. She stares at the Titan for a while, then says "Hi! Is this the Tower? You wouldn't believe the day I've been having."

Yokai (Sakara) has posed:
"Buh..." Rory says intelligently. "That's just a mural, it's not even photo-realistic."

He stares at the young woman, then goes over to patch up a slight smear on the mural.

"I know you," he says to the Tommy cat, "but it's been a few months. Did you ever start school?"

Meanwhile the animal goes over to sniff at Stardust's outfit.

//Smells like time travel,// the creature says, //all ozone and chronitons and lost opportunities.//

Rory ignores the snarking. Instead, he steps back and realizes that Tommy asked him a question first.

"Uh. No idea. I was hired to put paint there, so I put paint there."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"I did start school, which is why you haven't seen me..." he winces as Colette makes a first impression. Or, well, makes an impression in general upon the wall. "And that one is one of my team-mates. Stardust, who seems to be trying to audition for a reboot of Quo Vadis and Jurassic Park at once..." he walks over to Stardust.

"Are you okay? I mean, I know you always try to think ahead and put yourself in the big picture, but this is getting a little literal, isn't it?"

Stardust has posed:
Stardust looks curiously down at the talking animal. "Are you Beast Boy?" she asks it. Looking down at the things she's holding, she tosses the dinosaur limb into a corner and takes a swig of the drink.

"Mural," Stardust says in agreement, nodding her head vigorously. "Never trust a mural. Especially not ones that aren't even photo-realistic."

She turns slightly bloodshot eyes to Vorpal. "I don't know," she replies, tearing the ruff from her neck and sending it after the dinosaur limb. "How long have I been away? Was I away? What year is this? Have we met yet? Yes, we must have or you wouldn't recognize me. Here, have a hat." She slips the Roman helmet off her head and offers it to Vorpal.

Yokai (Sakara) has posed:
"That's not Beast Boy," Rory says, "that's just Boojum."

The animal (who isn't green, he's black and white) looks slightly offended but goes to sniff at the dinosaur limb. If it's real, perhaps it might be delicious.

"I've not met you. I'm sure I would remember. Why were you unstuck in time?"

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Yyyeah, why were you traveling in time?" Vorpal distrusts time travel. He has heard it is entirely all too easy to go back in time and kill your own grandfather, which can cause no end of complication and amusement (depending on which side you're on.) "Er... thank you. I'm sure I can find a museum to donate this to." He holds the helmet and turns it around in his hands, looking at it. Will they believe it is the real thing, though? "And you've seen Gar, Starry. He's always green when he turns. Even when he's a chameleo-"

He pauses, and then frowns. "ACTUALLY... I have never seen him turn into a chameleon. If he turns into a chameleon, can he turn into other colors? And if so, what happens when he switches back and he's not being green as a chameleon?"

He's going to have to call Gar over for a date and some experimentation. It could be fun. Maybe he can get Gar to be purple for a day and pretend he's his evil twin from a paralell timeline or something just for giggles.

"Boojum? As in... that's a little Wonderlandy for you, Rory," the cat quips with a smirk.

Stardust has posed:
"Hi Boojum," Stardust says, before turning to Rory and looking at him curiously. "Is he a Snark?" she wonders aloud. "That might be why I vanished. And I haven't been time-travelling." She stares at the helmet in Vorpal's hands for a moment. Nobody will believe it's the real thing, it's far too new and shiny. "Okay, when I say I haven't been time-travelling, that's probably not strictly accurate. But I didn't intend on it. Also travelling indicates going somewhere. I think I was... time bouncing? That pretty much fits."

Stardust blinks a few more times, and attempts looking around to figure out where she is again. "Did you paint the mural?" she asks Rory. "It's cool. Wasn't there a fight going on? Where is this?"

Yokai (Sakara) has posed:
The animal snorts, around a mouthful of dinosaur. Good eatin' on this one.

//Look who's talking,// the animal says. Rory just shrugs noncommittally and pulls a small bottle out of his satchel, almost losing it in his outsized hands. He runs a sharp metal edge around the neck of the bottle three times in a circle, making a terrible scraping noise, then POP!s the blade against the bottle sharply, and the neck cleaves cleanly into two pieces. Rory pours the liquid inside down his throat in a single gulp.

"I don't know what a snark is," he says politely. "Boojum is his name. He told me that when we met. I've promised to show him how to get home, but it's currently not in a place I'm familiar with."

He considers the concept of time bouncing. That seems uncontrolled. Probably not a good idea.

"There's a fight happening somewhere to the south and east, I'm certain," Rory says. "But what it's about I cannot tell you."

Not for any good reason really. Rory has avoided the whole "parademons" thing because they're jerks and he's been kept a bit busy moving ordinary yokai out of trouble. Not that he will tell anyone, unless they ask him directly.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Oh, you mean the whole invasion?" Vorpal says with a smirk, "I wouldn't know. I was kind of in France visiting some friends and seeing if they needed help when we got ambushed by a roving gang of parademons. I only got back about a few hours ago and slept it off... but why on earth were you jumping through time, to be precise?"

He eyes Boojum and narrows his eyes a bit. "You seem awfully familiar. Or maybe that's because anything that looks like a Guinea pig is familiar enough. Where exactly are you from?" he asks, in what could totally be a trick question.

Stardust has posed:
"France! Good choice. J'aurais du rester en France." Stardust stares in a direction she obviously assumes is south and east. "I wasn't jumping through time," she explains carefully, "I was bouncing. I'm sure I already said that. Why, I dunno. There was definitely a fight." I think I remember kicking someone.

Memory will no doubt become clearer, but it's probably a mercy she's so vague about it all right now. Some time tomorrow she'll write a note to herself and pin it prominently on her wall: 'Do not kick dark gods of apokawhatsit in the nuts'.

Stardust turns her attention back to the mural. "It's good," she says eventually, turning back to Rory. "I'm Stardust by the way. Hi." She looks down at her slightly charred uniform, then raises a hand. "I'm not normally like this. I'm a bit disoriented. Sorry."

Yokai (Sakara) has posed:
"Roark, or Rory if you want," the tall man answers, offering a hand to shake if it's accepted. "You must've been hit with a superliminal backhand."

The animal sniffs at Vorpal, mutters and returns to gnawing the flesh from the ancient but quite recent and fresh bone.

//I am exactly from the bakery down the way, if you know where that is.//

Rory takes his smartphone out, stepping off the curb so he can catch the entire building face in the image, and snaps two or three shots.

"There we go. Proof of completion. And, send it to the customer ... and the invoice."

He goes back to the sidewalk and crouches down by his satchel, beginning to put away his tools. The brushes he used were cheap and disposable, because this was acrylic work.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"You don't sound particularly coherent," Vorpal agrees with Colette. ANd that was worrysome enough for the Cheshire cat, so it should give someone pause. "Maybe you've also had a concussion? We could take you over to the medbay." Pause. "We don't have any doctors on staff yet, do we? Okay, we could take you over to the clinic. Maybe?" He looks at Stardust, and then at Rory. "Unless you happen to have one of those oni tricks up your sleeve to combat mental haze? I'm afraid I don't have any of those. I am sort of made of mental haze."

Stardust has posed:
"That's right, I was hit by a..." Stardust trails off as she tries to pin the memory down, but she shakes Rory's hand while she's trying to puzzle events out. She steps back to get out of the way of the mural so that Rory can take his photos, and adds. "Good work. There should be a mural at the tower. " She turns to Vorpal, raising an eyebrow. "Don't you think so? I'll be fine, don't worry. Nothing hurts."

Stardust looks down at herself, as if checking on her previous comment. "There was a fire," she remembers. "In some old city." Her eyes narrow and she quickly adds "I didn't trip and knock a lamp over, thus starting the fire and changing the course of history," she adds. "I know you're meant to do things like that when you go hurtling through time, but I was distracted and I forgot."

Yokai (Sakara) has posed:
Something to bring mental clarity. Sure, there's a thing for that. It's even traditional. Rory pulls a small wrapped jar out of the satchel, along with a coffee mug that reads "Hug Your Oni" -- clearly a gift from Mom -- and unwraps the jar, popping open the lever-operated lid and pouring some pale, translucently purple liquid out into the mug. He adds a few cubes of ice that he pulls from inside the satchel, then offers it to Stardust.

"Drink this, then eat at least three of the plums from the jar. It's a popular remedy for being dazed and disoriented by heat and noise. Should help."

He puts a long-handled ice-tea spoon in the jar.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"You know, it's not a bad idea. A great mural at the tower, showing me in my full glory. It has pizzazz, panache and other words beginning with 'p'. I like it." The cat strokes his chin with a mischievous expression. "We could even get Rory to paint it on the wall opposite Robin's door. Wouldn't that be a sight for sore eyes every morning?"

He might just do it. But, still. Friends first. "Well, you say you're okay and all.. but why don't you eat some of Rory's plums? We could all go to that coffeeshop by the corner while you munch on them and see how you're doing. Then maybe we could get something to eat, too?" because he was starving. And he wanted some time to talk Rory into the Vorpal Mural. To further drive Damian's blood pressure up, he could suggest it be one of those tactful Renaissance-style paintings, like the birth of Venus by Boticelli. With strategic fig leaves, of course.

Stardust has posed:
Stardust peers into the jar of plums. "Plums. Three plums. That sounds like a recipe for... yeeeeeah. Ahem. A mural with pizzazz you say, Vorp? Are you sure? Star will probably mishear and smear mustard all over it. Mustard doesn't go well with murals."

"Thanks," Colette says to Rory, sniffing at the purple concoction. "Smells kind of like... some kind of... is it alcoholic?" she asks. "'Cos I think I'm already a little hung over. My head feels like someone's used it as a foot..." She falls suddenly silent, as memories click into place. "Oh, that's right. The big fight. Thor was going to... and that Kryptonian... there was that fiery thing happening, I kicked... and Cassie was going to... that's right!" Stardust launches into the air and starts flying somewhere roughly south and east. Then doubles back quickly. "Yeah sorry, just remembered. I was in the middle of a fight. Nice meeting you Rory, Boojum. Laters, Vorp!" With a last wave, she flies off again, trying to find a fight that already ended without her.

Yokai (Sakara) has posed:
"Huh," Rory says, and drinks down the plum tea himself, having worked in the hot sun for an hour or two.

"Oh, would you like a formerly salted plum?" he says to Vorpal. Boojum is far too busy eating his dinosaurian.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"She really is a sweet girl," the cheshire cat says, accepting the plum to snack, "Mad as a bag of frogs, though. How about I buy you a drink and we can discuss my mu-THE mural, I mean." The cheshire cat grins.

Hey, it's for a good cause. He believes in supporting local artists, after all. He's a regular Maecenas.

Yokai (Sakara) has posed:
"Sure why not," Rory says. He re-seals and re-wraps the jar, and puts it back in the satchel.

"You coming, old duck?" he says to Boojum, who looks up, shakes his head, and just gnaws the bones.

//I haven't had dinosaur in a long time. I'll show up at your digs later.//

The animal is abruptly not there, with a swirl of something like madness, looking for a moment like a shape suggested by the branches of a tree. If there were a tree there, it would have made sense.

"Lead the way, Tommy. I want to hear more about this mural idea before I commit to anything."