Titan's and Stars

June 21, 2017:

Robin calls on Starfire, and gets a welcomed response to the rebirth of Titans!

Titans Tower - New York City

Situated on a man-made island in the middle of the East River, in
the shadow of the great glass and steel buildings of Manhattan, Titans Tower
is one of New York City's stranger landmarks. Originally constructed for the
first incarnation of the Titans and since largely abandoned, the Tower has
recently seen significant remodeling and reconstruction for modern use.
The island itself is lightly wooded, and its primary point of
access is a sturdy dock capable of handling both personal and small cargo
boats; hidden on one side of the island is access to the Tower's sub
basements, through a large concealed cave that allows the Titans' T-Jet to
take off and land. Though the island isn't large, there's enough space for
outdoor training and recreation, with the greenery providing some privacy
from the city to either side of the river.
At the center of the island, Titans Tower rises out of a circular
plaza, ringed with spotlights to illuminate the Tower in the nighttime. It
is a remarkable feat of architecture and construction: A roughly T-shaped
structure several stories tall and modeled loosely on Frank Lloyd Wright's
Fallingwater, the Tower is surprisingly resistant to the elements and other
sources of wear and damage despite its apparently ungainly shape. Each of
its floors above the entry level is ringed with windows and a balcony,
though these are understandably less used in the winter months. The topmost
level of the Tower is split between the center trunk of the building and the
reinforced arms of the T-shape, while on the roof is a landing space for
helicopters or other short-landing aircraft, or any of the residents who can
fly under their own power.

Characters

Red Robin

Starfire

NPCs: None.

Mentions: Fairchild, Nightwing, Wonder Girl, Superboy, Kyle Rayner, Zatanna

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]

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Fade In…

Some people are easier to get ahold of than others.

Finding a toweringly Amazonian space princess? All things considered, pretty easy - there's basically only the one - even if it means having to go through Nightwing's address book to get her contact information.

Honestly, Red Robin meant to leave his adopted brother a note about improving his security. He really did. It just… Slipped his mind. There was a lot of other things to do.

So, Starfire received an invitation to a place she likely hadn't been to in some time: The man-made island in the middle of the East River, upon which Titans Tower sits. Abandoned, really, since the original Titans stopped using it.

Now, not so much.

When she arrives, the caped and cowled young vigilante is waiting for her, his whole look designed to project some of the same intimidating grimness as the Bat - though since it's the middle of the afternoon, it probably doesn't have quite the same effect it does in deep, dark shadows.

"So," the young man says, gesturing to indicate the tower, the island. His voice is modified electronically, normally serving to better hide the identity of the individual beneath the cowl, and to sound more frightening. Now, there's a hint of apprehension; a certain worry of whether or not one of the 'real' Titans would approve. "What do you think?"

Starfire furrowed her brows at the receiving text. Some things she has had issues recalling, people, placement, but when it brings itself to the forefront she recalls it slowly, like an ooze that grips her mind with a wet slap of palm and tugs it into a reality.
Nevertheless… It leaves her feeling awkward, but that posture is quickly removed for one of pride - despite all of the fall.

Breaking through the atmosphere the meteor looks like the impact headed for the island would be devastating until the blackened heat in the middle forms the figure of Amazonian physique and as it suddenly comes to a slow, it cools to the figure of tawny skin strapped in purple and accented in silver with accents of bejeweled red Tamaranean stones.

A crash course leads to a slow and steady, flame hues licks from the ends of hair that could easily bypass heels in length until the heat picks it up and courses it in a spiral behind her.

Feet touch down, booted to mid thigh and crested over upper quads by purple and silver to mesh the pieced together outfit more fitting for swimwear and yet worn with a normalcy that belongs to skin. Robin is regarded by emerald gaze, plum lips peeling back into a smile as she lifts her gaze from him to the Tower and any form of shadow seems to shed and melt away with elation.

"You're doing it?!? You're bringing it back?!" The sheer elation would give Robin no queue of disappointment… Ever.
The revival enough to cast aside anything else.
Forget his somber dark-darkdarkyness!

The sad part of Red Robin's life is that it wouldn't be entirely outlandish for a random meteorite to suddenly crash down and ruin all the work he's been doing: Knowing his luck, it would probably actually be some kind of evil space alien, and not one of the friendlier ones he knows, and everything would just get messy.

Luckily, it is Starfire, living up to her name as she descends towards the island like a shooting star.

As a connoisseur of dramatic entrances - an important part of the skillset imparted on him by the Dark Knight, who knows that flashiness has just as much value as stealth, in the right circumstances - the young man is privately impressed, his cowled head tilting slightly to one side.

So, he asks his question. He worries, for a moment; even if nobody approved of what he was doing, he was going to forge ahead anyway… But he'd feel better if they did. Some of them, at least.

The smile that breaks out on Starfire's face, expressive as she is, tells him he didn't need to worry.

"Yeah," the young man confirms, and he can't help but smile faintly himself. "I've been spending the past few weeks getting the Tower up to standards," by which he means his standards, by which he means 'barely short of impossible to achieve.' "And recruiting some people. Younger ones, mostly, since it's the Titans. But I thought it might be good to have some people with previous experience around, you know… And Nightwing always told me that once you're a Titan, you never really stop being one, so…"

"Never…" Starfire states as she touches toes to the shore, the water touching those boot-tips and she has no care for the stains it may cause. Her voice sounds almost wistful in that one word while the 'T' shape of the tower reflects in her eyes..
Narrowed in the smile that reaches them.

"You never stop being a Titan…" A draw in of breath that heaves her chest and hands clasp together in a jubilant celebration that is a few shades along 'I believe' chant.

A dart of gaze to Robin and the flux of fingers shows an inside 'grabby hands' gesture to want to see it all, see what he has done…

But looking back at him, her eyes crest over tawny shoulder and the mingled hues of super-nova heated tresses. "You seem too concerned. You are doing right. We need this. Everyone needs this. Robin…" From stoic to beaming once more the gap between them is closed and Starfire takes liberties in hugging the young man, nearly lifting him off his feet.

"It is good to see my first home here again, and you bringing them back." A pause and she sets him down, remembering herself and that heft of strength that sought to hug him in a manner far more elated and overdone.
His back may have popped the tension out at this point!

"Can I see inside?"

For all of his cleverness and speed and ninja training, there are some things that even Red Robin can't avoid.

Hugs are, apparently, on that list.

He's caught by Starfire, just as he was not too many days ago in the Tower by Fairchild, though where that young woman was overcome with enthusiasm at the prospect of something new, the Tamaranean princess exults in being given back something. She nearly lifts him off his feet with her strength, just the toes of his booted feet remaining against the ground.

He can't help but let out a little rueful chuff of laughter at the similarity to what happened the last time he met someone at the Tower. Once again, he's privately glad he's wearing armor.

"It's still your home, if you want," Red Robin says after being released from that mighty hug. "Or a home, anyway. The topmost level's been renovated to have room for plenty of people."

Can I see inside?

"Sure," the young man answers her. "C'mon."

The doors to the Tower open automatically when Red Robin approaches, the computer system recognizing him.

"I brought the new main computer online a few days ago, it controls pretty much everything so the Tower can be run with minimal staff." The main lobby is mostly just that, a lobby, with planters and greenery around for decoration, and elevators at the far end. "Down from here is storage, the hangar for the T-Jet, and a garage with the tunnels to either shore. Up from here is operations, with the conference room and work spaces, then above that is the training level. The Mud Room is still a work in progress, but once it's done it should be pretty handy…"

"Who all have you contacted? Who can be reached? Who is part of Titans again?…" The questions from Starfire prattle on and on as he ushers her inward to the newly renovated Titan's Tower.

Fingertips touch just about everything eyes do not covet, even her steps seem aided by flight as she almost flits about the building room and listens while jovially taking it all in, even pausing at the entry that leads higher or lower.

There is where she pauses and her head rolls back while neck cranes and there is something in that look that almost seems forlorn, at a loss….

Silence.

Even the fire stills behind her while a hand strokes over the cool infrastructure.

"I have missed everyone quite a bit. I will keep my old quarters if that is alright? But I have found a place since my return.. But I will never leave you Titan's." Starfire has a place with Kyle and her fallen escape-pod, but home is where the heart is, even if in pieces. Titan's were her first family here, never her last.

"So far, it's myself, Superboy, Wonder Girl… Uh, the second one," Red Robin clarifies. He's pretty familiar with the confusion that can come from inheriting a superheroic identity - and even when he picked a new one, it wasn't that different. "Spider-Man, Zatanna Zatara. Fairchild showed up here the other day, I think she felt like she was being left at the kids' table with the Justice League, so I offered her a spot, too."

That's something else he's familiar with, too. In a group like the Justice League, how would you not get lost in the shuffle, marginalized besides the likes of Superman or Wonder Woman or Batman? Which, of course, is part of what led him to this.

"I wanted to make something that wasn't just the Junior Justice League, or the Young Avengers, or whatever. I remember what it was like, when I was in Young Justice with Superboy and Impulse… People saw us, and they waited to see when the grownups were going to show. And I wanted to make something to help young people who don't fit in anywhere else. No SHIELD looking over our shoulders, no Superman there to tell us what to do. You know?"

He watches Starfire, her enthusiasm and her more still emotions equally infectious. It's a relief, to see someone happy about this. To see someone touched by this.

"You're more than welcome," he says, on the subject of her keeping her old quarters. "You'll always have a place to come back to here, Starfire."

The mention of Fairchild has Starfire blinking, a rapid flicker of throught and then a dip of brows over her bridge and a bare shoulder rolls in a half-shrug of not-knowing. "The League has never once seated me somewhere other then where I put myself." And Starfire sits wherever is comfortable for her self!
Move her. Dare you!

The rolling wander of her eyes up and over the Tower's insides though takes the thought away in a negative regard, as nothing in this is viewed through her emerald-colored-glass, as negative in any view. "I will gladly work between The League and the Titan's, then. It does not matter what people 'look for'. It is who and what they see. We both know… Better." A small smile lifts one corner of her lips in a rise and drop, an evident relief in her shoulders and stature when he confirms her place here is solid.

"Thank you." A pause, a breath. "It is good to offer the young and lost a place once again. Something to stand for." A look to Robin and Kori is smiling once more, walking back towards the exit, and in passing a hand sweeps over the unmanned entry desk, rebuilding dust parted in the smear of palm and prints.

"Let me know what you need? If there is anything… at all… I will do what I can."

The argument could probably be made that Starfire is the test case for exactly what Red Robin wants to do with the Titans: She was someone exceptional, lost in a strange new world, and the original Titans were there to help her. True, they might not run into any more lost space princesses, but there are plenty of young people out there with unusual abilities, exceptional skills, and nowhere else to turn. Lost in the cracks. What happens if, instead of being offered a helping hand, they're left to find ways to survive on their own, or fall in with those who would exploit them?

The caped and cowled young man gives Starfire another small smile when she directs that expression his way, heading for the glass entryway.

And she wonders if there's anything that he needs.

The detective thinks on this for a few moments, as they step back out into the light of the island, the towering buildings of Manhattan looming overhead.

"Do you have any embarrassing stories about Nightwing?" he wonders, as the glass doors slide shut behind them.