Free Time

[vic-stone.livejournal.com]

Vic was in his "garage", his private work space in Titans Tower where he could build and engineer as he as pleased. He was looking over some schematics, and idly bobbing his head to the music playing in the background. This in itself wasn't unusual.

What was unusual was that, for once, the door was open. Normally he kept it locked, since he didn't like being disturbed when he really into a project. Plus he didn't want the "kids" to just barge in and wreck his stuff.

But he figured he could stand to be a touch more sociable. Plus most of the important projects had been completed, and he was mostly tinkering with a few designs to keep him busy.

Comments

[xspeedyx2.livejournal.com]

Titans Weekends. They're something that Mia always looks forward too, as she gets to spend time with her friends, and the change of scenery is always nice. Not that she has a problem with Star City.

These days however...she just hasn't been herself. Things haven't exactly been smooth sailing between her and Ollie ever since he'd "discovered (http://community.livejournal.com/jla_watchtower/1380072.html)" her and Zach. He'd been acting....different lately, to say the least. He seemed more...distant. Colder, even. She was worried, but also the slightest bit annoyed at him, as whenever she tried to even talk to him about Zach, went down the classic, "Your boyfriend's a douche and you're only dating him to piss me off route."

Mia, however, has no intentions of letting it seem to the Titans that she wasn't anything but her normal, snarky, sarcastic self.

Which was why that when she see that the door to Vic's garage was open, the least that she can do is let him know that she's arrived for the weekend.

"Hey," she says, popping her head in the doorway. She grins, "Working hard or hardly working?"

[vic-stone.livejournal.com]

"Both." Even when he was being lazy he was still keeping busy.

He waved for her to enter.

"Come on in." He had been needing to talk to her.

[xspeedyx2.livejournal.com]

Mia's careful to watch her step when she enters the room, as she's not really keen to find out what might happen if she were to knock one of the extension chords loose.

"What's up?"

[vic-stone.livejournal.com]

Well, Vic would kill her, for starters. He took the care of his equipment very seriously.

He pointed at a chair for her to sit.

"Last mission," he started, calmly placing the schematics to the side for the moment, "there was an unexpected 'addition' to the team." And she knew exactly who he meant.

"Care to explain?"

[xspeedyx2.livejournal.com]

She sits down.

"Oh you mean Zach?" she asks somewhat absent-minded. "I texted him asking him if he wanted to..." her face drains of all color.

Crap. She bought along her boyfriend on a Titans mission. Granted, he was techinally involved with the JSA but....

It didn't help that half the Titans thought he was a stuck-up prick.

"I'm...uh..." her face turns red, as she picks her brain for the right words to say without getting her ass thrown out the door, "I...yeah..."

"That was dumb."

[vic-stone.livejournal.com]

"Very." He wasn't yelling, but he was using his serious voice.

"What were you thinking, calling him in without even so much as a heads up to the field leader, or any of the senior team members?"

[xspeedyx2.livejournal.com]

Mia wants to put her hood up over her head and sink into the floor at this point.

"I....wasn't."

[vic-stone.livejournal.com]

"Obviously." There was a sardonic tone in his voice.

"This is a serious infraction you've committed here."

[xspeedyx2.livejournal.com]

Damn. She has a pretty good idea of where this is going.

She's always screwing up lately. Ollie doesn't seem to think that she can do anything right, and now...well Vic has to be thinking the same thing.

"I guess...I should start packing then?"

It's the first major screwup that she's had like this, but in this game, once is enough.

[3x2-9yz-4a.livejournal.com]

Not long after, there's a whoosh of air that ruffles some of the papers sitting on a nearby table, and Jesse is leaning up against the doorframe.

"Leaving the door open now, I see. Letting the riffraff in now?"

[vic-stone.livejournal.com]

"I keep designing new locks to keep the riffraff out, but they just take it as a challenge and break them," he joked. "I figured I'd give'm a break, at least until I can design a new way to keep them out.

"What brings you here?"

[3x2-9yz-4a.livejournal.com]

"It's been awhile, things have been fairly quiet. And I needed something from the office. Hey..."

Looking back down the hall, she has a puzzled look on her face, curious about something.

"Was that Speedy I saw booking it out of here?"

[vic-stone.livejournal.com]

"MmmHmm."

[3x2-9yz-4a.livejournal.com]

She waits for something more than that. But he's focused on those damned schematics and not really looking directly at her.

"... And?"

[vic-stone.livejournal.com]

She asked, he answered. He wasn't going to spread peoples business all unnecessarily.

"...and she's on her way to pack her things and go home."

He didn't seem to be terribly bothered by that, if he was bothered at all. In fact, he made a small noise of excitement as he got an idea, and started scribbling notes on the paper he was looking at.

[3x2-9yz-4a.livejournal.com]

The pen's out of his hand before he has a chance to make another mark, and Jesse's leaning against the table, tapping the pen against one palm.

"She looked pretty upset. Did you fire her?"

[vic-stone.livejournal.com]

After giving a brief look at Jesse, he calmly pulled out another pen.

"Technically, no. She wanted to fall on her sword, so I let her. In practice, she's just suspended without pay until she finally gets her head out of her ass."

[beastlyboy.livejournal.com]

A green tomcat has suddenly appeared on Cyborg's terminal, curled up and looking relatively miserable.

[vic-stone.livejournal.com]

Most people would probably be surprised by that, but Vic had known Gar for years.

"Hey, Gar." He gave him a few scritches, which is when he noticed the less than thrilled expression.

"What's with you?"

[beastlyboy.livejournal.com]

The cat does a little 'ffft', not having the energy to howl or hiss properly. There's a quick, wet sound...

And Garfield Logan's crouched on the floor, brushing his shoulders off and shrugging, his pointed ears subtly moving against his head. "I heard Speedy on her way out. ...look, I know the chick's got problems, but it was stupid of me to do one of my little prop comedy bits while briefing everyone."

[vic-stone.livejournal.com]

Vic waved that off. "That doesn't excuse her behavior."

[beastlyboy.livejournal.com]

"Maybe." Garfield says, looking at his hands.

Finally, he just admits it. "But I bet a dollar that she wouldn't have done it if one of the real adults was in charge. Damn it, Vic, am I just that pathetic?"

[vic-stone.livejournal.com]

"And I'll be you five that she would have." That girl was that hardheaded.

"You're not that pathetic, though your jokes could use some work."

[beastlyboy.livejournal.com]

"Okay." Beast Boy shrugs, dropping that part of his point. "But, you see? I come to you with a genuine motivational crisis and the first thing you think of is bad jokes."

"I guess it just seems like every time I try to move past being the guy who cracks bad jokes, it blows up in my face."

[vic-stone.livejournal.com]

There was a pause before he responded.

Garfield was being serious, which is very un-Gar-like... which, in a way, kind of proves the point he was trying to make.

"Ok, you may have a point there. You're usually the one who brings levity to a situation, and maybe we've taken that for granted. Which isn't to say that no one takes you seriously, so much as no one expects you to take everything seriously."