10504/Metroplwasn't: Debrief

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Metroplwasn't: Debrief
Date of Scene: 18 March 2022
Location: Memorial and Meeting Rooms - Titan's Tower
Synopsis: The Titans and their allies meet to plan on what to do about Wonderland. And everything will go down smoothly.
Cast of Characters: Terry O'Neil, Michael Hannigan, Sarah Rainmaker, Bart Allen, Victor Stone, Kaida Connolly, Caitlin Fairchild, Irie West, Pol Hevonen, Madison Evans, Gar Logan, Donna Troy, Nadia Pym-van Dyne




Terry O'Neil has posed:
To say that the meeting room was crowded would be an understatement. To expect otherwise would have been foolish- after all, Metropolis had been turned, in parts, into some strange cross of madhouse and fun park, with a distinctly Wonderland-ish flavor. It was only with the full collaboration of Titans, allies and bystanderds swept into the chaos of things that this invasion of fun, whimsy and danger was repelled.

And now comes the debriefing, of course. Before he begins, Vorpal sends out a text and, without really waiting for confirmation, he opens a Rabbit Hole. "Someone is joining us on Zoom," he jokes.

"So... the whole thing of what we know is very simple," Vorpal says, standing up and pointing to the screen where his presentation is being projected. Donna is up there as well. Clearly, this is meant to be a joint presentation. Who is grading assignments?

"At some point last year, the goddess of Discord, Eris, decided to mess with me after we all stopped King Ixion from invading Themyscira. Why she is focusing on /me/ instead of, say, Donna who is at least in her same pantheon- but I digress. She did this by, apparently, bringing two inhabitants of Wonderland into this world..."

He gestures to his side, where the Hatter and the Hare are sitting at a small table set up exclusively for them. This was necessary due to their insistance of constantly engaging in Tea. Noticing that he is the subject of conversation, the Hatter pauses an in-depth discussion on the ontological duty of cabbages in the vegetable hierarchy to smile at Terry and nod encouragingly: "You're doing wonderful, my boy, do go on."

The cheshire clears his throat. "But that was only part of her plan. It seems that in the process she caused their paths to cross with a woman who honestly /believes/ herself to /be/ Alice. She's from Gotham. And of /course/ that means she's a villain." He shakes his head and mutters, "What /is/ it with Gotham? In any case, the Hatter and the Hare had two very important relics that they were bringing, in the hopes of finding Alice. In order to give it to her. They did find /an/ Alice, I'll grant you that..." he gives the pair some side-eye, but they are too engrossed in crumpets to notice. Then he glances at Donna, her cue to pick the tail of the narrative.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Sporthalle Hamburg- Hamburg, Germany


While there is likely much to describe on the main level of Sporthalle Hamburg where fans are listening to one of three bands set to perform for the night, there's a lot less to describe in the room that Nick Drago is currently situated in.


The room is rather large for just one person and judging from the amount of folding tables set before mirrors, it is merely a fluke that Nick has the large room to himself at the moment. Half the room isn't even lit, allowing for a place for earlier bands to crash as they wait for their respective rides to their hotels. No one is occupying it yet. The night is still reasonably young here after all.


Hearing the buzz of the tour issued phone, Nick steps out from behind one of the dressing screens set up. Hands upon the bottom of his shirt, he tucks it into the belt lined waistband. Reaching the table his phone is resting on, he logs in, and brings up the message to read.


There's a quirk of the lips as he shakes his head. A message is sent back. And after a few more moments, Nick sighs. Turning, he takes a picture of the rest of the dressing room, types a few more things in and sets the phone back down. Making sure to hit the lock button in the process


He moves the jacket on his chair over one before he sits down, starting to apply his stage makeup.


As the rabbit hole opens up behind him and he can hear some familiar voices, Nick keeps his eyes on the mirror, only momentarily glancing to them through the reflection. "Ah hey guys," Nick Drago greets, "Sorry. I can't be there I got a show coming up soon."

Sarah Rainmaker has posed:
Sarah Rainmaker would let out a sigh, "Should we also be paranoid if instead as someone from a Lewis Carroll novel instead comes out and joins in the fracas? Gothm has enough things alreayd from it. Is there any risk of further possible slippage coming from it if not contained?" She would go to watch over at the events going on.

No doubt having horrified memories of the last time she was in something with Wonderland and failed ever so horrendously, and with the very specific calamity that hit her. "If we hear of any individual, no matter what reality of origin they come from ask for directions to Albuquerque, I don't care, we immedaitely get them a GPS and point them in the proper direction."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen is standing against one wall, listening. He looks over at the wonderland subjects, and ponders what would happen if they introduced them to Gotham's Mad Hatter. He will looks back nodding to the portal before asking Terry. "Has there been any connection to other wonderland themed people?"

Victor Stone has posed:
    "You're probably more of a threat to her than Donna, Terry," Vic points out from his spot off to one side. It's not a matter of sidelining himself metaphorically or otherwise; he's tall, so he lets shorter people have the closer seats. "At least from her point of view. You're chaotic, she's chaotic, maybe she's worried you'll steal her thunder. Or maybe Wonderland just seemed like fun to play around with."

    He focuses on Donna, then, as the others do, and withholds further questions or commentary.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
For her part, Kaida is sitting at a table with her back against a book with what appears to be some kind of charcuterie board in front of her, complete with various forms of crackers, meats, and cheeses all being progressively turned into tiny sandwiches that she is consuming. She also has tea. It was insisted that she have tea and she really does like tea so she didn't argue. Something about a dormouse and such but whatever.

"I am not sure how I feel about all of this but I do like the fun we've had so far with it if only it didn't risk innocent people." She nods her head, "Frankly your homeland or father's homeland, or whatever the relationship is, is cool." She nods her head, "Weird but cool. I'd love to get peopel back to where they belong as frankly they don't seem like they are personally doing anything wrong." She shakes her head and devours a cracker sandwich.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"It's the water," Caitlin chimes in. She's in one of the larger seats, set aside for her and Vic who can be a little hard on regular IKEA furniture. The redhead's dressed quite casually, her curly red hair held loosely back by a scrunchie and clad in grey leggings and a lightweight pink hoodie. She glances up from the notepad she's scribbling on. "Gotham's water, I mean. It has very high concentrations of lead, asbestos, and other chemicals that are associated with hostile negative behavior."

She glances around, shrugs once at the others in vague apology for the sidebar, and goes quiet to focus on her notetaking again.

Irie West has posed:
    Irie has found herself a place to sit amongst the throng of people. She, personally, hasn't had any dealings with the Wonderland happenings. She's been too busy with school and homework, but her desire to help the Titans out has led her to come and attend the meeting.

    For now, she remains silent, absorbing the information like a sponge.

Pol Hevonen has posed:
Pol has been having SUCH a wonderful last several months. Angels have wrecked his school. His family has somehow survived, but somehow, it seems remaining just a student isn't going to be in the works, and apparently this is common enough in Metropolis that they have a special enrollment method at Metropolis University, for students who have to deal with Metahuman Stuff.

And he realizes he WILL need to take advantage fo that. Because whatever decided that the fictions of a mathematician from nearly 200 years ago were the basis for an alternate reality.

"Is it something you plan to fix by punching something, or will it be more subtle?"

Madison Evans has posed:
    Madison is seated in one of the chairs - trying determinedly to listen in silence as the more experienced heroes talk. She was only invited here as a curtesy, she's sure, and she kicks her feet idly, glancing aside at her friend Irie with a brief smile, before looking back to Terry once more.
    Her determination to remain politely silent doesn't last, though.
    "Well, if it's the water, and they know that, why don't they get better water treatment plants in place?" she blurts out - before immediately wincing and going 'oops.' "...sorry."

Gar Logan has posed:
Present is one green shifter: Logan, Gar. Boy, Beast. He is atop Victor's shoulders, currently in the form of a raccoon. Hey, if it works for Rocket and Groot...

Most of the things he's been hearing so far are not news to him, but it's good to have everyone together in one place so it can all be laid out on the table. Caitlin's comment about Gotham draws a sniff and he says, "Maybe Batman should just focus on..ahh, nevermind. Anyway, yeah. Wonderland."

He settles back in to listen, reaching out for one of Victor's ears to aid in balancing.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Why Eris picked Terry to mess around with rather than me is pretty simple," Donna says with a grin. "Terry's more annoying. "

    "I'll explain a bit about Eris very briefly. Eris is the goddess of disharmony. She's not what you'd call evil, but she certainly isn't good either. She takes pleasure in sowing discord and confusion. Sometimes her prompting can force people out of overly rigid ways of thinking. Sometimes it can start wars. It is probably she does not care which. The important thing to consider here is that she is a force of chaos. We don't know why she was involved in that business with Ixion, but she didn't take kindly to Terry's use of chaos magic to oppose her. In the main though it is a fair guess that she was mainly simply /amused/ to be annoyed at him. Regardless, she found a lever to get back at him, in a way that amused her. This Alice from Gotham was simply a means to an end."

    "Eris gave the Hatter and Hare possession of these two potent artifacts. They brought them here. All the chaos that Metropolis has been suffering from these last few months were caused by these artifacts. "

    Donna reaches under the table and pulls out a large metal and glass cylindrical case of the kind you might imagine containing some dangerous radioactive components, but in this case a crown and scepter can be seen resting inside it. The glass walls of the case are marked with mystic symbols -- some kind of magical warding, presumably crafted by Raven.

    "Since we removed these from the possession of Alice and her accomplices, news reports of strange happenings in Metropolis have almost returned to normal. We're about nine percent above baseline at the moment, which is granted still pretty strange, but this is Metropolis. There appears to be a small residual effect, but we believe it is fading."

Sarah Rainmaker has posed:
Turning her attention back to the presentation over and listening.. "Is htere a way to stop things or is there not really? Does the dimension have it's own set of rules that have to be played to?" She's still adjusting over and feels well out of her league.

Looking to Caitlin and twitching her lips upwards in a nod. And a gentle frown softly. But the smile is still there. THe first there has been in awhile.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Nick is mostly quiet regarding the discussion, trying to keep a steady hand with the portion of makeup that involve holding things near his eyes. But the comments about Gotham residents becoming villains because of the water can't go ignored. He glances back to the group, "It's not the water. I drank the water when I lived there. I turned out fine. I didn't become a villain." He turns back to the mirror to put on his makeup. "I just play one on tv." He adds later.

With one of the producers being Catman

Shut up meta.

"If anything it's the alcohol."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Right," Terry nods, "And good points on the water. After this is over I suggest Caitlin form up a task force for Talking To Batman About Sewage Reconstruction. All in favor? Aye- okay, moving on!"

"In any case... this is just the tip of the teapot, I'm afraid. We have these relics, yes, but there's also the /why/ of why the Hatter and Hare came here-"

At this, the Hatter pipes up, while buttering his fork. "Why, we went to look for her - the chit of a girl you went after!"
Terry stops and looks over his shoulder "You mean Alice."
"Yes- and we found her!"
The Hare pipes up, then. "Don't know why it took you so long, it took us nay five minutes!"
The Cheshire cat rubs his forehead, "Right. But that wasn't Alice! That didn't look anything like Alice!"
The Hare crosses his arms, indignant, and the conversation quickly turns into a back-and-forth between Hatter and Hare, as the Hare observes: "... well I did think her hair had gone rather /pale/ but who am I to judge? One day my winter coat came in all grey!"
The Hatter confides, theatrically, "He tried to return it-"
"Wanted to change me 20 p they did, the cheek-"
"Should've gone to where the Duchess gets her hair-"
"You didn't hear?"
"What?"
"That hare ran away!"
"No!"
"Yes! Not two weeks in. Said training was going to cost him an arm and a leg!"
"Shameful!"
"No work ethic at all."
"These younger folk-"
"Why I have two hundred cousins who would have /hopped/ at the chance, positively hopped at it-"
"Not much of a chance of it afterwards though"
"A living's a living as my dear Aunt Berenice used to say."
The Hatter takes off his hat and holds it at chest level, "May she rest in peace-"
"GUYS!"

That one was Terry. The Cheshire cat is staring at them with sheer exasperation, eyes wide. And then the horrible realization comes to him, as he glances at Donna. "Dear god, am /I/ *that* bad?"

A moment of self-doubt and horror, but then he quickly reforms. "In any case... the /reason/ they brought these relics up, the reason they wanted to find Alice was-"

"The Jabberwock," the Hare whispers, his ears drooping.

"The... Jabberwock," Terry concludes. And then side-eyes at the Hare, and then back. "... something bad is going on in Wonderland. From what these two say, parts of it are coming under... /his/ control. Taken over. And they thought Alice could fix it. Time doesn't exactly work the same way in Wonderland as it does here-"
"Oh no," the Hatter pipes up, "He's a very mellow fellow, you see- he works all the time in /this/ world, but in Wonderland, that's where he takes his vacation and so he is very -"
"TIME runs DIFFERENTLY," Terry says with emphasis, "And so they didn't know Alice. Alice Liddell. The real Alice, has been dead for over eighty years."

A pause. And then there's the sound of sniffling coming from the tea table. Terry keeps his eyes straight ahead, "... in any case. Wonderland's in trouble. And we need to figure out what we are going to do..."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "...just because toxic water doesn't turn EVERYONE evil doesn't mean it doesn't turn SOME people evil. Just like some people get cancer from smoking cigarettes - but not EVERYONE who smokes cigarettes I mean //duh,//" the teen mutters under her breath. "Ummm - don't smoke cigarettes, people," Madison adds helpfully, before turning her attention back to Terry.
    She leans towards Irie as she stage-whispers, "The Jabberwocky? Wasn't that... defeated by the Vorpal Blade? Or am I getting confused?"

Irie West has posed:
    "Did Alice have children?" Irie asks curiously. "Hold on..." she pulls out her phone and does a quick search on wikipedia. "Yeah. Three sons," she says. "Maybe somewhere in their family tree they've got another Alice?"

    She leans over to Madison and stage whispers back, "Well, Terry /is/ Vorpal, maybe we should ask him." She sits back up, "Hey Terry? Did you happen to slay The Jabberwocky because you're Vorpal?"

Sarah Rainmaker has posed:
Sarah Rainmaker would fold her hands together, "And are there other ways that we can possibly.. Return the Jabberwock? Can it only be in the form of an Alice?" She would try to offer up some other ideas. Finally realizing that she was way, way out of her depth, as kif she hadn't poesd that at least three times so far.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry pipes up, "That's what the /poem/ says, but ask Donna about the Snark and she will tell you you can't trust poems... as for Impulse- no, we haven't seen any other Wonderland-themed people up here getting connected. Eris probably knew about what Theophilus...er... Hatter and co. were looking for, and knew just the gal to foist at them. And for the record... I /can/ use the Vorpal blade. But you don't /want/ me to... that's all I'll say."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Nick glances over as Terry poses his question, "You're only bad when people don't complete their verses." He turns back to the the mirror, giving a soft hum. Only it seems incomplete.

The bastard.

He reaches over to grab at something else on the table, "So, last time around they had an Alice, their Alice. But now that one's kaput so what? They need a new Alice?"

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Not /quite/ that bad, Terry," Donna reassures him. "Some of the time."

    "There is another dimension to this. The crown and scepter belong to someone in Wonderland called the Red King. We have reasons to believe that this person is not some native Wonderlander, but a sorcerer from our world, who used these artifacts to dream Wonderland into existence. Wonderlanders seem to believe that this Red King character is still asleep, and that they are part of his dream. Should he wake up, the legend goes, Wonderland might cease to exist."

    Donna tilts her head to the side. "In more technical terms, Wonderland appears to be a realm created relatively recently, at a part of the Astral plane where the Fairy realms border the realm of the Dreaming. Some potent mix of dream and fae magic, shaped by the subconscious mind of a mortal sorcerer. The Wonderland story of the sleeping king may have a significant element of truth in it. Wonderland may only be stable because of an ongoing magical effect, and that magical effect may be dependent on the crown and scepter."

    "In other words, it's possible that not only is Wonderland threatened by the Jabberwock, but also by the absence of the crown and scepter. We need to prioritize returning them to the Red King."

Kaida Connolly has posed:
"So, it really just sounds like we need to slay the Jabberwocky and if I know anything, that if it bleeds it can die!" She nods her head and idly pats her sword, "I'm not afraid to go stab this big beast right in his eyeball to teach him a lesson about messing with my friends ancestral home or however this works." She states and Kaida zips over with alacrity to beside Terry and looks around.

"I'll be honest, I never fully understood how this works. If the Cheshire cat banged your mom Zeus style or what but I am not judging, just, ya know, not sure." And then she's zipping back over to her spot and then she rests against her book and grabbing more crackers/meat/cheese and sandwiching it up.

"I guess my point is that if there's a monster, I'll slay it. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Wait. Is it the Jabberwock, or the Jabberwocky?" Madison asks in puzzlement. "...OH. EM. GEE, now I'm picturing a Jabberwookie." Because of course she is. OF COURSE SHE IS.
    "...sorry. I'll stop now.
    "Ooo! If the Vorpal Blade is out of the question - we should try a lightsaber. Right? Obviously. I bet it's just as good as a Vorpal Blade."

Pol Hevonen has posed:
"Yes," Pol mutters, but that could in theory be in response to anything, not to the plaintive realization of Wonderlandish Meander-Mouth. The mention of a monster perks him up.

"What IS Der Jammerwoch anyway? Lizard? Dragon? Cryptid? Tyrannosaur? Is it like the Phoenix, reconstituting itself? Because, like she said, SOMEONE took its head in the poem."

Cas (his twin brother who timeshares his body) wakes up at the mention of the Dreaming.

"Pol. Pay attention. Dreaming. You know, like our little observatory here in the Astral realm. We need to find out more."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
There would be the sound of running feet outside, but flying is faster so there is the sound of buzzing bio-mechanical wings instead before Nadia bursts into the meeting room. "Sorry! Sorry I'm late! Don't worry containment wasn't breached! What? Umm nevermind! Everything is fine!"

She's dressed in her street clothes, a pair of black capris pants and a black T-shirt with a stylized silhouette of what looks like a wasp on it in red, over which a lab coat is worn in such a manner that it hangs off her shoulders like a cape fluttering out behind her. "Did I miss anything?!" She asks breathlessly, clearly having come at top speed once she managed to contain whatever it was that had needed containing.

Gar Logan has posed:
"Not to be confused with the Jabbawockeez," Garaccoon points out, before he hops down from Victor's shoulder, sparing him further indignity. "Whatever we have to do, get stuff back to the king dude or fight some monster, nobody's doing it by themselves. That's not how the Titans roll. We're a team," he insists, reminds.

The entire conversation between the Hatter and the Hare merely leads to him saying dryly to Vorpal, "Yeah, you kinda get like that sometimes." He returns to normal, in the newer red and white costume.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry's eyes go wide at Kaida, and suddenly his hands go up to his ears, "Oh my god no the last thing I need is mentioning /that/. Have I mentioned I have some of my father's memories and I don't know which ones they are? Lalalalala we're not talking about that!" At Nick's hum, he gleefully grabs on to that, "Look, we don't walk about Bruno, okay?" And then he blinks. "Oh, Nadia! Er..." he glances at Donna. "... here, come to the side, I'll catch you up while Donna listens to the suggestions-" he waves Nadia over and takes her to a corner, where he can bbsbsbsbsbsbsbsbsbsbsbsbsbsbs her in.

Victor Stone has posed:
    "You absolutely get that like, Vorpal," Vic says while mostly ignoring the racoon hanging on his ear. He's used to it by now; honestly it might be weird if Gar /didn't/ perch on him during meetings.

    Vic frowns at the Hatter and the Hare. Understandably upset; Alice was their friend, right? "Alright, alright, focus, guys. We need to return the crown and scepter, then we worry about /that/. More than the Jabberwock. At least for now. But yeah, whatever we do, we do it as a team."

Irie West has posed:
    Irie grins at Gar and Vic. "Yeah! A team!" She pumps her fist in the air. "Just gimme the stuff and point me in the right direction and I'll just ZOOM it over to the Red King while you guys go and fight the Jabberwock!" she says enthusiastically.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Hearing Donna's explanation, Nick pauses, turning back to look through the portal at her. "So... are you needing those who can to just look for a dream that looks like Wonderland and follow it to the dreamer?"

His glance shifts over to Terry, smiling to the response.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
Glancing over to Gar, Kaida pffts as she puts together another sandwich, "You guys are welcome to come watch me take on the Jaberwocky but I mean, this hardly seems like a hard fight. It's just like a dragon thing. I saw the movies." She nods her head and looks forward as she considers.

"Tell ya what, you can turn into a dragon and you fight him. I feel like this is hardly a team effort for one dragon thing. Any ol' knight can take on a dragon."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over to Irie, and says "As they said no solo, at the very least it would be you and I, but I wager this is more like two teams type of thing.

Irie West has posed:
    Irie lets out a belabored sigh. "Fine," she tells her cousin. "I /guess/ you can come with me."

Donna Troy has posed:
"Unfortunately, this is likely to be tougher than sending Irie to deliver the crown and scepter while we punch the Jabberwock into submission," Donna says, flashing a grin in Irie's direction.

    "You've all seen what Wonderland magic can do. Not just from Terry being a member of the team these past two years, but the sheer chaos that has been caused in Metropolis the last few months. So ask yourselves -- if there's this much power in Wonderland, why is a 'dragon thing' as Gar puts it such an issue that the Wonderlanders consider it an existential threat?"

    "We don't know what the Jabberwock is. But we do know that the whole of Wonderland seems to be /terrified/ of it. When Terry has finished filling in Nadia, I'd like him to talk a little bit about /his/ memories of the Jabberwock, limited as they are. I don't think that what we're dealing with is simply a big bad monster. Remember this is a monster that has arisen from a realm where the Dreaming meets the Fairy realms. That's a lot of power. It might be magical. It might be... well. Dream. Dreams given form are something we should take very seriously. The Jabberwock may even be more of a psychic than a physical threat. We're just not sure."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin lifts her fingers off the table, trying to get Donna and Terry's attention directed at her so at least some of the sidebars aren't pulling from the main topic. "We know from lore and myths that the realm of Fairy-- and the Astral-- are weird, but they are also consistently weird. They have their own set of rules and hierarchies," she explains, and her voice carries with a confident ease into the conference room. "So in some cases, the Jabberwock might be a literal... cryptid, for lack of a better word," she nods at Pol. "Or it might be a figurative depiction of something threatening Wonderland. And the Red King might be a real person. It might also be... a title, looking for an owner," she clarifies. "Or a set of requirements that have to be met for something else to change."

"Everything we know suggests that it's important to keep an open mind, and to consider, uh, /alternate/ approaches to problems. If it makes sense in the dumbest way possible, that can very well be a very deliberate solution to a problem." She looks around, flexes her fingers at people once, then nods at Donna and Terry to yield the floor to them.

Pol Hevonen has posed:
"Uhm, I don't know what happens if I go into the Astral realm since I have my own outpost there," Pol says, "so I will have to experiment I suppose, if one of you knows how to get there. And seriously guys, just because movie dragon doesn't mean actual Dragon. Herr Hare, Master Hatter, do you know, or is it more of a Symbolic Doom?"

Not to be confused with the actual Baron (von) Doom.

Victor Stone has posed:
    "Wonderland rules seem to run on puns and wordplay a lot of the time," Vic notes. "We solved a problem with a naval base by playing an electric bass, except that the strings were the wrong notes... it was a whole thing. So the Jabberwocky? Yeah, we've got /no/ idea what it might be."

    He clears his throat. "Also... they can kinda... get into your head. I'm /still/ half-convinced the Snark is a real thing." He looks sheepish. "So sure, maybe the Jabberwocky's a dragon to us now, but maybe you start fighting it and it becomes whatever you're most afraid of."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna nods her head in Caitlin's direction, acknowledging her point. "Rae... is not at her most powerful right now. But she has been doing some scrying out of the Astral plane, and she suspects that there is something fundamentally unstable about Wonderland. The Jabberwock might be a manifestation of that instability. And that raises a significant point. If it's not a strictly physical entity, it may be that it is not something we're going to find hiding out in a cave or forest somewhere. It could be that it can be anywhere it choses to be in Wonderland at any given time. And if that's the case, it's also possible that opening a portal to Wonderland to deliver the crown and scepter back to the Red King is a fundamentally dangerous task. The last thing we want is to let the Jabberwock come here."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Once he has stage-whispered the bullet points into Nadia's ear, he turns to those assembled once Donna and Caitlin speak.

"Well... we have several choices. But the one that I have in mind is..." he glances at the containment unit with the relics, "-to let me use them to pierce the veil between worlds. I can already do that within worlds, but because... I'm diminished here, I can't really do it to other realities unless I have access to more power, and..." he gestures to the crown and the scepter.

"There are... obviously, some reservations. When I grabbed the scepter in Alice's realm, for a moment I kind of... saw The Aleph." He clears his throat, "I swore that for a moment, I was everywhere. Or saw everywhere. If I use it again, I could either scatter myself across all of creation... or maybe just get my shit together." He chuckles.

Terry grows quiet, then, at requests for his memories of the Jabberwock. Then, he speaks.

"It is everything you have not-"
"Everything you /had/-" the Hatter falls in,
"Everything that never was-" the Hare continues.
"You don't really /see/ The Jabberwock as much as-"
"Remember him"
"Dread him"
"It knows where all secrets are muzzled-"
"And it grows in the cracks of your scars"
And the three of them at once, "And it never lets you go."

Vorpal blinks, and then frowns, looking back at the other two, who look away. And then back to the team. "... that."

Sarah Rainmaker has posed:
Sarah Rainmaker would fold her fingers together, "Well.. I'm not familiar with the astral plane, but if it's driven by consciousness and willpower, even if we can't directly alter it, with focus can't we redirect it some? With a push and effort even if ti's a realm of chaos and anarchy, can't we alter it to a somewhat more forgiving format? I'm presuming a.." She would tap at her thigh.
    "Counter-meme, if we will. Something to try adn at least to push things to a level of engagement that we can try and set the terms more to our stage."

Irie West has posed:
    Irie turns serious for a second. (Shocking, I know.) "Should we send in a scouting team to get an idea of what we're dealing with?" she asks, looking at Terry and Donna. "Like.... some people to get in and out real quick?"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia hovers her way over to Terry. In the excitement of getting here she seems to have forgotten that she is still flying, though eventually seems to notice her increased eye level with others compared to where it normally should be and sets down on the floor again retracting the wings, nodding along as she listens to Terry's side summary of the discussion thus far.

She gives the Hatter and the Hare a smile and a wave as she listens, it is nice to see they are doing much better now than say being nailed to a tree, now able to to enjoy their tea. "It seems like we have a lot of speculation, I think what we need is some actual reconnaissance. There's only so much we can guess from here, and things may have even changed in the time since the Hatter and Hare have come here. We need to go and assess the situation first hand before we can really make a plan."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan frowns, rubbing at a pointy ear. "I really should read up on the stories again. Maybe we all should. But it's pretty tough to plan for something that could be anything. You think things are one way but they're another, or it's a play on words, maybe the /solution/ is a play on words, and everything's a riddle somehow."

Hands gesture, palms up and spread apart. "So we just, you know, have to be ready to think fast and hope something works?" Then he adds, after the Jabberwock is discussed, "That sounds like it's more in your head than a real thing, but sometimes what's in your head feels more real than anything else."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
"I'm limited with how many I can take into dreams." Nick comments, "How they can travel. Or how many jumps I can do. But...The way you describe the Jabberwocky it makes me think of nightmares. They vary by the person, fueled by their personal experiences and fear."

Blue eyes fix on Victor for a moment, "Of course snark exists. The other raven demonstrated it perfectly."

Nearing the end of the process, Nick sets the brush down. Head leaning forward, he tilts his head in each direction to give a critical look via side eye. Giving a shrug, he pushes back on the table to roll the chair away. With a spin he dismounts, grabbing the jacket off the nearby chair and tugs it on.

Two hands reach up, tugging the collar so both sides are oriented properly and the hair's not stuck under it. Full blown concert mode and with a few minutes to spare. Nifty!

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin glances up at Donna and over at Vic, then looks at Terry. There's a moment's hesitation before she shakes her head. "Terry, I think that might be a clutch option," she says with as much gentle earnestness as she can muster. "But you grabbing onto some ancient supernatural relics is... that's bad juju," she points out. "You're kind of impressionable and more than a little mercurial. Wonderland is a fully realized location in the midst of huge tumult and change. If you-- well, if any of us," she amends ,looking about, "try to insert ourselves into their... meta-story, then there's no telling what kind of feedback you'd experience. You're voluntarily making yourself subservient to their zeitgeist. Rae's research notes are a little, uh, arcane, but we've studied enough about the Astral that we know even eating the food is a bad idea sometimes. Let alone plugging yourself right into the ... equivalent of their main electrical grid."

Kaida Connolly has posed:
"Wait, is the Jabberwock like that smoke thing from Lost? Are we going to end this not ever knowing what it was and just being upset?" She asks and tilts her head before looking over at the others and then blinking, "Are we all dead and this is just our chance to say goodbye? Was there a plane crash?!" She grumbles and shakes her head.

"All I know is that if the answer to this crap ends up being lottery numbers that some guy named Hurly won, then I'm out."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "...so I think she's saying that we //shouldn't// pass around the crown and sceptor so was can all give it a go?" Madison once more stage-whispers to Irie at her side.
    Does she sound disappointed?
    Absolutely.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Astral realms are somewhat malleable," Donna agrees with Sarah, giving her a nod. "But you're talking about a realm we are new too, that is shaped by minds that have been shaping it for centuries. They have... home ground advantage. That counts for a surprising amount with these things. Those who are most attuned to a realm have most power in it."

    "We've all seen that the Wonderland Nonsense we've had to deal with here in Metropolis has been something that we have had some influence over. That has been when they are on /our/ home turf."

    When Caitlin speaks up about Terry's idea of using the crown and scepter, Donna gives her a slow nod. "Yes. Look Terry, I'm sorry but... I don't want you using these unless it is absolutely necessary. And I don't want Hank to touch these either. The crown and scepter are artifacts of chaos magic, of a very powerful order. Putting them in the hands of someone who already has a strong connection to chaos -- particularly someone who is not a very experienced practitioner -- is dangerous. For now we are going to be keeping these artifacts in a secure storage container that will require two Titans to unlock. And that excludes you and Hank, Terry. Sorry. These things can be tempting, and addictive."

    Donna flashes a grin to Kaida. "Kaida, I promise you that if this all comes down to smoke and lottery numbers, you and I are going to go punch some damn common sense into Wonderland."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia takes a moment stroking her chin in thought, before glancing in Cyborg's direction. "Maybe he doesn't need the scepter. Vic what if we juiced him up with an alternative energy source like at the naval base? We just need the right color..."

Sarah Rainmaker has posed:
Sarah Rainmaker would fold her hands together, "Very well. I just feel that ceding the playing field entirely to the rules of the adversaries makes for a worse sceanrio. But I understand we don't necessarily have the time or ability for more coercion." She would go to fold her hands together. "So what then are our options?" Then she would think..
    "The Jabberwock is ill defined. So can't we give it definition? Focus, try and drwa it out of wherever it is? And via focus or however try and corporealize it into something that we can grasp and fight against to defeat it? We can't understand it but we could hopefully -make- it somethign we could."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Good point, Cait, but remember- it's not /their/ power grid. It's /mine/, too. Like it or not, I /am/ The Cheshire Cat-"
"Kitten-" says the Hatter
"CAT!" Terry huffs. "And as a fair point, I wasn't wearing the crown at the time. So there is that. We can do experiments..." he glances over at Nadia and Vic, "Hopefully ones that will not end up with me flying /through/ a wall."

Victor Stone has posed:
    "We're gonna have to discuss which color," Vic says in his absolutely serious Science Voice to Nadia.

    He nods to Terry. "But I mean, Vorp's got a point. He /is/ in the meta-story already. Maybe he can guide it from the inside. I'd suggest sending some, uhh... orderly types along with him, to keep him in line? Dove, maybe, or other people who have that kind of... whatever it is she's got. /Not/ Hank. Love the guy, but no."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen is listening to the meeting and keeping quiet for now.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan clears his throat. "Some might say you need some orderlies around you, yeah," he remarks, heading over to lightly bap Vorpal in the shoulder.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
"Energywise I seem to go between yellow, blue, and black." Nick volunteers, "Depending on what it is I'm doing. I try to stay closer to the yellow and blue though."

There's a knock at the door. Initially polite and after a few moments a door opens cautiously. "Herr Drago?"

Nick glances over to the door curiously, seeing an event worker start to peer in start to in. "...Yes?" He pauses, frowning. "...Jawohl?"

There's a pause before the event worker looks to the portal and then to Nick. "Herr Drago, Ih-" There's a shake of the head "Ahhh- Your group. Needs you."

"Ah." Nick looks to the rest of the group gathered inside and then looks over to Terry, "...Fill me in after the concert. Okay?" Nick starts heading out.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Don't assume the Jabberwock is actually ill-defined," Donna tells Sarah. "Just because our understanding of it is ill-defined doesn't necessarily mean anything other than that we lack information."

    She glances around the room, eyes coming to rest on Nadia. She gives a thoughtful nod of the head, then looks away. "I think as a few people have said, some scouting is in order. We have Nick here, who is a specialist in Dreams." She nods her head towards Nick. "We'll fill you in later Nick. Have a good concert!" She tilts her head towards Terry. "And we have Terry, who's a Wonderland native. That's a good start, but we simply need more information to understand what we're dealing with."

    "I'd say that we are going to need more than just a quick scouting trip. I think we're going to need a fact-finding mission. Probably more than just one of those, because we've already /asked/ a few Wonderlanders what the Jabberwock is, and the answers are... well, you all saw. We've got a lot to learn."

    "And getting there is not going to be entirely straightforward. Yes, the Crown and Scepter would allow Terry to open a rabbit hole there, but I'm not sure that's a good idea for a number of reasons, the main being that Terry is no expert in magic or the nature of the astral realms. We don't want to risk our universe getting a Jabberwock of its own, and for all we know opening a portal there would be a significant risk of that. Our best bet for the moment is to leave this in Raven's hands. There's nobody more knowledgeable than Raven when it comes to these things. Unfortunately it's not as easy for her to do that as... as it used to be."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia looks thoughtful listening to Donna and nods along at the notion of fact finding missions, they really do need more facts and less things that sound like something her therapist would say. "I could ask Wanda? She knows a lot about magic and the Astral Realms and I think she uses Chaos Magic, too. So there's probably a good chance she could help us?" Wanda of course being Scarlet Witch of the Avengers, one of the other teams Nadia spends an inordinate amount of time around by virtue of her parents.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The Cheshire frowns and looks down at the crown once again. "I guess it does make sense. I may be part of the story, but I'm not the cat my father was." He blinks, and waves at Nick, "We'll catch you up! Send me the pirates!"

He glances at the rest of the team ".... what? It isn't a pirate if /he/ is the one recording them. So... to recap, Raven will deal with getting us there. Where are we going to store the regalia? In her room?"

Because he can't think of anywhere else nobody would dare to tread, friend or foe, to steal those.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna nods at Nadia. "That's a possibility, a better one than handing the crown and scepter to Terry, I think. But ideally we shouldn't be using chaos magic to open such a portal. There are inherent risks involved in that, so we'll see what Raven can do first."

    "Secure locker, Terry. Two Titans required to remove from storage. You and Hank excluded. And..." She glances back in Nadia's direction. "Should we... I mean the thing about Nadia and Alice. This is something we need to consider."

Pol Hevonen has posed:
As the portal to Germany is gone, and Cas mutters about not getting to hear the concert, Pol considers just how in over his head he is about to jump.

"Met U. has a magic program. How much of it is nonsense and should I bother? I already know I need to find a specific mentor," he says, hoping they just happen to have a qualified and willing tutor handy. Yeah, not likely...

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin pulls up a screen on the wall monitors and queries the Titan's database of allies and associates of the Titans. Dr. Strange, Wanda Maximoff, Zatanna Zatara-- there are a few people both friendly and via association to the Titans who could fit the bill for consulting work.

"We've got a few names on the list," she says, and lazily scrolls through the archive. "People we're friendly enough with that we can reach out to them. I'lll ask about containment options, see if we can adapt one of our Faraday cages adapted to keep the artifacts safely sequestered out of harm's reach." She makes another note on her notepad, leaving the screens up for people to peruse as they wish.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Right. Then you guys reach out to the magical experts and see what they can do. Nick can see if he can locate Wonderland in the Astral, maybe. Pol can look at the situation on Met U. When there is a portal open, our speedsters can be part of the first reconnaissance team to be familiar with the terrain before another set goes to do intel..." he glances around the room, "I think that's the plan so far. You can report to Donna on each of those endeavors to coordinate, as she will take point."

He grows quiet, apparently going over a checklist. "Am I missing anything?"

Donna Troy has posed:
    "You're missing a lot of things, Terry. Common sense. The realization that glitter is evil. The decency not to shed cat hairs on the sofa." Donna grins and gives a shrug. "But in this case, I think... we've probably covered the ground as far as we have any real basis for it. Once we've actually figured out a safe way to open a portal, we can start to figure out the rest."

    She glances at the Hatter and Hare. "And send our guests home. Because I'm getting real tired of the eternal tea party in the lobby."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry smirks, "Right, then, meeting adjourned. Pizza's been ordered and it's arriving in about twenty minutes. Sorry to meet and run, but," he grabs his phone and looks at the screen, "I need to put some work towards my next deadline at the Planet. I'd ask for someone to save me a slice but with Vic, Irie, Bart, Cait and Gar in the same room, that's like asking for the Holy Grail. I'll stop by Giorgio's on my way back."

He heads out of the meeting room, to grab his satchel from his room before making his jaunt to the Planet, now that everything is planned and will indubitably go down exactly as expected.