10887/Spirit Call

Spirit Call
Date of Scene:	24 April 2022
Location:	The Astral Plane
Synopsis:	Terry comes by with very inconvenient news before Jon sets off on his vacation: Somebody's pushed the history erase button on Donna!
Cast of Characters:	Terry O'Neil, Jonathan Sims

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Terry O'Neil has posed:
Since Terry had fallen asleep at the party, and had been promptly transported back by his friends aftewards, he didn't quite hve a chance to tell Jon the news. After a day of the worst hangover yet (and a lot of judgy glances from his mother), Terry sent a message to Jon, if he could meet him at the magical palace in the clouds (astral) because Important Things Have Happened.

No details given. This is the sort of stuff you tell someone in person.

And so the Cheshire Cat arrives, in person, to the rather spectacular mystic hangout. As he enters, he wonders if anyone has had a chance to teach the piano any new songs, and whether they will ban him from the premises if he decides to teach them Baby Shark.

Doot doot doot doot doot doot.

But all in good time. Important things first.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon did /not/ have a hangover, mostly because he slept through it; his body processes everything more quickly. But he had to help his girlfriend with hers, and then go to his office in Queens to move some files out, so he was busy. But now, finally, a chance to come and talk to Terry. About... what exactly?

    He's already there when Terry arrives, sitting at the piano. It has a wide variety of music Rien 'programmed' into it the other night. Besame Mucho, Piano Man, other such 20th century staples. He's playing Clair de Lune with his real arm and the summoned emerald one, more to start teaching the piano some classical compositions than out of any real desire to play. He's decent, but clearly rusty at the keyboard. Should be enough to put the song in for the piano's rotation, however.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Play it again, Sam," Vorpal says, approaching the piano with a smirk, "Which was not actually said in the movie as such, but there you go." He glances at the piano and raises an eyebrow, "... Clair de Lune and not the Moonlight Sonata? I dare you to- especially the second movement. I've seen performers drink Gatorade before trackling it."

He grows less jovial after that, though. "... Do you have time for a chit-chat with le chat? I'm afraid some fucky stuff has happened..."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon takes a moment to finish off the piece with a final flourish, and then the song starts up again from the piano alone--sounding /much/ more beautiful, this time, as if all the piano needed was the notes. He sits back a bit, and says, "I am under no circumstances attempting the Moonlight Sonata, because I'm afraid Nameless might rise up from within the piano and murder me on the spot for butchering such a wonderful piece. But maybe we can talk Rien into playing it."

    He frowns slightly, then gets up and heads over to the bar. "I know you're not 21 yet, but this is the Astral Plane and thus I doubt very much we have to worry about laws. Up to you, but... I think I might need a glass of whiskey if there's 'fucky stuff.' What's happened?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"I'lll just have a ginger fizz, you've seen what happens to me with alcohol."

The cat leans into the bar, getting comfortable. "So... there's a problem with the Tower. Mainly, it appears that our Main Room at the tower has intersected with another reality.... another chunk of... probabllity, if you will. And it has manifested into the place in a way that is, and yet isn't at the same time." The cat sighs and spreads his hands, "Does that make some sort of sense? Because what's coming next is going to get very confusing if it doesn't so far."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    There is evidently whatever one needs for making drinks behind this bar, so there's ginger syrup and soda water and Jon pours things together and hands it over while he listens. "So... /not/ an actual alternate universe? A universe that could-have-been? And it's there sometimes and not there others?"

    They frown, and pour themself a glass of whiskey. "Yeah, I'm going to need... something. But it makes sense, in a magic dream logic sort of way. Do you know what happened? Do you need... help? I mean, I know you have your own magic specialists..."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Gosh... where do I even begin? Raven isn't much use right now and I'll tell you why." He takes a sip of his fizzy drink. "Donna's gone. She's part of the reality that got overwritten by the probability. In her place, we have Troia. But it's not /our/ Troia. It's a Troia that..."

He purses his lips and looks up at the ceiling. "Okay. How would you react if I told you that Troia is actually not a titan but a Titan with a capital T, an actual honest-to-Hesiod Titan of Myth?" He glances over at Jon to gauge his reaction, "Because that's what /this/ Donna is. And there are things about her that coincide far too well with /our/ Donna for this kind of origin to be some sort of alternative origin..."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Donna's... gone?" Some part of Jon's brain shorts out at that; it startles him so much he almost spills the whiskey bottle. He puts it away hastily, staring at Terry with very wide eyes. "W-what do you mean... gone? Missing? Dead?" For a moment, blinking at Terry, he looks terribly vulnerable.

    Then he realizes that Terry must be feeling much the same way, and shakes himself. "Sorry. That's just... sorry. Ahh. An actual Titan? That seems... plausible. I mean, we just finished dealing with the literal Archangel Michael and it turns out Saint Uriel inspired Neith--who is an aspect of Gaea, evidently--to create the Archive. Donna kept... she asked me why, say, Zeus hadn't been chosen as Gaea's Champion. Which implies Zeus exists, so the Titans of Myth exist, so... why not? Donna Troy is a Titan."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Not dead, just... not. Period. She is not. Instead, this Troia is. Probability overlap. It's all... terribly Borgesian, it's like some sort of snag in the loom of the fates and something happened to make the probability of one Troia clash with the other. This Troia... is sad. She lives alone in New Kronos, because when the Olympian gods heard of her birth, they immediately considered a breaking of some treatise and there was a war. An the Titans were decimated. Most of Olympus probably as well. This Troia is the only Titan left in her probability space. But she cannot leave the space confined to the main room..."

Another sip. "Raven's a complete mess. Has been in her room either chanting or crying, and I daren't try to find out because she said that if this was the fault of Wonderland, she would kill me." Sip.

"So if our Troia is also Titan Troia... something is different in our probability space because the gods didn't try to wage war. I'm waiting to hear the rest of the story from Diana but... in the meantime, I have speculations. There was also a prophecy Troia spoke of that leads me to think the answer to all of this is somewhere in Wonderland..."

He pauses, and then exhales heavily. "This Troia says she can send us to Wonderland safely while avoiding... the dangers that we'd otherwise face going in."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    At just 'not,' Jon's eyes widen. He listens, quietly, to all of that, and finally breathes out, "Good lord. That's... a lot." His mind reels for a moment, remembering Raven and Donna interacting the one time he met her, the way Donna and Diana spoke to him the first time they met either of them. If /he's/ devastated, how must Donna's friends and family feel?

    He frowns at Terry. "We can discuss prophecies and trips to Wonderland... I'll be glad to help if you need it... but first... how are /you/? Really, Terry, because I can recognize 'focusing on the details so I don't break down' from about a mile away."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Donna's /not/ dead," Terry says quickly. A little too quickly, perhaps, "She's just... not switched on. This isn't death- although you've more than aptly shown how that could be circumvented. In the big picture of the computer of the universe, we seem to have a corrupted save state with an incorrect switch turned on. All we need to do is finding a way to flip the right one..." he briefly closes his eyes and rubs the back of his neck, "And before you ask, yes, I may have been spending more than a few nights not sleeping and catching up on my technical writing for Starr Inc while this is going on."

He opens his eyes, "We're going to get Donna back. Somehow. But I'll tell you... I am getting tired of having to bear the consequences of my dad's shitty decisions."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon sighs, staring down at his whiskey. "In my religion, death isn't an ending so much as a... transition. The sun dies and rises again every day. There was a clear path laid out--I just had to trick the gods into accepting that I was a King." He smirks. "I still think they went along with it because of the sheer chutzpah of a temple scribe declaring loudly 'no, no, I'm a King and you'll treat me as such.' Is there a way back in the Greek mode...? Donna doesn't strike me as a Persephone." He shakes his head.

    Then he regards Terry quietly for a moment. "What did your father do that you think caused this?" Oh, no. He's got his 'therapist' hat on. "I know you said Raven thinks Wonderland did this... which is a reasonable assumption if the answer's there."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Didn't do. He was supposed to fix something that was going wrong in Wonderland. Only he didn't. And when he didn't for long enough, that's when the Hatter and Hare decided they'd try their hand at it. And ended up giving the Regalia to a deranged Gotham supervillain."

As you do. "Outside of Michael, we've only had one other reality-altering force target us. And Michael's been booted to version 2.0 and isn't interested in meddling, so that only leaves..."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Or," Jon notes, "someone /else/ decided to move in and do something while everyone was focused on Michael and Wonderland. /Or/..." A pause. A long pause, and then Jon swallows, hard.

    "Terry... we kind of... changed the fundamental workings of the universe by shoving that leaf down Amit's throat. There were knock-on effects to every other part of the normal apparatus of the flow of souls. It's entirely possible this is... /my/ fault. That something about re-working how the flow of souls works for the Greeks, and thus the Titans, sent back ripple effects that caused this."

    He sighs. "Not that I'm trying to take the blame, I just mean... if you don't know what happened, you don't know who's to blame. And maybe it's reversed. /Maybe/ someone was meddling with things, and Wonderland is the key to fixing whatever they broke, and so they took out that key /before/ they meddled with Troia."

    He frowns. "Do... do people blame you for things regularly? Because that sounds an awful lot like someone who's been the scapegoat one too many times."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"All. the fucking. time!" Terry says, setting his glass down with a /thud/. "Throughout the whole Wonderland bullshit, Hawkeye's go-to was to blame me. Raven, too. She gets to say mean things about me and mock me all the time, but /one/ lousy couplet in the middle of a Snark hunt, and she tosses me overboard a flying ship."

He slumps, "They don't even trust me handling the Regalia, and of all of them I'm the only one who is an actual Wonderlandean by birthright." He picks up the glass and starts sipping again. "I haven't told anyone but I sometimes... fantasize."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon's expression is... sympathetic. Deeply so. "I know how that feels," he says, and it sounds like he does. "Maybe you're still figuring out this legacy you have... but it's /your/ legacy. It's part of you, and how are you going to figure things out if they don't let you try?"

    He mixes up another ginger fizz, because evidently he's just playing bartender now. "What is it you fantasize about?" Definitely has the therapist hat on.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Wonderland." He answers. "About taking the Regalia with me and fucking off to Wonderland, fixing whatever it is my father failed to fix and then-- just /stay/ there."

He waves a hand, "I mean, how much worse could it be? Not much, let me tell you," he gestures with his glass, "And over there, not a lot of people disrespect the Cheshire Cat. Here, I can tell several in the team treat me as a joke. Why? Because I don't wear black panties and a headgear with ridiculous prongy bat ears and make my mouth into a perpetual upside-down semi-circle and I dare to actually have fun?"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon snorts at that. "I feel you on that. I had Batman lingering around Manhattan the whole bloody siege, and I never knew what he was up to, and he scares the living daylights out of me even if I'm pretty sure I could at least just... fly away now." He shakes his head.

    "Look, Terry... I don't think you're a joke. You were instrumental in fighting Michael. You... are Chaos personified, so I /ought/ to try to stay away from you, but you're, well, too much /fun/ to do that. And, yes, people don't take 'fun' seriously. People think brooding and glowering is the mature thing to do when really it's... rather adolescent. I hope whoever Batman actually is he doesn't do that perpetually. Not good for the mental health."

    He slides the second ginger fizz on over. "But what about your friends, here? Your family? I remember your mother clearly, from St. John's. And you've got a couple of boyfriends, right?" A pause. "Would you want to give all that up, for the respect of the Wonderlanders?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"I dunno," he accepts the next fizz with a swift gesture, "What would /you/ give up to live somewhere where you aren't disrespected for being yourself?" He drains his fizz faster than last time, "And nothing says mom and the boys couldn't come with. Besides, if Raven complains so much about me, wouldn't it be nice if she got her way? It's not like I've never done anything to at least deserve some consideration- like going inside her nightmare of a soul-self and fight demons under the terrifying gaze of her million-foot father to try to snap her out of her stupor before she devoured the world in shadow- oh no." He pushes the glass almost to the edge of the bar, and then stops it, "I'm pretty sure she'll be able to handle everything without my mere existence ruining everything." He exhales, and rubs his forehead. "... I should get going. I've still got some writing to do before I can take a break, but I wanted to warn you about what was going on at the tower. And thought you might probably want to come take a look yourself."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon frowns at Terry. "I think you need to talk to Raven," he says bluntly. "Get this out in the open. The... simmering resentment... it won't help any of this. And not for nothing, but /I'd/ miss you, if you went. But if it might be better... well." He huffs out a long breath. "Can't say I blame you. I very nearly made the same decision, myself, down when I was dead. It's nice, being taken seriously. Maybe if Cael and Martin and Agnes could've stayed in Duat with me..." He trails off, shakes his head.

    He chews on his lip a moment, then says, "I'll drop by, see what I can see. Maybe... maybe I can be of help. And even if not... keep in touch, alright? I believe you, when you say we'll get Donna back, but going to Wonderland, well... that's /your/ area of expertise, not mine. So... lead the way."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry nods slowly. "I appreciate it. And I will let you know where the Wonderland stuff stands. But as for talking to Raven?..." he shakes his head, "Not going to happen. I am really not in the mood for a one-sided argument where she tells me how right she is and how wrong I am. She already busted my ass and blamed me for all this because I didn't consult with Doctor Strange or Zatanna about the /possibility of my mere existence being a potential hazard to reality/. As if I could just walk up to the Sorcerer Supreme and request a thirty minute appointment while being a virtual nobody. Or getting blasted by her because I apparently didn't know that was a /thing I had to do/ because this whole thing didn't come with a manual, and she sure as shit didn't even suggest that's something I might want to do, seeing as how I was /not/ trained to be a goddamned witch from a young age. She's seen me struggling with getting a hold of what I am and she couldn't even bother to tell me what she knew."

He huffs, and shakes his head, "No. You can't talk to Raven. You can only be talked /at/ by Raven, and it's usually a tiny soliloquy on why you are wrong. The only person she could bother to care about or listen to isn't currently occupying this reality."

He gestures, "I'm done being disrespected. Teasing is one thing- I get that from Gar and Kian all the time. But being seen as a joke or as the perpetual screw-up is something else, and I'm pretty much /done/ with that."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "I don't blame you," Jon says quietly. "Nobody should be taken as a joke. People toss around big names because we have a penchant for hero worship, but the big names aren't always available or around." He shakes his head. "If you do need that sort of help... I'm willing to try to help you figure things out. I may not be the Sorceror Supreme or a Zatara, but I'm /around/." Oh, that was... bitter.

    He sighs. "Sorry, I... have some personal issues with Zatanna at the moment. Nobody's worry but my own. At any rate... if you need someone to bitch at, feel free to give me a call anytime. Trust me, I know /all/ about being done being disrespected." A smile. "My solution is to just do what I think is right and damn everyone who doesn't take us seriously. Yours might be different. So long as you've got someone around to keep you from getting /too/ big a head."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Thanks Jon, I really appreciate it." The Cheshire sighs and contemplates his glass, almost tempted to ask for another, but then he slowly shakes his head.

"I've got to go back, though. There's a major update coming up and I need to have the entries ready for review, nobody wants bad patch notes, right?" Terry smirks a little and pushes off from the bar. "But do stop by the tower when you can, you will want to meet this Troia."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "I will. Good luck with your update." Jon sighs, and starts grabbing up glasses to clean them. Or... put them somewhere to be de-materialized? How /does/ this bar work anyway?

    "Keep in touch, okay? I'll definitely stop by the Tower soon." One more thing to do before heading off on vacation. Not that he minds, all that much.