12560/15 Fears: The Heart of the Eye

15 Fears: The Heart of the Eye
Date of Scene:	22 August 2022
Location:	The Velvet Room - Sitting Room
Synopsis:	Rien and Chas discuss what they discovered in the levels beneath the Velvet Room and what their next steps are. They are joined by Cael to brings to attention their errors in how they are treating the third of their leadership trinity.
Cast of Characters:	Chas Chandler, Rien D'Arqueness, Cael Becker

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Chas Chandler has posed:
    The tension in the air is a palpable thing after the discovery in the depths of the Velvet Room. A prison with some of the worst of the worst underneath their very feet. And they are supposed to safeguard it from intrustion to prevent a prison break.

    Once back in the sitting room and taking note of the unconscious--read sleeping--Detective Chimp on one of the lounges toward the back, Chas moves to the bar and grabs his usual go to these days--a bottle with the Page of Coins printed on it. He also grabs a simple tumbler from the shelf and pours a generous helping into the glass.

    The liquid is almost black and thick with a heavy molasses smell as it goes into the glass. His angelic form can't get drunk off the stuff so his interest is purely sensation motivated. He takes a long drink from the glass and then refills it to full before setting it aside.

    "Bloody prison wardens...." he says looking at Rien. Mercy and Michael have gone back to their homes to rest, and Cael is still down in the depths with Jon, leaving the two (technically three) of them to regroup in the sitting room after the ordeal. "I... had no idea what I put into your hands, did I?"

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Still carrying the tome, Rien posts up at the bar and sets the heavy book there, keeping a hand on the cover as she takes a seat and nods to Chas, "You might as well set me up with some of that." Being able to get drunk would be nice just about now, but since that won't be happening, she settles for the aroma and taste of all the myriad flavors that make up that very dark rum.

She lets out a breath and sends a long look towards the book that details out how to care for and create the crystals... as well as providing a registry of their current 'guests'. "You did what you thought right in the moment, none of us really /questioned/ anything until it was too late to do so." She glances up at him with a wry smile, "However, your realtor privileges are still being revoked."

Pulling the tome in closer, she stares at it for a long moment, then lets out a sigh that shows her age and opens it. "Well, since we're locked into this, lets see who all we're safeguarding the world from." Better to know now, right? Rien adds in after a moment, "The funny part of this is, if we'd been told up front and given the choice.. I would have accepted. It's good work, needed work, but I dislike being manipulated or tricked into a task. Especially one with such.. heavy obligations."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas takes down another tumbler and pours another helping into it. "Eh... I wouldn't want the place anyway, eternal warrior I am, corrections officer I ain't." He slides the glass toward Rien as offering and sets the bottle down.

    "Given what I know of it I don't know that -anyone- is the eternal owner other than the one who built it. Fae, and their relatives, are like that" he says, taking a slow sip. "Even with a number of us being immortal I doubt we're supposed to keep it indefinitely." He gives the tome a long steady look. "So... I -really- hope there are a number of blanks in that and our inmate count isn't literally in the thousands."

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Taking the glass, she inhales the scent of the rum first, letting all the spices and ingredients fill her senses before following with a swallow. "Well, since part of the duty of this place seems to be to add to the collection, I'm sure you'll have no shortage of fights to pick." She glances up at him and cracks a tiny smile, "And since there's three of us, we won't even ask you to do the clerical work."

Looking back to tome, she asks, "Has anyone that's taken over this place been immortal before? We may have started something by accepting stewardship of a place as a trio of immortals with a revolving group of mystics, mutants, magi, detectives, and fighters that we caretake for. Its not like the JLD isn't going to always need somewhere to headquarter." Rien clears her throat and murmurs, "Let's find out.." She starts going through the registry portion of the tome, looking over the list of their current 'inmates'.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael isn't downstairs for long, as Jon seems to be in peak emo - insisting they need to be alone. She has a serious, thoughtful expression on her features with a faintly worried frown as she arrives, heading straight to the bar, and pulling down her usual bottle of choice: the High Priestess. She gives herself a generous pour, and takes a sip, glancing towards Rien and Chas as she remarks in a rather flat voice, "Good. I'm glad to catch both of you," with seemingly no one around, other than the sleeping chimp. "We need to talk."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    The inside of the tome is not just small entries. There are accounts of the creatures worst offenses and threats that it poses for every inmate intered. Fortunately, that makes the inmate list quite smaller than originally thought. In the several hundreds, rather than the several thousands. Unfortunately, there are references to other prisons held by other beings also in the tome. So the threat may not be an entirely localized one in the end.

    Chas is canting his head some to look over the tome with Rien when Cael enters. At her remark he arches a brow. "I figured as much... how is he?" he asks. His friend's mental state, given the past few weeks and Mercy's quip about not trusting him, has him worried.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Looking through the tome, reading the names and offenses of the inmates downstairs, she can't help but groan softly. Especially when coming to the part of there being other places, other prisons. "We should try to reach out to these other places. Set up contact with the caretakers at them. That way if something goes wrong at a location, we can have an.. alarm system of some sort. If there's a catastrophic event, I don't want to find out about it when the crystals explode and release everything downstairs."

Looking up when Cael arrives, she offers a soft, sympathetic smile, "The past weeks can't have been easy for you.. anything we can do to help." She nods to Chas' question regarding Jon's state, seconding it.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Well. There's a lot, actually," Cael answers Rien's offer, before looking at Chas. "Because they're not well. And before I say more - I want to make it clear that they gave me permission to advocate on their behalf - because Jon feels like they just //can't// do it for themself right now." She takes another drink of her whiskey, giving herself a moment to organize her thoughts before she continues.
    "The truth of the matter is that Jon was violated - which is something I can relate to." Was it deliberate that she looks towards Chas just as she says that?
    ...yeah, probably.
    "And to make things worse - they don't feel supported by the JLD. Jon feels attacked. Like everyone's concerned about Lydia, helping Lydia, forgiving Lydia... Without anyone checking in with Jon, finding out if they're okay, standing up for them... Jon doesn't need to forgive Lydia before they're ready anymore than I had to forgive Chas. Jon stood up for me in that - and no one in leadership is standing up for Jon," she says bluntly, fixing them both with a pointed frown. "That's how Jon sees things, anyway."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas listens and, for once, doesn't wilt at the pointed look Cael gives him. They've mostly moved past that point. He accepts what he did and takes full responsibilty, referencing it doesn't have the same painful memory as it used to. Perhaps something in his sojurn in Hell helped him process it? Maybe something else did. Whatever the case, he's a different being entirely and has made it his plan to protect those he calls allies as opposed to putting them in harms way.

    But in his need to protect, could he have forgotten that there is an internal nature to protection as well? It's possible. He frowns as he realizes that's exactly what he's done. "Oh... bollocks..." he mutters and sips his drink. "We... sort of have gone oof of realizing that supporting our friend is just as important as avenging their honor, haven't we?" he says, fixing Rien with a tight line on his face.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
For her part, Rien looks crestfallen at the idea that she let down Jon. She stares down at her hands for a long moment, then sighs heavily and nods. "I can't deny any of that. In trying to be mindful of Lydia's state, I ignored Jon's. Shit." Rubbing at her face, she blows out a breath and looks back to Chas, "I think we got too focused on how best to deal with Lydia that we just sort of... forgot that Jon still needs help."

Turning to face Cael, she nods, "You're absolutely right. We fucked up. We lost sight of the friend that was hurting in our efforts to shield them from having to deal with Lydia." Rien looks back to Chas, "So. We need to make sure that Jon knows we support him. I think we need to make sure that the JLD is aware that Jon still has our implicit trust and support, we can start by putting up notice that the Ceaseless Watcher is /not/ attached to the Fears or the... squirming one. That Jon is not 'influenced' by either and that neither is 'watching' through him. We can nip that one in the bud now."

Picking up her glass, she lets out a breath, "Its a start, at least. I'm.. not a therapist, though. This is what Jon handles and I don't think either of us is truly capable of being, well... being Jon, for Jon."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I mean - did either of you even ask Jon if they were okay with talking about Lydia's letter?" Cael asserts - her obvious frustration and anger evident for a moment longer - before she starts to let go of it.
    Cael lifts her glass towards Rien as she acknowledges the difficulty of 'being Jon for Jon.' "That's the heart of it. Jon's got training - so of course looking after everyone's emotional wellbeing is one of the tasks they pick up. But when they're the one hurt..." She lets out a heavy sigh.
    "I'm doing everything I can," she says quietly, staring down into her glass. I mean, Jon's been teaching me that the man thing is that you make sure whoever's hurting feels heard, and validated, and supported. So... That's what I'm trying to do. And I already pointed out to Jon that it's not that you don't care, or you don't want to support them, it's just- you don't see the world the same way. You don't have the training. But just being seen to make the effort... I think that's the most important thing."
    She looks between the pair of them, and a smile flicks across her features before she adds, "I'm glad you both at least see the problem and want to fix it. That alone'll help."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas nods. "I'll make an addendum to the Dossier entry for the Ceaselss Watcher at the same time I put out the piece on the Crawling Rot as for what we can do... directly" he pauses and looks to Cael. "I don't suppose just -saying- we hear and acknowledge his pain is enough, is it?" he asks.

    "How do you do it?" he follows, taking a sip of his dark, heady rum. "I mean, we're not in the same relationship, obviously, but if we can offer our own versions it might do the trick. So... what do you do to give him the support he needs?"

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien nods towards Chas, then takes a swallow from her glass, emptying it. She holds it out to Chas and murmurs, "Un autre, s'il vous plait." She turns back to Cael and responds with that same small smile, nodding, "I don't think either of us wanted to hurt Jon. We were... trying to find ways that he wouldn't have to deal with Lydia.. but we did it in front of him, which.." She shakes her head, "Obviously, it made him feel like we didn't trust or support him. So now we have to show him that we do."

She looks to Chas, nodding to his questions, then looking back to Cael for her response. "Any tips that you can offer would be most welcome."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I mean - I'm far from an expert. And I've screwed it up more times than I can count, I'm sure," Cael says dryly. After another sip of whiskey she adds, "But... yeah. Just starting with something like 'I'm sorry. We screwed up. What do you need?' is good. I do a lot of... asking Jon what he needs. Asking if they're alright. Asking how I can help... And I'd say anything to do with Lydia right now, just ask if they're okay being part of the conversation, or if they'd rather opt out and let the two of you handle it."
    She smirks before she adds, "I mean, that's most of the stuff I know how to do that you guys could do easily. Ummm... maybe even just asking if they want a hug? Jon's more of a hugger than I am. ...and giving Jon the nearest cat to hold never hurts." She lapses into silence as she tries to think of anything else that could help.
    "I know Jon wants to feel useful and capable right now. They want problems they can tackle and make a difference. So if you've got anything like that..."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas looks at the book. "Well... we have a giant catelogue right here or a few hundred monsters right under our floorboards" he says thumping it gently. "If there's anything in the Archive that he might be able to tell us about any of them... it might be helpful. Regardless, of Mercy's susupicions, she's operating under imperfect information--which I admit is a failing on my part. But he has plenty of usefulness in the immediate..."

    He looks to Rien and nods. "I think we both need to do some contrition for our misguided focus... but I think we have a good idea of what we need to do to get some more cohesion in play." He looks back to Cael. "Do you think he's likely to come up or will he go home after he's done taking inventory down there?" he asks.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien gives a nod and glances to the tome, "There's also the manner of crystal creation outlined here, which we may need soon, as we start confronting more of the Fears directly... and then after when we go for the Old Ones behind it." She looks back to Chas, "I have no doubt that I can make the crystals, but I'd like to know more about them than /just/ how to make them. Some of these beings.. they're not unfamiliar to me. But some of them... we definitely need more information than just their name and what they did to earn being crystallized."

Looking back to Cael, she smiles, "I've been trying not to encroach on physical space since that was a marker of the... Not-Me. But I will absolutely apologize and ask what they need and how I can help." She pauses, then adds, "I don't think he's going to come up. I saw their face when I suggested it. We may have to go to Jon ourselves. Which, really, is probably what we should do anyways."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Well. I told Jon I'd be up here if they needed me. I can always send them a text - that we've talked, and you're both contrite, and want to check in with them. But... there's every chance that now isn't the time?" Cael pauses for a moment, then adds, "Or maybe that's exactly what they need right now? I don't always know how Jon's mind works."
    She smirks then adds, "I told tell Jon we have a box of Lipton we plan to burn in effigy. I bet they'll come up for that." She looks at Rien to ask, "Can you get a box of Lipton?"
    ...she's not being serious, is she? Sometimes it's hard to tell.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas snorts. "I think you might be right" he says to Rien. "Might be a good idea to take that and ourselves down there to chat with him."

    He looks at Cael with a mild grin. "I don't think Jon would appreciate bringing something so vile into the sitting area of the Velvet Room. I mean, Mercy accidentally bringing the bug monster in here is one thing... us actively bringing that..." He shudders and then chuckles, emphasizing the joking nature of the bit.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Chuckling softly, Rien gives a nod, "I could, but then Jon would hate me forever. That said... we could have a Lipton box with those cheap bags and just have like.. woodchips in the bags and light /that/ on fire?" She flashes a grin, "I will get elaborate in attempts to make amends, or just make someone laugh. Fair warning."

Looking back to Chas, she nods and closes the tome, "I think you're right. We'll go take the tome to Jon, then we can apologize and give them the book to study."

Cael Becker has posed:
    A crooked smile continues to play across Cael's lip, as she finishes off a little more of her whiskey. She watches the pair for a moment before asking, "Do you want to go down and talk to them on your own? Or would you rather I was there to help smooth things over, just in case? I'm fine either way. And like I said... just apologizing and acknowledging you handled things badly, I think that'll mean a lot to Jon."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas downs the rest of his rum and pushes away from the bar. "I think we need to handle this one alone. To make it more clear that this isn't entirely on you. You gave us notice... we make the decision to do it now and to show him that we're here." He turns to place the tumbler into the sink behind him and moves toward the stairs going up.

    "I wonder what this door leads to now. "The trial rooms again or... something else entirely." He offers his hand to Rien in invitation. "Shall we endeavor to find out?"

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien does the same with her glass, setting it aside before picking up the tome and tucking it under her arm again. She smiles at Cael, "If you don't mind waiting, we should probably do this by ourselves. Then you can be ready for them to join you where you can give them all the hugs and head home." She glances to the tome and murmurs, "I wonder if we could create a copy that could be removed from the VR..."

Then she's glancing up at the door and giving a chuckle, "Oh this is going to be interesting." Taking the offered hand, Rien smiles at Chas, "Lets go eat some crow and show Jon we're sorry."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Fair enough," Cael agrees. "Just... let them know I'm still here. And if Jon says he doesn't want to talk about things right now and still wants to be alone... Then you just apologize and leave it at that for now." She smiles for a moment before adding, "Goodluck."
    With that advice, she takes her glass, and the High Priestess bottle - and moves to one of the couches.