15202/The Four Treasures: Consequential Rules

The Four Treasures: Consequential Rules
Date of Scene:	22 June 2023
Location:	Main Room - Titan's Tower
Synopsis:	In the wake of the fairy ball Jinx, Caitlin, and Terry talk failures and support.
Cast of Characters:	Jinx, Terry O'Neil, Caitlin Fairchild

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Jinx has posed:
In Medias Res, rushing back to the Titan's Tower through Terry's rabbit hole it's coordinated motion and madness. Wally, Kian, and Gar all stuck in slumber. No matter how careful Jinx was in explaining the rules it was not enough and they each ended up falling for their games. Now they are trapped in a torpor - who knows what kind of dreams or nightmares they are experiencing.

The Titan's Tower infirmary has never had patients like this before. Sleep. Unwakable. Jinx does her best to help get the three of them on the beds. There are superhumanly strong members who are better at it but the more hands the better.

Like a scene from a medical drama, machines are hooked up to monitor them. Brainwaves are there but busy in their slumbering fantasies. Amidst the confusion and chaos Jinx slips out of the infirmary and finds her way back to the empty main room. A space to catch her breath. She feels it all bottling up inside her, her chest feels tight.

When she got hurt Kian was there for her. And yeah, she has her differences with Gar but his pact instinct she can respect. She's never had people 'look out' for her before and now that she does it's hard to not feel the immense guilt upon her shoulders.

Sobbing breaths, "Just breath... just breath..." she tells herself and grips the back of the couch. She knows what's wrong. She's never -cared- about anyone before.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
It's a good thing that Gar and Kian are catching up on their beauty sleep, because Terry isn't going to get any sleep tonight. The Cheshire cat looks tired, but he isn't tired /enough/ to sleep. He will probably collapse, at some point, from exhaustion. That's normal. He is stubborn like that.

He is also incredibly quiet, when he wants to be. Carl Sandburg used to say that the fog comes on little cat feet- but the fog has the subtlety of a freight train when compared with the Cheshire cat. Jinx may or may not have heard him walking, but she most likely hears him when he approaches from the kitchen without having actually walked through the main room - because people with Rabbit Holes tend to cheat. But it's not his bare feet that make a sound, but the clinking of the cup on the saucer, his approach heralded by the scent of jasmine.

"... Jasmine tea always helps soothe me a little," the cat says, coming into full view of the room now, two cups in his hands. "Do you mind if I join you?" he asks quietly.

As if people just walked into rooms randomly with two cups of tea all the time not expecting to run into someone to share them with.

Jinx has posed:
Jinx does a double take as she sees Terry. She turns away from him to wipe at her cheeks quickly, then turns back to accept the cup of tea. "Yeah.. thanks." There are worse ways to avoid conversation than to hide behind the rim of a cup of tea. Avoiding conflict was never brow beat in to her - she was trash, not treasure, in English society.

She still likes tea though. Jasmine works just fine for now. She rests her butt against the back of the couch and blows over it to cool it down. Her eyes try their best to avoid contact with Terry. The mission was technically a success but in real terms it too a bad swing right at the end.

Against her better judgement she lets it spill out, "If they'd just followed the soddin' rules..." What were they thinking. She warned them. She warned them twice. How is it their group had all the casualties and Donna's group didn't. Was it her job to protect them? she can't police peoples choices.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Oh, Jinx..." Vorpal's voice is quiet. Sorrowful, but calm in a way. "... you know the old chestnut, that a plan only survives until the first encounter with the enemy, right? Well... I don't think there's anything that really could have prepared Gar and Kian... and Wally, for dealing with the Fae. Kian isn't really trained to consider the labyrinths of deviousness, he comes from a people honest to a fault." He sets his cup down on the coffee table, and brings his feet up on the couch by hugging his knees. "And Gar... Gar is much smarter than he leads people to believe, but he is also someone who lives in the now a lot. And Wally..." he smirks a little, "From what I heard, his only crime *aside* from his initial gaffe was out-doing a Fae in finding a loophole, and that made her salty as fuck. They don't like being upstaged by mortals."

He grows serious. "... but you can't blame yourself for it. They are grown adults. So is Wally. You really did everything you could do."

He sighs and tilts his head back against the couch. "... I tried kissing them. You know. Because... fairy tale."

Pause.

"NOT Wally. Kian and Gar, I mean.... it didn't work..."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
The door slides open and Caitlin emerges from the small office that adjoins the infirmary. The Titans are equipped with a state-of-the-art hospital facility; everything from remote autosurgeons to even some alien hardware to treat people like Kara or Kori who don't exactly have human anatomy. The redhead flashes a reassuring smile at Jinx and Terry when she spots them. "Don't make a mess of my nice clean floors," Caitlin bids them. But there's encouragement in her tone, trying to boost morale with a pretend fit of fussiness.

She's in pink scrubs and a doctor's coat, sleeves rolled up to her mid-forearms. The electronic charts are brought up and Caitlin starts checking everyone's vitals.

"Well they're holding slow and steady," she tells Terry and Jinx. "Pulse and respiration are low, but normal for deep REM sleep. I had to start Wally a feeding tube, poor guy," she says, and gives the unconscious speedster's shin an apologetic little squeeze. "How are you two holding up?" And she slides her gaze from Terry to Jinx, then back again, because Jinx is the one looking particularly fragile.

Jinx has posed:
Jinx frowns deeply as she hears Terry's voice. Her eyes are going glassy again. She's not used to this kind of emotional engagement in anything unless it was anger based. She had a lot of anger at the world - but she right fucked all that up on her trip to Surrey.

"He's trying hard to hide how fucked up he is," Jinx says of Terry and then takes a sip of the Jasmine tea. "Doin' a good job of it too." She swore deliberately. She knows Caitlin doesn't like it. Just a little bit of antisocial behaviour so she can feel like she still has a hold on reality.

"There's only one way to get them out of their headspace and that's to go in and guide them out," she states more for Terry than for Caitlin. Doctors can't do much against magic like this. Jinx isn't so sure it'd be that safe either. "Unless they can find their own way out," she adds a bit more quietly.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"... I've been better, Jinx is right, Cait" Terry confesses. "But I'm too tired to cry right now. But... this also isn't the first time I've seen something like this. I was also trapped in a magical sleep for several weeks on end, and you guys got me out of it." He frowns. "Although... considering that intervention resulted in a favor from Oneiros and thus being indebted to him, which resulted in *this* current endeavor... I don't think we can ask for his help this time."

He stretches his legs and looks at Caitlin. "I wish the Red King's Crown hadn't dissolved when Dream saved Wonderland. We could use it right now..." he glances at Jinx, "When I took the Red King's place to save Wonderland, I could visit people's dreams while trapped in Wonderland. If I had the power of that crown... it would be as easy as stepping sideways to go into their dreams and guide them out."

He lets out a deep sigh. "But the crown is gone. And Wonderland is its own independent realm now."

"So we'll have to go into the Dreaming by ourselves? Jinx, do you know how to do that? I've been in there before, but the first time it was because of a magic brazier..." he pauses, briefly confused, "... or was it a magic brassiere? And the second time... Nick took me through the Red King's dream. But we were in Wonderland before it was its own realm, so it was easy."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin manages to keep her sour face from showing beyond a little downturn at the corner of her mouth. Jinx has definitely earned a swear, especially since she came down to sit with the unconscious Titans.

It's an unspoken rule that if there's someone in the infirmary, there is someone else there looking over them.

"There's a few things we could try," Caitlin says as delicately as possible. "Fae sleep is a lot like deep REM. They're not comatose. But their brain waves are highly active in the regions we associate with dreaming," she explains, and swings over a monitor arm so Terry and Jinx can see it. It's full of blips and lines and frequency marks that are no doubt very interesting to anyone in the medical field, but otherwise incomprehensible.

"They're reactive to stimuli, to an extent. I don't -like- waking people up violently, it's not good for them, but we can try a few things. Olfactory stimuli works well. Adenosine blockers, norepinpehrine and orexin drips-- and direct neural stimulation, which isn't exactly a tickle, but the pain response can override the sleep instinct."

"But, like I said, I don't want to use extreme measures if we don't have to. People need sleep and it's hard on them to be roused from it."

Jinx has posed:
"What part of magical fae sleep don't you get Caitlin? none of that will work.. you can't wake them up until the magic is done with them. Them's the rules. They broke the rules now they have to face the consequences..."

Jinx is not a happy camper right now. Something else is eating at her. She winces a little as Terry asks if she knows how to do it. "I was taught how to do it." Because mind controlling cult H.I.V.E. was in to all sorts of techniques to mess with people - including inception.

"But I can't do it." Her jaw twitches and she takes a long sip of the jasmine tea. She shuts her eyes. She can't bare to see the reactions to those words. She might as well have said she -won't- do it to Terry in this state, but now of all times when she could help the most she's realised she can't do a thing to save them.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry reaches out to touch Jinx gently on the shoulder with his fingertips. "It's ok, Jinx. Even if you can't do it, you have knowledge, and knowledge can open doors, or at least point in the general direction."

He sighs and rubs his forehead. "Right now, we just don't know where to start or what to do. That's fine. This has /just/ happened. We can all think better after resting... we can regroup. Talk to Nick. He does Dream stuff, so your knowledge and his abilities combined... and..." he strokes his chin, thinking, "... maybe it's time I reach out to some of /my/ relations, on the fae side, and see if we can get some help..."

He stares at the things Caitlin shows him, and a bunch of words that he knows should mean something but don't, really, do much to his non-scientific soul. Grasping for the first thing that comes to mind, he meekly says: "... have you tried reversing the polarity?"

Hey, it works for Captain Picard.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Sorry Terry. Left my neutron emitter in my other lab coat," Caitlin tells him. A not-quite smile lurks around her eyes and the corners of her lips, amused but not laughing outright at his outrageous sally.

She watches Jinx's head lower and a concerned expression crosses her face. The redhead reaches over and steers the little examination stool over so she can sit on it, putting her head on a closer level with Jinx and Terry. "Jinx, listen," she says quietly. "We've been through this before. This -exact- scenario," she stresses. "And we got through it before, and we'll do it again. If you feel like doing it your way, that puts another tool in the toolbox. If you don't, it doesn't take away our other options."

She gestures at Terry. "Like Terry said though, it's only been a day. If they're still out in a few days, then I prep them for longer-term sleep while we find the right solution. But we absolutely /will/ get them back on their feet," Caitlin says, and something a little iron-like flashes in her eyes at the uncharacteristically assertive tone she takes. "The best thing we can do for them right now is not fall apart."

Jinx has posed:
Jinx is not used to dealing with level headed people who are good in a crisis. She's used to being beaten for her mistakes. She's used to being talked down at when she cannot do what is needed. She's used to be interrogated when things don't go the way of her masters. But this? this is different.

She lowers the cup a touch at the gentle hand. She looks back at Caitlin across from her. "It's not like that. I'd help them if I could. But I can't. I fucked shit up - in Surrey."

Her eyes close heavily. "I would help them. I really would. I even like Kian..." A classification that's quite rare for Jinx. Though, somehow, its contents are growing. "... but ever since I met me own parents and stopped them from killing that woman I haven't been able to do my magic. Haven't even felt the bad luck. Nothing. Just this.. weight inside of me that won't go away."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"I mean," Terry says, "It's ok to have a designated time to fall apart. Cathartic release. It's why the Greeks loved their tragedies. I'm not going to lie to you: when the adrenaline passes, I am probably going to go back to our room and I am going to bawl my eyes out in our bed until I pass out." It's quite a change from the Terry who started out in the Titans, hiding almost everything about himself... to the point that it took the collaborative efforts of Colette, Lois Lane /and/ Harley Quinn before Terry O'Neil and Garfield Logan could even openly admit to liking each other. After almost five months. Because Terry would just. not. talk. about. his. feelings. "... but when I wake up tomorrow, I'm not going to assume for a moment we won't do everything we can to get the boys back."

He sits up a little and glances at Caitlin and Jinx. "Almost three years and two months ago, the Titans were a wreck, still dissolved after what happened on Doomsday. Raven's soul was haunting the tower and she was trapped in some sort of catatonic state... and a whole bunch of us ended up going inside her soul to bring her out of it. There were demons, and a giant fuck-off devil-" Cait can't object, that is /exactly/ the most accurate description of Trigon ever "-looming over everything, and in the end we got Raven back. Then Cait, Vic, Donna and I were lost in a pocket universe, and the rest of the guys got us back. Then /Gar/ was torn apart and almost given up for dead, and we got him back. Then Donna erased herself out of reality and we got her back. Then /I/ got lost in Wonderland and you guys got me back. All of you, you are my family. That means you too, Jinx. And what we've been doing since we got back together is constantly go back for our family. And we're gonna do it this time too, no matter what, and regardless of what powers we may or may not have. Sometimes being there is important. You sitting with Gar and Kian means a lot to me. And I know you talked to people at the ball. I suspect you have a lot to tell us, once we've calmed down..."

Now he reaches for his cup and takes a long sip, and then he puts his hand on Jinx's shoulder.

"... Jinx, I fucked up bad at one point. I ended up making out with my evil Doppelganger. He stole my powers. I was completely bereft of all magic and my Cheshire soul and I was starting to fade away because of that, and in the end we figured out how to set things right... you can ask Harley about what I did." He pauses. "She took pictures." Because of course she did. "Isn't that right, Cait?"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
During Terry's confessional, Caitlin reaches out and gives his fingers a reassuring squeeze. Just a touch of human comfort, which is sometimes both a very small thing and a very significant gesture all at once. She flashes a supportive smile at him at his self-remonstration, and even manages to not make a face at the profanity.

Green eyes focus on Jinx. "You should talk to Harley," Caitlin suggests. "She gets it. This lifestyle. Better than... anyone," she declares. "And she really is a brilliant therapist, she's helped me a lot with all my issues over the last few years," she admits.

"But if she's a little too close to home, I've got Doctor Samson's number," she offers. "Plus he's an expert on metahuman abilities. If you've got ...some kinda mental block or something that has a physiological component, I bet he can help you break through it."

Jinx has posed:
Jinx listens to the long story from Terry. Abridged significantly, but still lengthy. "Wow - you people are more messed up than I realised." A small defensive smirk. She sighs and shakes her head at Caitlin, "Harley's the reason I was in Surrey to begin with. She went with me. It was her idea for me to confront my past."

"And now when my actuaal one set of useful skills would help I can't use them. I thought it'd be good, feel good, to be free of that bad luck. And it does, but now it's like everyone else around me is one some predestined march and I have no say in it."

"Kian had this idea that may be it wasn't just about the bad luck and .. may be he was right. Now that I can't feel it I realise I could always tell what the general good and back luck of people and places and things was. I feel blind. I would have known bad shit was going to go down at the ball... I could'a stopped them before they made dumb deals with the fae."

She sets the tea down and furrows her eyebrows. The freedom from her curse was ending. Every tiem you break a rule there's consequences. She interfered with her own past and now there's a conflicting alternate reality messing up her powers. Friends are getting hurt and the price is her freedom from bad luck.

"I doubt Doctor Samson's going to be able to help me. But I'll do my best to help with our three dreamers. I'm all in on Team Titans. Thats why I'm begging you not to start pumping them full of drugs trying to wake up them. The magic won't let them."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Jinx's summary of the Titans as messed up leads Terry to chuckle, "Maybe we are, but we are a beautiful mess..."

He glances at Jinx for a while after she speaks. "I wonder. And this is just me spitballing things when I've got the mental energy of a sloth at the moment... but do you think that maybe your ability to sense luck might have influenced your decisions a little bit too much in the past?" He speaks slowly, clearly trying to organize thoughts that are more complex than fatigue might allow. "It's like..." hand gesture, "the Rawlsian Veil of Ignorance. Like how they say you can't make an impartial decision if you already have biasing information about who will benefit most from which option. But here's the thing... your knowledge of luck might give you a bias that you are trying to balance things out in favor of someone... but maybe the takeaway lesson is that things are more complicated than that?"

he shifts in his seat to look at Jinx straight on. "Like... let's say you could have stopped us vanishing down that black hole by telling us some bad juju would come from us ramming the Dreadnought. Okay. So Cait, Vic, Donna and yours fuzzy truly didn't vanish into a pocket universe filled with *the most absolutely fucking BONKERS planets you ca-* no, I won't get derailed. Okay, so that didn't happen. But what /also/ didn't happen because of that... is that Kian and Gar didn't get close in their grief because I was gone and presumed dead. And without that, a /lot/ of the stuff that came from that that strengthened my relationship with Kian and Gar to the point that there is /nothing/ anyone could do to tear us apart... wouldn't have happened."

He goes silent. "I've had plenty of bad luck. I've had some truly sucky stuff happen to me. And yeah, some of it stayed sucky. But other stuff? In the end, I became a much better person from it. Maybe it's not what kind of luck you have but what you do with it? Maybe what seems like a curse to you right now is a gift to look at things from another perspective, so that when you regain your abilities... you'll see things from a different angle?"

He leans back, and puffs his cheeks, and blows air out. "Or maybe I'm just full of shit and think I'm being profound while I'm really just exhausted and delirious. Choose your own adventure."

Jinx has posed:
Jinx sighs softly and lulls her head back, "I don't have the brain for philosophy Terry. But I appreciate what you're trying to do." As Caitlin wanders off she looks back to him. "I don't know that I'll ever have my magic back. May be this is it. May be I'm done. Washed up. Best I can do is warn people about dangers and watch as they ignore those warnings anyway and end up in an endless sleep..."

She picks up the tea and takes another sip. "It's not like I can go back in time again and stop myself from stopping my parents. That point in time is ... is really messed up. You should have seen the place. Anyway. That's all by the by. I'm just trying to tell you I'm sorry. I'm sorry I can't actually help you Kian and Gar and Wally right now."

She stands up slowly. "May be I need to go for a walk to clear my head. I don't know. If I even could get it back - should I? isn't that what you're saying. If I had my powers and tried to help people with them then I'd ruin a thruple?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry smiles and shakes his head, "Not quite. What I'm saying is... there's only so much that is within your control. You say you can't help Kian and Gar and Wally... but that's a very broad statement, y'know? Powers or no powers, you are a Titan. Former Angry Bird Current Batwing has no powers. Hawkeye has no powers. Skills can be learned and trained. But that's not what matters. What matters..."

His voice grows quiet, but warm. "Is that you care for them. And that you'll be there for me when it's my time to start losing it when the shock wears off... just like I'll be here for you when you need to lose it too. And you and I can help in many little ways when we can't help in the big ways. You'd be surprised how the little ways add up, you know?"

He gets up, "I'll go and sit with the boys before going to sleep. Take a walk. Remember my words, ponder them in your heart like Mary-" sometimes you can't take the Catholic school out of the boy, "-and maybe there's something useful in them. And if there isn't, save it up as the list of things that make me annoying." He leans, and then stops, and instead opens his arms to offer a hug. Far too often he impulsively hugs people, but he's doing better at offering one so the other person can choose to take it or tell him to go hug a landmine, or something.

Jinx has posed:
Jinx looks a little concerned at his words, "You shouldn't believe the best in people. We'll only let you down..." She then eyes those open arms, an offered hug. She looks at warily and shakes her head. She's a ways off hugs it seems. The cup is placed back down and she shrugs her shoulders, "Yeah. Whatever.. I'm going for that walk." And with that, she takes her leave.