6251/The Raven's Tale

The Raven's Tale
Date of Scene:	17 May 2021
Location:	Main Room - Titan's Tower
Synopsis:	After waking from an all-too-real dream, the dreamers get together to hash out a plan. Colette requests a cute redhead for purely strategic purposes.
Cast of Characters:	Michael Hannigan, Terry O'Neil, Kate Bishop, Colette O'Connail

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Michael Hannigan has posed:
As the evening hours become more morning hours the muffled sounds outside the hotel window are getting even fewer. Curtains drawn, there is the beautiful sight of the store lights below reflecting upon the waters of the Liffey. The lights upon the Ha'penny Bridge just add to the beauty.

Wearing just sweatpants, Mike gives one last glimpse outside as he lowers the phone. Having made the call Vorp requested in the dream. Good news is, no one answering thought him crazy. Good sign, right?

He turns, moving to the suitcase to grab a shirt to throw on before they get there. Hmm. How long does it take to travel that far?

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The answer to that? Instantly. "Watch the front of the hotel," Vorpal had admonished and, after collecting Kate and Colette (because of course they were awake as well) via Rabbit Hole, it was time to visit Dublin.

There had been a slight delay, as Hawkeye demanded starbucks before traveling to Dublin, as she had just woken up. But outside of that, it was pretty instantaneous.

The Rabbit Hole opens up and the Titans (and Colette) step through it, as one does in these cases. Vorpal isn't wearing the frock coat he wore in the dream, but his usual uniform. However, he seems to think that a cat and two women might be too attention-grabbing a visit, and he takes a second to take out a tiny mirror, look into it and say a few words. Immediately, and after a haze of multicolor light, the Cheshire Cat is replaced by a red-headed young man in his late teens. Considering this is Dublin, this counts as camouflage.

"Alright, room's on the second floor, so..."

Before long, there was a knock at Nick's door.

Kate Bishop has posed:
Kate did indeed wake up after being dumped from the Dreaming World back into the Wakeful World.

She absolutely also knew Vorpal would be coordinating some early morning superheroing after one of his Doom Patrol folk heroes needed help or something too. So she got her gear on, everything situated and was ready for him when he came with the news of whatever the plan was.

Her one request (Demand) when he came in hyped about going to Dublin was a stop at a Starkbucks so she could get a gigantic coffee with chocolate and shit in it.

Which she sips deeply and is thankful for sunglasses while she follows him up to the room on the second floor.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette is annoyed. It's far too early to be traveling to Ireland, even if you can do so instantaneously. She's had to get up instead of lying in bed an extra hour. She's had to get dressed, because she wasn't going to head on over to Ireland wearing only the T-shirt she sleeps in. Worst of all, they'd stopped for coffee at a /Starbucks/.

    Fucking /Starbucks/.

    "You know, you guys could have all just come to my apartment," she argues. "It would have been much easier." It wouldn't. When you're travelling by Rabbit Hole it basically doesn't matter where you're going. It would have been easier for /her/ though.

     She stands behind the two Titans as they knock on Nick's door, a bottle of Jameson's that she'd quickly procured from the hotel bar in one hand and four glasses in the other, waiting for Nick to answer, and hoping vaguely that he won't have recognized her from school. Every time she gets involved in something weird, for some damn reason someone involved in Happy Harbor is there. Wasn't Nick involved in that weirdness with the birth of a new God of New York thing a few months back? Yeah, he had been. There might be questions. There's a lower probability of answers.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Shirt tugged on, the musician lifts up a hand to swipe the muss of hair back, flattening it down. It springs up slightly as the hand removes its weight. Hearing the knock, Mike walks over to the door, looking out the peephole to where he recognizes...well, 2/3rds of those gathered there. There's a creak of the swing bolt followed by a thunk before the door opens, granting the two females and a male the view of a man apparently in his early twenties with long - Ok it's the guy they saw in the dream only without the makeup and with less hair volume. He glances to the trio, waving them in. "Hi again."

His glance lingers on Colette. "At least the weirdness isn't happening on school grounds this time." To be honest he forgot all about the birth of a new God. Is that bad? It's just... a LOT of stuff happens in New York.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry glances at Colette, but he knows he's not going to get her to clarify what the man is talking about. At least, until he manages to pester her enough that she will tell him /while/ also throwing things at him. But that can happen later. As Terry, he's wearing what he usually wears to work- the button-up shirt, jeans, and a jacket.

"You might not recognize me without the fur. Vorpal. I'm in my incognito shape." It's not that he has a secret identity anymore- it is now Vox Populi that Terry O'Neil and Vorpal are the same person and work at the Planet. But Terry is just one more red-headed boy in Metropolis, and more people are familiar with his fuzzy face than his smooth one. "I see you already know The Meddler. And of course..." he gestures to Kate.

"I saw there's a pub downstairs. Want to have the war council there?" he grins.

Kate Bishop has posed:
"Hawkeye" then Kate sips her coffee very slowly. "I mean food sounds great... and at least your plan keeps The Meddler in booze..." she eyes Colette and then sips her coffee again.

"I think she was intending to use that bottle of booze and do the strategy talk in private Terry."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "So you're saying it's not on school grounds, it's not my responsibility?" Colette asks, breezing into the room as if she owned the place (which is basically her super-power). "I like the way you think. Stuck in four-dimensional hypercube, attacked by ninjas, that's pretty much part of the curriculum at Happy Harbor. This dream stuff though? Most definitely off-campus."

    Colette finds a table, and starts pouring out four glasses of Jameson's. The whiskey (it has the extra 'e' because it's Irish) is a little older than Kate is, and definitely out of the budget of a TA. "Yeah, we could stay here and we don't have to worry about anyone asking for ID," she suggests, confirming Kate's theory. "Or you know, recognizing the two Titans and knowing for a fact they're below drinking age. Or at least one of them is. Is it eighteen or twenty-one here? Doesn't matter. Here, have some excellent whiskey, and if we need food we can order room service."

    Colette sits on the table and downs her glass before pouring herself a refill. "So," she says, kicking her legs idly. "What's the plan? There's a plan, right? Every night the brazier lights up and drags people into that dream world, unless Robot Guy finds some liquid to douse the flames, is that right? I wasn't paying a lot of attention. That's kinda messed up becuse Robot Guys probably don't have the easy access to liquids us fleshy meatbags have. So we need to find a way to fetch Robot Guy out of the dream world, and bring the brazier with him, yeah? What's the reason we're not just destroying the brazier again?"

    Colette offers the glasses of whiskey around. "Get some whiskey down you, two-point-oh," she tells Kate. "It'll put hairs on your chest."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
As Vorp goes through the introductions, Mike nods to each of them. Tilting his head curiously to the Meddler title given to Colette. "Ok, well. Off the clock I'm Mike. Don't think that got covered last time we met..." As Terry mentions the pub as an alternative he nods. "Pub sounds fine." He replies, reaching his hands up to scoop his hair back and tuck it into the back of his shirt. Might be better than having you all gather in here. Not many places to si-"

He pauses as Colette walks into the hotel room. "...ok hotel room it is."

He cloes the door once everyone is inside. Listening to Colette's reasoning he tilts his head. "Drinking age in Ireland is 18." He looks between Terry and Kate curiously.

"Well, since the last time I saw him I had been kind of checking from time to time for any mentions of him. But... no luck. If he's preventing that thing from lighting up, there won't be any dreamers to hitch a ride from to try and get him out of there. I hope he got the message when I told him about that."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Right," Terry says, filing in after Colette. Where Colette goes, the foolish dare to stand in the way. He doesm't sit down, letting the others to choose where to sit. "I'm Terry. Also Vorpal. But you already knew that," the redhead grins. "Thanks for the offer, but no booze for me. I don't drink and Rabbit Hole. We don't want to end up on Mars on our way back by accident." He's joking. It totally couldn't happen. Right?

"The plan. Well, you mentioned you had a certain ability, right, Mike? Maybe you can tell us a little more about it. I am not sure blowing up the Brazier is a good idea, like Colette suggests, because we don't know if doing so might do something like... dooming Cliff to stay in the dreaming lands forever. At which point I'd have a very angry boyfriend to whom I'd need to explain why 'just blow it up' sounded good at the time."

Kate Bishop has posed:
"Look. I'm not going to give my exact age, but I am definitely not eighteen yet." that whole not too many details about her secret identity. Which is a secret outside the Titans.

"But food sounds good..." she stops by the desk or dresser and gets the pub's room service menu equivilant. Then plops down in one of the few other chairs. "I would like to go back to not having my every night dreaming fucked up to the point it is just in the asylum ..for ever...." she smirks "Also Robot Guy."

The glass is acquired from Colette and she pops the top of her starbucks open and pours it in.

Kate has mad skillz. Instant Irish Coffee in Ireland. Is that culturally insentitive. That is the real name of the drink...

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette holds a glass of whiskey out to Vorpal again, despite his protestations. "Stop arguing and drink," she says. "One glass won't hurt you. After tonight's experience it will probably sober you up. Besides, nothing wrong with Mars. Nice place. Fucking hell Kate, don't mix it... okay, do mix it, but have the next one straight. This is good stuff. Never Irish your coffee with a two hundred dollar bottle of Black Barrel, the natives will murder you if they find out."

    Colette makes herself comfortable, and thankfully sips her second glass rather than gulping it down as quickly as the first. "Right. Okay, so we don't want to strand Robot Guy. Fair enough. But we don't /know/ blowing it up will strand him there. Also we have to consider the other people involved, right? I mean it's not just us, there were a whole bunch of randos there too. Gotta think of them. So I don't think we should be taking 'just blow it up' off the menu right now. Ask a few questions first, sure. But it's an option. Could, you know. Save people's lives or something."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Mike nods, "Uh. Awhile back I went to the wrong bar. Passed out. Now, dreams are my thing. I see dreams. I can become a dream persona. A phantasm. I can travel through them. I also can loan out my ability to other people and objects that I maintain contact with. It's a bit harder to coach other people to have the right mindset to keep their subconcious from sabotaging them..." He looks over to Kate, "Which is why I had you close your eyes that one time when we were falling through the floors. I have brought people into and out of dreams before, but not pulled someone who was already in the dream out. So that'd be new. I'm hoping since he and that thing is supposedly MEANT to be in the waking world that the process still applies."

He pauses, "Oh and some... side effects when I'm still...humany."

Mike looks over to Kate and glances over to the clock. Giving a nod. "Have at it." He states, nodding to the menu.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
If the situation weren't so strange and urgent, Terry would be tickled. Here he is, in the hotel room of a movie star and famous musician- Lois would be kicking him to get him to agree to an interview. While not strictly on the entertainment beat, reporting on superheroes has its own layers of celebrity involved.

"Got it. When you say maintaining contact- does that mean you need to be in contact with them in the waking world? Physical contact? I want to make sure all bases are covered to elaborate. Because we could try to pull Cliff through." He glances at Colette, "But I think we should try to find someone to join this task force who is adept at magical lore and might be able to suss out what is the right thing to do with this brazier. I suggest Amanda or Raven."

He takes the drink proffered by Colette and sips it. "Hmm. You know, while I'm here I could travel a little ways extra and visit Scotland to see if the Cait Sidhe is knocking around. We're supposed to be cousins, you know," he says.

Kate Bishop has posed:
Kate glances at Colette before sipping her coffee. "I just woke up less than thirty minutes ago it feels like... I'll be spiking my coffee not doing whiskey shots off some cute red head irish lass's stomach before noon thanks."
Shehe offers the menu up "Oh I will... anyone else want to put together an order?" she wiggles the menu at Vorpal

Yeah she knows some of them are talking about magic and dreams and dimensions and all of that. Honetly this whole thing with the dreams and magic has her mildly annoyed. It is so far outside her wheel house. Hence the coffee and food, cause she is stuck with this problem and it isn't one of her cause or choosing.

"Raven.. dibs on not alking to her about it. All you Terry."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "Dreams and magic aren't the same thing," Colette points out. "Do we actually know the brazier is magical, not just a product of dreams? Might be better off bringing along a psychic rather than a sorcerer. On second thoughts, no. A psychic in that place would probably just get really confused. I dunno, I think what we need is an expert in dreams. Didn't you guys get trapped in Raven's dream that one time? Might be she's exactly the wrong person to drag into this."

    "I don't know if they do cute red-headed Irish lasses on room service," Colette says with a smirk. "But this whiskey is worth actually tasting, even if only out of a glass. Uh... yeah, I could eat some fries or something."

    "So, here's a question. Why us? I mean the three-eyed Raven here. Mike. He's got dream stuff going on for him, so that makes sense. Terry, you seem to have arrive at two-point-oh's plus one. But how about you and me, Kate?" Yeah, she just /keeps/ using Kate's actual name. "I mean also me and Mike here. Previous connections. What is it about us, specifically, 'cos it probably isn't just a coincidence."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
"I have to maintain physical contact when I want them to be in a phantasm form. Which allows for them to cross in, cross out, and remain in dreams. If I lose contact, they go back to their original form and either get lost in the dream or ejected into the waking world. In theory once he's over in the waking world and we're no longer traveling in or out, I can just let him go and he'll just stay here." Mike gives a sigh, lifting his hands palms upward wile giving a slight shrug, "But once again, never had a situation like this before."

Dropping his hands, he listens to the two options presented for someone to consult on as well as the general responses to the suggestions "I've worked with Amanda Sefton a couple of times. I can't say the same for Raven but if you recommend her, I'm ok with either. "

He turns his head, looking to Colette as she asks for an explanation. "Generally I just zone out and I end up where I need to be...I've stopped asking the 'why' question awhile ago. " He admits, "It just is. We're here. It's happening. Just, do what you can and carry on."

He pauses for a moment before he thinks of another thing to respond to. "Funny enough, one of the side effects of the dream thing IS spells. Not a bunch of them. But somewhat helpful at times."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Magic is useful there. You saw what my illusions could become... so I can contact Amanda. Raven is formidable, but we shouldn't ask her unless it is some major shit going down. With a capital 'S'. If I'm a tactical nuke like Kate said, Raven is... well. She's a doomsday device. And this approach might require something more... subtle."

Speculating, he narrows his eyes. "Well, connections, maybe. Let's start with Cliff. Cliff is technically part of Gar's family as part of the Doom Patrol. I sleep next to Gar, and of the two of us I am the more apt to handle myself in a dream setting... Hawk, you're more suited for this than you know-- remember all of those training sessions with the fantasy programs? And Colette, you--- well. You're unique. And you know Michael, who is connected to dreams. I'm seeing a lot of connections here and there, like some sort of domino effect. Maybe it's the chaos magic, or maybe it's all chance."

He ponders, "But two things are clear to me. One: We can do something about this, maybe. And two: Maybe I should have woken Gar up and brought him along. I'll have to get him a souvenir before we go back."

He yawns and stretches. "Okay... so next step of the plan is I contact Amanda, and I'll let you know if we've got her on board for our next dream excursion? I'll try to get her answer before tonight. Just in case."

Kate Bishop has posed:
"Man.. I am not at all telling Rae that you called her a doomsday device. Also never make that analogy again Terry. You know hoe she feels about end times doomsday stuff."

HEr coffee is sipped and she does what she can. Which is lean over, snag the phone nimbly, and put in a large food order from the pub downstairs to go with their morning whiskey.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "So Mike, you can bring things into dreams too then?" Colette asks. "Might be an idea to wrack our brains for things that would be useful to have with us. I'd say a tank, but I don't see you sleeping with a tank in your bed just in case of an attack of dreaming as being something entirely practical. On the other hand, maybe practical isn't the way to go. I mean things aren't the same in dreams, are they? Like if we make an... I dunno. A dream gun. Out of an old hair dryer stuffed with pages of those adverts in old comic books for toys that cost a dollar and promise the Earth. It ain't going to do shit in the real world, but in the dream world that might be pretty powerful."

    "Apart from that? I got nothing. Ask this Amanda person if you think that's a good idea. And ask Gar if you don't mind a running argument happening behind you the whole way, Terry. Right now my best suggestion is we forget about this nonsense for now. I've gotta get back to New York to go to work soon anyway."

    Colette finishes off her second whiskey of the morning, and pours herself a third. This is clearly a good way to start a busy working day. "Don't forget the cute red-head on that order Kate," she says.