Owner	Pose
Jonathan Sims	The Velvet Room is not a single room, but a castle, floating on an island that is actually clouds. It's not quite right to say it's floating in the sky of the Astral Plane, because there isn't really /geography/ in the Astral, but there /is/ a sense that somewhere far below the island is a city full of people. Maybe the Velvet Room's floating high above New York? Hard to say.     The grounds of the castle are grassy for the most part, though there's a flower garden full of topiaries as well. Jon and Phoebe need to chat, so they've met out here under the open Astral sky. It's a nice day, the sky above them almost impossibly blue and dotted with wisps of cloud that must be /very/ high up to be above the castle.     "So uhh... how're you doing?" Jon opens, a little awkwardly. He's got donuts, and offers one to Phoebe. Chocolate with rainbow sprinkles.
Phoebe Beacon	Geography's a fuzzy area anyway. Castles in the Sky are fantasy stuff, perfect for a group of magicians, demon hunters, and those who fight what goes bump in the night.     Phoebe was out in the gardens, wearing a loose T-shirt and jeans, her usual boots on and her leather go pack at her side. Hair was braided a little differently, the bleached parts showing some fuzziness and the red faded to a pale orange-pink now against the pale yellow of the once dark braid.     You know. The usual. Chas woke up. Figured out he wasn't human. That was a fun afternoon." Phoebe replies with a dry sense of gentle sarcasm, it wasn't anything aimed at Jon. "Then proceeded to kinda ruin something that should have been poignient and nice but I'm sure people got on just fine around the firepit when I left."
Jonathan Sims	"He rather glows now, I've noticed," Jon says with a smile. "I offered to help him figure things out. I know you and Asariel will be doing a lot of that, but I'm in... not the same boat, but a similar one. I'm pretty sure I actually have to eat, but..." He shrugs and takes a bite of the donut. Even if he doesn't /have/ to, he's not ready to find out.     "You didn't ruin the ceremony. It was quite lovely and enhanced by your witness. Lydia was pleased with it, which is the really important bit. She's been talking about that for a while, I'm glad it went well." They glance over. "How's Gotham holding up?"
Phoebe Beacon	"... massive outbreak of physical violence comitted by various young women in the last forty-eight hours." Phoebe replies. Her lips purse a moment, and she then reaches and grabs a plain, sprinkless donut from the box, and worries at it a little bit.     "Well, I mean, you merged with Ma'at, right? Don't you then get energy from the remaining cultus that worship Khemetism?" Phoebe asks, her nose scrunching up a bit as she thinks, picking up a piece of donut and popping it in her mouth to chew thoughtfully as she considers. "Well. I'm glad I didn't ruin it. Lydia tried pretty hard to help me out."
Jonathan Sims	"I would presume so, but that energy might be going to fueling healing or magic, for all I know." Jon shrugs. "I'll figure it out soon enough. Or I'll ask her when I get a chance. For now I'm acting like I need to do most of the normal things, because I do seem to."     He looks up at the sky, squinting a bit. "So I wanted to discuss... I'm trying to make sure things are settled a bit before we go on vacation. Not that I really think there'll be any real fires to put out if I go to the Alps for a week, but just in case. Specifically... I wanted to sort out the leadership of the Justice League Dark."     He glances over at Phoebe again. "I know you were talking about going to school. Are you staying on?" A pause. "If you are, we need a third, and I've got some ideas. If you aren't... well... now's the time to get that sorted."
Phoebe Beacon	Phoebe gives a frown. "I was accepted into Gotham U. All expenses paid -- Tim would have personally saw to that even if--" she breathes out a moment, and she rubs the back of her neck.     "Batman is determined to have me spend more time in Gotham. He feels that my living on my own was not in my best interest. I have a room at his base of operations now. He feels the Jay-El-Dee is not the best place for me, mentally, at the moment. And after I kind of got dogpiled in the piano room, I don't feel like I've earned the respect of others. No matter what, I'm going to be the one on the outside looking in, because this? Magic? That is my life. It's all I have that hasn't left me."
Jonathan Sims	"I think..." Jon frowns thoughtfully. "I think people just... we care about you. We want to see you happy. It's... hard to watch someone your age say she doesn't deserve good things, or happy endings. It's hard to watch /anyone/ of any age say that. So I don't know that it's about... respect, or lack thereof, so much as... a surfeit of concern. And maybe a misunderstanding, or a difference in terms, so I'm not trying to say you're wrong. I just mean that I know that they care. Sometimes that doesn't help, though."     He sighs. "As for me... I mean, look, Phoebe... for my part, you've done more for me than anyone could think to pay back. Just making sure Agnes didn't get the Archive..." He shakes his head. "I don't mean 'oh, I owe you.' I consider you a friend, I care about your well-being. I wish I knew how to help beyond saying that. If you stay, as a leader, you have my respect. If you stay and step down from leadership, I'd understand and respect that. And if you leave entirely... all you have to do is call and I'd come help. Just. So you know."     He glances over at her. "But what do /you/ think, and want? Batman's clearly a smart guy and all, and I'll admit he scares the living daylights out of me so I won't argue with his wisdom, but... it is /your/ life."
Phoebe Beacon	Phoebe raises her eyebrows and she looks over at Jon, and she then shrugs and lays back in the grass.     "All of my relatives are dead. My adopted parents have a bad habit of dying or otherwise violently exiting my life. I destroyed my body because I was the only one who stood the chance of surviving it. And I look at Agnes, and Deenie, and I see kids who already suffered. I just didn't want them to suffer more, because... I know what it's like to love a dad who's only half-there. And I know what it's like to lose a dad who chose to be the hero he thought the world needed. And if it meant doing it all over again, or doing worse, or letting half of SHIELD die for it... I would."     SHe turns her gaze from the sky to Jon.     "Not everyone gets happy endings. If I didn't understand that, Tim wouldn't let me leave the Roost."
Jonathan Sims	Jon sighs. "I barely remember my parents. I had a grandmother who resented having to care for me, another that was never around, and then a mentor who turned out to just want to use me to gain more power. I think that's why I keep trying to help young people. Help them have some kind of guidance, if I can. I don't think anyone in this business has had a /happy/ life. I wonder sometimes, about Lydia." A brief smirk.     "Agnes is alright for now, but someday she'll be in our shoes. I mean to prepare her for that, but I'm grateful she at least has /time/ to prepare, and a chance to have adults around that care about her and don't lock her in. So... thank you."     He lets out a huff. "At any rate. Are you planning to leave the JLD entirely then? I mean, if you're focusing on Gotham and Batman thinks you shouldn't even /be/ here it sounds like you're at least planning to step down from leadership... or are you still figuring that out?" A pause. "I... look, I don't /want/ you to go. I think you belong here, I know the others do too, but magic doesn't solve a feeling of being left out, unfortunately."
Phoebe Beacon	"No, it doesn't." Phoebe agrees, and closes her eyes, focusing for a moment on feeling the light from that deep, unreal blue sky on her face. "Wish it did though. I don't know if I'm going to stay, but I should probably step down from any leadership position at least. Lydia and Sara would both be good candidates. They're active, knowledgable and can make the tough calls when needed."     "... and Agnes better not be in your shoes. You've been given the opportunity to prepare her for it in ways we weren't given."
Jonathan Sims	"I was thinking of Rien as a possibility, actually, along with Sara. Lydia's a good candidate, too. And all three of them are able to tell me to stop being an idiot and take a break, which is important." Jon smirks briefly. "Lydia's getting married, though... not that that disqualifies her, of course, but she might be busy."     A sigh, and he starts to pick apart the donut in his hands. "She'll be better prepared... but she'll be doing the same thing I do now. Getting into trouble, sometimes of a supernatural nature. Judging souls, taking statements, fighting monsters, maybe saving the world. Jumping through portals to Wonderland." He shakes his head. "Evidently the Jabberwock thinks I'm /tasty/, so /that's/ terrifying." He runs a hand through his hair. "I just mean... a lot of what the JLD does is what the Archivists do anyway. We don't really get a choice; we're driven to it. I think she'll be better at it than I am, actually. But I'd like her to have a chance to be a normal teenager, at least, first. She never really got that before."
Phoebe Beacon	"I wouldn't know what it was like. At thirteen my dad died, fourteen I developed full powers, and fifteen I was being recruited into a superhero team. And the rest, as they say -- is history." Phoebe points out, waving a hand in the air, "But the longer you're around, the longer she'll have to prepare. And at least we know a way to pass the archive without its host dying, in case you get old and gray and want to retire and she's chomping at the bit." Phoebe points out.     "Rein's a bit nuts. She ripped her heart out in front of a group of us, once. That was my introduction to her."
Jonathan Sims	"And Sara's got a direct child of Gaea attached to her soul, Lydia's a vampire, I sprout wings and see auras and did I mention I went to Wonderland the other day?" Jon chuckles. "We're all a bit nuts. Actually I think Sara /might/ be the most level-headed one around, maybe to balance out Witchblade's sheer... pugnacious recklessness." A pause. "Then again, given her taste in men..." He shakes his head, smiling wryly.     "I think maybe I get what you mean about..." He sighs. "It must hard to have people insisting you can have something you never have. I think some of it's miscommunication. There are ways to find happiness even in the... crazy lives we lead. But then again..."     He frowns up at the sky. "Donna Troy's missing," he says softly. "And by 'missing' I mean... 'overwitten by another probability and supposedly never existed.' Terry insists we'll fix it, but I have to face the possibility we won't. There's other problems too, that I can't... really talk about, SHIELD things, but it's bad. I keep waiting for another shoe to drop. And enough of that adds up and you start to wonder... is it me? Is it the life? Is it foolish to expect a chance to stop and... recover? So I think I get what you've been getting at. If I lost Cael, and Martin, and Donna never came back, and the JLD fell apart around me... it'd be damn hard to listen to well-meaning people tell me there'll be some other chance for things to be good in the future."
Phoebe Beacon	Phoebe is quiet for a full minute or so as she looks up to the sky in thought.     "I know a thing or two about wanting people to come back who never were. I'll talk to Terry and see if there's anything I can do to help. You --" she sits up, and wraps her arms around her legs, and sets her chin on her knees. She fixes her dark eyes on Sims.     "You of all people need a freaking break. Take your husband, your girlfriend, and your kid, turn off your phones, put a 'can't find me' ward up and go skiing or something away from all this bullshite, Jon. Whoever you pick to replace my dumb self and the third will be able to handle things until you get back."
Jonathan Sims	"We're doing that," Jon says with a smile. "I... actually kind of get breaks every day? I lucid dream, a lot. I'm alone in the Archive for four to six hours a night. But I /do/ need time with my family, which Cael finally pointed out. We're going to the Austrian Alps, actually, Cael's got it all set up. Agnes has been nattering on and on about a 'proper holiday for once.'" He says that fondly.     "But that's why I wanted to get things sorted. So I can go, and turn off my phone, and figure if there's /that/ bad of a fire we've got portals. We will ski, and I will poke around in ice caves, and /maybe/ I'll convince one of my claustrophobic family to come in with me. Cael will sit by the fire and go crazy. Hopefully nobody will crash into a tree."     He smiles at her. "You should spend some more time with Chas. He needs to be around people who... he's blaming himself. He shouldn't, not as much as he is. At least I've got him convinced not to run away, I think."
Phoebe Beacon	"At least you have nice dreams." Phoebe comments, and she looks down.     "I'm trying to. It's hard. The adoption got invalidated on account of he didn't actually sign off on it, and I don't think even the real Constantine is an American citizen. I still wrestle with how I came into his life, and feel like maybe it'd be better for him to spend more time with Asa than with me. I mean, I'm not like him. He's more powerful, and I'm just this little whiny teenager, you know?"
Jonathan Sims	"Some of them are nice. Some portion of the night is spent re-living statements, and some of those..." Jon sighs and shakes his head. "At least it's not all bad, all the time. But I'll pass on to you what I've offered Cael: Tara Tsabedze, she's around the Midnight Mission sometimes... she can affect dreams. She might be able to give you a month or so without nightmares. It helped me a great deal. Gave me a chance to... adjust."     He regards Phoebe quietly for a moment. Then, "He cares about you, Phoebe. And maybe you should sit down and talk that through with him when you're ready, but... look, Chas has been around weird shit for most of his life. Longer than either of us, that's for sure. He's more powerful /now/ but he needs to remember being human. And he cares, I know he cares, that's... what he does. That's /Chas/. I can't speak for him but I'm pretty sure he doesn't care how you came into his life. You're in it now, and with Chas Chandler that's... well, /usually/ that's that. I mean, even when we lost touch, I imagine if I'd pushed he'd have let me back in."     He smiles. "And anyway, if I've got to go on vacation who /else/ is gonna keep him in line? Asariel needs breaks too."
Phoebe Beacon	"Yeah. I know. He snuck me my first magic book out of the back room at the Laughing Magician. He was the one who was the touchy-feely one, and the other one was..." Phoebe replies, and her eyes sort of half close. Her shoulders rise up, and she turns her face away from Jon, her eyes closing.     "Anyway. I try to keep up with him. I know he's going to need the help."
Jonathan Sims	Jon focuses on his donut for a minute, finishing it off. "I'm sorry I can't be more help to you. I feel I should, but then again... my gods aren't quite your gods, right?" He sighs.     "Anyway... I'll talk to people and... maybe put it up to a bit of a vote, see who the others think should lead? I think that's important, umm... making sure everyone has buy-in. Or most people do. I'll get that settled before I go anywhere."     A smile. "Thanks for talking, yeah? And tell Tim I said hi? I don't get around to Gotham as much as I'd like, these days. I know he's busy too."
Phoebe Beacon	"... I don't have any gods." Phoebe replies quietly, and she goes to stand up.     "I'll tell Tim you say hi. Nice talk. Glad we worked things out." she states, grabbing her bag.