Owner	Pose
Jonathan Sims	Jon has had a suspicion about the Velvet Room's training area that he's been intending to try out, so when he comes in today, wearing his fancy new superhero getup, he looks around the room and says, "Hey, so, ahh... I don't have anything in mind /particularly/, but if you have an idea for something that might allow us to train people of multiple power sets and ability levels, at a steadily growing pace, that might be nice...?"     There's a soft chime in response and a feminine voice responds, "Initiating Tartarus Training Program, Thebel Block. Enjoy your climb."     The room shifts to become a huge lobby of sorts, with concentric gold rings and white-and-black checkered tiles on the floor, high pillars, and windows showing a strange green sky outside. The only other feature of the room is a huge clock with a door in its face, about 20 feet up. A long staircase leads up to the door... and that's it.     "Huh," Jon says slowly. "Not... what I was expecting." He looks around at the others who've joined him. "What do you think?"
Cael Becker	"...I've got nothing," comes Cael's response. She's has time to cool down after her run through the garden, but Bear is apparently still tuckered out, because the pup has flipped down near the door - fully stretched out and only occasionally opening an eye to watch the gathered trio.     "Are we supposed to... try to get to the door? Or...? I mean. It's puzzling." She crosses her arms over her chest beffore asking, Did the voice just call you 'Thebel Block'?"
Lydia Dietrich	After Lydia's explosive encounter with Phoebe earlier that evening, she had lost the desire to train like she wanted to. So she spent some time working on her book to cool down. Now that she's got a clearer head she heads back to the Velvet Room's training room to see what she could do with it.     She's somewhat surprised to see that Jon got here before her. "That's.... hunh," she says to him. "Not exactly what I would have had in mind when it comes to a training session." She gives him something of a shrug. "I guess it depends on what you're training /for/. For me, any kind of open space will work."     For her workout she's dressed in comfortable looking yoga pants, plain white trainers, a tee that's cut off to show her midriff over a sports bra. Her curly hair has been wrangled into a ponytail to keep it out of her face.     "I think it's calling /this/ the Thebel Block, not Jon," she tells Cael. She shrugs, "Hopefully things won't attack me while I practice my bats."
Jonathan Sims	"I was... sort of looking for things to attack me," Jon says with a frown. "Which I would /guess/ the Room knew, so why...?" He turns in a slow circle, clearly confused.     Then, because there's really nowhere else to /go/, Jon walks over toward the stairs, putting a foot on the bottom stair and seeing if anything comes after him. Then another, and another... and nothing appears. Nor is the staircase getting longer, or anything else.     "I wonder," Jon says slowly, "if this is some sort of... initial rest area, and whatever the training program is, is beyond this door?" He's about halfway up the stairs, peering up toward the door, though he's definitely not going through on his own.     He turns to look at the others. "Practice your bats? What do you mean, Lydia? Also, hi! Also, how're you both?"
Cael Becker	Cael shrugs her shoulders and follows after Jon, jogging a few steps to catch up with him. "I mean. I'm fine - I could stand to punch some things, but... That's hardly new, is it?"     At the mention of bats Cael sticks with what she'd said earlier - even though she knows better. "Lydia's taking up baseball. Right Lydia?"
Lydia Dietrich	Lydia snorts, giving Cael a grin. "You wish." Turning to address Jon, she says, "I can turn into bats, now. I've gotten the hang of four, so I thought about getting some time around here to turn into eight. I suspect that once I get into the double digits it'll get easier from there."
Jonathan Sims	"Oh, that's brilliant!" Jon says, with clear enthusiasm, grinning down at Lydia. "Well... d'you want us to stay here and hit each other, or do you want to come see what's through this door with us?"     He eyes Cael, and gestures toward the door. "I mean... I'm curious, but of /course/ I'm curious. If you think checking out the door in the face of the clock in the weird room in the weird castle is a terrible idea, go ahead and say so."
Cael Becker	"I mean. ...I kinda wanna know what's up with the door," Cael answers - amusement playing on her lips. "I'm not without curiosity of my own, Jon," she remarks, giving him a brief peck as they reach the top.     "But I will let you go first. Lydia can follow us as a bat, I suppose. Or bats."
Lydia Dietrich	Lydia gives them a thumbs up and closes her eyes. Soon enough there's a *POOF* and there's four bats fluttering around the room. They don't stray that far from each other, but they /do/ look like they're moving independently.     Oh and these bats? They're /adorable./ They're about the size of your palm, and they've got pale white underbelly fur, and a kind of rust colored coat on the back. They've got HUGE ears and between that and the cute little pug nose, they make perhaps one of the cutest bats.     They flutter around for a bit as Lydia gets her bearings, and then they all squeak, "Now for eight!" and *POOF* they all divide into eight bats. At first it all looks good, but that lasts only a moment before they start careening into each other, knocking herselves out of the air and landing unceremoniously onto the ground.     "Oof," They say. "Go on ahead. If nothing else I'll catch up as four."
Jonathan Sims	Jon takes a moment to stare at the bats, grinning. "You make adorable bats, Lydia," he comments. "Even the falling over's kind of cute." He turns to give Cael a peck on the cheek in return and then heads up on up the stairs and opens the door, tentatively.     The space beyond the door continues some of the motifs from below. A halway stretches off before them, looking almost like a hall from a school or office building... or hospital, maybe? The hall has checkered tile floors and a weird sickly green light overlaying everything, and there are splotches of blood on both walls and floors.     As soon as they step beyond the door music starts up, a slow track combining piano and electronic beats. Jon blinks around at the place. "...This continues to just be weird," he comments.
Cael Becker	Cael smirks at the bats with amusement, grinning down at Lydia as she calls, "Good luck with that!" Looking through the door, though, a frown pulls at her lips.     "The fuck?" she mutters. "This- God, doesn't it feel like we're stepping through into like a- zombie-themed video game of something? I wasn't planning on killing zombies today..."
Lydia Dietrich	The eight bats leap off the ground and into the air and this time manages to stay aloft for almost a full minute before colliding with each other and the wall. "Okay," They squeak. "We'll just stick with four for now." *POOF* half of them are gone and they launch themselves into the air fluttering towards the pair.     They circle a couple of times before a couple land on Jon's shoulder and the other two come to rest on Cael. "I will say this, one of the ones on Jon's shoulder squeaks, "The castle's taste in music is pretty good."     They look around some and one on Cael "I don't think I like the blood motif."
Jonathan Sims	"Yeah neither do I. I think..."     Jon turns back to the door... which has disappeared. Well, shit.     "Damn it," he mutters. "No way to go but forward, I suppose." He turns back and starts walking down the hallway. "Anyway, Cael, you wanted to punch /something/. What's wrong with a zombie, hmm?" He raises his eyebrows.     Up ahead, they turn a corner, to see something... strange and blob-like, black, crawling across the floor. It doesn't look like the sort of blobs that have been going around on social media lately. It's more like a three-dimensional pool of shadow, slinking across the hallway.     Jon narrows his eyes as he peers at the thing. "That's... hmm. That's not quite what it appears. There's a couple of different things in there. Odd things, but I think you could probably punch them. Want to check it out?"
Cael Becker	"I mean... It's been a while since I tried an axe," Cael remarks with amusement - as a weapon appears in her hands - remarkably similar to the one she'd recently wielded against angels. She swings it casually in the air... and then charges the shadowy form, bringing the two bats with her.     She swings with the axe, landing a blow easily on the foe - but seeing it split in two is unexpected, and she backpeddals for a moment. "What the fuck?" she asks - hastily swinging again with the axe to the one now on her right.
Lydia Dietrich	Lydia squeaks in surprise as suddenly Cael /lunges/ for the blob, the two bats go flying up into the air. The other two that were resting on Jon joins them and together they dance until *POOF* Lydia is there in all her twinkly glory.     She raises a hand and the stars of her ectoplasmic field flow out until there's a golden wall that's keeping the two monsters away from the trio of heroes. "Jon?" she asks, waiting for instruction.
Jonathan Sims	As Cael's axe hits the shadow slinking across the hall it seems to, indeed, dissolve and split in two. One half is revealed to be a pool of shadow, though more clearly defined, with little arms sticking out and a blue mask on its face, bearing a frown. The other half rises into the air and floats, gaining a large pink crown and a red butterfly mask. Below this, the shadow-bits hang as writhing hair or maybe tentacles.     "Okay this is /really/ weird. What the..."     The two Shadow-things orient themselves and try to attack the glowing golden wall! They claw at it, and then the blue-masked one on the floor launches a blast of ice while the floating creature spews a gout of fire.     Jon frowns. "Well, it's a training program, right? I think we're supposed to fight them. They don't look too dangerous, so... let's have at it, I guess?" He considers the pair, and then conjures a ball of fire in his hand, ready to throw--though not right away. He doesn't want to hit anyone.
Cael Becker	"I mean. We're //assuming// it's a training program." Cael swings her axe a few times - waiting for Lydia to drop the wall. She seems ready to attack the things agian - regardless of their spell-casting. "So in theory there'll be more after this - bet I can take out more than you, Jon," she challenges in a cheerful voice.     The moment the wall is down she'll move forward, swinging for center mass of the butterly-masked shadow.
Lydia Dietrich	Now that they have a plan, Lydia drops the wall to let Cael at 'em. Lydia's form disappears in another *poof* and she's eight bats again, this time they're all circling and fluttering around the blue masked one. Occasionally one bonks into the mask itself, but it quickly recovers from the floor and launches itself back into the flurry.
Jonathan Sims	Jon rolls his eyes at Cael. "Oh, /seriously/? If you're going to be that way about it..." He grins and pulls his staff off his belt, shaking it out to its full length and turning to face the enemies.     Cael's swing at the shadow hits it /hard/ and it makes a surprised sort of squeak and dissipates. As Lydia launches herself at the blue-masked one, it throws a gout of ice at Cael--and it's pretty dang accurate! It's liable to hit her and cause some pain.     But then Lydia's swarming the thing and it can't seem to focus on anything, skittering around on the floor making croaking noises of distress. Jon tries to aim the gout of fire from their hand at the skittering shadow, but they're trying so hard to avoid Lydia that the shot goes wide and scorches the floor nearby. "Well, damn. One for Cael thus far..."
Cael Becker	"Got this in the //bag,//" Cael says with confidence, a broad smile on her features. The confidence doesn't last, though, as she spins around, continuing the motion from her first attack, to bring the axe in towards the blue masked indivudual - but unfortunately, this puts her directly in the path of the blast of ice. She lets out a pained cry, falling back - the blow swinging past the thing ineffectually.
Lydia Dietrich	The swarm of bats swirl around blue mask's 'head' for a bit before coalescing back into Lydia above it. She's got her fist drawn back, and wolverine-like ectoplasmic claws sprouting from the knuckles. "I got it!" She uses the momentum of gravity to help put an extra little *oomph* in her strike when she slams her fist down at the mask.
Jonathan Sims	"Cael!" Jon responds to his girlfriend falling back by, predictably enough, running over to kneel down next to her and look her over. Is she hurt? How badly?     Fortunately Lydia's on things--the ectoplasmic claws stab right through the mask and the thing makes a squeak and dissipates as well. Then there's quiet, aside from that odd music playing in the background.
Cael Becker	"FFffffuck that hurt," Cael growls out - but despite being blasted in the face - she can see just fine, and nothing feels amiss when she touches her face tenatively. "I, uhh... I think I'm alright," Cael reassures Jon, as she steels herself, ready for another attack. "It just hurt is all."     She swings her axe idly before asking, "So - if I accidentally hit one of your bats - not that I'm planning on it - what happens to you?"
Lydia Dietrich	Lydia picks herself up and lets the claws dissipate back into the twinkling aura that surrounds her. "Are you okay, Cael?" she asks, walking to the woman, but seeing as she doesn't look visibly injured she relaxes. "Okay good."     She's brought up short at Cael's question, though. "I... don't know," she answers honestly. "On the one hand I feel like I should find out, but on the other hand I'm worried that I won't be able to put myself back together correctly."
Jonathan Sims	Jon fusses over Cael for a moment, looking over her face and then turning to look around the hallway. He narrows his eyes, clearly seeing something that the others aren't. "There's a way through this... maze? It's a maze. And I think there's a way back to the lobby... this way." He turns and strikes out with confidence, heading down the hall.     "Does your mentor know?" The question is sincere; Jon glances toward Lydia as they walk. "About whether or not losing one bat would... I mean, do you lose a fourth of your mass or what?"
Cael Becker	"I'll refrain from experimentation, then," Cael remarks dryly. "But it seems like the sort of thing you'd want to find the answer to - ya. A mentor would be useful. Someone //must// know something. I'd ask Jon what his Archive has on the subject - but then we lose him for a few moments while he goes searching around in his 'mind palace' for the information." R    Wait. Did Cael watch Sherlock or something?     She follows after Jon, gaze constantly sweeping for more of the strange shadowy enemies.
Lydia Dietrich	"I'd be surprised if she didn't," Lydia says to Jon, as she walks in step with him. "If I were to guess, I doubt I'd lose a quarter of my mass, since when I shift there doesn't seem to be any kind of conservation of it." She gestures to Cael and gives her a grin, "As she said earlier, fuck science."     "I can turn into a crow, which is... what. A pound? A pound and a half worth of bird?" She gives the pair a helpless shrug. "I don't know where the rest of me goes. Maybe it gets parked somewhere in the Astral plane. Maybe it just dissipates as energy? I don't know. There's a whole lot about me that defies any kind of scientific thinking. There comes a point where you just have to stop asking these questions and accept that it's magic and doesn't necessarily have to make logical sense."     Lydia snickers. "Mind palace," she says quietly. Louder, she says, "I appreciate you not volunteering killing one of my bats. I'll ask Hatshepsut about it next time we talk but, I don't know when that'll be. She's pretty busy doing important things that she doesn't want to talk to me about."     "If I were to guess, I don't think it'd be the end of the world if I lost a bat or two," she muses. "Eventually the goal is for me to be a whole colony of bats, and when you're talking about that many, you're bound to lose a couple."
Jonathan Sims	Jon gives Cael a /look/ at 'mind palace.' "It's nothing of the sort," he says, sounding vaguely irritated. "And I don't have a great deal of information on Lydia's sort of vampires, which is odd given that Hatshepsut was one of the Pharaohs--or perhaps /not/, given that those who came after tried to strike her name from the records. Perhaps the information was erased from the Archive as well. Or perhaps the Archivists never had it. We can't see /everything/." He shrugs.     "This place is... odd," he notes as they continue. "Bear's some ways away from us, I think we might actually be as high up as we appear to be. But it all feels... ephemeral in a way the first area didn't. Like I can feel it almost desperately wanting to shift and change when I'm not looking at it, although it's staying put so far as I can tell."     They round a couple of turns and find themselves facing a strange yellow device at a dead end. As they approach, a portal appears, hazily showing the open space below, with the staircase.
Cael Becker	Cael gives Jon her //most// innocent smile as her shoots that look her way. Of course, she doesn't expect anyone to //buy// that look. "How am I supposed to know how your mind palace works, love?" she counters.     Why does Jon like her, again?     As they reach the portal she looks almost... disappointed. "That was it? I mean - all those blood splatters, and dramatic music and- two shadows?" She shakes her head. "Well. At least I was right about getting more of them than Jon," she remarks, before stepping right through.
Lydia Dietrich	"The reason you don't have much information on my kind of vampire, is that there really isn't that many of our clan left." She follows Jon and Cael around a series of bends before being brought short at the portal. "I think it's pretty much just me at Hatshepsut." She shakes her head and gives a little helpless shrug. "There may be a couple more, but I'm the first person she's turned in a long, long time."     She steps through the portal as well, "Maybe it's just testing us? Getting a feel of our power levels?" She takes a few steps over to give Jon room to come out. Looking at the staircase into the clock she muses, "Maybe it'll shift around each time we go up those stairs?"
Jonathan Sims	Jon glowers at Cael, but there's no heat in it. It's a familiar sort of expression, almost a way of flirting in front of other people. Not that he'd ever admit that.     He looks to Lydia. "Yes, but, my ancestors were around back when Hatshepsut was Pharaoh. They served in the temples as scribes, they traveled and gathered information, and had been doing so for millenia before she lived. It's possible any information I have on them is buried in the deepest layers of the Archive, but again--it's possible that it was erased. The physical information I have is very spotty, going back that far. A lot of it was destroyed when the Serapeum burned." Jon sighs.     He steps through the portal as well and nods to Lydia. "I feel like that might be it--and I feel like... hmm. I'll have to dig around a bit, but I did ask it for something that would... gradually get harder, essentially? So maybe we're just overpowered for the early levels."
Cael Becker	As they return, Bear gets up and lumbers over - greeting Cael first, and then Jon, tail wagging furiously as he licks his people.     "Well. We'll go back through another time, then, and see if it's more of a challenge." She scratches at Bear's head adding, "You're still gross, mutt. I should take Bear for a bathroom break, though."     She leans in wrap an arm around Jon, giving him a brief hug before she and the dog head for the door. "You two talk about Egypt! Jon //never// gets to talk about that!" she says in a teasing tone.
Lydia Dietrich	Lydia lets out a snicker. "It'll give him something to do while I practice on my bats." She looks over at Jon, "Honestly, my Egyptology isn't all that strong. Most of what I know is from when Jews and Egyptians intersect and that's..." she sucks on her teeth, "Yeah. Not entirely pleasant history there."
Jonathan Sims	Jon gives Cael a hug and a brief kiss in return, and rolls his eyes. "Yes, because talking to Agnes about it /every day/ doesn't count, sure." They came back in at the bottom of the stairs, and out of curiosity he starts to walk back up them, toward the door. Not to go through it, but to see what happens.     "I became interested in Egyptology fairly young. I mean, my mother's family was Egyptian, Gran used to have all sorts of fascinating stories, so it sparked an interest. And then, well... and then I joined the cult, and all." They shrug.     "That bit of history though... yes. It's not the finest hour of the civilization. But if there's one thing I've learned through studying the past it's that people are people. My ancestors built a beautiful civilization full of art and culture, with complex theology. They invented beer and raised the pyramids and evidently plumbed the secrets of the afterlife... and they kept slaves, and homosexuality was often discouraged, and they were largely patriarchal--in some eras nastily so. I'm in awe of all they were, but they were not perfect."
Lydia Dietrich	Lydia gives Cael a kind smile and a wave in departing, and she walks with Jon up the stairs. "I'm learning more, now that I know that I'm just as much a daughter of the Pharaohs as I am a daughter of Abraham. My bloodline is just as much the oppressor as it is the oppressed." She shakes her head and lets out a little chuckle, "I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that I'm the last surviving ancestor to an Egyptian Pharaoh."     She lets out a little sigh. "All cultures and empires have their shortcomings," she says. "Jews included." She looks down and kicks an imaginary rock, "You'd be surprised at how racist some Jews really are, my mother included."     "When I first took Raven to meet my parents she took the form of this drop dead /gorgeous/ black woman," she says, kind of wistfully grinning at the memory of that form. "Skin as black as night. It was... yum." She chuckles, looking up at Jon, "So I came out to my mom as a lesbian and... that went as well as can be expected. My dad pretty much knew and was waiting for me to come out on my own terms, but mom was completely blindsided."     "She adjusted, though. We started to have a nice dinner, but then she started making insinuations about... you know.... /those/ kinds of people." That gets a hearty roll of the eyes. "After about ten minutes of that, Raven had had enough, changed into her base form and chewed my mom out." She laughs at the memory, "I was just as angry as Raven was, and she managed to say some of the things that I'd never had the guts to say to her."
Jonathan Sims	Jon nods, moving to sit on the edge of the stairway about halfway up, feet dangling ten feet in the air. "There's colorism even within communities. I'm relatively light-skinned but I've got relatives who used to send me skin bleach ads until I told them to knock it off." He makes a face. "Which... resulted in them not speaking to me anymore either. I was rather rude about the whole thing."     He sighs, and swings his legs a bit, looking around. "But people are people. Even aliens are people. We're all the same in the end, and yet we're different, which leads to beautiful things much of the time."     He peers up at the clock. "What do you think of this place, anyway? The whole castle, really, but even just this room. We could probably ask it to make you whatever the perfect room is for practicing bats and it'd be... that."
Lydia Dietrich	Lydia winces, "They sent you skin bleach? That's... kind of terrible if you think about it." She lets out a sigh, and plops down next to Jon. "It doesn't take much for people to decide that you're 'different enough' to make you an Other. I got it a little bit when I was a kid before my mutation set in." She ruffles her curly hair and rubs her prominent nose, "I /look/ like a Jew. It doesn't mean much, for most people nowadays, but even then, when you're growing up and you tell people that you can't eat the hot dogs because there's pork or, God forbid, don't celebrate Christmas, that's enough to make you an Other."     "But, yeah. People are people," she says with a nod. "In both the good ways, and the bad. I was in here earlier with Phoebe and Cael and we were talking about humanity and moral centers." She starts swinging her legs out over the edge of the stairs as she talks, "I told them that I had given up my humanity in that burning of the past rite, but I didn't give up my moral center." She closes her eyes and breathes in, taking in the scent of Jon, and the room, and the lingering scents of Cael and Bear. "I may not be human anymore but I'm still /people/."     Her attention turns to the clock when Jon peers at it. "It's a lot like a facility we have on the Asteroid, except the training room there is a lot more literal than this place but... it's run by a computer so what do you expect?" She lets out a low chuckle, "I don't really need much to practice bats other than an open space and not much to run into."     She gives them an enthusiastic grin. "Want to see it again?"
Jonathan Sims	"Here's hoping Phoebe's kept her moral center," Jon grumbles, though he sounds like he doesn't hold out much hope. "I know what you mean, though. I mean... I am the /literal/ avatar of the concept of Justice and Balance and Truth. The scales on Lady Justice were originally Ma'at's, and came down to Dike and then Justinia all the way to modern courtrooms. And the way Ma'at sees things, it's less about 'humanity' than it is about choices and actions, and how you deal with making a mistake."     Another glance at the clock. "I think there's... I don't know about a /consciousness/, but there's /something/ that runs this place. Is it magic? Is it alive? Is it just Igor and whoever else, behind the scenes? I figure we'll find that out as we explore."     Then a grin. "Yes! Feel free, go ahead and practice. It looks useful, and fun."
Lydia Dietrich	A little growl escapes from Lydia, "Phoebe... she really went off on Cael earlier, for no good reason. Then she started doing that sulking, self-pitying thing that she likes to get into." She rolls her eyes and gives Jon A Look, "You know the one I'm talking about. I'd lost my patience by that time and chewed her out." She sighs and rubs her forehead with her fingers. "I'm getting tired of it, Jon. A part of me wants to give up and let her push me away."     She follows Jon's gaze to the clock and is silent for a while. "I don't know about consciousness, but there's certainly an intelligence behind it," she says, flowing with the change of subject. "If one can have intelligence without consciousness."     She then grins back at them. "It /is/ fun! It's /hard/ to learn but I'm starting to get the hang of it."     She gracefully hops up onto her feet, and shakes out her hands. "Okay. Eight bats. Three... two... one.." *POOF* Eight bats! They flutter about barely coordinated. Some bonk into each other, one bonks into Jon's chest and lands in their lap and a third gets tangled in his hair.     "Ack!" says the one that's tangled in hair, "Can you... can you help me out? If I focus on this one then..." bonk! Bonk! Bonk! More uncoordinated bats run into things... themselves, the stairs, Jon. She lands the few that are remaining in the sky so she can focus on getting them all together.
Jonathan Sims	Jon frowns. "Why... did she go off on Cael...?" A pause. "Well, no, if there was no good reason..." He sighs and rubs at his face.     "She's sick. She needs help. Trouble is, someone has to /want/ help in order to get better. I'll freely admit that I'm worried enough that I... I really ought to... if I thought committing her would do any good--"     Then there are bats. Jon might be afraid of Batman, but he isn't afraid of /bats/, so at first it's just cute. Then there's a bat in their lap and one in their hair and--ow!     "Oh good /lord/!" They're laughing, though, and reach up to try to disentangle the one in their hair. "I have spent /months/ growing this out, if I have to cut you--" Well, it's not like a bat is /gum/. Untangling the Lydia-bat from his hair shouldn't be too hard.
Lydia Dietrich	"Committing her would do more harm than good," lap bat Lydia says. "Not that there's any institution that could keep her, anyway. She can /telep/... ouch!" That last came from hair bat. "Watch the leg, watch the leg!"     With a bit of wrangling, they're able to get her extracted out of their hair, so now he's got a bat in hand. A couple of them take flight and fly circles over Jon's head, and this seems to go well, when she adds a third which, for some reason, goes /counter/ to the others... well... it all ends up with bats being tangled in each other and onto the floor. "Dangit!" all eight squeak.     There's one sitting next to Jon and it speaks up. "You're right, though. She doesn't want help. She just wants to punish herself."
Jonathan Sims	"She's potentially dangerous," Jon notes, once he's got the bats out of his hair and off his lap and is watching them fly around with a faintly bemused expression. "It wouldn't be entirely up to me to make that call--I can't act as a professional in this matter--but as you note, it wouldn't do any good one way or another. I... I'm fairly close to giving up, myself. I had a flashback to the unConstantine the other day, and I don't... I mean, I genuinely don't know if I can do /anything/ to help, and flashbacks aren't going to make that any easier, you know?"     They shake their head. "I spoke to Chas about her, told her what she's doing, how she's acting. I'm not sure what else I can do. Some of it's so painfully /adolescent/... I told her I'd call Tim and Chas about her running off to summon and bind a demon and she threatened to leave if I did--that she can go 'anywhere.' When I told her to go ahead and go, she... went back to Gotham." He sighs. "Which was about what I expected, if I'm being honest. I can't fathom what she thinks she has to punish herself about."     He narrows his eyes. "Colocation must be difficult. I wonder if... well, for one, I wonder if Chas can /do/ that, but for another I wonder if he could if he could give you pointers?" A smirk. "I doubt you want to call up Michael and ask."
Lydia Dietrich	"She did /what/?" they all squeak at once, and that's enough for her to lose concentration and fly haphazardly all over the place. "Hold on, hold on, hold on." She gets all her little bodies up and together and in the blink of an eye she's back to human-Lydia.     "I knew she was researching that demon that we found in the old warehouse," She says, climbing the stairs to sit by Jon again. "She was looking for its name." She looks heavenward, "God, I hope she hasn't found it and is trying to summon the thing on it's own. What's more likely... what I /hope/ she's doing instead, is summoning a lesser demon so she can wrangle the name out of /it/."     "Heh," she chuckles and grins, "Honestly, it's just a matter of /practice/ at this point. You start out with just two, because that's disorienting enough, but once you get the hang of it you go to four, then eight, then 16, and by then you can probably do a whole colony without a problem."     "It's a lot like... patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time," she explains. "At first things are a little awkward and your limbs try to do their own thing, but once you've got it down it works pretty smoothly. It's just once you've got it down, you grow an extra pair of arms and you add spanking your butt and picking your nose to the mix."
Jonathan Sims	Jon snorts at that last bit. "I... actually could do that," it seems to occur to him. "Grow extra arms, I mean." He's sitting with his legs dangling off the side of a huge stairway leading to a giant clock face, in a room of marble and tall pillars. He's wearing his superhero costume, and holding his staff idly. "It's a shame I can't shapeshift, besides the wings. Well... maybe I could? But I have /no/ memories of Archivists doing so. It looks brilliant."     Then they sigh. "Yes, well, she's planning to summon it and bind it on her own. She won't let any of us help her, we can't stop her, and her /brilliant/ plan to deal with her potential death is to make us all forget her--which runs smack dab into the problem that she knows several people who are likely to be unable to be affected by any kind of memory-altering magic unless she's got a /lot/ more oomph. So... I don't know what to do, besides what I've done."     He collapses his staff with a huff. "Well, hopefully Cael got enough punching out or I'll have to spar with her and I /always/ lose." A smirk. "It's the one thing I can count on in life--Cael Becker's better at fighting than I am. I got better--and she got a bloody amulet that let her /cheat/."
Lydia Dietrich	"You should try," Lydia says encouragingly. "You never know when you'll need an extra hand." There's a pregnant pause there as she waits for the pun to sink in, grinning like a maniac all the while. "Maybe the other Archivists were just boring people with little imagination."     Her face falls, however, when she's told of the plan. She cups her head in her hands and makes a groaning noise. "Of course she is. Of /course/ she is. She won't risk anybody get hurt on her account because she's /cursed/, obviously, despite this is what the JLD is /for/." She starts making wild gestures, "She's so afraid of losing any more people close to her that she's actively /pushing/ them away so she can /sacrifice/ herself in some grand gesture of martyrdom." She leans back and stares at the ceiling with an, "Ugggghhh."     Grateful to move on to another subject she looks over at Jon and nods. "I know how you feel. I've been blessed with superhuman speed and strength, and whenever I feel like I'm doing good in Raven's training programs, she comes in and spars with me and I always get my ass handed to me."
Rien D'Arqueness	"Then maybe Cael needs a new sparring partner. I'd be happy to go a few rounds with her, maybe show her some new styles or tricks. I'm sure she's got moves she could teach me, too," Rien speaks from the doorways, standing there in athletic tank and capris, looking like she came for some more athletic style training than what might be being offered. Strolling farther in, she offers a smile and dips a nod, "Nice outfit. How is everyone?" She flicks a glance towards Lydia, lifting a brow, then back to Jon, "I take it we're still talking about Phoebe and her 'grand plan'?" RIen shakes her head slightly and runs a ahnd through her hair. "I could help her with the demon... but she doesn't want help. But then, I don't think the issue is actually the demon. Or her desire to protect people. It's her desire to protect herself. She doesn't want to be left, or abandoned, or hurt anymore. So she's trying to do it first, in grand fashion. By trying to make everyone forget her."
Jonathan Sims	"That's how we first started spending time together. We were both SHIELD recruits and one of the other agents had us training in the mornings. Running, sparring... she was faster and better than I was, although eventually I've started to outpace her, running, because of my legs. I knew some basic self-defense, but I mean... I was a psychiatrist before all this, you know? I knew what my spy of a husband insisted I /had/ to know, but Cael... well..." Jon's eyes shine a little.     "She hands me my ass every time. I /barely/ beat Moon Knight the other day--it was the new moon, mind you--but Cael... I mean, I try, gods know I try, but she's got my number. Whatever secret combination of moves and techniques are required to consistantly put Jonathan Sims on the floor, she has it down. It's rather thrilling, in an odd sort of way." He smirks. "She even beat me today, in how many enemies we defeated. You and her both got one and I got zero. Though I did lead us out." He seems proud of that.     He grins down at Rien. "Hey there! The Velvet Room seems to have a pre-set training program. We went and explored a bit. And I'm sure Cael could use someone new to spar with. She enjoys it, generally. Terribly competitive woman." He says it in the tone of a man absolutely head-over-heels in love, who finds every quirk endearing.     Then his face and tone both fall. "As for Phoebe... you're exactly right, and gods know I understand the compulsion. I kept everyone but Martin at arm's length for years and told myself it was 'professional reserve.'" He rolls his eyes and sighs. "I managed to talk to her, before, but she's... I don't know. Lydia says she lashed out at Cael for no good reason, and she's a right to be angry, but not at /us/."
Lydia Dietrich	Lydia's grin grows wider as Jon admits how thrilling it is to be beat by the woman you love. "I know exactly what you mean," she says. "First she gets you on the floor. Then she /ravages/ you. By you I mean me. And by she I mean Raven."     "I put up with it because Raven has a point. What if I lose my powers? I should know how to defend myself." Her brighter tone turns into a scowl. "You never know when somebody's going to put one of those awful dampening collars on you. I've seen them on people far more times than I like."     "Hey, Rien!" she calls out from the stairs that they're sitting on. "There wasn't much when we went in, but we think that the more times you go in it gets progressively harder. I was practicing my bats."     "Yes! Exactly!" Lydia slaps her leg and points at Rien. "We could /all/ help her with the demon. I mean... for the love of God, I created a circle that bound an /archangel/. How hard could a demon be after that? But you're right. She's just..." she lets out a frustrated puff of air. "She's just going to self destruct in our faces and all we can do is watch it happen."
Rien D'Arqueness	"Oh I think I can give her a run for her money. Make her -earn- that win," Rien chuckles lightly and glances around with a nod. "Seems so. I usually just have it provide a basic training room and I... imagine the opponents I want to face, or the challenges I wish to overcome." She flashes a grin, "Seems to work pretty well if you've got a decent imagination." Lydia gets a smile as well, "Hello Lydia. That would make sense. You won't get better if you just face the same challenge over and over." Letting out a breath, she gives a nod, then looks towards Jon and lifts both brows, "You don't... aren't you supposed to be the therapist?" Rien smiles faintly, "It's transference. It's not us she's mad at... but the person she IS mad at either isn't here or she feels guilty for being mad at them... so it shifts to people that she either doesn't know or that aren't as important... or that she knows will forgive her. It's... I'm familiar with it." She lets out a breath and purses up her lips. "Well. I mean... there's ways to stop her, but then she would legitimately be pissed at us."
Jonathan Sims	"Oh, I know," Jon says, sounding weary. "It's definitely transference. But knowing doesn't make it any easier to deal with. I could explain all of that to her and she'd probably just..." He closes his eyes, shakes his head. "I don't think I can do much for her until she stops acting like the unConstantine--and she won't talk about it, even though she needs to. It's... I'm too close."     They open their eyes. "There was a time I would've put up with it, forgiven whatever she said, kept on and on trying to help, until she made it blindingly clear she didn't want my help, and been willing even then. The way I was with her 'father.'" They pause, shifting their jaw, and then sigh. "But that isn't healthy, for anyone. If she came looking to talk, I'd listen, but she's so enamored of John bloody Constantine and his foolish, /stupid/ ways of looking at the world and at magic--"     Suddenly he laughs. "Has she given either of you the 'magic always comes with a price' line?" He snorts. "Like if you just /suffer/ enough the universe will do what you want. Like that's not about dharma, and kharma, and consequences flowing naturally from our actions, when it isn't as simple as 'energy can neither be created nor destroyed.' I'm having to re-teach Chas, who knows a /lot/ more about magic on a practical level than I do, because he's got the /fundamentals/ all wrong. He's convinced he didn't 'pay' enough for the power he has now. He's looking for the Big Payment In Trauma, I guess?"     He hops down off the staircase--ten feet isn't /that/ far to fall when you're over six feet tall and can fly--and says, "Well, if you want to change it to something else, be my guest. I'm not opposed. Lydia's 'bats' are adorable, but they get confused easily."
Lydia Dietrich	There's a slight scowl that graces Lydia's lips. "She was going on about 'the price' earlier. I can't disagree with her, though. There /is/ a price for knowledge but..." she shakes her head. "The price doesn't have to be suffering, but, that's what /she's/ talking about when she means 'price.'"     "The way I see it is that the prices is more a loss of innocence than anything else," she says, still swinging her legs over the stairs. "When you start dipping your feet in magic you take a peek at the wider world. You become aware of your own ignorance. You dig a little deeper and you become more acutely aware of how little you actually know and you keep digging deeper until you find yourself building a Golem to protect Bushwick, and when it rumbles off to do it's duty you think to yourself, 'Holy shit, what did I just do?' and then pray that it doesn't go haywire and end up murdering people."     She leaps to her feet and pouts at Jon. "I can handle /four/ just fine!," she says defensively. "I'm still getting the hang of eight! /You/ try spreading your consciousness amongst eight bodies and get them all to coordinate!"
Rien D'Arqueness	"I can't say that I've spoken with her enough to get any sort of speech... though I would be highly amused to see what she thought she could teach me about magic, or it's costs. Given the givens." Rien offers a wry expression towards Jon, lifting a shrug. She glances around the room, then back to the pair and smiles, "I'm not overly fussed. If and when I start training, I'm adaptable to the surroundings." She shakes her head and lets out a breath before pinching the bridge of her nose. "Like I said. There's definitely ways we -could- stop her, but she would hate absolutely all of them." Rien looks back towards Jon and Lydia, "And realistically, there comes a point where we have to ask ourselves how much time, and energy, and resources, are we going to spend chasing after one girl."
Jonathan Sims	Jon smirks at Lydia's outburst, but then taps at his nose and points at her. "There's responsibility involved, deeply personal responsibility. And it's not only magicians that have that--think of Oppenheimer, knowing how the Manhattan Project had changed the world, quoting Krishna. But magic shoves it in your face in a way few things do." He grins at Rien. "I mean, if there's a price to pay in suffering, you've /clearly/ paid enough. But I doubt that alone is enough to fuel your magic, hmm?"     They sigh. "She's my best mate's daughter--but said best mate is of a mind to let her self-destruct if that's where she's going. He'll warn her, but he comes from a tradition of... letting kids make bad choices. It's not what I would do--but I'm not him. If it were Agnes going this route I'd say 'all of my time and energy will go to her'... but then she's /my/ daughter, and if I die she gets the Archive, and she really does need to be stable for the sake of everyone else."     He shrugs. "It's worth thinking about these things regardless. Why does magic work, how does magic work, why do we do what we do. Why do we help someone with one thing, and not someone else with something else." A pause. "Actually, I'm curious, since we're planning this 'Magic 101' business, what your views on the fundamentals /are/, Rien."
Lydia Dietrich	"You're right," Lydia says to Rien. "There comes a point where you've done all you can and you have to pull back and take care of yourself." She scowls at the floor, "I don't know if we're there yet, though. If she goes through with this I know /I'll/ feel as if I've failed her in some way."     "But enough of that," she says sourly, walking towards the door. "I've spent entirely too much time today talking to and about Phoebe. I need a break. Besides. It's time to put Raven to bed."     "I'll see you to later, alright?" she calls out over her shoulder as she leaves. "Don't be strangers!"
Rien D'Arqueness	"That, is an excellent question, Jon. But one that is probably better left for when we can set aside an hour or more to discuss it. There's no short, nor easy, answer to that question. But it is one I will happily answer later. Perhaps over some wine and pastries? You can take the rest back home with you if you like. I did tell Cael and Agnes I would make more for them soon." Rien gives a quick grin, "For now, I think Lydia has the right idea. It's time to get some rest and let the subject rest as well. We can approach it later, perhaps with fresh perspective." She nods to Lydia, "I'm generally available. Last night excepting. That was date night with Robbie's brother." She pauses, then adds, "That sounds stranger than it is. Anyways! It was good to see you both again. Jon, give me a few hours to rest up and we can sit down and talk magic."
Jonathan Sims	Jon nods, although he doesn't move to leave. "I think Cael will be back soon... and probably want to punch more things. I think I'll change this to a sparring ring so she can go ahead and kick my ass. It'll make her feel better, I'm sure." He smirks.     "Be well, both of you. And I'll definitely take you up on that, Rien--wine and pastries and magical theory sounds like an /excellent/ way to spend an hour or two." A grin. "I'll see you soon!"