Owner	Pose
Terry O'Neil	Take it easy. Take it slow. Try not to trip balls. Easier said than done during the first day, but by the second day things are a little milder around the tower. Terry is only having sporadic hallucinations now, and he is coherent /most/ of the time. Nevertheless, he's taking it easy, resting on the couch while watching something on the screen. ~A seven-foot frame, rats along his back When he calls your name it all fades to black Yeah, he sees your dreams and feasts on your screams (hey) We don't talk about Bruno, no, no, no Don't talk about Brunooooo~ "Goddamned song's never going to leave my head," he mutters. Then he presses a button and rewinds the number right from the beginning.
Donna Troy	Donna enters, grinning. Grins are not unusual on Donna, though they're always of a less than Cheshire nature. She's not prone to disappearing after all. She is prone to being amused at Tripping Cat though.     She takes the remote from Terry's hand, and says "Look! I can make it go away." She pushes 'off' and puts the remote down beside her, the other side than Terry is at. "There, that's how you get it out of your head. Stop listening to it on a loop. We don't listen to Bruno. No, no."     She studies Terry for a few moments, smirking, then reaches out to muss up his hair. "Hey. How are you feeling? And who's Theophilus?"
Terry O'Neil	"It's out of the screen. But it's in my head," the Cheshire observes quietly. Fortunately, there seems to be no matching illusion to demonstrate. Yesterday, there would have been. "I'm feeling pretty good, considering I got hit by angel fire. Mostly still riding the buzz from the healing magic," he says, which is why he still sounds slightly stoned. "Theophilus. He's the Mad Hatter. The legit article. He's still out like a light? I checked on him before I went to get my ass kicked by the angels."
Donna Troy	"Ah. That would explain it," Donna says with a gentle smile. "He's still out like a light /now/," she continues. "But about half an hour ago he woke up for a few minutes. Back out by the time I got down to him. But there's this."     She pulls out her T-Com and flips open the lid to show Terry a brief playback from the medical room scanners. The Hatter sits up very suddenly, smacks his lips, reaches up to pat his head, and finds his hat missing. He gestures around with his hands as if feeling the outlines of an invisible hat, then gives a contented smile and crashes back down into the pillow. After a few more seconds he mumbles a few incoherent sounds, followed by "Hm. This is a terrible idea, Theophilus. Quite wrong. Quite wrong. And not in the right way, not at all!"     After a little more shuffling around, he breaks into a faint snore and Donna snaps the T-Com shut. "Nothing very useful there yet, alas. But it looks like he's recovering at last. Any idea what you're going to ask him?"
Terry O'Neil	Terry frowns. "Well, the first question off the top of my head is how on earth he ended up crucified to a tree..." Hmmm, "But this is Theophilus we're talking about, so he would probably describe the /process/ and not /who/, so I guess tackling the /whom/ would be my first question- who nailed him to a tree..."
Donna Troy	Donna nods her head. "You don't think a full and clear explanation of everything is on the cards then." She gives a frown. "Probably a bad way of wording that. I don't want someone's words turning into more of those annoying card soldiers."     She gives a shrug. "I had hoped Captain Drum might tell us something useful, but he disappeared. And his boat turned into a wheelbarrow." She stares at the blank screen for a few thoughtful moments.     "Terry," she starts slowly. "Are there any wizards in Wonderland? I mean there's a lot of /magic/, sure. What I mean is... you use magic. But you're not what someone would describe as a wizard. Even Captain Drum must have had some kind of magic, because... well.. All of it. But you wouldn't describe him as a wizard either. Is there anyone you can think of in Wonderland who you /would/ describe as a wizard? Anyone prominent?"
Terry O'Neil	Terry frowns and looks up at the ceiling, lost in thought for a moment. "That's kind of like asking if there are any fish that specialize in swimming, Donna. Wonderland is pretty much all magic. None of us really specialized because things are so much... easier to change. At least, that's what the memories tell me. They're very vague." He purses his lips. "The Queens, though- some of them studied to a certain degree... I guess you could call them Witch Queens. The Red Queen especially. The White Queen..." he smiles a little, "Poor thing. She is a dear. But completely empty in the crown if you get my drift. She couldn't study how to put bread on butter."
Donna Troy	Donna nods her head in thought. "I see. Hmm. So... remember when we were stuck in space? And I told you that I knew the rest knew we were alive, because I'd made contact with her in a dream? It wasn't /exactly/ in a dream. That's possible, with telepathy, of course. But Rae can't communicate with someone telepathically if they are in a separated pocket of the universe. But there is something that links all corners of reality, and that's dreams. Or more accurately, the realm of The Dreaming."     "You don't exactly travel there every time you dream, but there is something not wholly unlike... astral travel. When you go to sleep and dream, part of your mind connects with the Dreaming. And if the dream is potent enough, and you are in the right frame of might, and circumstances align, you might find yourself in the Dreaming. Or if you're Raven, you approach the Lord of Dreams and ask him for assistance. That's what Rae did when I saw here. I was still asleep. Still dreaming. That linked me to a part of The Dreaming where the dreams of lost travellers are born. She entered into The Dreaming, and spoke to me there."     "So that's what The Dreaming is. And I'm telling you this now because there's something more to tell you, something that maybe will make more sense to you when you're less... you know. But maybe your current chaotic state of mind is exactly right for thinking about this after all. And if it isn't, I can always tell you again later."
Terry O'Neil	The cat raises an eyebrow at his friend, and chuckles. "Donna... I know the Dreaming. I got stuck there several nights in a row when Gar's Doom Patrol buddy got stuffed there because of this magical brassiere..." he frowns. "I... may be misremembering. But yes. I've been there. I was... actually kind of frighteningly powerful there. My illusions kicked so much ass, and at one point we were being chased by pianos and I send a giant Rachmaninoff to pound them and-" He trails off. "... what were we talking about?"
Donna Troy	Donna looks quickly down to hide a smirk before looking up and shaking her head. "Okay. Needed to check on that. See... remember me using the phrase 'fae-adjacent' about Wonderlanders? That you objected to? That wasn't my phrase. It was something someone said to me in passing. The Lampad on the stairs from Tartarus."     She takes a deep breath. "...The dregs of that foolish mortal sorcerer's subconscious mind, born out of the chaos where Faery meets The Dreaming," she recounts. The quote is close enough. "She was trying to provoke me in various ways. Don't take the word 'dregs' too personally okay? It was a throw-away comment, and she was trying to annoy me."
Terry O'Neil	Terry frowns at 'dregs.' Even as Donna tells him not to take it personally, he exhales a little. "Okay. Okay, not going to take it... wait. What does that even mean? A mortal sorcerer's subconscious? Are you /sure/ she was talking about Wonderland?" And then, another pause. "Wait. Does that mean I'm some sort of ... fairy?" And then the wordplay suddenly hits him, and he starts laughing. "Oh god... Oh god... I /am/ the biggest fairy in this team, though!"
Donna Troy	Donna can't help letting out a snort of amusement. "Yes Terry, yes you are," she agrees. "By far the biggest fairy on the team."     Rather suddenly she wraps an arm around Terry's shoulder, pulling him in for a quick hug before letting him go. "You don't take it personally, because it wasn't even aimed at you. I told you. She was trying to needle me. She was dismissive of Wonderlanders, because one of my friends was a Wonderlander. But her heart wasn't in it. Actually right afterwards she told me that her mistress is rather fond of the Fae, and Wonderlands count as Fae-adjacent. Apparently she found you amusing. Believe me, there are a great number of things it's worse than that for Hekate to find you." T"As for what it means..." she shrugs her shoulders. "I was hoping you might have some idea. The lands of Fae and the lands of Dreaming are very... potent places. Honestly the idea that somehow Wonderland is on the border of the two... well that makes a lot of sense to me. What do you get when Fae magic is distorted by dreams? Sounds kind of like Wonderland, no?"
Terry O'Neil	Terry hugs Donna back, and his eyes are focused- he is making an effort to stay focused and not to set off with the Raggle Taggle Rovers, Ho- on her, paying attention to what she's saying. "... that makes sense. Did... did my dad know this? Is that why he came up here? /Why/ /did/ he come up here?" And then he looks down. "Donna, there's something I've got to tell you. I... back when I first transformed... and for a while after..." He stares at his hands. They seem very interesting. "I could rememberr a lot more than I do now. Some things were crystal clear. I could feel them just out of my periphery. But I knew that if I focused on them, I would be able to /see/ them clearly. Get answers..." He sighs. "I... chose not to dig."
Donna Troy	Donna nods her head thoughtfully. "Do you think back then, when you're memory was clearer... do you think you remembered something you didn't want to remember? Like just enough to tell you not to dig?"     She leans back into the embrace of the sofa, staring at the black and empty screen. "It's possible... it's possible that we're digging into those places right now, isn't it? Maybe your father was running away from something. Maybe that's why he came here in the first place. In which case... all of this, everything that has been happening here in Metropolis..."     She pauses for a few moments. "Well. Either it's come out after you, or other people have started running away from it the same way you did. Or Eris saw in your mind exactly the right way to fuck with you."
Terry O'Neil	Terry's face falls. "Oh god, do you /really/ want to know?" the Cheshire cat buries his face in his hands. He's too buzzed to dodge this question, so he simply comes out and says it. "Two things. But the first one was the most immediate. Someone made a joke asking me if I remembered my mother and my father... you know." He waves a hand, "/That/. And WHAM." He shakes his head, "Thank god I've forgotten /that/, I only remember remembering. But that was just one thing. It was a bigger thing. Like... I realized I could look into anything. And it would be that vivid." He glances up to Donna, "... all of my life, I wanted to be part of something like this. I couldn't /believe/ it when this happened... heck, when I /saved/ Gar's life. And he started looking at me like I hoped he would. My life got this total..." he deflates a little. "Yeah. I kind of didn't want to upset the new status quo. I /liked/ my life. And now it's coming back to bite me in the tail. I'm /sure/ Eris must have seen it."
Donna Troy	"Hmmm. No." Donna turns to face Terry, looking at him very seriously for a few moments before taking his hands in her own. "Terry, listen. Carefully. I have explained this to you before, but you're a Terry so it doesn't really sink in. But if I say it often enough, eventually it will. You're a Titan now. Not pretend. Not... watching your cousin leap from a barn. A real Titan. Every bit as much a part of this team as me, or as Vic, or Cait, or Nightwing or Rae. You're not the mascot. You didn't get allowed in because you're Gar's boyfriend."     The seriousness, inevitably, fades into a grin. "You're sitting here on the couch and recovering because you just pulled a fast one on the Archangel Michael. You've proven once and for all that those nuns were wrong, because they tried to scare you with an imaginary bugbear, and you just scared the real thing. That, Ailouros, is /Titan/ stuff. And you, nimble tail, will not face this alone, because you're with us. You're with the Titans."     She lets go his hands and grins even wider. "And if Eris keeps bothering you, I'll punch her in the face until she stops. Deal?"
Terry O'Neil	Terry suddenly leans in and hugs Donna. It's an impulsive move, and it might be in part to hide the moistness around his eyes. I'm not crying, you're crying. Shut up. When he's regained control of himself, he leans back, and actually chuckles. "Shaddup- I didn't /scare/ him so much as I pissed him off. But I hear what you say... and... thank you." He smiles softly, "And Deal. If you /do/ punch her in the face, though, I have a very important request."
Donna Troy	Donna bursts into laughter. "If it's 'can I have a go too'? Maybe it's best if we don't push it. I'd probably be able to get away with it. You know enough of the classics to have an idea of the Olympian sense of justice. It would be considered fair and acceptable. There might be some grumbling, but you've met my mom. She'd raise an eyebrow and everything would be okay."     "On the other hand, if you punch her too? Well, that might be seen as bullying. You wouldn't want us to get a /reputation/ for bullying divine beings, would you?"
Terry O'Neil	"... as opposed to the reputation we got for bullying how many worlds?" the cat grins, and shakes his head "But I wasn't going to ask you that. I was going to say..." And his smile turns into a wide grin, "To give me time to fetch my camera."
Donna Troy	"Seven!" Donna throws her hands up in the air, in mock despair. "It was only SEVEN worlds!"