(Broken Cycle) Debrief

[James Turner]

He offered Serphina a soft smile, "I appreciate you looking out but it'll give us piece of mind to have you well, yea? Just rest up and get better, if you need anything just ask." Tired eyes meeting hers filled with sympathy. She'd taken on a dangerous mission and been seriously hurt. They knew it was a risk but it was never a price he wanted to pay.


When Rhodes' finished he held up a finger. "That's, uh, not quite all. When Rhodes' was ejected from the dreams it didn't attack me, it kept wanting me to run. To act like prey. I, uh, might have pissed it off by refusing and throwing it back in it's face. I..." He paused his lips pursing wondering how to put this or if he should even share it. This was a Keeper, he needed to give them as much ammunition as possible.


"There's more but we should wait for Circe." His hands trembling as they dug into his pockets pulling out his mad notes and scribbles. He was sure he'd look like a lunatic or a loyalist but understanding your enemy was crucial.

[Seraphina]

Her eyes follow Yami as she enters the room, concern for how tired she looked. What had the experienced in there?

Her hand squeezed his, the worry returning to her eyes. She knew he wouldn’t get into too much about it, so she didn’t push. “But you are all here.” And that was what mattered to her. Lowering the hand he raised, “Things went ok, though not as planned. The Briar Wolves had been staking out the Tavern, so we had to deal with them. And I’m fine.” Her voice a bit more chipper then she intended. “Circe decided to continue with the plan and attack the Stag, Sonnie and I went back to the Tavern. And Titania joined us there.” No biggie. Everything was fine.

A frown to Sonnie, “Well, I’m not tossing my jacket, so maybe airing it outside or something.” The rest of the torn clothes could be tossed though, that was fine.

Nodding, “Hi Titania.” Seems she got rested. Maybe Sera should have tried to take a show before meeting with the others.

The kindness and concern from James were unexpected, but touching, the smile returned, “Thank you, that’s very nice of you to offer.” Grateful for the concern. But still not wanting to draw attention to herself.

Eyes dart back to Rhodes, he had been ejected?! She had questions, oh she had many questions. Her mouth set in a hard line, but she bit her tongue.

An absent nod to James, “I imagine she should be here soon. I’m anxious to hear what you learned.”

[Yamiyo Lillich]

Worried eyes looking over the team whom had went on the mission in the real world but except from scrapes and damages to their clothing so did they seem to be physically well at least. Taking a quick breath of relief as her Queen states that she is fine.

Still she did not had much to say and they all seemed rather tired for the moment so to go into all to much words only felt unnecessary.
"Sadly I must tell that I was separated from the group nearly immediately, the dreams really not being my strong suite. I did manage to travel to several dreams in order to try and find the group again and in each dream I managed to find echoes or echoes of echoes of dream poisoning. Each dream another nightmare all of varying strength and type none of them pleasant." Looking away a bit, both a bit shaken as the memories comes to her and a bit shameful over how little she had managed to do.

Eyes looking towards the door, feeling a bit worried for Circe. True she was the summer and most likely to come back fine but it was still not nice to know that she were alone.

[Saber Sloth]

Circe Origins

[Circe]

A smell seeps into the room. It holds the hint of wood smoke and gasoline. It is the first warning before the door gets opened accompanied by a blast of dry heat to spread the burnt wood smell even further. The woman who opened the door is somewhat sedate in her greeting, "Sup."

Circe arrives without the skin suit she'd previously warn for the little adventure. Instead she was wearing short shorts, a Bolt Thrower t-shirt, sandals, and a Hawaiian shirt. And bandages. Quite a few bandages, some a little pink. And a shoulder holder poking at the colorful shirt. Circe heads over to the nearest empty chair to plop down. "I gotta say," she sighs, "Getting those suits off AFTER yer cut up is very not fun. I may be a lil' anemic."

She looks around as her voice rises with a hint of anger, "Oh, I fanculo called it with the effing gee," then smiles as her tone gets happy. Er, happier, "And still won. How'd ya'll make out?"

sorry for the late posting, but she's here now

[Rhodes]

Rhodes shot Sonnie a leer. He was exhausted, and didn't want to put up a facade of good nature for people doubting his abilities. Titania was given a nod. He watched as James elaborated on the time he had not seen.

Emeralds glanced back to Sera. "Not the first time I've been forced out of the Dream, and if he lingers I suspect it will ont be the last. "I'm tired and drained, but otherwise hale. You bled. I'm sure I can endure a few rough nights." He offers her a smile, but the fingers squeeze hers tightly.

He glances across to see the Summer's entrance. Though he wouldn't admit it, Rhodes was very relieved to see her. "Circe... you look like death. Take a chair." He does, however, give the Summer queen a smile.

He sighed with relief. "Still. It looks like we're all here, and mostly intact. Why don't we go first?" The Flowering slowly releases Sera and looks around. "There were some difficulties, as Miss Lillich said insofar as she stuggled to traverse the Dreaming. More practice, I think, is needed.... reegardless. We, that is, John and I, found him, and engaged him and his hounds for a while. I... was forced from the dream by the Huntsman," He admits slowly. "And John was able to antagonise him. You said there was something else?" he asked the Winter.

[Sonnie Wu]

Rhodes' leer seemed to go over her head. The Beast was busy thinking about what James had said.

This Gentry treated Changelings like prey.

She knew what it was to live like that. To be chased. To be hunted.

Pulling her legs in, she hugged her knees to her chest in an effort to comfort her growing unease. None of this was news, really, but it was a reminder of bad memories.

Golden-colored eyes shifted towards the arrival of Circe, eyebrows raising inquisitively. "You called what?"

[Titania]

And Circe is alive and well... healthy. Well... not so healthy, but at least she's alive.
She lets out a sigh of relief, it seems her art will be needed soon. Not right now though, because she's spent most of her fuel, but definitely soon.
"So, it seems we were able to fix the immediate problem. That's it, deflect the attacks against our Hollow. But the issue in the dreaming remains. Hmm", her pretty head seems to be worried by something, "Did you engage him on a neutral ground?".
Meanwhile she approaches Circe, trying to get a better view of her wounds.

[James Turner]

He looked at Circe, concern in his eyes even as she played it off a small frown twisting his lips. Still she had looked better than Anatole did after the fight with Iron Meg, small blessings. “Rhodes went blow for blow against the Huntsman for a good while, let us buy you the time you needed. That was our mission objective from the start so I think we did what we could to draw out the conflict.”

John nodded at Rhodes’ last statement and moved from the corner of the room to a corner of the table and knelt as he spread out his notes from that night. They looked like the scribbling of a mad man with poorly drawn pictures scattered throughout. “As Rhodes mentioned I managed to make It mad, it kept trying to beat it’s chest and make me frightened but knowing that’s what it wanted and having the Cold of Winter to aid me the fear didn’t take. Each attempt made the Keeper more and more frustrated until I pointed out how many prey it’d already lost and how many it would never reclaim.” A shrug and then a finger jammed into his notes. It might mean nothing to the collected Lost here but it meant everything to him.

“I used the gifts given by my Contract with Omens on It. I looked into its past and saw the single worst thing that had ever happened to it.” He paused, letting that sink in for a second as he looked at each and every Lost. Yes, he could do that to them but, no, no he had not. It was a small if subtle sign of respect and trust from the Darkling. Though the itch to do so never went away. “The Huntsman wasn’t always the Huntsman. The Huntsman was a normal hob, animal, it’s not clear to me. I’m unfortunately not gifted with the same level of Knowledge about our Foe as the Dread Lord is.”

He stood up one hand on his head as he thought about what he’d seen. “There was so much, so quickly. Quick flashes of memories. Loss…it’s love, it had a white unicorn, hart, elk? Horn, to antlers, horn to antlers, all blurring and switching back to forth. It loved the creature…his Queen?” Eyes lighting up, head tilting as he gave it some thought. “Claws, blood, violence as she was ripped from It. Stolen! Hatred and Rage filled its heart now. It couldn’t let this stand, this was its love, its Queen, its partner! What would we not do for revenge, for solace, for comfort when the one we loved as part of ourselves was taken from us?

“Then the Huntsman became the Huntsman. It stalked its prey, it became the Huntsman then. Hunting the thing that destroyed its heart. Its reason for being. But its empty. Nothing will ever grow in that fallow field again, nothing will ever bring her back. Each new hunt just a way to fill that heart but it empties like a sieve every time and each time it does it needs a new hunt. All twisting to Pride, becoming the thing it hunted in the first place.

“Those are the themes that kept echoing in my skull when I woke up, it’s why I kept writing it down over and over again. Loss, Pride, Hatred, Rage. This is what made the Huntsman.” He stepped back to the corner leaving his notes on the table for others to look over as hands came up to his temples to rub them, every time he thought about it, every time he relieved these memories it made his head hurt.

Worse, it made his heart ache in sympathy.

[Seraphina]

A nod to Yami, “The Dream Poison seems to run deep in the dreams. I could find it myself, but extracting it presented a whole new problem. I still intend find it again and rip it out. So don’t feel like you have anything to feel bad about, you did your best.” She tries to assure her fellow Spring with a soft smile. “Dreams take practice, you’ll get there.” If she wanted.

Relief washed over her face when she saw Circe, then her nose scrunched. Pulling the top of her tank top to her nose, she sniffed, “Think we all need a long shower.” She joked with the Summer, “Glad you’re ok.” Then holding her arms out, “I’m fine. But you should let Titania look at your wounds if she’s up for it.” Because she knew Titania had put a lot into healing her.

A look to Rhodes, “Didn’t bleed a whole lot." she was going to down play how injured she was as long as she could. No need to worry him. "I’d be more worried about getting forced from a Dream with the Huntsman. But some rest will help.” She was already planning on ordering take out and just vegging, making sure he had his favorite drink and taking care of him.

Sapphires look to John as Rhodes steers the conversation to him, but sees Sonnie hug her knees. And walks over, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, trying to offer comfort.

What would neutral ground be for the Huntsman she wonders.

Then John began, and she listened, still offer comfort to the Beast. As he mentions Rhodes going blow for blow with it, she had to smile to herself. Knowing it probably was epic.

But John’s story? Now that held her attention. The Winter was plain and didn’t draw much attention, so for him to stand his ground against it?! There was certainly more to him than he let on. And the story he gathered about the Huntsman? It made her heart ache, and her eyes instinctively looked to her own love. What would happen to her if someone or something ripped him away from her? Would her anger and rage be turned against the world? Would she turn into one of Them? Seeking to make everyone suffer as she did? Destroy anything in her way? But she knew one thing for sure, nothing would make her heart beat the same again or feel the same again as he made her feel.

Looking down, she tries to force those thoughts from her mind.

Swallowing, “Can that be turned against it? Can we use its pain to defeat it?” it wasn’t in her to do that. Or was it?