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August Kohler Afternoon in Alberichstadt, Germany. A cool Summer's day. August Kohler has requested everyone to appear, for the first time, at his dormroom, to meet with him. Him and a very special guest, one the group has met before.

People will probably notice you if you're weird looking and walk through the hallways, but they won't do anything but gawk. Getting to August's room is pretty easy with the coordinates given, and the door's unlocked. The dormroom is shared by two people, which is rather obvious as you walk in and the room is split in half, with a kitchen connecting to it. A tarp has been set over one side, the other appearing to be August's. It's a pretty standard dorm room, a closet of clothes, a bookshelf, a work desk, a bed, a table, a couch, and several chairs. The desk is covered in books, ranging from engineering, to stuff about German history, to some stuff about fairy tales.

August sits in a chair, drinking some tea and looking rather anxious. There's two cups on the table. The second belongs to the familiar boy sitting on the couch...Klaus Bruckheim, who they rescued from the Huntsman. He's not talking, but looking around, tapping his foot impatiently. He's waiting. And has a weird smile on his face, as he sips his tea. This should be interesting.
Emily Branford     A butler is not ruffled by gawking. A butler does not look /weird/ - a butler looks /elegant/, and stands out no matter where she walks. If they really want to stare at her, then that's their concern, isn't it? It's certainly not hers.

    "Good afternoon, Kohler, Bruckheim. And good to properly meet you, at that." The door to August's dorm opens and Emily steps in, carrying a small and classy satchel over one shoulder. A true satchel, a 'bag for carrying spare items', rather than something more accessory-esque like a purse; its use becomes clear when she opens it up, pulls out a tupperware container, sets it on the table, and opens it up.

    Immediately, the smell of recently-baked chocolate chip cookies fills the room. "I had meant for these to be a supply around the apartment, but I can always bake more later. Fortuitous circumstance, and all that."
Sanary Rondel After futzing around in her closet for nearly twenty minutes, Sanary's finally decided on a proper disguise for her next venture into Alberichstadt! Exchange students are a thing she knows exists in her time at Galianda, so it's probably not too weird for one to show up at this school as well, right?

     Then again, the black and blue uniform Sanary's decked herself out in probably isn't going to help her blend in particularly well. It'd be even more of a problem if anyone recognized her from the last time she barged into the men's bathroom, but this time? This time, she has SUNGLASSES.

     And she's wearing them indoors. Over an eyepatch. And carrying a plastic bag full of pint-sized containers holding a weirdly opaque red liquid. It's... Probably fine? "Hey, August. Klaus. Emily. Uh. I brought drinks! Pig tea."

     It's a legitimate cultural exchange, dammit!
Staren     Staren is covered by an illusion to appear human for the moment. He comes to the meeting and... waits, awkwardly. He doesn't want to start the conversation, here.
Finna As usual, Finna looks weird only to the rare few people who have truly prodigious talent and strength of character. For a school... that's very, very few people indeed. The young woman traipsing down the halls in the typical uniform is honestly pretty easy to overlook...

    And to the dorm she goes. She knocks only once before opening up and strolling on in. Doesn't take her long to head over to Klaus, plant both hands on his shoulders, and lean over one at a sideways angle - but keeping her face a tolerable distance away! "So I hear you're behind this gathering!"

    If he CAN see what most cannot, well, she's going to allow him that earned right.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone thankfully had some options to not get too much attention, well less than she did if she wore what might be commonly casual for herself. Actually her choice in clothing might seem like a casual for a college student compared to the others she also had a pair of shades on to hide her eyes which would be a dead giveaway about her true physical nature. Still she looked casual enough, in a fashion while fairly common on the streets might be a bit more prone to be club-ware here. Still it doesn't take long to arrive with August and Klaus. She moves to find a good spot to sit down or at least to do so when she's allowed too.

"Good Afternoon everyone."
Ainsley     Ainsley shows up in an outfit that can best be called 'conspicuous'. The heavy coat and scarf combo has only one merit: It doesn't look gaudy. If Ainsley is going to look like a ridiculous crazy person, she's not going to look like an UNFASHIONABLE crazy person. When she actually gets into the room, she's quick to discard the heavy winter coat and scarf, which would reveal to Klaus Bruckheim that she is an anthropomorphic reptile for the very first time. "Hello~" she speaks, softly, her voice bound to be familiar. At least it isn't any weirder than that spooky outfit she was wearing at the time.

    She finds a place to sit that's somewhat out of the way.

    She gives a momentary look to Finna and the fact that she just made physical contact with Klaus' shoulders, and looks up at her with a skeptical 'Really?' kind of look. She doesn't seem surprised, she just apparently doesn't approve of the way Finna interacts with people. She doesn't address it verbally, though, having grown used to the Lunar's behavior by this point. And she's probably more jarring than a little personal space invasion.

    She patiently braces for a negative reaction from Klaus. People in his world wouldn't be used to talking reptile people. And she doesn't really have any convenient solutions like illusions that wouldn't make her deeply uncomfortable to use for personal reasons.

    In fact, she awkwardly glances aside at Emily, reminded of her... pretty gungho tackle when they found the Changeling before.
August Kohler Emily, Sanary, and Ainsley all get gawked at. Two people recognize Sanary from the bathroom, and begin talking about it to each other in earshot that someone could probably hear. August's social cred: -20.

Emily's the first inside! August nods to her as she enters, as Bruckheim smiles in greeting. When she brings out the cookies, he speaks graciously. "Oh, thank you. Klaus Bruckheim, you are...?" It doesn't seem he knows her name, as he takes one of the cookies and begins eating it. He seems to be enjoying it! August takes one too, nibbling on it slowly.

Sanary appears next, with...tea! Klaus smiles graciously at her, as he introduces himself. "Klaus Bruckheim. You are?" And then requests a container of tea. August does as well, because it'd be rude not to. Both take a drink...August immediately spits his out, while Klaus downs it, trying to place the taste and texture. "This is...odd. Where's it from? Africa?" He takes another sip. He seems to be enjoying it, while August is trying to drown his tongue in cookie.

Staren gets a wave and an introduction as well, as does Finna. Klaus does not seem to notice anything off about Finna, greeting her as if she was any other person, same to Kotone.

It's Ainsley who really gets a reaction. As she enters, Klaus goes to respond, and then notices her take off of her disguise, causing him to fall back into the couch. He takes a minute to stare, and then drink some more tea, eat another cookie, and compose himself. He's very obviously confused, a bit scared, and quite startled, but he's trying his best to be respectful. "Uh, hello. Klaus Bruckheim. ...Have we met? Your voice is very familiar." It seems he recognizes her voice, but not her appearance.

After everyone's in, August takes a moment to see what Klaus is going to do, as he eats another cookie. Klaus instead repositions and sits up on the couch, as he speaks. "So, I have a feeling you all know me while I don't know you. However, I'm sure something happened recently, and part of me knew Kohler was involved. I recognize his name being said, from the faint memories of it I have. I could ask Kohler the details, but I feel he might be biased, as we live in the same school and all. Therefore, I want to ask you all two questions." He clears his throat, takes another sip of pig blood, and then continues, smiling almost like a cat. "What happened the 'first time' you met me, without sparing any details? And who are you, /really/?"
Emily Branford     "Emily Branford," the butler replies, giving Klaus a polite bow at the waist, complete with right arm in front of herself. She's very careful to let 'August and Klaus want some tea' be the distraction that absolves her of the need to do so, taking a slight step back so that she'll be out of mind just long enough for nobody to wonder about that. She doesn't seem to notice Ainsley's glance in her direction, or at least doesn't remark.

    There are still plenty of cookies in the tupperware. Everyone could have one if they so desired. They're very, very good.

    And Klaus is asking for the raw details, with no punches pulled. Emily folds her arms behind her back for a moment, gives him an appraising stare, and says simply, "You yourself were gone for a week. A duplicate of you, cloned from your subconscious as I understand it, was living your life in order to deflect suspicion, and doing a rather offputtingly poor job of pretending to be human. He was, however, earnest in trying, and didn't realize he was the fake at first."
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa says "Hello Klause Bruckeim it's good to meet you sir."

Her voice might be familiar to Klause she wasn't sure but she would be careful she's just happy they pulled him out forest. It also seems he's got a very sharp mind for putting things together it seems. Then he asks two very big loaded questions. Some of it doesn't make he think too much about giving him the answer to and it's everyone else is choice what they say.

"I'm Kotone Yamakawa."

She notes as she pulls off her shades, there might be something a bit off about her eyes and if one got a good long look? Vaguely camera like features might bee seen within the iris.

It's as Emily said, you were replaced by a double spawned from your mind. Yes he was trying to human and honestly thought he was human."
Ainsley     Ainsley chooses not to get any pig tea. She does look brightly intrigued by the contrasting reactions from August and Klaus, as if their varying tastes were worth investigating, but she has bigger fish to fry. Klaus' tolerance of the beverage was clearly indicative of an iron stomach that she had seen from his Shadow, which makes her stare a bit too hard at him as if she's expecting his eyes to get all glassy and reflective at any moment. But when he asks them what happened, she looks aside to what Emily says.

    "Thank you, Emily..." She looks to Klaus, brightening her face up. "I just want to mention that your Shadow, this duplicate, lept in front of a bullet to save you from certain death," Ainsley says, placing her fingertips together in this awkward way and smiling in the most cordial way she knows how. "Humanity is a difficult metric to judge when it comes to these things. Anyways, I'm Ainsley. As you can clearly tell, I'm not strictly human, biologically speaking. The short explanation for this is ... 'magic.'" She does a little jazz hands motion. "I don't really know 'you,' I only know a distorted mirror image of you," she admits. "And I only knew him for a very short time, as I said already. He gave me the impression that you are not overly social, but someone willing to dedicate yourself passionately to something, and that is a trait I respect above most."

    She just glosses over how his room makes her skin crawl when she thinks back to it. That's why she looks a little awkward here.
Sanary Rondel Dammit. Sanary thought her disguise would really work this time! Well, at least she means well, right? Right.

     "Sanary Rondel. Afric...? No, this is from the farm. Pig tea!" She looks rather proud of it, at least, as she watches him and everyone else expectantly while passing out the pints of pig blood. Er. Tea. She's drinking it easily enough, at least, although she is taking small sips.

     It's not easy keeping that stuff down even after drinking it for all her life.

     And Klaus is already coming out swinging! She glances over at August before taking one of Emily's cookies for herself, then clearing her throat. "I'm Confederate military. I only heard of you when that duplicate Emily mentioned showed up. We fought some psycho that had you in a cage while all that went down. I think the duplicate got shot, too, which was kind of... Confusing."

     Probably less confusing if she actually did a better job explaining any of it.
Staren     Staren's not sure where to begin. He nods at Emily's explanation, though, watching Klaus for reaction.
Finna Leaning over his shoulder, Finna aims an angelically heartwarming smile at Klaus... then swerves herself around, letting go and heading for a couch to flop down on.

    "Jubilant Gale of the Laughing Winds tribe." The white-haired girl answers merrily, her entire outfit responding at the words and melt-reforming into light, stylized (impractically revealing) huntress leathers. At the same time... where they apparently weren't before, her ears and tail - tucked off to the left, and impatiently lolling against the cushion - shimmer into visibility, gleaming a faint silver. The mark of the crescent moon glows and glitters upon her forehead. "Or Finna Snowdancer of Luna's Chosen. I'm not from around here! Just playing... guardian against the things that go bump in the night. And the mirrors."
August Kohler Klaus takes the information over slowly. First is Emily, who explains the story. The teen sips his blood as Emily speaks, stopping to reply only as she finishes. "A duplicate? Why? How? This seems rather familiar, in some ways." Klaus then nods at Kotone, who repeats what Emily says, and glances at her strange eyes. He seems a bit weirded out by them.

Next is Ainsley. Klaus frowns as he hears he died, but it doesn't seem unfamiliar to him. "I thought I saw that happen. It felt like a dream...but part of me knew it wasn't. That's why I confronted Kohler, asked him if he knew me. He seemed nervous, so I figured out that it wasn't quite a dream. Asked him to bring those who helped him here." He sighs, sipping more of the tea. "Well, thank you. Sorry that you had to see me die...what exactly /are/ you?" Straight to the point, Klaus!

Sanary gets a reply as well, first about the tea. "I see. What an interesting name. Is it from plants in a region where pigs travel? Or did the leaves past through their digestive tracts, like that coffee?" He hasn't yet realized it's blood. August does immediately, but doesn't say anything. He's too busy drowning out his tongue to talk. Klaus then listens to Sanary, before speaking again. "The Confederate? Are they some sort of military that investigates...weird things, like this? Who was this psycho? Why me?"

Finna is the weirdest. Her creepy magic stuff, as well as her rolling back onto the couch, causes Klaus to jump, moving away from her. He takes a minute to avoid having a heart attack, as he breathes deeply. "The hell are you? Alien? Demon? How did you do that?" He takes a minute to let her and the others reply, before steeling himself and smiling again.

And then Klaus asks another question. He's still not letting August talk. "So, tell me. What was that place? What does it involve? Why are you there? ...And how can I help?"
Staren     Staren watches... silently for now. Telling everything will just get him yelled at, he's learned that. He's mainly here out of curiousity, to observe.
Emily Branford     "I don't know that we can really say 'why you', but as to the more general 'why' and 'how'..." Emily finally removes her arms from behind her back, using her gloved hands to straighten her coat before folding them over her chest. "There's a shadow world, behind the mirror. Kohler, and my charge Janine Liberi, would be able to explain it better than I, but the basic gist is that it's a world created from the collective unconscious of humanity. I don't know to what end, but they're kidnapping poeple with emotional problems, and creating dark copies from them. Shadows, they're called. I'm still not sure if that copy of you was actually your Shadow or something else, but if it was, it's the first one I've had the pleasure of meeting that could leave the Forest and come out here. Rather worrying, if it becomes a trend."
Staren     Woah, new tidbit. Staren looks at Emily. "The collective unconscious of humanity is kidnapping people? What? Monsters I could see, but... what, do people think the world's not dark enough, and it needs some more kidnappings in it, or something?"
Finna "Oooh. Brave man! Like this one, I do." Finna folds her arms just under her chest, grinning approvingly at Klaus. "Let's see... well, spooky things are about at the school here. Twisted spirit monsters come from mirrors, snatch up people and drag them back home! ...sometimes leave a double behind. Which is the Klaus we met! Ooh, he was simply INFATUATED with a certain someone... makes me a little jealous." The grin turns a tad wild, but only for a bit...

    "Infatuated and up to some mischief involving plenty of coin. Well... simple story is, dragged other-Klaus into mirror to find you... ran into your captor... played us all for fools. Drove him off after a hell of a little skirmish but... you know how the rest of it goes at least, don't you?"

    She shrugs helplessly at him. "As for me, neither! Nothing Earth has easy word for... Chosen, Exalted of the Moon Goddess. Closest idea to Earth creatures... maybe 'were fox', 'guardian of nature', 'hunter of monsters'... that enough of an explanation? Way more important things going on right now!"
Ainsley     "I'm a metahuman, a kind of..." Ainsley makes some cyclical hand gestures, and looks like she's trying to think of a way to explain it. She makes a very animated 'eeeeh' face. "I'm a magical creature, to boil it down." She demonstrates by placing her hands together and pulling them apart, and making some glowing cursive script appear in the air, shining for a moment and winking out.

    MAGIC

    "It was his Shadow," Ainsley confirms, confidently, to Emily. "And it very likely wasn't the first Changeling either, if we're being honest here. It's already a trend. The contractors have already mentioned it..." She gestures vaguely at August.

    "How can you help... Well, keep an eye out for disappearances," Ainsley says to Klaus, "Weird rumors, or other strange events happening locally."

    "That place, that mirror of the collective unconsciousness, is called the Mirror Forest. It's full of Shadows, things that represent aspects of humanity." She glances aside at Staren, and murmurs, "Probably not that simple, Staren," and returns to Klaus. "The being we're fighting is called the Black Queen. One of her underlings, the Huntsman, is the one that ambushed us and ended up killing your Shadow. They're Shadows, but I think they aren't the Shadows of /people/, they're manifestations of a general idea. Courage, cowardice, and so on. Something that represents an overlap in how humanity thinks."
Staren     "The... contractors?" Ainsley brings more tidbits of knowledge. SOMETIMES A POSE DOESN'T NEED TO BE TEN WORDS, POSE LOGGER
Ainsley     "Persona users, such as August or Janine and the others of their group," Ainsley replies, "It's a word Igor used to describe them, since he has a fixation with paperwork and contracts."
Staren     Staren ohs. WHICH IS A PERFECTLY FINE TWO WORD POSE
Staren     Staren blinks. "Wait... what?" Staren thinks. "So... Because humans are cowards... lovers, dreamers, schemers, haters, hungry, angry, bored, inventive, whatever, all of these things become monsters that kidnap people?" Staren scratches his head. "Geeze. So, what, we need to destroy the forest so it can't form these shadows anymore?"
Ainsley     "No, they become Shadows," Ainsley stresses, "Shadows are not automatically evil. The Pig is not evil, the Woodsman is ostensibly trying to stop this disaster from getting worse..." She shrugs at him. "Destroying the forest is destroying the collective unconsciousness, which, uhm. I hope I don't need to spell it out for you." She smiles wearily at him.
Staren     Staren blinks. "So it goes both ways? Meddling in the forest is changing how people think? That's... Ugh. So we need to sever the link, and then help all the good shadows once doing so won't mean... killing all of humanity's 'negative' emotions, or whatever?"
Emily Branford     "You know, I think this might be a rather poor place to have this discussion," Emily remarks dryly, giving her head a faint quirk towards Klaus. 'Not in front of the guy who's learning all this scary shit for the first time'.
August Kohler Klaus actually looks rather interested in this discussion, though part of it might be enjoying watching Ainsley and Staren discuss. He listens intently!
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa she notices Klaus reaction to her eyes and kicks herself. She looks sympatheticly at Klausefor a moment. "I'm sorry Klaus my body is Prosthetic or as you might Put it? I'm a cyborg. If you like I can put the glasses back on if that would make you more comfortable? I'm sorry I didn't mean to unsettle you there. You seem to be recalling things, Klaus all on you own it seems.

If he does ask she'll put her shades back on the second he does but for now she's eyeing Finna.

Do try to keep things a bit under control Finna, magic's a lot to take in...

She's also now STARING at Staren at the idea of blowing up the forest.

Staren that would be like killing the patient to cure the problem.
Sanary Rondel Sanary laughs lightly at Finna's dramatic introduction, and she's totally not contrasting hers with Ainsley's at all in their approaches to Klaus. After another sip, she raises an eyebrow at Klaus. "Plants...? Uh. Nah. I mean, they probably ate some plants, but... Nah. Pig blood, some crushed herbs, all boiled down into this." Sanary raises her pint, and she takes another swig like it's perfectly natural!

     "The Confederacy's a military. It's..." She furrows her brow and glances around the room, then strokes her chin. "... You know, it's probably better if we don't go into that. You're young. You don't need to get involved in all of that."

     She may be trying not to sound proud of herself for that bit. It's almost like she's trying to come off as a reliable big sister-type figure or something! "I dunno anything about how all the stuff with that duplicate and the crazy guy started, though, so... We're on the same page there." She admits, then listens intently as Emily starts explaining things better.

     "Sounds... Mind-screwy. I'm guessing burning it all down wouldn't work, then?"
August Kohler August finally speaks up, moving to reply to Staren. "If it's part of the Collective Unconsciousness, that means everything we think, create, believe, want, desire, hate, et cetera, becomes real. If you destroy it, you are likely destroying a human outlet. And yeah, we might destroy all negative emotions! We can't know, at all."
Staren     Staren gives Emily a sort of 'oh all right, I guess' look, but then August responds and draws him back in. Staren rolls his eyes at August because he missed what Staren just said, apparently. "That's why I said we need to sever the link. We need to find /why/ human thoughts are becoming monsters in this world, and stop the process. Then we can help the extant good monsters and destroy the extant bad ones without messing humanity up."
Emily Branford     "I don't quite think you understand," Emily replies to Staren, reaching up to adjust her glasses lightly. "This is the subconscious of every human on this world. If you 'sever the link', you're lobotomizing the entire human race here, unless I'm sorely mistaken about the connection here."
Sanary Rondel Sanary Rondel sits back and takes another ship. "... So we /don't/ set the mind forest on fire. Gotcha."
August Kohler As the discussion goes on, Klaus finally begins to speak, after allowing the others to talk about something he barely understands. Klaus ruffles his brow at the name of Liberi, but otherwise nods to Emily. "I see. Alright, that clears a few things up." He then turns to Finna, confused. "...Infatuated? I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not interested in anyone." Klaus frowns at the lack of recollection of a love interest. "Too busy studying, too busy working."

Klaus blinks slowly at Ainsley's showing, before thinking. He has some questions, which he asks point blank. "What do you eat? Where do you live? How are the buildings designed? Do you go to a doctor, or a veterinarian?" After getting his questions out, and waiting for a response, Klaus nods at how he can help, before listening to what the Mirror Forest is. "Interesting. Fascinating place. I'd like to map it, admittedly, but it sounds pretty dangerous." Klaus smiles at Kotone as she explains that she's a cyborg, but shakes his head. "No, keep them off if you'd like. I'll get used to it, maybe."

As Sanary explains that he's drinking blood, Klaus looks down at his drink slowly and skeptically. And then he takes another sip and continues on as if nothing had happened. "I see. That's fine, I'm not interested in the military. Having a ranking official of some sort makes this more important, though. Do the authorities know?"

While he asks those questions, August replies to Staren. "So, you want to sever the link...without knowing what it'll do? What if it kills everyone? What if me and Liberi drop dead from it? Are you okay with that risk?"
Emily Branford     "While you were held captive," Emily replies to Klaus, "Your Shadow apparently met a girl he was smitten with, yes. Adelle, I think was the name." Those arms of hers go behind her back again, adopting more of a 'parade rest'. "It might be worth going to meet her, or at least get a look at her. See what your 'other half' saw in her, perhaps?"
Staren     Staren rolls his eyes and sighs again. "What's /important/ is the /soul/. The mind. And it takes countless forms across the multiverse. Some people have problems, others... well, everyone has problems, but for some their physical body is a problem, and for others it isn't. And... some people have powers, and some people may even be defined by those powers. If... if Twilight had to lose her magic, that would be /terrible/. But the people here... They aren't getting anything. It's a take, take, take, one-sided relationship where the curse makes monsters that kidnap people and gives nothing back."

    He sighs again at August. "First of all, the process of even getting to any kind of position where we can sever the link is going to involve a hell of a lot of knowledge /about/ the link and how it works. I think that will tell us what we need to do to it -- maybe some sort of modification instead of severing entirely -- to save the world. But yes, I certainly wouldn't, if there were a genie here right now, wish for the link to be severed. That's just asking for trouble. Granting your /own/ wishes is much safer."

    "If someone's leg gets gangrenous and you don't have the technology to fix it, you cut it off to save the patient. And they're still who they were, though... inconvenienced, greatly. It may have an effect, sure. But the alternative is what, just... hell, you said the collective unconscious of the entire world, not just Drachenblatt. Is this happening elsewhere and noone's talking about it, because people fighting these things somewhere else are also afraid to talk?"

    Staren stands and starts pacing around his chair.

    "Anyway, this thing isn't even a leg. Legs do something /useful/, not just kidnap people. This is more akin to a tumor that needs to be cut out before it can consume the patient. It is... unfortunate that humanity on your world has developed such a tumor, but..." Staren shrugs. "I'm sure a dragon could say it's unfortunate that humans developed a short lifespan and squishy, easily infected bodies. Everyone's got their own problems, and we're here to fix the problem, not..." He stops pacing behind his chair and waves a hand at August, then makes an uncertain, circly gesture. "Um... well I mean what else would we even do? We're not gonna /not/ fix it, right?"

    He leans and rests his elbows on the back of the chair, looking around at those gathered here with a smile. Discussing saving worlds, this is more like it.
Ainsley     Ainsley places both hands on her cheeks and rubs them slowly when a couple don't seem to 'get' the gravity of suggesting they burn down a supernatural plane integral to how a world functions. She closes her eyes and breathes a sigh through her nose. Seems like Staren's suggestions are stressing her out and she's checking out of that conversation.

    Staren continues the argument. Ainsley puffs up her feathers for a moment, then sets her hands down on her knees and opens her eyes to redirect her attention to Klaus.

    "I live in a house. A manor, really, but that's because it was haunted before me and Faruja went in with some friends to clean it up. Faruja's my SO," she curtly explains, "Anyways, I eat what any human or mammal can eat, but I do like eating bugs more than most... I just try not to make it weird for people when I dine out with friends."

    "My race, though, we took to building like the Aztecs did, but we built this network of tunnels like dwarves might... since we're snake people, I guess it may be some kind of den instinct? My type of metahuman is called a 'Quetzal,' since we're feathered serpent people." She smiles warmly at Klaus, figuring he might enjoy the cultural details. The curiosity has put her in a good mood, actually, it's almost like a kindred spirit.

    "I go to magical healers, typically, since they need to know less about anatomy than a doctor does. Most of my insides work pretty much the same, so a doctor can handle my injuries, usually." A beat. "And I don't really wear collars unless I feel sassy, so vets are a no go." She realizes he may have been making a joke about her looking like an animal, yet she handles it as happily as any other question.

    She kind of lets her eyes glaze over while Staren speaks over there and maintains that smile as if not doing so would mean her immediate death.
Sanary Rondel Not interested in anyone at all? That's a surprise, considering Shadow Klaus' actions. Sanary doesn't press that one further, though, although she does raise an eyebrow skeptically at Regular Klaus and Finna for a moment.

     The line of questions Ainsley gets draws a brief snicker from the healer, although she does quiet down after a few moments to let it out of her system. She might've asked those same things just a year ago if she was introduced to the Multiverse this quickly!

     ... Wait. Has he even been introduced to the Multiverse? Probably safer not to ask with so many people around.

     "... Good question. I should probably make it more official-like around here. Or... At least so people stop giving me weird looks." Sanary sighs and scoots back to a wall, eventually settling down into a seated position. She seems more content to absorb information for now, especially in regards to the Forest and the whole... Mind thing she doesn't quite get yet. At least she's gotten enough info to know that setting it on fire is a bad thing now!
Emily Branford     Emily is now staring rather flatly at Staren.

    Slowly, carefully, she reaches up and takes off her glasses, folding them together. Tucking them into a pocket.

    The effect gives her a more severe look, one that she doesn't hesitate to harden a bit further with a stern expression. She looks directly at Staren, meeting his gaze at any point he happens to actually look in her direction. "You're making an awful lot of assumptions. And all of them are exceedingly dangerous ones. You're acting as if this is some sort of outgrowth, some sort of tumor. What if you're /wrong/? What if this isn't some sort of unnatural growth, but a /natural/ part of the people who live in this world? The simple fact of the matter is, we don't know. We don't know how it's connected, we don't know if this is its natural state, and you're simply making wild guesses and then planning ahead as if they were fact. If this is how you operate on a regular basis, I'm frankly astounded you're still alive."

    Once again, her arms cross over her chest, this time with her leaning against the wall in an un-butler-like way. "When dealing with the unknown, /especially/ with the things that go bump in the night, you do /not/ go off half-cocked. That leads to losing your own men and women, and often innocent lives to boot. We need more information before we begin to make any plans whatsoever. Even plans as simple as 'topple the Queen off her throne'. We're dealing with a very basic component of the human psyche here - you can't just decide you know what's going on and muck about."
Staren     Staren rolls his eyes at Emily. "Disease is a perfectly natural part of the world too. So is not being able to support a population this size, and everyone dying before 40. Natural is a pretty crummy state, actually. I /try/ to do a bit better of a job than nature when I'm helping people."

    He frowns. "And I /never/ said I was... 'going off half-cocked'. What actionable items do you think I'm gonna do, exactly? If I /did/ say that I was 100% certain that severing the link was the thing to do, which I /didn't/ say since I acknowledged we might need to do something else with it... What exactly would that mean /doing/ right now? Absolutely /zip/. I have no way to do that. I said we need to study and understand first. The link is a part of the problem. Knowing that... the next step is to digure out how to study and understand it. With the knowledge so gained... we'll be able to come up with a 'fully-cocked' solution, I'm sure."
August Kohler August nods at Emily, but replies to Staren with a frown. "What will you do if it turns out that severing the link to the Collective Unconsciousness is a bad idea? If we're /supposed/ to be connected to this Forest?"
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa Says "All right then, and thank you. Look if it makes you feel better I still get odded out by it sometimes still."

Klause is quite bright and listening to a lot of things that are going on here. His head hasn't seemed to explode which leaves her hopeful for him doing all right iwth knowing this.

"Yes that's right he spoke of Adelle near the end...she seemd quite imporant."

She looks to Staren for a moment and she looks at staren for a long moment.

"You presume it's always like this, it may be broken and in need of mending not amputation. Are you so closed minded about thing to even consider that? Whatever we do we need more inforamation before we act."

She nods in agreement to August as he brings up the point what if it's suposed to be there.
Emily Branford     "My problem is that you've decided it needs to be 'severed' or 'altered' to begin with," Emily replies. "And you've also gone and completely ignored what I said in favor of what you've decided I meant. When I say 'natural', what I mean is, what if this isn't a tumor or a disease or anything of the sort? What if this is a natural organ of the human psyche here? A core component? We don't /know/. You've gone way too far ahead of yourself any way you try to frame this."
Ainsley     Ainsley has, by this point, gotten a look of pretty significant stress behind her smile. Not quite forced, she nonetheless looks like she's not enjoying this discussion in the slightest. "Rrright," she breathes, deciding to seek out the cookies to distract herself.
Staren     Staren's grip tightens on the back of his chair, and he glares at Kotone, who hasn't been listening to a word about how altering the link might be the key instead, or how knowledge will lead to a better solution. And then he gives Emily a look equal parts anger and 'really?' "People's bodies withering and dying from time alone is a natural part of humans too, and everyone knows how I feel about /that/. What we value and care about doesn't have to equate to what we are. Down that road lies shit about 'only those who can survive deserve to' and 'it's a dog-eat-dog-world' and I hate that nonsense. Hell, our just /being/ here sure isn't 'natural' in any sense -- just by meddling, helping people, going into the mirror forest, we're already changing things. So it's a bit too late to say we should be taking the hands-off approach. Even if all we do is fight some monsters, rescue some kids, and not think too hard about what it all means, we've still mucked up whatever was naturally going to happen."
Finna "Hmmmmngh?" Finna's expression turns quickly to a frown. "I wonder... if the Changeling had all those feelings and memories. It was... kind of all he was." This has her shifting uncomfortably. Did the Changeling dying alter Klaus' thoughts and feelings this much?

    She's gazing hyper critically, loooking for the slightest twitch in his features to suggest he's just denying hard...

    Her expression turns more and more glassy-eyed though as she listens to sooooo muany words being flung around. Particularly from Staren. He gets a oook. A LOOK. A feral, nails-on-chalkboard-irritated look that suggests he might want to cut that out fast...

    "Booooooooy. Science boy." She jabs a finger his way, and speaks quite plainly, in a tone that digs DEEP into the subconscious like claws ripping into flesh, "SHUT UP FOR A BIT."
Sanary Rondel Sanary, meanwhile, sits back and listens to all of this going on while nibbling on a cookie. Is this a potential source of discord to take advantage of? Maybe. Not now, but... Some day. Maybe. She sure as hell isn't going to get herself involved in all this metaphysical theory and mental... Something or another herself, though.

     It would probably help if she had a better idea of what people were saying beyond bodily diseases and other functions.
Staren     The look from Finna hits /something/ in the animal part of Staren's brain, alright, but it makes Staren's hand reach under his coat.

    And then, WORDS. Words that dig into him, and yet are also anathema. He looks in pain for a split second, and then reacts. Finna wants to tangle with animal instincts instead of reason? Staren stands up straight, drawing his laser pistol and levelling it at her and backing away, looking at her wide-eyed in anger and fear. Although those familiar with firearm use might note his finger's not on the trigger. "WHAT WAS THAT?! What Exalted bullshit did you just use on me?!"
August Kohler Finna does something to Staren's head. Staren responds by drawing a gun and pointing it towards Finna. Klaus was about to respond to the others but stops moving entirely, too scared to move. He doesn't recognize the gun but instincts and body language tell him 'this is dangerous'.

August responds by instantly summoning the Tin Soldier, and keeping it next to him, as he speaks. "Staren, gun down. Finna, back away and /don't/ do that again. We can talk this over. Do not resort to violence." August seems like he's ready to charge the Tin Soldier at Staren if he does anything hasty, but the same to Finna, as well.
Emily Branford     "And 'fighting some monsters, rescuing some kids, and not thinking too hard about what it all means' appears to be a natural part of this mechanism, to judge by all the tests and trials and entities meeting people in their sleep. A god complex, on the other hand..." Here Emily trails off, finally reaching down to pull her glasses out of her coat and return them to her face. "I've no more time or energy for this nonsense, I'm afraid. All I have left to say is that if I think for one moment that your behavior endangers the health and well-being of the people on this planet, I will put a stop to it. Otherwise, you do whatever you think is best and I'm quite content to stay out of it."

    And then there's Finna, doing something that has Emily looking at her rather suspiciously- and then Staren has a firearm out - with good trigger discipline, admittedly, but he still has a firearm out. Instantly, she is behind and beside August. Nothing but a faint rush of air and a blur, and she's there to back him and Tin Soldier. "Kohler, at your word."
Staren     Someone ELSE interjecting, without using mind magic, gives Staren pause. He glances at August, then back to Finna. After another second of staring at her, he sloooowly lowers the weapon, still watching Finna like a potential enemy attacker.
Finna Finna's eyes snap at the familiar motion of someone drawing a weapon. Familiar with that one or not, she's ready for it... but exerts tremendous control to not do more than twitch her cheeks a bit. After August speaks, she smoothly raises a hand, and points crookedly at Staren, poking at the air. "See? That feeling you've got right now? That's how you're making everyone else feel. You want to study the forest's nature? Fine. Study first, THEN tell us results. Plan from there. Stop trying to solve puzzles with only one of ten thousand pieces. Shut up and listen instead. We're here for Klaus today! Simple as that."

    Her tail flicks a few times against the cushions in response to August, along with a faintly look that suggests 'exactly how is a seated girl supposed to back away.

    She turns her head about now, somehow brave enough to IGNORE Staren and his gun... and instead faces Klaus. "Sorry this turned into a big rumpus! Must be shocking."
August Kohler Klaus is still in a stage of 'oh shit I can't move this is dangerous'. He doesn't respond to Finna, because tensions are high and he's just a kid. Instead, it's August who replies, and he isn't very happy (though the Tin Soldier is still out and watching Staren).

"What the fuck, Finna? The hell did you do to him? Don't jab at people's minds, don't act like everything's okay because the gun is down! You /caused that/, you fucked up." August isn't entirely sure what to do next, as he rubs his brow. He's pretty upset at both Finna and Staren, though.
Sanary Rondel Okay, that's going to need Sanary to get involved at least a little bit whether she likes it or not. She gets up (relatively) quickly as Staren draws his pistol, stepping between him and Finna because... Because! "Priorities, people! We need to figure out what's going on with this forest and Huntsman and how Klaus'... Thing fits into all of this. We can worry about..."

     A pause. "... Not burning down mind trees because they're everyone's heads or something later." She glances back at Finna, then at Staren, then sighs and crosses her arms over her chest before turning back to Klaus. "So... Is there anything you remember before we found you? Like where you were or..."

     She looks over at Ainsley, Kotone, and Emily. Tag in!
Emily Branford     A white-gloved hand comes to rest on August's shoulder. "Kohler. /August/. Take a deep breath. Nice and steady." She turns her gaze next to Staren and Finna both, and states simply, "I think it best if the both of you take your leave. You both need to cool your heads a bit, relax. I'd suggest you both go home and do something to relax. We can discuss this later, when /everyone/ has had time to calm down. I would suggest August do the same, but this /is/ his home," she adds, very pointedly.
Staren     Staren's expression goes from anger and concern to sort of blank, then thoughtful as his train of thought gets back on track. He blinks, stares into space for a few moments. He holsters the gun and holds his left hand to his temple. He glares at Finna again, but it's the way he might glare at, say, Janine, rather than at someone he's thinking about killing. "First, never do that again. Second... I SAID, like twice now, that while the first thought to pop into my head was 'sever the link', the practical solution is to understand what's going on better. Why does everyone keep acting like--" He blinks. "Oh. You're saying, when I suggested severing the link, it... fucked with everyone's heads, so they somehow can't understand anything I say after that about how what's /really/ needed is to understand it so we can make an /informed/ decision?" The glare has become more of a curious look.
Kotone Yamakawa Thing are getting seriously heated as Stren goes for a Gun? She moves to get in the way of Klaus who has little protection from if this goes bad. She doesn't say a thing to Finna and Staren but she's really not pleased where this is going, but it's clear she's ready to spring into actionnow if things come to it. Finna appears to be trying to stand down and doign the sinsane thing of ignoring the guy with the gun the again she is an Exalt and they tend to be a bit nuts one way or the other but damn that's ballsy. She now just looking at Staren very, very hard.
Ainsley     Ainsley isn't smiling anymore. She doesn't look fearful, but the look on her face is best described as her version of 'so unhappy she might cry.' Her features wrinkle subtly and she freezes for a moment. She struggles this very visibly until everything starts to slowly calm down, and then she starts to relax very gradually.

    She ultimately chooses not to get in the middle of the dramatic tension, and gets up, and moves over very slowly as if approaching a spooked animal and finds a place near him, probably kneeling near his seat, and reaches out to place a hand on one of his forearms. She speaks in a voice that sounds supernaturally calm. "Sorry," is what she says, very quietly, "This does not normally happen."

    "Do you want to keep talking? I would be happy to answer more questions, if you like."

    "Staren, leave," she says, glancing over her shoulder. "That conversation is over. Stop pursuing it."
Finna "I'm quite calm, despite all thi--" And there goes more science from Staren. Finna's expression just sort of SAGS exasperatedly. "Staren. The issue is what Klaus went through. Not nature of all reality and how to saw it in half without killing people. Be thoughtful and sciencey when it's time. Look at poor Klaus here?"

    Her tail swishes about to point appropriately.

    "Write down thoughts and plans, present them simply. We can all work on it later!"

    That is probably the most forethought towards things Finna's ever displayed, really.

    "Are we done traumatizing Klaus yet?"
August Kohler August gets a voice of reason from Emily! It helps him think of what to do. "Alright, everyone out. Ainsley, Branford, walk Bruckheim to his room, please. I'll toss him the radio coordinates and you can ask him questions once everyone is not in the same room. Staren, Finna, go home, get some rest, and don't continue this discussion over the radio. Everyone else, go home." He then moves to his desk, keeps his Persona summoned, and grabs another cookie.

Klaus will finally get his nerve back, but doesn't respond to Ainsley, because August just told him what to do. "I'm fine. I'll ask more once I'm home. ...Thanks."
Staren     Staren's curiousity fades to disappointment. He thought he understood, but noone seems to even understand what he was asking. Maybe he misunderstood Finna, too...

    Dejected but resigned to business as usual, he turns and walks out without further comment or complaint. He heads for a men's room and teleports to the gate from there.
Emily Branford     "Of course," Emily replies to August, bowing just slightly in response to the order. For a brief, shining moment, August gets to know what it's like to be Janine.

    Next, she's over to Klaus's side, somehow having picked up the tupperware with what's left of the cookies. "Come on, then, let's get you back to your room. You've a lot to think on, and if you need any of us you'll have ways to get in contact. Here, would you like some cookies? I baked them myself. They're fairly fresh."
Ainsley     "Let's go," Ainsley says, going with August's plans without any argument. She gathers up her coat and scarf and makes sure none of her feathers are sticking out or anything, and that her tail is properly hidden. She makes absolutely sure she's all tidy, and then checks on Klaus. He can walk on his own so she doesn't try to offer him a hand up or anything. She glances aside at Emily to make sure she knows she's ready to go. She'll follow along, providing a comforting presence for Klaus until he gets back to his place.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa is now lookingto Sanary for a moment nodding slightly to her but she's still moving to cover Kaluse in the evnert something else happens. She pauses for a moment and thinks. Her idea on the com goes wrong but it directs things away from the problem at hand on to her. She just remains silent for the moment there's not much else she can do.
August Kohler Klaus nods to Emily, but passes on the cookies. Eventually, he'll arrive at his dorm, and enter, closing the door silently and bidding the two ladies farewell. They can smell the awfulness of the room from outside. Then, he closes the door, and the gathering ends.