072. Halo

A chance encounter leads Braum to declare his intentions for the future.

### Play of the Game:

Scott as Braum, for managing to befirend another woman who wants to bome him;Liz as Sophia, for having a tongue-bitingly good game of Twister.

***"Tantrums are a part of games: cords being pulled, tables flipped, controllers broken…."***

Incisor passes Sophia on the street, determined, and the sidhe is shocked to hear the sounds of twisting metal & electrical circuits shorting out behind her. Turning around, she sees Incisor staring down a tall redcap wearing a suit jacket and boots and sporting incredibly long, flowing hair. She's jammed her fist in a traffic light control box in order to intimidate him, and Sophia decides to stay out of their argument, remembering Incisor's requests to her. This tall redcap tells Incisor he doesn't want any trouble, and calls out to Sophia, trying to shame Incisor for "disrupting this beauty's night out". After he leaves, Sophia begs Incisor to tell her about the man, stating that she can take it: "I'm not made of glass." Incisor eventually admits that the redcap in question, Travis, used to be her True Heart, but that she dumped him for being a redcap. Sophia insists on buying her friend a hot chocolate as they head back to The Spark.

Cog thanks Patches again for being a mentor to him, and lets her know that he thinks she can do absolutely anything she puts her mind to. He leaves her an envelope for Kyoko, which contains a gift certificate "for a new beanbag chair". Ew. They are joined shortly by Sophia and Incisor, as well as Braum, who has insisted on inviting Kian the satyr to the Spark to meet his motley. As Braum shows Kian out into the garden, Incisor tells Sophia and Patches about her relationship with Travis: how she loved his cooking, but that he wanted her to become closer to his friends (other redcaps) and that she just feels distant from her kith. Now that she's ended things, all she wants to do is punch him in the face as hard as she can. Both Sophia and Patches counsel her to communicate with Travis, and so Incisor picks up her phone, "calls" "him", and describes how much she'd like to watch him fall from the top of a skyscraper. Very useful, they smirk.

Outside in the garden, Braum is opening up to Kian when she asks him about "the redcap". He says that he's been trying for months to get closer to Incisor, to try to share her love of fighting, but to no avail. Bringing her back into the Spark to meet everyone officially, and joined by Kyoko and Dr. Sayley, the group pass a fun night together. They tease Kian about her "powers" after she tells them that she likes helping people "with things they don't know they need" and they play Twister (where Sophia bits her own tongue in a particularly difficult twist). The night takes a turn when Kian learns that Braum is a member of the Red Branch: she tells them that at her Chrysalis, she was forced to swear oaths to other Kithain, but that she was rescued by a Red Branch knight! Her description sounds an awful lot like Claude, who seemed very sad and distant at the time, according to Kian. Braum vows to move on his plan to re-establish the Red Branch as soon as possible.

The three members of the motley dream: Patches has a nightmare about being thrown overboard by Duke Granville; Braum meets Kay, Claire, Kyoko, and Kian in a freezer, admitting to himself that Kay is his first, best love; and Sophia watches Incisor inflict playground injuries on children as she admits that they were all done to her. Sophia awakens, realizing that Incisor must have had a very difficult childhood.

The next morning, Braum assembles members of the Red Branch in the Exhaust for a meeting. Lady Helena and Lord MacAllistar arrive from the Kingdom of Apples, joined by Sir Xaeron, Kyoko, and Claude. They are surprised by the arrival of Fala, Sophia, and Patches; "I thought this was a reunion, Braum," questions Lady Helena, who has mostly returned from the brink of being Undone by Banality. The troll knight stands and describes his vision to the group: a new Red Branch, not dedicated to serving the crown of Concordia, but working alongside them to right wrongs in the kingdom and find forces of Banality when they appear. Lord MacAllistar reminds Braum that this was more or less the original intention of the Red Branch as an organization, and the ex-members swear one by one to join him on his journey to Tara Nar to ask the new High Queen Lenore her blessing.

Braum, however, wants this venture to be new, and asks his motley to join him as well. Both Patches and Sophia agree to accompany him, and even fight alongside him, but neither of them can lie to him: re-establishing the Red Branch is simply not their life's work. Braum is surprised, but understands quite quickly that he made some assumptions about his motley: Patches wants to represent that Grand Bes Din and make her mark in building and crafting; Sophia wants to fight Banality by creating beauty. He is happy to accept their accompaniment to Tara-Nar alongside the others, and they agree to go as soon as they can.