that someone's lookin' out for us, that someone loves us

[slavophile]

( After searching the hunters' phone, decoding barely cryptic cypher, and triangulating what he realizes are coordinates, he brings everyone together. Timing is crucial.

The summer solstice is that evening.

Isaac, Bonnie, Gloria, Mia, Danny, the twins, and Hope are in William's room. )

It's the Astronomical Clock.

( "The abstract art?" Lizzie asks, remembering her meet-whatever with Danny in front of that very landmark.

Hope, Josie and Danny found the same. With the twins' begrudging acceptance of Jo's informative text (and not much more scolding, maybe it's coming), the plan comes together. With the summer equinox being about the incoming nourishment after action, then this is the local yearly ritual. )

Witches will be there in droves. In plain clothes, but there to reaffirm and grow their power. That is the hunters' target. What I don't know, is if this is a blunt assault. I downloaded schematics. This looks on the outside like an act of terrorism.

( So. Bomb. )

Every hunter we find is low on the totem pole. The higher ranked hunters run the ops. There will be civilians and civilian hunters. Low-ranked boy and Girl Scouts. It's dangerous.

( Which is why their answers are few and far between and why Cooper's double agent act only gets him so far. )

What do you think?

Comments

[notwitty]

We'll have to do it quietly - and we'd have to be able to pick out the hunters from the innocent bystanders.

[He turns more directly to William.]

How's our inside man doing? Do we think he can give us a leg up here? Mark the hunters somehow?

[slavophile]

It's a small window. Let me see.

( And William's going to send his 'call me when you can' text,: New Coastal Cocktail at Chesapeake Fire Island, 10$ Tuesdays.

He racks his brain to what would work. Even something small he slipped inside gear or jackets. Something thermal?

"If he can identify who is a hunter and who is a bystander and... who-is-a-witch, then maybe we can minimize the impact and save who we can. But we can't drop every hunter into a deep sleep. That might draw the wrong attention," Hope points out.

"Okay. So, what could we do? If we were able to identify who IS a hunter?" )

[notwitty]

We want to separate them from the crowd. Which means we'll need bait.

[Isaac then points to himself mostly. He's the big kahuna who the younger hunters might be ready to take a swing at.]

I'm the most famous face we've got.

[slavophile]

( "You're not the only bait," Bonnie says. "They're looking for both of us. We could separate them, draw some of them away, maybe where Hope and Josie or -" she pauses. They're included now, too. Danny wants this, too. "Danny and Lizzie."

It can't just be him. )

What about some magical -- failsafe or message. Only seen by those with magic. Is that a thing?

[polydeukes]

Sure.

[Does Josie know exactly what they need to do? No, but she's willing to bet it could be done.]

Do we want to mark the hunters so the witches now, or leave signals for the witches so they know to be careful?

[slavophile]

( Hope considers all the options, and hitting the both button.

"We could do both. Hit them with tech and hit them with magic," Hope says. "Tech, for the hunters, with William's inside - whoever, and us with magic. Like, a general warning sign. There must be some general, magical warning sign. Or, if there were we'd know about it."

Wouldn't they?

Bonnie walks forward, asking Danny.

"Danny, could there be something from your coven? Something you were taught or were going to be taught? We could call Eliza. Ask if she might know something."

Something they're not thinking of. )

Good ideas. ( He checks his phone to see if Cooper has gotten away to message or call him, but yes, he'd know. Brainstorming. They're brainstorming. )

[undermyfeet]

[There is response, but there is a sign of life in the form of a liked text message. He saw it, it's just not safe to call right now. He'll get back to you soon.

Danny shifts as he reaches for his phone.]

Yeah, I can text her. I do know we've got magical invisible ink?

[slavophile]

( "Can we get magical invisible ink to William's contact?" Hope's not trying to shoot down every idea, but, she's at a loss for her own.

"I might be able to send them some." Maybe. Her breakthrough for Elena was years in the making. Bonnie doesn't know if she could repurpose conjuring a very specific solution. "Maybe," she reiterates. )

So, we have some maybe's.

[notwitty]

Worst comes to worse, we get it to him here.

[Because making a fast pass wouldn't be hard.]

Give it to someone who isn't burned and put it in his hand the old fashioned way.

[Danny is in the process of texting. "Wouldn't we have to get it to him anyway? No matter what we do? Your inside man isn't magical, right?"]

[slavophile]

( "If he can get a way from Prague PDing," Lizzie says. So to speak, anyway. )

Physically, yes -- You'd need to get it to him. He's not magical. But until he calls, I have no idea how far deep in he is. This is happening tonight. There's no guarantee he can break away. Magic isn't a bad Plan B.

( "Or, Plan A," Hope says. Since, witches. )

[notwitty]

[Yes, exactly the point. Isaac was thinking an in-person meet up would be Plan B.]

So we know where the bomb is, we have a theory on how to mark the hunters - what else do we need to know? Where are we lacking?

[Because they're always lacking somewhere, it's just a matter of where.]

Why were they taking witches? Do we know?

[havethings]

Do we have proof they were taking witches? Besides Bonnie.

( "Only proof the hunters were told to find us and kill anybody else. Maybe because Danny erased their minds in the first place. Not blaming you." for the record, Lizzie, makes very clear. )

We know they took Bonnie, and we thought it was because of the solstice. But, David thought that maybe, everything was an act of opportunity. Except, that box. A box that shouldn't exist. As deliberate as that attack feels, why would they go and just leave it behind like that?

[notwitty]

["Maybe David was right and they didn't know what they had? Most of the hunters we've been dealing with have been kind of ... dumb."

Isaac shrugs, because he can't really say for sure.]

Maybe it would be worth it to investigate their headquarters while they're all out trying to follow through on the hit. Do we have a location on that phone, other than the castle?

[slavophile]

Not on the phone, not - I could track where it's been geotagged, but I could be sending someone on a wild goose chase. I could also ask...

( "Your contact. Everything comes down to her. Or, is it him. Them. A lot is riding on this contact of yours," Hope says suspiciously. )

I didn't hear a question in there.

( "She's asking how reliable this guy because, yes, it's clearly a guy is. How deep we can get. What are his limits. At what point is he found out after dropping all these breadcrumbs. We know what happened to Hansel. Or, almost happened to Hansel." )

[notwitty]

It's a him.

[Isaac is being so helpful.]

And his contact is the reason Bonnie and I aren't still on the run right now. He's been covering our tracks. So since right now we're not overwhelmed by hunters, I'd say that he's pretty solid.

[But he's also still the new guy. So there's that.]

Give me the locations anyway. I can put Ethan on it, just in case.

[slavophile]

( First, Lizzie called it. Total gay face. Can you think that if your sister is pansexual? Better not to say it. Still. Right. )

Forwarding right now.

( William has no doubts, only worries, ones he casts aside to appear more confident. Someone say something else.

"Fine, we trust him. What else?" Lizzie asks.

"We don't know what the witches are doing. Not really. Just the vague idea what of they might think. So, maybe we start with our intentions," Hope says. "Half of magic is about the intention." She stands as she surmises, stopping in front of Danny. "So, what could we make yours." )

[undermyfeet]

[He blinks up when put on the spot, before glancing around the rest of the room.]

I just don't want this to become Knightsbridge.

[He doesn't want to get stuck in another bloodbath. That's the only intention he has at the moment.]

[jockwitch]

None of us want that, Danny.

( She doesn't know what it's worth, but, they've hardly had the time to discuss how hurt Danny might be, coming off of all of his loss. She doesn't know loss like he does. )

And if we come up with a plan and, and find the intent to this solstice magic, and we get in touch with William's contact, we're doing everything we can to stop it. So, what did the solstice mean again.

[undermyfeet]

[Deep breath. Here we go.]

I did get some more information from Eliza on that. It's not a ceremony that's given to every leader, but every century or so, the leader of the coven gets a heavy dose of magic. Access to a wider range of spells than is normally passed down.

... The next person to get this was supposed to be Bridget. And it was designed to happen on the summer solstice, when she was ready to ascend.

[One more thing he wasn't prepared for.]

[moralitypolice]

( "Bonnie, is that why you brought Danny," Hope says, bringing it back to the reason Bonnie and Danny are here in the first place. Maybe. )

A witch who ascends needs to be ready, of their own volition, ( Bonnie admits. ) There's a pressure and an obligation that comes with it, it's about accepting your birthright. If Danny wasn't ready to do that yet, I wasn't going to force him. But, if he was, if he decided he could take up the mantle, we'd be here. ( She sighs. ) It was going to be a discussion. I never decided when I took up my family legacy. It happened.

( And she knows how traumatic it is to lose everyone. She really does. She discovered she was a witch and then vampires. And then she lost her Grams' spirit. And then her father. She lost her own life, and then she thought, Damon's. And finally, she fully accepted her innate magic. )

I'm sorry it turned into this.

[undermyfeet]

[He shrugs, because it is what it is.]

It's not your fault.

[He swallows hard.]

Do you think I'm going to have to do it now?

[moralitypolice]

( Bonnie thinks a lot. She thinks the longer that power remains untapped, there'll be an imbalance in the coven, possibly upheaval in the coven, too. But, having that power is as much about owning that power. Not that Bonnie ever knew how to do either. )

I think that, you having that power is best for the Knightsbridge Coven and for you. I also believe that you shouldn't be forced before you're ready. There are other ways. Power proxies. And, you are still the blood heir. Power or no, you still lead your coven. If you want to take this one step at a time, we can.

No matter what, we have to save the witches.

[undermyfeet]

I just don't want more people to get hurt.

[So if it's what he has to do, it's what he has to do. Maybe taking it for himself will finally make all of this feel real, that he truly is the leader, not just some imposter biding their time until Bridget comes back to take her place like she was supposed to.

But she's not. He knows she's not.

Taking a deep breath, he rubs a hand over his face.]

Maybe it's worth doing, just in case.

[moralitypolice]

Okay.

( She's never been the general in this fight, but after breaking away from Mystic Falls and seeing the world, finding more witches, she's feeling more and more comfortable. )

Then we need to call in Eliza. If not in person ( and not in person, unless they call in another favor with David ) in spirit. Your coven needs to come together.

[undermyfeet]

Okay. I'll go ... do that.

[And he's going to step out of the room to call her so they can keep planning without interruption and I don't have to write out talking to myself.

Isaac nods as he watches him go, and briefly wishes that Scott was here. He might be more useful. But eye on the ball:

"What else do we need?"]