as we pass through arrangements of shadows

[shreds]

Comments

[praevaricatio]

Only the Colony would keep us safe by putting us back into danger.

( "You think that just because you don't agree with my methods that the Colony isn't above doing exactly what I do? Just in a more acceptable way," Barnet says, voice older like his newly acquired lines. He's even adopted a nice wease. )

[maleficum]

[David looks back at him in the rearview mirror as he pulls out onto the street.]

And I would do to every single one of them exactly what I did to you. You were just the one in my crosshairs today.

[So fuck you, Barnet. Try and get someone else's sympathy.]

[praevaricatio]

( "You would blaspheme your namesake with a nobody and this outsider." )

Not that I have to prove anything, but I'm more a part of this coven than you've been in decades.

[maleficum]

And that nobody you're sitting next to is still a far more formidable witch than you are. Do you want to see what her natural talent has to offer now that you're not being buffed by the power of someone else?

[Jaqueline's eyes light up, as though she's just waiting for permission.]

[praevaricatio]

( He may not be linked, but he knows how, and he snatches a hand out, trying to get a hold of her wrist (2) but he is feeble and older, and this is clearly a desperate move. )

[tearhiseyesout]

[Jaqueline is going to take that for permission. She bats his hand away (8), before pushing him back into his seat and meeting his eyes, starting to dig in and see what kind of juicy fears she can find (16).]

[praevaricatio]

( a man of his age has pretty specific mechanical fears, specifically, mechanical failure. and while he doesn't fight her, (he can't (12)), he does try to manifest that fear, and send them all off the road. if she can instill them in him, maybe he can amplify them with her connected. he taps into her and her family line, taps into that promise she made him before. what was it? extinction?

let's flip a car.

(20) )

[tearhiseyesout]

[The thing about being in-tune with your ability is that you know when someone is trying to fuck you. Barnet's age may give him an advantage in intensity, but this is still her fucking power, and she's going to do what she can to contain it (16).

She can't stop it completely, but it's enough for David to take back control of the wheel (19).

Once that's done, she reaches forward to grab him by the throat, rage blinding her (6).]

You fucker.

["We need him alive, Jaq!"]

[praevaricatio]

( "I've been doing this longer than you, Ms. Melroux," he wheezes. )

Ad somnum!

( Barnet is too weak to not drop into a deep sleep under his grip. )

He's out, Jaqueline!

[tearhiseyesout]

[She huffs as she watches his sleeping form, before relaxing back in the seat again.]

I really hope they let me kill him.

[They probably won't. But she's putting it out there into the universe, just in case.]

[praevaricatio]

Not going out on a limb. You okay, babe?

( David avoided a car accident, but he's also in the middle of his husband and his ex.

He does send, telepathically, I really can't believe you two were betrothed. )

[maleficum]

I'm fine.

[He keeps his eyes on the road, but telepathically: We were different people back then. And despite the person she is now, there's still fondness there, importance.

Even if she isn't his wife, she's still one of his oldest friends. And one of the few people from the Colony who would acknowledge that what happened to him was fucked up.]

[praevaricatio]

( He takes his hand in his husband's and sits back while they transport the great Barnet back to the safehouse. The Baron doesn't come to as they move him inside, so Ezra goes to drop him in one of the chairs. And drops down next to him, still tired from the night before.

Allura looks up from the desk she's bent over, checking something. )

Barnet Hallewell. You did it.

[maleficum]

We were highly motivated.

[Jaqueline moves to perch nearby, leaning against one of the nearby walls, watching the conversation intently. David rubs his eyes, still exhausted.]

Can we go home now?

[tramplemain]

( She sets a pen down, crossing her arms. )

I thought you were escaping home. On the run from hunters.

[maleficum]

I'm fucking tired, you know what I mean. Colony home. Seeing my parents home.

[That's also still home, even if he doesn't spend as much time there.]

[tramplemain]

Okay. Answer us one thing.

( Clearly, she speaks on behalf of the Colony. )

Where's the doppelganger?

[maleficum]

On the way to a bunker in Kansas, under the watchful eye of at least two Winchesters.

[Is that good or bad? Hard to say.]

[tramplemain]

Winchesters, always traveling in packs. Be careful, they don't take kindly to witches.

( She's impressed he knows, and his husband tries to not emote in giving that information away, considering his truce with her. (4) for trying to mask his reaction, that Allura catches (11).

it's implied that eventually, she will be your business again, but under these circumstances. )

Go. See that family of yours. Anything else we might need, we'll send the message through your parents.

( unless they come from down on high. )

Ms. Melroux, do you wish, too, to reunite with the Gainors?

[maleficum]

["I sure as hell don't want to stay here."

David knows, but having them leave Mystic Falls without knowing exactly where she was would have been worse for them. He gestures to the door for Jaqueline to follow them.]

C'mon, Jaq. I'll give you a lift.

[tramplemain]

Very well. Stay by your phones. Or, your loved ones.

( Sometimes, everything from the Colony feels like a thinly veiled thread, this time not withstanding. )

Drive safe, David.

[maleficum]

[He gives Allura a salute, before moving over to a nearby door. And with that, he opens it and they head back into the arms of the Colony.]