everyonelives | why is it you always get to sit in the shade

Why is the Gauntlet necessary. I already know, of the three of them, Maxim's got his eye on it, don't you. Why not just let him ascend. Leave his foulmouthed sister and my husband out of it?

( "You don't really do tradition out in Cali, do you, Gainor?" Max asks tilting his head. "It's called dedication. But, you're on probation, right? Almost getting your mark killed. Where is Elena Gilbert, again?" )

Max, we all took off. Forgive me for not following Elena with hunters on our tail. I'll find her.

[Jaqueline's expression seems almost vacant as everyone argues around her, but she's still stunned that this is happening. Part of it is all the planning, all the struggle, all the work that she and Sierra have been doing, and in one fell swoop, the inner circle yanks it out from under them.

But at the same time, she's panicking with what will have to be done, and she can't, she can't let her brother get in that ring. She knows he'll be willing to do whatever it takes, but she can't watch him kill David, kill Sierra, and she doesn't know if she could bear it if either of them killed Maxim.

The fuckers, all of them.

Glancing away from the table in an attempt to compose herself (10), before glancing down to the phone in her lap and sending out a text to Sierra.]

The inner circle is starting the Gauntlet.

[The fact that they need to talk is a given, but they can't do it here, where her parents are watching.]

We have time, don't we? To decide which of us is going to do it?

["Is it truly a decision, Jaqueline?" Gabriel asks, well meaning but it makes her want to claw her father's eyes out.]

What? I'm not allowed to want to rise to the occasion?

[She's really not doing well at covering how emotional this is making her, but let's be real, she's having a time (2).]

( Maxim's narcissism keeps him from catching his sister's shell-shocked demeanor (2), while (16) Ezra catches real emotion coming from a woman he once thought an enemy.

Fall, Winter or Spring?

He can't miss his sister's outburst, her questions, not when she's falling apart in front of them. His hand comes to her knee to steady her. )

We do, Jaq. We all do. They said Winter. It's not Winter. So. We have time.

( He looks to his father. )

And it's going to be our decision. Not yours. Not that any of this really is our decision. This is the one decision we get to have, so, let us have it. ( That cockiness itches again. ) Not Ezra, Ezra, you don't get a choice in the matter. Feels good, doesn't it. How fleeting that freedom of yours is?

Edited 2022-10-16 04:42 (UTC)

[She holds her father's gaze, and he doesn't flinch, but he does concede her question. "You have until the Harpers are able to speak to Sierra in person. Once she is made aware, the announcement will be made to the rest of the coven so we will need to know who of the two of you is competing by then."

She nods, before glancing back to Max with an expression that says they will discuss this later.

She glances down and types quickly:]

Winter. But they have failsafes in place to keep anyone from getting it in autumn. Not sure what they are yet, but I'll try to find out.

Max and I don't have to make a decision on who's competing until your parents give you notice. Buy me time to work on him and David?

[Aka, do your best to not be found?]

( Yeah, he knows. He's not able to actually get away from his sister when she has a bone to pick, or when she gets her yen from self-sacrificing - or disappearing for weeks at a time. Yeah, you're right, you'll talk.

They're not the only ones with contingencies. I can make it rain as hard as they can.

Harder even. )

Thank you. For the invitation, Catherine.

( He's still the youngest son, polite, even if he's been trapped again. )

It's hard to believe the last time we were all together, you were explaining the diplomatic upside to screwing my sister over.

[Still. Be careful.

And that's all she can say for now in mixed company. Everything else will have to wait until she's alone. Instead, she'll just lean back and let Max glare daggers at Catherine Gainor.

Catherine's eyes narrow. "We all have to make the best of bad situations on occasion, Maxim. I'm sure you know that."

David grits his teeth before getting up.]

You know what, as much fun as you all trading barbs left and right may be, I think I'm done with dinner for the evening. Ez?

[He looks over at his husband like they should leave.]

( Preparation means I won't have to be.

Ezra stands, too, always there to back his husband, pushing in his chair. )

I'm not thanking you.

( For the company, for the hospitality, for blindsiding them.

Lead the way, hus. )

[He will take them back to their room, even short cutting them through the bathroom door to their bedroom. It's the only place where he knows for sure that they will have privacy.

Mostly because he ensured that they would with his own spellcraft.

Once they're there, he sinks down onto the edge of the bed and buries his face in his hands.]

Fuck.

( This isn't happening. This won't happen. He rifles through one of their duffels and pulls out a special silencing weed. Setting it on a glass knick knack he'll use as an ash tray. )

Incendia.

( A pink fume wafts through the air locking down their conversation. It takes everything in his power not to smash the knick knack under hand.

Gathering himself, he turns to face his husband. )

I'm not letting this happen.

How exactly do you intend to stop it?

[Because really, he's open to options. But he knows how the Colony likes to play and he will not lose his husband because he wants to try and play politics. He also is trying to calculate how many pieces of his own he has to move.]

Because if you get caught interfering, they will kill you.

( He knows his husband won't like his immediate ideas. He hates his them himself, but it feels like one of their only options. But, maybe it can fall under contingency. )

David, I've been married to you long enough I know there is no stopping it, but there is always a play. It only takes Maxim, Jaq, even tracking Sierra down to claim it, and then you're off the table. No one dies.

( Barring that. )

[David closes his eyes, because yes, that would be the play, if this were about power and not control.]

As good as those intentions are, people dying is the point. The claim to the power is just a fun bonus. They're forcing us to do this to try and break us and force us back in line.

Then we're getting out.

( He decides it. He knows it's harder and next to impossible, but he's always had the idea in his back pocket. It just feels like the resort you can't come back from. And it may have to be repeated. )

Have you learned how to magically change my DNA? Because if you've figured that out, we may stand a chance, but if not ...

[The Colony specializes in blood magic for a reason. They will summon him back.]

I'm an heir. I've been informed. Unless you kill every single one of them, once they begin the Gauntlet, I'll be pulled back.

Not if you're not in your body.

( He moves closer, dropping down to his knee to take his husband's hands in his. )

Not if I'm not in my body.

[Yeah, no, David doesn't like this plan. At all.]

Absolutely not.

[It's a knee-jerk rejection, before he even knows what the full idea is. Because the only thing that comes to mind is being in someone else's body, and he won't possess someone else. Not again. Not after it happened to him.]

I know. I know, and I don't know -- what it would take, because - you're not - ( He sighs. ) There's a humanw way of doing it. ( His eyes fall shut as his head drops forward, forehead gentling nudging his husband's knee. ) I don't want to be someone else. I don't want you to be someone else, I love you. But, we could actually get out.

At what cost?

[Not just becoming other people, but the idea of there being a "humane" form of possession doesn't make any sense to him. David has killed for the Colony's ends. He's done terrible things. But that is a line he won't cross, no matter what. That truly feels like stepping over the line and handing over his soul.]

I'm willing to get out, if that's what you want. But I won't do that.

( You have a husband that this happens to and you do your research. There are always aspects of magic and their covens that they don't share with one another, it's like marriage like that. But, his reaction - while not unsurprising means they'll find another way. He's not going to push this, he's not going to break what they are.

He gives up the ghost this time around, but when someone's life is no longer their own - say in the case of brain death - but, he knows this isn't what David wants. So, they'll find something else.

It's a little like the Meatloaf song, but much, much more dire. He shakes his head, the surface of his forehead still against his thigh. He sighs, breathes and turns his head so his cheek rests. )

What I want is for you not to have to fight to the death.

( He sits, back, lowering himself to the floor like a student at his husband's feet. )

So, tell me everything about what's coming. Everything. As bad as it can get. And why. Maybe something in there is the answer.

Edited 2022-11-07 00:11 (UTC)

[He scrubs a hand over his face.]

A lot of it is going to depend on what happens on the fall solstice. If the power is claimed, then the focus of the Gauntlet will become quite different. Instead focusing on each other, we'll be focused on the person who took the power.

[Which will be a whole other bloodbath he doesn't plan on subjecting Danny too, but he will give the kid a choice.]

If no one does, then the first step will be eliminating everyone who's decided to throw their hat in the ring just because they can. It'll be a blood bath, depending on how many enter, and how close they're able to get to the people actually prepared for something like this. But in the end, it is what it says on the tin. The last one living wins.

What are your options? Are you optionless because you're one of the heirs apparent?

( Is there way but through? )

[He shrugs because yeah, kind of.]

The way it's always been made out to me, the options are win or die.

[He drums his fingers against his thigh.]

But there's no rules on how we have to win.

( Except... )

Death. Death is how you win. Isn't that the one rule.

Yeah.

[A beat.]

Except I don't think they specified who we had to kill. I think they just assumed they would raise children power hungry enough to be willing to sacrifice their bonds with each other. We should ask Jaqueline. She knows the old law better than I do.

Tomorrow. We do it off grounds. We sit Jaq and Max down.

( And they start whatever needs starting. And they go from there. )

I wasn't -- I'd never discount what you went through, and I'd never ask you to do that again or to become -- him. It's not what I meant, but, I shouldn't have put it out there.

( A fight for another time if he discovers the actual research Ezra has done into the subject for years. )

I love you. And I like you you. But I also like you alive. Preferably married to me, but always happy. And not mixed up in medieval death games.

why is it you always get to sit in the shade

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