everyonelives | the ground could open, he could still say please

( At least he didn't knock his knee? Or other parts. (He's seen the viral gif.) He's still up on queer culture! To be honest, he took to it like cats to cream. The theatre and art scene in London is unmatched. Low profile in the Underground can not match it. )

Maybe that's my next evolution. Like Pokemon. Werekanicat. ( Jackson inspects whatever puzzle Alexander is working on, fingers gliding along. ) Julian is awake.

[He laughs at the Pokemon comparison, before relaxing some.]

Good. Thank you for helping with that.

[He knows he wasn't thrilled with the assignment. Alexander would have picked someone else if he had been given a choice in the matter.]

I was asked.

( He'll work Alexander over on relocation. (He doesn't hate the work they do, but digs that are a little more high profile, those are his style.) )

The baron's right hand used magic like he did. He tried to drain Davina, but she resisted. He very dramatically told us that all magic was at stake. Apparently, there's an oncoming witch war. Have you heard anything through your channels?

[Alexander frowns, before shaking his head. It's hard to say for sure, with witches, and unfortunately, the Colony hasn't officially gone wide yet.]

No, there hasn't been any chatter that I'm aware of. We can go check with Alice and Shipp though.

[Possibly his dad, but he tries to avoid bothering him unless he absolutely has to.]

We should. Better to know if he wasn't just foaming at the mouth. He liked to hear himself talk.

( Jackson should know, he used to be like that. )

Are they awake?

They keep weird hours. But if they're not, they will be shortly.

[When things like this are going down, it's an all hands on deck kind of situation. He weaves through the rooms, trying to think of where would be the best place to start, and opting for Shipp first. He seems a bit more nocturnal.

Alexander knocks on the door and hears grumbling within.]

Hey, Shipp, you got a minute.

So do you.

( You know if Jackson Whittemore shares real affection with you because he teases you like you're on the elementary school playground. As opposed to completely cutting you down.

It's early. Shipp fell into a Youtube spiral and had just gotten to sleep only an hour before. It's not their fault that they're catching him at the beginning of his REM cycle.

The door opens, Shipp standing there in his loose caftan and nothing else, eyelids heavy.

"Dude."

Jackson is at his door, though, not just Alexander, so he attempts modesty as he wraps his thin caftan around himself. It does nothing. If anything, it accentuates him being naked even more. But if Shipp is anything, it's the picture of false modesty. )

Sorry, man.

[See, he can apologize for waking him up, even if he doesn't actually feel bad about it.]

Julian's okay and awake, but that's not why I woke you up. One of the witches involved, H, started talking about some kind of witch war. Have you heard anything?

( Shipp's too tired to miss that Alexander isn't sorry. He waves a hand dismissively. It's fine, the gesture says.

"I'm the submarine," Shipp says, waiting for it to land. Except, Shipp's metaphors tend to float off like hot air balloons. He got (6) for knowledge of the coming witch war. "Under the radar," he explains. )

Just say no.

( "No," he says. He yawns. "Is that all? Are we assembling?" )

Edited 2022-11-14 17:56 (UTC)

[Alexander shakes his head. Whatever it is, it's not an incredibly immediate problem, as he has no information to give.]

Nah, you're fine. Go back to sleep.

[If they have to assemble, it will likely be at a more reasonable hour.]

Go back to sleep, that's a choice idea. Real, solid gold. Too bad you took my REM cycle out back and shot it in the head. I'll join your early rounds.

( He's up and if he is up, he's now involved. It's not like he has a chance of getting back to sleep.

He shuts the door, tugs on a hoody, grabs a hat and pulls on comfortable pajama pants before answering the door again, slipping into his slippers to his right. )

Just call me Dr. Shipp.

Well, doc, we were just going to head down to Alice and see if she's heard anything.

[Nothing too special, just the usual prodding for information.]

And if we run out of people to ask right here, we'll go knock on my dad's door.

[Obviously very much a last resort.]

Pissing off everyone right in a row at the start of the day. Let's do it.

( A perfect plan! And 'just going head down to see Alice and eventually wake Alexander's dad' is a better alternative than staring at his ceiling for the next however long. )

[Alexander raises his eyebrows back at him.]

Do you want to be caught with your pants down when a witch war starts and not know the hows and whys? Because personally I would rather be prepared.

( His hands come up. )

I surrender, Allan. Let's get ahead of Witch Wars. After you.

( Jackson just thinks he's stoned all the time, which in some cases sounds like a pretty innocent life. That Shipp rarely says Alexander's name right... well, everyone has their disarming or annoying attributes. )

[Alexander is used to it at this point, and Shipp's always been, well. Shipp. He doesn't blink at being called Allan and continues heading towards Alice.]

Are you sure there was no sign of Hallewell?

[That's to Jackson.]

We doubled back that night, he didn't check out, but he wasn't there either.

( According to the hotel anyway. )

His connection to Julian broke so something happened.

Hallewell had ties to a lot of dangerous covens. He'd been around a long time - I don't know how you could break a tether like that without killing him, but if his body hasn't turned up ... I don't know.

[It's a puzzle. A puzzle he intends to keep poking at as he knocks on Alice's door.]

There's a lot you can do to a witch besides kill them.

( Being in his own witchness protection taught him that. That, and his psychotic brother.

Alice answers pretty quickly. She is the calmer member of the Underground, one of the oldest despite her young looks, and a witch that doesn't need rest like most do.

"Good morning." She notices it's not just Alexander. "everyone. "

She lets them into her room. She has the largest in the compound. It is very much her Moroccan paradise with Spanish flair. Her tastes are as worldly as she is ancient. Well, comparatively ancient. And with a (19), she is much more privy to everything than Shipp would ever be.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to discuss - the Gauntlet?" she asks, taking a stab. )

[Alexander's eyebrows go up as he hears that word.]

Maybe?

[He points back at Jackson.]

They didn't find Hallewell, but they did find one of his lackeys and he was ranting about an upcoming witch war.

Like chocolate through the ages, witch wars come in different sizes and flavors. The heirs are being gathered and informed. Barnet Hallewell's 'Sly' mentioned the oncoming 'witch' war.

( That sounds like the Gauntlet. Alice has lived long enough to stop believing in coincidences. )

The Gauntlet, ultimately, is a championship about power. It is to the death for the heirs and anyone else involved. Power isn't finite. The Gauntlet centers around one bastion of power, in this case, the power intended for the Knightsbridge heir. But, innate magic, it can be taken. If this is a true witch war, any witch of any caliber could be in danger. The higher the profile, the more they could be in danger.

( With how the Underground operates, they are less so. )

With the Knightsbridge heir apparent and her family decimated in London, a power grab is assuredly in the works.

... Shit.

[He doesn't know enough about London to know how true that is, but it certainly doesn't sound good. He also doesn't know enough about druids to know about how their power cache works.]

Things are about to get really messy.

( "If what Sly says is true," Shipp points out.

"What does it mean, the heirs," Jackson asks. "Who are the heirs." )

In most covens, there are heirs apparent. Heirs to the source of their coven's power. Davina Claire being the Regent, she is an heir. The three other previously alive Harvest girls, back when such atrocities were committed in the name of the ancestors were heirs. When the elders pass, magic passes with them.

Knightsbridge were druids. Don't write anything down. They share all of their power through word of mouth and traditions. The fact that they were attacked at all was already a terrible loss in terms of magic, but if an heir doesn't ascend and they lose access to the ancient well of magic that they draw from, they can lose even more.

[Which would be a really terrible shame, honestly.]

Never mind the fact that a Gauntlet means a lot of collateral damage.

( "Not just them. Their coven. The delicate balance witches feel every day. Witches like Hallewell upset that balance, which is likely why he was taken off the board," Alice says, figuring. )

It's not easy. ( Jackson and Alice look to Shipp, then who's made himself comfortable in her hanging chair. ) Taking power from any witch. Unless they're a siphoner, it's not easy. Dead witch dies, their magic either goes to the next in line if they are spiritually wrapped in the false safehoods of their coven or it just goes. Nowhere. Everywhere. Spiritualists would argue where but point is, it's gone.

( Jackson listens, always tired of Shipp's airy commentary, but this time it comes with truth. With facts.

"So, not every single witch is on the line."

Shipp vapes and shrugs, inhaling, exhaling. )

Not saying that either. Big ritual affecting a whole coven, a group, something like that, still in danger. Kidnapped witch it will take time to drain. In danger. Average witch not adjacent who has lost their magic or sold their soul for it? Probably not in danger.

( "And what about the witch who sold their soul vying for that power," Jackson asks, looking back to Alice.

"Then that would indeed be a free-for-all Mr. Whittemore."

Widespread, unpredictable collateral damage of all kinds. )

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