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

[David shakes his head.]

Sierra has to be informed, officially, by her parents before things can formally begin. Which gives us time, since I don't think they know where she is anymore than we do. Which gives us time to put a plan in place.

[Jaqueline's grin only widens. "You want to kill them."

David sighs heavily.]

I don't think the Inner Circle is actually doing good things for the coven, do you? Maybe they're right, and it is time for a new world order. Our world order.

Not one of us can say our parents have had our best interests at heart. But, then my parents didn't willingly possess me or my sister.

( He wouldn't be surprised, though, if they tried. If there was something in it for them.

"Watch it," Ezra says. )

Just saying.

( Ezra taps the table with his fingers once as he speaks again.

"This was always the plan, just moved up." Maybe with more death involved. "Would killing them make you inner circle?" )

["Leadership in the Colony has always been whoever is ruthless enough to take it." Jaqueline tips her head to the side. "If we manage to take out all of them, no one would question us. Especially with the Gauntlet in play."

David nods, glancing over to her.]

So are you in? Do you think you could convince Sierra to swing to our side?

[Jaqueline shakes her head. "Vague notion aside, it's still going to be incredibly difficult for just the five of us. We'll need allies that we can trust won't sell us out to our parents and those will be very hard to find. Hell, how do you know you can even trust us with this?"]

Because it's all of our lives on the line this time. I would much rather work with you three as a team than start plotting against each other. And if you stab me in the back for it, then so be it. But I think that you're not interested in playing their games any more than I am.

We need the right people in our pockets.

( Across the board. In and out of the coven. )

It's not impossible.

( "You're really talking about killing your parents. All of them." He remembers what David was like after being possessed. He remembers returning to his home and meeting them in person. "Is there another way?" )

No.

[Jaqueline has no trouble saying it. Because David is right, that is their only option.]

We either kill them or kill each other. Or they kill us for trying.

[Speaking of death, though, Max's phone begins to buzz in his pocket.]

Edited 2022-11-27 04:13 (UTC)

( Max pulls his phone out and checks who's calling.

"We're not killing each other." Ezra says it definitively. )

Then I guess we're murdering the Inner Circle.

[Isn't shared murder projects fun?

On the caller ID is his mother. Almost as though Helene knows something is afoot (she doesn't, but isn't that spooky all the same?)

David looks at Sierra earnestly. "So you'll talk to Sierra?"]

I can't make any promises, but I'll try.

( He shows the caller ID to his sister. Next, he gets up and steps away, bringing the phone to his ear. )

Afternoon, mother.

["Mon cherie, I need you to run a small errand. I know it's beneath you, but unfortunately we do not have another free hand."

If nothing else, Helene knows how to butter up her children before cutting them down.

"We received a call from one of our contacts in the morgue. One of ours has come in, and I need you to take care of the paperwork."]

( The Gauntlet hasn't been thrown yet and yet there's a body dropped. Just what he wanted to do with his afternoon. )

Do we know who?

["Our contact didn't recognize him, but he bore our brand."

The Inner Circle and the heirs don't have them, but some of the lesser witches who are attempting to curry favor often carry signs of their loyalty. Not always on their body. Some have a card, or a pendant. But enough that the morgue knows where to direct them, should they wind up dead.

"I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out once you get there. Do keep me posted, will you?"]

( He hangs up then, returning to the table. )

I'm being taskrabbited. What did I miss?

I agreed to discuss David's proposition with Sierra.

[And then she spent of the rest of the time seeing how much she can make Ezra squirm with their murder plans.]

What did Mother want?

Some John or Jane Doe at the morgue. Someone Colony.

( He's being dispatched.

"What if you didn't off your parents. What if you just bound their magic or whatever stranglehold they have on your coven."

He's squirming! )

And give them an opportunity to get their revenge? I thought the point of this little experiment was to live.

[She reaches to grab her jacket off the back of the chair.]

I'll go with you. Maybe it will go faster.

[And it will give them a chance to get on the same page re: Sierra.]

Guess lunch isn't really lunch. Sorry to run, gaybands.

( Gay husbands, for the record. )

We should hit that Thai place after.

( "Your mother really just treats you like her secretary?" Maybe there really will be no love lost between them. )

Someone has to do it. Apparently we're the best option.

[We being Max, probably for the best that Helene doesn't know her daughter is involved.]

I'll let you know when I hear back from Sierra.

[David nods in agreement. "Good luck at the morgue." Because with witch corpses, it can get messy.]

( "We'll meet again soon. Somewhere else." And he and his husband will discuss further.

Max nods, pushing in his chair. )

Always something with you two. ( He pats David on his shoulder and stops. He leans down, looking between the husbands. ) What is it about Ezra, anyway?

( His sister's a pill but they were both groomed for that marriage. All of a sudden, David was back under the Colony umbrella with a blonde med student looking over his shoulder. )

[His sister is a pill, but that's one of the things David always liked about her, and what made the idea of marrying her tolerable. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind, to cut right to the quick of what the elders preferred to dance around, to bite back. They were the things he always was afraid to do, and he hoped that maybe in some way, as a team, they might be able to protect each other.

He wasn't old enough to see how as Inner Circle witches grew up and those edges were smoothed, replacing a carbon copy of the elder who came before. It wasn't until after he returned that he began to realize that ascension wouldn't allow for change, no matter how much he tried. How much his own father and mother changed, just by taking their place in the world.

They were never great people, to be sure. But it seemed that after his grandfather's passing, things only got worse.

But that's not the question Max asked. He asked why Ezra, because David didn't know any of this before he met him. His grandfather didn't die until after Ezra exorcised him, until after the demon and his first awakening to how broken the system truly was. David brought Ezra back to the Colony like a buoy keeping his head above water in the tumultuous sea, and Ezra was the first true act of rebellion that David ever really had.

He's not sure he could accurately put all of that into words, especially in front of an audience. He's not even sure that enough time and privacy would work either. So he puts it the only way he knows how.]

He's the only thing that made sense.

( Max has only been privy to the top layer of his parents' machinations, preferring that to anything else. He didn't need to be top dog. He could be everything they needed without needing to be anything else. Errand boy, golden son, eyes and ears. What their parents do has never made sense, but in what world did it have to? They were all born into their rolls. Their parents included.

All David had to do was play his. Instead, his parents colored outside of the lines and "David" got out.

Maybe Max wants out. He doesn't have love for his parents. He feels obligation more than anything, but that is coming from the Colony. You are what you bring. Actions and.

He will discuss this further with his sister because they are a family of sharp, jagged angles.

And then there's his sister's agenda. Sierra and whatever her angle happens to be. The Knightsbridge power would make her formidable, but it wouldn't save her.

It's the Gauntlet. It's changed everything.

But not for David. )

My condolences.

( He prefers the senseless. It feels like a world with more color. Shades of gray have always been more Maxim's taste.

"I'm not dead." )

None of us are. Yet.

[Jaqueline smirks, before making her way out with her brother.]

Talk to you later, boys.

[She waits until they get to the car, sliding into the passenger's seat, before glancing over to Max.]

How much do you want to know about Sierra and how much plausible deniability do you want to keep?

I think I need to know everything, sis.

( And from there, he'll evaluate his part in it - and after, his sister's.

He pulls out a cigarette and rolls the window down, lighting it. )

Okay.

[He said he wanted to know everything. Let's start at the beginning. Technically the beginning would probably be "Sierra and I are together" but she's not ready to expose that much of her soft belly quite yet.]

Sierra had a hand in taking out the Knightsbridge coven. It was her idea and she gently nudged Tamara Monroe into doing the job for her.

Gently nudged.

( Starting the engine, he pulls out from the small parking lot. )

So, when she gently orchestrated wiping out our rival coven, how did she maneuver herself in such a position?

Monroe was recruiting witches. Trying to convince them that she knew they were one of the good ones, which basically meant she was just going to take advantage of their power and save them to kill later.

[She rolls her eyes. Dumb human shit.]

Sierra saw an opportunity and gave Monroe a target to point at. The half-cocked hunters did the rest.

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