coming at you fast, midnight

[cosmiccon]

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[praevaricatio]

( As proven back in Mystic Falls, even when it's his job, Ezra doesn't stand idly by. David is off on his own calling in his favor from Allison Argent. Instead of waiting to see what side of the coin Danny Brighton lands on, Ezra takes it upon himself. He's not a fool. He knows blood covers blood. If it comes down to it, it's Jaq and Max against the world. He's always been an only child and until he'd met David, he'd never known that feeling before. But, because he does, he knows just how ruthless the two of them might be.

So, he does his own digging. He follows. It started after their lunch. He used a glass Max had drank from to find where they went next. The morgue attendant was all too happy to badmouth the Melraux siblings (well... Max). He not only recognizes the aged H, but the magic that aged him, how it was steeped in New Orleans ancestry (17) and how it was powerful enough to come from the Regent herself.

The question remains, did he try something or did she go rogue. And what does this have to do with Max and Jaq. He briefly forgets himself, having not flirted with another man like this in a long time so he botches his charm (1), outright calling the morgue attendant hot. He's cute, if skittish, and a little serial killer-y, but he doesn't buy it. Luckily, he's still smarting from his run-in with them and he offers up a familiar name all too easily.

He clumsily tells the guy he's married anyway before getting out of there.

It's a few days later when he pieces everything together, gets the blessing from his husband, and beats them to the building where the Colony holds their -- problem children.

Don't be so surprised. )

Your skullduggery needs work.

( "You're following us, now?" Max asks, unimpressed. (In truth, he just thinks everyone is obsessed with him. It's a character flaw.) )

Following you implies I didn't get there first.

( "I thought David was all about semantics." )

I don't know what that means, but we both like to pay attention to detail. Case in point.

[tearhiseyesout]

Skullduggery is harsh. We're just doing as asked by the Inner Circle. Answering questions about the death of our dear friend H.

[Jaqueline leans in closer, because she is about semantics. When you have a father who's all about word choice, you learn to be picky.]

Everything is completely above board. In fact, I'd say if anyone is participating in skullduggery, it's you, Ezra. So I ask again, what are you doing here?

[praevaricatio]

You can't be surprised we don't trust you. And you wouldn't be you if you actually trusted us. So, working together is working together.

( And to prove it. )

Davina Claire drained H. I think we both want to know what the New Orleans regent was doing in Baltimore. And I think we both know Hallewell has answers. This way, we each get them.

( And all they have to worry about is an unreliable narrator. )

[tearhiseyesout]

[Her eyebrows do flick up because that is a name she didn't have previously.]

We knew it was French Quarter, but damn, H.

[What did he do to get on Davina Claire's bad side?]

Fine. You can tag along. But Hallewell is going to be even more irritating than usual, so prepare for him to be very unhelpful.

[praevaricatio]

Hallewell was so forthcoming our first go round. ( He wasn't. ) I think we're all prepared for the pomposity, the mysoginy and the homophobia. And maybe underneath all that, there's something worth learning.

( It can't hurt to try, especially as something that's not on their parents' radars. He hopes. )

[tearhiseyesout]

Time to find out.

[And with that she will lead the way into the "prison" which is honestly just a very cushy room, spelled so that the prisoner in question can't cross the line without exploding or something equally gruesome. Jaqueline makes her way over to sit in the seat across from him, crossing one leg over the other.

Hallewell looks up briefly, taking stock of who is actually in the room. "What, no David? Here I thought we would be having a reunion."]

[praevaricatio]

( "People skip reunions, doesn't make them any less of one," Max says, crossing his arms. Not that he was a part of the retrieval in the first place. But his point stands.

Ezra stands close by. )

You get us or nothing. I'd choose us.

[tearhiseyesout]

[Hallewell lets out a laugh. "You make that sound like you have something to offer me."]

Only our condolences.

[Jaqueline leans in closer, trying to gauge his expression.]

H is dead. Apparently he got on the wrong side of a French Quarter witch, and she took it personally.

[Hallewell arches an eyebrow. "Did he? Where did he find a French Quarter witch in Baltimore?"]

[praevaricatio]

We were going to ask you the same thing, seeing as he was on your cosmic payroll.

( It's no secret the devil's deal H made with the man. One that nullified the minute he was rendered useless. )

[tearhiseyesout]

["I haven't been in New Orleans in decades, not since that Gerard kid took over. What H does is his business, but as far as I'm aware, he hasn't been there either."]

Not even to meet with Davina Claire?

[Hallewell's eyebrows climb even higher. "I definitely would have known if he had gotten a get that good. It must have happened after you all took me in."]

[praevaricatio]

( "Should we be able to do anything about your accommodations, know that coincidences won't help your cause," Max says. )

Let's try this. What do you know about the Gauntlet.

[tearhiseyesout]

[Hallewell arches an eyebrow in Ezra's direction, before leaning back in his seat. "They're pulling out that old chestnut? Well, they must really be desperate."

Jaqueline grits her teeth because it's hard to feel like a threat to her life is an "old chestnut."]

What do you mean, desperate?

["In my experience, the Gauntlet only comes into play when they're worried about the passing of power. You kids must be getting up to some shenanigans that makes them think they're at risk of losing their seat of power."]

[praevaricatio]

You're saying they're doing this because they feel threatened?

( "Need I have to remind you, our parents are all too happy to throw us in." Well, throw him in, anyway, as much as Jaq would take that bullet. David doesn't have a choice, not having a sibling. )

[tearhiseyesout]

[Hallewell huffs, before shifting to lean forward and face them more. Old eyes scan over the three faces in front of him, lingering mostly on the Melrauxs. "The Inner Circle is all about maintaining control. They have been for almost five hundred years. We didn't get where we are because they're good at giving up the reins."]

So what? They're worried we won't march to the family line when we get to be the ones in charge?

[Something isn't right about what Hallewell is saying, and she can't put her finger on what it is yet.]

[praevaricatio]

Their parents aren't five hundred years old.

( They're in their forties. But the way he talks, it sounds like the Inner Circle has always been the inner circle. )

[tearhiseyesout]

["Sure they're not."

He says it so flippantly that Jaqueline is immediately set on edge. That there's something he knows that she doesn't about her parents, and she immediately wants an answer. Fortunately, she doesn't have to wait long - Hallewell always does love to twist the knife and drive it a little deeper.

"At least their bodies aren't."]

[maxxx]

( It sinks in for Ezra, but it sinks even harder for Max who follows that train of thought. They don't have the best relationship with their parents, but they're their parents. They don't have to. Except, are they not their parents?

He doesn't know what to say. Ezra ends the silence.

"Are you saying their parents are possessed by the founding members of the inner circle?" )

[tearhiseyesout]

["What did you think they were ascending to?" Hallewell gives them each a long lingering look as they process that statement. "The whole ceremony is a transference spell."]

[maxxx]

They take our bodies.

( "They always have," Ezra considers, quietly. "Literal ascendance." )

Our parents have... never been our parents.

[tearhiseyesout]

I assume they can only occupy one body at a time.

[Hallewell reaches up and taps his nose in Jaqueline's direction, and she nods.]

So technically they're our parents until the ghost founders could no longer possess our grandparents.

[Jaqueline didn't really know hers, they died when she and Max were young, but David's grandfather didn't die until after he met Ezra.]

[maxxx]

They're making their move against us.

( Because they are the first generation that haven't seeked out their ascendance. Max and Jaqueline are the only siblings that have followed in their parents' footsteps. David does reluctantly, as does his husband by proxy.

"Sierra disappeared." Someone who's disappeared can't ascend. "They don't trust you. They never have." He sighs, turning back to Hallewell. "Aren't you as old in your actual body?"

[tearhiseyesout]

["More or less. I always found it an abhorrent practice. At least my methods of keeping young involve consent."

But it's a very veiled, very twisted form of consent.

"I've found the rest of the Inner Circle doesn't really care."]

[maxxx]

( "Coercion isn't consent," Ezra says, but Hallewell is giving them answers, so he stops there. )

Why'd they oust you anyway?

( Why is he no longer in the inner circle. )

[tearhiseyesout]

["Because I preferred to keep my own dashing form, rather than body hop every sixty to seventy years. Well, formerly dashing form anyway."

He looks pretty ragged right now.

"They thought my means of doing things was rather gauche, and cast me out." He snorts. "Sure. I was the gauche one."]

[praevaricatio]

Why do you think they let you live, knowing their secret?

( Item one would be to eliminate the only living immortal aware of their ascendancy, but he has always had a ruthless streak right beneath the surface. )