coming at you fast, midnight

[cosmiccon]

Comments

[fifthbase]

Your witch friend will need to learn their magic from scratch. Her magical triggers are altered, like a chemical imbalance. Any further altering could backfire greatly, I'm afraid.

( She makes a face. )

You said a hunter wielded one?

[imnot_likeyou]

That's what they said, but I wasn't there.

[He gestures for her to follow him as they go in search of Bonnie and Isaac.]

It was in Prague, about three months ago.

[fifthbase]

Sierra Harper was in Prague, was she not?

( Weren't they just saying that?

She follows, recognizing Bonnie, but not Isaac, as they emerge from the room they shared, bags in hand.

Samuel, your friend is Bonnie Bennett?

[imnot_likeyou]

Yep.

[He's allowed to have fancy well known friends, Rowena. Don't be so surprised.]

Bonnie, Isaac, this is Rowena.

["Sup." Isaac doesn't know why he should care. You don't recognize him, he doesn't have to recognize you.]

[moralitypolice]

Rowena Maccleod.

( "A pleasure to finally meet you in person. Your grandmother was a dear frenemy." That's Rowena for you. "The werewolf could do well to smile more now and then," she adds, rudely, calling it like she sees it. )

Elena said you were offputting.

( "I just cut to the chase, darling. If that's a crime, then, well, I'll be returning to Hell at the end of this." She shrugs. "I can see your magic," she adds. "It's in you. It's jumbled up like a jigsaw puzzle left out in the rain, but you will return to form." )

When?

( "You're relearning new magical triggers. As most things, it takes time. I want to hear more about this hunter." )

[notwitty]

[Isaac flashes her a thin smile that is not a happy smile, before glancing to Sam for him to translate.

"The one who used the damnum essentia."

Ah. That one.]

The one who used it or the one he worked for?

[fifthbase]

Let's go with all of it. I didn't make a Damnum Essentia for a below-average worker bee to use it on one of a few innately powerful witches.

( Oh, did Bonnie not know about how much untapped power is in her Bennett line? It's a lot. )

[notwitty]

Well, I think David said that it was newly made so technically you didn't make it.

[The spell, yes, but the actual device know. Isaac is absolutely petty enough to point out all the technicalities.]

The hunters weren't anybody, but did you hear about everything that went down with Tamara Monroe?

[fifthbase]

( A point of contention as she sticks a finger up. )

I have never given that spell away. I have been outsourced, but not recently. I believe we have a copycat on our hands. If that's the case, I may be able to help you Bonnie yet.

( And then. )

Talk to me like I hadn't.

( As she hasn't. She doesn't like that that spell is out there. )

[notwitty]

Gerard Argent's heir apparent. Decided to go for a mass murder plan and militarized some of the disparate hunter groups to try and take out as many supernaturals as she could. She was behind large-scale attacks in London, Prague, Mystic Falls and New Orleans this year.

[He leans into the wall, as they might be having this conversation a while.]

She's dead now, but she did a lot of damage.

[fifthbase]

All these swirling coincidences.

( Which always mean there aren't. )

Tell me, how does Sierra Harper factor in?

( "Sierra, or Maura as she went by in Prague, was also in New Orleans. Do you think she's the one who gave the hunters her Damnum Essentia rip-off?" )

Could be. She's Colony born and raised and until a decade ago, she towed the line.

[notwitty]

David Gainor seems to think that in Prague she was trying to reclaim the Knightsbridge collective power for herself, but the spell failed.

[Because that's important information.]

He seems to be trying to help us. But he's kind of shady and questionable so we're taking that with a grain of salt.

[Especially since he's got Allison owing him a debt.]

[fifthbase]

I would take that one with his actions. He may have been bred from a long line of selfish opportunists, and that's coming from a mother, but he is a survivor if I've ever seen one.

( Of everyone, she'd believe him. )

If Sierra was not fully ready or capable of taking everything in then there most certainly have been a great surge of power.

[notwitty]

In my experience, survivor isn't always a positive thing.

[But he'll leave that there and continue with his information.]

When the spell failed, a room full of hunters dropped dead. Would it generate that kind of backlash?

[fifthbase]

( He's speaking to the ultimate survivor who won't make colorful commentary because you're all friends here. )

If she was channeling them.

[notwitty]

[Isaac himself is a survivor. He's not trying to discount it. He just knows from experience that just because you're able to survive doesn't mean that you won't cut other people out to do so.]

That tracks. There were other people in the room and they were fine.

[Which means it wasn't an area of effect situation, and more targeting those specific people.]

[fifthbase]

It sounds as if she tried to failsafe her spell and the opposite happened.

( But, she has not gone after a coven's wellspring, and her (2) will keep her speculation to a minimum. )

There are a number of reasons why it backfired. What you should be focusing on is there here and now. The what's next. So. What is next?

[notwitty]

[Isaac says nothing, just glancing to Bonnie to see how much they want to share. Danny's been a well kept secret thus far, and he's in Bonnie's care. He'll leave it for her to decide if she wants to share that with the literal Queen of Hell.]

[fifthbase]

( Bonnie has been the hidden trump card, living under the old witch house, the Salvatore's and Elena's secret weapon. She knows better than to play it, especially to a blunt redheaded powerful sorcerous. )

Isaac and I are about to take a trip to Mystic Falls. My family's grimoire is there. We think there may be information that might be useful. About the Gauntlet.

( And maybe the Colony. )

The Armory is keeping it safe.

( A (6) recollects something vague, but mystical. And quite old. Kind of like her. Bonnie knows what she's doing.

"And there is the Knightsbridge's store." Rowena says, nodding. It feels like a part of a plan.

"And you, Samuel?" she asks. )

[imnot_likeyou]

Trying to dig into more of the research here.

[He doesn't know how much he should share, but ...]

Allison owes David a favor so if he calls that in, I might wind up tagging along with that.

[fifthbase]

Careful with witches and their favors.

( Rowena is one to talk, as she pulled the Winchesters into many a scrape here and there. Almost got them killed more than five times over just to get what she wanted, but they've become much more to her since then. )

[imnot_likeyou]

I know.

[He hasn't forgotten, and neither has Allison.]

She's already drawn certain lines that he's agreed to, so it's mostly a matter of if he'll keep his word.

[fifthbase]

Refresh these lines. Witches tend to blur, to redraw any clear lines. Have her double check that line isn't written in chalk, or worse, pencil.

( Advice from Rowena MacLeod, Sam! )

[imnot_likeyou]

I will.

[Trust him, he's not intending to let David take advantage of Allison. He will shoot first, ask questions later, problems be damned.]

It's not my first rodeo with witches.

[matriarchate]

( Rowena knows, Sam.

Finished with her morning workout and freshly showered, Allison and her beachy-in-Kansas (but also in Northern California, we stan Allison's hair) waves join the group in the hallway. )

Is there a meeting I wasn't informed of?

( "We were just meeting Rowena, the queen of Hell," Bonnie says, nonchalantly. "Come on, Isaac. They're waiting in the car." But, for good measure: "You think you can really help me?"

Rowena mulls that over, studying Bonnie.

"If your Damnum Essentia is not a Rowena original, then I think we have somewhere to go. Have Sam give me a ring me when you return."

Bonnie nods, taking Isaac with her.

"Allison Argent," Rowena says, knowingly, a twinkle in her eye. )