coming at you fast, midnight

[cosmiccon]

Comments

[maleficum]

What about them?

[It must be bad if Ezra's not just coming out with it. But he's unsure how bad he should expect.]

I never got this notification. Thank you, DW

[praevaricatio]

The ascendancy into the Inner Circle isn't a transfer of power. ( He has to out with it. ) It's a full body transfer. Witch to witch. Your parents, the Malraux, the Harper's -- they're not your parents, not since their ascendancy. They are the original Inner Circle.

[maleficum]

[For a long time, it's just silence. In some ways it's a coping mechanism, his way of keeping his PTSD in line, but part of him just wants to scream. That no matter what he does, he can't seem to escape the fact that his body is not his own. He takes a couple of deep breaths, reigning that well of the emotions until later, when it might be useful.]

We have to kill them.

[Okay, maybe he doesn't have as tight a lid on his emotions as he thought.]

[praevaricatio]

( He has all the time for him, lets him process how he needs to. And then it turns. )

You don't think we can undo it? Free your parents?

[maleficum]

Free what, exactly?

[If he sounds angry it's because he is angry. Because it doesn't matter in the end - even if they're possessed now, that doesn't mean they have been his whole life.]

The people we'd be freeing are still the ones that had me possessed. They didn't ascend until after I came back to the coven. There's no good people under there to save.

[praevaricatio]

( He didn't think about the timeline. Opportunism runs through his coven's line. )

Do you think they knew? What the ascension was?

[maleficum]

I don't know.

[They never spoke to him about it, or felt the need to fill him in on that particular bit of coven history.]

I can see that it would be something the inner circle would want to keep quiet.

[praevaricatio]

Whatever you need.

( He doesn't know what he can do. He's powerless, sitting in this chair. )

Where are you?

( Not on a one-way mission against your parents, right? He wouldn't normally question a David errand, but how can't he worry after this revelation. )

[maleficum]

New York. I had an appointment with Harvey.

[He takes a deep breath, trying to push down some more of the anger to figure out what they're going to do net.]

I think I should call in my favor with Allison Argent.

[praevaricatio]

Her one stipulation was not killing someone for you. Do you think she'll make the exception because they aren't your parents?

( He could appeal to the side of Allison who has a father figure? )

[maleficum]

Not for that. That I'm doing myself.

[He's not going to farm out the end of the inner circle, and he respects the line she drew.]

But we're going to need some supplies and it'll be good to have someone to watch our backs.

[praevaricatio]

Hey, I know you're basically in lone ranger mode, but you know I'm not letting you do anything without me, right? Supply up with Allison Argent and then it's you, me, and a romantic night of assassination tactics and worst-to-best case scenarios.

( He waits for the response, but his husband knows in this he does not back down. When he says he will be there, he means it. He knows how personal this crusade is, he was there at the beginning. Which is why if this is near an ending, he will be right by his side. )

[maleficum]

[He nods.]

After this, we find Sierra and we get her on board. If we're going to do this, it has to be all of us, together. No more calling in an audible.

[He pauses, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel.]

Lean on Jaq. Make sure she passes along the news. If she needs to see her in person, tell her I will open a door to wherever she needs to go. But she knows more than she's saying about what Sierra's been up to and we have to find her before the inner circle does.

[praevaricatio]

We have what the Inner Circle thinks they have.

( Jaqueline's allegiance. He exchanges 'love you's,' rests his head against the steering wheel and then pulls out his phone to send Jaqueline a message. )

W.C. Harlan. 9pm. )

[tearhiseyesout]

[She receives this message and raises an eyebrow.]

Didn't think I was your type?

[You're certainly not hers.]

[praevaricatio]

We're not starting an affair, we're ending one. Three to be exact.

You, me, your brother, David.

And Sierra.

9.

[tearhiseyesout]

[Jaqueline can play dumb, but she's not stupid. She knows that that last line is meant for her to play to that end of the room.]

And what makes you think I know where to find her?

[praevaricatio]

Cut the shit. Whatever your deal is with each other, we don't care, but it's now or never with the Inner Circle.

David will open a door anywhere. We're done with this Carmen San Diego bullshit.

Find her or admit you can't.

9PM.

( And that's it, for now, anyway. He hopes she shows up that night. )

[tearhiseyesout]

[She stares down at the phone, knows that she's trapped between a rock and a hard place. With a deep breath, she closes and locks the doors and windows of the room she's staying in, lighting some sage, and running the shower. Might as well cover all her bases.

As she closes the door to the bathroom, she sends one text to Sierra:]

Are you alone?

[unsatisfiably]

Almost always
Why

[tearhiseyesout]

I need to see you.

[She hits send, and reaches for one of the in-case-of-emergency astral projection crystals. They've never had to use them, but Jaqueline can't tell her this, can't turn her entire world upside down without doing the courtesy of looking her in the eye.]

[unsatisfiably]

( This isn't protocol, but she's the daughter who disappears and shirks protocol, all for her own means.

As much as she likes keeping everything close to the vest, even from Jaqueline, she knows when they reach a point like this, they have no choice. They have distanced themselves and she has only inched closer.

Reaching into the night stand, she pulls out notebooks and sets them on the bed before popping up the false bottom and setting it down against it. She retrieves the shared crystal, holds it in her hand and snaps, a nearby sage cigarette lighting in the ashtray across the room before she sets the crystal down on the small desk.

She stands, prepared to reveal an image Jaqueline should remember from their childhood. )

[tearhiseyesout]

[She hasn't seen that face in a long time, but when she does see it, it's like a punch to the gut, especially with everything else that's roiling around in her head. She tries to conceal it (14), and takes a deep breath to focus on the important thing.]

Have your parents found you yet?

[unsatisfiably]

( She misses that twinge of pain (5), being on the defensive herself. What Jaqueline means to her is kept in a box and what she's trying to do is kept in another box. While she knows Jaq is on her side, her paranoia has only grown. It's a part of why she bound herself to the lunar cycle like this.

The witches she ingratiated herself with didn't take to her like she wanted. They held meetings and conversations behind closed doors, but didn't include her. She's in the dark about how far her parents have searched, if they have. (Of course they have. She's the missing piece.) )

If they have, they're keeping their distance and judging by how thirsty they are for the Gauntlet, I'd expect an actual run-in.

( She guesses what she's doing is working. Enough, anyway. )

Did they say something?

[tearhiseyesout]

No. But we're running out of time.

[The solstice is coming, and she knows that Sierra has a plan, but if she succeeds, then that will make her an even juicier target.]

When you ascend to the Inner Circle, you don't just get the power. You get possessed by the spirit of the long dead ancestor of your family line who founded the Colony.