coming at you fast, midnight

[cosmiccon]

Comments

[matriarchate]

You're kind of eccentric, you know that?

( But, also impressive in a savant way. )

[maleficum]

Eccentric is just a word applied to people who don't play along with society's dumb rules. Once you realize the rules are made to make you easier to control, they seem a lot less important.

[The door thunks open, and he pulls it open and reaches into the vault door. When he emerges, in his hand is a collection of vials, each sealed with a different arcane symbol. David handles them delicately, slowly shifting off his backpack so that he can store them inside.]

[matriarchate]

That's a long-winded way of saying you march to the beat of your own drummer.

( If his parents weren't psychotic enough to have him possessed, she'd crack that they probably told him he was a special boy when he was young. But, that joke isn't funny. Nothing about today is funny.

Her healing is coming along enough that she doesn't twinge in pain every time she moves or breathes.

She waits, eyeing the vials. )

Let me guess, do not let those drop.

[maleficum]

Nope. Big kaboom.

[But that's his problem to take the rest of the way. Sam and Allison's part of the bargain is done. Leading the way back down the stairs, he reaches for the door handle and pauses.]

So. Dropping you off where I picked you up?

[matriarchate]

( That is Sam's call, so she'll give an agonizingly slow turn as she is still recovering. It's mostly stiffness at this point. But, they got what they came for. )

[maleficum]

["Yeah," Sam nods. "We should head back to the car."]

Car it is.

[He places his hand on the doorknob of the entrance, and pulls it open, revealing the parking lot and the car they left behind. David nods and steps back to let them through, and as Allison passes her takes her arm gently.]

Thank you, for this. We're square.

[They are even, as far as he is concerned.]

[matriarchate]

Maybe this makes us friends.

( Allies, even. She doesn't want to go back and forth between doing him a favor and him doing her a favor. But, he's also on the precipice of something deep. And there's a chance she won't see him again. )

Don't do it alone.

( She doesn't know who's involved but she recognizes when something is personal. )

[maleficum]

Not planning on it.

[He knows he'll at least have Ezra, if no one else.

After they slip through to the other side, David closes the door behind them and looks down at himself. His hands are covered in blood and he sweaty and gross from the humidity, but he has an appointment to keep, so he sucks it up and opens the door to the restaurant, arriving as is. Unfortunately he doesn't have time for more than that.

But he walks in the door, bag on his shoulder and looks around to see who's gotten there ahead of him.]

[ostensively]

( Ezra reserved one of the private side rooms for them, not needing the din of the restaurant or any prying eyes or ears. They have to be careful. Which is why the private room is really a portal to another private room, one at a separate, family restaurant in Ezra's family's holdings - and one they can't be tracked to.

David finds an old childhood friend looking at one of the paintings. )

Kind of makes you think of the Flinstones, right?

[maleficum]

[It's been so long since he and Sierra have been in the same room, he has to stop for a moment. There's a weight to this, given that he knows what she's been up to, and she knows what he wants her here for.

He sets his bag down next to one of the chairs, and watches her from a distance, trying to see the strings.]

Kind of. I don't know. I always felt that one looks like it was drawn with markers.

[ostensively]

( With her guard down, machinations and months of manipulations lay at their feet between them. But, they'll get into the details. )

You've been here before? I was going to say, this does feels more like a you thing. I think maybe you're rubbing off on your husband.

[maleficum]

We've been together about a decade. I think people would be surprised if we weren't influencing each other a little.

[That's part of being married, really. The little pieces of yourself you trade to make sure that the two of you can make a better whole together.]

It's good to see you. It's been a long time.

[ostensively]

( Or, they would remain their individual selves. She and Jaqueline are not the same person, they are not similar, they are just devoted and that is enough. )

Some of us have priorities we abandon when we realize they weren't priorities in the first place. ( Just obsessions. ) It's good to see you, too, Gain. Really taking liberties with the dress code.

[maleficum]

Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to change after my last appointment.

[He glances down at his hands again, before glancing around for a bathroom.]

I should actually go clean up.

[ostensively]

It's down the hall. Other doorway.

( The waitstaff is pointedly not using the emergency exit they used to get here. )

[maleficum]

Thanks. I'll be back in a bit.

[He slips away to the bathroom, cleans his hands, washes his face and takes a deep breath. Time to put his game face on before the Melrouxs arrive and make him regret everything.

As they usually do.

Eventually he returns, and moves to officially take his seat.]

[ostensively]

( Sierra keeps her back to the corner, having chosen her best vantage point. Trust doesn't come easy and never has, but something broke in her a long time ago. This isn't the worst step one.

With David taking his seat, Sierra takes hers - yes, closest to the corner. She's not giving it up.

Ezra, meanwhile, is tucked away inside the Baltimore restaurant located back through the portal, intent on being the last one in. He wants to personally ensure everyone shows up - and nobody else does. )

[tearhiseyesout]

[Jaqueline arrives with Max, and takes a moment to adjust herself in the mirror, putting on her game face. While she knows that her connection with Sierra is slowly becoming more apparent, she still is accustomed to not giving too much weakness away.

Even among people she should theoretically trust.

She fluffs her hair before glancing over at Max with a nod.]

You ready?

[maxxx]

( Max may be the only member of the group who doesn't second guess Jaqueline's friendship with Sierra. Their personal lives have always been separate. They were raised to be strong individually, not together, and that's what they are. But, they are no less formidable hand-in-hand. )

Whatever happens.

[tearhiseyesout]

[Jaqueline nods, because they are in this together. Whatever comes out of that meeting, they'll handle it together.]

Let's see what everyone wants to put on the table.

[Climbing out of the car, she strolls up to the restaurant with the same casualness she does most things, not giving away the tension or seriousness of what's to come next. Once they sit down at that table, they're all discussing treason. Which means if they're going to do this, they better do it right.]

[maxxx]

Everyone better put something.

( He takes a seat next to his sister, giving an approving nod to the fake-out.

"Hey Maxie," Sierra says. Her voice goes flat at, "Adin," when Ezra takes his seat closest to his husband. )

Sierra, in the flesh.

[tearhiseyesout]

I can be very persuasive.

[She said she would get her there, and she got her there. But given how long it's been since they've actually been in the same place, Jaqueline quashes the urge to reach out and instead focuses on the matter at hand.]

Should we have drinks before we plot treason, or just get down to business?

[praevaricatio]

( Ezra reaches out under the table to rest his hand on his husband's knee. He is here. He is in this. He's supporting her. )

Let's lay everything out on the table, Inner Circle and all.

[maleficum]

Alright.

[David sighs and leans back against the chair.]

There are ten of them. Six of them are our parents and the other four are very hard to reach. It's for this very reason - to avoid a coup. So we need to find a way to take them out quietly before we focus on the main event.

[praevaricatio]

( "And we'll have to do it simultaneously, or they'll blow on the horn of Gondor," Sierra says, doing the calculations in her head. Six here mean there are four they have to hit after. )

Can we delay any check-in protocol?